{"id":49880,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:46","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-161\/"},"modified":"2023-08-03T08:42:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-03T05:42:25","slug":"wall-161","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-161\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Deuteronomy-8"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"161","date":"20260412","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"49994","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Deuteronomy 8 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Deuteronomy 8 - Judy Hammond","slug":"deuteronomy-8-judy-hammond","old_id":"49994","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":"161","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":"Deuteronomy 8","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\/deuteronomy-chapter-8-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":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"107983","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"On Repentance: Teshuva, Forgiveness And Strategic Planning ","post_title":"On Repentance: Teshuva, Forgiveness And Strategic Planning","slug":"on-repentance-teshuva-forgiveness-and-strategic-planning","old_id":"107983","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Where are we now? What are our goals? How do we achieve them?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

We are in the month of Elul, a month for taking stock \u2013 looking back on our past year\u2019s spiritual journey and considering what\u2019s next. One autumn, when I was involved in some exhaustive (and exhausting) strategic planning initiatives while also struggling with mentally preparing for Yom Kippur, I had a lightbulb moment. \u201cIsn\u2019t doing <\/span>teshuva<\/span><\/i> (repentance) basically spiritual strategic planning?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are three key elements to strategic planning and they align with the work required of us from Elul through Yom Kippur and continuing until the next cycle. First, we evaluate where we stand now. Have we met our goals? What worked and where did we fall short? What were our impediments, pain points and wins? Then, we pinpoint our goals for the next cycle. Are there goals we failed to reach that are still relevant? Are there new goals? And finally, we determine our path to goal-reaching. This is where we roll up our sleeves, and articulate and commit to how we will achieve our goals for the coming cycle. Our pathway, as in any good program design, includes check-in points and opportunities for recalibration. Personally or organizationally, we won\u2019t get from 0 to 100 immediately. We\u2019ll need smaller incremental goals to get us to the finish line - where we will start all over with a new plan for continued growth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Regarding Elul, one of the most important steps in our strategic path to teshuva is asking forgiveness from those we have wronged. We can\u2019t do teshuva in isolation \u2013 it involves three parties. I can regret my behavior and declare my intent to change, but I then need to admit my wrongdoing to, and beg forgiveness from, the victim. Likewise, there are sins that only hurt ourselves, and self-forgiveness is even harder to obtain. We also are required to forgive those who ask us, and forgiving can be even harder than asking for forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We also need to ask God for forgiveness, which is often easier than asking for human forgiveness, because God has shown us His predilection for large-scale forgiveness. When the Israelites sinned with the golden calf, God first gave them a chance to repent, and then, on the tenth of Tishrei, Yom Kippur, \u201cbecame reconciled with Israel in joy and perfect affections and said to Moses, \u201cI have forgiven\u201d (<\/span>Rashi on Ex 33:11<\/span><\/a>). God\u2019s model of forgiveness in joy and wholeheartedness informs my own teshuva. I need to include improving how I forgive in my strategic plan.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The final step is what comes after Yom Kippur, and God has shown us the road for that as well. In the same Rashi source, we are told that immediately after granting forgiveness, God commands the building of the <\/span>Mishkan<\/span><\/i> (Tabernacle). We repented, God forgave us, and now we don\u2019t waste any time navel-gazing or congratulating ourselves. We jump right into executing the plan. We begin building the Mishkan, ourselves and our nation, always looking forward.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73121,"alt":"","title":"ez3-repentance","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance.jpg","width":1024,"height":568,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance-300x166.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":166,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance-768x426.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":426,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance-1024x568.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":568,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":568,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":568,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":568,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez3-repentance-757x420.jpg","home_baner-width":757,"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":"Elul\/High Holiday Special","tile_main_caption":"On Repentance: Teshuva, Forgiveness And Strategic Planning","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Where are we now? 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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":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Whether your belly is full or still empty - gratitude!\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In our<\/span> chapter<\/span><\/a>, Moses continues to admonish Israel to diligently observe the whole Torah. After reminding the people of the forty years in the Wilderness, he tells them that the Lord is bringing them into a good land, flowing with streams and full of bountiful produce.<\/span> \"A land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing\"<\/span><\/a>. There follows the<\/span> verse<\/span><\/a> that provides the halakhic basis for what becomes in rabbinic times the<\/span> \"Grace after Meals\"<\/span><\/a> (<\/span>Birkat HaMazon<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This religious obligation is the subject of a question apparently addressed to a rabbinic authority in a homiletical setting preserved in<\/span> Midrash Tanhuma<\/span><\/a>: \u201cLet our master instruct us: Where is it ordained that one says a blessing over food?\u201d The answer is readily provided: \u201cThis is commanded in the verse<\/span> \"When you have eaten and satisfied your hunger, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land that He has given you\".<\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n

