{"id":86842,"date":"2021-01-17T22:09:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-17T20:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=86842"},"modified":"2021-01-17T22:09:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-17T20:09:16","slug":"quality-not-quantity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/quality-not-quantity\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality, Not Quantity"},"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":"86842","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":62571,"related_cahpter":"657","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"From dust to dust - but in between?\u00a0\r\n\r\n","content":"

Psalm 90 contrasts the parameters of man\u2019s very limited life, with His Creator\u2019s eternity and high expectations. One verse (10) delineates the quantity and quality of typical human existence:<\/span><\/p>\n

The span of our life is seventy years, or, given the strength, eighty years; but the best of them are trouble and sorrow. They pass by speedily, and we are in darkness.<\/span><\/p>\n

Metaphors employed by the Psalmist concerning the tenuousness of people\u2019s lives, are reminiscent of one of the liturgical poems recited during the Days of Awe:<\/span><\/p>\n

(v. 3)\u00a0 You return man to dust\u2026
\n<\/span>(v 5) \u2026<\/span> like grass that renews itself.<\/span>
\n<\/span> (v. 9) \u2026 we spend our years like a sigh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Compare these with the conclusion of the \u201cU\u2019Netaneh Tokef\u201d prayer:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe come from dust and return to dust. We labor by our lives for bread, we are like broken shards, like dry grass, and like a withered flower; like a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud, like a breeze that passes, like dust that scatters, like a fleeting dream\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalm concludes with a personal plea that our lives, however long or short they may prove to be, should at least be rendered worthwhile by God: \u201cMay the favor of the Lord, our God, be upon us; let the work of our hands prosper, O prosper the work of our hands!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The most ambiguous of the many circumlocutions in Psalm 90, appears in v. 13: \u201cReturn, O LORD! How long? Show mercy to Your servants.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier (v. 3), this verb appears in the causative, \u201cYou return man to dust.\u201d Here, though, the reader is left to wonder: What are we pleading with God to \u201creturn\u201d to? And how to understand the question: \u201cHow long?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReturn\u201d is often associated with \u201crepentance,\u201d as in (Hosea 14:2) \u201cReturn, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have fallen because of your sin.\u201d However, whereas man understandably sins, can the same be said of God?<\/span><\/p>\n

Classical commentators divide the psalm into two portions. V. 1-12 describe the comparatively \u201charsh\u201d measures, i.e.,\u00a0 \u201climiting\u201d human life expectancy and physical capabilities that God employs to curb the harm that man is liable to perpetrate during his time on earth, whereas v. 13-7 are asking God to be merciful to His creation and extend kindness to mankind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this regard,\u00a0 verse 13 parallels the portion of the verse that the congregation proclaims during the reading of the Torah on a communal fast: \u201cTurn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people\u201d (Ex. 32:12).<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalmist is implicitly pointing out that the righteous unfortunately face the same restrictive measures that evildoers confront, even though such limitations have been put into place to cause consternation to the latter rather than the former. At the end of the day, what an individual does with their life is of greater significance than its length.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Jewish cemetery in Oude Pekela\/The Netherlands – \u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 \u05d5\u05d0\u05dc \u05e2\u05e4\u05e8 \u05ea\u05e9\u05d5\u05d1 “dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19), 2010 \/ wikipedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":86843,"id":86843,"title":"ps90-dust to dust2","filename":"ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/quality-not-quantity\/ps90-dust-to-dust2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps90-dust-to-dust2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":86842,"date":"2021-01-17 20:09:02","modified":"2021-08-23 19:51:48","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":965,"height":409,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2-300x127.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":127,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2-768x326.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":326,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","large-width":965,"large-height":409,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","1536x1536-width":965,"1536x1536-height":409,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","2048x2048-width":965,"2048x2048-height":409,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","post_full_size-width":965,"post_full_size-height":409,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","home_baner-width":965,"home_baner-height":409}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Quality, Not Quantity","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"From dust to dust - but in between?\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":86843,"id":86843,"title":"ps90-dust to dust2","filename":"ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/quality-not-quantity\/ps90-dust-to-dust2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps90-dust-to-dust2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":86842,"date":"2021-01-17 20:09:02","modified":"2021-08-23 19:51:48","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":965,"height":409,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2-300x127.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":127,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2-768x326.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":326,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","large-width":965,"large-height":409,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","1536x1536-width":965,"1536x1536-height":409,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","2048x2048-width":965,"2048x2048-height":409,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","post_full_size-width":965,"post_full_size-height":409,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/ps90-dust-to-dust2.jpg","home_baner-width":965,"home_baner-height":409}},"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\/86842"}],"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=86842"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86844,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86842\/revisions\/86844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}