{"id":42210,"date":"2018-07-09T18:50:46","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-74\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T12:41:08","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T09:41:08","slug":"wall-74","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-74\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Exodus-24"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"74","date":"20251210","book":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"42499","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Exodus 24 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Exodus 24 - Judy Hammond","slug":"exodus-24-judy-hammond","old_id":"42499","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":"74","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":"Exodus 24","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\/exodus-chapter-24-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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"104893","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"We Will Do And We Will Listen ","post_title":"We Will Do And We Will Listen","slug":"we-will-do-and-we-will-listen","old_id":"104893","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. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","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":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But listening is no less important than doing\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cAll that God tells us to do we will do and we will listen\u201d (Verse 7). This famous utterance has become symbolic of the selfless trust and blind faith that the people had in God. The popular understanding is that they agreed to act on the laws of God even before having heard them. However, the text itself does not seem to match this grand assumption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

First, the people have already responded twice to declarations of Moses with \u201cwe will do!\u201d In chapter 19, Moses assembles the elders, and instructs them regarding the commandments, \u201cAll those assembled answered as one, saying, \u201cAll that God has spoken we will do!\u201d And Moses brought back the people\u2019s words to God\u201d(19:8). In verse 3 of chapter 24, they have a similar reaction. \u201cMoses went and repeated to the people all the commands of God and all the rules; and all the people answered with one voice, saying, \u201cAll the things that God has commanded we will do!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The second problem with the popular saying is that the people have already heard many of the commandments before they call this out. Besides the Ten Commandments, the first part of this verse explains outright that Moses \"took the record of the covenant and read it aloud to the people\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One explanation for this is that the Torah is not necessarily written in chronological order. This chapter actually takes place earlier in chapter 19. This is another perspective of the giving of the Torah in the same way that there were multiple perspectives of creation and the flood story earlier in Genesis. This answer works in many ways, but fails to explain the fact that in this very verse, Moses reads from the scroll to the people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another possible answer is that this is sequential. Initially, the people voice their support by blindly saying to Moses that they will act on what God commands. They then hear the Ten Commandments, and in this chapter again repeat their fealty. Now Moses reads from the record of the covenant. Most commentators interpret this as the manuscript of the Torah covering everything from Genesis until now. This is different from what the people had been given beforehand. Those were just laws. Of course their response would be \u201cwe will do\u201d to just laws. Now they are given the whole history of the people in addition to the laws. Their proclamation then is twofold, first a repetition of their oath to follow the commandments, and now they add an oath to listen and hear the stories of their history. This sets the tone for the essential elements of Judaism: following God\u2019s law and listening to the narrative of the past.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56736,"alt":"","title":"isam1-heart-listening","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","width":320,"height":320,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":320,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":320,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":320,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":320,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":320,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":320}},"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":"We Will Do And We Will Listen","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But listening is no less important than doing","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56736,"alt":"","title":"isam1-heart-listening","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","width":320,"height":320,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":320,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":320,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":320,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":320,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":320,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":320}},"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"414","name":"Law","old_id":"814"},{"term_id":"477","name":"Story","old_id":"877"},{"term_id":"578","name":"Listening","old_id":"978"}]},{"order":3,"id":"42516","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Everlasting Covenant: Closing the Deal ","post_title":"The Everlasting Covenant: Closing The Deal","slug":"the-everlasting-covenant-closing-the-deal","old_id":"42516","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41606,"post_title":"Yael Landman","slug":"yael-landman","old_id":"41606","first_name":"Yael ","last_name":"Landman ","description":"Dr. Yael Landman is Visiting Research Fellow in Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College and Acquisitions Editor at Gorgias Press. She holds a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Yeshiva University and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and has completed fellowships through the Association for Jewish Studies, the Tikvah Center for Law and Jewish Civilization at NYU School of Law, and the Center for Jewish Law and Contemporary Civilization at Cardozo School of Law. Yael has taught at Yeshiva College and the Drisha Institute. ","short_description":"Dr. Yael Landman is Visiting Research Fellow in Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College and Acquisitions Editor at Gorgias Press.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41607,"alt":"","title":"Yael Landman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552.jpg","width":3197,"height":4747,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552-202x300.jpg","medium-width":202,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552-690x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":690,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552-690x1024.jpg","large-width":690,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552.jpg","1536x1536-width":1034,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552.jpg","2048x2048-width":1379,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552-808x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":808,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Yael-Landman-e1538905276552-283x420.jpg","home_baner-width":283,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Written codification and oral repetitions","post_main_content_content":"

