{"id":56575,"date":"2018-07-09T17:42:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:42:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1047\/"},"modified":"2022-12-29T23:18:32","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T21:18:32","slug":"wall-1047","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1047\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20221225-to-20221231"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1047","date_from":"20221225","date_to":"20221231","book":"I Samuel","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"85352","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"ParashArt: Vayigash ","post_title":"ParashArt: Vayigash","slug":"parashart-vayigash","old_id":"85352","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":81886,"post_title":"Emily Shapiro","slug":"emily-shapiro","old_id":"81886","first_name":"Emily ","last_name":"Shapiro ","description":"Emily Shapiro is an educational consultant for Jewish schools in Milan and Copenhagen through the organization \"Educating for Impact.\" She also runs a local Bat Mitzvah program and Parsha Art program in her hometown of Be'er Sheva, where she lives with her husband and four children. 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","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"46","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What is it about the experience of exile and slavery in Egypt that is so central to the fashioning of our national identity?","post_main_content_content":"

Without much fanfare, God offers his last words of the first book of the Torah, and with them, begins to unlock one of the most puzzling promises made to the forefathers. He speaks to Jacob in a vision of the night, and we are reminded of the first night vision of Jacob's grandfather, Abraham, in chapter 15. Abraham receives a promise as strange as the visions surrounding it, of a future in which his children are enslaved and oppressed, and we are left wondering- what for? Why is this suffering and exile the prerequisite for the inheritance of the land about which Abraham questions God at the beginning of that chapter?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Jacob's vision, God begins to reveal the mystery. \"Do not fear descending to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.\" The transformation the Jewish people needs to undergo from a tribe to a nation apparently can only take place in exile, just as the first stage of the birth of the Jewish tribe came about as a result of Abraham's exile from his home. We need the experience of the 'smelting pot' of Egypt to form our national DNA. What is it about that experience that is so central to the fashioning of our national identity?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the text holds another clue, but this one is far more opaque than the first. God promises that he will descend with Jacob, and that he will ultimately ascend with him as well. And what will happen in between? An enigmatic phrase that baffles the commentators. \"Joseph will place his hands on your eyes.\" \u00a0Do Joseph's actions and the conditions that he creates for his family in Egypt have something to do with the promise that exile holds for the Jewish people's development into a people? For the answer, we will have to wait for the full exposition of those actions in the coming 2 chapters.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Israel in Egypt (Edward Poynter, 1867) - 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Promise of \u201cGalut\u201d (Exile)","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What is it about the experience of exile and slavery in Egypt that is so central to the fashioning of our national identity?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50724,"alt":"","title":"dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt.jpg","width":1920,"height":805,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt-300x126.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":126,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt-768x322.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":322,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt-1024x429.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":429,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":644,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":805,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt-1200x503.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":503,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt16-Edward_Poynter_-_Israel_in_Egypt-1002x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1002,"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":"46","chapter_main_number":"46","date":"20251102","wall_id":"46"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"432","name":"Exile","old_id":"832"},{"term_id":"490","name":"Jacob","old_id":"890"},{"term_id":"523","name":"Joseph","old_id":"923"}]},{"order":4,"id":"40231","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Joseph: 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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":"47","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The Torah passionately prohibits the Israelites from doing to one another what Joseph does to the Egyptian people","post_main_content_content":"

Sometimes the line between heroism and cruelty can be difficult to discern. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Faced with severe famine, Joseph brings the Egyptians back from the brink of starvation, and, at the same time, enslaves them. First, Joseph takes possession of the Egyptian\u2019s fields; then he takes a fifth of everything they own for Pharaoh (47:25); finally, he makes them slaves (<\/span>avadim<\/span><\/em>). In so doing, he runs afoul of the Torah's vision of how an ideal society should function. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

How does Joseph understand his own behavior? Earlier, Joseph had told his brothers that \u201cit was to save life (<\/span>la-mihyah<\/span><\/em>) that God sent me ahead\u201d (45:5). When the Egyptians thank Joseph, they use strikingly reminiscent language: \u201cYou have saved our lives (<\/span>hehiyitanu<\/span><\/em>)!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But how does the Torah view Joseph\u2019s enslavement of the Egyptians? Commenting on Joseph\u2019s decision to remove the Egyptian populace from their homes (47:21), Rashbam compares Joseph\u2019s actions to the Assyrian King Sennacherib\u2019s (2 Kings 18:32). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is Rashbam subtly condemning condemning Joseph\u2019s actions? Or is he merely explaining (one aspect) of what Joseph did by comparing his actions to those of another biblical figure? It is difficult to know.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And yet I wonder. The ironic turns in the text are intense and powerful and thus require explanation: Brought to Egypt as a slave, Joseph now becomes Egypt\u2019s enslaver. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And soon enough, a new Pharaoh rises and, in the words of Jon Levenson, \u201cthe House of Israel [finds] themselves once again on the wrong end of the enslavement process.\u201d Joseph displays remarkable administrative prowess, but he unleashes forces that eventually end up oppressing and degrading his own people. It is hard to imagine that the Torah makes no moral judgment at all on Joseph\u2019s setting this destructive process in motion. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

