{"id":55198,"date":"2018-07-09T17:42:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1044\/"},"modified":"2022-12-09T13:22:29","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T11:22:29","slug":"wall-1044","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1044\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20221204-to-20221210"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1044","date_from":"20221204","date_to":"20221210","book":"Judges","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"39084","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Jacob and the Blessing of Self-Transformation ","post_title":"Jacob and the Blessing of Self-Transformation","slug":"jacob-and-the-blessing-of-self-transformation","old_id":"39084","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39086,"post_title":"David Wolpe","slug":"david-wolpe","old_id":"39086","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Wolpe","description":"Rabbi David Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California. He previously taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hunter College, and UCLA. Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York in 1987, Wolpe is a leader in Conservative Judaism.","short_description":"Rabbi David Wolpe is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39087,"alt":"","title":"david wolpe","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","width":178,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","medium-width":178,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","medium_large-width":178,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","large-width":178,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","1536x1536-width":178,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","2048x2048-width":178,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","post_full_size-width":178,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-wolpe.jpg","home_baner-width":178,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"32","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Jacob sees his brother and weeps for all the years he was blind","post_main_content_content":"

Jacob, having stolen the birthright from his older brother, runs away from home. He goes to the house of his Uncle Laban. \u00a0There he falls in love with Laban's daughter Rachel and plans to marry her. Jacob goes to bed that night expecting that Rachel will be his new bride. \u00a0He does not realize that her older sister Leah has snuck into his bed. In fact according to the text, Jacob is not aware of the duplicity until the morning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How is this possible? \u00a0One message in the story is that the person you go to sleep with at night is not always the person you wake up to in the morning. Especially if you drink.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The deeper point is that something is missing in Jacob. \u00a0He may be infatuated with Rachel, but he does not truly see her.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jacob begins life unable to see the reality of others. \u00a0He deceives his father and steals his brother\u2019s birthright. His blind father does not \u2018see\u2019 Jacob in many ways. Those who are not seen often find themselves too unable to see. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Years later, Jacob is informed that the brother from whom he stole the birthright intends to come and kill him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The night before he is to meet Esau, the Torah says \"And Jacob was alone, and a man wrestled with him until the coming of the dawn (Gen. 32:24).\" Even though the wrestler is commonly assumed to be an angel, the phrase \"Jacob was alone\" \u00a0suggests a struggle with himself. And as a result of that struggle something unforeseen takes place.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At dawn Jacob, tells the angel he will not let go until the angel blesses him. \u00a0And we read the following: The man asked him, \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d \u201cJacob,\u201d he answered.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then the man said, \u201cYour name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel\" \u00a0(Gen. 32:27,28). Imagine asking for a blessing and hearing: \"Your name is no longer Kenneth -- your name is Fred!\" \u00a0I don't think most people would consider that much of a blessing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And yet that is the angel's blessing to Jacob. \u00a0For the angel has given him the blessing of self-transformation. \u00a0He will not be entirely different -- many times in the future the Bible will refer to him again as 'Jacob.' \u00a0But he has grown through self-struggle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, instead of confrontation we read: \"But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.\" \u00a0And then Jacob tells him, \"For to see your face is like seeing the face of God.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jacob now sees people. Jacob sees his brother and weeps in part for all the years he was blind. Jacob has learned to see others, and to love.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84724,"alt":"","title":"ps63-eye seeing God","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-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":"Jacob and the Blessing of Self-Transformation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jacob sees his brother and weeps for all the years he was blind","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84724,"alt":"","title":"ps63-eye seeing God","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps63-eye-seeing-God-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":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"32","chapter_main_number":"32","date":"20251013","wall_id":"32"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"490","name":"Jacob","old_id":"890"},{"term_id":"504","name":"Blessing","old_id":"904"}]},{"order":2,"id":"38644","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner - Gen 32 ","post_title":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner - Gen 32","slug":"milimilim-the-hebrew-corner-gen-32","old_id":"38644","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34011,"post_title":"Jeremy Benstein","slug":"dr-jeremy-benstein","old_id":"34011","first_name":"Jeremy","last_name":"Benstein","description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English. He is one of the founders of the Heschel Center for Sustainability. He writes the MiliMiliM - Hebrew Corner on the site, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34232,"alt":"","title":"Jeremy Benstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"32","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"\u05d9\u05e2\u05e7\u05d1-\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc - Jacob\/Israel","post_main_content_content":"

32:29 - \u201cYour name shall no longer be <\/em><\/span>Ya\u2019akov<\/span> Jacob, but <\/span><\/em>Yisrael<\/span> Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Ya'akov's name means something like \"heel-holder\", after his grabbing onto his older brother's heel (<\/span>'<\/b>akev<\/span><\/em>) at birth (Gen. 25:26). The root is \u05e2-\u05e7-\u05d1, <\/span>'ayin-k-v<\/span><\/em>. <\/span><\/i>Later Esau riffs on this name in his lament after having Isaac's blessing stolen from him: \"Was he, then, named Ya'akov that he might supplant me (<\/span>ya<\/span>'<\/b>akov vaya<\/span>'<\/b>akveni<\/span><\/em>) these two times?\" (Gen. 27:36 \u2013 Rober Alter translates it as \"trip me now twice by the heels\"). The two times are of course the earlier sale of the birthright for a mess of pottage, and the theft here of the blessing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Here, in the famous scene of Jacob wrestling with an unknown figure at the ford of the Jabbok River (Gen. 32: 23-33, which also echoes his name), Ya'akov holds his opponent fast until he receives a blessing, which comes in the form of a new name, <\/span>Yisrael<\/span><\/em>, Israel, together with the explanation: \"for you have <\/span>striven<\/span> (<\/span>sarita<\/span><\/em>) with beings divine and human [or: \"God and men\"], and have prevailed.\" The root \u05e9-\u05e8-\u05d4, \u00a0<\/span>s-r-h<\/span><\/em>, here \"strive,\" (in the form <\/span>sarita<\/span><\/em>, \"you have striven\") also has the sense of \"rule,\" as in the name <\/span>Sarah<\/span><\/em> (\"princess,\" see Gen. 17:15), and the noun <\/span>sar<\/span><\/em> \"ruler\" or \"prince\" (as in <\/span>sar shalom<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> \"the prince of peace, Isaiah 9:5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi explains that this means that Jacob\/Israel shall no longer gain his blessings <\/span>b<\/span>'<\/b>okvah uveremiyah<\/span><\/em>, \"through deceit and trickery\" (the \"Ya'akov\" root), but <\/span>beserarah uvegilui panim<\/span><\/em>, through mastery (or lordliness), and openness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This connects with a completely different possible interpretation of the name Israel, hinted at in various sources. The first three letters of the name Yisrael are \u05d9-\u05e9-\u05e8, <\/span>y-sh-r<\/span><\/em>, which is a root of its own, meaning \"straight, honest.\" Since the root of Ya'akov's name is linked to deceit, it's not much of a stretch to see that his new \"corrective\" name should be connected to \"straightness,\" or \"honesty.\" The commentator Kli Yakar on 32:29, reads the name as <\/span>yashar-el<\/span><\/em>, parsing it as \"straight in God's eyes.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The explicit link between these two roots is made in several places. One is in Micah 3:9, where Israel is addressed as <\/span>Beit Yisrael<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> \"the house of Israel,\" who pervert <\/span>hayesharah<\/span><\/em>, \"equity.\" \u00a0Another is the famous phrase in Isaiah 40:4: <\/span>vehaya ha<\/span>'<\/b>akov lemishor<\/span><\/em>, 'the crooked shall be made straight.'<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Likewise, there is the additional name <\/span>Yeshurun<\/span><\/em>, \"Jeshurun\" (cf. Deut. 32:15, 33:5, 26), a sort of synonym for Israel, that even more clearly signifies this root sense of<\/span> y-sh-r<\/span><\/em>, <\/i><\/b>\"straight.\".<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So Jacob the trickster underdog becomes Israel, the striver who prevails; from crooked 'supplanter' to the 'true one' of God. And we go from being <\/span>bnei Ya'akov<\/span><\/em>,<\/em> the children of Jacob, a clan, to <\/span>bnei Yisrael<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> the children of Israel, a nation in the making.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":103184,"alt":"","title":"-6237402e459d5--6237402e459d6gen32-milim yaakov jacob israel.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-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":"