However, as we find elsewhere in<\/span> Midrash Tanhuma<\/span><\/a>, (compare<\/span> Bereshit Rabbah and parallels<\/span><\/a>) not everyone appointed to teach Torah enjoyed immediate success. A story is told of \u201cour Holy Rabbi\u201d (Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, under whose aegis the Mishnah was formulated in the early 3<\/span>rd<\/span> century CE). As he was passing through Simonia (present day Tel Shomron), the people there asked him to send them a scholar to teach them Torah. He appointed Levi bar Sisi. When this trainee Rabbi arrived, they built him a pulpit, sat him upon it and began by asking him questions of Halakhah. But Levi was so flustered that words failed him. Whereupon, the people asked him exegetical questions, including how to understand what was said by an angel to Daniel:<\/span> \"I am to tell you what is inscribed in the Book of Truth\"<\/span><\/a>. They asked, is there anything untrue in the Torah that \u201cTruth\u201d need be specified here?! Again, Levi was too nonplussed to come up with an adequate answer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Upon returning to tell his teacher what had happened, Rabbi Yehudah said, but you had a perfectly good way to answer their understandable question. For, there are what seem to be contradictions in Scripture as in life lived according to Torah. Howso? A poor person has four children, but only one piece of bread. They sit down and share what little there is to eat but remain hungry. Nevertheless, they recite a blessing after sharing what bread they did have. And this is so even though Scripture only commands:<\/span> \"When you have eaten and satisfied your hunger, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land that He has given you\".<\/span><\/a> So too, whether we may deserve it or not,<\/span> \"The Lord will bestow favor on you and grant you peace\"<\/span><\/a>. Happily, we are told that Levi bar Sisi did eventually master the art of public teaching and preaching. For elsewhere he is included among those scholars referred to as<\/span> masters of words, good teachers of Torah and good preachers<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":74751,"alt":"","title":"ez29-gratitude","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","width":1280,"height":1211,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-300x284.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":284,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-768x727.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":727,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-1024x969.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":969,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1211,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1211,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-1200x1135.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1135,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-444x420.png","home_baner-width":444,"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":"Birkat HaMazon - The Grace After Meals","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Whether your belly is full or still empty - gratitude!","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":74751,"alt":"","title":"ez29-gratitude","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","width":1280,"height":1211,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-300x284.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":284,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-768x727.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":727,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-1024x969.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":969,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1211,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1211,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-1200x1135.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1135,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez29-gratitude-444x420.png","home_baner-width":444,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"415","name":"food","old_id":"815"},{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"},{"term_id":"504","name":"Blessing","old_id":"904"},{"term_id":"520","name":"Gratitude","old_id":"920"}]},{"order":4,"id":"107978","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"A Long Dry Run ","post_title":"A Long Dry Run","slug":"a-long-dry-run","old_id":"107978","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":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But after the training ground, the real deal will be that much better\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Food is the theme of chapter 8. Moses tells the people that God intentionally tried\u00a0 them in the desert by withholding food and water. God then brought the miracle of the manna to provide sustenance to the people. But after the trials of the desert, Moses reassures the people: \u201cfor know that God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill\/ a land of a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey\u201d (verse 9-10).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the desert, the people were fully reliant on God. Without God there was no food. In the land, though, God promises them a climate capable of growing a variety of staples. But while God will provide the ability, it is up to the people to do their part.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Which is better? One the one hand, the wilderness allowed the people to be absolved of all responsibility. God would provide them with food. In Canaan, the people are going to have to work. On the other hand, the text describes manna as tasting like a sweet cake. Clearly, the people tired of this taste, as they often complained about wanting more. In Canaan, they would be able to grow what they want. Water was scarce in the wilderness but will be abundant in the new land. Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch explains that the desert was the training ground. This was where God provided both the test and the answers to the test. In Canaan, the people will have to take what they learned and apply it to their everyday lives. In this chapter, God tells the people that while he may not give them the answers, he will set them up for success in a land set up for success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Our whole relationship with God is through food","post_main_content_content":"