Exodus 24 describes a ceremony that closes the covenant of the preceding chapters. As part of this ceremony, Moses records the contents of the covenant in writing (Exod 24:4) and reads aloud the entire \u201cCovenant Code\u201d (or \u201cBook\/ Record of the Covenant\u201d; Exod 24:7). This public reading of law is the first of several in the Bible, from books spanning different periods. Moses later writes down the law and commands the Levites to read it to Israel every seventh year (Deut 31). Joshua reads aloud all the commandments, leaving nothing out, at Mt. Ebal (Josh 8). When a book of law is discovered during Josiah\u2019s temple renovations, the king organizes a public reading and renews the covenant by ushering in a program of religious reform (2 Kgs 22-23). Finally, during the post-exilic period, Ezra reads all the laws of Moses to an assembly of men, women, and children (Neh 8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Of these examples, Exodus and Deuteronomy in particular emphasize the act of writing. In a society that was not fully literate, public readings would ensure that a wide range of the population could hear the contents of the law. Yet the laws could also have been transmitted orally without recording them in writing at all; or they could have been written without the Torah sparing words to describe this. Why the emphasis on writing?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We see from the focus on a <\/span>written<\/span><\/i> law and <\/span>reading<\/span><\/i> that in Exodus 24, it was not just the content of the laws and their recitation that mattered, but also their written-ness, irrespective of the people\u2019s literacy or illiteracy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Exodus 24, the public reading of law occurs as one part of a series of rituals, including animal sacrifice and sprinkling the people with blood. The writing of the laws allows for the creation of a material object of significance, so that the tablets are a ritual object functioning as part of a larger covenant-completion ceremony. In its materiality, the law is <\/span>physically<\/span><\/i> given, received, and meant to be seen. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The written law thereby becomes a symbol of covenant, evidence of the formalized relationship between God and Israel, which will require repeated renewal long after the dramatic events of Exodus 24.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image by Ben Schachter, courtesy of the artist.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71363,"alt":"","title":"Jer36-spoken written","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","width":924,"height":738,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-300x240.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-768x613.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":613,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","large-width":924,"large-height":738,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","1536x1536-width":924,"1536x1536-height":738,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","2048x2048-width":924,"2048x2048-height":738,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","post_full_size-width":924,"post_full_size-height":738,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-526x420.jpg","home_baner-width":526,"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":"The Everlasting Covenant: Closing The Deal","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Written codification and oral repetitions","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71363,"alt":"","title":"Jer36-spoken written","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","width":924,"height":738,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-300x240.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-768x613.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":613,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","large-width":924,"large-height":738,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","1536x1536-width":924,"1536x1536-height":738,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","2048x2048-width":924,"2048x2048-height":738,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written.jpg","post_full_size-width":924,"post_full_size-height":738,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer36-spoken-written-526x420.jpg","home_baner-width":526,"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"414","name":"Law","old_id":"814"},{"term_id":"644","name":"Writing","old_id":"1044"}]},{"order":4,"id":"42522","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"The \u201cPavement of Sapphire\u201d and the \u201cThread of Blue\u201d ","post_title":"The \u201cPavement Of Sapphire\u201d And The \u201cThread Of Blue\u201d","slug":"the-pavement-of-sapphire-and-the-thread-of-blue","old_id":"42522","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Azure: heavenly and earthly connections ","post_main_content_content":"

