{"id":82040,"date":"2020-10-25T12:49:09","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T10:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=82040"},"modified":"2020-10-25T12:49:09","modified_gmt":"2020-10-25T10:49:09","slug":"hearing-voices-within-a-psalm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/hearing-voices-within-a-psalm\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing Voices Within A Psalm"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"82040","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":77758,"related_cahpter":"597","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"While it mentions \u2018a chanukah,\u2019 hints of Purim are revealed\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Poetry marks its art with brevity. It intentionally lacks the features that make prose easily accessible. Biblical poetry often also avoids directly identifying the speaker of its lines. Who exactly utters the opening words of Psalm 30: \u201cI extol you, O Lord\u201d? The poem does not tell us. This absence opens a fruitful interpretative and performative space. Is the poem\u2019s voice the anonymous poet? Should it be read in the context of its title, the dedication of the Temple? Maybe it should be interpreted as pertaining to David\u2019s life? Or, perhaps, the voice within the poem belongs to those who sing it. \u201cI\u201d \u2013 the reader of Psalm 30 \u2013 \u201cextol God.\u201d God saved me, the poem\u2019s reciter, from falling into the netherworld.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The absence of identifiable speakers encouraged creative Jewish minds to fill the void. The unidentified lines of Psalm 30 in the hands of the homilist behind Leviticus Rabbah 28:6 became a drama involving Mordechai, Esther, Haman and the Jews. Within the Esther narrative, Ahasverosh\u2019s reward to Mordecai represents a key moment of reversal \u2013 of <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ve\u2019nehafokh hu<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Haman, who despises Mordechai, must lead him through town and glorify him. All this while the decree which threatens the Jews looms on the horizon. The Midrashist expresses this moment by recasting Psalm 30, turning it from a poem into a play. According to the homilists, Mordechai says verses Ps 30:2-4 when he mounted the horse. He thanks God for raising him up (he was wearing rags) and for not letting his enemies (Haman) prevail over him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mordechai\u2019s students are assigned the next speaking portion. They sing verses 5-6, a call in the plural to praise (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">zamru<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) God and to affirm that his anger \u2013 this time against his own nation \u2013 lasts briefly. Redemption and the nullification of the decree are imminent. Verse 7 moves back into singular, which required introducing a new voice. Haman recites verses 7 and 8. In doing so, Haman acknowledges his hubris and downfall. He felt eternally secure (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bal emot<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">leolam<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), but it is God who truly determines fate. Esther follows with verses 9 and 10, which hearken back to her bravery in appearing before the king unannounced. And, finally, Israel as a nation recites verses 11 and 12.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These verses encapsulate the essence of the Purim story: a plea for help and the recognition that \u201cyou turned my lament into dancing, you undid my sackcloth and girded me with joy\u201d \u2013 <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">venehafokh hu<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> For Jewish tradition, poetry\u2019s brevity became a chance to imbue an already powerful genre with additional meaning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Purim Scroll of Esther Megillah with Hamantaschen \/ 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