{"id":51777,"date":"2018-07-09T17:42:08","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1037\/"},"modified":"2022-10-21T08:27:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T05:27:50","slug":"wall-1037","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1037\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20221016-to-20221022"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1037","date_from":"20221016","date_to":"20221022","book":"Deuteronomy","books_group":"Torah","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"34435","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"Genesis 1  ","post_title":"Genesis 1","slug":"genesis-1","type":"no","writer":false,"iframe":"","related_cahpter":"1","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_id":"23865","post_main_content_title":"Genesis 1","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_content":"<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DYNy-TJMoro\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Genesis 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"929 The Late International President Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on Genesis 1","tile_preview_embedded":"","seo_seo_title":"929 \u2013 \u05ea\u05e0\u05da \u05d1\u05d9\u05d7\u05d3 | \u05d1\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05d9\u05ea \u05d0 |  Genesis 1","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/DYNy-TJMoro","tile_credits":"","old_url":"http:\/\/www.929.org.il\/page\/1\/post\/23865","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"1","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","tile_preview_image":"","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":"","old_create_date":"2018-07-13 10:09:32","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"updates_last_update":"07\/02\/2022","chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"1","date":"20250831","wall_id":"1"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"371","name":"Video","old_id":"771"}]},{"order":2,"id":"34046","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"The Word Was Sex ","post_title":"The Word Was Sex","slug":"the-word-was-sex","old_id":"34046","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34013,"post_title":"Ruth Westheimer","slug":"dr-ruth-k-westheimer","old_id":"34013","first_name":"Ruth ","last_name":"Westheimer","description":"Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer,  one of America's leading sexologists, teaches at Columbia Teacher's College. She is an Associate Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale University, and Fellow of Butler College at Princeton. She is the author most recently of The Doctor is In: Dr. Ruth on Love, Life and Joie de Vivre. Her essay draws on insights in her heavenly Sex: Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition, with Jonathan Mark (NYU Press 1995).\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Ruth, one of America's leading sexologists, teaches at Columbia Teacher's College.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34014,"alt":"","title":"Dr. Ruth K. Westheimer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","width":220,"height":261,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","medium-width":220,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","medium_large-width":220,"medium_large-height":261,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","large-width":220,"large-height":261,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","1536x1536-width":220,"1536x1536-height":261,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","2048x2048-width":220,"2048x2048-height":261,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","post_full_size-width":220,"post_full_size-height":261,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Dr.-Ruth-K.-Westheimer.png","home_baner-width":220,"home_baner-height":261}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"2","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes, in the beginning was the word, and the word was sex. From the first chapters of the Book of Genesis, God's introduction to humanity, it is apparent that here is a theology spanning from the dawn of history that accounts for psychology, sexology, and human passion. The Bible, the story of how men and women first came to know God, and the Talmud the canonized commentary on the Bible, is also the story of how men and women came to know each other\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eve ate from the tree, gave the fruit to Adam and \"then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.\" Elie Wiesel writes, \"Without Eve, Adam would have been man but not human\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The tree's full and proper name was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and most of the next fifty chapters of Genesis are devoted to the exploration of the potential of good and evil inherent in human relationships. In fact, throughout Genesis we are introduced to one saintly figure after another and are told almost nothing about them but their \"nakedness,\" their pained relationships, and moments of sexual truth. With every passing biblical generation, the characters become more and more daring and expressive regarding love or its absence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Soon, however, God sent the Great flood to destroy the world because \"all flesh has corrupted his way upon the earth.\" \u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In other words, for want of a good sex therapist, the world was destroyed. And that is not meant to be flip. Every day on our nightly news and in our morning newspapers, we learn how crimes of passion and sexual confusion continue to destroy thousands of individual \"worlds\" 4,000 years after the Great Flood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Excerpted and reprinted with permission from the essay \u201cIt Is Not Good For Man To Be Alone,\u201d written with Jonathan Mark, in: <\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Reading-Genesis-Beginnings-Beth-Kissileff\/dp\/0567251268\/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=0567251268&amp;pd_rd_r=88MHCTXN3G8429HT2XDY&amp;pd_rd_w=DxhWN&amp;pd_rd_wg=ou3xK&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=88MHCTXN3G8429HT2XDY&amp;dpID=510Tqy-DuzL&amp;preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&amp;dpSrc=detail#reader_0567251268\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reading Genesis Beginnings<\/span><\/a><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Beth Kissileff, editor, Bloomsbury, 2016, pp. 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Word Was Sex","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The Bible, the story of how men and women first came to know God, is also the story of how men and women came to know each 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She received her rabbinic ordination from Hebrew College in Boston. Energized by engaging creatively with Jewish text, she maintains a Daf Yomi haiku blog in which she writes daily Talmudic haikus.","short_description":"Rabbi Avi Strausberg is the Director of National Learning Initiatives at Hadar, and based in Washington, DC.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":50594,"alt":"","title":"avi strausberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1.jpg","width":1334,"height":1348,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-297x300.jpg","medium-width":297,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-768x776.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":776,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-1013x1024.jpg","large-width":1013,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1334,"1536x1536-height":1348,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1334,"2048x2048-height":1348,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-1188x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1188,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-416x420.jpg","home_baner-width":416,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"181","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What if we didn\u2019t view success and failure as a zero sum game?","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deuteronomy 28 contains a powerful litany of blessing and curses about what will happen or fail to happen if we do not obey God. \u00a0Among seemingly apocalyptic threats of skies turning to copper and soil to iron, twice, God threatens that if we fail to obey, the \u201cnatural pecking\u201d order will be reverse. \u00a0We are warned that the stranger in our midst will rise higher and higher, while we will sink lower and lower. The stranger will be the head and we will be the tail.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a text that is consumed with fear that we will not get to be the ones in charge. \u00a0\u201cNatural order\u201d seems to dictate that the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ger<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the foreigner with no claim, should be beneath us, he should be powerless and vulnerable. \u00a0God forbid, the roles are reversed. This fear of the stranger rising to power is the same fear that animated Pharaoh's drive to oppress the Israelites in the opening chapters of the Book of Exodus. \u00a0Pharaoh sees the Israelites growing in number and he says, \u201cLet\u2019s deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase.\u201d What is he so afraid of? He\u2019s afraid of this curse in Deuteronomy 28. He\u2019s afraid that as the Israelites rise higher and higher, the Egyptians will sink lower and lower.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The world of our Torah is one in which the stranger must be kept down for fear that he will rise up against the native. \u00a0But, this is not the world of the world to come. In Tractate Pesachim, we read the story of Rav Yosef, the son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who became ill and nearly died. \u00a0When he recovers, his father asks him, what did you see as you were about to die? Rav Yosef answers, I saw an inverted world. Those above were below and those below were above. \u00a0Meaning, in the world to come, the powerful in this world are marginalized and the marginalized become the powerful. His father affirms his vision and says, \u201cMy son, you have seen a clear world.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What if we didn\u2019t view success and failure as a zero-sum game? \u00a0What if we stopped worrying about who was the head and who was the tail and instead worked to create a society in which the dignity of all human beings was honored? \u00a0What if God\u2019s curse ceased to hold power over us?<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image by: Alexas Fotos<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51806,"alt":"","title":"dt28-upside-down","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","width":1920,"height":1291,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-768x516.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":516,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1024x689.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":689,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1033,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1291,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1200x807.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":807,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-625x420.jpg","home_baner-width":625,"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":"A Topsy-Turvy World","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What if we didn\u2019t view success and failure as a zero sum game?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51806,"alt":"","title":"dt28-upside-down","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","width":1920,"height":1291,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-768x516.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":516,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1024x689.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":689,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1033,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1291,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1200x807.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":807,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-625x420.jpg","home_baner-width":625,"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":"28","chapter_main_number":"181","date":"20260510","wall_id":"181"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"364","name":"Equality","old_id":"764"},{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"583","name":"Curse","old_id":"983"}]},{"order":5,"id":"108571","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Blessings v. Curses","post_title":"Blessings v. Curses","slug":"blessings-v-curses","old_id":"108571","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":"181","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But is there a third category as well?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 28 discusses the blessings and curses. The two sides line up pretty well, except for a few differences. To highlight these, here are the verses alternating between the blessings (B) and curses (C):<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intro B) Now, if you obey your God, to observe faithfully all the divine commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings shall come upon you and take effect, if you will but heed the word of your God<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intro C) But if you do not obey your God to observe faithfully all the commandments and laws which I enjoin upon you this day, all these curses shall come upon you and take effect:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1B): Blessed shall you be in the city and blessed shall you be in the country.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1C) Cursed shall you be in the city and cursed shall you be in the country.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2B) Blessed shall be your issue from the womb, your produce from the soil, and the offspring of your cattle, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2C) Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3B) Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3C) Cursed shall be your issue from the womb and your produce from the soil, the calving of your herd and the lambing of your flock.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4B) Blessed shall you be in your comings and blessed shall you be in your goings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4C) Cursed shall you be in your comings and cursed shall you be in your goings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The curses then go off on a much larger tangent for many verses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the most part, these four introductory blessings\/curses are identical except for a flip of the middle two. The biggest difference comes in the introductory verses. The blessings are not just for obeying God, but for \u201cobserv[ing] faithfully,\u201d in Hebrew the double use of the verb for hear - <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shamo\u2019a tishme\u2019u<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The phrase appears three other times in the Torah: Exodus 15:26, Exodus 23:22, and Deuteronomy 15:5.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each of those instances introduces a blessing that God will bestow on the people. It seems, though, that it is harder to get a blessing and it is easier to get a curse. For one to be cursed, one just fails to follow God, but for a blessing one must observe faithfully. Perhaps this is a warning that one should not expect that simply going through the motions would be enough to warrant God\u2019s blessing. Faithful intent must be present as well. This also seems to open up a third category: don\u2019t follow the commandments - be cursed, follow them - status quo, but follow <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>faithfully<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and one will receive bountiful blessings. By adding this extra requirement, Moses is pushing the people to be their best in their devotion to God and the commandments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":108574,"alt":"","title":"-6347fc4422a7f--6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing curse.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png.png","width":1280,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-300x150.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-768x384.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-1024x512.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-1200x600.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-840x420.png","home_baner-width":840,"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":"Blessings v. Curses","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But is there a third category as well?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":108574,"alt":"","title":"-6347fc4422a7f--6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing curse.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png.png","width":1280,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-300x150.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-768x384.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-1024x512.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-1200x600.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/6347fc4422a7f-6347fc4422a80deut28-blessing-curse.png-840x420.png","home_baner-width":840,"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":"28","chapter_main_number":"181","date":"20260510","wall_id":"181"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"504","name":"Blessing","old_id":"904"},{"term_id":"583","name":"Curse","old_id":"983"}]},{"order":6,"id":"51846","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"The Blessing of Rain \u2013 Then and Now    ","post_title":"The Blessing Of Rain \u2013 Then And Now","slug":"the-blessing-of-rain-then-and-now","old_id":"51846","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":"181","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Great is rain, for it is compared to the resurrection of the dead","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the first part of our Chapter, Moses lists the blessings that will be a reward for \u201chearkening diligently unto the voice of the Lord\u201d (Deuteronomy 28:1-14) One of the most enduring of these is the Blessing of Rain: \u201cThe Lord will open for you His bounteous store, the heavens, to provide rain for your land in season and to bless all your undertakings \u201c( verse 12).