{"id":51375,"date":"2018-07-09T17:42:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:42:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1036\/"},"modified":"2022-10-14T07:25:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T04:25:22","slug":"wall-1036","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1036\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20221009-to-20221015"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1036","date_from":"20221009","date_to":"20221015","book":"Deuteronomy","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"96955","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"Ecclesiastes - Overview ","post_title":"Ecclesiastes - Overview","slug":"ecclesiastes-overview","old_id":"96955","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2033","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":{"id":96956,"alt":"","title":"ecc12-end sikkum","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","width":726,"height":419,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","medium_large-width":726,"medium_large-height":419,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","large-width":726,"large-height":419,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","1536x1536-width":726,"1536x1536-height":419,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","2048x2048-width":726,"2048x2048-height":419,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","post_full_size-width":726,"post_full_size-height":419,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-end-sikkum.jpg","home_baner-width":726,"home_baner-height":419}},"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":"Ecclesiastes - 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Kohelet\/Ecclesiastes - A Liberating Book","post_main_content_content":"

In an effort to bring more Torah content to your homes and devices, we are pleased to announce this new initiative.<\/p>\r\n

There are 24 hours in a day, 24 books of Tanakh and \u2013 counting from Monday \u2013 24 days until Pesach. Count up with us at 929!<\/p>\r\n

3.5 years to complete all of Tanakh might feel a bit long. If you are ready to dive into some of the later books of Tanakh, \u201c24 in 24\u201d is for you.<\/p>\r\n

Starting on Monday the 16th<\/sup> of March (click here to see all the videos to date<\/a>), alongside our daily chapter, we will be starting a parallel learning cycle, with the goal of working our way through all 24 books of Tanakh over the next 24 days. Drawing from our community of educators and writers, each day, here on the site, in our daily newsletter and through our social media channels we will be sharing a 20-30 minute video exploring a resonant theme in each of the 24 books of Tanakh, starting with Bereishit\/Genesis on Monday March 16, and ending with Divrei Hayamim\/Chronicles.<\/p>\r\n

Join us for this journey in text \u2013 from the comfort (and appropriately socially distanced semi-isolation) of your own home!<\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cg-ogRlXyoQ","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"24 in 24","tile_main_caption":"#20 - Kohelet\/Ecclesiastes - A Liberating Book","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"with: Ruby Namdar in conversation with Shira Hecht-Koller","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cg-ogRlXyoQ","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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1090"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"332","name":"24 in 24","old_id":"732"}]},{"order":3,"id":"97810","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"Ecclesiastes: For Your Sukkot Reading Edification ","post_title":"Ecclesiastes: For Your Sukkot Reading Edification","slug":"ecclesiastes-for-your-sukkot-reading-edification","old_id":"97810","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1167","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Find links here to a range of fascinating interpretations to this weird and wonderful book","post_main_content_content":"

The Book of Kohelet \/ Ecclesiastes is comprised of 12 chapters. Click on each of the links to go to individual chapters.\u00a0 In chapter one there are two lovely introductory essays by Moshe Sokolow and Menachem Fisch (you can follow Fisch's systematic interpretation of the book with his day by day posts in each chapter). And on the summary page there are links to a range of highlights from the book, as well as a video lesson on the book, with Shira Hecht-Koller and award winning author Ruby Namdar.<\/p>\r\n

Chapter 1<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 2<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 3<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 4<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 5<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 6<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 7<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 8<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 9<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 10<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 11<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 12<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Summary page\u00a0<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96471,"alt":"","title":"ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age.png","width":800,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age-240x300.png","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age-768x960.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":960,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age.png","large-width":800,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ecc1-Colorized_King_Solomon_in_Old_Age-336x420.png","home_baner-width":336,"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":"Ecclesiastes: 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joy in temporality, lasting value in transience\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

