Vocals and Instruments: Sari Miller <\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n
\r\nAnd on the seventh day God rested<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>From all the work that God had made<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Created a sky and earth<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Six days God worked<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And God blessed the seventh day<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And made a wondrous day<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>For all creatures of the earth<\/span><\/p>\r\nAnd on the seventh day God rested<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The world has been set upon its stage<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Sing on the seventh day<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Praise to God\u2019s name<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Who has given us this day<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Different from all days<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A day of peace and rest<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Shabbat Shalom<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Shalom Shabbat <\/span><\/p>\r\nAnd on the seventh day God rested<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>From all the work that God had made<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Created a sky and earth<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Six days God worked<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And then God rests<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And so we rest<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>On the seventh day<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Shabbat Shalom<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Shalom Shabbat <\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Shalom Shabbat (Song)","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 2:2 - On the seventh day God finished the work that He had been doing, and He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that He had done.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/shalom-shabbat-by-sara-cohen-and-sari-miller","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":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":4,"id":"52697","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Not\/Yet ","post_title":"Not\/Yet","slug":"not-yet-2","old_id":"52697","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34245,"post_title":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger","slug":"rachel-sharansky-danziger","old_id":"34245","first_name":"Rachel Sharansky","last_name":"Danziger","description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born writer and speaker who blogs about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. She currently lives in Boston, where she teaches about storytelling in the bible and the subversive depths of Hebrew words.\r\n","short_description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born Boston-based writer and speaker about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34246,"alt":"","title":"RSDanziger","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","width":1171,"height":1769,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":678,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","large-width":678,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","1536x1536-width":1017,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","2048x2048-width":1171,"2048x2048-height":1769,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-794x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":794,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Genesis 2:5 - \u201cNo shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground\u201d\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"The world that was created in Genesis 1 was \u201cvery good\u201d, according to God. But it was not the world as we experience it.<\/span><\/p>\r\nWe experience craving: how can one crave in a world that seems complete and full and perfect?<\/span><\/p>\r\nWe experience loss: in such a world, what is it that we lose?<\/span><\/p>\r\nWe experience love, and pain, and other feelings that require inner changes. But in that other, perfect world, there is no room allotted for development. God says, \u201clet there be\u201d, and His object is complete.<\/span><\/p>\r\nBut then comes Genesis 2 with its second story of the world\u2019s creation, and coins one word that makes <\/span>this<\/span><\/i> new-born world our own.<\/span><\/p>\r\nTerem<\/span><\/i>, \u2018not yet\u2019, says Genesis 2:5. There were no plants \u2013 yet.<\/span><\/p>\r\nWith this little, pregnant word, God turns the world from a fixed object into an arena of becoming, because the \u2018yet\u2019 assumes a future and a change that\u2019s yet to come. Now there is room for development. Now, reality is steeped in change.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThis, and not the \u201cvery good\u201d world of Genesis 1, is the proper stage for the tragedy and glory of humanity. This is where people can dream and hope and fail and grow. This is the world as we experience it, where seeds take time to reach their full potential, where people, tales and melodies can only swell into crescendos over time.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIt is fitting that in this version of creation Man\u2019s first appearance is his absence, his<\/span> ayin<\/span><\/i> in the sentence \u201cthere was not a man to till the ground.