{"id":36898,"date":"2018-07-09T18:49:50","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-17\/"},"modified":"2022-02-28T09:28:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-28T07:28:53","slug":"wall-17","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-17\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Genesis-17"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"17","date":"20250922","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"39797","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Genesis 17 - Judy Hammond      ","post_title":"Genesis 17 - Judy Hammond","slug":"genesis-17-judy-hammond","old_id":"39797","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Genesis 17","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/genesis-chapter-17-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"102472","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"A New Name For God   ","post_title":"A New Name For God","slug":"a-new-name-for-god","old_id":"102472","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But what does El Shaddai mean? Four possibilities\u2026\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWhen Abram was ninety-nine years old, God appeared to Abram and said to him, \u2018I am El Shaddai.\u2019 Walk in My ways and be blameless\u201d (verse 1).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God appears yet again to Abram in this chapter, but starts off by introducing a new name. What does this new name mean?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ibn Ezra explains that the name means God is powerful. The reason to tell Abram the name now is to scare Abram to listen to God to perform the circumcision.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rashi says the implication is that God is the God for all creatures and there is no need for another.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ramban explains Rashi to mean that El Shaddai means that God does not need any creatures to survive. God can exist without anything else. Ramban prefers the opinion of Ibn Ezra and adds that the name is also used with hidden miracles. The implication is that now God will provide a hidden miracle for Abram with the birth of Isaac.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Radak comes sto the same conclusion, but prefers Rashi\u2019s opinion. He explains that God is sufficient means that God has total control of the universe and therefore he can make two old people conceive and have a baby.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is interesting that the two schools of thought are split between the mitzvah of the circumcision here and the promise of the birth of Isaac. With both the commandment and the promise appearing in the same prophecy, it is interesting that none of the commentators tries to link both of them to El Shaddai.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps, God could be telling Abram that as the all-powerful creator, God can instruct Abram to change his physical body, cast in some way in the \u201cimage of God\u201d. At the same time, God is also telling Abram that as the all-powerful creator God can allow Abram and Sarai to conceive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102473,"alt":"","title":"-621bf00f2100f--621bf00f21010gen17-el shaddai.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg.jpg","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/621bf00f2100f-621bf00f21010gen17-el-shaddai.jpg-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A New Name For God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But what does El Shaddai mean? 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His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Come back, son\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"<p><em>\u201cAbraham said to God, \u2018Oh, if only Ishmael might live before You!\u201d<\/em> (Genesis 17:18)<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nI watch my son drift away.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nOnce, years ago, when a little boy,<br \/>\r\nIshmael watched leaves in the water<br \/>\r\nFloat away, irretrievable,<br \/>\r\nCarried by a current he couldn't comprehend.<br \/>\r\nInconsolably he cried; I held him in my arms,<br \/>\r\nStroked his head, kissed him; but still he cried,<br \/>\r\nAs if his future was there in the water, cast away.<br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\nNow, my turn.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\"I don\u2019t want to be enchained by your tefillin straps, Father,<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>To be deafened by your Sabbath prayers,<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>Married off to a pair of modest, downcast eyes. <\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>I don\u2019t need your books constraining my hands,<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>Your words imprisoning my arms, Father.<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>Let my hands grow feathers \u2014<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>Not to fly upwards to your cold stars \u2014<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>But to glide on the hot winds of This World,<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>The sweltering gales of my heart, hurricanes of my dreams.\"<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>Come back, son,<br \/>\r\nBe small again.<br \/>\r\nListen to my stories with hungry ears, voracious eyes.<br \/>\r\nSwallow the words again, and laugh.<br \/>\r\nRun to me when I come home,<br \/>\r\nBeg me to pick you up and embrace you<br \/>\r\nCloser, closer.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\"No more words, Father, no more stories.<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>I yearn to devour fire, crunch mountains, drink deserts;<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>I\u2019m young; flames burn within me;<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>A volcano bursts to erupt.<\/em><br \/>\r\n<em>Why can\u2019t you understand, Father?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p>The younger brother will be a proper son,<br \/>\r\nRespectful, studious, wary of sin.<br \/>\r\nBut at night, cold darkness opens my eyes;<br \/>\r\nI cannot sleep<br \/>\r\nWaiting for Ishmael to return,<br \/>\r\nListening<br \/>\r\nFor his laughter<br \/>\r\nAgain.