R.B.Y. Scott\u2019s Anchor Bible version of <\/span>Qohelet<\/span><\/em> speaks for many in declaring that \"Ecclesiastes is the strangest book in the Bible, or at any rate the book whose presence in the sacred canons of Judaism and of Christianity is most inexplicable\u201d \u2013 a claim he never takes back. In addition to the mystery of <\/span>Qohelet<\/span><\/em>\u2019s<\/em> biblical status, Jewish readers are also faced with that of the book\u2019s perplexing liturgical placing. What could justify the ritual reading of such a sobering and tortured meditation on the human condition during the festival specifically marked by excessive joy?! In light of the reading proposed in my notes to Qohelet, both mysteries are dispelled.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to Mishna <\/span>Yadaim<\/span><\/em>, 3:5, <\/span>Qohelet<\/span><\/em>\u2019s<\/em> canonization, long disputed by the \u2018Houses\u2019 of Shammai and Hillel, was decided in favor of the Hillelites on the day R. Elazar b. Azaria was appointed head of the Yavne Center. The association of <\/span>Qohelet<\/span><\/i>\u2019s religious viability with Talmudic Hillelism is an indication of how the rabbi\u2019s might have read it. Rabbinic literature has little to say about the radical and wholly unadjudicated diversity of exegetical and halakhic opinion it harbors, or of its keen argumentative style. But in the brief, well-known story of the heavenly resolution of the Hillelite-Shammaite dispute (<\/span>Eruvin<\/span><\/em> 13b), it offers a rare glimpse of how it understands its own undertaking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Hillelite position is endorsed, it states, because unlike the Shammaites they were <\/span>nochin<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>aluvin<\/span><\/em>. In Talmudic Hebrew <\/span>nochin<\/span><\/em> means flexible, namely, wary of being wrong and willing to change their mind , and <\/span>aluvin<\/span><\/em> means open to criticism, willing to be \u2018insulted\u2019 by others. To side with the Hillelites is hence to realize (a) the transient, fallible nature of our traditions, and (b) the need, therefore, for the kind of potentially transformative challenge only an equally dedicated opponent can provide. This, as I have argued, is precisely Qohelet\u2019s position when applied to Torah study!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By the same token, <\/span>Qohelet<\/span><\/em>\u2019s<\/em> liturgical placement also gains intriguing clarity. Read as I\u2019ve proposed, the book forcefully raises, and answers to its author\u2019s satisfaction (and relief!), the question of how we are able to live lives of real, divinely approved <\/span>yitaron<\/span><\/em> despite our time bound, temporary existence and inherently fallible knowledge. Sukkot, of course, is dedicated to leaving our supposedly permanent dwellings in favor of temporary unstable booths. It is the celebration of our essential temporality and transience, if you wish, and of the immense joy of knowing that we can pursue lives of real value despite our thorough <\/span>hevel<\/span><\/i> existence. Indeed, Maimonides\u2019s detailed description of the rabbinic elite\u2019s ecstatic rejoicing in Torah during Sukkot, depicts it as no less than a Hillelite carnival (<\/span>hilkhot Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav<\/span><\/em>, 8:12-4).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This might also explain why Simchat Torah, the inauguration of the annual Torah-reading cycle, is appended to Sukkot, rather than, as one might have expected, to the reception of Torah celebrated on Shavuot. But that would be a topic for another day.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