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last year, Israel experienced one of the worst droughts in 100 years. Fortunately, this year\u2019s relatively rainy winter has created a welcome break in a five-year period of drought, but the country\u2019s water woes are still far from over. The Kinneret (\u201cSea of Galilee\u201d), Israel\u2019s major reservoir of fresh-water, is still considerably below being considered \u201cfull\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Midrash (Deuteronomy Rabbah 7:6) elaborates on the blessing of rain in a way that remains relevant to this day: \u201cThe Lord will open for you His bounteous store\u201d \u2013 What does the word \u2018open\u2019 here refer to? God alone holds the \u2018keys\u2019 for \u2018opening\u2019 resurrection, infertility and rain. The \u2018opening\u2019 of resurrection is mentioned by Ezekiel (37:13): \u2018You shall know, O My people, that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and lifted you out of your graves.\u2019 The \u2018opening\u2019 of infertility is mentioned in Genesis (29:31): \u2018The Lord saw that Leah was unloved and he opened her womb.\u2019 And the \u2018opening\u2019 of rain is mentioned in Deuteronomy (28:12): \u2018The Lord will open for you His bounteous store, the heavens, to provide rain for your land in season.\u2019 Great is rain, for it is compared to the resurrection of the dead, as it says: \u2018On the third day He will raise us up \u2026 And He will come to us like rain, like latter rain that refreshes the earth\u2019 (Hosea 6:2-3).\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For this reason, we include the Prayer for Rain in the Blessing of Resurrection (the second benediction of the \u201cEighteen Benedictions,\u201d Amidah prayer). And so, let us join with the Psalmist in praise of God for His Blessing of Rain: \u201cYou take care of the earth and irrigate it \u2026 The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys mantled with grain. They raise a shout, they break into song\u201d (Psalms 65:10-14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51847,"alt":"","title":"dt28-rain","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain.jpg","width":1920,"height":1218,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-300x190.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":190,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-768x487.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":487,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-1024x650.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":650,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":974,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1218,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-1200x761.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":761,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-662x420.jpg","home_baner-width":662,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Blessing of Rain \u2013 Then and Now","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Great is rain, for it is compared to the resurrection of the dead","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51847,"alt":"","title":"dt28-rain","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain.jpg","width":1920,"height":1218,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-300x190.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":190,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-768x487.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":487,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-1024x650.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":650,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":974,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1218,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-1200x761.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":761,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-rain-662x420.jpg","home_baner-width":662,"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":"28","chapter_main_number":"181","date":"20260510","wall_id":"181"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"},{"term_id":"504","name":"Blessing","old_id":"904"},{"term_id":"780","name":"Rain","old_id":"1180"}]},{"order":7,"id":"51916","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"The Eternal Covenant    ","post_title":"The Eternal Covenant","slug":"the-eternal-covenant","old_id":"51916","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33923,"post_title":"Jonathan Sacks","slug":"rabbi-lord-jonathan-sacks","old_id":"33923","first_name":"Jonathan ","last_name":"Sacks","description":"An international religious leader, philosopher, and award-winning author of over 35 books, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the International President of 929.\r\nRabbi Sacks served as the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth years between 1991 and 2013, and was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer.  Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"182","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The basis of collective Jewish destiny, and shared fate as a people","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My journey into Jewish identity begins five hundred years ago in Spain, in a place called Calatayud, in the study of the rabbi of the town, Rabbi Isaac ben Moses Arama\u2026 Moses, at the end of his life, renews the covenant of Sinai, some forty years later, with the members of the new generation:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAll of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God...I am making this covenant with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here with us today\u201d (29:14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The words are familiar, but a question has occurred to him. Good! This is the way he usually starts a sermon. But as he searches for an answer, he finds himself becoming more enmeshed in perplexity. With a tremor he realizes that this is no ordinary question, for it threatens to unravel his entire life\u2019s work, and indeed his very identity. Eventually he finds an answer and delivers the sermon. But the question has not gone away. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The question, as he eventually formulated it, was this: Moses states that he is making the covenant not only with those who were there but also with those who were not there. To whom was he referring as not having been there? Clearly he did not mean members of the nation at that time. They were all there, as the text makes emphatically clear. Nor was he referring to the previous generation. They had already accepted the covenant at Mount Sinai. He meant, as Rashi explains, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">those who are not yet born<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> - the generations to come. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hence the vital importance of this text. It is the very basis of Jewish destiny, the collective immortality of the people of Israel. The covenant will be eternal. It will bind all future generations. Jews will be born into its obligations. They will be, in the talmudic phrase, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mushba ve-omed mi-Sinai<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201calready forsworn at Sinai.\u201d There is no need for assent, consent or confirmation. Converts excepted, Jews do not become Jews. They are Jews by birth. Jewish identity, then, is not only a faith, but a fate. It is not an identity we assume, but one into which we are born. That is the proper understanding of the passage as Jewish tradition, and Arama himself, had always read it.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><i>A Letter in the Scroll<\/i>, p.11-12<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51917,"alt":"","title":"dt29-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":900,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Eternal Covenant","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The basis of collective Jewish destiny, and shared fate as a people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51917,"alt":"","title":"dt29-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":900,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"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":"29","chapter_main_number":"182","date":"20260511","wall_id":"182"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"354","name":"Rabbi Sacks","old_id":"754"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"462","name":"Identity","old_id":"862"}]},{"order":8,"id":"51919","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Center and Marginalized - All Are Included    ","post_title":"Center And Marginalized - All Are Included","slug":"center-and-marginalized-all-are-included","old_id":"51919","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37130,"post_title":"Lauren Tuchman","slug":"lauren-tuchman","old_id":"37130","first_name":"Lauren ","last_name":"Tuchman ","description":"Rabbi Lauren Tuchman received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2018 and is, as far as she is aware, the first blind woman in the world to enter the rabbinate. A sought after speaker, spiritual leader and educator, Rabbi Tuchman has taught at numerous synagogues and other Jewish venues throughout North America and was named to the Jewish Week's 36 under 36 for her innovative leadership concerning inclusion of Jews with disabilities in all aspects of Jewish life.","short_description":"Rabbi Lauren Tuchman is a Jewish educator based in the Washington, DC area.