{"id":42212,"date":"2018-07-09T18:50:44","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-72\/"},"modified":"2023-05-30T12:41:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T09:41:44","slug":"wall-72","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-72\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Exodus-22"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"72","date":"20251208","book":"Exodus","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"42392","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Exodus 22 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Exodus 22 - Judy Hammond","slug":"exodus-22-judy-hammond","old_id":"42392","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":"72","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 22","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-22-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":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","date":"20251208","wall_id":"72"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"104852","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Laws Of Lending ","post_title":"Laws Of Lending","slug":"laws-of-lending","old_id":"104852","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":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A dis-interested account\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cIf you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them.\u201d (Verse 24). This verse provides a good example of several laws being derived from a single verse. The Gemara in Bava Metzia gleans the following:<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>1) The fact that the verse says \u201cmy people\u201d means that if a Jew and non-Jew come to you to borrow, you should lend to the Jewish person first. <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>2) The phrase \u201cto the poor among you\u201d teaches that if a poor person and a rich person came to you at the same time to borrow money, you should lend to the poor person first. <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>3) \u201cThe poor among you\u201d also teaches that if a poor relative comes and another poor person, you should lend to the poor relative first.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The concept of lending money appears again in Lev. 25 (verses 36, 37). Bava Metzia explains that someone who violates this law could actually be liable for all three of these verses. The Rambam in the Mishneh Torah laws of the Creditor and Debtor 1:1 extrapolates that this verse teaches that it is a positive commandment to lend money to the poor. In addition, lending money to the poor is greater than giving tzedakah. The Rambam explains that if some asks to lend money it means that they are not yet in such a destitute position that they need to be begging for money.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Rambam also derives two negative commandments from this verse. The first is a prohibition against asking for repayment of loan to a poor person when it is known that the individual cannot repay. The second is that it is forbidden to take part in an aspect of the transaction with interest- as lender, as recorder, or as witness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":93034,"alt":"","title":"pro23-tuition money 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The Humanity of the Stranger ","post_title":"Recognizing The Humanity Of The Stranger","slug":"recognizing-the-humanity-of-the-stranger","old_id":"42347","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":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers. If the children of Abraham oppress strangers, why did I make them My covenantal partners?","post_main_content_content":"

Morality, in Jonathan Haidt\u2019s phrase, binds and blinds. It binds us to others in a bond of reciprocal altruism. But it also blinds us to the humanity of those who stand outside that bond. It unites and divides. It divides because it unites. Morality turns the \u201cI\u201d of self interest into the \u201cWe\u201d of the common good. But the very act of creating an \u201cUs\u201d simultaneously creates a \u201cThem,\u201d the people not like us. Even the most universalistic of religions, founded on principles of love and compassion, have often seen those outside the faith as Satan, the infidel, the antichrist, the child of darkness, the unredeemed. They have committed unspeakable acts of brutality in the name of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Two sentences blaze through today\u2019s chapter like the sun emerging from behind thick clouds:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

You must not mistreat or oppress the stranger in any way. Remember, you yourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt. (Ex. 22: 21)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

You must not oppress strangers. You know what it feels like to be a stranger, for you yourselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt. (Ex. 23: 9)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The great crimes of humanity have been committed against the stranger, the outsider, the one-not-like-us. Recognising the humanity of the stranger has been the historic weak point in most cultures. The Greeks saw non-Greeks as barbarians. Germans called Jews vermin, lice, a cancer in the body of the nation. In Rwanda, Hutus called Tutsis inyenzi, cockroaches.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Dehumanize the other and all the moral forces in the world will not save us from evil. Knowledge is silenced, emotion anaesthetized and reason perverted. The Nazis convinced themselves (and others) that in exterminating the Jews they were performing a moral service for the Aryan race. Suicide bombers are convinced that they are acting for the greater glory of God. There is such a thing as altruistic evil.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Note that these commands are given shortly after the Exodus. Implicit in them is a very radical idea indeed. Care for the stranger is why the Israelites had to experience exile and slavery before they could enter the Promised Land and build their own society and state. You will not succeed in caring for the stranger, implies God, until you yourselves know in your very bones and sinews what it feels like to be a stranger. And lest you forget, I have already commanded you to remind yourselves and your children of the taste of affliction and bitterness every year on Pesach. Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers, and if the children of Abraham oppress strangers, why did I make them My covenantal partners?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From <\/span>Healing the Heart of Darkness, Covenant & Conversation, Mishpatim <\/span><\/i>(5775)<\/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":"Recognizing The Humanity of the Stranger","tile_main_caption":"Those who forget what it feels like to be a stranger, eventually come to oppress strangers. If the children of Abraham oppress strangers, why did I make them My covenantal partners?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","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":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","date":"20251208","wall_id":"72"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"661","name":"Oppression","old_id":"1061"}]},{"order":4,"id":"42349","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"When God Takes It Personal, So Should We ","post_title":"When God Takes It Personal, So Should We","slug":"when-god-takes-it-personal-so-should-we","old_id":"42349","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":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How can we relate not from a place of pity, but rather from a place of deep identification?","post_main_content_content":"

God leaves most of the judicial work in these chapters to the human courts He has empowered. But in chapter 22, God suddenly takes a very personal stake in matters. It's not where you might expect it, regarding religious laws of witchcraft and idol worship. Only in the verses that immediately follow these laws does God get involved, listening to the voice of the widow, the orphan, and the impoverished.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God hearing the cries of the oppressed echoes the beginning of the Jewish people's redemption, when what opened God's eyes and ears was people's ability to see and identify with the suffering of others (see <\/span>our thoughts on chapter 2 of Exodus<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this chapter, we learn that this was not only the beginning of redemption, is it also the primary educational message of our experience in Egypt. \"Do not belittle or oppress the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\" In a long list of rational commandments, this is the first time the Torah explicitly emphasizes its rationale. We can care for the stranger because we <\/span>were<\/b> the stranger, and because the Torah commands us to reinforce that experience as an element of our identity on a twice-daily basis, and with special intensity on the night of the seder.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the first step, but it cannot stop there. We identify with the stranger, but what of the other vulnerable groups in society, the orphan, the widow, the poor? How can we relate to them not from a place of pity, or guilt, but rather from a place of deep identification?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Here God needs to step in to show us the way. Identification often begins from a deep-seated fear that \"there but for the grace of God go I.\" The Torah encourages this fear most brutally, in the form of a threat. \"And your wives will be widows and your children orphans.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But from fear we need to strive for positive identification. The Torah bids us not to act as a \"loaner\", as an objective outsider, but to relate to the poor as an insider, as God does- \"if you lend <\/span>my <\/b>nation money.\" The methodology to develop this awareness is the same as that which defines our seder, with questions. \"What will he sleep in?\" To identify is to ask ourselves the questions that trouble the other. As God asks, so must we ask. As God hears, so must we hear. God takes it personally, and so should we.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75935,"alt":"","title":"hos1-empathy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","width":1920,"height":1355,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-768x542.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":542,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1024x723.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":723,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1084,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1355,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1200x847.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":847,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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":"When God Takes It Personal, So Should We","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How can we relate not from a place of pity, but rather from a place of deep identification?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75935,"alt":"","title":"hos1-empathy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","width":1920,"height":1355,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-768x542.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":542,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1024x723.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":723,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1084,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1355,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1200x847.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":847,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","date":"20251208","wall_id":"72"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"601","name":"Exodus","old_id":"1001"}]},{"order":5,"id":"42434","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Bible on the Bench: To Hear and Heed Their Cries ","post_title":"Bible on the Bench: To Hear and Heed Their 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https:\/\/youtu.be\/TnYbJTpDz10<\/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 22: To Hear and Heed Their Cries","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\/TnYbJTpDz10","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":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","date":"20251208","wall_id":"72"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"369","name":"Visual Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":6,"id":"42345","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Throw It To The Dog(s) ","post_title":"Throw It To The Dog(s)","slug":"throw-it-to-the-dogs","old_id":"42345","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34891,"post_title":"Miriam Gedwiser","slug":"miriam-gedwiser","old_id":"34891","first_name":"Miriam","last_name":"Gedwiser ","description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz Upper Upper school and is a core faculty member at Drisha. She has a BA from the University of Chicago in the History and Philosophy of Science and a JD from NYU School of Law. She studied in the Drisha Scholars Circle as well as at other programs in Israel and Boston, and has taught at a variety of synagogues and Hillels. She previously practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm, and completed a judicial clerkship in the Southern District of New York","short_description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz and at Drisha.