In many cultures, fasting seems more \u201cgodly\u201d, more \u201cangelic\u201d. Being able to manage without food, sort of like God, wow! But our tradition tells us that it\u2019s just as much a mitzvah to eat on the day before Yom Kippur as it is to fast on our holiest day itself. Which in a sense means: to celebrate our being fully human is to eat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our relationship with food is intriguing on many levels. <\/span>The very first time the root \u201ccommand\u201d (tz-v-h) appears in the Torah is in the Garden of Eden. Our whole relationship with God is through food. Like an endless mother, all our \u201cpositive\u201d and \u201cnegative\u201d doings are folded into what we are invited to eat and what we should avoid. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We are asked to do something amazing: take an orange. Or tofu. Or bread. Turn it into energy, money, projects, Torah learning. And do so while we remember God. What a simultaneously humbling and powerful experience!! We\u2019re just like God, we can change Creation! So small, we can\u2019t go on for very long without a little something\u2026 we are made \u201cin the image of\u201d; a \u201cspark of the Divine\u201d but just in case, we are reminded that we are the \u201ccreated\u201d, and not the \u201cCreator\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The midrash tells us about Abraham and Sarah who \u201cmade souls\u201d (Genesis 12:5) and taught people about the One God. We know how they did it: they had people over for a meal and the rest is history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this chapter we read the famous 3 words: \u05d5\u05d0\u05db\u05dc\u05ea, \u05d5\u05e9\u05d1\u05e2\u05ea \u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05db\u05ea<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cand you shall eat, and be satisfied and bless\u2019 (Deuteronomy 8:10). Interestingly, we are <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> the only ones who eat: When the sacrifices are accepted, it is described as the <\/span>mizbe\u2019ach<\/span><\/em> (altar) who eats them; the Land of Israel is described as \u201ceating its inhabitants\u201d (Numbers 13:32). Though often viewed negatively, what this tells us is that the Land, which is an active, willing, living being consumes and thereby changes those who live on it as they become an integral part of her!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter also teaches that eating can have dangers. Excessive eating can lead to forgetting the Source of it. Do we eat to live or live to eat?? The Torah views eating as a tool, not an end, for us to come close to God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, let\u2019s have a little something. All this writing makes me hungry\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: photo of a cottage cheese ad (\u201cWaiting For You At Home\u201d), outside Ben Gurion Airport, courtesy of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50025,"alt":"","title":"dt8-kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","width":300,"height":158,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane-300x158.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":158,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":158,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":158,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":158,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":158,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":158,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":158}},"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":"Eat A Little Something","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Our whole relationship with God is through food","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50025,"alt":"","title":"dt8-kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","width":300,"height":158,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane-300x158.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":158,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":158,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":158,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":158,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":158,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":158,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-kohane.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":158}},"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":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"415","name":"food","old_id":"815"},{"term_id":"741","name":"Eating","old_id":"1141"}]},{"order":6,"id":"50012","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Seven Spectacular Species ","post_title":"Seven Spectacular Species","slug":"seven-spectacular-species","old_id":"50012","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46249,"post_title":"Gil Troy","slug":"gil-troy","old_id":"46249","first_name":"Gil ","last_name":"Troy ","description":"Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, has written ten books on the American presidency. 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Deuteronomy 8:8 produces one of the most potent images of the Land of Israel\u2019s bounty, this fertile \u201cland of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey.\u201d These are the Seven Species that have launched many an art project, many a spiritual teaching, even seven iconic Israeli stamps. The spiritual power of those seven species is tapped two verses later: ve-achalta, ve-savata, u-verachta<\/em>: \u201cAnd you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good land God has given you\u2026.\u201d That pitch-perfect phrase is so resonant, it appears in Birkat HaMazon, the grace-after-meals.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Warning, warning. This could be a great point of disconnect between some modern Western rationalists and the Bible. Waxing poetic about seven species! Reading spiritual power into vines or barley! Deifying a land that a little less than half the Jewish people inhabit \u2013 and which others lay claim to! Tree-huggers are one thing \u2013 but fig-worshippers? That\u2019s not my delightfully reasonable, ever-so-suburban, ready-for-prime-time liberal American Judaism!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Precisely.