{"id":51374,"date":"2018-07-09T17:42:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-176\/"},"modified":"2022-10-09T14:18:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-09T11:18:20","slug":"wall-176","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-176\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Torah-Deuteronomy-23"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"176","date":"20260503","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"51454","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Deuteronomy 23 - Judy Hammond ","post_title":"Deuteronomy 23 - Judy Hammond","slug":"deuteronomy-23-judy-hammond","old_id":"51454","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Deuteronomy 23","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"read by Judy Hammond","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/deuteronomy-chapter-23-read-by-judy-hammond","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"108422","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Bible\u2019s Fugitive Slave Act ","post_title":"The Bible\u2019s Fugitive Slave Act","slug":"the-bibles-fugitive-slave-act","old_id":"108422","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A lot more compassionate than the American one\u2026\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The struggle between the Southern slave-holding states and the Northern mostly free states reached a boiling point in the mid-19<\/span>th<\/span> century before the start of the Civil War. As a last act of desperation to try to hold the Union together, Stephen Douglas and Henry Clay helped pass the Compromise of 1850. One part of the Compromise was the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Under this act, all law enforcement in both Northern and Southern states were required to return escaped slaves to their owners. The Act was meant to shore up the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which had been weakened by Northern states refusal to enforce the law.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 1854, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a local abolitionist could not be arrested for violating the act. The United States Supreme Court overruled the Wisconsin Supreme Court in <\/span>Ableman v. Booth<\/span><\/em>. <\/i><\/b>Justice Taney, who also authored the infamous <\/span>Dred Scott<\/em> <\/span>decision that held that slaves had no rights under the constitution, wrote the majority opinion. Justice Taney clearly did not read chapter 23 of Deuteronomy:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

You shall not turn over to the master a slave who seeks refuge with you from that master (verse 16).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From a modern perspective, the Torah has a complicated connection to slavery. Slavery, a universal practice in ancient times, was allowed, but it was also highly legislated. There are different categories of slaves, Israelite and gentile, certain slaves are restricted from working for more than six years, a slave is granted certain protected rights in ones household, an injured slave must be set free, etc. Given what transpired in 1858, verse 16 must have been quite controversial in ancient Canaan. But the Torah is clear: all escaped slaves must be freed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0image: 'Am I not a man and a brother'? Society for the Abolition of Slavery in England in the 1780s. This woodcut accompanied John Greenleaf Whittier's anti slavery poem, 'Our Countrymen in Chains' of 1837. Shutterstock:\u00a0242290558<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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","post_title":"We Are Runaway Slaves!","slug":"we-are-runaway-slaves","old_id":"51446","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And with more slaves today in the world than ever before - what is our obligation?","post_main_content_content":"