When the Torah imagines Israel\u2019s life in the land, it prohibits the permanent selling of land (Leviticus 25:23) and limits slavery to a limit of six years (Deuteronomy 15:12); permanent enslavement is unthinkable. In other words, the Torah passionately prohibits the Israelites from doing to one another what Joseph does to the Egyptian people as a whole. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is something to be said for administrative aptitude, but it is sobering to realize that it can be coupled with profound short-sightedness. It is also a great virtue to behave honestly and honorably with our superiors. But the greatest test of character may lie elsewhere\u2014in the empathy we display towards those who stand powerless before us. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":40272,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_238068115","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115.jpg","width":3000,"height":2385,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115-300x239.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":239,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115-768x611.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":611,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115-1024x814.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":814,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1221,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1628,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115-1200x954.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":954,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115-528x420.jpg","home_baner-width":528,"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":"Joseph: Saviour and Slaver","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The Torah passionately prohibits the Israelites from doing to one another what Joseph does to the Egyptian 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Fine-Grained Phenomenology Of Political Power ","post_title":"The Fine-Grained Phenomenology Of Political Power","slug":"the-fine-grained-phenomenology-of-political-power","old_id":"56661","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56443,"post_title":"Moshe Halbertal","slug":"moshe-halbertal","old_id":"56443","first_name":"Moshe ","last_name":"Halbertal ","description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56444,"alt":"","title":"Moshe-Halbertal","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"233","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Insights into the dynamics of power contested, gained, abused, and lost","post_main_content_content":"

The prestige and authority of the Bible in general and the Book of Samuel in particular have inspired numerous readers, past and present, to seek the origins of modern Western political ideas, including republicanism and egalitarianism, in the ancient biblical tradition. We have not joined this worthwhile search for precursors of modern moral ideas in the political culture of an ancient kingdom. We have chosen instead to concentrate on the fine-grained phenomenology of political power so astutely elaborated by our anonymous author. What makes the book so alive to the touch even today are not its normative teachings, if any, but rather its analysis of political power, an analysis that we believe to apply not only here and now but whenever and wherever structures of power exist.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Such a rich and subtle grasp of politics finds few antecedents in the literature of the ancient Near East or in biblical literature prior to the Book of Samuel. Unlike other dimensions of biblical religion, the book\u2019s relentlessly observant and critical gaze into the dynamics of power was neither an elaboration on, nor a repudiation of, themes and concerns present in the myths and narrative of Israel\u2019s neighbors. In the Book of Samuel we hear a fresh and original voice. It is not merely the earliest extant document of its kind, but arguably the earliest ever written, and one that exhibits a startling maturity of insight. When first encountering its prescient grasp of political reality, one immediately realizes that the stories the text graphically recounts are anything but tentative steps in an inchoate thought process awaiting a more sophisticated elaboration and refinement. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rather, the book\u2019s insights into the dynamics of power contested, gained, abused, and lost possess that rare clarity, completeness, and depth that can probably be achieved only at a moment of origin, that is, only when a new reality bursts forth in a way that cannot be repeated. Even today, the book rivets its readers with an overwhelming sense of revelation. It conveys something utterly new and unprecedented. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpts from The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp.2-3.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Re-printed with permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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If Judges was all about chaos, 1 Samuel is all about a return to normalcy. The book begins in the time period of Eli the high priest, who was also a judge. Eli was blind to the corrupt actions of his sons (sound familiar?). The era of judges is not over yet, but the pendulum is about to swing back. That pendulum manifests in a young woman named Hannah. Every year, Hannah and her husband and her co-wife go up to the Mishkan to bring sacrifices. Hannah is barren but is the favored wife (sound familiar?). Her husband tries to calm Hannah by professing his love for her, but she really wants a child (sound familiar?).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So she goes to the Mishkan and prays with all her heart for a child. Eli sees her moving her lips and thinks she is a drunkard. She tells him that she was simply praying for a child and if she gets a child, she will give him over to God (sound familiar?) by bringing him to the Mishkan to serve God. If this story sounds a little familiar, that is intentional.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the background, we have the story of Eli and his corrupt children. That is the Judges thread. In the middle, there is one piece of the story that overlaps, that is Hannah\u2019s promise to dedicate her unborn child to God. This dedication has hints of Samson as a <\/span>nazir<\/span><\/em>, but also Jephthah\u2019s promise to dedicate the first thing that comes through his door. Unlike Jephthah, Hannah is much more careful with her words and dedicates her son to the service of God. This dedication also matches Abraham. But Hannah does not sacrifice her child.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the foreground we have a story that is a throwback to Genesis. The story of Hannah sounds very much like the stories of the foremothers: Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel: barren women who want nothing more than to have a child. Hannah\u2019s story is very close to Rachel\u2019s story of being the barren, yet most loved, of multiple wives. Hannah is not only connected to the foremothers; she is also connected to the forefathers. The Talmud in Berachot explains that the forefathers originated the idea of prayer. Abraham taught us <\/span>shacharit<\/span><\/em>, the morning prayer, Isaac <\/span>minchah<\/span><\/em>, the afternoon service, and Jacob, <\/span>ma\u2019ariv<\/span><\/em>, the evening prayer. Each one had a verse that could be interpreted as a time of prayer. The forefathers may have taught us <\/span>when<\/em> <\/span>to pray. But it is Hannah, however, who taught us <\/span>how<\/em> <\/span>to pray. Hannah is the paradigm of <\/span>kavanah<\/em> <\/span>(intent) during prayer. This story mimics Genesis to suggest that the book of Samuel is a new beginning for the 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His latest book, co-authored with Stephen Holmes, The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel was published by Princeton University Press in 2017. Halbertal was the recipient of the Michael Bruno Memorial Award of the Rothschild Foundation and the Goldstein-Goren Book Award for the best book in Jewish thought in the years 1997 to 2000. In 2010, Halbertal was named a member of Israel\u2019s Academy for the Sciences and the Humanities.","short_description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56444,"alt":"","title":"Moshe-Halbertal","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"235","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"For this, a worldly king is more important than a transcendent God","post_main_content_content":"