\u201d For we can neither crave nor change before we encounter our hard limits. We can\u2019t outgrow ourselves until we see the things that we are not, and think \u2013 not yet. <\/span>Terem<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe word <\/span>terem <\/span><\/i>opens the door to a world that is forever undergoing creation. But it does more than that: It also tells us that we have a crucial role within this world. \u201cNo shrub of the field was yet in the earth,\u201d we are told, and three things must happen before the plants\u2019 potential can unfold.<\/span><\/p>\r\nGod must cause the rain to fall.<\/span><\/p>\r\nGod must create Man.<\/span><\/p>\r\nAnd Man must pour their work into the earth.<\/span><\/p>\r\nRain and man\u2019s creation depend on God, but only we can choose to till and toil. In a world that is forever becoming, we are God\u2019s partners. In the world as we know it, it is our duty to create.<\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Not\/Yet","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 2:5 - \u201cNo shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"52699","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Anguish, Accomplishment, Redemption ","post_title":"Anguish, Accomplishment, Redemption","slug":"anguish-accomplishment-redemption","old_id":"52699","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36147,"post_title":"Aaron Koller","slug":"aaron-koller","old_id":"36147","first_name":"Aaron","last_name":"Koller","description":"Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University, where he is chair of the Beren Department of Jewish Studies. His last book was Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cambridge University Press), and his next is Unbinding Isaac: The Akedah in Jewish Thought (forthcoming from JPS\/University of Nebraska Press in 2020); he is also the author of numerous studies in Semitic philology. Aaron has served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman Institute. He lives in Queens, NY with his wife, Shira Hecht-Koller, and their children.","short_description":"Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University, and chair of the Department of Jewish Studies there.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36148,"alt":"","title":"AJ Koller headshot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Genesis 3:16,19 - \u201cI will make most severe your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children\u2026. By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground\"\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"I find myself thinking often about Genesis 3:16 and 19, the \u201cpunishment\u201d handed down to Eve and Adam towards the end of the Eden story. Her fate is, in part, \u201cyou shall bear children in pain,\u201d and his is, \u201cby the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread, until you return to the earth.\u201d These sentences spell the end of the Edenic existence, which was painless but ultimately meaningless, and eternally meaningless. The life in store for the First Couple was one of gardening and caretaking, devoid of challenges and suffering, and therefore devoid of any possibility of accomplishment or satisfaction, except in the most trivial senses. And this was planned to go on forever - <\/span>literally<\/span><\/i> forever, as the Tree of Life was open to their consumption.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThis life ended in Genesis 3, with the divine decree of a new life. So much of human existence \u2013 of the pain and frustration, the existential anguish and thoughts of nihilism, as well as the glimmers of hope for redemption and meaningfulness \u2013 are adumbrated in these lines. Children come with pain \u2013 and yet often with the most sublime sense of accomplishment and pride. Agriculture is back-breaking and caste-making, but produces not only literal bread (no small feat!) but all of human society and technology. And then death looms. We, alone in the animal kingdom, spend much of our time consumed by our knowledge of the inevitable, and our quest to do something worthwhile in the time we have until then. Towards that end, we sweat, we work, we produce the next generation, and we hope that, little by little, our actions can redeem the cursed land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Anguish, Accomplishment, Redemption","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 3:16,19 - \u201cI will make most severe your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children\u2026. By the sweat of your brow shall you get bread to eat, until you return to the ground\"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"52701","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Relationship With God ","post_title":"Relationship With God","slug":"relationship-with-god","old_id":"52701","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34285,"post_title":"Tammy Jacobowitz","slug":"tammy-jacobowitz","old_id":"34285","first_name":"Tammy ","last_name":"Jacobowitz ","description":"Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz is the chair of the Tanakh department at the SAR High School in Riverdale, NY, and is the founding director of Makom Ba'Siach at SAR, an immersive adult education program for parents. She has taught Bible for the Wexner Heritage program, and she is also an adjunct faculty member of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, where she teaches the Pedagogy of Tanakh. \r\nShe received her BA in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania, is a graduate of the Drisha Institute's Scholars Circle, and completed her PhD in Midrash at the University of Pennsylania in 2010 as a Wexner Graduate fellow. Dr. Jacobowitz is currently at work on a parsha book, geared towards