It seems fair to say that on a day-to-day basis many of us in the Western world take our freedoms for granted. Yet shocking as it is, more than twenty-million people around the world are enslaved to this very day. In fact, according to many activists, there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history (see <\/span>Slavery Today<\/span><\/a>). What are we to make of this horror, and how ought we respond to it? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the ancient Near East, laws and international treaties commonly forbade harboring fugitive slaves. One who harbored a fleeing slave was also subject to grave penalty. Deuteronomy offers a stark alternative: \u201cYou shall not hand over to his master a slave who seeks refuge with you from his master. He shall live with you in any place he may choose among the settlements in your midst, wherever he pleases; you must not oppress him\u201d (Deut 23:16-17). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deuteronomy teaches that the fugitive slave may dwell in any place he chooses. The idea of choosing a place is crucial to Deuteronomy: God is repeatedly described as choosing one central place. This occurs no fewer than eighteen times in Deuteronomy; seventeen of them refer to God\u2019s choosing a habitation for God\u2019s name. Strikingly, the verses dealing with the runaway slave are the only instance in Deuteronomy in which these terms are used for anyone other than God. Moreover, the text insists that the slave is to dwell \u201cin your midst\u201d\u2014again, just as God does (cf. 6:15; 7:21).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The people of Israel are themselves a nation of runaway slaves worshiping a God who liberates slaves.<\/span> Just as the Israelites are repeatedly taught that because they were strangers in the land of Egypt, they must not oppress the stranger (Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33), here they are instructed (though the point is not made explicit) that because they were runaway slaves, they must not oppress slaves in flight, and must open their hearts and their land to them. The Hebrew word our translation renders as \u201cseeks refuge\u201d is <\/span>yinatzel<\/span><\/em>, a verb also used to describe God\u2019s delivering Israel from bondage. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In an age when Jews have access to political and economic power in ways our ancestors could not even have dreamed of, surely we ought to be at the forefront of contemporary movements for abolition and liberation. Where slavery is concerned, Deuteronomy was enormously radical in its time; to take its message seriously is to be enormously radical in our own.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image by: orythys from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51447,"alt":"","title":"dt23-slavery","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1245,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-768x498.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":498,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-1024x664.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":664,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":996,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1245,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-1200x778.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":778,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-648x420.jpg","home_baner-width":648,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"We Are Runaway Slaves!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And with more slaves today in the world than ever before - what is our obligation?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51447,"alt":"","title":"dt23-slavery","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":1245,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-768x498.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":498,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-1024x664.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":664,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":996,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1245,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-1200x778.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":778,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-slavery-1-648x420.jpg","home_baner-width":648,"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":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"438","name":"Slavery","old_id":"838"}]},{"order":4,"id":"51428","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Open, Orthodoxy! (That's An Order) ","post_title":"Open, Orthodoxy! (That's An Order)","slug":"open-orthodoxy-thats-an-order","old_id":"51428","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Believe it or not, radical openness is the rabbinic precedent - so don\u2019t circle the wagons","post_main_content_content":"

When, in chapter 23, the Torah says that an Ammonite may not ever become part of the Jewish people, it doesn't seem to leave much room for interpretation. So when an Ammonite, surprisingly named Yehuda, and surprisingly noted as a convert (who converted him? who gave him that name?), comes into the house of study (<\/span>Mishna Yadayim 4:4) <\/span><\/i>and asks \"Can I be part of the congregation?\" you'd expect it would be an open and closed case. Emphasis on the 'closed'.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For Rabban Gamliel, it is. The answer is no, and the proof-text is the unequivocal verse in chapter 23. And if Yehuda the Ammonite convert had asked his question a day earlier, that would have been the last word. But his timing wasn't a coincidence. The day he entered was the very same day that the sages had staged a coup against Rabban Gamliel, the exilarch, rejecting his strict, centralized, authoritarian rule that quashed all dissent. On that day, the Talmud recounts, the guard that Rabban Gamliel had posted at the gates of the <\/span>Beit Midrash<\/span><\/i> to make sure that only the best and purest-intentioned students had access to the halls of halachic power was fired. This allowed entry to hundreds of new students who previously didn't make the cut, and among them, Yehuda, the Ammonite convert.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On this day, Rabban Gamliel is allowed to voice his opposition, but has lost his power to enforce it. Rabbi Yehoshua boldly declares<\/span> that the Torah's prohibition to accept the Ammonite nation no longer holds, because the national identities the Torah refers to no longer exist. The majority agrees with him, and Yehuda is immediately accepted.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabban Gamliel's intentions had been pure, and perhaps for a time, even necessary. In the turbulent period following the destruction of the Temple, he believed that a closed door policy, and strict enforcement of centralized authority were necessary for Judaism to survive. It took his public embarrassment of another sage one too many times for the other rabbis not only to depose Rabban Gamliel, but to reverse his entire approach. The best way to face the challenges of the day was not to circle the wagons, and define clear, strong boundaries of who is allowed in. Just the opposite. The gates of the <\/span>Beit Midrash<\/span><\/em>, and the gates of Jewish peoplehood, were opened wide to include as many voices as possible, even those whose intentions and <\/span>agendas had been suspect.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The result? A tremendous growth in Torah study, and the resolution of questions that had stood for years. The question we need to resolve today is: what is the appropriate policy for our time? <\/span><\/p>\r\n

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He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Israel speaks itself into being, then makes the narrative normative, defining where the camp begins and ends","post_main_content_content":"