In the Samuel narrative, both the shift away from the political theology of the Book of Judges and the initial appearance of monarchy in Israel are presented as events occurring in human history. They do not belong to the mythic past. The biblical king, enthroned before our eyes, is a thoroughly human being, not a God. He is not a pillar of the cosmic order. He plays a negligible and wholly dispensable role in religious ritual, does not convey divine commands to his people, does not maintain the order of nature, and is not the prime lawgiver.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Admittedly, mythical conceptions of monarchy are not entirely absent from the biblical material. The royal hymns in the Book of Psalms (chapters 2, 45 and 110), for example, offer striking examples of a political theology very similar to that of other communities in the ancient Near East. Yet the Book of Samuel reflects a radically different conception. For one thing, monarchy is described as emerging rather late in the history of Israel. It arose under emergency conditions, from the worldly needs of a rickety confederation of tribes that, at this particular moment, were seeking protection from the better-armed and better-trained Philistines \u2013 a new and threatening enemy nation that had dealt them one defeat after another. To the Israelites, pressed by an aggressive and militarily superior adversary, God the king seemed absent and remote. The people therefore yearned for a human sovereign able to muster and command a visible standing army, a worldly sovereign who could marshal and coerce them into a coordinated military response to a lethally powerful external foe. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

They demanded that Samuel, the last of the judges, establish a dynastic monarchy to ensure continuity of sovereignty over all Israel through the bloodline of a king. The monarchy for which they were pleading would thus answer the people\u2019s two most pressing and existential political concerns: the need for unity and the need for continuity. In this telling of the worldly founding of biblical kingship, the people, united by consanguinity and their covenant with God, preceded the monarchy and caused it to be instituted. The kingship was not a mythic force, therefore, but rather an institution that was voluntarily embraced for strategic reasons in historical time. Its emergence reflected the people\u2019s incapacity or refusal to keep faith with the radical theological notion of God\u2019s exclusive kingship when faced with the threat of extinction or enslavement by a mighty foreign army.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Excerpts from The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp 7-8. Re-printed with permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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She is a graduate of Nishmat's Keren Ariel Yoetzet Halacha training program, as well as the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies at Yeshiva University. \r\n","short_description":"Rachel Weber Leshaw serves as the Director of Digital Content for Deracheha: womenandmitzvot.org and teaches Gemara and Halacha in Jerusalem. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56280,"alt":"","title":"rachel leshaw","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1.jpg","width":1670,"height":1429,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1-300x257.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":257,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1-768x657.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":657,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1-1024x876.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":876,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1314,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1670,"2048x2048-height":1429,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1-1200x1027.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1027,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/rachel-leshaw-1-491x420.jpg","home_baner-width":491,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"233","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How a spontaneous, anguished outpouring of the heart became a role model for the ages","post_main_content_content":"