Artwork by: Ben Schachter<\/p>","tile_top_caption":"MiliMiliM - The Hebrew Corner","tile_main_caption":"Chapter 32: \u05d9\u05e2\u05e7\u05d1-\u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc - Jacob\/Israel","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"... a word from the daily chapter...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":103184,"alt":"","title":"-6237402e459d5--6237402e459d6gen32-milim yaakov jacob israel.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/08\/6237402e459d5-6237402e459d6gen32-milim-yaakov-jacob-israel.jpg-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Robert Kneschke (shutterstock 161025986)","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"32","chapter_main_number":"32","date":"20251013","wall_id":"32"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"361","name":"Hebrew language","old_id":"761"},{"term_id":"490","name":"Jacob","old_id":"890"},{"term_id":"539","name":"Israel","old_id":"939"}]},{"order":3,"id":"38749","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Yes - It Was a Kiss (Take it From Me - I\u2019m a Twin) ","post_title":"Yes - It Was a Kiss (Take it From Me - I\u2019m a Twin)","slug":"yes-it-was-a-kiss-take-it-from-me-im-a-twin","old_id":"38749","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37631,"post_title":"Abigail Pogrebin","slug":"abigail-pogrebin","old_id":"37631","first_name":"Abigail ","last_name":"Pogrebin ","description":"Abigail Pogrebin is the author of \u201cMy Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew,\u201d and \u201cStars of David: Prominent Jews Talk about Being Jewish.\u201d She moderates an interview series at the JCC in Manhattan called \u201cWhat Everyone\u2019s Talking About.\u201d","short_description":"Abigail Pogrebin is a New York based author.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37632,"alt":"","title":"abigail pogrebin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925.jpg","width":418,"height":461,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925-272x300.jpg","medium-width":272,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925.jpg","medium_large-width":418,"medium_large-height":461,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925.jpg","large-width":418,"large-height":461,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925.jpg","1536x1536-width":418,"1536x1536-height":461,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925.jpg","2048x2048-width":418,"2048x2048-height":461,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925.jpg","post_full_size-width":418,"post_full_size-height":461,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/abigail-pogrebin-e1534102741925-381x420.jpg","home_baner-width":381,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"33","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Despite the twins\u2019 estrangement, or maybe because of it, there is relief in seeing each other again after 20 years apart","post_main_content_content":"

As an identical twin, it\u2019s difficult for me to read the reunion of twins Jacob and Esau without personalizing their reconciliation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The kiss they share in Genesis 33:4 was interpreted by the sages as likely violent; it was surmised that Esau <\/span>bit<\/span><\/i> Jacob instead of kissed him. \u00a0The kiss is suspect thanks to the Torah\u2019s unusual dots above the word \u201cva-yisha-kehu<\/em>\u201d (\u201che kissed him\u201d). These markings signal something jarring or amiss. An alternative rabbinic take is that Esau did indeed kiss his brother, but the dots convey it wasn\u2019t done \u201cwholeheartedly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Having seen first-hand the unmatched intimacy of twinship\u2014 the effortless shorthand between those of us who started life together in cramped darkness \u2014 I believe this biblical reunion is loving, not vindictive. \u00a0Despite the twins\u2019 estrangement, or maybe because of it, there is relief in seeing each other again after 20 years apart.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cEsau ran to greet him. He embraced him and, falling on his neck, he kissed him; and they wept.\u201d (Genesis 33:4)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When I was researching my second book, \u201cOne and the Same,\u201d about every aspect of twin science and psychology, I interviewed a physician who specializes in photographing twins. \u00a0Dr. David Teplica described standing over a bassinet waiting to capture newborns in their earliest moments \u2014reunited after the brief separation of delivery. Their first, instantaneous, impulsive act was to suck each other\u2019s faces. \u00a0Like intuitive magnets, they latched on as soon as they could.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jacob had betrayed Esau and worried he\u2019d arrived to take revenge. \u00a0But instead, his brother runs to touch him as if it\u2019s all he\u2019s been waiting for. Twins ultimately forgive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Cover art: Jacob\u00a0Steinhardt, Jacob and Esau<\/em>, woodcut, 1950, courtesy of Yosefa Bar-On Steinhardt.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49397,"alt":"","title":"dt2-Jacob Steinhardt, Jacob and Esau","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","width":500,"height":394,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau-300x236.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":236,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":394,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":394,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":394,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":394,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":394,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt2-Jacob-Steinhardt-Jacob-and-Esau.jpg","home_baner-width":500,"home_baner-height":394}},"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":"Three Views on Esau's Kiss - 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She has written six guidebooks to contemporary Jewish life, including The Jewish Wedding Now and Choosing a Jewish Life. She is the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center in Newton, Massachusetts (www.mayyimhayyim.org). 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We have been lost to each other for so long.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My name means nothing to you, my memory is dust.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is not your fault, or mine. The chain connecting mother to daughter was broken and the word passed to the keeping of men, who had no way of knowing. That is why I became a footnote, my story a brief detour between the well-known history of my father Jacob, and the celebrated chronicle of Joseph, my brother<\/span>.<\/b><\/p>\r\n

On the rare occasions I was remembered, it was as a victim. Near the beginning of your holy book, there is a passage that seems to say I was raped and continues with the bloody tale of how my honor was avenged.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It\u2019s a wonder a mother ever called a daughter Dina again. But some did. Maybe you guessed that there was more to me than the voiceless cipher in the text. Maybe you heard it in the music of my name. Dee-nah. The first vowel high and clear, as when a mother calls to her child at dusk; the second sound soft, for whispering secrets on pillows.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

No one recalled my skill as a midwife or the songs I sang or the bread I baked for my insatiable brothers. Nothing remained except a few mangled details about those weeks in Shechem.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There was far more to tell. Had I been asked to speak of it, I would have begun with the story of the generation that raised me, which is the only place to begin. If you want to understand any woman you must first talk about her mother and then listen carefully. Stories about food show a strong connection. Wistful silences demonstrate unfinished business. The more a daughter knows of her mother\u2019s life \u2013 without flinching or whining \u2013 the stronger the daughter.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: The Red Tent \u00a9 1997 St. Martin\u2019s Press<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Used with the permission of the author, www.anitadiamant.com<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":38898,"alt":"","title":"Theredtentcover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","width":220,"height":333,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover-198x300.jpg","medium-width":198,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","medium_large-width":220,"medium_large-height":333,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","large-width":220,"large-height":333,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","1536x1536-width":220,"1536x1536-height":333,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","2048x2048-width":220,"2048x2048-height":333,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","post_full_size-width":220,"post_full_size-height":333,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","home_baner-width":220,"home_baner-height":333}},"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":"Prologue from: The Red Tent","tile_main_caption":"What if Dinah Had Gotten a Chance to Tell Her Side of the Story?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"a selection from the best-selling Biblical novel","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":38898,"alt":"","title":"Theredtentcover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","width":220,"height":333,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover-198x300.jpg","medium-width":198,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","medium_large-width":220,"medium_large-height":333,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","large-width":220,"large-height":333,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","1536x1536-width":220,"1536x1536-height":333,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","2048x2048-width":220,"2048x2048-height":333,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","post_full_size-width":220,"post_full_size-height":333,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Theredtentcover.jpg","home_baner-width":220,"home_baner-height":333}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"34","chapter_main_number":"34","date":"20251015","wall_id":"34"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"532","name":"Dinah","old_id":"932"}]},{"order":5,"id":"38961","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Rachel\u2019s Reward ","post_title":"Rachel\u2019s Reward","slug":"rachels-reward","old_id":"38961","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":"35","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Her kind of compassion changes the divinely- guided course of Jewish history","post_main_content_content":"