In Exodus Chapter 24:9-10, we are told that Moses, Aaron, his two eldest sons Nadav and Avihu, and the seventy elders of Israel ascended Mount Sinai and there \u201cthey saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity\u201d. A rabbinic tradition from the Mishnaic period (Menahot 43b) connects the color of \u201csapphire\u201d (<\/span>sappir<\/span><\/em>) with the required color of the \u201cblue thread\u201d (<\/span>ptil tekhelet<\/span><\/em>) in the <\/span>tzitzit<\/em> <\/span>(fringe tassel) [see Numbers 15:28] attached to the corners of the <\/span>talit<\/span><\/em> (the so-called \u201cprayer-shawl\u201d). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Meir (Land of Israel, 2<\/span>nd<\/span> c. C.E.) said: Why is <\/span>tekhelet<\/span><\/em> singled out from other colors [for the fulfillment of the commandment of <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/em>]? Because <\/span>tekhelet<\/span><\/em> is the color of the sea, and the sea is the color of the heavenly firmament and the heavenly firmament is like the Throne of Glory [on which God is enthroned]. As it is said: \u201c\u2026under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity\u201d (Exodus 24:10). And it is also written: \u201c\u2026the semblance of a throne, in appearance like sapphire\u201d (Ezekiel 1:26)\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Biblical and Talmudic times, and now again in our day due a remarkable collaboration between traditional learning and scientific research, we are again able to have the biblically commanded <\/span>ptil tekhelet<\/span><\/em> in our <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/i>Seeing this \u201cthread of blue\u201d allows us to imagine the \u201cpavement of sapphire, like the sky for purity\u201d. And through this celestial-blue heavenly firmament, perhaps we may even be able to visualize God enthroned on the Throne of Glory.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":42477,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","width":746,"height":374,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet-300x150.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","medium_large-width":746,"medium_large-height":374,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","large-width":746,"large-height":374,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","1536x1536-width":746,"1536x1536-height":374,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","2048x2048-width":746,"2048x2048-height":374,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","post_full_size-width":746,"post_full_size-height":374,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","home_baner-width":746,"home_baner-height":374}},"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":"The \u201cPavement of Sapphire\u201d and the \u201cThread of Blue\u201d","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Azure: heavenly and earthly connections ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42477,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","width":746,"height":374,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet-300x150.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","medium_large-width":746,"medium_large-height":374,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","large-width":746,"large-height":374,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","1536x1536-width":746,"1536x1536-height":374,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","2048x2048-width":746,"2048x2048-height":374,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","post_full_size-width":746,"post_full_size-height":374,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/ex24-tekhelet.jpg","home_baner-width":746,"home_baner-height":374}},"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"},{"term_id":"665","name":"Tallit","old_id":"1065"}]},{"order":5,"id":"42534","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Consent of the Governed ","post_title":"Consent Of The Governed","slug":"consent-of-the-governed","old_id":"42534","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38047,"post_title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","slug":"shoshana-michael-zucker","old_id":"38047","first_name":"Shoshana Michael ","last_name":"Zucker ","description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor by profession, but would much rather be learning and teaching Torah. A graduate of Barnard College, she made aliyah in 1983 and now lives in Kfar Saba where she is an active member of the Masorti Congregation Hod veHadar. ","short_description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38048,"alt":"","title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","width":231,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","medium_large-width":231,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","large-width":231,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","1536x1536-width":231,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","2048x2048-width":231,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","post_full_size-width":231,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","home_baner-width":231,"home_baner-height":310}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":" From passive recipients to active participants","post_main_content_content":"

In Exodus 24, God commands Moses to ascend Mount Sinai again, accompanied part of the way Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders. They bow at a distance and Moses continues alone. God reveals unspecified commandments, Moses reports them to the people, and then records in them in writing, for the first time. This is followed by a ceremony of ratification. Why is all this necessary?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The revelation in Exodus 20 overwhelms and terrifies the people, who agree to do whatever Moses says, as long as he represents them to God. Their fear casts doubt on the validity of their agreement, because they may not have truly acted of their own free will. Therefore, a different process is introduced.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The late<\/span> Prof. Ze\u2019ev Falk<\/span><\/a>, of the Hebrew University Faculty of Law and the Schechter Institutes, presents a unique perspective. In a lesson taught at the Prime Minister\u2019s residence,<\/span> he explained, \u201cThe written Torah was first taught orally and only in time was it written, one scroll at a time\u2026 Moses presented the details of the laws to the people, and by discussing the details the listeners became participants.\u201d According to Falk, Moses is God\u2019s agent in chairing a proto-Constituent Assembly that formulates Torah on the basis of the revelation that Moses experienced.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While this reading is anachronistic, it is also a strong statement that the consent of governed is essential for creating a legal system that will stand up over time. This idea is not foreign to the tradition; indeed in the Talmud (Shabbat 88a), Rav A\u1e25a bar Ya\u2019akov expresses concern that duress invalidates the acceptance of Torah at Sinai. Rava answers this concern by stressing, \u201cThey accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus (Esther 9:27).\u201d Falk moves the re-acceptance back in time, to the period immediately after the revelation at Sinai.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The ratification described in Exodus 24 is the closing ceremony of the \u201cConstituent Assembly.\u201d Moses reads the Book of the Covenant, the people affirm that have heard and agree. The elders experience a quiet revelation, and everyone is calm enough to enjoy a celebratory feast.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The covenant was ratified but the process of learning endures, as Jews who freely choose to be partners in the covenant between God and Israel continue to study and create Torah.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":62610,"alt":"","title":"1kings15-democracy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy.png","width":1280,"height":911,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-300x214.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":214,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-768x547.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":547,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-1024x729.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":729,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":911,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":911,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-1200x854.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":854,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-590x420.png","home_baner-width":590,"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":"Consent Of The Governed","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":" From passive recipients to active participants","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":62610,"alt":"","title":"1kings15-democracy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy.png","width":1280,"height":911,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-300x214.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":214,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-768x547.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":547,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-1024x729.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":729,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":911,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":911,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-1200x854.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":854,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings15-democracy-590x420.png","home_baner-width":590,"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"},{"term_id":"628","name":"Democracy","old_id":"1028"}]},{"order":6,"id":"42524","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Israel\u2019s Foundational Moment: Covenant Not Contract ","post_title":"Israel\u2019s Foundational Moment: Covenant Not Contract","slug":"israels-foundational-moment-covenant-not-contract","old_id":"42524","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":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Biblical politics is different from every other account given in Western thought","post_main_content_content":"