excerpted from: <\/span>Qohelet: Searching for a Life Worth Living,<\/span><\/em> by Debra Band and Menachem Fisch (forthcoming)<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":96953,"alt":"","title":"ecc12-dandelion transience","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience.jpg","width":1920,"height":1151,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-300x180.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-768x460.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":460,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-1024x614.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":614,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":921,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1151,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-1200x719.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":719,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-701x420.jpg","home_baner-width":701,"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":"Mysteries Dispelled: Qohelet in Biblical and Liturgical Context","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Finding joy in temporality, lasting value in transience","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":96953,"alt":"","title":"ecc12-dandelion transience","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience.jpg","width":1920,"height":1151,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-300x180.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-768x460.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":460,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-1024x614.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":614,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":921,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1151,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-1200x719.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":719,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/ecc12-dandelion-transience-701x420.jpg","home_baner-width":701,"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Ecclesiastes","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"2033"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"51446","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"We Are Runaway Slaves! ","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":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":"51529","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Breaking the Amalek Cycle ","post_title":"Breaking The Amalek Cycle","slug":"breaking-the-amalek-cycle","old_id":"51529","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40788,"post_title":"Julie Lieber","slug":"julie-lieber","old_id":"40788","first_name":"Julie ","last_name":"Lieber","description":"Dr. Julie Lieber is a Jewish educator and is the Director of the Pardes-Kevah Teaching Fellowship. Julie most recently served as the Interim Executive Director and Director of Education at Kevah, a national non-profit facilitating home-based Torah study groups. After receiving her PhD in European history with a focus on Jewish women, gender and sexuality, Julie moved to Colorado, where she was a professor of Jewish Studies for many years. Julie regularly teaches for the Wexner Heritage Program, has taught for the Melton program and the Colorado Agency for Jewish Education. ","short_description":"Dr. Julie Lieber is a Jewish educator, and is the Director of the Pardes-Kevah Teaching Fellowship.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":40789,"alt":"","title":"Julie Lieber","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688.jpg","width":627,"height":680,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688-277x300.jpg","medium-width":277,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688.jpg","medium_large-width":627,"medium_large-height":680,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688.jpg","large-width":627,"large-height":680,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688.jpg","1536x1536-width":627,"1536x1536-height":680,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688.jpg","2048x2048-width":627,"2048x2048-height":680,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688.jpg","post_full_size-width":627,"post_full_size-height":680,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Julie-Lieber-e1537820405688-387x420.jpg","home_baner-width":387,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"178","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Esther and Mordechai decree a different remembering and a different future","post_main_content_content":"