Rachel starkly demands of her Jacob, \u201cGive me sons or I shall die\u201d (Genesis 30:1). In a painfully ironic twist, Rachel now dies in the very process of having one. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

With her last breath, Rachel names her son Ben-Oni, \u201cson of my misfortune\u201d (35:16-18).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Since Rachel\u2019s last words are filled with such sorrow, she becomes associated in the Jewish imagination with weeping and lament. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah invokes Rachel to express the grief felt by all mothers for their lost and exiled children. \u201cThus said the Lord: \u2018A cry is heard in Ramah\u2014wailing, bitter weeping\u2014Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, who are gone\u2019\u201d (Jeremiah 31:15). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

God is moved by Rachel\u2019s tears that God promises to bring all the tears to an end: \u201cThus said the Lord: \u2018Restrain your voice from weeping, your eyes from shedding tears; for there is a reward for your labor\u2019\u2014declares the Lord\u2014\u2018they shall return from the enemy\u2019s land. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What does God mean when God tells Rachel that there is reward for her \u201clabor\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A midrash imagines Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses pleading with God concerning the sin of King Manasseh, who placed an idol in the Temple. Rachel steps forward and asks, \u201cMaster of the World, whose mercy is greater, Your mercy or the mercy of flesh and blood? You must admit that Your mercy is greater. Now, did I not bring my rival [i.e., her sister Leah\u2014S.H.] into my home?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rachel reminds God that she did not protest; she aided Leah, sharing with her the sign she had given Jacob to enable him to distinguish between the two of them. Now, she entreats God: \u201cYou, too, if Your children brought Your rival into Your house [i.e., brought an idol into the Temple\u2014S.H.] keep Your silence for them.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

God is stirred by Rachel\u2019s words and tells her \u2018There is reward for your labor\u2019\u2014that is, for your righteousness, that you gave your sign to your sister\u2019\u201d (Rashi to Jeremiah 31:14) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Imagine how powerful this is: Rachel is finally about to be with the man she has yearned for\u2014and yet, in order to prevent Leah\u2019s being disgraced, she lets her sister\u2019s needs trump her own. This is the kind of compassion that changes the divinely- guided course of Jewish history. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rachel\u2019s relations with Leah are not smooth, but Rachel nevertheless sees Leah\u2019s distress and responds accordingly. So great is compassion, Jewish theology tells us, that it has the power to break God\u2019s heart open.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Michal Ben 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Mother And The Suffering Of The Enemy ","post_title":"Sisera\u2019s Mother And The Suffering Of The Enemy","slug":"siseras-mother-and-the-suffering-of-the-enemy","old_id":"55234","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37561,"post_title":"Deena Cowans","slug":"deena-cowans","old_id":"37561","first_name":"Deena ","last_name":"Cowans","description":"Deena Cowans is a rabbinical student at JTS and alumnus of the Master's in Public Administration- Development Practice at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). \r\nDeena is the Director of Education (Rosh Chinuch) at Camp Ramah in the Rockies since January 2016, and was the Youth and Family Programs at Congregation Ansche Chesed in 2016-2017.","short_description":"Deena Cowans is a rabbinical student at JTS, and the Director of Education at Camp Ramah in the Rockies","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37562,"alt":"","title":"deena 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This chapter, known as the Song of Deborah, records a military triumph after Yael killed the general Sisera. Yet in the midst of this victory song comes a brief but bizarre narrative. Verse 28 narrates a poignant vignette of the enemy general Sisera\u2019s mother, waiting at the window for his return and wondering why he is delayed. The insertion of this verse is strange: why the disconnect between a triumphant song of victory and the tragedy of the suffering of Sisera\u2019s mother?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In some ways the insertion of the sadness of the vignette is deeply Jewish: in our greatest celebrations, we remember the suffering of our enemies. At Jewish weddings, we break a glass; at the Passover Seder, we spill drops of wine in remembrance of Egyptian suffering from the plagues. The Sages of the Talmud claim a deep meaning from the cries of Sisera\u2019s unnamed mother. They derive the shofar blasts we hear on Rosh Hashanah- teruah, shevarim<\/em>, etc- from this verse, connecting the different verbs describing the the moaning and wailing of Sisera\u2019s bereaved mother with each of the shofar blasts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why cite the sorrow of this unnamed woman at the death of her son as the source of Jewish law for one of the holiest days of the year? If anything, the shofar, which is also used in battle, should remind us of God\u2019s steadfast protection of our armies as they go into battle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But we are reminded of this tradition of remembering the pain of others even in our greatest moments of joy and connection to God. And perhaps this is precisely why the Rabbis wanted us to remember Sisera\u2019s mother as we hear the shofar: what we might interpret as a call to be attuned to God is really a call to listen carefully to those around us. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We cannot ask for God\u2019s care and compassion if we are not able to offer care and compassion to everyone we meet. In the cries of the shofar, we hear the cries of the bereaved who we have failed to comfort, the moans of suffering even of our sworn enemies. In the cries of the shofar, we are reminded: all of us are human, all of us suffer loss, and all of us pray that this will be a year in which it does not happen to us. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The only question is: are we ready to listen?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Albert Joseph Moore (1841-1893), The Mother of Sisera Looked out a Window \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55235,"alt":"","title":"jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","width":603,"height":797,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window-227x300.jpg","medium-width":227,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","medium_large-width":603,"medium_large-height":797,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","large-width":603,"large-height":797,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","1536x1536-width":603,"1536x1536-height":797,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","2048x2048-width":603,"2048x2048-height":797,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","post_full_size-width":603,"post_full_size-height":797,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window-318x420.jpg","home_baner-width":318,"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":"Sisera\u2019s Mother And The Suffering Of The Enemy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An unexpected inspiration for a very Jewish practice","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55235,"alt":"","title":"jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","width":603,"height":797,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window-227x300.jpg","medium-width":227,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","medium_large-width":603,"medium_large-height":797,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","large-width":603,"large-height":797,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","1536x1536-width":603,"1536x1536-height":797,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","2048x2048-width":603,"2048x2048-height":797,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window.jpg","post_full_size-width":603,"post_full_size-height":797,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-The_Mother_of_Sisera_Looked_out_a_Window-318x420.jpg","home_baner-width":318,"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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"5","chapter_main_number":"216","date":"20260628","wall_id":"216"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"},{"term_id":"476","name":"Compassion","old_id":"876"},{"term_id":"604","name":"Mothers","old_id":"1004"},{"term_id":"761","name":"Tradition","old_id":"1161"}]},{"order":7,"id":"55217","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Stealth Or Strength? Story and Song Show Us Two Yaels ","post_title":"Stealth Or Strength? Story And Song Show Us Two Yaels","slug":"stealth-or-strength-story-and-song-show-us-two-yaels","old_id":"55217","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":52873,"post_title":"Tikva Frymer-Kensky","slug":"tikva-frymer-kensky","old_id":"52873","first_name":"Tikva ","last_name":"Frymer-Kensky","description":"Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky (1943-2006) had been the director of Biblical Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was a professor of Hebrew Bible and the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago. She was a pioneer in combining rigorous study of the ancient Near East with rigorous feminism. She received her bachelor's degree in ancient world studies from City College of New York and a bachelor's in Hebrew Literature in Bible and Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1965, a master's in West Semitics from Yale in 1967, and a doctorate in Assyriology and Sumerology from Yale in 1977.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Tikva Frymer-Kensky (1943-2006) was a professor of Hebrew Bible and the History of Judaism at the University of Chicago, and had been the director of Biblical Studies at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":52874,"alt":"","title":"tikva frymer-kensky","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","width":125,"height":175,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky-125x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":125,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","medium-width":125,"medium-height":175,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","medium_large-width":125,"medium_large-height":175,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","large-width":125,"large-height":175,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","1536x1536-width":125,"1536x1536-height":175,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","2048x2048-width":125,"2048x2048-height":175,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","post_full_size-width":125,"post_full_size-height":175,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/tikva-frymer-kensky.jpg","home_baner-width":125,"home_baner-height":175}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"216","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But neither present her as demure seductress","post_main_content_content":"