The story of Hannah is one of the most heart-wrenching in the Bible. Misunderstood by her husband, tortured by her sister-wife, she leaves a festive family meal to spill out her heart to God in the Tabernacle, begging for the child she has been desiring for so long. The heartfelt nature of her prayer is expressed in the unique phrasing \u201c<\/span>v\u2019chana hi medaberet al liba<\/span><\/em>\u201d, \u201cAnd Hannah was speaking in her heart\u201d, or, more literally of or over her heart. The Talmud in Berachot 31b understands this phrase to be specifically relevant to her request, and explains that she spoke \u201cconcerning matters of the heart,\u201d asking God, \u00a0\u201cWhy have you given me breasts over my heart and no child to nurse?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hannah\u2019s prayer is spontaneous, anguished, and deeply feminine. And yet, Rav Himnuna in the Talmud (Brachot 31a) derives many of the laws of the daily <\/span>amida<\/span><\/em>, the centerpiece of ritualized daily prayer, from Hannah, including the requirement to focus on the words of the prayer, and to shape the words with one\u2019s lips without raising one\u2019s voice. (For more on this topic, see<\/span> www.deracheha.org\/prayer-1-obligation\/<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hannah and her prayer are a surprising choice. Why would she, of all people, be the rabbinic role model for ritualized prayer? And how could her spontaneous pleas be the model for an unchanging script recited at regular times each day?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My question about choosing Hannah stems from a mistaken assumption that ritualized prayer is inherently male, an easy mistake to make for anyone who has grown up in the Orthodox world. When boys are encouraged to attend prayer services and girls are not, and when young women are discouraged by synagogues inhospitable to female prayer, it\u2019s a short jump to assuming that prayer exists exclusively in the male realm. But it\u2019s clear that the rabbis of the Talmud didn\u2019t think that way. In fact they explicitly teach in Berachot 20a \u201c[Women] are obligated in prayer, for it [prayer] is seeking mercy.\u201d Every person, no matter what gender, needs divine mercy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thinking about mercy, and outside of the male-box, takes us one step further. Hannah is the perfect example of someone who recognizes that her problems can be solved only with God\u2019s help, and so earnestly turns to Him in prayer for mercy. That\u2019s not ideal feminine behavior, that\u2019s ideal human behavior! <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yes, there are set texts and times for prayer, but that is only a starting point. Daily prayer should be treated not just as an obligation but as an opportunity to approach God in a request for whatever we need most. Our goal should be to take inspiration from Hannah\u2019s prayer, and incorporate those personal, deeply felt desires and emotions into our daily conversations with God. We appeal to God\u2019s mercy, and hope to be as worthy of it as Hannah was.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56724,"alt":"","title":"isam1-hands","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-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":"Prayer from the (Female) Heart","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How a spontaneous, anguished outpouring of the heart became a role model for the ages","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56724,"alt":"","title":"isam1-hands","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hands-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"I Samuel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"233","date":"20260721","wall_id":"233"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"},{"term_id":"662","name":"Halacha","old_id":"1062"},{"term_id":"882","name":"Hannah","old_id":"1282"}]},{"order":9,"id":"56658","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"\u201cAnd Her Voice Was Not Heard\u201d ","post_title":"\u201cAnd Her Voice Was Not Heard\u201d","slug":"and-her-voice-was-not-heard","old_id":"56658","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56286,"post_title":"Gillian Steinberg","slug":"gillian-steinberg","old_id":"56286","first_name":"Gillian ","last_name":"Steinberg ","description":"Gillian Steinberg teaches English at SAR High School and is the author of two books, \"Philip Larkin and His Audiences\" and \"Thomas Hardy: The Poems,\" both from Palgrave Macmillan, as well as numerous articles on poetry, short fiction, and pedagogy. She lives in Riverdale, the Bronx with her husband and two sons.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Gillian Steinberg teaches English at SAR High School and is the author of two books, \"Philip Larkin and His Audiences\" and \"Thomas Hardy: The Poems\"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56287,"alt":"","title":"gillian steinberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","width":250,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","medium_large-width":250,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","large-width":250,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":250,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":250,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":250,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/gillian-steinberg.jpg","home_baner-width":250,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"233","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Every woman has been Hannah \/ I have been Eli too.","post_main_content_content":"

Every woman has been Hannah:<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>broken, misunderstood,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Assaulted<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>with presumptions.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>\u201cOnly two children? Time to grow that family!\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>\u201cWorking so much? Who\u2019s at home?\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>\u201cTwo boys? You must be trying for a girl.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Women\u2019s bodies remain open<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>to interpretation,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>the canvas on which dreams<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>of Jewish continuity<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>splash in bold brushstrokes:<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>a womb bearing<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>the weight<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>of ancestors\u2019 struggles,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>neighbors\u2019 hopes,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>strangers\u2019 expectations. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We hear echoes in our ears and later,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>at night, in our brains \u2013 <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>older women in the checkout line,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>haughty men in the office,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>kibitzers<\/span><\/em> at shul \u2013<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>whispering, lecturing, looking<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>subtly downward,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>not subtly enough. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

To me, the voices say, \u201conly two children?\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To others, they say, \u201conly one?\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Or \u201cnone? What are you waiting for?\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>\u201cKeep trying,\u201d they say, and<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>\u201ctime is of the essence.\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And, they imply,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>we\u2019re all counting<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>on you. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The voices know what we\u2019re good for.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Who we should be. What<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>women want,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>or should want.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>They know what fills<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and fulfills us best.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>They know our stories<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>with only a glance. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hannah, that<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Drunk.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Judged always. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But let\u2019s be honest.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I have been Eli<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>too.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Second-guessing other women,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Presuming.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Glancing sidelong<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>at their bodies.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Wondering,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>whispering. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

I cannot stop myself<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>being Hannah<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>at times;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Weeping,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Shattered.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I can ignore or rebut<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>but not prevent. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

But I need not be<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Condescending,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Castigating<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Eli. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Instead, I can declare \u2013<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and mean it \u2013<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>each body is beautiful.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Each woman chooses.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Each family differs.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I do not know her story.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I cannot presume. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

When I remember<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>myself as Hannah,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>the wronged,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I forget that I am also<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Often<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Eli. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

I want to be neither,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>not the judged<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>nor the judge.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>But, if I must choose,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I choose Hannah.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Let others guess and gossip;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>not me. Remember, I tell myself,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>not me. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

May I never look<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>at a woman,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>my world of sisters,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and think:<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>drunk. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