[T]he birth of Israel's monarchy, its social contract, was <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> its birth as a body politic. It was the <\/span>second<\/span><\/i> foundational event in Jewish political history, not the first. In this respect, biblical politics is different from every other account given in Western thought.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first event took place at Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. It was there that God proposed a covenant with the people: 'You have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession, though the whole earth is mine. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation' (Ex. 19: 6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God tells Moses to take this proposal to the people, to see whether they are willing to agree. Moses does, and the people give their consent, both before and after the revelation when they hear the Ten Commandments. Before: 'The people all responded together, \"We will do everything the Lord has said\"' (Ex 19: 8). After: 'They responded with one voice, \"Everything the Lord has said we will do\"' (Ex. 24: 3). This was Israel's great foundational moment, its birth as a body politic, a nation under the sovereignty of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What was transacted at Sinai was not a <\/span>contract<\/span><\/i>. It was a <\/span>covenant<\/span><\/i>. In a contract, two or more individuals, each pursuing their own interest, come together to make an exchange for mutual benefit. \u00a0So there are commercial contracts that create the market, and there is the social contract that creates the state. A covenant is something different, more like a marriage than a deal. In a covenant, two or more individuals, each respecting the dignity and integrity of the other, come together in a bond of love and trust, to share their interests, sometimes their lives, by pledging their faithfulness to one another, to do together what neither can achieve alone.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: <\/span>Future Tense<\/span><\/i><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51917,"alt":"","title":"dt29-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":900,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"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":"Israel\u2019s Foundational Moment: Covenant Not Contract","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Biblical politics is different from every other account given in Western thought","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51917,"alt":"","title":"dt29-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":900,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"}]},{"order":7,"id":"42438","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Bible on the Bench: Moses Went Up - Did He Ever Come Down? ","post_title":"Bible on the Bench: Moses Went Up - Did He Ever Come Down?","slug":"bible-on-the-bench-moses-went-up-did-he-ever-come-down","old_id":"42438","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

https:\/\/youtu.be\/WZ_WXsz_kfI<\/p>","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":"Bible on the Bench","tile_main_caption":"Chapter 24: Moses Went Up - Did He Ever Come Down?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"with Adam Mintz and guest commentator, Benny Lau (founder, 929-Israel)","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/WZ_WXsz_kfI","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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":8,"id":"42532","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Color of Water, The Cry of a Child ","post_title":"The Color Of Water, The Cry Of A Child","slug":"the-color-of-water-the-cry-of-a-child","old_id":"42532","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A mystic vision with a stark social message ","post_main_content_content":"