When the warrior comes to her tent, Yael treats him with dignity. Then, as he stands there, Yael grabs the tools she has on hand and fells him, smashing his skull and piercing it. The more familiar story portrays a sleeping Sisera, but in the Song, he is erect, and sinks to his knees and falls prone as she stands over him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The song emphasizes that he lay <\/span>between her legs<\/span><\/em>. Midrash and some modern scholars see sexual allusion here, envisioning a scene in which Yael disarms Sisera through sexual enticement, or even says a midrash, through exhausting him sexually, once for each \"between her legs.\" But the image of Sisera falling between Yael's legs is not a sexual allusion. It is rather a savage grotesquery of childbirth. Sisera doesn't find sexual release and <\/span>petit mort<\/span><\/em> (\"little death\") of orgasm; he finds total death\u2026 He is delivered to death, and in so doing Yael helped deliver Israel to life. Just as the \"motherhood\" of Deborah involved directing battle, this savage \"motherhood\" of Yael \"rebirths\" Sisera to his death\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Song remembers Yael of Strength; the story Yael of Stealth. Neither presents a Yael of Seduction. This is left to later readers, beginning with the Greco-Roman period, when many of the biblical stories about women were eroticized. The figure of Yael is often merged with a much later heroine whose story is presented in the Apocryphal book of Judith. Judith's story, written in the Graeco-Roman period, is set at the time of the Assyrian invasion of Israel. The Assyrian general Holofernes besieged Bethulia (Bethel), called for surrender, and announced his intention to mutilate the men of the city\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In order to save Israel, Judith clothes herself sumptuously, and has her hair dressed in splendid Hellenistic fashion. The result is that she is so stunningly beautiful that she is able to walk past the guards\u2026 and reach Holofernes. Holofernes drinks more than he ever has before and falls drunk at her feet. She takes his sword, cuts off his head, puts his head in the bag she brought with her and goes back to the city. The rest of the book is a paean of praise that makes allusion to all the old heroes of Israel, including Yael.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The similarities between Yael and Judith are obvious: both are domestic women who kill the enemy general. But the differences are equally striking. The story portrays Judith in erotic terms and describes both her beauty and the male reaction to it. There is no doubt that her beauty is the weapon by which Judith saves Israel. Yael's appearance, by contrast, is never described, nor does Sisera react to her as anything but a source of help. The difference between Yael and Judith is precisely the difference between biblical ideas and the ideas that came into Israel from the Greek world. In classical biblical works, the beauty of women is never their weapon. It can make them vulnerable to male desires, as with Sarah and Bathsheba, but it does not help them manipulate such desires.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: Tikva Freymer-Kensky, \"Warriors of Weapon and Word: Deborah and Yael,\" in <\/span>Reading the Women of the Bible<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>Schocken: 2002, pp. 45-57.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Yael Killing Sisera<\/em>, by\u00a0Lambert Lombard, 1530-35 \/ wikipedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55218,"alt":"","title":"jud5-yael-sisera1","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","width":800,"height":875,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-274x300.jpg","medium-width":274,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-768x840.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":840,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":875,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":875,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":875,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":875,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-384x420.jpg","home_baner-width":384,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Women of Story and Song \u2013 2","tile_main_caption":"Stealth Or Strength? Story And Song Show Us Two Yaels","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But neither present her as demure seductress","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55218,"alt":"","title":"jud5-yael-sisera1","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","width":800,"height":875,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-274x300.jpg","medium-width":274,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-768x840.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":840,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":875,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":875,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":875,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":875,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud5-yael-sisera1-384x420.jpg","home_baner-width":384,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"5","chapter_main_number":"216","date":"20260628","wall_id":"216"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"},{"term_id":"622","name":"Criticism","old_id":"1022"},{"term_id":"876","name":"Greek","old_id":"1276"}]},{"order":8,"id":"55310","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Gideon Is Like Moses In His Generation ","post_title":"Gideon Is Like Moses In His Generation","slug":"gideon-is-like-moses-in-his-generation","old_id":"55310","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34245,"post_title":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger","slug":"rachel-sharansky-danziger","old_id":"34245","first_name":"Rachel Sharansky","last_name":"Danziger","description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born writer and speaker who blogs about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. She currently lives in Boston, where she teaches about storytelling in the bible and the subversive depths of Hebrew words.\r\n","short_description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born Boston-based writer and speaker about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34246,"alt":"","title":"RSDanziger","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","width":1171,"height":1769,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":678,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","large-width":678,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","1536x1536-width":1017,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","2048x2048-width":1171,"2048x2048-height":1769,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-794x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":794,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"217","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Circumstances change, but the humility of a true leader perseveres","post_main_content_content":"