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37131,"alt":"","title":"Lauren Tuchman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150.jpg","width":1728,"height":2494,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150-208x300.jpg","medium-width":208,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150-709x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":709,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150-709x1024.jpg","large-width":709,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150.jpg","1536x1536-width":1064,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150.jpg","2048x2048-width":1419,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150-831x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":831,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Lauren-Tuchman-e1533662722150-291x420.jpg","home_baner-width":291,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"182","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Voices new and old, and those never heard before","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter is largely concerned with God telling the Children of Israel what will befall them if they stray from the brit (covenant) which, it is emphasized, includes everyone, both those who were present on that day and those who were not. If the Children of Israel uphold our covenant with God and perform the mitzvot in accordance with it, all will be well\u2014we will prosper and be blessed. However, if we fail to do so, much tragedy will befall us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am particularly drawn to the emphasis placed on the brit (covenant) including everyone. This tends to be understood as affirming that our covenant was collectively received across generations\u2014all future generations being bound by it. In fact, many who choose Judaism through conversion point to this idea as an affirmation that their neshamot (souls) too, were at Sinai. That deep longing and spiritual yearning which compels so many people to choose Judaism is rooted there.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Blessedly, we live in a time in which <em>klal Yisrael<\/em> comprises individuals who come from a variety of backgrounds, life experiences and perspectives. Finding a way for all to feel a sense of spiritual home in our communities can be a daunting and sometimes uncomfortable endeavor. When we expand our minds, hearts and souls to experiences and perspectives we might not have considered, we are being given the incredible opportunity to deepen and enrich our thinking. When we take the lead and warmly embrace Jews from all backgrounds into our communities, the Torah we find within them is that much deeper, more resonant and spiritually alive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank God we are living in a time in which we are receiving a plethora of <em>chiddushim<\/em> (novel ideas) from voices and perspectives that have historically been marginalized. Women, Jews with disabilities, Jews of color and members of the LGBTQIA community. In my own life and experience, I find myself feeling such <em>hakarat hatov<\/em>\u2014tremendous gratitude\u2014for the Torah I am learning from the teachers I most admire, many of whose voices have historically not been heard.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <em>brit<\/em> we all entered into included those who stood there on that day and those across time, space and generations, who did not. May we never cease striving to build communities and spaces in which the Torah from all can find a home and be heard.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image by Klaus Becker from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51920,"alt":"","title":"dt29-voices","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices.jpg","width":1920,"height":1409,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-768x564.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":564,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-1024x751.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":751,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1127,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1409,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-1200x881.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":881,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-572x420.jpg","home_baner-width":572,"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":"Center And Marginalized - All Are Included","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Voices new and old, and those never heard before","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51920,"alt":"","title":"dt29-voices","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices.jpg","width":1920,"height":1409,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-300x220.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-768x564.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":564,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-1024x751.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":751,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1127,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1409,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-1200x881.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":881,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-voices-572x420.jpg","home_baner-width":572,"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":"29","chapter_main_number":"182","date":"20260511","wall_id":"182"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"678","name":"Diversity","old_id":"1078"},{"term_id":"712","name":"Inclusion","old_id":"1112"}]},{"order":9,"id":"52055","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Turn and Return    ","post_title":"Turn And Return","slug":"turn-and-return","old_id":"52055","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":50685,"post_title":"Cheryl Peretz","slug":"cheryl-peretz","old_id":"50685","first_name":"Cheryl ","last_name":"Peretz ","description":"Based in Los Angeles, Rabbi Cheryl Peretz serves as the Associate Dean of both the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and of the Zacharias Frankel College.  Rabbi Peretz known as a frequent speak and scholar-in-residence in communities throughout North America.","short_description":"Rabbi Cheryl Peretz serves as the Associate Dean of both the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and of the Zacharias Frankel College.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":50686,"alt":"","title":"Faculty Portraits","caption":"Cheryl Peretz","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz.jpg","width":2960,"height":4149,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz-214x300.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz-731x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":731,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz-731x1024.jpg","large-width":731,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz.jpg","1536x1536-width":1096,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz.jpg","2048x2048-width":1461,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz-856x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":856,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/cheryl-peretz-300x420.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"183","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It is never beyond reach","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Knowing that his life\u2019s journey will end before the people enter the land of Israel, the chapter opens as Moses gathers the people for one final address - a beautiful, poetic, and moving description of return to the covenant with God through Torah along with a parallel return from exile to the land of Israel. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The passage continues (v. 11-12), \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For this mitzvah which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d \u2018<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is not in heaven<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u2019 and \u2018<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">it is not too baffling<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u2019 This command - whatever it is \u2013 is right in front of us and is easy to grasp.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This mitzvah? In the singular? Shouldn\u2019t it say all the mitzvot? What about the rest of the Torah? Which mitzvah are we talking about? <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For 13<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century Spanish commentator, Nachmanides, the answer is easy. He points out that the verb <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lashuv <\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 to return \u2013 the same root as the word <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">teshuvah<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, repentance<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">- appears again and again. In fact, there are seven different instances of the word, referring both to the Jewish people returning to God and God\u2019s word, as well as God approaching and bringing us back to the land of Israel. Consequently, Ramban understands this drama of loss\/return and exile\/redemption as the essence of the commandment to do teshuvah; to repent, to mend our ways, to assess and improve our behavior. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To do teshuvah is more than simply recounting wrongdoings or begging for leniency from others or God. Rather, says Ramban, actions and misactions are both part of who we are. Missteps are acts done when we are locating ourselves in a place other than home. The Hebrew words for these misactions support this understanding. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chet<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (sin) is best understood \u201cto miss a target.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Averah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, like the English word \u201ctransgression,\u201d means \u201cto cross a boundary, to enter forbidden territory, to be in a place one should not be.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our most honest of moments, we know that sometimes our actions do alienate us, distancing us from ourselves, others, and God, leaving us in a place different than we would like to be or even should be. We become like aliens, living in a land that is no longer our own. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With this insight, it is not so difficult to see the Torah\u2019s image of exile as the extreme outcome of such misaction. But, we don\u2019t have to stay there. Through honest engagement, we make possible new decisions, new behavior that returns us to the intrinsic purity of soul. And, we play out our own return to God. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor this mitzvah which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.\u201d \u2018it is not in heaven,\u2019 and \u2018it is not too baffling.\u2019 \u00a0This command, whatever it is, is in your grasp and is right in front of you. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now is the time and the invitation is ours. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":52056,"alt":"","title":"dt30-return","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-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":"Turn And Return","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"It is never beyond reach","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":52056,"alt":"","title":"dt30-return","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt30-return-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":"30","chapter_main_number":"183","date":"20260512","wall_id":"183"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"},{"term_id":"699","name":"Teshuvah","old_id":"1099"}]},{"order":10,"id":"52083","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Reclaiming What Is Rightfully Mine    ","post_title":"Reclaiming What Is Rightfully Mine","slug":"reclaiming-what-is-rightfully-mine","old_id":"52083","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":52026,"post_title":"Laurie Hahn Tapper","slug":"laurie-hahn-tapper","old_id":"52026","first_name":"Laurie ","last_name":"Hahn Tapper ","description":"Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper is School Rabbi and Director of Integrated Learning at Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos, CA. She holds a BA from Stanford, and an MA in education and rabbinic ordination from JTS. Rabbi Hahn Tapper is also an alumna of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship. She lives in Redwood City with her partner, Dr. Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, along with their two young children and two cats.\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Laurie Hahn Tapper is School Rabbi and Director of Integrated Learning at Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos, CA.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":52028,"alt":"","title":"laurie hann tapper","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","width":184,"height":219,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","medium-width":184,"medium-height":219,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","medium_large-width":184,"medium_large-height":219,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","large-width":184,"large-height":219,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":184,"1536x1536-height":219,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":184,"2048x2048-height":219,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":184,"post_full_size-height":219,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/laurie-hann-tapper-1.jpg","home_baner-width":184,"home_baner-height":219}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"183","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"This Torah lives in my feelings, my thoughts, in my lived experience, in the fullness of my womanhood  ","post_main_content_content":"<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\"Surely, this Instruction which I enjoin upon you this day is not too baffling for you, nor is it beyond reach. It is not in the heavens\u2026 Neither is it beyond the sea.. No, the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it\" (30:11-14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have always loved these verses because of their connection to the famous Talmudic passage \"Tanur Shel Achnai,\" (\"Achnai's Oven\") which affirms the authority of rabbinic human interpretation as essential to the continued relevance of Jewish life. It was precisely my love for the world of the Beit Midrash - the tension found in Talmudic debate and dialogue - that originally propelled me to become a rabbi.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For virtually all of Jewish history, Judaism has not only been interpreted by men but has also been male-centric. As a female rabbi, it has been a challenge to venture into a rabbinic world that is all too commonly void of women\u2019s voice. At times, this cognitive dissonance has required a great degree of denial, and reinterpreting pieces of Torah and Talmud. While navigating this male-dominant Jewish domain, carving out my own sacred space, I have all too often bumped up against the larger non-Jewish realm, which is equally inhospitable to my full self. Although none of this is new, in the last few years I have experienced deeper alienation from my Jewish tradition.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then, I come to this chapter of Torah, a chapter that sets out a choice we each are given to turn and return to this \u201cthing\u201d \u2013 Torah \u00a0- a choice to live with an open heart. This Torah, this way of life, is not \u201ctoo puzzling\u201d nor \u201cbeyond reach.\u201d One does not need to be ordained (let alone from a particular denomination), nor does one need to have studied for a particular length of time. Nor is it only for the devout, those wedded to Jewish law. It is there for those who spend their days responding to emails, settling disputes on the playground, or driving a taxi; for those who spend their evenings unloading groceries, making dinner, and loading the dishwasher.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cNeither is it beyond the sea\u201d speaks not just to those living in Israel. This Torah is to be interpreted throughout the world, across the multiple geographic places we find ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This Torah, this living tradition, \u201cis very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart.\u201d It is here, in me, in my feelings, in my thoughts, in my lived experience. It lives in the fullness of my womanhood in every bit as legitimate a way as anyone else in the world alive today or who has ever lived.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps when I internalize the Torah\u2019s words, when I truly experience it in my mouth and heart, am I able to unveil myself within my own tradition. Only then can I locate myself within my Judaism. Perhaps, only when I am able to unburden myself from millennia of the heaviness of male-centric exclusivity, can I find an opening in my heart to return and reclaim what is rightfully mine. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: http:\/\/torahforsociallyawarehasid.blogspot.com<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":52084,"alt":"","title":"dt30-classic Talmud pic with women 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Do not think that when I die Torah dies with me.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do not do what your parents did when I left them for so short a time\u2014do not assume you need another me to ascend to heaven as I did, to bring down the Torah once more. I went, and I returned, and it is yours now. I will be gone, but the Torah will remain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And do not be afraid to cross the water without me. Do not think that you are leaving the Torah here with me on this side of the Jordan. I have given you, in this speech, all I have left to tell you. You will cross the water, and I will stay here\u2014but the Torah goes with you. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is in your hearts and in your mouths. 