What do you see when you see God? In chapter 24, Moses, Aaron, his sons, and the elders \"see God\", but the Torah's mysterious description only speaks of what lies at His feet. \"Under His feet, like the work of <\/span>livnat hasapir<\/span><\/i>\" (here translated as \u201cpavement of sapphire\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If \"the earth is His footstool\", perhaps the Torah is suggesting that what is most significant and relevant about the ultimate religious experience (and thus about every lesser religious experience) is not what it tells us about God, but how it lets us see our world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is much disagreement concerning the identity of the '<\/span>sapir<\/span><\/i>.' According to Rabbi Meir, it was something similar to the sea, and to the sky. It's reminiscent of James McBride's beautiful phrase, \"God is the color of water.\" But it's not entirely true that, as he continues, \"water has no color.\" When seen up close, in small quantities, water appears colorless, as does the sky. But when seen as a whole, both appear a brilliant azure. Azure in Hebrew is <\/span>techelet<\/span><\/i>, which we can creatively connect to the word <\/span>tachlit<\/span><\/i>, meaning ultimate purpose. When seen up close, detail after detail, our lives can seem colorless, drab, meaningless. A religious experience should allow a person a wider, heavenly perspective which sees a whole more brilliant than the sum of its parts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But there is also a danger to an overly holistic perspective, that a grand ideology makes us lose sight of the individual. The Midrash offers a radically different interpretation that serves as complement and corrective. Creatively reading \"<\/span>livnat\"<\/span><\/i> not as a color, but as \"<\/span>leveina\"<\/span><\/i>, the bricks the Jews prepared in slavery, and <\/span>\"sapir\"<\/span><\/i> as \"<\/span>shfir\"<\/span><\/i>, a fetus, the Midrash weaves the story of a pregnant Jewish slave in forced labor collecting straw for bricks amongst thorns and bristles, whose infant falls into the mixture of blood and mud. The mother's anguished cries rise to the Heavenly throne, and the angel Michael descends to carry the fetus to lay at God's feet. A religious experience can't be so grand and idealistic that we ignore the cry of the child. Just the opposite, it must raise our consciousness to the brokenness and pain of reality.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Which perspective is correct? As usual, the answer is yes.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65569,"alt":"","title":"is13-baby","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-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":"The Color Of Water, The Cry Of A Child","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A mystic vision with a stark social message ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65569,"alt":"","title":"is13-baby","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is13-baby-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"},{"term_id":"666","name":"Mystic","old_id":"1066"}]},{"order":9,"id":"42528","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Sinai is Everywhere ","post_title":"Sinai Is Everywhere","slug":"sinai-is-everywhere","old_id":"42528","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"After the brightness fades, we still have books","post_main_content_content":"

Central to every jot and tittle of Jewish observance, the routes to <\/span>shul <\/span><\/i>and the routines that bind seasons and people together, is the underlying belief in the wild proposition of revelation. The great French writer Gustave Flaubert, of <\/span>Madame Bovary<\/span><\/i> fame, is reputed to have said \u201cbe regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.\u201d Supposedly, Philip Roth had this dictum taped on the wall above his desk. Regularity might be a small price to pay for Alexander Portnoy and Mickey Sabbath, after all.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This chapter is violently original, in that way that can fuel questions and a religious civilization in equal measure. God carefully stage manages His entry into the world, with tiered seating and even refreshments for the elders, who astonishingly sit down to eat and drink while the atmosphere is still singed with Divinity. This recalls nothing as much as the scenes from Hemingway\u2019s <\/span>A Farewell to Arms<\/span><\/i>, where cheese and canned spaghetti find their way to the bombed out battlefields, and palettes are cleansed with shrapnel. Here it is not shrapnel but sapphire, and the shocking clarity of the sight irradiates millennia later.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The peculiarly Jewish moment is, of course, that the precious stones swirling storm clouds are at the revelatory periphery rather than its heartland. What is to be given is something that must be read, and what is seen is a tablet that needs writing. It is not just that God is mostly in the thin small voice, although that is undoubtedly true. It is that after the brightness fades and the picnic on the slope is swept up, when all the august crowd that was there that day has long since blended into sand, we still have books. Strap-hanging on the subway, paperback in hand. Curled up on a couch on a rainy afternoon, where the realest weather seems between the covers of a novel. Sinai is everywhere, if only we can see it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Cover illustration: Mount Sinai (Arabic: \u0637\u0648\u0631 \u0633\u064a\u0646\u0627\u0621\u200e \u1e6c\u016br S\u012bn\u0101\u02bc\u202f or \u062c\u0628\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0633\u0649 Jabal M\u016bs\u00e1\u202f; Egyptian Arabic: Gabal M\u016bsa, lit. \"Moses' Mountain\" or \"Mount Moses\"; Hebrew: \u05d4\u05e8 \u05e1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u200e Har Sinai ), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is the traditional and most accepted identification of the biblical Mount Sinai. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Photographer: <\/span>Mohammed Moussa<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":42529,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","width":800,"height":536,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-300x201.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":201,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-768x515.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":515,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":536,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":536,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-627x420.jpg","home_baner-width":627,"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":"Sinai Is Everywhere","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"After the brightness fades, we still have books","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42529,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","width":800,"height":536,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-300x201.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":201,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-768x515.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":515,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":536,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":536,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-627x420.jpg","home_baner-width":627,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Mount Sinai<\/a> (Arabic: \u0637\u0648\u0631 \u0633\u064a\u0646\u0627\u0621\u200e \u1e6c\u016br S\u012bn\u0101\u02bc\u202f or \u062c\u0628\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0633\u0649 Jabal M\u016bs\u00e1\u202f; Egyptian Arabic: Gabal M\u016bsa, lit. \"Moses' Mountain\" or \"Mount Moses\"; Hebrew: \u05d4\u05e8 \u05e1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u200e Har Sinai ), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is the traditional and most accepted identification of the biblical Mount Sinai. Photographer: Mohammed Moussa<\/a>","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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"}]},{"order":10,"id":"42608","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Doing And Listening ","post_title":"Doing And Listening","slug":"doing-and-listening","old_id":"42608","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42588,"post_title":"Avi Spodek","slug":"avi-spodek","old_id":"42588","first_name":"Avi ","last_name":"Spodek ","description":"Avi Spodek is the Rabbinics Department Chair at the Frankel Jewish Academy of Metro Detroit. 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","short_description":"Avi Spodek is the Rabbinics Department Chair at the Frankel Jewish Academy of Metro Detroit.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42589,"alt":"","title":"avi spodek","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836.jpg","width":800,"height":988,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836-243x300.jpg","medium-width":243,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836-768x948.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":948,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-616x1024.jpg","large-width":616,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":988,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":988,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-722x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":722,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/avi-spodek-e1540274719836-340x420.jpg","home_baner-width":340,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Both dancing and watching are essential if we hope to inspire others to groove","post_main_content_content":"