When Rabbi Yehoshua was forced to submit to the authority of Rabban Gamliel\u2019s Yavneh court, tells the Gemara, his friends tried to comfort him. One of them, Rabbi Dosa Ben Horkinas, argued that Rabban Gamliel\u2019s court --- indeed, any court within its own generation --- had the same legal status as the court of Moses. \u201cJerubaal (Gideon) in his generation,\u201d continues the Gemara, \u201cis like Moses in his generation,<\/span> Bedan (Samson) in his generation is like Aaron in his generation; and Jephthah in his generation is like Samuel in his generation.\u201d (Talmud Bavli, Rosh Hashana, 25B)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Talmud moves on with Rabbi Yehoshua\u2019s story, leaving these intriguing comparisons behind. Yet Judges 6 practically begs us to explore the Moses-Gideon pairing further. Both begin their initiation into leadership by encountering an angel of God. Both are then addressed by God Himself. Both are told that He will \u201csend\u201d (using the root sh.l.ch<\/em>) them to deliver His people. \u201cWho am I, that I should go to Pharaoh,\u201d(Exodus 3:11) exclaims Moses, and Gideon echoes this humility with \u201cPlease, my lord, how can I deliver Israel? Why, my clan is the humblest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father\u2019s household\u201d (Judges 6:15).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God reassures both Moses and Gideon with the exact same words: \u201cI will be with you.\u201d (Exodus 3:12 and Judges 6:16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At this point the stories diverge, since God offers only Moses a sign (<\/span>ot<\/span><\/em> in Hebrew) \u201c that I have sent you\u201d (Exodus 3:12). But Gideon doesn\u2019t allow this divergence to stand: \u201cAnd he said to Him, \u201cIf I have gained Your favor, give me a sign that it is You who are speaking to me\u201d (Judges 6:17).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Interestingly, the <\/span>settings<\/span><\/em> of these conversations stand in opposition to each other. Moses finds refuge in Midian, the very place that oppresses the Israelites in Gideon\u2019s day. Moses is engaged in his occupation as a shepherd when God approached him, and is sent to deliver his people (who were presented as shepherds in Genesis) from the agrarian Egyptians; Gideon is approached while he is engaged with his occupation as a farmer, and is sent to deliver his agrarian people from the Midianites <\/span>and their flocks<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps by framing these similar missions within opposing circumstances, the Bible reveals to us what leadership is at its core. The external circumstances of our crises come and go and change. Midianites can be our protectors --- or our enemies. Shepherds, like farmers, can be our saviors --- or foes. But leaders should always have humility; then God might be with them and lend them aid.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Aelbrecht Bouts: Two wings of an altarpiece (Moses and the Burning Bush & Gideon and the Fleece), 1490 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55311,"alt":"","title":"jud6-moses and gideon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","width":366,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon-183x300.jpg","medium-width":183,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","medium_large-width":366,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","large-width":366,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","1536x1536-width":366,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","2048x2048-width":366,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","post_full_size-width":366,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon-257x420.jpg","home_baner-width":257,"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":"Gideon Is Like Moses In His Generation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Circumstances change, but the humility of a true leader perseveres","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55311,"alt":"","title":"jud6-moses and gideon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","width":366,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon-183x300.jpg","medium-width":183,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","medium_large-width":366,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","large-width":366,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","1536x1536-width":366,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","2048x2048-width":366,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon.jpg","post_full_size-width":366,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-moses-and-gideon-257x420.jpg","home_baner-width":257,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"6","chapter_main_number":"217","date":"20260629","wall_id":"217"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"627","name":"Talmud","old_id":"1027"},{"term_id":"721","name":"Text","old_id":"1121"}]},{"order":9,"id":"55307","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Leading From Below: Gideon, The Poorest Of The Poor ","post_title":"Leading From Below: Gideon, The Poorest Of The Poor","slug":"leading-from-below-gideon-the-poorest-of-the-poor","old_id":"55307","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54871,"post_title":"Hannah Vorchheimer","slug":"hannah-vorchheimer","old_id":"54871","first_name":"Hannah ","last_name":"Vorchheimer ","description":"Hannah Vorchheimer is a senior at SAR High School. After spending her gap year in Migdal Oz, she will attend Barnard College. ","short_description":"Hannah Vorchheimer is a senior at SAR High School. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":54991,"alt":"","title":"Hannah Vorchheimer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer.jpeg","width":480,"height":480,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer.jpeg","medium_large-width":480,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer.jpeg","large-width":480,"large-height":480,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer.jpeg","1536x1536-width":480,"1536x1536-height":480,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer.jpeg","2048x2048-width":480,"2048x2048-height":480,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer.jpeg","post_full_size-width":480,"post_full_size-height":480,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Hannah-Vorchheimer-420x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"217","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But, when God chooses a leader, status is of no consequence","post_main_content_content":"

During the Midianite oppression of the nation, God hears the people\u2019s cries and decides to pick a savior. He selects Gideon as the next Judge to lead the people to victory. However, instead of accepting, Gideon answers \"how can I deliver Israel? Why, my clan is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father\u2019s household.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

While questioning God\u2019s appointment is shocking, this is not a first time occurrence. In fact, this is a popular biblical paradigm, that appears in two other stories of Biblical leaders: Moses and Jeremiah. When God appointed Moses to be the leader during the exodus and through the desert, he responds \u201cI have never been a man of words\u201d (Exodus 4). \u00a0Similarly, God appears to Jeremiah to consecrate him but Jeremiah responds, \u201cAh, Lord GOD! I don\u2019t know how to speak\u201d (Jeremiah 1). Both of these prophets worry about their personal capabilities, specifically their talents as orators which would deem them capable (or incapable) of their job. However Gideon\u2019s reasoning differs from the two other leaders. He is not at all concerned with his own skills, but how his family is perceived in relation to the rest of his tribe: \u201cmy clan is the poorest in Manasseh\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While declining God\u2019s choice isn\u2019t a novel concept, Gideon\u2019s reasoning is shocking. \u00a0Even though Gideon was chosen by God and nowhere in this chapter does the Bible say Gideon was unqualified for the position, he deems himself unworthy and incapable. In the eyes of the nation, he cannot be fit serve because of his family\u2019s status. Unlike the two previous prophets who are concerned about speech, something remediable, Gideon worries about his own status, which is permanent. By focusing on an unmodifiable characteristic (not a talent), Gideon seems to express that being a qualified leader is inherently connected to status rather than aptitude for the job. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet, when God chooses a leader, status is of no consequence. This is best demonstrated when God appoints David, the youngest son of a humble family, as the next king over Israel. Even though he isn\u2019t \u201chigh status\u201d, he becomes the most important king, as the Messiah descends from his line. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a society, we should work towards considering leaders\u2019 qualifications, not status. Like David and Gideon, great leaders can indeed come from the humblest of backgrounds.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Gideon, by\u00a0Guillaume Rouille (1518?-1589)<\/span>\u00a0-\u00a0\"Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum\"<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55308,"alt":"","title":"jud6-Gideon-coin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","width":467,"height":459,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin-300x295.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":295,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","medium_large-width":467,"medium_large-height":459,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","large-width":467,"large-height":459,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","1536x1536-width":467,"1536x1536-height":459,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","2048x2048-width":467,"2048x2048-height":459,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","post_full_size-width":467,"post_full_size-height":459,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin-427x420.jpg","home_baner-width":427,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"929 Student Corner","tile_main_caption":"Leading From Below: Gideon, The Poorest Of The Poor","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But, when God chooses a leader, status is of no consequence","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55308,"alt":"","title":"jud6-Gideon-coin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","width":467,"height":459,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin-300x295.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":295,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","medium_large-width":467,"medium_large-height":459,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","large-width":467,"large-height":459,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","1536x1536-width":467,"1536x1536-height":459,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","2048x2048-width":467,"2048x2048-height":459,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin.jpg","post_full_size-width":467,"post_full_size-height":459,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-Gideon-coin-427x420.jpg","home_baner-width":427,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"6","chapter_main_number":"217","date":"20260629","wall_id":"217"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"}]},{"order":10,"id":"55351","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Gideon\u2019s Three Hundred ","post_title":"Gideon\u2019s Three Hundred","slug":"gideons-three-hundred","old_id":"55351","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"218","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Were they the best - or the worst?","post_main_content_content":"