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Very old. At the age of 120, in verse 2 of Chapter 31, Moses acknowledges his age, and the limitations associated with getting on in years. \u201cI am a hundred and twenty years old today; I can no longer go out and come in.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Talmud Sotah 13b insists that this statement is not referring to Moses\u2019 physical frailty. It cannot mean that Moses\u2019 physical strength is waning in his old age because in another few chapters, when Moses passes away, the text tells us that he was full of strength and vigor right until the end (\u201chis eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated\u201d - Deut\u05e5 34:7) . If that is so, then the verse here in Chapter 31, cannot be understood literally, that his old age prevented him from continuing his leadership. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So what is Moses saying, when he describes his inability to \u201cgo out and come in\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Though Moses was at his full physical strength, the Talmud explains, he could no longer \u201cgo out and come in\u201d with words of Torah - \u201cThe gates of wisdom were closed off to him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moses is recognizing, at the end of his life, that he has shared all the wisdom that he can offer. His own leadership has run its course. It is time for him to step down and to pass the torch to the next generation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is hard for most of us to acknowledge when it is time to step back and allow someone else to take the helm, when a new perspective is needed. In so many contexts - career, volunteer work, family life - people often hold onto positions of leadership for too long, and miss the opportunity to effectively pass the torch. A congregant of mine, in her seventies, hosted her family\u2019s very large seders for many decades.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She loved doing it, and she still had the strength and the ability to continue. However, she recognized that it was time to encourage her children - now grown, with families of their own - to take on the responsibility of hosting the seders. She wanted to make this transition while she would still be able to offer advice and help, as the next generation took on this important family tradition.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moses had spent years mentoring Joshua, ensuring that the next generation of leadership would be strong. He understood that it was time for him to step back when his leadership had run its course, when his wisdom would no longer \u201cgo out and come in\u201d, would no longer be effectively heard and heeded. 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The Relation Of Redemption And Revelation    ","post_title":"Re-Enacting The Relation Of Redemption And Revelation","slug":"re-enacting-the-relation-of-redemption-and-revelation","old_id":"52168","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":"184","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Once every seven years, the Torah beckons us back to Sinai, and returns us to the essence of communal living","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some moments are so powerful that we yearn to keep them alive even long after they have passed. The Jewish people\u2019s two most fundamental \u201corienting events\u201d (the term is Yitz Greenberg\u2019s) are the Exodus<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from Egypt and the revelation at Mount Sinai. <\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moses mandated a periodic public reading of these events: \u201cEvery seventh year... Gather (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hak\u2019hel<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) the people\u2014men, women, children, and the strangers in your communities\u2014that they may hear and so learn to revere the Lord your God and to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching\u201d (Deuteronomy 31:10-12). This mitzvah is supposed to represent a recurrent reenactment of the revelation and sense of unity experienced at Sinai.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is the reenactment held during the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shemitah <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">year, the year of \u201crelease\u201d? Every seventh year, the Israelites are commanded to cancel debts and (crucially) to release all debt slaves (15:1-3, 12-15). Every seven years, therefore, some Israelites will have just been liberated from slavery, enabling the people as a whole to remember the central event which precedes Sinai\u2014God\u2019s redemption of Israel from bondage. If the public reading reenacts Sinai, its timing aims to re-create the totality of Israel\u2019s foundational story\u2014the freeing of the slaves leading to the revelation at Mount Sinai. The memory of revelation thus remains permanently entwined with the experience of redemption.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Further, in presenting the laws of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shemittah<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Deuteronomy emphasizes that people who are poor are \u201cyour brothers\u201d (15:2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12). Differences in economic status, which ordinarily drive such deep wedges between people, are here overridden by a deeper truth. \u201cAmong members of this community, economic realities are not definitional; rather, what is definitional is a common memory of the Exodus; a common blessing in the land; and a common allegiance to the God of Exodus and land\u201d (Walter Brueggemann, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deuteronomy <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(2001). In a year when economic competition is put on hold, when generosity and a commitment to sharing are actively cultivated, real peace between people becomes more possible (Keli Yakar to Deuteronomy 31:12). And this peace enables an authentic return to Sinai.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once every seven years, the Torah beckons us back to Sinai. In the process, it reminds us of\u2014 it actively <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">enacts <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for us\u2014the essence of communal living. Despite the illusions fostered by social and economic inequality, we are all brothers and sisters in the covenant. That realization makes it possible to acknowledge both the depth our debt to God and the profundity of our connection to each other.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image by Abby Haukongo from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":52171,"alt":"","title":"dt31-seven","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-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":"Re-Enacting The Relation Of Redemption And Revelation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Once every seven years, the Torah beckons us back to Sinai, and returns us to the essence of communal living","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":52171,"alt":"","title":"dt31-seven","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt31-seven-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":"31","chapter_main_number":"184","date":"20260513","wall_id":"184"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"413","name":"Freedom","old_id":"813"},{"term_id":"426","name":"Community","old_id":"826"},{"term_id":"438","name":"Slavery","old_id":"838"},{"term_id":"494","name":"Shmita","old_id":"894"},{"term_id":"645","name":"Sinai","old_id":"1045"}]},{"order":14,"id":"52306","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Poetic Spaces    ","post_title":"Poetic Spaces","slug":"poetic-spaces","old_id":"52306","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"185","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Written and recited, the song unites the visual with the aural","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deuteronomy 32 contains a poem known by its first word, <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">haazinu<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It is an exhortative song that asks the Israelites to listen<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 literally, \u201cgive ear\u201d \u2013 to a sorry story of unconditional Divine love met by Israelite rebelliousness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The song emphasizes its aural qualities. Thus, at its beginning, the text states:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give ear<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, O heavens, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">let me speak<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">; Let the earth <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hear the words I utter<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">!... For the name of the LORD I proclaim; Give glory to our God! (Deuteronomy 32:1 and 3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Likewise, the song concludes by emphasizing recitation:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Moses came, together with Hosea son of Nun, and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recited<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all the words of this poem in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the hearing of the people<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. And when Moses finished <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reciting<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all these words to all Israel\u2026 (Deuteronomy 32:44 and 45).