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70033,"alt":"","title":"jer14-moses-prays","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","width":450,"height":648,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":648,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":648,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":648,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":648,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":648,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-292x420.jpg","home_baner-width":292,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Ishmael","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Come back, son","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70033,"alt":"","title":"jer14-moses-prays","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","width":450,"height":648,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":648,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":648,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":648,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":648,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":648,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer14-moses-prays-292x420.jpg","home_baner-width":292,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"428","name":"Parent","old_id":"828"}]},{"order":4,"id":"36912","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"It Cuts Both Ways           ","post_title":"It Cuts Both Ways","slug":"it-cuts-both-ways","old_id":"36912","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Your people claim you in birth and in death","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The great American novelist, Philip Roth, had a complex relationship with Judaism and the Jewish people. To begin with, he was an atheist (though one of Judaism\u2019s secrets is its uncanny ability to absorb an endless array of permutations, including professing against the faith). As for peoplehood, Roth\u2019s early work was seen by the American Jewish community as a betrayal; it had the unforgivable timing of appearing only shortly after six million Jews were exterminated in Europe. Yet Roth\u2019s voice remained a Jewish voice, documenting the aches and breaks of the American Jewish immigrant experience, and weighing in on Jewish life, most successfully through the ventriloquism of fiction. In this way, Roth took on the specter of circumcision and its meaning for secular Jews with sharp profundity:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Circumcision makes it clear as can be that you are here and not there, that you are out and not in \u2013 also that you\u2019re mine and not theirs...Quite convincingly, circumcision gives the lie to the womb-dream of life in the beautiful state of innocent prehistory, the appealing idyll of living \u2018naturally,\u2019 unencumbered by man-made ritual. To be born is to lose all that. The heavy hand of human values falls upon you right at the start, marking your genitals as its own.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> I often think of this passage, from <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Counterlife <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(1986), when reading God\u2019s demand that Abraham and his male progeny circumcise themselves. It may seem that the cited approach here is a modern re-interpretation of an ancient ritual, but to my mind, it perfectly captures <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">milah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>\u2019s<\/em> early, primitive truth. Circumcision reminds us of the persistent, primal claims that traditions, like Judaism, make of its people, whether they like it or not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roth died this spring and was buried in the Bard College cemetery. Supposedly, he chose that Hudson Valley idyll as his final resting place in order to be close to Hannah Arendt \u2013 another great Jew who had a tortured relationship with the Jewish people. Roth\u2019s funeral was a thoroughly secular affair, and yet I am confident that pilgrims to his grave will practice the Jewish custom of placing rocks on his tombstone, just as they do for Arendt. During life, we have the freedom, or at least its illusion, to chart our own path. But your people claim you in birth and in death.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37126,"alt":"","title":"roth's books","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","width":3961,"height":2247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-300x170.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":170,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-768x436.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":436,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1024x581.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":581,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":871,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1162,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1200x681.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":681,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-740x420.jpg","home_baner-width":740,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"It Cuts Both Ways","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Your people claim you in birth and in death","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37126,"alt":"","title":"roth's books","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","width":3961,"height":2247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-300x170.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":170,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-768x436.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":436,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1024x581.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":581,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":871,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1162,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1200x681.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":681,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-740x420.jpg","home_baner-width":740,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"445","name":"Fiction","old_id":"845"},{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"}]},{"order":5,"id":"36906","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Are Women Excluded From the Covenant?           ","post_title":"Are Women Excluded From the Covenant?","slug":"are-women-excluded-from-the-covenant","old_id":"36906","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36841,"post_title":"Efrat Gerber-Aran","slug":"efrat-gerber-aran","old_id":"36841","first_name":"Efrat ","last_name":"Gerber-Aran ","description":"Efrat Gerber-Aran is an analyst, a writing seminar facilitator and social activist, who holds an undergraduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies and a Master\u2019s Degree in literature. Her research interests are in modern women\u2019s midrashim as an expression of modern Orthodox feminism in Israel.\r\n","short_description":"Efrat Gerber-Aran is an analyst, a writing seminar facilitator and social activist","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36842,"alt":"","title":"efrat gerber-aran","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Blessed is the Circumcision of the Heart","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is not that I am in favor of female circumcision (I am against it), but when I read Genesis Chapter 17, I cannot ignore the gender problem that arises from the commandment to perform circumcision. \u00a0Women do not participate in the covenant between God and the children of Abraham, and I would like to propose a midrash that will give an alternative understanding of circumcision.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the Torah of Moses we are told \u201cevery male among you shall be circumcised\u201d (Genesis 17:10), and it says, \"that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you\" (17:11). \u00a0Our (male) Sages said: \u201cJust as circumcising the foreskin applies only to males, so too does the covenant that is \u2018between Me and you\u2019 apply only to males.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our female Sages objected: \u201cDoes the covenant really apply only to men? About Sarah the Torah states: \u2018I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations\u2019 (17:16), in order to teach us that God\u2019s blessing applies to both males and in females.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The men concurred with the women sages and said: \u201cCircumcision of the foreskin applies only to males, while the covenant \u2018between Me and you\u2019 applies to males and females alike.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And what is the covenant that applies to both males and females?<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">milat halev<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the circumcision of the heart, as it is written: \"Cut away, therefore, the foreskin of your hearts\" (Deuteronomy 10:16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And what does <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">milat halev<\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">circumcision of the heart mean? \u00a0This is prayer, as it says: \"What is the service of God that is performed in the heart? It is prayer\u201d (Taanit 2a). <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From now on, do not say, \"Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your hearts,\" but rather \"and you shall verbalize (make into \u2018<em>milah<\/em>\u2019 a word, instead of a circumcision, \u2018<em>milah<\/em>\u2019) your heart.\" In other words, by virtue of the words we utter, our heart becomes a heart that feels and understands. \u00a0It sees the people around us and understands their pain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At a covenantal birth ceremony, whether for a girl or a boy, we should pray - \"May it be Your will, that You circumcise the thickening of our hearts so that we shall see the other, the weak and the estranged, who are nevertheless created in Your image according to Your likeness. \u00a0Grant this baby girl or baby boy a heart that feels and understands. Blessed are You, God, who circumcises our hearts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68454,"alt":"","title":"is58-heart-hand","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","width":1280,"height":1230,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-300x288.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":288,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-768x738.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":738,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1024x984.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":984,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1230,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1230,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1200x1153.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1153,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-437x420.png","home_baner-width":437,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Are Women Excluded From the Covenant?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Blessed is the Circumcision of the Heart","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68454,"alt":"","title":"is58-heart-hand","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","width":1280,"height":1230,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-300x288.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":288,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-768x738.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":738,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1024x984.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":984,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1230,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1230,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1200x1153.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1153,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-437x420.png","home_baner-width":437,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"365","name":"Gender","old_id":"765"},{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"447","name":"Heart","old_id":"847"}]},{"order":6,"id":"36901","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Circumcision: Repudiating Fate           ","post_title":"Circumcision: Repudiating Fate","slug":"circumcision-repudiating-fate","old_id":"36901","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33692,"post_title":"Alex Israel","slug":"33692-2","old_id":"33692","first_name":"Alex","last_name":"Israel","description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem. His first book \"I Kings - Torn in Two\" was published in 2013. See his website www.alexisrael.org, and his podcasts at https:\/\/elmad.pardes.org\/ and https:\/\/tanachstudy.com\/ \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33693,"alt":"","title":"alex israel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","width":1657,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-679x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":679,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-679x1024.jpg","large-width":679,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","1536x1536-width":1018,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","2048x2048-width":1357,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-795x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":795,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Abraham and Sarah begin a journey of transformation: their names are changed, and their bodies are transformed ","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a modern context, <em>brit milah, <\/em>circumcision, appears wrong to many . Why mutilate a small baby? We need to ask why this is the eternal covenant of the Jewish people.