parents reading to young children. Her research interests include the spiritualizing tactics of Midrash, gender and the body in the Bible and Rabbinics, purity and impurity, and the contemporary use of Midrash. She lives in Teaneck, NJ with her husband, Ronnie Perelis, and their four children.","short_description":"Dr. Tammy Jacobowitz is the chair of the Tanakh department at the SAR High School in Riverdale, NY,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34286,"alt":"","title":"tammy j","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","width":512,"height":768,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","medium_large-width":512,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","large-width":512,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","1536x1536-width":512,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","2048x2048-width":512,"2048x2048-height":768,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j.jpg","post_full_size-width":512,"post_full_size-height":768,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/tammy-j-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Genesis 4:1 - \u201cNow the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, \u2018I have gained a male child with the help of the LORD.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"
Following chapter 3, the drama of the Garden of Eden, chapter 4 begins by chronicling the first couple\u2019s tentative, first steps into life outside the Garden. Bereft of paradise, exiled from the intimate embrace of the divine presence, Adam and Eve \u00a0find each other instead: \u201cNow the man knew his wife Eve\u201d. Rather than succumbing to the enormity of their failure, they begin the challenging - but hopeful - work of building a family: \u201cand she conceived and bore Cain.\u201d Notice how seamlessly the verse links their union to pregnancy and birth. Contrary to the reader\u2019s expectations, there is no report of pain or struggle in this process!<\/span><\/p>\r\nEve\u2019s pregnancy and birth experience might very well have been as painful as promised, but we are not privy to hear about it.<\/span><\/p>\r\nAnd yet, at the verse\u2019s end, a startling opportunity to enter Eve\u2019s thoughts arises, and we can consider how she viewed the life-changing moment of becoming a mother. At Cain\u2019s (\u201cKayin\u201d) birth, she proclaimed, \u201cI have gained (<\/span>kaniti<\/span><\/i>) a male child with the help of the LORD.\u201d Biblical naming is synonymous with power, and like God and Adam in the early Genesis chapters, Eve comes into her own as a full agent when she bestows upon Cain his name. But paying close attention to naming in the Bible also allows access to the specific thoughts and feelings of those who give out names.<\/span><\/p>\r\nAnd so we come to Genesis 4:1 and ask: What <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> Eve feeling? The first thing to notice is her prominent subjectivity, \u201c<\/span>I<\/b> have gained\u201d (<\/span>kaniti<\/span><\/i>). She is neither undone nor overcome by motherhood, but she emerges with a strong \u201cI\u201d. An \u201cI\u201d which does not rely on Adam for its heft, for he doesn\u2019t even register in her thoughts. <\/span><\/p>\r\nSecond, Eve sees herself in relationship with God, the very God who castigated and exiled her. She has gained a son from Him: He must still love her! This child is hers, and she knows its source - the LORD. She is grateful, or proud to have received the child, or perhaps relieved she is still in His favor. <\/span><\/p>\r\nOthers translate the word \u201ckaniti\u201d as \u2018I created\u2019. Boldly, Eve recognizes that she has brought a child into being -- together with God. The power! The wonder! What her body can do astounds her, and she shouts it aloud. If there was pain, she absorbs it. What lingers from the birthing room is her powerful new sense of self and her abiding, renewed relationship with her Maker <\/span><\/p>\r\nSometimes, when I read the Bible, I feel envy for those who lived up close to, conversed with and knew God in a way entirely unknown to me. And then there is Eve, who lived in intimate quarters with the Divine- for just a moment- but who spent a lifetime without divine encounter.<\/span><\/p>\r\nEve teaches me what it takes to live in relationship with God: radical imagination and the will to see one\u2019s life experience as evidence of that relationship. <\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Relationship With God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 4:1 - \u201cNow the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, \u2018I have gained a male child with the help of the LORD.\u2019\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"52703","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Humanity\u2019s Origins ","post_title":"Humanity\u2019s Origins","slug":"humanitys-origins","old_id":"52703","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Genesis 5:1-2 - \u201cThis is the Book of the Generations of Adam. When God created Adam, He made him in the likeness of God; male and female He created them. And when they were created, He blessed them and called them Adam.\"","post_main_content_content":"
