{"id":82624,"date":"2020-11-03T10:11:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-03T08:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=82624"},"modified":"2020-11-03T10:11:19","modified_gmt":"2020-11-03T08:11:19","slug":"eat-be-satisfied-bless-and-help-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/eat-be-satisfied-bless-and-help-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Eat, Be Satisfied, Bless &#8211; and Help Others"},"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":"82624","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46656,"related_cahpter":"604","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"How to read a difficult verse\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The age-old question of why bad things happen to good people (and vice-versa) is alluded to in Psalm 37:25 which reads, \u201cI was young and also aged, and I have not seen a righteous man forsaken nor his children begging for bread.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ibn Ezra and Radak both attribute this verse to David who, they contend, is at a stage of life that enables him to make such an assessment. The Talmud Yerushalmi (16b), on the other hand, maintains that such a sweeping statement couldn\u2019t possibly be made by man, as no human will ever have the vantage point to evaluate all of humanity. According to this interpretation, the verse must be attributed to an angel. Regardless of the origin of the remark, it does seem implausible that David, in his lifetime, ever witnessed this, nor that in all of humanity a righteous man\u2019s child was ever reduced to begging for food. It is objectively false if taken at face value.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch cautions us against reading this verse as some sort of promise that no righteous person, or his children will ever be reduced to poverty, because the corollary of that is the assumption that every needy person is by definition wicked. Again, objectively false. Rather, says Hirsch, we ought to consider the verse to mean that even if a righteous person is reduced to begging for food, they will ultimately, in this world or the next, not be forsaken. Malbim supports that idea and explains that ultimately if a righteous man isn\u2019t rewarded in this world, his descendants will be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A different exposition comes from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who focuses on the words \u201c<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">v\u2019lo raiti<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 I have not seen\u201d. Rabbi Sacks explains that sometimes in Tanach \u201c<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">raiti<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d is used to mean \u201cI watched it happen\u201d and in this particular instance \u201c<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lo raiti<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d means \u201cI never stood by and simply watched it happen.\u201d In this interpretation David is reminding us that even though God may delay rewards for the righteous until the next world, He holds us all accountable for doing our part in this world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps that explains the inclusion of this verse at the end of <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Birkat Hamazon<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the prayer after meals. In Deuteronomy 8:10 we are commanded, \u201cwhen you eat and are satisfied, you must bless the Lord your God.\u201d David reminds us that our responsibility, in addition to being grateful for our good fortune, is to step up and help those less fortunate.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77104,"id":77104,"title":"amos2-poverty","filename":"amos2-poverty.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-central-sin-oppression-of-the-poor\/amos2-poverty\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"amos2-poverty","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77099,"date":"2020-07-08 12:41:23","modified":"2020-11-03 08:11:15","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/amos2-poverty-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Eat, Be Satisfied, Bless - 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