{"id":89508,"date":"2021-02-27T23:13:54","date_gmt":"2021-02-27T21:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=89508"},"modified":"2021-02-27T23:13:54","modified_gmt":"2021-02-27T21:13:54","slug":"love-and-loathing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/love-and-loathing\/","title":{"rendered":"Love and Loathing\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u05de\u05b4\u05e4\u05bc\u05b4\u05e7\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05b6\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b6\u05ea\u05b0\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5\u05b9\u05e0\u05b8\u05df \u05e2\u05b7\u05dc\u05be\u05db\u05bc\u05b5\u05df \u05e9\u05c2\u05b8\u05e0\u05b5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b4\u05d9 \u05db\u05bc\u05b8\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05b9\u05e8\u05b7\u05d7 \u05e9\u05c1\u05b8\u05e7\u05b6\u05e8\u05c3<\/span><\/p>\n

I ponder Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way<\/span><\/p>\n

Words in Memory of Matt Eisenfeld and Sara Duker on their 25th Yahrzeit<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The 13th stanza of Psalm 119, the eight verses beginning with <\/span>mem<\/span><\/em>, typify the paean to God\u2019s Torah that is the central theme of this eightfold acrostic. The first and last verses of this stanza show opposite sides of the coin:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first (119:97) speaks of love: \u201cO how I love Your teaching! It is my meditation all day long.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The last (119:104), of hate: \u201cI ponder Your precepts; therefore I hate every way that is untrue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other than the need to fill 176 verses, why this declaration of what is hated when we already have such enthusiastic ways of describing what is loved?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A story of the sage Hillel the Elder can shed light on this question.\u00a0 When Hillel is asked by a would-be convert to produce for him the entire Torah while balancing on one foot, he answers: \u201cWhat is hateful to you do not do to your neighbor\u2026 The rest is commentary. Go learn.\u201d His words place ethical concern for another at the center of our tradition. Yet, again, why the focus on what is \u201chateful\u201d and not what is \u201cbeloved?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hillel knew how easy it seems to fall in love and how much effort it takes just to begin to understand what such love really means. Standing on one\u2019s foot could hardly be the occasion to explore such a commitment. But hatred is different. We know immediately what we find hateful and usually, we need not delve into that hate. The rest, the commentary, is how to act in a way that truly precludes visiting that which we hate on other people, whether through action or inaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

The psalm comes from a similar place. Love of God\u2019s Torah is transcendent and to meditate every day on the beauty and richness of Torah is a privilege highly valued by the psalmist. Yet, for Torah to penetrate the world for good it first has to touch the ethical core of human life: hating cruelty and injustice. Verse 119:104 teaches that the hatred of self-deception lies at the foundation of a life spent seeking new ways to do good and pursue justice.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These words are presented on the occasion of the 25th yahrzeit of\u00a0 two extraordinary people Matt Eisenfeld and Sara Duker whose names begin with the <\/span>mem<\/em> <\/span>and <\/span>shin<\/em> <\/span>that bracket these verses. Matt and Sara were among the 26 people murdered by the bomber of Bus 18 in the heart of Jerusalem. Certainly what comes to mind in thinking of their relationship with each other, with others, and with God is the transcendent love and joyful Torah of verse 97.\u00a0 Yet, in the manner of this psalm and the incisive doctrine of Hillel the Elder, Matt and Sara were also driven by an intolerance for what was hurtful for others, understanding that detesting injustice was an expression of their love of Torah.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":false,"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"\u05de","main_caption":"Love and Loathing\u00a0","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"104. I ponder Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":false,"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\/89508"}],"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=89508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89510,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89508\/revisions\/89510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}