According to the early Rabbinic Sage, Ben-\u2018Azzai, \u201cThis is the Book of the Generations of Adam\u201d is a \u201cGreat Principle of the Torah\u201d (Klal Gadol ba-Torah) (Genesis Rabbah 24:7 and parallels). Perhaps, this is because this verse may be regarded as marking the actual origin of Humanity, since Adam\u2019s first two sons, Cain and Abel, apparently died without issue. Subsequently, we are told of the birth of Adam\u2019s third son, Seth, who \u201cbegot sons and daughters\u201d (verse 4). <\/span><\/p>\r\nThe Midrash (Tanhuma Buber Bereshit 28) elaborates on this biblical pericope in a dramatic reimagining of the origin and evolution of humanity from the first human being until the end of days: While Adam was still a lifeless form, God showed him every future generation and its exponents, every generation and its righteous, every generation and its wicked, until the resurrection of the dead. God said to Adam: All that your eyes have seen is written in your book, as it says: \u201cThis is the Book of the Generations of Adam\u2026\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\r\nIndeed, the vital importance of procreation is reflected in the Halakhah: A man may not desist from having children, until he has fathered at least two \u2013 according to Bet Hillel \u2013 one son and one daughter, following the example set by God, who initially created one male and one female human being, Adam and Eve (see Talmud Yevamot 61b). But they had only two sons. And so, when Cain killed Abel, Adam stopped having sexual relations with his wife, Eve, saying: Why should I have children who just go and kill one another?! But, after a while, God said: I only created My world for it to be populated with humanity. As Scripture says, God did not create the world to be empty, but \u201cformed it to be inhabited\u201d (Isaiah 45:18). <\/span><\/p>\r\nSo, what did the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He reignited Adam\u2019s desire for Eve, and they again had sexual relations, so that she became pregnant and gave birth to Seth, as it is said: \u201cWhen Adam had lived 130 years, he begot a son in his likeness after his image, and he named him Seth\u201d (verse 3). When Seth was born, Adam said: I do not regard my first sons, Cain and Abel, as my true descendants, for they died without issue. But I do regard this son, Seth, as my true descendant for he will be the first of all future generations, as we read \u201cThis is the Book of the Generations of Adam\u2026When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God; male and female He created them. And when they were created, He blessed them and called them Man. When Adam had lived 130 years, he begot a son in his likeness after his image, and he named him Seth\u201d (verses 1-3).<\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Humanity\u2019s Origins","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 5:1-2 - \u201cThis is the Book of the Generations of Adam. When God created Adam, He made him in the likeness of God; male and female He created them. And when they were created, He blessed them and called them Adam.\"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"52577","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Divine-Human Partnership ","post_title":"Divine-Human Partnership","slug":"divine-human-partnership","old_id":"52577","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39778,"post_title":"Aliza Libman Baronofsky","slug":"aliza-libman-baronofsky","old_id":"39778","first_name":"Aliza Libman ","last_name":"Baronofsky ","description":"Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a first-year student in the Advanced Kollel at Yeshivat Maharat and teaches at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, in Rockville, MD. She studied Tanach at Midreshet Lindenbaum and York University and previously taught Tanach and math at the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA. Aliza is the creator of www.chumashandmath.blogspot.com, a repository of interdisciplinary lesson plans. ","short_description":"Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a student in the Advanced Kollel at Yeshivat Maharat and teaches at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, in Rockville, MD. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39779,"alt":"","title":"aliza baronofsky","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky.jpg","width":1425,"height":1794,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-238x300.jpg","medium-width":238,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-768x967.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":967,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-813x1024.jpg","large-width":813,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky.jpg","1536x1536-width":1220,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky.jpg","2048x2048-width":1425,"2048x2048-height":1794,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-953x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":953,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-334x420.jpg","home_baner-width":334,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Genesis 18:17 - \"Now the LORD had said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?'\"","post_main_content_content":"What is the human relationship with the divine, philosophers ask? Is God a clockmaker, who created us but now leaves us be? Is God an involved parent, who cares for us and dictates rules but is also the big boss, far removed from caring about our input? The first view is Deism, while the second is espoused by some Jewish (and non-Jewish) theologians.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThis verse suggests a superior alternative. In the preceding verses, Abraham had been speaking to his three visitors; in the two verses that follow, the Divine thought is concluded with an explanation that Abraham is chosen and will lead the world in justice and righteousness. This verse, an unassuming rhetorical question, might get lost between the fireworks of the surrounding text.