Let\u2019s stipulate that last words carry a peculiar weight, and that scarcity can confer an extra measure of gravity. The genius of Deuteronomy is that, like Lincoln\u2019s speech at Gettysburg, it is meant to convey a condensed essentialism, stakes heightened by mortality at the edges. All of this makes this week\u2019s chapter even more difficult to understand. Much of it sounds in obscurity and might trouble us by its incessant border policing and caprices of inclusion and exclusion. Some lines are drawn across ethnic lines, some touch on physical traits, and others trace a genetic curve. Contrast all of this with the last gasp unity urged by Jacob on his deathbed, the messianic hope of the cohabitation of the wolf and the lamb.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today\u2019s chapter teaches us something powerful about a word simple to say but complex to build; community. Moses\u2019s message is that for a community to mean something, it can\u2019t include everything. Its geometry might invite in a wide circle of concern, but its circumference cannot be infinite. Laws of interest, the ethics of plucking a grape from a vineyard, the extension of citizenship to hostile polities- all of these inflect the angle of how we see ourselves relative to the broader world and set the metes and bounds of where the camp begins and ends.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

They also structure the imaginative territory where compassion can be cultivated and empathy might take root. Within this space, the art of making distinctions is required, even when they cut in unexpected directions. An Ammonite and Moabite are barred from the Jewish polity forever, while the Egyptians, our former enslavers, are not to be hated. These decisions reflect distinctions drawn from historical experience and reflect and shape how present policy emerges from the stories a people tells about its past. A community speaks itself into being, but sustains itself by the hard work and painful decisions that are the cost of making the narrative normative.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51432,"alt":"","title":"dt23-community","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Community on Canaan\u2019s Edge","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Israel speaks itself into being, then makes the narrative normative, defining where the camp begins and ends","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51432,"alt":"","title":"dt23-community","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-community-1-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"405","name":"Memory","old_id":"805"},{"term_id":"426","name":"Community","old_id":"826"},{"term_id":"476","name":"Compassion","old_id":"876"}]},{"order":6,"id":"51434","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moabites: Ban Them. Then Welcome Them ","post_title":"Moabites: Ban Them. Then Welcome Them","slug":"moabites-ban-them-then-welcome-them","old_id":"51434","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":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We have earned and learned nothing if by banning others for their cruelty, we become like them","post_main_content_content":"

The Bible is nothing if not a complex and nuanced masterpiece. Generations of commentators explore the nooks and crannies revealed by the granular incompatibilities and the delectable hints offered by the suggestive words of Scripture. None more than in this chapter.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In what looks like utterly clear language, the tribes of Israel are ordered to never welcome a Moabite or Ammonite, and to show them no compassion: \u201cNo Ammonite or Moabite shall be admitted in the congregation of the Lord; none of their descendants, even in the tenth generation (23:4).\u201d That\u2019s pretty harsh, although the Torah goes to some lengths to make sure we understand that this exile is not about ethnicity or blood or religion or culture. It is simply about a breathtaking level of cruelty that renders them incompatible with the Biblical idea that greatness is a reflection of <\/span>tzedek <\/span><\/i>(justice) and <\/span>chesed <\/span><\/i>(lovingkindness). \u201cBecause they did not meet you with food and water on your journey after you left Egypt, and because they hired Balaam\u2026 to curse you (23:5).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So here comes a cruel exclusion to respond to cruelty. Because the Moabites were heartless, so show them no heart. There may be value in establishing this kind of moral consequences: evil begets evil. A good lesson to learn. But not a good one to implement, because if we act like the Moabites, we become Moabites. Cruelty is as cruelty does.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How does our tradition resolve this challenge? Well, the rule is on the books, forever. This measure of harshness and marginalization deserves itself to be marginalized and isolated. But the reality has to be elsewhere: love trumps hate. So our tradition records, despite the rule, that the ancestor of the messiah, the ultimate symbol of redemption and love, is the descendent of just these Moabites. Through Ruth, great heroine of <\/span>chesed<\/span><\/i>, we birth King David, who is himself the ancestor of the Messiah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moabites: cruelty that deserves to be banished. Moabites: distant ancestors of our own salvation and of the world\u2019s redemption. Perhaps what we are taught is to cultivate a complete rejection of their behavior (we are, multiple times, commanded to love the alien and to have one law for alien and stranger alike) by putting the entire people under <\/span>herem<\/span><\/em>\/a ban, and then by tracing our own salvation to one of them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

