{"id":87225,"date":"2021-01-21T08:40:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T06:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=87225"},"modified":"2021-01-28T13:00:25","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T11:00:25","slug":"bo-hyssop-the-plant-of-liberation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bo-hyssop-the-plant-of-liberation\/","title":{"rendered":"Bo: Hyssop \u2013 The Paintbrush of Liberation"},"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":"87225","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":87226,"related_cahpter":"1132","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It is our responsibility to not make the same mistake of hard-headedness that Pharaoh made","content":"<header><\/header>\n<section class=\"entry\"><\/section>\n<header><\/header>\n<section class=\"entry\"><\/section>\n<p>In parshat Bo, the destroying angel passes over the houses of the Israelites \u2014 in Hebrew \u201c<em>pasach al hapetach<\/em>\u201d \u2014 sparing their firstborn, and giving the Passover holiday its name in Hebrew and English. But the angel only \u201cknows\u201d who is in which house because it sees the sheep\u2019s blood smeared on the doorposts and lintels of the entryway.<\/p>\n<p>In Exodus 12:22, Moses tells the Israelites that the way to apply the blood is by using an \u201c<em>agudat eizov<\/em>\u201d \u2013 a bunch of hyssop, which could be dipped into the blood like a paintbrush.<\/p>\n<p>Varieties of hyssop grow everywhere in the Middle East naturally, which is why hyssop is described in 1 Kings 5:13 as being rooted \u201cin the wall.\u201d The Psalms also describe hyssop as something that purifies (Psalms 51:9), and hyssop was used for that purpose in three rituals: sprinkling blood on a person or house cured from \u201c<em>tsara\u2019at<\/em>\u201d (leprosy, Lev. 14:4-6, 14:49-51), preparing the ashes of the red heifer (Num. 19:6), and sprinkling those ashes mixed with \u201cliving water\u201d on a person who had come in contact with a dead body (Num. 19:18). All these rituals helped a person transition from a state of impurity into a state of purity.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no surprise that hyssop was associated with purification. Hyssop, also known as za&#8217;atar in Arabic, is in the mint family, which includes oregano and thyme, and it is used even now as a medicinal herb for digestive parasites. (Commercial za&#8217;atar is sometimes made from these other herbs.) As an herb used for purification, which was such a concern for ancient Israelite society, it needed to be available anywhere and anytime of any year. Hyssop would always be at hand \u2013 even in the Shmita year, when only species and crops that grow on their own without cultivation could be used.<\/p>\n<p>This also means it would have been easy that first Pesach to gather a bunch of wild hyssop for daubing one\u2019s doorframes. But unlike the other rituals, which create a kind of ritual doorway, hyssop closed off the doorway, protecting the firstborn Hebrew slaves inside. The blood ritual of Pesach didn\u2019t change one\u2019s status, but was rather a way of affirming one\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<p>The qualities of being common and medicinal and growing wild also made hyssop a good symbol for Pesach: it could represent the pure and unmanipulated earth, springing to life everywhere; and it could represent the healing that comes from the earth \u2013 in this case, healing that came from outside of Egyptian society, which was corrupted by the slavery forced upon the Israelites.<\/p>\n<p>As such, hyssop also represented the ideal of what a free Israelite society, a society observing Shmita, could become: a \u201ckingdom of priests\u201d where slavery and poverty were eliminated, where every person played an essential role in healing the world through holiness and justice.<\/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":" Bo: Hyssop \u2013 The Paintbrush of Liberation","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 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}},"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\/87225"}],"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=87225"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87769,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87225\/revisions\/87769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}