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":60045,"alt":"","title":"Miriam Gedwiser 2 cropped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","width":453,"height":522,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-260x300.jpg","medium-width":260,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","medium_large-width":453,"medium_large-height":522,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","large-width":453,"large-height":522,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":453,"1536x1536-height":522,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":453,"2048x2048-height":522,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":453,"post_full_size-height":522,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-364x420.jpg","home_baner-width":364,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Don\u2019t take the support of others for granted ","post_main_content_content":"

The chapter ends \u201cYou shall be holy people to Me: you must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; you shall cast it to the dogs.\u201d (22:30). But that translation, while idiomatically sound, is not quite right. The Torah doesn\u2019t say \u201cto the dogs\u201d but \u201cto the dog,\u201d singular. \u00a0What dog does the Torah mean?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One interesting reading (see Ibn Ezra and Hizkuni there) is that \u201cthe dog\u201d in question is the dog who was guarding the flock. If a predator gets past the guard dog and mauls one of the flock, that animal cannot be eaten by us, but should be given to the dog. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Initially this might seem like it rewards failure: the dog didn\u2019t save the animal, so why should it get the meat? \u00a0Malbim explains: The dog may not have been totally successful, but it was partially so - that\u2019s why the animal has not been devoured or carried off by the predator. \u00a0For saving at least something (and something that has value, at least as dog food), the dog gets a reward. \u201cThrow it to the dogs\u201d becomes not an expression of disgust but a positive imperative: the dog deserves this.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim continues: \u201cEven though animals are not creatures of reward and punishment, because their activity is natural (instinctive), The Blessed Holy One said, \u2018Give him his reward,\u2019 for from this a person will learn ethics, to know the ways of God, that all the more so there is reward and punishment for a human, who has free choice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim speaks of \u201crewards\u201d not as a form of behavioral conditioning applicable to nonhuman animals, but a system of divine justice that only makes sense for humans. \u00a0It\u2019s not that the dog understands that it gets this treat for doing its job, nor that the dog will therefore be more likely to work hard in the future. Rather, humans should see the divine imperative to feed the dog as a reminder of the divine justice that humans ourselves face.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One might extend this approach in a slightly different direction as well: Perhaps we are commanded to reward the dog neither for the dog\u2019s sake nor for the sake of our own fear of punishment (or anticipation of reward). Instead, this commandment may train us to recognize the work of those - animal or human - whose work supports us but whose diligence we may sometimes take for granted. Don\u2019t take it for granted, says the Torah: make sure to thank the dog for even partial successes.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":89092,"alt":"","title":"ps114-dog 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Wrongdoing: Collective and Individual Responsibility ","post_title":"Preventing Wrongdoing: Collective And Individual Responsibility","slug":"preventing-wrongdoing-collective-and-individual-responsibility","old_id":"42343","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41034,"post_title":"Shayna Golkow","slug":"shayna-golkow","old_id":"41034","first_name":"Shayna ","last_name":"Golkow ","description":"Shayna Golkow is a fifth-year rabbinical student at JTS and the rabbinic intern at Park Avenue Synagogue.","short_description":"Shayna Golkow is a fifth-year rabbinical student at JTS and the rabbinic intern at Park Avenue Synagogue.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41035,"alt":"","title":"Senior Portrait 2014","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","width":237,"height":264,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","medium_large-width":237,"medium_large-height":264,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","large-width":237,"large-height":264,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","1536x1536-width":237,"1536x1536-height":264,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","2048x2048-width":237,"2048x2048-height":264,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","post_full_size-width":237,"post_full_size-height":264,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shayna-golkow-e1538022557964.jpg","home_baner-width":237,"home_baner-height":264}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"When we stand idly by, we are culpable","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cYou shall not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, for if they cry out at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath shall burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children orphans.