<\/span><\/p>\r\nHowever, this verse says something powerful and profound. The ideal relationship between the Divine and the chosen people is one of partnership. God reveals God\u2019s plan to Abraham because Abraham is God\u2019s partner and steward of the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u201cShall I hide?\u201d asks God, setting up a question that must be answered with a resounding \u201cno!\u201d The foundation of our relationship with God is that God reveals truths to us, and we conduct ourselves accordingly. We are God\u2019s partner, just as Abraham was.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIn our era, there are no new disclosures. Instead, we have this revealed text, a blueprint for everything we need to be God\u2019s stewards in the world. God has disclosed to us sensitive information because we are not subservient children. We are worthy of revelation and empowered to act with agency \u2013 even if that agency means that we, like Abraham, may find ourselves challenging and questioning God.<\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Divine-Human Partnership","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 18:17 - \"Now the LORD had said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?'\"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"52705","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"The Sacred Work ","post_title":"The Sacred Work","slug":"the-sacred-work","old_id":"52705","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34255,"post_title":"Shira Hecht-Koller","slug":"shira-hecht-koller","old_id":"34255","first_name":"Shira","last_name":"Hecht-Koller ","description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. She received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and is a graduate of the Bruriah Scholars Program in Advanced Talmud Studies at Midreshet Lindenbaum. \r\n","short_description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34256,"alt":"","title":"Shira head shot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","width":3456,"height":5184,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Genesis 50:25 - \u201cSo Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, \u2018When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here.\u2019\u201d","post_main_content_content":"The book of Genesis ends, in chapter 50, with the death, not only of Jacob but of his favorite son Joseph. After living 110 years, the Egyptian ideal of the long life, the last 93 of which were in Egypt, Joseph passes away, bringing to a close the entire book of Genesis. In the second to last verse, we read:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u201cSo Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, \u201cWhen God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\nWe learn, as we turn to the beginning of Exodus, that not only did Joseph die, but all of his siblings passed away as well. And immediately \u2013 textually at least \u00a0\u2013 things take a terrible turn for the worse, and soon the Jews are enslaved, building cities and storehouses for a Pharaoh who treats them with a mixture of fear and contempt.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIt is, of course, because of Joseph that the Jews are enslaved to begin with. It is not his fault: he saves his family from famine in Canaan by bringing them to Egypt. But his protection can only extend as far as his personal reach extends, and when he dies, there is nothing left to protect the children of Israel. A \u201cnew king\u201d who did not know, or chose not to know Joseph, has nothing to prevent him from enslaving the foreigners in his midst. <\/span><\/p>\r\nJoseph cannot do more, at the end, than ask to be brought out of Egypt with the rest of the family when the day comes that they leave.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThis is a humbling move. Before he dies, Joseph does the only thing one can do: he turns \u2013 as a parent and grandparent - to those who will continue on after his own time, and asks them to pick up the mantle and take care of the future. <\/span><\/p>\r\nHe enjoins his family to take care of him, and the family heritage, after his death.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe message here is a powerful one, for me personally, as an individual and as a parent. We try to do the best we can, to make the best decisions for our families, our communities, where to live, how to spend our time, how to balance personal and professional achievements, how to divide up limited resources to enrich everyone\u2019s lives. We can try to be conscious of the decisions we are making, and yet despite it all, there are hard limits on what we can do. We can protect ourselves and our children and provide for them, to a point. We can embrace those we bring into the world and engulf them with love and devotion, but to a point. <\/span><\/p>\r\nBeyond that point, which sneaks up quickly, we have to turn to them and ask them to continue the work. We have to ask them to take care of themselves and each other, and hope that our children have become people we can rely on to carry on the sacred work.<\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"The Sacred Work","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Genesis 50:25 - \u201cSo Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, \u2018When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here.\u2019\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"52707","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Take The Leap! ","post_title":"Take The Leap!","slug":"take-the-leap","old_id":"52707","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Exodus 14:15 - \u201cThen the LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.'