{"id":84467,"date":"2020-12-04T08:49:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-04T06:49:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84467"},"modified":"2020-12-17T09:58:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-17T07:58:11","slug":"vayishlach-rename-and-renew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/vayishlach-rename-and-renew\/","title":{"rendered":"Miketz: Run Wild"},"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":"84467","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":70715,"related_cahpter":"1127","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Both land and people might become impoverished if they don\u2019t have an opportunity to run just a little bit wild","content":"<header><\/header>\n<section class=\"entry\"><\/section>\n<p>In the beginning, the world was a wild and chaotic place.\u00a0 While the arc of the Genesis narrative bends relentlessly toward the taming of the chaos, progress is slow.\u00a0 As the human species settles in for the long haul, its members commit all sorts of mischief.\u00a0 From Cain\u2019s fratricide to the Babel builders\u2019 inability to deal with diversity to Simon\u2019s and Levi\u2019s attempt to take the law into their own hands, we observe considerable instability.<\/p>\n<p>When we get to\u00a0<em>Parashat Miketz<\/em>, we see a pivot to a more sedate reality.\u00a0 Pharaoh has a dream whose key symbols epitomize domesticated farming and ranching: cows and sheaves of grain.\u00a0 Joseph organizes a welfare-state bureaucracy that meets the people\u2019s needs.\u00a0 At the end of\u00a0<em>Miketz<\/em>, as Joseph and his estranged brothers edge closer to recognizing difficult truths about each other, the Egyptians and Jacob\u2019s sons exhibit the careful etiquette that marks a society as orderly.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if all the Torah\u2019s characters finally personify a well-ordered ideal as they follow God\u2019s decree (Genesis 1:28) that humans should master the Earth.<\/p>\n<p>But Egypt\u2019s leaders later go too far.\u00a0 They use their highly structured society to abuse its weakest members, reinforcing class divisions by enslaving the Israelites.\u00a0 The Torah, though, doesn\u2019t let them get away with their cruelty.\u00a0 Succeeding chapters use the Egyptians\u2019 move away from the\u00a0<em>Miketz<\/em>-ian ideal to remind us of the need to protect the well-being and the dignity of the enslaved and the poor.\u00a0 The Israelites are freed, and then instructed to take care of anyone whom they might want to enslave.<\/p>\n<p>Yet another Torah passage (Deuteronomy 15:1) begins with the word \u201c<em>miketz<\/em>\u201d (which, depending on context, means \u201cafter\u201d or \u201cat the end,\u201d but either way ties a textual discussion to a particular point in time).\u00a0 It requires that a S<em>hmita<\/em>, a remission of debts that accompanies a land-use sabbatical, be observed every seven years.\u00a0\u00a0 The passage suggests that both land and people might become impoverished if they don\u2019t have an opportunity to run just a little bit wild.\u00a0 The Torah\u2019s intertextual echo of the word \u201c<em>miketz<\/em>\u201d underscores an important reality about civilization.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible to over-civilize ourselves, to move too far from our original wild state; therefore, we should find the right balance, over time, between our charge to master the world and our need to use care when we exercise that mastery.<\/p>\n<p>The next shmita year begins next Rosh Hashanah 2021, almost a year from now. We have time to prepare. As we move through 5781 we invite you to join us in preparation for the upcoming shmita year \u2013 a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we will share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/p>\n<p>Join us for the journey.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hazon.org\/shmita-project\/hazon-shmita-blog\/\">See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":81608,"id":81608,"title":"shmita","filename":"shmita.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bereishit-the-sabbatical-paradigm\/shmita\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"shmita","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":81605,"date":"2020-10-15 14:26:00","modified":"2021-02-01 15:07:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"A New Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","main_caption":"Miketz: Run Wild ","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":81608,"id":81608,"title":"shmita","filename":"shmita.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bereishit-the-sabbatical-paradigm\/shmita\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"shmita","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":81605,"date":"2020-10-15 14:26:00","modified":"2021-02-01 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