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rather than being editorial Jews, always judging how our 3,500-year-old tradition might prop up our modern liberal sensibilities, let\u2019s be humble readers, trying to understand the verse in its cultural and spiritual context \u2013 to tap into its countercultural power today. Modern believers often view religions as two-dimensional \u2013 facilitating spiritual interactions between me and my Maker, muting the communal resonance. Non-Orthodox American Jews often emphasize Judaism\u2019s ethnic, cultural, familial dimensions spiced up with some quaint rituals to charm the kids -- draining true spirituality from it. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Bringing land into the mix brings Judaism alive \u2013 in 3-D. This isn\u2019t \u201cjust\u201d a religion \u2013 it\u2019s a way of life. This isn\u2019t \u201cjust\u201d a culture or ethnic group \u2013 it\u2019s a spiritual system. Judaism\u2019s full-time, full-service, all-purpose. It\u2019s alive, it\u2019s sensual, and it thrives best in the land of Israel, Judaism\u2019s natural habit. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ve-Achalta<\/em> \u2013 \u201cand you will eat\u201d \u2013Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, literally sustains us; it\u2019s our lifeline.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ve-Savata<\/em> \u2013 \u201cand you will be sated\u201d \u2013 Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, nourishes, satisfies, fulfills us \u2013 physically then spiritually.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

U-Verachta<\/em> \u2013 \u201cyou shall bless\u201d - and then, how can you not be grateful? And why not consider the Prime Mover in all this, the deeper power, transcending the human, which Jews call \u201cGod.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Seven Species then become seven allies, seven props, seven ways into this Holy Trinity of eating, being satisfied, being grateful. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And let us say \u201camen.\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

artwork by: Linda Adams, courtesy of the artist<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50013,"alt":"","title":"dt8-Linda Adams-7 species","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species.jpg","width":2352,"height":2450,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-288x300.jpg","medium-width":288,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-768x800.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":800,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-983x1024.jpg","large-width":983,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species.jpg","1536x1536-width":1475,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species.jpg","2048x2048-width":1966,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-1152x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1152,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-403x420.jpg","home_baner-width":403,"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":"Seven Spectacular Species","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"To signify and symbolize a spiritual system of sustenance and satisfaction","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50013,"alt":"","title":"dt8-Linda Adams-7 species","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species.jpg","width":2352,"height":2450,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-288x300.jpg","medium-width":288,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-768x800.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":800,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-983x1024.jpg","large-width":983,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species.jpg","1536x1536-width":1475,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species.jpg","2048x2048-width":1966,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-1152x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1152,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-Linda-Adams-7-species-403x420.jpg","home_baner-width":403,"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":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"430","name":"Land of Israel","old_id":"830"},{"term_id":"667","name":"Judaism","old_id":"1067"}]},{"order":7,"id":"50037","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Bread From Earth, Bread From Heaven ","post_title":"Bread From Earth, Bread From Heaven","slug":"bread-from-earth-bread-from-heaven","old_id":"50037","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. 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":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Rather than independence and self-sufficiency, the wilderness is about Israel\u2019s willingness to embrace dependence","post_main_content_content":"

Inching closer to the Promised Land, Moses instructs the people to remember the experience of being fed by God in the desert, specifically how \u201cHe humbled you by letting you hunger, and then fed you with manna... in order to teach you that one does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of (<\/span>al kol motza pi<\/span><\/i>) the Lord\u201d (8:2-3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the simplest level, the verse can be read as contrasting bread from the earth with \u201cbread from heaven\u201d (Exodus 16:4), i.e. manna: While wandering in the desert, Israel lived not by earthly bread, but by the food provided directly by God. According to Jeffrey Tigay, God sought to teach the people that \u201cnature alone could not be relied on for food... Man does not live on natural foods alone but on whatever God decrees to be nourishing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some scholars aver that the phrase \u201ceverything that comes out of the mouth (<\/span>kol motza pi<\/span><\/em>) of the Lord\u201d refers not to providence in general but specifically to <\/span>what God says<\/span><\/em>. As central as divine law is for biblical theology, God\u2019s word does not refer only to God\u2019s law. \u201c<\/span>Everything<\/em> <\/span>that comes from the mouth of the Lord\u201d surely includes God\u2019s commandments, but it encompasses God\u2019s promises and commitments as well. We should not understate the centrality of law for Deuteronomy, but we should not over-state it either: God does indeed offer \u201cguidance,\u201d but divine commandments constitute more than guidance\u2014they are divinely-imposed <\/span>obligations<\/span><\/em>. Israel lives both by God\u2019s command and by God\u2019s promise.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Standing on the edge of the Promised Land, the people are taught that in order to survive and flourish, they will need both God\u2019s providence and God\u2019s word. Some might be tempted to choose between these two interpretive possibilities, as if the text were focused <\/span>either <\/span><\/i>on divine providence <\/span>or <\/span><\/i>on the divine word. But Deuteronomy\u2019s point is precisely that Israel requires both God\u2019s loving concern and God\u2019s concrete commandments. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