\u201c<\/span>Na\u2019aseh VeNishma<\/span><\/em>! We will do and we will listen\u201d (Exodus 24:7).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With this phrase, the children of Israel respond to Moses\u2019 reading of the book of the covenant.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Much has been read into these words, as they contrast with <\/span>Na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em> (\u201cwe will do\u201d), the single-word response used previously (see Ex24:3). At their core, each interpretation is an attempt to clarify the \u201ctrue\u201d nature of the covenant.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I'd like to offer a few of my own interpretations - my core beliefs about Judaism.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. Na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em> is agreeing to do something and guaranteeing that it will be done \u201ccorrectly\u201d. By adding <\/span>Nishma<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(we will listen) we clarified that while we will probably fail at <\/span>Na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em> most of the time, we will \u201cfail forward\u201d by learning from our mistakes and continually striving toward perfection. <\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em> can result in \u201cdoing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result\u201d. So we negotiated <\/span>Nishma<\/span><\/em>, reserving the right to re-calibrate Jewish practice if\/when it became neglected\/abused. Thus, the rabbinic powers of \u201ctakanah<\/em>\u201d (legislative act) and \u201cgezeirah<\/em>,\u201d \u00a0(preventive legislation)- to make decrees so that Jewish practice\/law remains relevant and applicable across time and space.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Na\u2019aseh<\/span><\/em> limits us to the dance floor, where we limit our focus to ourselves (as Jews) and God\u2019s commandments. <\/span>Nishmah<\/span><\/em> reserves a spot for us up in the balcony, where we gain better perspective of how we fit within greater society. Yes, we commit to being an <\/span>Am Kadosh<\/em> <\/span>(holy nation) for God, but we make it clear that we cannot achieve this mission by remaining in only one spot. Because both dancing and watching are essential if we hope to inspire others to groove.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    image:\u00a0Egon Tschirch, picture cycle, \"Song of Songs\" no 11, 1923 \/ 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     <\/p>\r\n

    \"\"<\/p>\r\n

    Standing stones were erected throughout ancient Israel and the Levant for use in religious ceremonies or as markers of significant events and places. The ten standing stones pictured here were most recently examined during the joint HUC-JIR\/Harvard Semitic Museum excavations at Gezer. The stones date to the late Middle Bronze Age (1650\u20131550) and may have been used in a covenant ceremony like the one described in Exodus 24. The use of standing stones in kinship and covenant rituals are also known from texts at the sites of Mari and Emar (both located in modern day Syria).<\/p>\r\n