\u201d (vv. 21-23)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This famous declaration teaches us a central Jewish value: respect for all people, including the most vulnerable. While the verse only mentions widows and orphans by name, we can expand the category to all people who may need extra care and gentleness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the original Hebrew, this passage contains a bit of a grammatical oddity. The first verse, \u201cyou shall not mistreat,\u201d uses \u201cyou\u201d in the plural; the second, \u201cif you do mistreat them,\u201d uses \u201cyou\u201d in the singular; the third, \u201cI will kill you,\u201d returns to \u201cyou\u201d in the plural. Ibn Ezra, a medieval Biblical commentator, writes that the grammar in these three verses teaches us about collective responsibility. If I see someone mistreating a widow, orphan, or other vulnerable person, and I do nothing to stop it, I myself am counted as one who mistreated the person. The final verse, containing the punishment, is written in the plural, because even if one person mistreats a vulnerable person, all who did not intervene are guilty and deserving of punishment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As we walk through the world, we are often witnesses to unjust interactions between people, and it can be difficult to stand up and demand justice. We can easily think to ourselves that stopping the mistreatment is someone else\u2019s responsibility, or that we do not have the authority to step in. 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Amid a series of laws addressing different kinds of bailments (i.e., arrangements wherein one person entrusts property temporarily with another) is a law about animal herding (Exodus 22:9-12). This law envisions various ways for herding arrangements to go awry (e.g., the animal might die or be stolen) and dictates how to determine liability in each case.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Exodus 22:12 treats the scenario of predation: \u201cIf [the animal] is torn to death, he shall bring it as evidence; for the torn animal he shall not pay.\u201d In such cases, the shepherd may achieve exoneration by producing the mauled animal\u2019s remains as physical evidence of what transpired. This is a relatively easy path to exoneration, in contrast with other cases of bailment that carry much graver requirements. For example, in order to avoid liability for animal death, injury, or capture, the shepherd is required to swear an oath by the Lord (Exod 22:10).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Predation is one example of what modern law would consider an \u201cact of God.\u201d Such events, like a flood or volcano, are understood to lie beyond human control and therefore allow a party to fail to fulfill an obligation, without incurring liability. A law in the Code of Hammurabi (\u00a7266) which (similar to Exod 22:12) exonerates the shepherd in cases where \u201ca lion makes a kill\u201d also refers to the <\/span>lipit ilim<\/span><\/i>, a phrase commonly understood as a kind of affliction or epidemic but which literally means a \u2018work of a god\u2019, much like the English expression.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although Exodus does not explicitly cast predation as an act of God, the relatively easy means of achieving exoneration, coupled with other biblical passages (e.g., Lev 26:22; Deut 32:24; Ezek 5:17; 14:15) that consider predation by a wild beast to be a divine punishment, suggest that this view underlies the law. Indeed, young David persuaded King Saul that he was qualified to be Israel\u2019s champion and face Goliath by citing his ability to fend off lions and bears that attacked his father\u2019s flock (1 Sam 17:34-36). Thanks to Exodus 22:12 and a corroborating law from another ancient Near Eastern code, we can understand that this was a feat exceeding what a typical human was expected to do.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56004,"alt":"","title":"jud14-samson slaying the 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He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"To listen when others will not; to see even when others look away","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cYou shall not oppress any widow (<\/span>almanah<\/span><\/em>) or orphan\u201d (Exodus 22:21). By widow, we mean a woman whose husband has died, but in the ancient world, the primary issue is not whether a woman\u2019s husband has died but whether there are any male relatives to be responsible for her after his passing. \u201cOrdinarily,\u201d Bible scholar Paula Hiebert notes, \u201cthe widow\u2019s maintenance would have been the responsibility of either her sons of her father-in-law. When these male persons were nonexistent, then the widow... became an <\/span>almanah<\/span><\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What are we to make of these verses today, when, in some parts of the world at least, women are (blessedly) no longer as vulnerable and helpless when their spouses die?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sometimes biblical laws are meant to be illustrative rather than exhaustive. R. Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-1972) writes that \u201cthe prophets... tried to teach us how to think in the categories of God: His holiness, justice and compassion. The appropriation of these categories, far from exempting us from the obligation to gain new insights in our own time, is a challenge to look for ways of translating biblical commandments into programs required by our own conditions\u201d (God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism (1955), p. 273).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Heschel understands Biblical laws not as concrete norms but paradigms; invitations to \u201ceach generation to develop contemporary commitments that apply the eternal essence of the laws to particular times.\u201d For example, a modern reader who learns of the biblical requirement to build a parapet around one\u2019s roof (Deuteronomy 22:8) will discern from the concrete norm that the Torah is concerned with a broader commitment to public safety.<\/span> Similarly, one who reads of God\u2019s (com)passionate concern for the plight of widows and orphans should perceive in the Torah\u2019s words a broader mandate to champion the cause of the vulnerable and powerless\u2014whoever they may be in a particular society.