One can imagine a situation in which a lengthy sojourn in the wilderness is intended to teach independence and self-sufficiency. But for Deuteronomy, the point of Israel\u2019s prolonged wandering is just the opposite: The people need to learn that they are always and everywhere dependent on God. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What the wilderness ultimately tests is Israel\u2019s willingness to embrace dependence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image: by James Tissot, c. 1900, Jewish Museum 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and Forgetfulness ","post_title":"Freedom And Forgetfulness","slug":"freedom-and-forgetfulness","old_id":"50020","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":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Affluence, no less than slavery, can be a threat to continued existence","post_main_content_content":"

Early on in the Pesach Haggada, we read: \u201cGo and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to our father Jacob: Pharaoh condemned only the boys to death, but Laban sought to uproot everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pharaoh and his people afflicted the Israelites, but \u201cThe more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread\u201d (Ex. 1:12). Laban did not afflict Jacob. To the contrary, while he was with Laban, Jacob grew rich. The danger was that he would remain with Laban and forget who he was. So it has been throughout Jewish history. The more Jews suffered, the more they prayed, studied, and kept the commands. The paradox is that the danger to Jewish continuity has been not slavery and suffering, but affluence and freedom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So Moses warned at the end of his life: \u201cBe careful that you do not forget the Lord your God\u2026. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery\u201d (Deut. 8:11-14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Interpreted this way the passage contains a powerful message: Do not think that the story of Pesach ends with the Exodus. It only begins there. It is one thing to believe in God when you need His help. It is another when you have already received it. Affluence, no less than slavery, can make us forget who we are and why.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpted from The Jonathan Sacks Haggada<\/span>, p.46<\/span><\/em><\/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":"Freedom And Forgetfulness","tile_main_caption":"It is one thing to believe in God when you need His help. It is another when you have already received it. Affluence, no less than slavery, can make us forget who we are and why","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":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"413","name":"Freedom","old_id":"813"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"},{"term_id":"534","name":"Assimilation","old_id":"934"}]},{"order":9,"id":"50034","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Do Good, Get Wealthy - Seriously!? ","post_title":"Do Good, Get Wealthy - Seriously!?","slug":"do-good-get-wealthy-seriously","old_id":"50034","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49973,"post_title":"Avi Finegold","slug":"avi-finegold","old_id":"49973","first_name":"Avi ","last_name":"Finegold ","description":"Rabbi Avi Finegold is the founder and lead educator of the Jewish Learning Lab, an adult Education institute and consultancy in Montreal, Canada.\r\nHe is the Cohost of the Spirits and Spirituality Podcast which can be found at:\r\nhttps:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/spirits-spirituality\/id1439604097?mt=2\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Avi Finegold is the founder of the Jewish Learning Lab in Montreal, Canada.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49975,"alt":"","title":"avi feingold","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","width":109,"height":91,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","thumbnail-width":109,"thumbnail-height":91,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","medium-width":109,"medium-height":91,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","medium_large-width":109,"medium_large-height":91,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","large-width":109,"large-height":91,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","1536x1536-width":109,"1536x1536-height":91,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","2048x2048-width":109,"2048x2048-height":91,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","post_full_size-width":109,"post_full_size-height":91,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/avi-feingold.png","home_baner-width":109,"home_baner-height":91}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Good times exist to see if we can be as humble and good as when things were leaner","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 8 arrives during Moses\u2019 final speeches to the people of Israel, a set of instructions and advice that will carry them into the promised land. Some of this is practical and some is more elevated spiritual and legal advice. This chapter sits at the intersection of all of them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Towards the end of this chapter Moses warns the people that when they get to the land and start cultivating on their own, they might fall into the trap of thinking that the wealth is theirs and not God\u2019s. Moses reminds the people that it is God who does good and gives good. Specifically, he says \u201cFor it is He Who gives you power to make wealth, in order to fulfill his covenant\u2026\u201d(v. 18). Moses acknowledges that we have a proclivity to ascribe our successes to ourselves. In fact, this verse, one of several famous verses in the chapter, is the basis for what many people refer to as Prosperity Gospel. Prosperity Gospel preaches that if we fulfill the word of God as laid out in the Bible, then we will become wealthy, as a sign of God\u2019s wanting to bestow goodness upon us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A surface reading of our chapter seems \u00a0to underscore this idea. Indeed many proponents of this line of thinking use this chapter and verse to make their point, stating that God gives us the power to make wealth \u201c\u2026in order to fulfill His covenant\u201d. Do Good, Get Wealthy, so you can do more good. Nevertheless, I believe that this chapter actually undercuts this line of thinking. Rather than seeing a direct through line between one\u2019s wealth and one\u2019s relative goodness as a religious person, Moses is telling us that God does not reward and punish according to a simple calculus. In fact, times of plenty are actually no different than trying times.