\u201d\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"As the Israelites stood between a rock and a hard place, between their Egyptian pursuers and the Red Sea, God said to Moses \u201cWhy do you cry out to me? <\/span>Tell the Israelites to go forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\nThere is a time for prayer and a time for action, and throughout Chumash there are examples like this of God telling us, \u201cyou first\u201d. \u00a0How powerful and empowering a message it is, that we work in partnership with God, and that our part comes first: and only then will He work His miracles.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIt was at that same moment that we learn, through the Talmud (<\/span>Sotah 36,a) and several<\/span> Midrashim, that Nachshon ben Aminadav, a prince of the tribe of Judah, jumped into action. In the face of seemingly impossible odds, Nachshon became the initiator and stepped into the swirling sea. Buoyed by his courageousness a bystander effect immediately transpired, and the rest of the Israelites followed. And then, through the vessel of Moses\u2019 outstretched arms, God split the sea and the true moment of freedom for the Israelites was realized.<\/span><\/p>\r\nNachson ben Aminadav is the archetype of heroic leadership. A relatively unknown participant (at least within the narrative of the Chumash) who is but one among all the actual and potential leaders in the group, who gathers all his courage and faith and moves the dial of progress for a whole nation. His very action demonstrated that the power of miracles lies in our own agency.<\/span><\/p>\r\nTake the risk, make the first move, and miracles will happen.<\/span><\/p>\r\n <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Take The Leap!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Exodus 14:15 - \u201cThen the LORD said to Moses, 'Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.'\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"52709","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Comfort Out Of Chaos ","post_title":"Comfort Out Of Chaos","slug":"comfort-out-of-chaos","old_id":"52709","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38047,"post_title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","slug":"shoshana-michael-zucker","old_id":"38047","first_name":"Shoshana Michael ","last_name":"Zucker ","description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor by profession, but would much rather be learning and teaching Torah. A graduate of Barnard College, she made aliyah in 1983 and now lives in Kfar Saba where she is an active member of the Masorti Congregation Hod veHadar. ","short_description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38048,"alt":"","title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","width":231,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","medium_large-width":231,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","large-width":231,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","1536x1536-width":231,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","2048x2048-width":231,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","post_full_size-width":231,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","home_baner-width":231,"home_baner-height":310}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Exodus 14:22 - \u201cThe Israelites went \u200einto the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.\u201d","post_main_content_content":"
What did ordinary Israelites feel when \u200ecrossing the sea on dry land? Was the former sea floor really dry or were there puddles? How did they experience the walls of water?<\/span><\/p>\r\nIn Egypt and the ancient Near \u200eEast, masses of water symbolized primordial forces \u200eof chaos. Beyond the anxiety that the walls might come crashing down, the ancient \u00a0Israelites may well have understood themselves as being enclosed by \u200ewalls of primordial chaos.\u200e<\/span><\/p>\r\nBut a midrash paints a more complex picture: \u201cR. Nehorai interpreted, \u201cWhen an Israelite woman was passing through the sea and a child in her arms was crying, she could reach out her hand, grab an apple or a pomegranate from within the sea and give it to the child\u201d (Exodus Rabbah 21:10). Sustenance and comfort could be extracted from the chaos. <\/span><\/p>\r\nWith a genuine, physical threat behind them, and an unknown wilderness ahead, the Israelites put one foot in front of another throughout the night. The pillar of light, at the head of the column, was far away from most people who likely saw only the backs of the people in front of them. Perhaps they held hands. For the average Israelite, God\u2019s saving power was present in a muddy path leading through the chaos, in the people around them, and some sweet, colorful fruit to calm a (rightly) terrified child.<\/span><\/p>\r\nSplitting the Reed Sea is a key moment in the formation of the Jewish people. Jewish liturgy repeatedly invokes the Song at the Sea, keeping it present as the ultimate \u200erealization of God\u2019s saving power.\u200e\u200f \u200fYet, for me, the most powerful moment, the one most worth remembering is before the jubilation, when ordinary \u200epeople slog \u200ethrough mud in the dark, \u200e trying to extract some good from the chaos, and supporting each other. These are elements in the story of redemption no \u200eless \u200ethan the Song.\u200e \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nRedemption was, is, and will be complicated and messy.<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhen disorder exceeds order, the \u200eswamp is threatening and fog hides the \u200elight,\u200e we can recall that the \u200eExodus from Egypt happened at night, in \u200ethe mud. When God\u2019s light seems remote, we \u200ecan support each other and together \u200eforge a way forward. Perhaps we will be \u200eable to feel the presence of God for a \u200emoment or see the light of life breaking \u200ethrough, just a bit.