{"id":84819,"date":"2020-12-13T17:28:56","date_gmt":"2020-12-13T15:28:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=84819"},"modified":"2020-12-13T17:28:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-13T15:28:56","slug":"would-you-praise-a-billionaire-for-having-a-million-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/would-you-praise-a-billionaire-for-having-a-million-dollars\/","title":{"rendered":"Would You Praise A Billionaire For Having A Million Dollars?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":"84819","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"632","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"When it comes to indescribable greatness, best to stay mum\r\n\r\n","content":"

Verse 2 in our psalm is open to widely divergent interpretations. The NJPS reads: \u201cPraise <\/span>befits<\/span><\/em> You in Zion, O God,\u201d the older JPS reads: \u201cPraise <\/span>waiteth<\/span><\/em> for thee,\u201d and Robert Alter translated it as: \u201cTo You <\/span>silence<\/span><\/em> is praise.\u201d All three revolve around renditions of the Hebrew word <\/span>dumiya<\/span><\/em>. A similar divergence is evident among the commentators.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi\u2019s explanation lines up with Alter: \u201cSilence is praise to You because Your acclaim is infinite and whoever praises you excessively is actually diminishing [You].\u201d Ibn Ezra\u2019s view, which connects <\/span>dumiya<\/span><\/em> to <\/span>domeh<\/span><\/em>, to resemble, accords with NJPS, while Malbim\u2019s \u201cPraise waits, silently, before You\u201d brings the OJPS to mind,<\/span><\/p>\n

Alter provided a rationale by which we might decide which of these interpretations is preferable to the others: \u201cthe subject of the poem, God\u2019s greatness, is beyond what language can express, so that silence is due praise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is reminiscent of a talmudic passage that describes a prayer leader who\u2014in a spontaneous rendition of the first blessing of the Amidah\u2014ascribed to God more than the three customary attributes (\u201cgreat, mighty, and awesome\u201d). Rabbi Hanina waited until he finished and said to him: \u201cHave you concluded all the praise of your Master?\u201d\u2014comparing his behavior to praising a billionaire for having a million dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the connection to the end of the verse: \u201cVows are paid to You,\u201d Malbim offered this insight:<\/span><\/p>\n

A vow is, always, a provisional acceptance to do something if the condition is met. However, no vow need be made to God; rather, the [promise] must be fulfilled immediately because His salvation will certainly arrive since He is receptive to all who seek Him. Therefore the \u201cvow\u201d should be paid off immediately even before the condition is met.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":73008,"id":73008,"title":"ez1-silence","filename":"ez1-silence.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/proudly-aware-but-humbly-silent\/ez1-silence\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez1-silence","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73007,"date":"2020-04-06 15:56:01","modified":"2022-08-28 10:53:32","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":1281,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1025,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1281,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-1200x801.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":801,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-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":"Would You Praise A Billionaire For Having A Million Dollars?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"When it comes to indescribable greatness, best to stay mum","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":73008,"id":73008,"title":"ez1-silence","filename":"ez1-silence.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/proudly-aware-but-humbly-silent\/ez1-silence\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez1-silence","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73007,"date":"2020-04-06 15:56:01","modified":"2022-08-28 10:53:32","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":1281,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1025,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1281,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-1200x801.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":801,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez1-silence-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84820,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84819\/revisions\/84820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}