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The Midrash records a fascinating exchange the great Rabbi Akiva, and his Roman torturer, Turnus-Rufus:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turnus Rufus: \u201cWhose works are superior? Those of the Holy One or those of flesh and blood?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Akiva: \u201cThose of flesh and blood are superior.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turnus Rufus: \u201cWhy are you circumcised?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Akiva brought him sheaves of wheat and white bread and said to him: \u201cThese are the works of the Holy One, and these are the works of flesh and blood. Are the latter not superior?\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Turnus Rufus: \u201cWhy then is a male born uncircumcised?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Akiva said to him: \u201cWhy is the umbilical cord attached? Does his mother not sever it? And why is born uncircumcised? Because the Holy One only gave us the commandments in order to refine us through them\u2026\u201d (Midrash Tanhuma) <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hellenistic society did not approve of bodily mutilation. At the Olympics, it celebrated the beauty of nature exhibiting the naked body and its athletic abilities. Similarly, the Hellenists believed in fate, in the role of social class that God had assigned humans. This is the mindset of Turnus Rufus.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rabbi Akiva responds: Wheat or bread? Flax or linen? In other words, the human role is not to accept fate and celebrate nature, but rather to transform and refine nature. \u00a0The example of the umbilical cord takes this further: If anything, altering creation does not<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">violate the laws of nature, but is in fact a basic obligation of existence, a critical element, perhaps, of nature itself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dr. Ido Hevroni comments on this Midrash:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe \u2026 severance of the foreskin, the most impulsive organ of the human body, makes a clear statement: Man shares with God the ability to stand outside of and apart from nature. Man is a creation whose horizon of aspirations lies far beyond the satisfaction of his natural impulses. Man wants to change\u2026 the world.\u201d (Circumcision as Rebellion. Azure 28)<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The legacy of Abraham is to refine that which nature gives us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abraham and Sarah start their journey childless. Theirs is a journey of transformation: their names are changed, and their bodies are transformed - Abraham is circumcised and Sarah becomes fertile. Life is not about acceptance of fate, but rather transforming and refining the natural reality. Only once they internalize this idea are they blessed with a child.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102481,"alt":"","title":"-621bf77ae4e89--621bf77ae4e8agen17-flax 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Repudiating Fate","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Abraham and Sarah begin a journey of transformation: their names are changed, and their bodies are transformed ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":102481,"alt":"","title":"-621bf77ae4e89--621bf77ae4e8agen17-flax 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is Remembered?           ","post_title":"Who is Remembered?","slug":"who-is-remembered","old_id":"36908","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36661,"post_title":"Leora Kling Perkins","slug":"leora-kling-perkins","old_id":"36661","first_name":"Leora Kling ","last_name":"Perkins","description":"Leora Kling Perkins is a fifth year rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary pursuing rabbinic ordination and a Master's in Education.","short_description":"Leora Kling Perkins is a fifth-year rabbinical student at JTS also pursuing a Master's in Education.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36662,"alt":"","title":"leora kling perkins","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins.jpg","width":1294,"height":1727,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins-767x1024.jpg","large-width":767,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins.jpg","1536x1536-width":1151,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins.jpg","2048x2048-width":1294,"2048x2048-height":1727,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins-899x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":899,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leora-kling-perkins-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Learning to question our assumptions, to notice who is being excluded","post_main_content_content":"<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, \u201cCan a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?\u201d And Abraham said to God, \u201cO that Ishmael might live by Your favor!\u201d <\/span><\/em><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(v. 17-18)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What a response! Abraham doesn\u2019t believe God! He rejects the possibility that he and Sarah could have a child, and makes a contingency plan.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before we unpack Abraham\u2019s motivation, let\u2019s zoom out.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This text highlights two people who, for all the Torah talks about them, seem to be minor characters.