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time, in Deuteronomy 31, Moses is described as writing the song down. \u201cThat day, Moses <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wrote down<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> this poem and taught it to the Israelites\u201d (Deuteronomy 31:32).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In yet another verse, God underlines both the importance of writing and recitation:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Therefore, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">write down<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> this poem and teach it to the people of Israel; <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">put it in their mouths<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, in order that this poem may be My witness against the people of Israel. (Deuteronomy 31:19)<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The written and recitative qualities of poetry are well known. A poetic text does not exist only in a written poetry collection, nor solely in a poetry reading. Poetry takes advantage of both media \u2013 spacing and other visual strategies are essential to written poetry. Pauses and other verbal drama characterize poetry as read aloud.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For its part, Haazinu takes advantage of its written and recitative aspects. In some communities, Jewish children are encouraged to learn specifically this text by heart, and to regularly sing it aloud. At the same time, like other Biblical songs Haazinu has a special spacing format, where the symmetrical parts of the poetic verses are divided in two columns, in a technique known in Hebrew as \u201chalf brick on half brick.\u201d \u00a0In this way, the visual and aural are united, just as the song\u2019s metaphors bridge the orality of speech with the physical image of the world:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">May my discourse come down as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, Like showers on young growth, Like droplets on the grass. (Deuteronomy 32:2)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\r\n<br \/>\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Ha\u2019azinu, Aleppo Codex \/ wikisource<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":52307,"alt":"","title":"dt32-song","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","width":404,"height":469,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song-258x300.jpg","medium-width":258,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","medium_large-width":404,"medium_large-height":469,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","large-width":404,"large-height":469,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","1536x1536-width":404,"1536x1536-height":469,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","2048x2048-width":404,"2048x2048-height":469,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","post_full_size-width":404,"post_full_size-height":469,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song-362x420.jpg","home_baner-width":362,"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":"Poetic Spaces","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Written and recited, the song unites the visual with the aural","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":52307,"alt":"","title":"dt32-song","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","width":404,"height":469,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song-258x300.jpg","medium-width":258,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","medium_large-width":404,"medium_large-height":469,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","large-width":404,"large-height":469,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","1536x1536-width":404,"1536x1536-height":469,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","2048x2048-width":404,"2048x2048-height":469,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song.jpg","post_full_size-width":404,"post_full_size-height":469,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-song-362x420.jpg","home_baner-width":362,"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":"32","chapter_main_number":"185","date":"20260514","wall_id":"185"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"443","name":"See\/hear","old_id":"843"},{"term_id":"802","name":"Song","old_id":"1202"}]},{"order":15,"id":"52335","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Keeping A Creative Tension Between Past And Future    ","post_title":"Keeping A Creative Tension Between Past And Future","slug":"keeping-a-creative-tension-between-past-and-future","old_id":"52335","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":52269,"post_title":"Ariel Burger","slug":"ariel-burger","old_id":"52269","first_name":"Ariel ","last_name":"Burger ","description":"Ariel Burger is the author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). He is also an artist and public teacher whose work integrates spirituality, the arts, and strategies for social change. An Orthodox rabbi and PhD in Jewish Thought and Conflict Studies, he's not learning or teaching, he is creating music, art, and poetry. He lives outside of Boston with his family.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Ariel Burger is the author of Witness: Lessons from Elie Wiesel's Classroom (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":52270,"alt":"","title":"ariel burger","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger.jpg","width":2058,"height":2360,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger-262x300.jpg","medium-width":262,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger-768x881.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":881,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger-893x1024.jpg","large-width":893,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger.jpg","1536x1536-width":1339,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger.jpg","2048x2048-width":1786,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger-1046x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1046,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/ariel-burger-366x420.jpg","home_baner-width":366,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"185","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Each of us is the last link in a chain; each of us is also the progenitor of a new one","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAsk your parents and they will tell you, your elders and they will inform you\u201d (32:7).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is intuitive and commonplace to say that we must look to the past for wisdom. As individuals, we take strength and guidance from our elders\u2019 experiences. And as a collective, memory is a key to our survival as a people, when so many ancient peoples disappeared.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once in class, Elie Wiesel told his students: \u201cYou know, when I have a difficult question in my life, I think of my mother, and I wonder what she would advise. If it is a difficult <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">communal<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> question, I think of my father. This has helped me often.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another time, when discussing his problems with traditional theology after the Holocaust, he said, \u201cBut I did not stop observing the commandments\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u201cWhy not?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBecause I remembered my father, and his father. How could I be the last to keep our traditions alive?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And yet, looking to the past is only half the equation. To only consider the past is to risk avoiding the demands of the present moment. We must look ahead as well.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another tale from Elie Wiesel: when the future Hasidic leader Dov Ber of Mezrich\u2019s childhood home burned down in a fire, he saw his mother weeping. \u201cWhy are you crying, Mama?\u201d asked the boy, \u201cWe can buy or make new things, we can rebuild our house!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI am not crying for all the furniture, the tablecloths, even the few books we had. But we had an irreplaceable family tree that extended all the way back to King David. Now it is gone. That is why I weep,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDon\u2019t worry, Mama,\u201d said the future leader. \u201cI will begin a new family tree, one even more beautiful than the one we lost.\u201d And he did, raising children and grandchildren, and dozens of students who would in turn become some of the greatest creative leaders of Eastern European Jewry.