By Gustave Dor\u00e9 - David and the Ammonites<\/a>, 1866\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51435,"alt":"","title":"Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","width":800,"height":642,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-300x241.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":241,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-768x616.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":616,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":642,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":642,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":642,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":642,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-523x420.jpg","home_baner-width":523,"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":"Moabites: Ban Them. Then Welcome Them","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We have earned and learned nothing if by banning others for their cruelty, we become like them","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51435,"alt":"","title":"Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","width":800,"height":642,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-300x241.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":241,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-768x616.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":616,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":642,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":642,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":642,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":642,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Dt23-David_Attacks_the_Ammonites-1-523x420.jpg","home_baner-width":523,"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":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"337","name":"Ruth","old_id":"737"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"500","name":"Messiah","old_id":"900"}]},{"order":7,"id":"51439","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Incoherence of Exclusion ","post_title":"The Incoherence Of Exclusion","slug":"the-incoherence-of-exclusion","old_id":"51439","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":51365,"post_title":"Jamie Weisbach","slug":"jamie-weisbach","old_id":"51365","first_name":"Jamie ","last_name":"Weisbach ","description":"Jamie Weisbach is a Chicago native, and a current fellow at Yeshivat Hadar. In the past he has studied at the Conservative Yeshiva, SVARA, and Drisha. ","short_description":"Jamie Weisbach is a fellow at Yeshivat Hadar. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":51367,"alt":"","title":"Jamie Weisbach","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","width":316,"height":302,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1-300x287.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":287,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","medium_large-width":316,"medium_large-height":302,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","large-width":316,"large-height":302,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":316,"1536x1536-height":302,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":316,"2048x2048-height":302,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":316,"post_full_size-height":302,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Jamie-Weisbach-1.jpg","home_baner-width":316,"home_baner-height":302}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What should ethnic boundaries mean to us today?","post_main_content_content":"

This chapter contains a set of prohibitions I find deeply troubling: the ban on Moabites and Ammonites from \u201centering the community of God\u201d \u2013 that is, from converting and freely marrying into the Jewish people. The prohibition is justified as a response to their ill-treatment of the Jewish people, but at the end of the day, I struggle to understand how the Torah could write people off solely on the basis of ethnicity. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The <\/span>Mishnah<\/span> in <\/span>Masechet Yadayim <\/span><\/em>4:4<\/span> tells a story of a time when this law was challenged: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

On that day, Judah the Ammonite convert came and stood before them in the Beit Midrash and said, \u201cWhat am I to enter the congregation?\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Rabban Gamliel said to him, \u201cYou are prohibited.\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Rabbi Yehoshua said to him, \u201cYou are permitted.\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Rabban Gamliel said to Rabbi Yehoshua, \u201cBut the Torah says: \u2018An Ammonite and a Moabite cannot enter the community of Hashem even to the tenth generation.\u2019<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Rabbi Yehoshua said to him, \u201cAre the Ammonite and the Moabites in their lands? \u00a0Sennecharib the King of Assyria has already scrambled the peoples, as it says: \u2018I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the mighty number of their inhabitants.\u2019\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Rabban Gamliel said to him, \u201cBut the Torah says: \u2018And afterwards I will return the captivity of Ammon,\u2019 and they have already returned.\u201d <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Rabbi Yehoshua said to him, \u201cThe Torah says: \u2018And I will return the captivity of Israel,\u2019 and they have not returned.\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>They immediately permitted him to enter the community. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This narrative could be read as overturning the prohibition on Ammonites purely on technical grounds, and not engaging with the moral question of discrimination. However, I think the Mishnah here is actually doing something much deeper than that. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

This Mishnah<\/span> challenges the coherence of any ideology that views ethnicity as fixed, static, and unchanging. Ethnicity simply doesn\u2019t work that way; the winds of history and empire and migration make it simply impossible to assert that one ethnicity can be banned for all time. \u00a0The Torah\u2019s prohibition can\u2019t be enacted, not just because it would be cruel, but because it would be incoherent.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Gemara<\/span> Tractate Berachot<\/span> 28a<\/span> records that the day that Judah the Ammonite Convert was permitted to enter the community was a day where the walls of the <\/span>Beit Midrash <\/span><\/i>were expanded to include hundreds of people who were previously excluded, leading to a massive outpouring of Torah and insight. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

