{"id":50924,"date":"2018-07-09T17:41:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1035\/"},"modified":"2022-10-07T07:15:00","modified_gmt":"2022-10-07T04:15:00","slug":"wall-1035","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1035\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20221002-to-20221008"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1035","date_from":"20221002","date_to":"20221008","book":"Deuteronomy","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"108392","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Parashat Haazinu: The Idolatry Of The Denier ","post_title":"Parashat Haazinu: The Idolatry Of The Denier","slug":"parashat-haazinu-the-idolatry-of-the-denier","old_id":"108392","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":108393,"post_title":"Haggai Resnikoff","slug":"haggai-resnikoff","old_id":"108393","first_name":"Haggai","last_name":"Resnikoff ","description":"Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff is a Rebbe and Interim Dean at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He has spearheaded YCT's groundbreaking climate initiative and is the author of the most rigorous and comprehensive Jewish legal treatment of the climate crisis to date and is researching a book on the same subject.","short_description":"Rabbi Haggai Resnikoff is a Rebbe and Interim Dean at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":108394,"alt":"","title":"-633c2b9749d94--633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg.jpeg","width":526,"height":442,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg-300x252.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":252,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg.jpeg","medium_large-width":526,"medium_large-height":442,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg.jpeg","large-width":526,"large-height":442,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg.jpeg","1536x1536-width":526,"1536x1536-height":442,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg.jpeg","2048x2048-width":526,"2048x2048-height":442,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg.jpeg","post_full_size-width":526,"post_full_size-height":442,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/633c2b9749d94-633c2b9749d95Haggai_Resnikoff.jpeg-500x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":500,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1035","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We are growing closer to our last chance to turn our attention back to the earth and its needs, for our beliefs to become re-rooted in reality\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

What is sacred to a climate denier? What do they worship? They privilege pseudo-science over science, fantasy over reality, all in the name of preventing\u00a0 significant change in the world. Non-change, non-progress, unending perpetuation of the status quo. That is the religion of the climate denier. The climate pessimist says something similar. They acknowledge the climate crisis but they refuse to believe in a solution.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This phenomenon has echoes in <\/span>Parashat Ha\u2019azinu<\/span><\/em>. After describing the extraordinary ingratitude of the Jews in turning to idolatry, the Torah says, \u201cThey sacrificed to demons, no-gods,\u201d(Deut. 32:17) and the Midrash says, \u201cIf they had worshiped the sun, or the moon, or stars, etc., things that are necessary to the world, and the world benefits from them, God\u2019s angry jealousy would have been less. But they worshiped things that do no good for them but rather do them harm!\u201d (Sifrei Devarim 318:17). The idolatry described here is not misplaced faith that something beneficial has powers of its own. It is doubling down on the belief that something that in reality has no benefit, and indeed is harmful, is actually beneficial and wholesome.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The consequence of this stubbornness of belief is a punishment that is totally mysterious to its objects. The Torah says, \u201cThey incensed Me with no-gods, vexed Me with their futilities; I\u2019ll incense them with a no-nation\u2026\u201d Because the idolatrous Jews chose to embrace negativity and futility, God\u2019s punishment comes in the form of something that fits none of their categories, a \u201cno-nation,\u201d something that their belief system doesn\u2019t prepare them to understand.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This shmita year, as we read Parashat Ha\u2019azinu, we are growing closer to our last chance to turn our attention back to the earth and its needs, for our beliefs to become re-rooted in reality. May our mistakes be in over-optimism about one solution or another to the crises we face. May we avoid the traps of negativity and futility represented by denial of the problem, or denial of the solution.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The shmita year is officially over! Shmita means a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we continue to share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"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":"A Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Parashat Haazinu: The Idolatry Of The Denier","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"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":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1035"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"368","name":"Parasha","old_id":"768"},{"term_id":"494","name":"Shmita","old_id":"894"}]},{"order":2,"id":"51021","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Magic and Monotheism ","post_title":"Magic And Monotheism","slug":"magic-and-monotheism","old_id":"51021","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"171","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Was sorcery wrong because it didn\u2019t work - or because it did?","post_main_content_content":"

Deuteronomy 18 warns the Israelites not to engage in array of magical practices:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let no one be found among you who consigns his son or daughter to the fire, or who is an augur, a soothsayer, a diviner, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, or one who consults ghosts or familiar spirits, or one who inquires of the dead\u2026you must be wholehearted with the Lord your God (Deut. 18:10-11, 13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nowadays, a common approach to this passage (which derives from the great twelfth-century philosopher, Moses Maimonides) is that the Torah is denying the validity of magical acts altogether, as they are oriented towards powers other than God Himself. From this perspective, the concluding commandment to be \u201cwholehearted with the Lord your God\u201d is essentially an insistence not to believe in superstitious nonsense.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet if we are being honest, this approach is difficult to square with the text, which takes care to detail a multiplicity of prohibited magical acts. Further, the Bible contains many stories where such practices are shown to be effectively used, for example in the story of the witch of Endor (1 Samuel 28). In a similar vein, when the rabbis thought about the prohibition against sorcery (<\/span>kishuf<\/span><\/em>), the primary legal distinction they made was between effective magic, punishable under pain of death, and illusion \u2013 which was not (m. Sanhedrin 7:11). It was obvious to them that magic was something that had a real effect on the world. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