<\/span> To refuse to read biblical norms as paradigms is to destine significant swaths of the Torah to irrelevance. If there are no longer <\/span>almanot<\/em> <\/span>in the biblical sense, after all, then the Torah\u2019s words may be beautiful but they are also inconsequential. If we do not read such norms as paradigms, in other words, we run the very real risk of domesticating the Torah by admiring it even as we rob it of its normative force.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To be a religious person is, in part, to follow God\u2019s example: To listen even when others will not, and to see even when others look away.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104848,"alt":"","title":"-62810433df4f2--62810433df4f4ex22-helpless powerless poor beggar.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1143,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg-300x179.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":179,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg-768x457.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":457,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg-1024x610.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":610,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":914,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1143,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg-1200x714.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":714,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/10\/62810433df4f2-62810433df4f4ex22-helpless-powerless-poor-beggar.jpg-706x420.jpg","home_baner-width":706,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Mandate To Champion The Cause Of The Powerless","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"To listen when others will not; 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His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"You dwell in exile; You understand a stranger's plight ","post_main_content_content":"

\"\u2026 you were strangers in the land of Egypt.\" (Exodus 22:20)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We have some things in common. You and I
\r\nAre strangers in this world, we don't belong
\r\nTo echoes of the noise we hear. Your song
\r\nIs not my song \u2014 its music is too high
\r\nAnd rarefied for me \u2014 but still I try
\r\nTo catch its melodies and hum along
\r\nAs best I can. I'm sure the world is wrong
\r\nWhen it ignores these notes, or lets them die.<\/p>\r\n

You are, in fact, beyond the songs I rasp,
\r\nBeyond notations that I scrawl on sand.
\r\nYou dwell in exile, though. I feel I'm odd
\r\nAnd out of place, a man who doesn't grasp
\r\nThe sounds that fill this world. You understand
\r\nA stranger's plight; I sing to You, my God.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104116,"alt":"","title":"-625c74c768eb4--625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger loner group.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":915,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg-300x143.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":143,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg-768x366.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":366,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg-1024x488.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":732,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":915,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg-1200x572.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":572,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/625c74c768eb4-625c74c768eb5ex2-stranger-loner-group.jpg-881x420.jpg","home_baner-width":881,"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":"Strangers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"You dwell in exile; 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Is One Permitted to Punch a White Supremacist in the Face?<\/span><\/a> by Rabbi Josh Bolton: What do Jewish texts have to say about this hot-button issue? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Oxen - And Why We Study Them<\/span><\/a> by Wendy Segal: Why do we spend so much time on bovines? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/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 22","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":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","date":"20251208","wall_id":"72"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"115669","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Exodus 22","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Exodus 22","slug":"points-to-ponder-exodus-22","old_id":"115669","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"72","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. The severity of the punishment for theft<\/em>. The large fine given the thief is severe in contrast with modern law, but it turns out was actually rather lenient re the customary legislation in the Ancient Near East.<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Oath<\/em>. Verse 10 - In the event of a lack of agreement, and a lack of evidence as to what actually happened, God enters the picture: \u201can oath before GOD shall decide between the two of them.\u201d The plaintiff will swear to his account. And if he\u2019s lying - well, then, he has to deal with God.<\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Surprise<\/em>. Right in the middle of the legal language, a comment that isn\u2019t very legal at all: \u201cIf you do mistreat them, I will heed their outcry as soon as they cry out to Me, and My anger shall blaze forth and I will put you to the sword, and your own wives shall become widows and your children orphans\u201d (verses 22-23). This reminds the reader that beyond the legal system which attempts to apply standards of justice in daily life, there is a broader historical-legal tally: there will be justice here! And if not\u2026<\/li>\r\n\t
  4. \u201cGod\u201d as a name referring to people<\/em>. Perhaps - see verses 8 and 27.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Exodus 22","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":"22","chapter_main_number":"72","date":"20251208","wall_id":"72"},"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\/42212"}],"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=42212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}