When genocide is discussed in a Jewish setting, it is often in the context of Jews as victims. Not so in Deuteronomy 25. Here, the Israelites are given the (in)famous command to wipe out the entirety of Amalek. Lest one think this is merely theoretical, the accompanying <\/span>haftorah <\/span>from I Samuel 15, makes the extent and reality of this commandment clear: not a trace of this people may remain. This is genocide in the extreme, destroying all remnants of Amalek.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This unusual <\/span>mitzvah<\/span> is perplexing and even disturbing. How can a people, who are commanded to emulate God\u2019s compassion be charged with wiping out an entire people? Is it possible to cultivate the mercy and kindness and simultaneously carry out this command to murder men, women and children?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While this challenging biblical command might have remained buried in our Torah readings, like the commandment to stone one\u2019s rebellious child, this is not so with the commandment of wiping out Amalek. Each year the Shabbat before Purim, we read these three verses publicly, reminding all those present of our ongoing commitment to destroy Amalek.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The joy-filled holiday of Purim, shortly upon us, centers on this very Jews vs. Amalek narrative. Only in this case, the plot unfolds with Amalek\u2019s descendent Haman vowing to annihilate the Jews \u2013 men, women and children alike. We are once again the victims, not the perpetrators of this genocide. Each year, as we read the Book of Esther, we are outraged! How evil Haman must be to conjure up a plan to kill an entire people with little cause.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Amalek narrative is a zero-sum game. The Bible suggests that the newly formed Jewish nation cannot exist alongside Amalek. So too, many generations later, Haman proclaims the same about the Jews. It appears that both sides have bought into this zero-sum ideology: These two nations cannot simultaneously exist.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Or can they?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the Purim story, dripping with irony throughout, ends with one final ironic climax. The Jews choose to commemorate their unexpected salvation by breaking the genocidal cycle. This might be the greatest genius of Esther and Mordecai, who declare that future generations of Jews on this day should not occupy themselves with destroying Amalek but with caring for the poor and strengthening communal and social bonds through gift-giving, breaking bread and merry-making. They supplant the biblical call to violence, <\/span>remember<\/em> <\/span>what Amalek <\/span>did<\/em> <\/span>(<\/span>Zachor <\/span>et asher <\/span>asah<\/span><\/em>) with a new command of \u201c<\/span>remembering<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>doing<\/span><\/em> (<\/span>nizcarim v\u2019naasim <\/span>bechol dor vador<\/span><\/em>) that centers on compassion, love and community.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Instead of reading and the Book of Esther as yet another episode in the epic power struggle codified in our chapter, we might just see the Purim story as a courageous tale about those who dared us to disrupt entrenched patterns centered on violence and replace them with new \u201crememberings\u201d and \u201cdoings\u201d of kindness and connection. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51527,"alt":"","title":"gen-question-mark","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","width":366,"height":440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-250x300.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","medium_large-width":366,"medium_large-height":440,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","large-width":366,"large-height":440,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","1536x1536-width":366,"1536x1536-height":440,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","2048x2048-width":366,"2048x2048-height":440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","post_full_size-width":366,"post_full_size-height":440,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-349x420.jpg","home_baner-width":349,"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":"What To Do About Amalek-II","tile_main_caption":"Breaking The Amalek Cycle","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Esther and Mordechai decree a different remembering and a different future","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51527,"alt":"","title":"gen-question-mark","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","width":366,"height":440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-250x300.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","medium_large-width":366,"medium_large-height":440,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","large-width":366,"large-height":440,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","1536x1536-width":366,"1536x1536-height":440,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","2048x2048-width":366,"2048x2048-height":440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","post_full_size-width":366,"post_full_size-height":440,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-349x420.jpg","home_baner-width":349,"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":"25","chapter_main_number":"178","date":"20260505","wall_id":"178"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"476","name":"Compassion","old_id":"876"},{"term_id":"517","name":"Esther","old_id":"917"},{"term_id":"641","name":"Amalek","old_id":"1041"}]},{"order":8,"id":"108481","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Amalek: Remembering And Wiping Out Memory ","post_title":"Amalek: Remembering And Wiping Out Memory","slug":"amalek-remembering-and-wiping-out-memory","old_id":"108481","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":101758,"post_title":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam","slug":"naomi-bromberg-bar-yam","old_id":"101758","first_name":"Naomi ","last_name":"Bromberg Bar-Yam ","description":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam is a social worker and advocate in maternal and child health. She explores her work and life through Torah drashot, rituals and children\u2019s stories.","short_description":"Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam is a social worker and advocate in maternal and child health. She explores her work and life through Torah drashot, rituals and children\u2019s stories.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":101760,"alt":"","title":"-62028435af471--62028435af472Naomi Bromberg Bar-Yam.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","width":361,"height":449,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":449,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":449,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":449,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":449,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":449,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/02\/62028435af471-62028435af472Naomi-Bromberg-Bar-Yam.jpg-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"178","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In other words - be the opposite\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