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Each of us is the last link in a chain. Each of us is also the progenitor of a new one, whether through our children, or our students and those whom we influence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Baal Shem Tov taught that forgetfulness leads to exile, while redemption depends on memory. His great-grandson, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, added that the memory of the past is very important, but the most essential memory is of the future we want to create. Recalling that future helps us work toward it every day. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the creative tension between past and future that has kept Judaism alive for millennia. Look to your elders, and see them look back at you, with the weight of their experience, yes. But also with pride, confidence, and faith in your abilities. \u201cThe world is your now\u201d, they say to us. \u201cWhat will you do with it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>Image by\u00a0PIRO4D\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay\u00a0<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":52336,"alt":"","title":"dt32-chain","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","width":1920,"height":1002,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-300x157.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-768x401.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":401,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1024x534.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":534,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":802,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1002,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1200x626.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":626,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-805x420.jpg","home_baner-width":805,"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":"Keeping A Creative Tension Between Past And Future","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Each of us is the last link in a chain; each of us is also the progenitor of a new one","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":52336,"alt":"","title":"dt32-chain","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","width":1920,"height":1002,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-300x157.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":157,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-768x401.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":401,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1024x534.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":534,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":802,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1002,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-1200x626.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":626,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt32-chain-805x420.jpg","home_baner-width":805,"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":"32","chapter_main_number":"185","date":"20260514","wall_id":"185"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"428","name":"Parent","old_id":"828"},{"term_id":"550","name":"Future","old_id":"950"}]},{"order":16,"id":"108724","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"God\u2019s Vengeance - and Ours","post_title":"God\u2019s Vengeance - and Ours","slug":"gods-vengeance-and-ours","old_id":"108724","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":62571,"post_title":"Yaakov Bieler","slug":"yaakov-bieler","old_id":"62571","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Bieler ","description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University in 1974. He has lectured and written extensively on Modern Orthodoxy, and blogs daily at https:\/\/yaakovbieler.wordpress.com ","short_description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":62572,"alt":"","title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","width":141,"height":180,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler-141x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":141,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium-width":141,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium_large-width":141,"medium_large-height":180,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","large-width":141,"large-height":180,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","1536x1536-width":141,"1536x1536-height":180,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","2048x2048-width":141,"2048x2048-height":180,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","post_full_size-width":141,"post_full_size-height":180,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","home_baner-width":141,"home_baner-height":180}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"185","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We are meant to emulate God, but perhaps not in all things\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Deuteronomy 32, God is described as \u201cvengeful\u201d vis-\u00e0-vis the His enemies and those opposed to His people:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018When I whet My flashing blade and My hand lays hold on judgment, vengeance will I wreak on My foes, will I deal to those who reject Me\u2019\u2026 O nations, acclaim God\u2019s people! For He\u2019ll avenge the blood of His servants, wreak vengeance on His foes, and cleanse His people\u2019s land (verses 41, 43).<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And although Deuteronomy is replete with multiple references to the \u201cmeta-mitzvah\u201d <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vehalachta bederachav<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, \u201cand you will emulate His ways\u201d (cf. 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 30:16), in light of Leviticus 19:18 - \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thou shalt not take vengeance\u201d -\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vengeance is <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>not<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one of God\u2019s attributes that man is permitted to emulate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is difficult enough to try to be \u201cgodly\u201d in all that one does (see Sotah 14a), yet an area where God\u2019s actions are noticeable to and by all, is considered off-limits to humans?<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This particular \u201cdisconnect\u201d between God\u2019s attributes and a human being\u2019s desire to emulate them, might be due to our limitations in general, and our intellectual constraints in particular. While God is defined as the <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">bochen levavot<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (lit. \u201cthe discerner of hearts\u201d; i.e., He knows what each of us is thinking,) we have trouble ascertaining where we ourselves are \u201cat,\u201d let alone what is in the mind of others. Even the act of communication, from its earliest beginnings. is fraught, as R. Joseph Soloveitchik has written:<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026When Adam addressed himself to Eve, employing the word as the means of communication, he certainly told her not only what united them, but also what separated them. Eve was both enlightened and perplexed, assured and troubled by his word. For, in all personal unions such as marriage, friendship, or comradeship, however strong the bonds uniting two individuals, the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>modi existentiae<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">remain totally unique and hence, incongruous, at both levels, the ontological and the experiential\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 210px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(\u201cConfrontation,\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>Tradition<\/em> <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spring-Summer 1964, p. 15.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Human beings are defined as simply incapable of plumbing the depths of another\u2019s mind and soul.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p>(see also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.929.org.il\/lang\/en\/page\/446\/post\/72470\">this post<\/a> on the topic of Divine and human justice).<\/p>\r\n<p>image:\u00a0 Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, \"Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime,\" 1808, The Louvre \/ wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72471,"alt":"","title":"jer46-divine vengeance","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","width":793,"height":656,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-300x248.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":248,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-768x635.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":635,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","large-width":793,"large-height":656,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","1536x1536-width":793,"1536x1536-height":656,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","2048x2048-width":793,"2048x2048-height":656,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","post_full_size-width":793,"post_full_size-height":656,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-508x420.jpg","home_baner-width":508,"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":"God\u2019s Vengeance - 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