Legend has it that 300 Spartans held off a vastly larger Persian force at the Battle of Thermopylae. Gideon, too, fought with only 300 warriors, but the manner in which he selected them is problematic.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to our chapter, God informed Gideon that he had started out with too large an army (v.4), and instructed him to winnow his ranks by taking his troops to the water to drink. Most of the soldiers knelt to drink; 300 of them remained standing and lapped up the water from their cupped hands \u201clike a dog\u201d (5). They are the ones Gideon chose to accompany him to battle and theirs was the victory over Midian.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The question is: Did lapping the water make them the worst soldiers or the best?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi is representative of the consensus of exegetes who argue that kneeling to drink disqualified the majority because it indicated an inclination to kneel before idols. Ergo, the 300 who remained stationary were selected because of their religious superiority and, albeit outnumbered, won the battle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Personally, I find that interpretation inadequate for two reasons. One, as the Spartans demonstrate, on any given day even just 300 elite troops can turn the tide of battle. Second, it fails to explain the depiction of their lapping \u201clike a dog.\u201d While it may well be that this is a clinical description and carries no value judgment, I offer an alternative interpretation. The 300 men who stood and lapped like dogs were chosen because they were the least qualified and their victory enhanced Gideon\u2019s reputation as someone who was divinely sponsored and supported. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55352,"alt":"","title":"jud6-gideon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","width":800,"height":529,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-300x198.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":529,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":529,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":529,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":529,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"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":"Gideon\u2019s Three Hundred","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Were they the best - or the worst?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55352,"alt":"","title":"jud6-gideon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","width":800,"height":529,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-300x198.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":529,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":529,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":529,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":529,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud6-gideon-635x420.jpg","home_baner-width":635,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"7","chapter_main_number":"218","date":"20260630","wall_id":"218"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"609","name":"Test","old_id":"1009"}]},{"order":11,"id":"55413","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Human Habits ","post_title":"Human Habits","slug":"human-habits","old_id":"55413","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. 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","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":"218","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A surprising take on a familiar passage by a great poet","post_main_content_content":"

In preparation for the battle with the Midianites, God helps Gideon gradually winnow his soldiers down to a \u201cfew good men,\u201d concluding with the following test: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2026Then the LORD said to Gideon, \u201cSet apart all those who lap up the water with their tongues like dogs from all those who get down on their knees to drink\u2026
\r\nThen the LORD said to Gideon,\u201d I will deliver you and I will put Midian into your hands through the three hundred \u2018lappers\u2019; let the rest of the troops go home. (Judges 7:5,7)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is the meaning of this strange assessment? The conventional explanation is that Gideon was preparing to fight a divinely sanctioned battle. Thus, it was important to weed out those soldiers who were used to worshiping idols, as demonstrated by their comfort with the cultic posture of getting down on the knees. Another possibility was that in fact, the test was meaningless \u2013 like flipping a coin \u2013 and used only to underline the miraculousness of a victory which would be won by a mere three-hundred, arbitrarily chosen soldiers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I prefer an approach suggested by an oft-overlooked recent expositor of the Hebrew Bible, the great Modern Hebrew poet Yehuda Amichai. One of the things that makes Amichai\u2019s biblical exposition unique is its startling humanism. In a short collection of poems entitled \u201cThe Bible and You, the Bible and You, and Other Midrashim,\u201d Amichai suggests that the drinking-from-the-stream-test can be thought of as tender, anthropological study of the soldiers\u2019 intimate human habits:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u2026What is their way with a woman,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>in what position do they make love? And how do they weep,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>in a bawling voice or with silent tears,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and how do they eat and how do they sleep, on their belly like a baby,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>on their side or on their back, and how do they remember their childhood?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

(From: Yehuda Amichai, <\/span>Open Closed Open<\/span><\/i>, trans. Chana Bloch and Chana Kronfeld; Orlando: Harcourt, 2000, p. 19).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The end of the poem admits to the military ineffectiveness of a such a test \u2013 \u201cMy Gideon was left with no army no battle no glory at the Spring of Harod.\u201d But as an act of biblical interpretation, this is a hard-won, humanistic victory. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: <\/span>Yehuda Amichai, Tmol Shilshom cafe, Yo'el Moshe Salomon St 5, Jerusalem, by Yair Medina, 1994 \/ wikipedia <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55414,"alt":"","title":"jud7-amichai","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","width":911,"height":613,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-768x517.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":517,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","large-width":911,"large-height":613,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","1536x1536-width":911,"1536x1536-height":613,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","2048x2048-width":911,"2048x2048-height":613,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","post_full_size-width":911,"post_full_size-height":613,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-624x420.jpg","home_baner-width":624,"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":"Human Habits","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A surprising take on a familiar passage by a great poet","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55414,"alt":"","title":"jud7-amichai","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","width":911,"height":613,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-768x517.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":517,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","large-width":911,"large-height":613,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","1536x1536-width":911,"1536x1536-height":613,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","2048x2048-width":911,"2048x2048-height":613,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai.jpg","post_full_size-width":911,"post_full_size-height":613,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud7-amichai-624x420.jpg","home_baner-width":624,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"7","chapter_main_number":"218","date":"20260630","wall_id":"218"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"609","name":"Test","old_id":"1009"},{"term_id":"877","name":"Amichai","old_id":"1277"}]},{"order":12,"id":"55454","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"To Kill A Mocking King ","post_title":"To Kill A Mocking King","slug":"to-kill-a-mocking-king","old_id":"55454","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54149,"post_title":"Aviva Schilowitz","slug":"aviva-schilowitz","old_id":"54149","first_name":"Aviva ","last_name":"Schilowitz ","description":"Aviva Schilowitz is from Great Neck, New York. She is currently a freshman at Ramaz Upper School. ","short_description":"Aviva Schilowitz is from Great Neck, New York. She is currently a freshman at Ramaz Upper School. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":58004,"alt":"","title":"Aviva Schilowitz2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2.jpg","width":5374,"height":3583,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Aviva-Schilowitz2-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"219","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Some parenting lessons on violence from Gideon and Atticus Finch","post_main_content_content":"

Judges 8:20-21 reports: \u201cAnd he commanded his oldest son Jether, \u2018Go kill them!\u2019 But the boy did not draw his sword, for he was timid, being still a boy. Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, \u2018Come, you slay us; for strength comes with manhood.\u2019 So Gideon went over and killed Zebah and Zalmunna\u2026 .\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After capturing Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian, Gideon does something unexpected. Rather than kill them, he instructs his son Jether to do it. Jether refuses and Gideon ultimately does it himself. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This calls to mind two similar parenting decisions in <\/span>To Kill A Mockingbird<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the first, Bob Ewell forces his daughter Mayella to accuse an innocent Tom Robinson of raping her to protect the reputation of Mayella and her family. This seems like unambiguously bad parenting. Mayella learns that lying to protect yourself is fine, even if it means ruining another person\u2019s life. There are hints in the book that, left to her own devices, Mayella <\/span>had potential and was better than her surroundings and upbringing. <\/span>\"Against the fence, in a line, were six chipped-enamel slop jars holding brilliant red geraniums, cared for as tenderly\u2026 People said they were Mayella Ewell's.\"<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

