{"id":89055,"date":"2021-02-18T09:12:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T07:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=89055"},"modified":"2021-02-18T09:12:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-18T07:12:44","slug":"terumah-good-neighbors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/terumah-good-neighbors\/","title":{"rendered":"Terumah: Good Neighbors"},"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":"89055","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":70715,"related_cahpter":"1136","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"In our post-Eden era, we have only the world that we know to till and to tend","content":"<header><\/header>\n<section class=\"entry\">\n<p>Breathlessly, the first third of the Torah runs through stories of creation, accounts of love and rupture in the pre-Israelite and Israelite family, reports of slavery experienced and slavery escaped, and rules governing all sorts of circumstances.\u00a0 Over the course of this telling, the Torah builds theological, emotional, moral, and legal superstructures.\u00a0 But then in <em>parshat Terumah<\/em>, the race to tell a human, and then national, story takes a pause.\u00a0 The biblical focus turns to an infrastructure project, the building of a tabernacle as a location for divine rest.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding the contrast between the frenetic energy of earlier biblical narratives and the calm epitomized by the idea of a holy sanctuary, two phrases appearing early in Terumah make clear that divine rest is hardly passive.\u00a0 An opening passage in the parsha (<a href=\"http:\/\/sefaria.org\/exodus.25.2\">Exodus 25:2<\/a>) calls for donations for the construction project \u201c\u05de\u05b5\u05d0\u05b5\u05a4\u05ea \u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05b4\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u0599 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e9\u05c1\u05b6\u05a3\u05e8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05d3\u05bc\u05b0\u05d1\u05b6\u05a3\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc \u05dc\u05b4\u05d1\u05bc\u0594\u05d5\u05b9 \u2013\u00a0<em>me\u2019eyt kol ish asher yidveynu libo\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 from every person whose heart so moves him.\u201d\u00a0 The Chatam Sofer reads this verse about a rest-evoking structure as linking heartfelt human gift-giving with God\u2019s grant of the world to humankind, as if to suggest that God expends effort to provide us with a restful world and expects us to reciprocate.\u00a0 Then we read that God wishes \u201cto dwell among the people.\u201d\u00a0 (<a href=\"http:\/\/sefaria.org\/exodus.25.8\">Exodus 25:8<\/a>).\u00a0 The Hebrew word \u201c\u05d5\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05db\u05b7\u05e0\u05b0\u05ea\u05bc\u05b4\u0596\u05d9 \u2013\u00a0<em>v\u2019shachanti \u2013\u00a0<\/em>and I will dwell\u201d used here is related to the word for \u201c\u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05b5\u05df \u2013\u00a0<em>shachen \u2013\u00a0<\/em>neighbor.\u201d\u00a0 Perhaps this constitutes a godly foreshadowing of a response to the question of the inimitable Mr. Rogers: \u00a0\u201cWon\u2019t you be my neighbor?\u201d\u00a0 God tells the people, \u201cI will be your neighbor,\u201d with all the mutual responsibilities to protect, with vigor, both shared space and overlapping sensibilities that tranquil neighborliness requires.<\/p>\n<p>The idea of active divine repose calls to mind the popular image of the Garden of Eden \u2013 a place whose features, in John Milton\u2019s words, \u201cdispos\u2019d All but the unsleeping eyes of God to rest.\u201d\u00a0 (Paradise Lost, Book V).\u00a0 But God instructed Adam not just to rest, but \u201c\u05dc\u05b0\u05e2\u05b8\u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u0596\u05d4\u05bc \u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05b0\u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05de\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05bd\u05d4\u05bc \u2013\u00a0<em>le\u2019ovdah u\u2019li\u2019shomrah\u00a0<\/em>\u2013 to till and to tend\u201d the Garden.\u00a0 (<a href=\"http:\/\/sefaria.org\/genesis.2.15\">Genesis 2:15<\/a>).\u00a0 In our post-Eden era, we have only the world that we know to till and to tend.\u00a0 To do that, we might think about another set of instructions concerning land use: the rules of\u00a0<em>Shmita<\/em>, a sabbatical that reflects a divine concept of rest by encouraging us to till the land when we should do so and, when the land deserves a break, to use the opportunity to consider how best to tend it.<\/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<\/section>\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 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