From the classical rabbinic perspective, worship of the One God could exist in a messy world of alternative and mysterious forces. Indeed, this is what made the directive to be wholehearted with God so powerful. The challenge of Deuteronomy 18 is not to distinguish between wisdom and foolishness, but to choose between right and wrong.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: \u00a0By Ferdinand Barth - Sorcerer, Goethe's Werke<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51022,"alt":"","title":"dt18-sorcerer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","width":800,"height":882,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-272x300.png","medium-width":272,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-768x847.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":847,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","large-width":800,"large-height":882,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":882,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":882,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":882,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-381x420.png","home_baner-width":381,"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":"Magic And Monotheism","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Was sorcery wrong because it didn\u2019t work - or because it did?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51022,"alt":"","title":"dt18-sorcerer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","width":800,"height":882,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-272x300.png","medium-width":272,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-768x847.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":847,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","large-width":800,"large-height":882,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":882,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":882,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":882,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-sorcerer-381x420.png","home_baner-width":381,"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":"18","chapter_main_number":"171","date":"20260426","wall_id":"171"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"764","name":"Prohibitions","old_id":"1164"},{"term_id":"768","name":"Magic","old_id":"1168"}]},{"order":3,"id":"51013","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Moses \u2013 Then, Now and in the Future ","post_title":"Moses \u2013 Then, Now And In The Future","slug":"moses-then-now-and-in-the-future","old_id":"51013","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"171","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"From Moses to Jeremiah to Moses: Replicating the Inimitable","post_main_content_content":"

In our Chapter, Moses makes a surprising promise to the assembled Israelites: \u201cThe Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet from among your own people, like myself; him you shall heed\u2026\u201d<\/span> (18:15). This clearly contradicts the end of Deuteronomy: \u201cNever again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses\u2014whom the Lord singled out, face to face\u2026\u201d (34:10). Nevertheless, throughout subsequent Israelite and Jewish history there were, and still are, those who were seen as comparable to Moses or were even considered a \u201csecond Moses\u201d (or \u201cMoses Redivivus\u201d, Moses come back to life). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Midrash confronts this seeming contradiction and proposes one possible candidate (Pesiqta de-Rav Kahana\u2019 \u201cDivrey Yeremiyahu\u201d 13:6): \u201cI will raise up a prophet for them from among their own people, like yourself\u201d (18:18). But isn\u2019t it written: \u201cNever again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses\u201d?! And Moses! You say that there will be a prophet \u201clike you\u201d!? But this means that there will be a prophet like Moses in rebuking and reproaching Israel. For, what was said of Moses was said of Jeremiah. Moses prophesied forty years, and so did Jeremiah [from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah (626 BCE), until after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon's Temple in 587 BCE]. Both prophesied about Judah and Yisrael. Both were opposed by their own tribe (see for example Numbers Chapter 16 and Jeremiah 11:21). Moses was cast into the Nile and Jeremiah was thrown into a pit (see Jeremiah 38:6). Moses was saved by a maiden (Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, see Exodus 2:10) and Jeremiah was saved by a slave (see Jeremiah 38:7-13). Moses spoke words of rebuke (Deuteronomy 28:20), and Jeremiah likewise delivered words of rebuke (Jeremiah ch. 7). Moreover, the words of Moses and Jeremiah begin in a similar way: \u201cThese are the words that Moses addressed to all Israel\u2026\u201d (Deuteronomy 1:1) and Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies begin: \u201cThe words of Jeremiah\u2026\u201d (Jeremiah 1:1). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Modern biblical research has also noted the close connection between Moses and Jeremiah. In later Jewish tradition, some of those who were named Moses, or who assumed his name, were thought to be his equal. Most famously the expression \u201cFrom Moses to Moses no one has arisen like Moses\u201d was applied to Moses Maimonides (Rambam). The Talmud (Sotah 13b) goes further and asserts tersely that Moses did not actually die, but rose to heaven, where he \u201cstands and serves above\u201d. Indeed, according to some traditions, Moses will serve as a harbinger of the Messiah, leading the Generation of the Desert to the Promised Land and may even return as the Messiah himself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Whoever may be the \u201cprophet like Moses\u201d, mentioned in our Chapter -- May he come speedily in our day!<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Inscription on the grave of the Rambam: \u201cFrom Moses to Moses no one has arisen like Moses,\u201d Tiberias, Israel<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51014,"alt":"","title":"dt18-rambam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","width":626,"height":474,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam-300x227.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":227,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":474,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":474,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":474,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":474,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":474,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam-555x420.jpg","home_baner-width":555,"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 \u2013 Then, Now and in the Future","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"From Moses to Jeremiah to Moses: Replicating the Inimitable","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51014,"alt":"","title":"dt18-rambam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","width":626,"height":474,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam-300x227.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":227,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":474,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":474,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":474,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":474,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":474,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt18-rambam-555x420.jpg","home_baner-width":555,"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":"18","chapter_main_number":"171","date":"20260426","wall_id":"171"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"397","name":"Moses","old_id":"797"},{"term_id":"840","name":"Jeremiah","old_id":"1240"}]},{"order":4,"id":"51123","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Reintegration and Repentence ","post_title":"Reintegration and Repentence","slug":"reintegration-and-repentence","old_id":"51123","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":50764,"post_title":"Sarah Grabiner","slug":"sarah-grabiner","old_id":"50764","first_name":"Sarah ","last_name":"Grabiner ","description":"Sarah Grabiner is a fifth-year cantorial student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. She grew up in London, and currently works at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn, NY. After ordination, she will return to the UK to serve as the first ever cantor of Radlett Reform Synagogue.","short_description":"Sarah Grabiner is a fifth-year cantorial student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":50766,"alt":"","title":"SARAH GRABINER","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1.jpg","width":704,"height":656,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1-300x280.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":280,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1.jpg","medium_large-width":704,"medium_large-height":656,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1.jpg","large-width":704,"large-height":656,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":704,"1536x1536-height":656,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":704,"2048x2048-height":656,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":704,"post_full_size-height":656,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/SARAH-GRABINER-1-451x420.jpg","home_baner-width":451,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"172","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A Blueprint for a Compassionate, Progressive Justice System\u2026 for some","post_main_content_content":"