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abraham responds here to the news of his and Sarah\u2019s future conception with disbelieving laughter, just as Sarah does later. However, it is <\/span><b>Sarah<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> who God derides, responding that nothing is \u201ctoo wondrous for God,\u201d whereas God completely ignores Abraham\u2019s comment here. Like so many women, Sarah is criticized for behavior that in men is rewarded or ignored.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, Sarah is remembered when their son Isaac is named for her laughter, not Abraham\u2019s. And when it is described, it is a laughter of gratitude and amazement: the opposite of how God initially read her response.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><b>Ishmael<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, like Sarah, is also ignored. Through no apparent fault of his own, Ishmael is initially ignored in God\u2019s promise. What if Abraham\u2019s dismissal of God\u2019s promise was not out of disbelief, but out of support for his discarded son? If so, then Abraham lives up to his reputation as the parent of many nations, intervening with God on behalf of his forgotten son. He reminds us all to look beyond ourselves, to see value even in those we may have dismissed as being too different, or not a part of our group.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like Sarah, Ishmael is also remembered. God promised to protect him and make him prosper. May we learn from all the characters in this story to question our assumptions, to notice who is being excluded, and to fight to right that wrong.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50016,"alt":"","title":"dt8-question","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","width":771,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-181x300.png","medium-width":181,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","medium_large-width":617,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","large-width":617,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","1536x1536-width":771,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","2048x2048-width":771,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-723x1200.png","post_full_size-width":723,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-253x420.png","home_baner-width":253,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Who is Remembered?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Learning to question our assumptions, to notice who is being excluded","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50016,"alt":"","title":"dt8-question","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","width":771,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-181x300.png","medium-width":181,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","medium_large-width":617,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","large-width":617,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","1536x1536-width":771,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","2048x2048-width":771,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-723x1200.png","post_full_size-width":723,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-253x420.png","home_baner-width":253,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"427","name":"Sarah","old_id":"827"}]},{"order":8,"id":"36910","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Simply a Father           ","post_title":"Simply a Father","slug":"simply-a-father","old_id":"36910","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer.  Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"If you wish to understand the creation of the universe, think about the birth of a child.","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The most influential man who ever lived ruled no empire. He commanded no army. He engaged in no spectacular acts of heroism on the battlefield and proclaimed no prophecy. He led no vast throng of followers, and had no disciples other than his own child. Yet today more than half of the 6 billion people alive on the face of the planet identify themselves as his heirs. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His name, of course, is Abraham, held as the founder of faith by the three great monotheisms, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We know next to nothing about his early life. Yet never was a promise more richly fulfilled than the words of God to him when He changed his name from Abram to Abraham: \u201cFor I have made you father of many nations\u201d (Gen. 17:5). The \u201cAv\u201d in Avram\/Avraham means \u201cfather\u201d. The great scenes in Abraham\u2019s life \u2013 waiting for a child, the birth of Ishmael, the tension between Sarah and Hagar, the birth of Isaac, and the binding \u2013 are all about his role as a father. Judaism, more than any other faith, sees parenthood as the highest challenge of all. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the first day of Rosh Hashanah \u2013 the anniversary of creation \u2013 we read of two mothers, Sarah and Hannah and the births of their sons. Therefore if you wish to understand the creation of the universe, think about the birth of a child. Abraham, the hero of faith, is simply a father.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>image: Shira Hecht Koller<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":38448,"alt":"","title":"GEn 30 SH-K Birth","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth.jpg","width":4898,"height":3265,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Simply a Father","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"If you wish to understand the creation of the universe, think about the birth of a child","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":38448,"alt":"","title":"GEn 30 SH-K Birth","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth.jpg","width":4898,"height":3265,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/GEn-30-SH-K-Birth-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"428","name":"Parent","old_id":"828"}]},{"order":9,"id":"36919","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"What Happened to Me When I Circumcised My Son           ","post_title":"What Happened to Me When I Circumcised My Son","slug":"what-happened-to-me-when-i-circumcised-my-son","old_id":"36919","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36839,"post_title":"Yotam Tulub","slug":"yotam-tulub","old_id":"36839","first_name":"Yotam ","last_name":"Tulub","description":"Yotam Tolub was born in France to a French father and a Brazilian mother and grew up in Israel with the exception of four years in the United States when he was a child. He studied law and film, holds a Master's degree in gerontology, works as a lawyer promoting the rights of people with disabilities, and is a noted author.