No.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Your pain is your own.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>I will not presume.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56659,"alt":"","title":"isam1-hannah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/gif","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","width":708,"height":450,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-150x150.gif","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-300x191.gif","medium-width":300,"medium-height":191,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","medium_large-width":708,"medium_large-height":450,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","large-width":708,"large-height":450,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","1536x1536-width":708,"1536x1536-height":450,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","2048x2048-width":708,"2048x2048-height":450,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","post_full_size-width":708,"post_full_size-height":450,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-661x420.gif","home_baner-width":661,"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 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"\u201cAnd Her Voice Was Not Heard\u201d","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Every woman has been Hannah \/ I have been Eli too.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56659,"alt":"","title":"isam1-hannah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/gif","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","width":708,"height":450,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-150x150.gif","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-300x191.gif","medium-width":300,"medium-height":191,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","medium_large-width":708,"medium_large-height":450,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","large-width":708,"large-height":450,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","1536x1536-width":708,"1536x1536-height":450,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","2048x2048-width":708,"2048x2048-height":450,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah.gif","post_full_size-width":708,"post_full_size-height":450,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-hannah-661x420.gif","home_baner-width":661,"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":"I Samuel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"233","date":"20260721","wall_id":"233"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"},{"term_id":"833","name":"Voice","old_id":"1233"},{"term_id":"882","name":"Hannah","old_id":"1282"}]},{"order":10,"id":"56735","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"A Model For Productive Discourse ","post_title":"A Model For Productive Discourse","slug":"a-model-for-productive-discourse","old_id":"56735","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"233","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Speaking bravely from the heart results in listening compassionately with the heart","post_main_content_content":"

The book of Samuel opens with Hannah\u2019s heartbreaking but powerful prayer to God for a child that she can dedicate to the service of God. The narrative describes Hannah\u2019s method of prayer: \u201cHannah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved but her voice was not heard.\u201d We know that Hannah\u2019s manner of praying is now the norm for individualized prayer, rather than the out-loud and open manner of prayer that had been the practice until then.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Looking on, Eli, the Kohen Gadol, misinterprets what he sees and make a critical mistake. Because Hannah\u2019s prayer is out-of-the-box, Eli jumps to the conclusion that she must be drunk, and further, he casts his judgement directly to Hannah. Now imagine, being in the depths of despair and pouring your heart out only to be met by criticism and judgmentalism \u2013 like being kicked when you\u2019re down. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rav Bazak from the Virtual Beit Midrash (VBM) points to two most likely responses to such a situation: 1) respond in anger, lashing back at the insensitivity to a highly emotional and personal moment, or 2) being cowed by the criticism resulting in self-doubt and acquiescence to a societal expectation. But Hannah takes a different road altogether \u2013 a higher road that essentially turns the channel on this exchange. Hannah calmly, patiently and respectfully stands her ground and explains her case: \u201cNo, my Lord, I have not drunk wine. I am a woman of sorrowful spirit and out of the greatness of my grief have I been speaking.\u201d A simple, measured, even-tempered response.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What could have been either an ugly confrontation or a sad subjugation of Hannah\u2019s authenticity ended instead in a win-win because three important character traits prevailed. Eli, as is often too rare in someone who has rushed to judgement, takes a step back and really listens to Hannah\u2019s story. Hannah in turn suppresses any hint of righteous indignation and instead responds with measured discourse while standing her ground. And finally, Eli responds to Hannah with the openness required to allow for a change of mind and attitude.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This singular short interaction between two strong personalities heralded not just a paradigm shift in individualistic prayer but serves as a model for productive discourse that passes the test of time. Don\u2019t rush to judgement, take a deep breath before you respond with knee-jerk reactions, and be open to reasoned persuasion. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56736,"alt":"","title":"isam1-heart-listening","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","width":320,"height":320,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":320,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":320,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":320,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":320,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":320,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":320}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Model For Productive Discourse","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Speaking bravely from the heart results in listening compassionately with the heart","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56736,"alt":"","title":"isam1-heart-listening","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","width":320,"height":320,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":320,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":320,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":320,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":320,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":320,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-heart-listening.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":320}},"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":"I Samuel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"233","date":"20260721","wall_id":"233"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"},{"term_id":"525","name":"Communication","old_id":"925"},{"term_id":"882","name":"Hannah","old_id":"1282"}]},{"order":11,"id":"56750","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Unyearned For Blessings; Unuttered Prayers ","post_title":"Unyearned For Blessings; Unuttered Prayers","slug":"unyearned-for-blessings-unuttered-prayers","old_id":"56750","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56492,"post_title":"Mijal Bitton","slug":"mijal-bitton","old_id":"56492","first_name":"Mijal ","last_name":"Bitton ","description":"Dr. Mijal Bitton is a Fellow in Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Rosh Kehilla of the Downtown Minyan.","short_description":"Dr. Mijal Bitton is a Fellow in Residence at the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Rosh Kehilla of the Downtown Minyan.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56494,"alt":"","title":"mijal bitton","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1.jpg","width":479,"height":424,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1-300x266.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":266,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1.jpg","medium_large-width":479,"medium_large-height":424,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1.jpg","large-width":479,"large-height":424,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":479,"1536x1536-height":424,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":479,"2048x2048-height":424,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":479,"post_full_size-height":424,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/mijal-bitton-1-474x420.jpg","home_baner-width":474,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"233","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"If Hannah was grateful to God because she received a child she so desperately prayed for, what should my gratitude look like?","post_main_content_content":"