How can one chapter contain such aggressive, xenophobic ideas (verses 1, 13, 21), so problematic to many modern ears, and, juxtaposed to these verses, the most radical, progressive version of restorative justice (verses 2-10)?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We first find the cities of refuge in Numbers 35, where creating havens for unintentional killers is a levitical duty. In Deuteronomy 4 and 19 (and Joshua 20), these places and details about whom should be sent there reappear. The cities are for those whose actions have led to a death, without the killing having been their intention. There are two purposes: the protection of the individual from vigilante vengeance killings, and their atonement and restoration to society.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Makkot 10a stresses the importance of providing compassionately for these people, with water, food, people, access to Torah study, and no weapons in the vicinity, all in the name of \u201c <\/span>v\u2019chai<\/em> <\/span>,\u201d that they should live well there. Additionally, Rambam (Hilchot Rotseach 5-6) illumines how the cities are for atonement, by clarifying that for some, exile to a city of refuge would not lead to their successful repentance. The cities of refuge are not a punishment. Rambam expounds at length about keeping these people safe; they are accompanied to the city by two Torah scholars, and if they are murdered in revenge while there, the killer will be punished severely.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In short, the cities of refuge are a compassionate framework for restorative justice. Nancy Wiener and Jo Hirschmann in their book <\/span>Maps and Meaning; Levitical Models for Contemporary Care <\/span><\/i>write of how, \u201cthe message was clear: reintegration and repentance were the goals, not<\/span> hardship and punishment\u201d (p 214). I was struck by this charge for justice in reading of the teenager-turned-ISIS-wife-and-mother, Shamima Begum. Having fled to a Syrian refugee camp, Begum has been stripped of her British citizenship without trial. Surely she has made mistakes, but her intentions and actions must be studied carefully before such \u201chardship and punishment,\u201d as Wiener and Hirschmann wrote, is prioritised over \u201creintegration and repentance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So how do we hold both aspects of Deuteronomy 19? The dispossession and killing of other nations so the Israelites can settle their land, and pitiless revenge; and the cities of refuge? We must reread the problematic bias towards non-Israelites. There is plenty of guidance in Torah to lead to a more \u201cdo not oppress the stranger for we were strangers\u201d attitude. We must reject the violent, anti-Other framing, and translate the kernel of the wisdom of Torah for our time; embracing the model of cities of refuge, adapting the system not just for Jews, but for all those amongst whom we live, in modern, democratic, diverse societies.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image by geralt\/Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51124,"alt":"","title":"dt19-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","width":1920,"height":1216,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-300x190.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":190,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-768x486.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":486,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-1024x649.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":649,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":973,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1216,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-1200x760.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":760,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-663x420.jpg","home_baner-width":663,"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":"Reintegration And Repentence","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A Blueprint for a Compassionate, Progressive Justice System\u2026 for some","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51124,"alt":"","title":"dt19-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","width":1920,"height":1216,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-300x190.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":190,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-768x486.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":486,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-1024x649.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":649,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":973,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1216,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-1200x760.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":760,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-justice-663x420.jpg","home_baner-width":663,"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":"19","chapter_main_number":"172","date":"20260427","wall_id":"172"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"},{"term_id":"628","name":"Democracy","old_id":"1028"},{"term_id":"825","name":"Atonement","old_id":"1225"}]},{"order":5,"id":"51120","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"The Potential Of A Community of Killers ","post_title":"The Potential Of A Community Of Killers","slug":"the-potential-of-a-community-of-killers","old_id":"51120","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49857,"post_title":"Tali Adler","slug":"tali-adler","old_id":"49857","first_name":"Tali ","last_name":"Adler","description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side. Tali is a musmekhet of Yeshivat Maharat and a Wexner Graduate Fellow. During her time at Yeshivat Maharat, Tali served as the clergy intern at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim and Harvard Hillel. \r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49865,"alt":"","title":"tali adler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","width":165,"height":159,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium-width":165,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium_large-width":165,"medium_large-height":159,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","large-width":165,"large-height":159,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":165,"1536x1536-height":159,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":165,"2048x2048-height":159,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":165,"post_full_size-height":159,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","home_baner-width":165,"home_baner-height":159}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"172","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In a place where the past is transparent, the future is brighter","post_main_content_content":"