What did Amalek do to deserve their reputation?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The two tellings of the story of Amalek bracket our experience of becoming a nation. They first appear (Exodus 17:8-16) immediately after Israelites leave Egypt and we are reminded of them again in Deuteronomy Chapter 25, when we are about to enter the land of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The narrative is but 3 verses (25:17-19), the more powerful for its brevity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What made Amalek\u2019s evil unique? Commentators offer several answers:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. They attacked unprovoked. There was no threat, nothing to be gained; no bragging rights, land, or property.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. They attacked when the nation was at its most vulnerable, weary and faint.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. They attacked from behind, where the weakest were.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. They did not stand in awe of God, and in so doing made other attacks possible. Rashi explains: \u201cIt may be compared to a boiling hot bath into which no living creature could descend.\u00a0 A good-for-nothing came, and sprang down into it; although he scalded himself, he made it appear cold to others.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    What does it mean to remember, to wipe out their memory but at the same time, not to forget Amalek?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    According to Sifrei, \u201cremember\u201d refers to words: written and oral. \u201cDo not forget\u201d refers to our hearts. What we do not forget becomes a part of us. Remembering and not forgetting are complementary.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \u201c<\/span>Wipe out the memory of Amalek<\/span><\/em>\u201d - <\/span><\/i>Many sources say this refers literally to wiping out all of Amalek. However, our tradition struggles with this genocide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Talmud Brachot 28a tells us that, when he conquered nations, Assyrian King Sennecharib dispersed the local people widely to cause confusion and prevent rebellion. In time, the people intermarried, so that it is not possible to identify who is who - including Amalek. Others say that Amalek must be destroyed by a king of Israel in its sovereign land. Together, the physical destruction of the nation of Amalek is not implementable. Maimonides includes Amalek among the 7 nations of the land of Israel. If they accept peace terms with Israel, they are spared. Only if they refuse are they to be destroyed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Over centuries, Amalek has become less a question of DNA and more a <\/span>symbol<\/span><\/em> of evil. So, is it possible, as Maimonides suggests, for Amalek to change its ways and thus, no longer be Amalek?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Our text says wipe out the <\/span>memory<\/em> <\/span>of Amalek.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Rabbi Samson Hirsch notes, not Amalek, but its remembrance and glory.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    God <\/span>did<\/span><\/em> wipe out the memory of Amalek. The three + books of Torah between leaving Egypt and entering the land are filled with words (\u201cremember\u201d refers to words), laws, teaching us how to be different than Amalek. We simultaneously remember and wipe out memory by overwriting the deeds of Amalek with a civil society that protects the vulnerable rather than attacking them, welcomes the stranger rather than waging war on them.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51527,"alt":"","title":"gen-question-mark","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","width":366,"height":440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-250x300.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","medium_large-width":366,"medium_large-height":440,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","large-width":366,"large-height":440,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","1536x1536-width":366,"1536x1536-height":440,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","2048x2048-width":366,"2048x2048-height":440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","post_full_size-width":366,"post_full_size-height":440,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-349x420.jpg","home_baner-width":349,"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":"What To Do About Amalek - VIII","tile_main_caption":"Amalek: Remembering And Wiping Out Memory","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51527,"alt":"","title":"gen-question-mark","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","width":366,"height":440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-250x300.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","medium_large-width":366,"medium_large-height":440,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","large-width":366,"large-height":440,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","1536x1536-width":366,"1536x1536-height":440,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","2048x2048-width":366,"2048x2048-height":440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark.jpg","post_full_size-width":366,"post_full_size-height":440,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/gen-question-mark-349x420.jpg","home_baner-width":349,"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":"25","chapter_main_number":"178","date":"20260505","wall_id":"178"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"405","name":"Memory","old_id":"805"},{"term_id":"641","name":"Amalek","old_id":"1041"},{"term_id":"680","name":"Symbolism","old_id":"1080"}]},{"order":9,"id":"51666","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"They Tried to Kill Us, God Saved Us, \u00a0Let's...Share! ","post_title":"They Tried to Kill Us, God Saved Us, \u00a0Let's...Share!","slug":"they-tried-to-kill-us-god-saved-us-lets-share","old_id":"51666","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":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Happiness and holiness multiply when they are divided","post_main_content_content":"

    A well-known joke sums up every Jewish holiday with a three part formula: They tried to kill us, God saved us, let's eat. It's a narrative arc which is expressed quite explicitly in chapter 26, in the declaration made upon bringing the first fruits on the holiday of Shavuot. This same declaration later becomes the core of our Pesach reading at the <\/span>seder<\/span><\/i>, so that it figures prominently in 2\/3 of the major Biblical festivals. Not bad. It's just missing one critical element.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    It's true that the most appropriate way to express our gratitude to God for our salvation is by enjoying all the good given to us. But if only <\/span>we<\/em> have enjoyed it, we've missed the whole point. The section about the bringing of first fruits concludes \"And you shall rejoice in all the good that God has given you and your family, you, the Levite, and the stranger in your midst.\" The joy of the holidays is only properly expressed when it is shared with the less fortunate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Maimonides codifies this idea in his laws of the holidays (<\/span>Shevitat Yom Tov \u00a06:18):<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