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I am always struck by this idea when I see a player thanking God after a game-winning play or pointing heavenward after hitting a homerun, scoring a touchdown, or winning a race. \u201cWell, we prayed and God must have been smiling down on us from heaven\u201d. Funny how no one ever says \u201cWell, I guess we lost because God didn\u2019t think we prayed hard enough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Difficult times exist to see how our faith in God exists despite our trials, and the good times exist to see if we can be as humble and good as when things were leaner.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50035,"alt":"","title":"dt8-prosperity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity.jpg","width":1920,"height":1600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-300x250.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":250,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-768x640.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":640,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-1024x853.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-1200x1000.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-504x420.jpg","home_baner-width":504,"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":"Do Good, Get Wealthy - Seriously!?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Good times exist to see if we can be as humble and good as when things were leaner","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50035,"alt":"","title":"dt8-prosperity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity.jpg","width":1920,"height":1600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-300x250.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":250,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-768x640.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":640,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-1024x853.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":853,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-1200x1000.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-prosperity-504x420.jpg","home_baner-width":504,"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":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"375","name":"Faith","old_id":"775"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"},{"term_id":"499","name":"Trial","old_id":"899"}]},{"order":10,"id":"50015","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moses\u2019 Answer to Our Favorite Existential Question ","post_title":"Moses\u2019 Answer to Our Favorite Existential Question","slug":"moses-answer-to-our-favorite-existential-question","old_id":"50015","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":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What do we need to do to deserve this land?","post_main_content_content":"

What do we need to do to stay on this narrow strip of land we call our home?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It feels like a question no one should ever need to ask themselves about their home. It's certainly not the question the Jews are asking themselves in Deuteronomy on the banks of the Jordan. They're feeling invincible after the miraculous conquest of the kings of the east, gripped with messianic fervor to conquer the rest of the promised land they've been waiting for their entire lives. We might imagine them listening to Moses\u2019 endless warnings about being expelled with a mixture of impatience and contempt for the anxieties of the fearful personality of the old school, 'exilic Jew'.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the only living Jew who won't be allowed to enter the land has an outsider's objectivity, and the desperation of a leader in his last moments of influence. And so, again and again, Moses relates to this existential question that in our day has endlessly occupied the Jewish nation for the last 70 years. Surrounded by enemies bent on our destruction, embroiled in endless conflict over competing claims to the land, our contemporary answers focus on military and political solutions. Moses, on the other hand, tends always to come back to idol worship as the act that will precipitate our exile.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the idol worship he speaks of is always the final expression of a more fundamental problem, a problem that still bears a powerful message for our current reality. In chapter 8, idol worship is not the result of a brazen rebellion against God. It's simply an issue of forgetfulness. The thing that power corrupts first is our memory. Where we have been, what we have suffered, what grace brought us to this point, the commitments we have made- all this is easily erased by a few years of comfort and success. When we're in distress, we turn to God. When we're doing well, we take the credit, and begin to worship the work of our own hands.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses's formula for remaining on the land is not political or military- God will take care of that piece. Our job- Remember! Never Forget! And to do that, we <\/span>must<\/b> keep challenging ourselves with the question- what do we need to do to deserve this land?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50016,"alt":"","title":"dt8-question","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","width":771,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-181x300.png","medium-width":181,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","medium_large-width":617,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","large-width":617,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","1536x1536-width":771,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","2048x2048-width":771,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-723x1200.png","post_full_size-width":723,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-253x420.png","home_baner-width":253,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Moses\u2019 Answer to Our Favorite Existential Question","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What do we need to do to deserve this land?