The purpose of the cities of refuge is ambiguous in the Torah. In some places they seem to exist purely for the accidental killer\u2019s protection, a place where the blood avenger cannot touch him, where he can live his life safely. Other readings understand the cities of refuge as places of punishment. In this conception, cities of refuge are a punishment for an ambiguous sort of crime: while the murder was not premeditated it may have involved some sort of negligence. However, the cities of refuge seem like a strange sort of exile. Unlike normal exile, where the criminal is required to go abroad, the cities of refuge must be within the boundaries of the land of Israel. It is an exile without exile, an exile where the criminal does not have to leave, at least, not altogether.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A third, more subtle purpose of the city of refuge, stems from its strangeness: it is a city composed only of killers and levites. It is a city where, no matter where an accidental killer might go or who he talks to, his sin is known. It is implicitly understood that every non-Levite in the city has a terrible event in their past. This community of killers, this community of collectively acknowledged sin, is not only a place of protection or a place of punishment. It is a place where no one has to hide what is monstrous within them. It is a place where darkness can be acknowledged. It is a place where the energy human beings usually spend hiding their flaws and their past misdeeds can instead be used to move towards redemption.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Tractate Makkot explains that when an accidental killer arrives at a city of refuge, if the inhabitants of the city want to honor him in any way he is required to inform them of his past. Rotzeach ani<\/em>--I am a killer. If the people of the city insist \u201ceven so,\u201d he can accept the honor.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the essence of the city of refuge. It is a place where the teshuva process is open, a place where people are required to speak about the things they have done wrong, and a place where it is safe for them to speak that truth because everyone around them is doing the same. When a person is feeling the most unworthy because of their past, it is a place where they can speak their fear out loud: remember the terrible things that I have done, are you sure that you want me here, in this position of honor?--and it is a place where, because the people around him have accepted the darkness in their own past, they can answer \u201cYes, we know, and we want you here, doing this, even so.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is only in this community of acknowledged, collective sin that the accidental killer has a chance for redemption. It is in this community, where everyone acknowledges the monstrous within them, that they can also reach what is most human. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image by: <\/span>geralt\/Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51121,"alt":"","title":"dt19-hands","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands.jpg","width":1920,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-300x120.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":120,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-768x307.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":307,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-1024x410.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":410,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":614,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-1200x480.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":480,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-1050x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1050,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Potential Of A Community Of Killers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"In a place where the past is transparent, the future is brighter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51121,"alt":"","title":"dt19-hands","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands.jpg","width":1920,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-300x120.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":120,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-768x307.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":307,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-1024x410.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":410,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":614,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-1200x480.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":480,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt19-hands-1050x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1050,"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":"19","chapter_main_number":"172","date":"20260427","wall_id":"172"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"426","name":"Community","old_id":"826"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"},{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"}]},{"order":6,"id":"51134","color":"#f6edf6","size":"2","name":"No Scorched Earth! ","post_title":"No Scorched Earth!","slug":"no-scorched-earth","old_id":"51134","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34011,"post_title":"Jeremy Benstein","slug":"dr-jeremy-benstein","old_id":"34011","first_name":"Jeremy","last_name":"Benstein","description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English. He is one of the founders of the Heschel Center for Sustainability. He writes the MiliMiliM - Hebrew Corner on the site, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34232,"alt":"","title":"Jeremy Benstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"173","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Don't destroy the land you are fighting for","post_main_content_content":"

Shortening a war means saving lives and reducing suffering. Given the supreme value of human life in the Jewish tradition, one would think that nearly anything that would lead to the end of the conflict would therefore be justifiable. Thus it is surprising to find a strong restriction on permissible military tactics, and in particular, how to treat the trees.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Verses 19-20 forbid the chopping down of fruit trees in order to construct siegeworks, however necessary for the campaign. Given the potential suffering an extended siege may cause, and the need for construction material to get through the city's defenses, limiting the use of trees was a serious restriction. With Napoleon's scorched-earth policy, the devastating American chemical defoliation of Vietnam, or the tactics of Saddam Hussein in Kuwait, the issue of destroying nature in order to wage war is widespread, and horrific.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But while the prohibition is clear, the reason for it is not. There is an intriguing textual ambiguity that invites two very different interpretations, as revealed by two translations. The King James version translates the crucial passage (20:19): \"... thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege.\" As medieval commentator Ibn Ezra explains, we are not to cut down the fruit trees because our lives are dependent on them and the food they produce. Simply put, destroying fruit-bearing trees is forbidden because it harms human beings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The New JPS translation (which we use here) offers a very different rendering of the same verse: \"... but you must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you under siege?\" The verse is parsed as a question, and a rhetorical one at that. As Rashi reads the verse: Are trees like people, that they can run away from an advancing army, and take refuge in the town? Of course not, they are innocent bystanders. Therefore, don't involve them in your conflicts, and don't cut them down. This approach makes no reference to human needs. The trees have a life of their own; they are not (only) a means to our human ends.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The half-dozen words of the original encapsulate in their ambiguity the two main schools of current environmental thinking on issues of preservation and development. The view that nature has value in and of itself, that it exists apart from us and our needs, that we should refrain from destroying what we cannot create, has a deep spiritual power that speaks to many of us. It is complemented by the equally legitimate anthropocentric approach, which is often tactically more effective: It speaks to \"the bottom line,\" what we get out of the deal. It also implies a generational perspective: we harm not only ourselves but generations to come when we selfishly exploit resources for our short-term gain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After all, we and our children have to live in this land when the fighting stops.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

photo: \"Ki Ha-Adam Etz Ha-Sadeh\" (see possible translations above) - Shira Hescht-Koller<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51135,"alt":"","title":"dt20-ki haadam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","width":960,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"No Scorched Earth!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Don't destroy the land you are fighting for","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51135,"alt":"","title":"dt20-ki haadam","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","width":960,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt20-ki-haadam-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"173","date":"20260428","wall_id":"173"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"553","name":"Trees","old_id":"953"}]},{"order":7,"id":"51204","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Fighting Words ","post_title":"Fighting Words","slug":"fighting-words","old_id":"51204","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45274,"post_title":"Erika Dreifus","slug":"erika-dreifus","old_id":"45274","first_name":"Erika ","last_name":"Dreifus ","description":"Erika Dreifus, a Fellow in the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute, is the author of Birthright: Poems (Kelsay Books, 2019) and Quiet Americans: Stories (2011). Please visit Erika online at www.ErikaDreifus.com and follow her on Twitter @ErikaDreifus, where she tweets \u201con matters bookish and\/or Jewish.\u201d Photo credit: Jody Christopherson.\r\n","short_description":"Erika Dreifus, a Fellow in the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute, is the author of Birthright: Poems (Kelsay Books, 2019) and Quiet Americans: Stories (2011). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":72309,"alt":"","title":"Erika Dreifus photo by Jody Christopherson-1","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Erika-Dreifus-photo-by-Jody-Christopherson-1-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"173","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Is this the match that lights the eternal fire? \u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