\u200e<\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Comfort Out Of Chaos","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Exodus 14:22 - \u201cThe Israelites went \u200einto the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"52711","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"Brilliant Blue Heaven ","post_title":"Brilliant Blue Heaven","slug":"brilliant-blue-heaven","old_id":"52711","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37333,"post_title":"Esther Jilovsky","slug":"esther-jilovsky","old_id":"37333","first_name":"Esther ","last_name":"Jilovsky","description":"Dr Esther Jilovsky is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles. A native of Melbourne, Australia, she comes to the rabbinate with a PhD from the University of London in 2011. A granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she is the author of Remembering the Holocaust: Generations, Witnessing and Place and co-editor of In the Shadows of Memory: The Holocaust and the Third Generation. \r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr Esther Jilovsky is a rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":52868,"alt":"","title":"esther jilovsky.jpeg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1.jpg","width":3581,"height":5371,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/esther-jilovsky.jpeg-1-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Exodus 24:10 - \"They saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity.\"\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"Our world today would be unrecognizable to our ancestors. Living in Eretz Israel and Babylon, in Spain and Morocco, in Germany and Eastern Europe, they lived their lives in environments we can barely imagine from our modern perspective of routine air travel, online streaming and near-universal wireless connectivity. Yet, if we take a moment to be outside, and turn our heads upwards, we see the same sky. Whether the sky is a sparkling, calming blue, an angry darkening grey, or a gentle blanket of fluffy white clouds, we see what our ancestors saw.<\/span><\/p>\r\nAs we read the Book of Exodus, our ancestors rise, from Egypt, to Canaan, to Sinai. After Moses receives the Ten Commandments, he climbs, together with Aharon, his sons Nadav and Avihu, and seventy elders, to the peak of Mount Sinai. At the top of Mount Sinai, these men \u2018saw the God of Israel and beneath his feet was the likeness of a paved work of sapphire, and like the very sky for purity\u2019 (Exodus 24:10). This striking and vividly beautiful verse depicts their encounter with God. In this incredibly evocative description, one word stands out like a flower in a desert: sapphire,<\/span> sapir<\/span><\/i>, a sparkling image of blue and light. <\/span>Sapir <\/span><\/i>is a glorious colour, a gleaming turquoise, as well as a precious stone, second in hardness only to a diamond.<\/span><\/p>\r\nSapir <\/span><\/i>appears only three times in the entire Torah (the other two occurrences describe the priest\u2019s breastplate). It is connected to <\/span>techelet<\/span><\/i>, the thread of blue in <\/span>tzitzit<\/span><\/i>, on the fringed garments that remind us to keep the <\/span>mitzvot<\/span><\/i>, as we recall every time we chant the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/i>. In the Talmud, Rabbi Meir explains that <\/span>techelet<\/span><\/i> is different from all other colours because \u2018<\/span>techelet<\/span><\/i> is similar to the sea, and the sea is similar to the sky, and the sky is similar to the sapphire stone, and the sapphire stone is similar to the throne of glory\u2019 (Bavli Chullin 89a). In reciting the <\/span>Shema<\/span><\/i>, we remind ourselves of the blue thread: the sky-blue <\/span>techelet<\/span><\/i>, the sapphire\u2019s gleaming turquoise, the sky\u2019s purest blue. In remembering the blue thread, we see the same sky as our ancestors.<\/span><\/p>\r\nYet, during stormy times, it can be difficult to remember these connections. Under grey skies, the blue spark of hope seems further away than ever. But finding the glorious <\/span>sapir<\/span><\/i>, the turquoise <\/span>techelet<\/span><\/i>, can be as simple as stepping outside, looking up, and seeing the sky. Behind the dark clouds, the turbulent storms, the tumbling rain, the blue sky our ancestors saw is always there.<\/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":"Jews\/Verses\/Tanakh","tile_main_caption":"Brilliant Blue Heaven","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Exodus 24:10 - \"They saw the God of Israel: under His feet there was the likeness of a pavement of sapphire, like the very sky for purity.\"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20181224","wall_id":"2005"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":13,"id":"52713","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Tending The Fire ","post_title":"Tending The Fire","slug":"tending-the-fire","old_id":"52713","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2005","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Leviticus 6:2 - \u201cCommand Aaron and his sons thus: 'This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it.'\u201d\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"There are more than 5800 verses in the Torah and almost every day I fall in love with a different one. Today, it\u2019s this one:<\/span><\/p>\r\nCommand Aaron and his sons thus: This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, while the fire on the altar is kept going on it.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n