{"id":86322,"date":"2021-01-09T23:29:46","date_gmt":"2021-01-09T21:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=86322"},"modified":"2021-01-09T23:29:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T21:29:46","slug":"how-mulberry-valley-turned-into-the-vale-of-tears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-mulberry-valley-turned-into-the-vale-of-tears\/","title":{"rendered":"How Mulberry Valley Turned Into The Vale of Tears"},"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":"86322","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"651","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A famous verse; now a famous place\r\n\r\n","content":"

Two expressions featured in this psalm have an interesting history. In their current usage, neither means what the psalmist intended.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, in v. 7, \u201cThey pass through the Valley of Baca (`<\/em><\/span>emek ha-bakha<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i>), regarding it as a place of springs, as if the early rain had covered it with blessing.\u201d In its original biblical context, a <\/span>bakha<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i> is a mulberry tree whose presence in the Land of Israel is attested to in 2 Samuel 5:2-24, as God instructs King David to circle behind the mulberry trees (<\/span>b\u2019kha\u2019im<\/span><\/em>) and attack the Philistines from the rear. It was so understood by Ibn Ezra who wrote: \u201cIt is the name of a place, or valley, in which there were <\/span>b\u2019kha\u2019im<\/span><\/em> trees.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At some subsequent point in time, however, the mulberry <\/span>bakha<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i> was exchanged with <\/span>bakhah<\/span><\/em>, to cry, yielding, here, a \u201cvale of tears.\u201d This is clearly the meaning ascribed to it by the 16<\/span>th<\/span> century liturgical poet Shlomo HaLevy Alkabetz of Safed in the third stanza of L<\/em><\/span>ekhah dodi<\/span><\/em> (from the Koren-Sacks Siddur)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n

Sanctuary of the King, royal city,<\/span><\/p>\n

Arise, go forth from your ruined state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Too long have you dwelt in the valley of tears.<\/span><\/p>\n

He will shower compassion on you.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u05de\u05e7\u05d3\u05e9 \u05de\u05dc\u05da, \u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05de\u05dc\u05d5\u05db\u05d4<\/span><\/p>\n

\u05e7\u05d5\u05de\u05d9 \u05e6\u05d0\u05d9 \u05de\u05ea\u05d5\u05da \u05d4\u05d4\u05e4\u05d9\u05db\u05d4<\/span><\/p>\n

\u05e8\u05d1 \u05dc\u05da \u05e9\u05d1\u05ea \u05d1\u05e2\u05de\u05e7 \u05d4\u05d1\u05db\u05d0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u05d5\u05d4\u05d5\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d7\u05de\u05d5\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d9\u05da \u05d7\u05de\u05dc\u05d4.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


\n<\/span>Our second example comes from the next verse: \u201cThey go from rampart to rampart (<\/span>michayil el chayil<\/span><\/em>), appearing before God in Zion.\u201d As Robert Alter wrote: \u201cRampart is one of the several meanings of the Hebrew <\/span>chayil<\/span><\/em> and makes good sense in this context of pilgrims making their way up to Jerusalem\u201d [see v.5 in particular]. It was so understood, again, by Ibn Ezra, who compared it with the phrase \u201cwall and rampart\u201d (<\/span>chayl v\u2019chomah<\/span><\/em>; Lamentations 2:8).<\/span><\/p>\n

This expression, too, has undergone a transformation of sorts and is currently understood in one of the other Hebrew meanings alluded to by Alter. \u201cMay you go from strength to strength,\u201d as it is rendered in the 1917 JPS translation of our verse, has become a reasonably standard form of congratulations for the performance of a religious or other requirement.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Yom Kippur War, a scene from a major battle where Israeli troops fought off Syrian soldiers in the Golan Heights, the area was later named the Valley of Tears \/ IDF photo archives \/ 1 Oct 1973<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":86323,"id":86323,"title":"The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF","filename":"The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-mulberry-valley-turned-into-the-vale-of-tears\/the_bloody_valley_of_tears_battle_idf\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"the_bloody_valley_of_tears_battle_idf","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":86322,"date":"2021-01-09 21:29:29","modified":"2021-01-09 21:29:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":635,"height":470,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF-300x222.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":222,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","medium_large-width":635,"medium_large-height":470,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","large-width":635,"large-height":470,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","1536x1536-width":635,"1536x1536-height":470,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","2048x2048-width":635,"2048x2048-height":470,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF.jpg","post_full_size-width":635,"post_full_size-height":470,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The_Bloody_Valley_of_Tears_Battle_IDF-567x420.jpg","home_baner-width":567,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"How Mulberry Valley Turned Into The Vale of Tears","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"A famous verse; 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