There comes a point, in Deuteronomy,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>when I can\u2019t help wondering\u2014<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>is this the match that lights the eternal fire? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The injunctions to <\/span>cast them out<\/span><\/i>,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>smite them,<\/span><\/i>
\r\n<\/span><\/i>and <\/span>utterly destroy them<\/span><\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The commands to<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>make no covenants<\/span><\/i>
\r\n<\/span><\/i>and <\/span>show no mer<\/span><\/i>cy. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And just a little later,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>the permission, if not<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>a direct order: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And if it will make no peace with thee,<\/span><\/i>
\r\n<\/span><\/i>but will make war against thee,<\/span><\/i>
\r\n<\/span><\/i>then thou shalt besiege it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

How much more I prefer those other sacred words<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>replete with possibility, and hope:<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Turn from evil and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

How much more easily, then,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>the word <\/span>Amen<\/span><\/i> springs from my soul<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>to my mouth. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

How vigorously I cling<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>to the belief that everyone<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>shares this preference.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

An earlier version of this poem appeared in <\/span>The Hollins Critic<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image<\/span> by: AngelaL_17 on Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51206,"alt":"","title":"match-3267506_1280","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280.jpg","width":1280,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":960,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Fighting Words","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Is this the match that lights the eternal fire? \u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51206,"alt":"","title":"match-3267506_1280","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280.jpg","width":1280,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":960,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":960,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/match-3267506_1280-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"173","date":"20260428","wall_id":"173"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"}]},{"order":8,"id":"51260","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Trees and Human Beings: Three Scenes ","post_title":"Trees and Human Beings: Three Scenes","slug":"trees-and-human-beings-three-scenes","old_id":"51260","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49857,"post_title":"Tali Adler","slug":"tali-adler","old_id":"49857","first_name":"Tali ","last_name":"Adler","description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side. Tali is a musmekhet of Yeshivat Maharat and a Wexner Graduate Fellow. During her time at Yeshivat Maharat, Tali served as the clergy intern at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim and Harvard Hillel. \r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49865,"alt":"","title":"tali adler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","width":165,"height":159,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium-width":165,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium_large-width":165,"medium_large-height":159,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","large-width":165,"large-height":159,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":165,"1536x1536-height":159,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":165,"2048x2048-height":159,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":165,"post_full_size-height":159,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","home_baner-width":165,"home_baner-height":159}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"174","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Trees of Life, Trees of Death","post_main_content_content":"

In the first, we are in the middle of a war. Death is rampant, and necessary--it is part of the dark bargain of conquest. And in this moment, in the middle of the siege, in the middle of a story of destruction and death, we are pointed to a fruit tree. In the middle of chaos, of violation of all human norms, we are told: this is the boundary. This etz hasadeh<\/em>, the tree of the field is untouchable--specifically because a tree is not a human being. It is a fun-house mirror retelling of our first, most basic story of human sin in the Garden of Eden--there we lived lives without violence, and our taking of the fruit introduced death to the world. Here we are surrounded by the death we have introduced, and the fruit may, even should be taken, but the tree alone is untouchable. When all else falls away, the fruit tree, our first boundary, reminds us once again that some things are inviolable.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the second, we are outside a city in peacetime, and we encounter a body lying in a field. The tree of the field and the body in the field stand in contrast to each other: whereas in the last scene the tree was inviolable because a tree of the field is not a human being, here the text stresses that here, in peacetime, it is the single body lying in the field that is the ultimate horror, the ultimate violation of boundaries. In linking the two with the word \u201csadeh<\/em>,\u201d field, the Torah almost begs us to toggle back and forth between the two pictures and to consider how precarious our boundaries are: the lines between war, when human death is necessary, and peace when it is a horror, the boundaries between murder and lawful killing, between the moments when felling a tree and killing a person is the ultimate crime.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the third, the body and the tree are finally brought together: And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and you hang him on a tree, \u00a0his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is a reproach unto God.\u201d The human body here, visually, mimics the fruit of the tree mentioned in the first scene, the symbol of life and sustenance that made that first tree inviolable even in the midst of war and death. Thousands of years before Billy Holiday\u2019s \u201cStrange Fruit,\u201d we are told that juxtaposition of these symbols: inviolable life and sustenance and human death--even the most lawful and necessary--cannot exist together, that the very image is an affront to God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The text, here, offers no answers to how to live in a world where boundaries shift, where violence is sometimes necessary, where the ultimate inviolable object is sometimes a tree and sometimes a human being. But at the end of the whirlwind, there is one clear voice: there is a point here, when this all collides, where the very image becomes too much. There is a moment here where we might, if it is possible, imagine that it almost too much for God as well.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51261,"alt":"","title":"dt21-hanging","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","width":515,"height":370,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging-300x216.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":216,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","medium_large-width":515,"medium_large-height":370,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","large-width":515,"large-height":370,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","1536x1536-width":515,"1536x1536-height":370,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","2048x2048-width":515,"2048x2048-height":370,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","post_full_size-width":515,"post_full_size-height":370,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","home_baner-width":515,"home_baner-height":370}},"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":"Trees And Human Beings: Three Scenes","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Trees of Life, Trees of Death","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51261,"alt":"","title":"dt21-hanging","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","width":515,"height":370,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging-300x216.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":216,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","medium_large-width":515,"medium_large-height":370,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","large-width":515,"large-height":370,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","1536x1536-width":515,"1536x1536-height":370,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","2048x2048-width":515,"2048x2048-height":370,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","post_full_size-width":515,"post_full_size-height":370,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-hanging.jpg","home_baner-width":515,"home_baner-height":370}},"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":"21","chapter_main_number":"174","date":"20260429","wall_id":"174"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"401","name":"Life","old_id":"801"},{"term_id":"553","name":"Trees","old_id":"953"}]},{"order":9,"id":"51247","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"The Humanity of the Captive Woman ","post_title":"The Humanity Of The Captive Woman","slug":"the-humanity-of-the-captive-woman","old_id":"51247","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":50215,"post_title":"Daniel Reifman","slug":"daniel-reifman","old_id":"50215","first_name":"Daniel ","last_name":"Reifman ","description":"Daniel Reifman teaches at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies at Bar-Ilan University, and he is the director of the Drisha Summer Kollel at NYU. He holds a B.A. in biology from Columbia University, rabbinic ordination and an M.A. in Tanakh from Yeshiva University, and a Ph.D in hermeneutics from Bar-Ilan. He and his family live in Yad Binyamin, Israel. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Daniel Reifman teaches at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies at Bar-Ilan University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":50216,"alt":"","title":"daniel reifman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman.jpg","width":1728,"height":2601,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman-680x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":680,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman-680x1024.jpg","large-width":680,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman.jpg","2048x2048-width":1361,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman-797x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":797,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/daniel-reifman-279x420.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"174","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Rape, slavery no - marriage, freedom, yes!","post_main_content_content":"