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50016,"alt":"","title":"dt8-question","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","width":771,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-181x300.png","medium-width":181,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","medium_large-width":617,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-617x1024.png","large-width":617,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","1536x1536-width":771,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question.png","2048x2048-width":771,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-723x1200.png","post_full_size-width":723,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-question-253x420.png","home_baner-width":253,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"429","name":"Idolatry","old_id":"829"},{"term_id":"430","name":"Land of Israel","old_id":"830"},{"term_id":"539","name":"Israel","old_id":"939"}]},{"order":11,"id":"50022","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"One Of The Biggest Weaknesses of Human Behavior ","post_title":"One Of The Biggest Weaknesses Of Human Behavior","slug":"one-of-the-biggest-weaknesses-of-human-behavior","old_id":"50022","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":48616,"post_title":"Yair Bernstein","slug":"yair-bernstein","old_id":"48616","first_name":"Yair ","last_name":"Bernstein ","description":"Yair Bernstein currently serves as a Shaliach of the World Zionist Organization to a school in Chicago, where he teaches, together with his wife, Hebrew and Jewish Studies. He holds an M.A. in Bible Studies from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem","short_description":"Yair Bernstein currently serves as a Shaliach of the World Zionist Organization to a school in Chicago.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":48617,"alt":"","title":"Yair Bernstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","width":248,"height":256,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","medium_large-width":248,"medium_large-height":256,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","large-width":248,"large-height":256,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","1536x1536-width":248,"1536x1536-height":256,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","2048x2048-width":248,"2048x2048-height":256,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","post_full_size-width":248,"post_full_size-height":256,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Yair-Bernstein-e1549021062921.jpg","home_baner-width":248,"home_baner-height":256}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We need to remember that there is always something to be thankful for in our successes","post_main_content_content":"

It seems like chapter 8 in the book of Deuteronomy has only one purpose: to address one of the biggest weaknesses of human behavior. The writer of this text knows what happens when people get too comfortable. They, or shall I say <\/span>we<\/span><\/i>, forget and we take for granted.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Verse 7 starts a lengthy description of how amazing this new land is going to be. A land with streams of water coming out of mountains, a land of wheat, vines, and figs \u00a0(verse 8), a land with natural resources (verse 9). In this land, the people of Israel will grow and be successful. They will build great houses (verse 12) and their livestock will increase (verse 13). But with all these, the writer knows that the people of Israel will \u201dforget the LORD\u201d (verse 14) and will say to themselves: \u201cMy own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.\u201d (Verse 17). What a beautifully phrased statement - \u201cMy own power and my own might.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Studies show that many times when people experience failure, they find all the headwinds that were working against them. And when people experience success, they don\u2019t always talk about all the tailwinds that pushed them to where they are. It is easy to forget where we came from when we are in a better place.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So in a sense, chapter 8 is less about God and his threat to those who forget where they came from and why they have all this good. Chapter 8 is more about human beings. It is asking us to always remember that our success is dependent on others. That there is always something to be thankful for in our successes. Something that helped us through the \u201cdesert\u201d and brought us to the \u201cpromised land.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Gustavo Frazao \/ Shutterstock.com<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50046,"alt":"","title":"dt8-gratitude","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","width":1000,"height":726,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-768x558.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":558,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":726,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":726,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":726,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":726,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-579x420.jpg","home_baner-width":579,"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":"One Of The Biggest Weaknesses Of Human Behavior","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We need to remember that there is always something to be thankful for in our successes","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50046,"alt":"","title":"dt8-gratitude","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","width":1000,"height":726,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-768x558.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":558,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":726,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":726,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":726,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":726,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt8-gratitude-579x420.jpg","home_baner-width":579,"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":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"520","name":"Gratitude","old_id":"920"}]},{"order":12,"id":"50040","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Miracle Is As Miracle Does ","post_title":"Miracle Is As Miracle Does","slug":"miracle-is-as-miracle-does","old_id":"50040","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"To a soul searching for deeper connection, miracles lie in the unlikeliness of everything that gives life meaning","post_main_content_content":"