    When he eats and drinks, he is obligated to feed the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, along with other poor and downtrodden people. But one who locks the doors of his courtyard, and eats with his children and wife, but doesn't feed the poor and embittered- this is not the joy of mitzva, but gluttonous joy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    This isn't the Torah's formula for charity, it's the formula for happiness. We define the abundance of our happiness by how we treat it. When we share it, it grows. When we hoard it, it constricts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    And this is also the formula for holiness. \u00a0Following the presentation of the declaration of the first fruits, the Torah discusses another declaration, <\/span>viduy maasrot<\/span><\/em>, the 'confession of tithes.' The parts of our produce deemed holy cannot be hoarded. Holiness finds its expression only in giving to 'the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, the widow.'<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    And when we have acted properly towards what is holy in our midst, we can turn to God and ask that He, in return, turn to us from his holy abode. \"We have done what you decreed upon us, now you must do what you promised us\". \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51667,"alt":"","title":"dt26-mealsharing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","width":640,"height":427,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":427,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":427,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":427,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":427,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":427,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-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":"They Tried to Kill Us, God Saved Us, \u00a0Let's...Share!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Happiness and holiness multiply when they are divided","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51667,"alt":"","title":"dt26-mealsharing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","width":640,"height":427,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":427,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":427,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":427,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":427,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":427,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-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":"26","chapter_main_number":"179","date":"20260506","wall_id":"179"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"516","name":"Holidays","old_id":"916"},{"term_id":"696","name":"Celebration","old_id":"1096"},{"term_id":"849","name":"Sharing","old_id":"1249"}]},{"order":10,"id":"108506","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"What Does The Ara-mean? ","post_title":"What Does The Ara-mean?","slug":"what-does-the-ara-mean","old_id":"108506","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":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Musings on the identity of the Aramean here and in the haggadah\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    The chapter begins with the commandment to bring the first fruits, but it also contains a passage that is a significant part of the Pesach Haggadah.\u00a0 The passage is a mini-history of the Israelites. It describes them going down to Egypt, then God saving them from the Egyptians with signs and wonders. Next, God brings the people to the land of milk and honey and now the people bring the first fruits to God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The passage opens with the phrase \u201c<\/span>Arami oved avi<\/span><\/em>.\u201d What does this phrase mean? Rashi translates it as \u201can Aramean destroyed my father.\u201d The Aramean, according to Rashi, is Laban. This is also how the Targum translates it. Some commentators say the word <\/span>oved<\/span><\/em> should be with an <\/span>ayin<\/span><\/em>- meaning worked. As in: Laban \u2018worked\u2019 Jacob. The Pesach Haggadah also follows this interpretation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Go out and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to Jacob our father; since Pharaoh only decreed [the death sentence] on the males but Laban sought to uproot the whole [people]. As it is stated (Deut. 26:5), \u2018An Aramean was destroying my father and he went down to Egypt, and he resided there with a small number and he became there a nation, great, powerful and numerous.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    There are many questions about this opinion. Why start this passage with Laban without naming him? Going down to Egypt was not directly after the Laban story, so why connect the two? Ibn Ezra asks many of these questions. He prefers to translate the phrase as \"my father was a lost Aramean.\" <\/span>Oved<\/em> <\/span>is not used as a transitive verb here, but as an adjective. The Aramean is Jacob, and he was lost because he was poor. This sets up a nice, mirrored structure. Jacob was poor, he went down to Egypt with a small group of people as one side. The mirror to that is that God intervened and a large nation came out of Egypt. The people then entered the land flowing with milk and honey. This sets up the ultimate contrast between the humble beginnings of the people and the eventual wealth that leads the farmer to bring his first fruits to the Temple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Rashbam goes further back and explains that the Aramean here is Abraham who was a wanderer. Abraham is a stand-in for all three of the forefathers who did not have a set land of their own and wandered about. Rashbam\u2019s interpretation also maintains the mirrored structure. One can ask though: what did Rashbam and Ibn Ezra say on Pesach? Did they have a different version of the haggadah?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":53867,"alt":"","title":"jo13a-seder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","width":590,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","medium_large-width":590,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","large-width":590,"large-height":384,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","1536x1536-width":590,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","2048x2048-width":590,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","post_full_size-width":590,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","home_baner-width":590,"home_baner-height":384}},"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":"What Does The Ara-mean?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Musings on the identity of the Aramean here and in the haggadah","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":53867,"alt":"","title":"jo13a-seder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","width":590,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","medium_large-width":590,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","large-width":590,"large-height":384,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","1536x1536-width":590,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","2048x2048-width":590,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","post_full_size-width":590,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","home_baner-width":590,"home_baner-height":384}},"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":"26","chapter_main_number":"179","date":"20260506","wall_id":"179"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"366","name":"Commentators","old_id":"766"},{"term_id":"464","name":"Agriculture","old_id":"864"},{"term_id":"481","name":"Laban","old_id":"881"},{"term_id":"597","name":"Pesach","old_id":"997"}]},{"order":11,"id":"51492","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"True Freedom ","post_title":"True Freedom","slug":"true-freedom","old_id":"51492","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. 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    There is something extraordinarily humane about these ordinances (in Deuteronomy chapter 24), and although they speak to an agrarian order more than three thousand years ago, the principle they adumbrate remains true and compelling today. Freedom, as Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen reminds us, involves more than an absence of constraints. \u201cThe bonded laborer born into semi-slavery, the subjugated girl child stifled by a repressive society, the helpless, landless laborer without substantial means of earning an income are all deprived not only in terms of well-being, but also in terms of the ability to lead responsible lives, which are contingent on having certain basic freedoms\u201d (<\/span>Development as Freedom<\/span><\/em>). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