    Illustration: BAR <\/em>Jan\/Feb 2015, courtesy of George Blumenthal<\/p>","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":"","tile_main_caption":"Covenantal Stones","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"From the collection of George Blumenthal","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42665,"alt":"","title":"exodus24_image","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image.jpg","width":1253,"height":784,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image-300x188.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":188,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image-768x481.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":481,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image-1024x641.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":641,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image.jpg","1536x1536-width":1253,"1536x1536-height":784,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image.jpg","2048x2048-width":1253,"2048x2048-height":784,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image-1200x751.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":751,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/exodus24_image-671x420.jpg","home_baner-width":671,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Oriental Institute Museum","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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"555","name":"Archaeology","old_id":"955"}]},{"order":12,"id":"42526","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"We Have Seen the Place From Afar ","post_title":"We Have Seen The Place From Afar","slug":"we-have-seen-the-place-from-afar","old_id":"42526","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39064,"post_title":"Eliot Cohen","slug":"eliot-cohen","old_id":"39064","first_name":"Eliot ","last_name":"Cohen ","description":"Eliot Cohen is a law student in London. 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","short_description":"Eliot Cohen is a law student in London.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39065,"alt":"","title":"eliot cohen","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-e1535868226799.png","width":589,"height":815,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-e1535868226799-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-e1535868226799-217x300.png","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-768x868.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":868,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-906x1024.png","large-width":906,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-e1535868226799.png","1536x1536-width":589,"1536x1536-height":815,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-e1535868226799.png","2048x2048-width":589,"2048x2048-height":815,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-1062x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1062,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/eliot-cohen-e1535868226799-304x420.png","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"On this we build the altar on which to base our lives ","post_main_content_content":"

    \u201cRemember, then, to magnify His work, of which people have sung, which all people have beheld, people have seen from a distance.\u201d (Job 36:24-25)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Why would the children of Israel accept the Torah upon themselves on the basis of Moses\u2019 words? Why were they to stand from afar, witnessing only the bellows of thunder and eruptions of fire, while their leader departed for forty days? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    We learn from the example of Abraham. Arising early in the morning, distressed and confused, he perceives the mountain upon which he is meant to murder his beloved son. Yet he also sees \u201cthe Place\u201d from afar, he locates a sense of security and consolation from an isolation, an expanse. Abraham builds his altar whilst trusting in the hint of a promise that the Creator once made, a precious pledge kept close to his heart despite doubt and despair.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The Torah is indeed a sacrifice. Its laws regulate our choices, its obligations define our lives, its expectations restrict our behaviour. And we hear no word from God commanding us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    All we have is the \u201cafar\u201d: the distant reassurance, the echo of a shared set of practices, the traces of our tradition in the veins of history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Yet from this separation, we build the altar on which to base our lives, we participate in the unitary voice of our community, we stand at the foot of the mountain and answer: \u201cAll the words that the Lord has uttered, we will do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49608,"alt":"","title":"Dt4-MountSinai1723","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","width":800,"height":638,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-768x612.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":612,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":638,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":638,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":638,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":638,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-527x420.jpg","home_baner-width":527,"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":"We Have Seen The Place From Afar","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"On this we build the altar on which to base our lives ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49608,"alt":"","title":"Dt4-MountSinai1723","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","width":800,"height":638,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-768x612.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":612,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":638,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":638,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":638,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":638,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt4-MountSinai1723-527x420.jpg","home_baner-width":527,"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"426","name":"Community","old_id":"826"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"}]},{"order":13,"id":"42520","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Ten Statements, Many Commandments ","post_title":"Ten Statements, Many Commandments","slug":"ten-statements-many-commandments","old_id":"42520","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. 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    Our chapter consists of a reprise of the Revelation of the Law that was described earlier\u2014and in greater detail\u2014in chapter 19. It focuses not on the substance of the revelation itself but on its immediate reception and consequences.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Of particular interest here is an observation of Rashi to verse 12. The verse reads:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The Lord said to Moses: Ascend the mountain towards Me and be there and I shall give you the stone tablets and the Law (<\/span>torah<\/span><\/i>) and commandment (<\/span>mitzvah<\/span><\/i>) that I have written for their guidance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The question troubling Rashi is: We know that God gave Moses the stone tablets on Mt. Sinai, but where is the evidence that He also gave him the Law and (all the) commandments? His answer is:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    All 613 commandments (<\/span>mitzvot<\/span><\/i>) are incorporated into the ten statements and Rabbi Sa`adya, in the <\/span>Azharot<\/span><\/i> he composed, identified the mitzvot that are incorporated into each statement.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Azharot<\/span><\/em> (literally, warnings) are a form of liturgical poetry (<\/span>piyyut<\/span><\/i>) often recited (largely by non-Ashkenazi congregations) on the occasion of the reading of the Ten Statements (dibrot<\/em>, \"utterances\") on Shavuot. Sa`adya\u2019s Azharot<\/em> (which are published in his <\/span>Siddur<\/span><\/i>) indeed distribute all 613 Torah commandments among one or another of ten categories, represented by the ten statements.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    An engaging exercise is to guess into which category of the ten one might assign a given law. Take <\/span>kashrut<\/span><\/i>, for example. If you regard it as a hedge against assimilation, it might be in the second (vs. idolatry). If you think its purpose is to enforce physical discipline, it might be in the tenth (do not covet). And if you think it has no particular rationale but is just a part of a cultural tradition, it might be situated in the fifth (honor your parents).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104745,"alt":"","title":"-627b4abc0b37d--627b4abc0b37eex20-ten commandments 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The Market ","post_title":"In The Market","slug":"in-the-market","old_id":"42518","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. 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    \u201cAnd he [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud in the hearing of the people, who responded, \u2018All that the Lord has spoken \u2014 we will do and obey.\u201d (Exodus 24:7)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    In the market,
    \r\n<\/span>Past the alley of the shoe-makers,
    \r\n<\/span>At the stall of the book-sellers,
    \r\n<\/span>I perused and browsed
    \r\n<\/span>Until I came across
    \r\n<\/span>A Book<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Whose pages<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    spread out like tablecloths at a banquet,
    \r\n<\/span>stretched like prophets\u2019 mantles,
    \r\n<\/span>glided like eagle-wings;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