\r\n","short_description":"Yotam Tulub is a noted author, and lawyer specializing in rights of people with disabilities.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36840,"alt":"","title":"yotam tulub","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","width":115,"height":133,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","thumbnail-width":115,"thumbnail-height":133,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","medium-width":115,"medium-height":133,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","medium_large-width":115,"medium_large-height":133,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","large-width":115,"large-height":133,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","1536x1536-width":115,"1536x1536-height":133,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","2048x2048-width":115,"2048x2048-height":133,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","post_full_size-width":115,"post_full_size-height":133,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/yotam-tulub-e1533450746621.jpg","home_baner-width":115,"home_baner-height":133}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"When being religious is based on WIIFM - \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me\u201d","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A week ago, I was privileged to bring my son into the covenant of Abraham. This is the nice way to say that I invited all my acquaintances to see how they take a little slice from my son\u2019s body. I have friends who pray for the birth of daughters just so they do not have to deal with circumcision. And if a son is born, they hope he is born circumcised. And if he needs a circumcision, then they call a doctor to do it. Everyone around me still chooses to circumcise their son (94% according to the Guttman survey), but I hear more and more grunts on the way to the circumcision. Many of my friends \u00a0sweat quite a bit to explain to themselves why they decided to circumcise their son (because of tradition, because of the Nazis, because of social pressure).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes what needs to be done with particularly difficult questions is not to answer them but to ask a completely different question instead. And I think the interesting question is not why I circumcise my son but what happens when I circumcise him. A week ago I found out what was going on. I participated in a religious ceremony in the time-honored sense of the word.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a meaning that is gradually being lost, in a time when choosing to be religious is based on \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me\u201d: observing shabbat is social, sitting shiva is psychological, modesty expresses innocence lost. In modern times, religious laws have become passe and have gotten away from the notion that they are a Divine command. So here's a slice of a commandment that defies logic. When I circumcised my son, I felt for the first time in ages that I am observing <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mitzvot<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, commandments, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">not only because they are worthwhile, or because they are healthy. I observe mitzvot because that is what God commanded.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36923,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_532590061","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061.jpg","width":6063,"height":4371,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-300x216.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":216,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-768x554.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":554,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-1024x738.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":738,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1107,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1476,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-1200x865.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":865,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-583x420.jpg","home_baner-width":583,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"What Happened to Me When I Circumcised My Son","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"When being religious is based on WIIFM - \u201cwhat\u2019s in it for me\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":36923,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_532590061","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061.jpg","width":6063,"height":4371,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-300x216.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":216,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-768x554.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":554,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-1024x738.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":738,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1107,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1476,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-1200x865.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":865,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shutterstock_532590061-583x420.jpg","home_baner-width":583,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"411","name":"mitzvah","old_id":"811"},{"term_id":"449","name":"Religion","old_id":"849"}]},{"order":10,"id":"36917","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner - Gen17           ","post_title":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner - Gen17","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen17","old_id":"36917","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34011,"post_title":"Jeremy Benstein","slug":"dr-jeremy-benstein","old_id":"34011","first_name":"Jeremy","last_name":"Benstein","description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English. He is one of the founders of the Heschel Center for Sustainability. He writes the MiliMiliM - Hebrew Corner on the site, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English,  and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). 