In contrast, Atticus Finch is faced with a similar but more ethically ambiguous scenario. Bob Ewell tries to kill Atticus\u2019s children, Scout and Jem but Boo Radley, the Finch\u2019s mysterious neighbor, defends the children. In the process, Bob ends up dead with his own knife in his side. Wanting to protect the reclusive Radley from the spectacle of a trial, the sheriff tells Atticus that he is going to conclude that Bob fell on his own knife. Atticus is troubled by the message this will send to his children, who are smart enough to know that this may not be true. However, at the insistence of the sheriff, Atticus relents. In many ways, Atticus is acting similarly to Bob Ewell by expecting his children to keep silent to preserve a falsehood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, I think there is an important distinction between the actions of Bob Ewell and Atticus. Bob Ewell forced Mayella to go against her nature at the expense of an innocent third party. Atticus is asking Scout and Jem to go against their nature <\/span>to protect<\/span><\/i> an innocent third party. The situations are similar but the lessons are different.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While distinct in some respects from both Atticus and Bob Ewell, Gideon\u2019s lesson to Jether seems more similar to Atticus than Bob Ewell. Gideon is a famous warrior, whose main accomplishments in life were achieved by the sword. In asking Jether to kill Zebah and Zalmunna, against Jether\u2019s nature, Gideon was trying to make Jether a better person, at least in the way Gideon saw the world. Gideon was acting with Jether\u2019s wellbeing in mind, and not out of self-interest.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Written by Aviva Schilowitz together with her father Eli Schilowitz<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: John T Takai \/ Shutterstock.com<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55455,"alt":"","title":"jud8-parenting","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting.jpg","width":7326,"height":4109,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-300x168.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":168,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-768x431.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-1024x574.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":574,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":862,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1149,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-1200x673.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":673,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-749x420.jpg","home_baner-width":749,"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":"To Kill A Mocking King","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Some parenting lessons on violence from Gideon and Atticus Finch","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55455,"alt":"","title":"jud8-parenting","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting.jpg","width":7326,"height":4109,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-300x168.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":168,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-768x431.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-1024x574.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":574,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":862,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1149,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-1200x673.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":673,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-parenting-749x420.jpg","home_baner-width":749,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"219","date":"20260701","wall_id":"219"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"428","name":"Parent","old_id":"828"},{"term_id":"463","name":"Truth","old_id":"863"},{"term_id":"625","name":"Lying","old_id":"1025"}]},{"order":13,"id":"55445","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"The Man Who Definitely, Maybe, Probably, Would Not Be King ","post_title":"The Man Who Definitely, Maybe, Probably, Would Not Be King","slug":"the-man-who-definitely-maybe-probably-would-not-be-king","old_id":"55445","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":55294,"post_title":"Sarah Gordon","slug":"sarah-gordon","old_id":"55294","first_name":"Sarah ","last_name":"Gordon ","description":"Sarah Gordon is the Director of Student Activities and Experiential Education at Ma\u2019ayanot Yeshiva High School, where she teaches Talmud and a course on Contemporary Israel. She holds dual MA degrees in Jewish Education and Modern Jewish History from Yeshiva University. She is currently pursuing an Ed.D through Azrieli Graduate School as a Wexner Fellow and Davidson Scholar. She lives with her husband in Washington Heights in NYC.","short_description":"Sarah Gordon is the Director of Student Activities and Experiential Education at Ma\u2019ayanot Yeshiva High School","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":55295,"alt":"","title":"sarah gordon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon.jpeg","width":640,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon.jpeg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":640,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon.jpeg","large-width":640,"large-height":640,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon.jpeg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":640,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon.jpeg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":640,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon.jpeg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/sarah-gordon-420x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"219","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But should he have been? He did name his son \u201cmy father is king\u201d","post_main_content_content":"

Following the defeat of the Midianites, the people of Israel turn to Gideon and ask him to become king. This request for a dynastic rule, \u201cyou, your son, and your grandson\u201d (Judges 8:22), appears to be a rejection of the current, rotating system of Judges, in favor of a stable ruling family.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Gideon is the ideal candidate for the job. He is a creative military tactician and war hero. His appeasement of the men of Ephraim show his diplomatic strengths, while his punishment of the people of Succoth and Penuel are very much the actions of a king, meting out royal justice to those who disobey his directives. He is also seen as a king by others, with Zebah and Zalmunna describing him and his brothers as resembling \u201csons of a king\u201d (8:18). Even his earlier doubts of his leadership abilities (see 6:15-17) parallel him to other reluctant leaders of great stature, such as Moses (Exodus 3-4) and Saul (1 Samuel 9:21).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, Gideon turns down the position, stating \u201cthe Lord alone shall rule over you\u201d (8:23). Possibly, Gideon\u2019s refusal reflects a belief that only the religious office of the High Priest should be a permanent institution, alluded to in the fashioning of the ephod, the garment worn by the High Priest (See \u201cWhen the Judges Judges: Exegetical Studies in the Book of Judges\u201d by Yisrael Rozenson, p. 126-131). Or, maybe Gideon thought it improper that the people were choosing a king based on military might.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Surprisingly, while Gideon turns down the official responsibilities of the position, he continues to enjoy the perks of kingship, taking many wives, and naming his son Abimelech, literally, \u201cmy father is king\u201d (8:30-31). Even his act of collecting gold for the ephod is reminiscent of the delaying tactic of Aaron at the golden calf, highlighting the disparity behind Gideon's verbal rejection of the position, but continued use of the role when beneficial to him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With Gideon\u2019s refusal to rule, the book of Judges takes a dark turn. The next group of Judges is a violent, bizarre group, and the book ends with a civil war. One wonders what the alternate ending would have been had Gideon stepped up to be the leader his people needed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Gideon asks bread of the men of Succoth, James Jacques Joseph Tissot, 1904<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55446,"alt":"","title":"jud8-sukkoth","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","width":531,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth-266x300.jpg","medium-width":266,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","medium_large-width":531,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","large-width":531,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","1536x1536-width":531,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","2048x2048-width":531,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","post_full_size-width":531,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth-372x420.jpg","home_baner-width":372,"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 Man Who Definitely, Maybe, Probably, Would Not Be King","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But should he have been? He did name his son \u201cmy father is king\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55446,"alt":"","title":"jud8-sukkoth","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","width":531,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth-266x300.jpg","medium-width":266,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","medium_large-width":531,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","large-width":531,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","1536x1536-width":531,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","2048x2048-width":531,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth.jpg","post_full_size-width":531,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud8-sukkoth-372x420.jpg","home_baner-width":372,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"219","date":"20260701","wall_id":"219"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"835","name":"King","old_id":"1235"}]},{"order":14,"id":"55563","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Yotam\u2019s Parable is a Cartoon, Not an Op-Ed ","post_title":"Yotam\u2019s Parable is a Cartoon, Not an Op-Ed","slug":"yotams-parable-is-a-cartoon-not-an-op-ed","old_id":"55563","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":52019,"post_title":"Chesky Kopel","slug":"chesky-kopel","old_id":"52019","first_name":"Chesky ","last_name":"Kopel ","description":"Chesky Kopel is antitrust lawyer, husband, and father living in Philadelphia.","short_description":"Chesky Kopel is antitrust lawyer, husband, and father living in Philadelphia.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":52046,"alt":"","title":"chesky kopel.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","width":191,"height":220,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","medium-width":191,"medium-height":220,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","medium_large-width":191,"medium_large-height":220,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","large-width":191,"large-height":220,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","1536x1536-width":191,"1536x1536-height":220,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","2048x2048-width":191,"2048x2048-height":220,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","post_full_size-width":191,"post_full_size-height":220,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/chesky-kopel.jpg.png","home_baner-width":191,"home_baner-height":220}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"220","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Yotam\u2019s parable is routinely invoked to compare almost any politician, of any ideology, to a worthless bramble, with the same lack of success","post_main_content_content":"