    A society in which the few have wealth and many are on the verge of starvation is not free by the standards of the Hebrew Bible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    from: Building a Society of Freedom, in <\/span>The Jonathan Sacks Haggada<\/span><\/em>, 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    We encounter two types of Torah in Deuteronomy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The first is the Torah of the Ark, the Torah Moses finishes writing at the very end of his life, handing it to the Levites to be carried in the ark along with the tablets Moses brought back from Sinai. This Torah is to be cradled; to be guarded. It is to be guarded by priests who convey its contents to the people. This is a Torah to that is treasured, but also a Torah that remains alone, far from the people to whom it was given.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The second, though, is the Torah of the stones. This Torah is different: it has no container. Its purpose is to be read, and to that end, it must be written clearly. Whereas the other Torah remains in the center of the Temple, surrounded by the scent of sacrifices and by songs of service, this Torah remains on the edge of the land; exposed to rain and wind and the eyes of anyone who cares to read it. This Torah is a Torah of the people, but it is also a Torah unprotected, a Torah that can not just be read, but misread, tarnished, and disrespected.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    We still haven\u2019t decided what form we want our Torah to take: we still don\u2019t know whether our feelings of reverence are stronger than our feelings of pride, whether our desire to protect Torah is stronger than our need to spread it. The ark is lost and the stones have been reduced to dust, and still, we haven\u2019t decided how to shape the Torah, where to place it, or how to love it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51741,"alt":"","title":"dt27-two-torahs","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","width":279,"height":196,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium-width":279,"medium-height":196,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium_large-width":279,"medium_large-height":196,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","large-width":279,"large-height":196,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","1536x1536-width":279,"1536x1536-height":196,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","2048x2048-width":279,"2048x2048-height":196,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","post_full_size-width":279,"post_full_size-height":196,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":196}},"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":"Two Types Of Torah","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Protected, guarded, distant - or open, exposed, vulnerable?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51741,"alt":"","title":"dt27-two-torahs","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","width":279,"height":196,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium-width":279,"medium-height":196,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium_large-width":279,"medium_large-height":196,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","large-width":279,"large-height":196,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","1536x1536-width":279,"1536x1536-height":196,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","2048x2048-width":279,"2048x2048-height":196,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","post_full_size-width":279,"post_full_size-height":196,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":196}},"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":"27","chapter_main_number":"180","date":"20260507","wall_id":"180"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"}]}],"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\/51375"}],"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=51375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}