It\u2019s common to think of miracles as magic, a grand spectacle that is self-evident and can\u2019t be missed. Movies with religious themes often portray them in that way: lofty music, beams of glowing light. The only way to miss the objectivity of this supernatural intrusion, these Cecil B. DeMiracles, is to be deliberately obtuse, literally stubborn beyond belief.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But that isn\u2019t how Moses speaks of miracles in Chapter 8 of Deuteronomy. Instead, Moses notes that God \u201csubjected you to the hardship of hunger and then gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your parents had ever known, in order to teach you that people do not live on bread alone, but may live on anything that the Lord decrees (8:3).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Pay close attention to the words: we experienced hunger and hardship, then the manna descended in a breach with our prior experience, to teach a lesson. Nourishment comes from God, not from any particular physical object. The purpose of the miracle is to demonstrate an important point. But the only way the miracle can possibly teach us is if we are able to view it through the lens of wonder and wisdom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A skeptic would note the unprecedented manna and then develop a description of its biology, account for it within a particular ecological system, discuss its relationship to other wilderness blooms. In the rearview mirror, nothing is miraculous. After the fact, everything can be explained.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But to a mind open to wonder, everything is touched by miracle. To a soul searching for deeper connection, the miracle lies in the unlikeliness of everything that gives life meaning: consciousness, sustenance, community, love. Indeed, life itself is so unlikely, so preposterous, that its emergence from organic matter, itself emerging from inorganic matter, is miraculous in and of itself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Miracle is as miracle does. The miracle is in the recognition of its marvelous capacity to teach and to sustain. Our task is to train our minds to be open to the marvel and the unlikeliness of a cosmos open to life. We grow as humans when we cultivate hearts capable of swelling to the self-surpassing glory of it all.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We wonder. We engage. 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\u201c \u2026 for man does not live by bread alone ...\u201d \u00a0(Deuteronomy 8:3)
\r\n<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Now is the time of famine, and of drought,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>When long awaited rains refuse to fall;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In seeded fields, no green is seen at all,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Nor has a stalk of wheat begun to sprout.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Now is the time when minds are scraped by doubt,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Without that faith that rained when we were small\u2014<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Without our father\u2019s scarf, our mother\u2019s shawl \u2014<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Without the earth and sky \u2014 without \u2014 without \u2014 <\/span><\/p>\r\n

How long can we survive without a sheaf<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Of grain from which to make our bread? \u00a0We\u2019ll die <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Without the rains, which surely need to start.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>If only, now, the manna of belief<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Would suddenly appear, to satisfy<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The soul\u2019s parched throat, and hunger of the heart.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":104576,"alt":"","title":"-627259a5aa9de--627259a5aa9dfex15-faith doubt uncertainty 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\u201cManna and Torah\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Hal Rudin-Luria: What is the relationship between the two?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cPeople of the Land: Biblical Judaism and Environmental Thought\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Jacob Kaplan-Lipkin: Sources on relationship to the land. <\/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 - Deuteronomy 8","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":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":17,"id":"107946","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Deuteronomy 8 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Deuteronomy 8","slug":"points-to-ponder-deuteronomy-8","old_id":"107946","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. Who\u2019s trying whom?<\/em> In Exodus and Numbers and even in the previous chapter (in verse 16) we read that it was Israel testing God. Here in verse 2 we discover that there was a sort of mutuality about it: \u201cRemember the long way that the LORD your God has made you travel in the wilderness these past forty years, that He might test you by hardships to learn what was in your hearts: whether you would keep His commandments or not.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Man does live by bread alone<\/em>. This phrase has a second part, perhaps less well-known. But that\u2019s where the moral lies (verse 3).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. The miraculous journey<\/em>. Hiking in the desert for 40 years involved some miraculous events, and not just in the realm of food, but also in endurance and wardrobe (see verse 4).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. The seven species.<\/em> That\u2019s from here - verse 8.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. Metallurgy<\/em>. We\u2019ve got the goods: \u201ca land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper\u201d (verse 9).<\/span><\/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: Deuteronomy 8","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":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"161","date":"20260412","wall_id":"161"},"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\/49880"}],"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=49880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}