Hannah\u2019s words to the high priest Eli \u2013 <\/span>El ha\u2019naar haze hitpalalti<\/span> <\/em>vayiten li et sheelati asher shaalti meimo<\/em> <\/span>\u2013 <\/span>\u201cfor this child I have prayed and God has granted me what I asked of Him,\u201d <\/span>(verse 27) kept reverberating in my mind and lips in the hours and days following the birth of my son. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These words reflect Hannah\u2019s metamorphosis from a supplicant woman begging God for a child to a triumphant mother, a prophetess whose prayers of entreaty and gratitude end up shaping the contours of Jewish prayer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But it wasn\u2019t Hannah\u2019s battle over infertility that I identified with - I was and am acutely aware that I did not face her struggle. My challenges in the road to motherhood were different: my sorrow and anguish came not from yearning for a child but feeling guilty that I did not dream of one. Even throughout my pregnancy, I was immersed in feelings of uncertainty and fear, ambivalence over motherhood, and anxiety that a child would bind me in irrevocable and unwanted ways. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The moment my son was born, though, transformed me in ways I could not have predicted. The fears and anxieties did not dissipate but they became anchored in a deep existential certainty that my child was wanted, that my becoming a mother was something I chose and desired and would not want to give up. And while I know this is not the reality that all women have, as some continue to feel misaligned with motherhood, my experiences moved me in a deeply spiritual way. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

It was in the daze of processing the corporeal aftermath of childbirth and feeling overwhelmed by the emotional experience of loving my child that Hannah\u2019s words came to mind. If Hannah was grateful to God because she received a child she so desperately prayed for, what should my gratitude look like? I hadn\u2019t known to beg God for a child, I did not have the yearning to pray for one. And still, God blessed me by giving me a gift that I did not know I wanted. Hannah\u2019s words humbled me and expanded my sense of spiritual gratitude. I realized that my thankfulness to God for becoming a mother must include an acknowledgment of radical divine generosity: God's gift of blessings granted that were not yearned for, of prayers answered that were not uttered.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image by Gerd Altmann \/ pixabay<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56754,"alt":"","title":"isam1-prayer abstract","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"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":"Unyearned For Blessings; Unuttered Prayers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"If Hannah was grateful to God because she received a child she so desperately prayed for, what should my gratitude look like?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56754,"alt":"","title":"isam1-prayer abstract","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam1-prayer-abstract-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"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":"I Samuel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"233","date":"20260721","wall_id":"233"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"431","name":"Personal\/memoir","old_id":"831"},{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"},{"term_id":"470","name":"Thanks","old_id":"870"},{"term_id":"521","name":"Fertility","old_id":"921"},{"term_id":"882","name":"Hannah","old_id":"1282"}]},{"order":12,"id":"56820","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"The Prayers of Hannah ","post_title":"The Prayers Of Hannah","slug":"the-prayers-of-hannah","old_id":"56820","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"234","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An Amichaiian take on prayer and divine-human relations","post_main_content_content":"