I hope we can all come to see the wisdom of striving for greater inclusion in our communities, and to reap the benefit of the wisdom and Torah that it generates. \u00a0<\/span>
\r\n
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image by: geralt\/pixabaly<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51440,"alt":"","title":"dt23-exclusion","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":915,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-300x143.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":143,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-768x366.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":366,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-1024x488.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":732,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":915,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-1200x572.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":572,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-881x420.jpg","home_baner-width":881,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Incoherence Of Exclusion","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What should ethnic boundaries mean to us today?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51440,"alt":"","title":"dt23-exclusion","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":915,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-300x143.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":143,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-768x366.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":366,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-1024x488.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":732,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":915,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-1200x572.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":572,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-exclusion-1-881x420.jpg","home_baner-width":881,"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":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"462","name":"Identity","old_id":"862"},{"term_id":"627","name":"Talmud","old_id":"1027"},{"term_id":"712","name":"Inclusion","old_id":"1112"}]},{"order":8,"id":"51442","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Between the Sacred and the Abominable ","post_title":"Between The Sacred And The Abominable","slug":"between-the-sacred-and-the-abominable","old_id":"51442","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45368,"post_title":"Chayva Lehrman","slug":"chayva-lehrman","old_id":"45368","first_name":"Chayva ","last_name":"Lehrman","description":"Chayva Lehrman is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York, expecting to graduate in 2022. She feels very fortunate to be starting a career that incorporates her love of Jewish community, music, spirituality, social justice, and learning. ","short_description":"Chayva Lehrman is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":45369,"alt":"","title":"Chayva Lehrman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","width":92,"height":122,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-126x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":126,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","medium-width":92,"medium-height":122,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","medium_large-width":92,"medium_large-height":122,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","large-width":92,"large-height":122,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","1536x1536-width":92,"1536x1536-height":122,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","2048x2048-width":92,"2048x2048-height":122,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","post_full_size-width":92,"post_full_size-height":122,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Chayva-Lehrman-e1544336293804.jpg","home_baner-width":92,"home_baner-height":122}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Purity and impurity, outside and In","post_main_content_content":"

The physicality of Torah is hardly foreign to us, and chapter 23 embodies it thoroughly. From one verse to the next, we encounter prohibitions from the sexual appetite (e.g. not marrying one\u2019s father\u2019s wife, a ban on cult prostitution, etc.) to the gastronomic (when visiting a field or vineyard, only eat what your stomach can hold). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

As the latter is metabolized, the subsequent bodily function is addressed (verses 13-14): \u201c<\/span>Further, there shall be an area for you outside the camp, where you may relieve yourself. With your gear you shall have a spike, and when you have squatted you shall dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a long-distance hiker, I have personal appreciation for a biblical \u201cLeave No Trace\u201d proof-text. (If only I could have posted it in those crowded campgrounds in the Smokies.) But of course, it\u2019s not really about biblical bathroom usage. Toilets and their contents have always been considered highly impure. In Judea in the 8th-7th Century BCE, King Hezekiah put toilets in areas that held polytheistic altars to deter their worship. When destroying the golden calf, Moses ground up the calf\u2019s gold and forced the Israelites to eat it, so that, according to some commentators, their bodies will turn the idol into waste. What is truly at stake - or at the spike, if you will - is the purity of divine spaces.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The 13th century rabbi, the Chizkuni, explains the Deuteronomic mitzvah by noting the differentiation of space inside and outside the camp. Inside the camp, there are structures to contain impurity and protect the Ark of the Covenant. However, when one has been sent out of the camp, as stated in verse 12, one must act to contain one\u2019s impurities.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is simple enough, when in community, to know what is considered sacred and what is abominable. Regardless of one\u2019s feelings on where the lines are drawn, they are usually clear. But when we find ourselves in uncharted territory, as times change or as we find and create new communities, we must be proactive in determining that which is not acceptable, and burying it. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51443,"alt":"","title":"dt23-shovel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1.png","width":1867,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1-292x300.png","medium-width":292,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1-768x790.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":790,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1-996x1024.png","large-width":996,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1.png","1536x1536-width":1494,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1.png","2048x2048-width":1867,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1-1167x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1167,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-shovel-1-408x420.png","home_baner-width":408,"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":"Between 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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":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The integrity of diversity, the dignity of difference","post_main_content_content":"