For as long as there has been war, there have been soldiers falling in love with beautiful captive women, and the Israelite soldier is no exception. But before allowing the soldier to marry his captive, the Torah demands an unusual protocol: \"\u2026and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails, and remove her captive's garb, and remain in your house and mourn for her father and mother a full month, and after that you may go unto her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi explains that the goal of this procedure is to dissuade the soldier from acting on his desire: \"The text is only addressing the <\/span>yetzer ha-ra<\/span><\/em> [evil inclination], for if the Holy One, blessed be He, would not permit her to him, he would marry her illegally\u2026\" \u00a0Rashi even portrays the woman as a wanton temptress: her \"captive's garb\" is not a prisoner's rags, but rather the raiment that heathen women would wear to the battlefield to seduce the enemy. \u00a0The hope is that when reduced to a pitiful mourner, the captive woman<\/span> will lose her allure, thus saving the soldier from a decision he is sure to regret. Indeed, Rashi reads the passage's conclusion \u2013 \"And if it comes to pass that you do not desire her\u2026\" \u2013 as a virtual prophecy: \"The text is foretelling that he will come to hate her.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet other commentators suggest that the Torah's protocol reflects concern for the captive woman herself, who has just been violently torn from her family and homeland. For example, Abraham Ibn Ezra cites Rashi\u2019s explanation why the woman must remove her captive's garb, but then offers a more mundane reason: \"for it is soiled.\" Similarly, \u00a0Maimonides explains that the purpose of month-long mourning period is to afford the woman a grace period to mourn her losses and come to terms with the new life that is being forced upon her (<\/span>Guide to the Perplexed,<\/span><\/em> 3:41).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One may suggest that these commentators, too, see the Torah's protocol as addressing the soldier's evil inclination. But whereas Rashi \u00a0views the evil inclination as a force from without, in the form of the beautiful seductress, for Ibn Ezra and Maimonides, the evil inclination comes from within: the temptation to treat one's<\/span> captive as a sexual plaything, to be used and discarded at will. This message is reinforced by the passage's conclusion: \"And if it comes to pass that you do not desire her, you shall set her free, but you shall not sell her for money \u2013 you shall not use her, since you have debased her.\" <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In mandating sensitivity to the captive woman's emotional needs, the Torah reminds us that even in war, we must treat all with humanity and dignity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: 1877, Konstantin Makovsky: The Bulgarian Martyresses<\/a> (detail)<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51248,"alt":"","title":"dt21-captive woman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","width":625,"height":361,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","medium_large-width":625,"medium_large-height":361,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","large-width":625,"large-height":361,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","1536x1536-width":625,"1536x1536-height":361,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","2048x2048-width":625,"2048x2048-height":361,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","post_full_size-width":625,"post_full_size-height":361,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","home_baner-width":625,"home_baner-height":361}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Humanity Of The Captive Woman","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Rape, slavery no - marriage, freedom, yes!","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51248,"alt":"","title":"dt21-captive woman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","width":625,"height":361,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","medium_large-width":625,"medium_large-height":361,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","large-width":625,"large-height":361,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","1536x1536-width":625,"1536x1536-height":361,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","2048x2048-width":625,"2048x2048-height":361,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","post_full_size-width":625,"post_full_size-height":361,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt21-captive-woman.jpg","home_baner-width":625,"home_baner-height":361}},"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":"21","chapter_main_number":"174","date":"20260429","wall_id":"174"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]},{"order":10,"id":"51284","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"You Must Not Remain Indifferent ","post_title":"You Must Not Remain Indifferent","slug":"you-must-not-remain-indifferent","old_id":"51284","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":"175","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We can\u2019t hide our eyes as though we didn\u2019t see the suffering of others","post_main_content_content":"