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Six of those times it is followed by the word \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">acharei<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cfollowing\u201d or \u201cafter,\u201d emphasizing that \u2018zera,\u2019\u2019 or seed, or what grows from the seed, is continuity. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>Zera\u2019<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">represents the next generation both for plants and for people. One of the six orders of the Mishnah (who knows six? \u00a0I know 6\u2026) is called <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zera\u2019im<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or \u201cseeds\u201d as it deals primarily with laws pertaining to agriculture. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thus, a<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> zera\u2019<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is both what a farmer puts in the ground, and what Onan spilled on the ground (see Gen. 38 - giving us the English term \u201conanism\u201d, even though technically what he did is better labeled coitus interruptus), and what can grow from both types.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bringing forth new generations sounds like it should always have happy and optimistic connotations, but the act of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>zrei\u2019ah \/ hazra\u2019ah<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(planting\/insemination) can be a very apprehensive time, not knowing if everything will come to term. Psalm 126 expresses this well: \u201c\u05d4\u05d6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>hazor'im<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They who sow in tears, shall reap with songs of joy. Though he goes along weeping, carrying \u05de\u05e9\u05da \u05d4\u05d6\u05e8\u05e2, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">meshech hazara'<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the seed-bag, he shall come back with songs of joy, carrying his sheaves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And in Hebrew, it\u2019s not only seeds that can be sown, but as in Psalm 97: <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or zaru\u2019a latzadik<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, even light is sown, as a reward for the righteous, and happiness for the straight of heart.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102468,"alt":"","title":"-621beb1546b27--621beb1546b28gen17-milim 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17","slug":"lessons-on-the-daily-chapter-gen-17","old_id":"36899","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Lessons on the Daily Chapter - Gen 17","tile_main_caption":"Short talks by Adam Mintz and by David Silber","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"Rabbi Silber's teachings are dedicated in memory of Joan Silverstein Meyers and Ellen Goodstein Koplow. ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/sets\/genesis-chapter-17","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"2","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"36915","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Chapter Summary - Genesis 17           ","post_title":"Chapter Summary - Genesis 17","slug":"chapter-summary-genesis-17","old_id":"36915","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Chapter 17: A son? Very funny!\r\n","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A covenant between God and Abram is nothing new (we encountered a covenant two chapters ago in the \u201cCovenant Between the Pieces\u201d). But in this chapter two things are renewed:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sign of the covenant: A sign of the existence of the covenant will be imprinted in the flesh - the covenant of circumcision.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The covenant is an eternal covenant with all of Abraham\u2019s sons for generations (just as circumcision is, as we know).<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abram and Sarai undergo a type of renewal with their names. \u00a0They are now called Abraham and Sarah. The change of name symbolizes a change that will take place in Abraham and Sarah\u2019s future lives. It is a change that would result in them becoming the father and mother of a multitude of nations - first and foremost, the father and mother of their son, whose birth is foretold in this chapter.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The news of Isaac\u2019s birth is received by Abraham with the laughter of disbelief (verse 17). This is the first but not the last laugh to accompany his birth and his name (stay with us for the next few chapters).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Points to Ponder:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<ol>\r\n\t<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brit Milah, circumcision, is the \"sign of the covenant.\u201d \u00a0It is a sign in the flesh. It joins the rainbow as a \"sign of the covenant\" (an alliance with all humanity) - a sign in space. In the future, the Sabbath will join them; the latter being a \"sign of the covenant\" in time.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The circumcision upon which Abraham is commanded in this chapter is formulated as a law in all regards, with all its details, its concerns, and the punishment for those who violate \u00a0it. It is the kind of law that we will meet later in the Torah (verses 10-14).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apparently, Abraham had already come to terms with the fact that Sarah and he will not have a son together. God insists on convincing him that having a son together is, nevertheless, part of the plan (verses 18-19).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Isaac will be the son who continues the Abrahamic covenant. But Yishmael will also be blessed as the \u201cfather of twelve chieftains\u201d (verse 20).. Does the number sound familiar to you?<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. \u00a0<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ishmael is circumcised at the age of thirteen (verse 25).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Genesis 17","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/36898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}