    Whose sentences<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    blossomed like fields of red anemones,
    \r\n<\/span>swam like schools of dolphins,
    \r\n<\/span>rose like flocks of sparrows;<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

    Whose letters<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    were jewels that adorned a palace of pearl,
    \r\n<\/span>hewn stones in a fortress-wall,
    \r\n<\/span>bricks which built a skyscraper.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

    I entered the Book<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    whose pages, sentences and letters surrounded me
    \r\n<\/span>like hosts of guardian angels,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

    And I \u2014
    \r\n<\/span>Overwhelmed by the light \u2014
    \r\n<\/span>Discovered<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    the Book was a market<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    whose stalls were verses,
    \r\n<\/span>whose wares were words.<\/span><\/em><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":82447,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters.jpg","width":1600,"height":1064,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1064,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"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":"In The Market","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"sentences and letters surrounded me, like hosts of guardian angels","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":82447,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters.jpg","width":1600,"height":1064,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":1064,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps34-hebrew-letters-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":15,"id":"42224","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Exodus 24 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Exodus 24","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-exodus-24","old_id":"42224","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. 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    \"He Turned the Mountain Upon Them Like a Barrel\" - Fear and Love in the Revelation at Sinai <\/span><\/a>by Tzvi Sinensky: Did the Jewish people accept the commandments by choice? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Mishkan, Matan Torah and Beit HaKeneset - the service of imagination<\/span><\/a> by Nelly Altenburger: How does ritual echo the moment of the giving of the Torah?<\/span><\/p>","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":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Exodus 24","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":17,"id":"115673","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Exodus 24","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Exodus 24","slug":"points-to-ponder-exodus-24","old_id":"115673","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

      \r\n\t
    1. We will do and we will listen<\/em> (verse 7). This sentence, that in time (and as a result of the midrashic reading) became the symbol of obedience and commitment, comes directly after the people heard \u201cthe book of the covenant,\u201d and thus knew exactly what it was signing up for.<\/li>\r\n\t
    2. Shared leadership.<\/em> Moses isn\u2019t alone. Long with him are Aaron and his sons, Nadav and Abihu, and 70 elders. They\u2019re not at the same level of closeness to God, but they are there nonetheless.<\/li>\r\n\t
    3. Covenant, and blood<\/em>. Even if we don\u2019t understand all the possible meanings of the ceremony, \u201cthe blood of the covenant\u201d is a central ingredient in this covenant, and actually also in circumcision which continues to express the covenant to this day.<\/li>\r\n\t
    4. How does it look<\/em>? There are two surprising descriptions in this chapter about how it (He) looks. In verse 10, the description of what the elders saw: \u201cthe God of Israel\u2014under whose feet was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity.\u201d And in verse 17: \u201cNow the Presence of GOD appeared in the sight of the Israelites as a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.\u201d<\/li>\r\n\t
    5. Really? Now we eat?<\/em> What is your opinion of the meal in verse 11?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","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: Exodus 24","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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"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\/42210"}],"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=42210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}