The Hebrew Bible speaks of a God who not only loves, but who loves precisely those who are otherwise unloved - the younger rather than the elder; the weak, not the strong; the few not the many. From this flow all acts of chosenness in the Bible: Abel, not Cain; Abraham, not a nation; Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau; Israel the slaves, rather than Egypt the masters. To be sure, no one is rejected. Divine choice does not mean that God is with this person, not that; with one nation not another. God \u2013 who tells Moses that His name is \u201cI will be where I will be\u201d (Exodus 3:14) \u2013 cannot be confined to one sector of humanity. That is the point of His remarkable command to the Israelites: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cDo not hate an Egyptian. You were strangers in his land.\u201d (Deuteronomy 23: 8). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

God blesses Ishmael and Esau - they too will become great nations. There is nothing exclusive about the patriarchal covenant: \u201cThrough you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.\u201d But there is nonetheless an insistence on the integrity of diversity, the dignity of difference; the preciousness to God of those whom the world ignores or mistreats. God sets His image on the only creature for whom difference is a source of identity, namely man. And to exemplify this truth He chooses Israel, the people who are called on to be different, to show that for God, difference matters.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

A Letter in the Scroll<\/i><\/b>, p.90<\/b><\/p>\r\n

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\"No one misbegotten \u2014 a <\/span>mamzer<\/span><\/em> \u2014 may be admitted into the congregation of the Lord; even unto the tenth generation none of his descendants may be admitted into the congregation of the Lord.\" (Deuteronomy 23:3)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

May it be Your will<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>That the lemon be as worthy as the <\/span>etrog<\/span><\/em>: \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he not be squeezed or sliced<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Or rejected \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he be allowed to join the congregation<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Of the willow, myrtle and <\/span>lulav<\/span><\/em> \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he be treasured<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Willingly, in merit, in his own right \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he may be placed in a box<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Stamped kosher \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That when he is lifted, he may be blessed<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In the name of God \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he may display his splendor without shame<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And send forth his fragrance without fear \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he may wear his stem on his head<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Like an embroidered green <\/span>kippah<\/span><\/i> \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That he raise his eyes to heaven<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And never fall \u2014 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

May it be Your will,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>HaShem<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

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\u201cAncient Biblical Interpretation: Comparing Jesus of Nazareth and the Rabbis\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Solomon Wiener: Compare the origins of Christianity to Rabbinic Judaism. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cJewish Sources on Immigration\u201d<\/span><\/a> by Gary Bretton-Granatoor: What do Jewish texts teach about immigrants? <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Deuteronomy 23","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Click to get links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"108420","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points To Ponder: Deuteronomy 23 ","post_title":"Points To Ponder: Deuteronomy 23","slug":"points-to-ponder-deuteronomy-23","old_id":"108420","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":false,"related_cahpter":"176","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. The congregation of the Lord<\/em>. To be \u201cadmitted into the congregation of the LORD\u201d (or not) is the term used in verses 1-9 for joining the Israelite people through marriage.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. To the 10th gen<\/em>. Actually - who\u2019s counting? When it says - \u201ceven the tenth generation shall not enter\u201d it means - never, ever (see verse 4).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. That your camp should be holy<\/em>. Verse 15 - This phrase is often used on ultra-orthodox <\/span>pashkevilim<\/span><\/i>, the ubiquitous wall notices - but not about a military camp, as the original context intended.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. The place that will be chosen<\/em>. This is the common phrase used in Deuteronomy to indicate the as-yet-unknown future site of the Temple. In verse 17 it is used surprisingly in a very different context - to refer to the place a runaway slave may choose to live (and thereby remain unmolested). <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Daily Summary","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder: Deuteronomy 23","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"176","date":"20260503","wall_id":"176"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/51374"}],"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=51374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}