The upshot of Yotam\u2019s parable to the people of Shekhem appears to be this: All the good, sincere, talented people have declined to enter the realm of politics and to lead the people of Israel to a brighter future. Instead, we are left with the lowly bramble Avimelekh, a man with nothing to offer but his own conviction that he must have power, and his word that any alternative to his own leadership puts the people at grave risk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The assembled listeners, in thrall to Avimelekh, apparently don\u2019t follow Yotam\u2019s allegory. We know this from the way that Yotam must proceed to explain the allegory to them, identifying Avimelekh as the bramble. They still don\u2019t buy it. Yotam flees and is never (biblically) heard from again, while Avimelekh reigns as king for three years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yotam\u2019s parable was not well-designed to convert his opponents. Rather than give some sense of why Avimelekh is especially dangerous or of what alternatives the people have, Yotam simply sketches a caricature of his brother as the most worthless tree. This argumentative style is recognizable to us today as a cartoon or meme, shared among those who already agree, rather than as an op-ed that attempts to persuade. Accordingly, the people of Shekhem were not moved, and Yotam spoiled his opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The malleability of this cartoonish message is on full display in contemporary Israeli politics, as Yotam\u2019s parable is routinely invoked to compare almost any politician, of any ideology, to the bramble Avimelekh.<\/span> At least<\/span><\/a> two<\/span><\/a> Haaretz<\/span><\/i> authors have used it against the Netanyahu administration,<\/span> another<\/span><\/a> used it against the Labor Party leadership in 2009, and<\/span> another<\/span><\/a> used it against the Labor leadership in 2019. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 2006, peace activist Uri Avnery used the parable to<\/span> express his skepticism<\/span><\/a> about the incoming prime minister Ehud Olmert. And in 2005, in a passionate Knesset floor colloquy involving members of multiple parties, Rabbi Yitzchak Cohen of the Shas Party (most recently the Deputy Minister of Finance)<\/span> read Yotam\u2019s parable aloud and accused<\/span><\/a> the Ariel Sharon administration (then of the Kadima Party) of \u201ctaking shelter in the shade of the bramble.\u201d Presumably, no one\u2019s opponents were convinced.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After all, it didn\u2019t work the first time, either. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55565,"alt":"","title":"jud9-news","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","width":1280,"height":1102,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-300x258.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-768x661.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":661,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1024x882.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":882,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1102,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1102,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1200x1033.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1033,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-488x420.png","home_baner-width":488,"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":"Yotam\u2019s Parable is a Cartoon, Not an Op-Ed","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Yotam\u2019s parable is routinely invoked to compare almost any politician, of any ideology, to a worthless bramble, with the same lack of success","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55565,"alt":"","title":"jud9-news","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","width":1280,"height":1102,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-300x258.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-768x661.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":661,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1024x882.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":882,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1102,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1102,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-1200x1033.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1033,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-news-488x420.png","home_baner-width":488,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"9","chapter_main_number":"220","date":"20260702","wall_id":"220"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"704","name":"Parable","old_id":"1104"}]},{"order":15,"id":"55560","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Dr. Seuss\u2019s Torah On Leadership ","post_title":"Dr. Seuss\u2019s Torah On Leadership","slug":"dr-seusss-torah-on-leadership","old_id":"55560","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39525,"post_title":"Erica Brown","slug":"erica-brown","old_id":"39525","first_name":"Erica ","last_name":"Brown","description":"Dr. Erica Brown is associate professor at the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at The George Washington University and director of its Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership. She is the author of 12 books. Her forthcoming book is The Book of Esther: Power, Fate and Fragility in Exile (Maggid\/OU).","short_description":"Dr. Erica Brown is Director of the Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership at The George Washington University.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39526,"alt":"","title":"erica brown","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","width":154,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium-width":154,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","medium_large-width":154,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","large-width":154,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","1536x1536-width":154,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","2048x2048-width":154,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","post_full_size-width":154,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/erica-brown-e1536180373903.jpg","home_baner-width":154,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"220","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Bad leaders fills the vacuum when good leaders don\u2019t step up","post_main_content_content":"

In a striking and curious parable about leadership in Judges 9, a nominating committee of trees seeks a ruler. They go to three fine species: the olive, the fig and the vine. Each rejects leadership.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Once the trees went to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, \u201cReign over us.\u2019 But the olive tree replied, \u2018Have I, through whom God and men are honored, stopped yielding my rich oil, that I should go and wave about the trees? So the trees said to the fig tree, \u2018You come and reign over us.\u2019 But the fig tree replied...So the trees said to the vine, \u201cYou come and reign over us.\u201d But the vine replied...Then all the trees said to the thornbush, \u201cYou come and reign over us.\u201d And the thornbush said to the trees, \u201cIf you are acting honorably in anointing me king over you, come and take shelter in my shade, but if not, may fire issue from the thornbush and consume the cedars of Lebanon!\u201d (Judges 9:8-15)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It's clear that each tree believes it nobility and distinction lies in what it produces \u2013 a product of honor, sweetness or happiness, and that leadership is just \u201cto wave above the trees.\u201d To sway is to flip-flop, to go with the wind, to not take a position, to not move forward.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The nominating committee is ineffectual because they don\u2019t persuade individual candidates. They simply move to the next candidate. They eventually turn to a bramble that has no shade (but promises that it does!), no roots and no fruit. The bramble agrees on one condition. It must be appointed honorably and not just as a last ditch-effort to put someone in place. Otherwise, the bramble will do what brambles are good at: setting other trees on fire. Bad leadership destroys.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nogah Hareuveni in <\/span>Tree and Shrub in Our Biblical Heritage<\/span><\/em> makes the case that this bramble, the <\/span>atad<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> is not a rolling tumbleweed but a tree called the <\/span>Ziziphus Spinachristi<\/span><\/em>, brought to Israel by way of Africa. Although the tree offers much shade and height, it is known to be harmful to fruit trees because it chokes them from the roots. Leaders may look good, but they can destroy ecosystems beneath the surface.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The message of the parable couldn\u2019t be clearer. Bad leaders fills the vacuum when good leaders don\u2019t step up. Often we\u2019d rather have bad leaders than no leaders so that we have someone else to blame for our troubles and someone else to make our communal decisions. Giving up that autonomy, the parable teaches, has a steep price because when leadership gets really bad, good leaders are afraid to step in and take responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

[For a full treatment of this parable, see Erica Brown \u2018Where have All the Leaders Gone?\u201d in <\/span>Rav Shalom Banayikh<\/em> <\/span>(Ktav, 2012)]<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":55561,"alt":"","title":"jud9-seussian tree","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","width":609,"height":759,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","medium_large-width":609,"medium_large-height":759,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","large-width":609,"large-height":759,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","1536x1536-width":609,"1536x1536-height":759,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","2048x2048-width":609,"2048x2048-height":759,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","post_full_size-width":609,"post_full_size-height":759,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree-337x420.jpg","home_baner-width":337,"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":"Dr. Seuss\u2019s Torah On Leadership","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Bad leaders fills the vacuum when good leaders don\u2019t step up","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":55561,"alt":"","title":"jud9-seussian tree","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","width":609,"height":759,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","medium_large-width":609,"medium_large-height":759,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","large-width":609,"large-height":759,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","1536x1536-width":609,"1536x1536-height":759,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","2048x2048-width":609,"2048x2048-height":759,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree.jpg","post_full_size-width":609,"post_full_size-height":759,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud9-seussian-tree-337x420.jpg","home_baner-width":337,"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":"Prophets","book":"Judges","chapter":"9","chapter_main_number":"220","date":"20260702","wall_id":"220"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"704","name":"Parable","old_id":"1104"}]}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/55198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}