This has been my favorite verse in the Torah for as long as I can remember. And I do remember, as a college student 30 years ago, the first time I picked up the Bible to read it on my own - the same semester that I met Elana and God (I was clearly in the mood for love!) reading Scripture on my own, in English, hit me with a force beyond description. I was thrilled by the drama and the pageantry, elevated by the wisdom, challenged by the vision of a just, compassionate and righteous society, a vision yet to be implemented.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then I read these staccato words. In the middle of a paragraph which speaks of our obligation to restore lost items to our fellow (the Torah terms him your \"brother\"!), how we are to inconvenience ourselves to return lost property or clothing or livestock, we are then instructed <\/span>lo <\/span><\/i>tukhal le-hitalem, you must not remain indifferent.<\/span><\/em> If you were looking for a three word summation of the entire Torah, that would be it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I have tried throughout my rabbinic work, as a husband and father and friend, not to allow myself to be indifferent. When I saw the exclusion and marginalization of LGBTQ people, I didn't let myself remain quiet. When I fathered a boy who struggles with autism, I didn't let myself remain quiet. I am no saint, but that charge of Torah was a goad that would not let me hide (another way to translate the verse: \u201cyou may not hide\u201d). Rashi, in his typical way, comments that we may not hide our eyes as though we didn't see the others' suffering. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

These powerful, uncompromising, stern words call me to be who I am supposed to be. Whether tired or not, worn down or not, I can no longer hide. I must not remain indifferent.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0shutterstock.com<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51347,"alt":"","title":"dt22-indifference","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1.jpg","width":14213,"height":6583,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-300x139.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":139,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-768x356.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":356,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-1024x474.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":474,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":711,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":949,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-1200x556.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":556,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-907x420.jpg","home_baner-width":907,"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":"You Must Not Remain Indifferent","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We can\u2019t hide our eyes as though we didn\u2019t see the suffering of others","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51347,"alt":"","title":"dt22-indifference","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1.jpg","width":14213,"height":6583,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-300x139.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":139,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-768x356.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":356,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-1024x474.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":474,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":711,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":949,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-1200x556.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":556,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt22-indifference-1-907x420.jpg","home_baner-width":907,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"175","date":"20260430","wall_id":"175"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"},{"term_id":"431","name":"Personal\/memoir","old_id":"831"}]},{"order":11,"id":"51278","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Could 'Difference' Be The Opposite Of 'Indifference'? ","post_title":"Could 'Difference' Be The Opposite Of 'Indifference'?","slug":"could-difference-be-the-opposite-of-indifference","old_id":"51278","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. 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","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":"175","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The way to create a society of caring is to see everyone as different and unique","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 22 begins with two simple commandments aimed at creating a society in which people caring for one another is the rule, not the exception. It is a society in which a Kitty Genovese case, where a person can cry out for help and be ignored, should be inconceivable. At the end of the chapter, in the case of the betrothed woman, we see that the basic assumption, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, is that she was raped. Therefore, if the case takes place in the fields, we don't entertain the possibility that she consented, and she is judged to be faultless. If, however, it happened in the city, there is an absolute presumption that sex was consensual. Why? In the city, her cries of protest would be heard. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What the Torah doesn't consider is that she would cry out and be ignored. That is simply not possible in the community that the Torah envisions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Might the mysterious commandments of <\/span>kilayim<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>sha'atnez<\/em> <\/span>found in this chapter also be part of creating this society without indifference? Whatever their precise significance is, what is clearly conveyed by these <\/span>mitzvot<\/span><\/i> is the importance of recognizing, and not blurring, differences. The difference between plant and animal life must be honored, and within plant and animal life, different species must remain distinct. Why is this so important?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To care about something, we must think of it as special, unique in some way. To be indifferent is to be insensitive to difference, to be unbiased, not particular. \u00a0While we cherish equality, we need to be sensitive to the way that value can have a flattening effect, making everything the same, erasing real differences. The way to create a society of caring may not be to see everyone as equals, but to see everyone as different and unique.
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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And His Donkey ","post_title":"Help Your Enemy - And His Donkey","slug":"help-your-enemy-and-his-donkey","old_id":"51340","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":"175","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Pain, distress, difficulty should transcend the language of difference","post_main_content_content":"