The first section of 1 Samuel is preoccupied not with the prophet Samuel, rather with his mother, the prophetess Hannah. Hannah\u2019s movements and murmurings fill the page, as she cries and prays for a son, and then prays and gives thanks to God for granting her wish and giving her Samuel. Hannah is a round character who is anything but passive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the biblical commentary submerged in <\/span>\u201cOpen Closed Open\u201d<\/span><\/a>, the late Israeli poet, Yehuda Amichai, locates in this perpetual motion \u201cprogression in the prayer of Hannah. From crying out loud with an embittered soul\u2026to crying quietly; and from crying quietly to praying out loud, and from praying out loud to praying quietly \u2013 only her lips moving and she is drunk from the prayer in her body.\u201d Perhaps Amichai\u2019s most interesting comment on this evolution concerns 1 Samuel chapter 2, which he refers to as \u201ca final development: She sits and God prays to her, the prayer of Hannah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is an unusual reading, as the text plainly states that it was Hannah who prayed, not God. Apparently, Amichai is riffing off of the way that this text is remembered in Jewish tradition, as \u201cthe prayer of Hannah\u201d (<\/span>tefillat Hannah<\/span><\/i>). The undefined relationship between those two words \u2013 prayer and Hannah \u2013 allows Amichai to suggest that God prayed the prayer of Hannah, thereby expressing the Amichaiian idea that sometimes God prays to people rather than the other way around: \u201cBut when my father prayed, he would stand in his place, erect, motionless, and force God to sway like a reed and pray to him.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What might it mean to think of the Prayer of Hannah as a prayer God directs at Hannah? Theologically, it could express the idea that as a prophetess, the very words that came out Hannah\u2019s mouth in her prayer were in fact Divine. Even more poignantly, thinking about the Prayer of Hannah as God\u2019s prayer reveals how Hannah\u2019s supplication for a son who would go on to lead the Israelites was really a fulfillment of God\u2019s own desire. Indeed, when the verse states \u201cI rejoice in your deliverance\u201d (1 Samuel 2:1), it is genuinely unclear whether it is Hannah rejoicing in God\u2019s deliverance, or the other way around. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Wilhelm Wachtel, Hannah At Prayer<\/em>, before 1942 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56821,"alt":"","title":"isam2-hannah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","width":350,"height":462,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah-227x300.jpg","medium-width":227,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","medium_large-width":350,"medium_large-height":462,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","large-width":350,"large-height":462,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","1536x1536-width":350,"1536x1536-height":462,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","2048x2048-width":350,"2048x2048-height":462,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","post_full_size-width":350,"post_full_size-height":462,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah-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":"The Prayers Of Hannah","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An Amichaiian take on prayer and divine-human relations","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56821,"alt":"","title":"isam2-hannah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","width":350,"height":462,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah-227x300.jpg","medium-width":227,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","medium_large-width":350,"medium_large-height":462,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","large-width":350,"large-height":462,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","1536x1536-width":350,"1536x1536-height":462,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","2048x2048-width":350,"2048x2048-height":462,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah.jpg","post_full_size-width":350,"post_full_size-height":462,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-hannah-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,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"I Samuel","chapter":"2","chapter_main_number":"234","date":"20260722","wall_id":"234"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"437","name":"Prayer","old_id":"837"},{"term_id":"882","name":"Hannah","old_id":"1282"}]},{"order":13,"id":"56825","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Priestly Avarice ","post_title":"Priestly Avarice","slug":"priestly-avarice","old_id":"56825","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36277,"post_title":"Yedidya Sinclair","slug":"yedidya-sinclair","old_id":"36277","first_name":"Yedidya","last_name":"Sinclair","description":"Rabbi Yedidya Sinclair serves as Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon, the leading US Jewish environmental organization. From 2011-16 he was Vice President for Research and Senior Economist at Energiya Global, a Jerusalem-based solar energy company focused on the developing world and he continues to consult on renewable energy and climate change preparedness. In 2014 he published together with Hazon, a translation of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's great work on shmitta, the Sabbatical year, \"Introduction to Shabbat Ha'aretz.\" Yedidya holds a BA from Oxford University, an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and lives with his family in Jerusalem.","short_description":"Yedidya Sinclair is a Jerusalem-based rabbi and economist, and is Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36278,"alt":"","title":"yedidya sinclair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium_large-width":200,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","large-width":200,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","1536x1536-width":200,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","2048x2048-width":200,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","post_full_size-width":200,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","home_baner-width":200,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"234","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Outright perniciousness and (just) negligence persist in our day among leaders, religious and otherwise","post_main_content_content":"