The Sermon on the Mount tells us to love our enemies. That is a supremely beautiful idea, but it is not easy. Moses offers a more liveable solution. Help your enemy. You don\u2019t have to love him but you do have to assist him. That is the basis of the simple command in Exodus: \u201cIf you see your enemy\u2019s donkey sagging under its burden, you shall not pass by. You shall surely release it with him.\u201d (Exod. 23:5)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Behind this law is a simple idea: your enemy is also a human being. He has a problem. Besides which, his donkey is suffering. Hostility may divide you, but something deeper connects you: the covenant of solidarity. Pain, distress, difficulty \u2013 these transcend the language of difference. A decent society will be one in which enemies do not allow their rancour or animosity to prevent them from coming to one another\u2019s aid when they need help. If someone is in trouble, act. Do not stop to ask whether they are friend or foe. Do as Moses did when he saw shepherds roughly handling the daughters of Jethro, or as Abraham did when he prayed for the people of the cities of the plain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The rabbis noted that in Deuteronomy (22:4) a similar law appears, but this time in relation to friend, not foe: it speaks of \u2018your brother\u2019s donkey\u2019. The Talmud rules that in a case of conflict, where your brother and your enemy both need your help \u2018you should first help your enemy \u2013 in order to suppress the evil inclination\u2019. Both may be equally in distress, but in the case of an enemy, there is more at stake: the challenge of overcoming estrangement, distance and ill-will. Therefore, it takes precedence. The ancient Aramaic translations (<\/span>Targum Onkelos<\/span><\/i>, and more explicitly <\/span>Targum Yonatan<\/span><\/i>) say something fascinating at this point. They take the phrase \u2018You shall surely release\u2019 to mean not just the physical burden weighing on the donkey, but also the psychological burden weighing on you. They translate the verse as: \u2018You shall surely <\/span>let go of the hate you have in your heart<\/em> <\/span>towards him.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: <\/span>Not in God\u2019s Name<\/span><\/em>, p.257-258<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51341,"alt":"","title":"donkey","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","width":425,"height":328,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","medium_large-width":425,"medium_large-height":328,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","large-width":425,"large-height":328,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","1536x1536-width":425,"1536x1536-height":328,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","2048x2048-width":425,"2048x2048-height":328,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","post_full_size-width":425,"post_full_size-height":328,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"home_baner-height":328}},"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":"Help Your Enemy - And His Donkey","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Pain, distress, difficulty should transcend the language of difference","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51341,"alt":"","title":"donkey","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","width":425,"height":328,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","medium_large-width":425,"medium_large-height":328,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","large-width":425,"large-height":328,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","1536x1536-width":425,"1536x1536-height":328,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","2048x2048-width":425,"2048x2048-height":328,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","post_full_size-width":425,"post_full_size-height":328,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/donkey.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"home_baner-height":328}},"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"175","date":"20260430","wall_id":"175"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"433","name":"Other","old_id":"833"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"}]},{"order":13,"id":"51290","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"Different Standards of Justice ","post_title":"Different Standards of Justice","slug":"different-standards-of-justice","old_id":"51290","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49421,"post_title":"Eve Levavi Feinstein","slug":"eve-levavi-feinstein","old_id":"49421","first_name":"Eve Levavi ","last_name":"Feinstein ","description":"Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein is a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Harvard University and is the author of Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible.","short_description":"Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein is a writer and editor in the San Francisco Bay Area","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49422,"alt":"","title":"eve levavi feinstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein.jpg","width":838,"height":813,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein-300x291.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":291,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein-768x745.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":745,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein.jpg","large-width":838,"large-height":813,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein.jpg","1536x1536-width":838,"1536x1536-height":813,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein.jpg","2048x2048-width":838,"2048x2048-height":813,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein.jpg","post_full_size-width":838,"post_full_size-height":813,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/eve-levavi-feinstein-433x420.jpg","home_baner-width":433,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"175","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Protecting the innocent from being punished from another\u2019s crime","post_main_content_content":"

Verses 28\u201329 of our chapter deal with the rape of a single woman who is not betrothed. The rapist must pay fifty shekels of silver to the woman\u2019s father and marry her, and he is prohibited from ever divorcing her.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This response to rape is deeply disturbing from a contemporary point of view. We can only imagine how awful it would be for a woman to be married to her rapist and forced to live with him for the rest of his life. It may be that in the ancient context, marriage would at least have provided the woman with an assurance of economic support. But the biblical law is not concerned primarily with justice for the woman but for her father.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Marriage in the ancient Near East was to some extent a financial transaction: the prospective groom would pay a \u201cbride price\u201d to the prospective bride\u2019s father. Since virgins were more highly valued, a man who raped a virgin would be depriving her father of a higher bride price. This law requires the rapist to compensate the father for that loss and ensures that the father will not have to support her in the case of a divorce.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This law has a parallel in the Middle Assyrian Laws, which are believed to have been written around 1076 BCE. (Most scholars date the earliest version of Deuteronomy to 622 BCE.) In this law, too, the rapist must compensate the father for the lost bride price. But there is a striking difference: If the rapist is unmarried, he must marry his victim, but if he is married, his own wife is raped!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Vicarious punishments like raping a rapist\u2019s wife are also found elsewhere in Mesopotamian law. For example, the Code of Hammurabi states that if a man builds a house and it falls and kills the owner\u2019s son, the builder\u2019s son must be put to death. In contrast, Deuteronomy says: \u201cParents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents: a person shall be put to death only for his own crime\u201d (24:16). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Biblical law does not provide the justice we would like to see for a victim of rape. But when we compare it with the laws of Israel\u2019s neighbors, we can see that it does seek another type of justice: protecting the innocent from being punished for another\u2019s crime.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73253,"alt":"","title":"ez6-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","width":1920,"height":927,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-300x145.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":145,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-768x371.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":371,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1024x494.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":494,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":742,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":927,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1200x579.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":579,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-870x420.jpg","home_baner-width":870,"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":"Different Standards Of Justice","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Protecting the innocent from being punished from another\u2019s crime","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":73253,"alt":"","title":"ez6-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","width":1920,"height":927,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-300x145.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":145,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-768x371.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":371,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1024x494.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":494,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":742,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":927,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-1200x579.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":579,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez6-justice-870x420.jpg","home_baner-width":870,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"175","date":"20260430","wall_id":"175"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"467","name":"Ancient Law","old_id":"867"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]}],"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\/50924"}],"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=50924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}