The main story line of the book of I Samuel charts the people of Israel\u2019s journey from the anarchic political state of the Book of Judges where \u201cevery man did what was right in his eyes,\u201d to a centralized monarchy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But a subplot of the book traces the transition from the chaotic and corrupt religious reality at the end of Judges, exemplified by Micah\u2019s personal shrine at Dan that was hijacked by stronger political forces, towards a dedicated priesthood with higher standards of integrity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The rottenness of Israel\u2019s religious institutions was typified by the Hophni and Phineas, the sons of Eli, \u201cscoundrels\u201d who served as priests at Shiloh. Chapter 2 describes how Eli\u2019s sons abused their offices by stealing meat from people who brought sacrifices:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When anyone brought a sacrifice, the priest\u2019s boy would come along with a three-pronged fork while the meat was boiling, and he would thrust it into the cauldron, or the kettle, or the great pot, or the small cooking-pot; and whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take away on it. (I Samuel 2:13-14.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In addition to enriching themselves at the expense of worshippers, Eli\u2019s sons exploited their positions to \u201clie with the women who performed tasks at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,\u201d (I Samuel 2: 22)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This sounds like a clear case of powerful men using their standing in a hierarchy to force themselves sexually on female subordinates. God is outraged at these sins and announces that as a consequences Eli and his descendants will be cut off forever from religious leadership in Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Not all the rabbis of the Talmud however, agreed that Eli\u2019s sons were guilty of sexual sin with women in the sanctuary. Arguing against the plain meaning of the biblical verse, Rav said that Eli\u2019s sons did not sleep with the women. (Shabbat 55b) The Talmud explains that he read the word <\/span>yishkavun<\/span><\/em>, not as \u201cslept with\u201d but as \u201cdelayed\":<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cSince the sons of Eli delayed sacrificing the bird-offerings (of women who had given birth, a pair of doves brought as part of the purification process,) and this delay caused the women not to go to their husbands, the verse ascribes to Hophni and Phineas liability as if they had lain with them\u201d (Shabbat 55b).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to Rav, Eli\u2019s sons were guilty of negligence and carelessness in carrying out their priestly duties, which caused suffering to women who were returning to their husbands after giving birth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today, we must affirm the plain meaning of the verse, We are all too aware of the perniciousness of leaders, including shamefully, religious leaders, sexually exploiting people they work with.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But let us also understand Rav. He is pointing to a different problem: the mundane carelessness, negligence and entitlement of those who work in bureaucracies, including, tragically religious bureaucracies, that causes everyday pain, loss and suffering to those whom they are meant to serve. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56830,"alt":"","title":"isam2-sons-of-eli","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","width":356,"height":264,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli-300x222.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":222,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","medium_large-width":356,"medium_large-height":264,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","large-width":356,"large-height":264,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","1536x1536-width":356,"1536x1536-height":264,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","2048x2048-width":356,"2048x2048-height":264,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","post_full_size-width":356,"post_full_size-height":264,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","home_baner-width":356,"home_baner-height":264}},"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":"Priestly Avarice","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Outright perniciousness and (just) negligence persist in our day among leaders, religious and otherwise","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56830,"alt":"","title":"isam2-sons-of-eli","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","width":356,"height":264,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli-300x222.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":222,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","medium_large-width":356,"medium_large-height":264,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","large-width":356,"large-height":264,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","1536x1536-width":356,"1536x1536-height":264,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","2048x2048-width":356,"2048x2048-height":264,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","post_full_size-width":356,"post_full_size-height":264,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam2-sons-of-eli.jpg","home_baner-width":356,"home_baner-height":264}},"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":"I Samuel","chapter":"2","chapter_main_number":"234","date":"20260722","wall_id":"234"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"457","name":"Rape","old_id":"857"},{"term_id":"631","name":"Priests","old_id":"1031"},{"term_id":"661","name":"Oppression","old_id":"1061"},{"term_id":"884","name":"Corruption","old_id":"1284"}]},{"order":14,"id":"56622","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Listening to the Prophets with Rabbi Abby Sosland- I Samuel 3 ","post_title":"Listening to the Prophets with Rabbi Abby Sosland- I Samuel 3","slug":"listening-to-the-prophets-with-rabbi-abby-sosland-i-samuel-3","old_id":"56622","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56624,"post_title":"Abby Sosland","slug":"abby-sosland","old_id":"56624","first_name":"Abby ","last_name":"Sosland","description":"Rabbi Abby Sosland is a spiritual advisor, writer, and educator, based at The Leffell School in Westchester, New York. 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His teaching and research focus on \u2018all things ancient Israel\u2019 \u2013 primarily language and literature, though also history and archaeology. His secondary interests include post-biblical Judaism, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the medieval Hebrew manuscript tradition. Rendsburg\u2019s most recent book is How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), with particular attention to the use of language to create literature.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Gary Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56491,"alt":"","title":"Gary_A_Rendsburg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","width":220,"height":314,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg-210x300.jpg","medium-width":210,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","medium_large-width":220,"medium_large-height":314,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","large-width":220,"large-height":314,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","1536x1536-width":220,"1536x1536-height":314,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","2048x2048-width":220,"2048x2048-height":314,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","post_full_size-width":220,"post_full_size-height":314,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Gary_A_Rendsburg.jpg","home_baner-width":220,"home_baner-height":314}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"235","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

This chapter belongs to the genre known as the \u201cCall Narrative,\u201d which appears elsewhere in the Bible (in whole or in part) with Moses, Gideon, Saul, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Second Isaiah. \u00a0Most of these individuals, as one can see from this list, including Samuel, are called to prophecy \u2013 though in the cases of Gideon and Saul the call is to leadership.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In all instances of the Call Narrative, either the individual does not understand that he is receiving the divine word and\/or he objects to the call to leadership (prophetic or otherwise) \u2013 most famously, consider the story of Moses at the Burning Bush scene. \u00a0God continues with reassurance and promises of assistance, however, and the commission is realized and implemented.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A few linguistic features are noteworthy here. \u00a0First, v. 1 includes the only usage of the word <\/span>\u1e25azon<\/span><\/i> \u2018vision\u2019 (in the sense of \u2018prophetic vision\u2019) in the entire long narrative of Genesis through Kings. \u00a0Typically the noun is used in prophetic texts, including in superscriptions (Isaiah 1:1, Obadiah 1, Nahum 1:1).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Second, v. 4 includes the only instance of the formula <\/span>wayyiqra\u02be yhwh \u02beel<\/span><\/i>, lit. \u201cand the LORD called to,\u201d in the entire Bible. \u00a0Similar wordings appear in Genesis 3:9, Exodus 19:20, Leviticus 1:1, but only here at 1 Samuel 3:4 does this precise wording occur. \u00a0Presumably, the ancient reader would have apprehended the special nature of the phrase.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Three times God calls out to Samuel (vv. 4, 6, 8), but each time the young attendant in the Tabernacle believes that Eli is calling to him. \u00a0Finally, God calls out to Samuel a fourth time (v. 10), this time addressing him with the invocation \u201cSamuel, Samuel.\u201d The reader, and now Samuel, understands the import of the crucial expression, for the repeated name occurs only very rarely in biblical narrative: \u00a0\u201cAbraham, Abraham,\u201d during the Aqedah (Genesis 22:11); \u201cJacob, Jacob,\u201d before he travels to Egypt (Genesis 46:2); \u201cMoses, Moses,\u201d at the burning bush scene (Exodus 3:4); and now with Samuel. All of these occur at critical moments in the lives of the individuals thus addressed, including here, where Samuel first receives the divine call.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The chapter begins with the ominous comment, \u201cAnd the word of the LORD was rare in those days; vision was not widespread\u201d (v. 1). The chapter ends with the optimistic statement that God\u2019s revelations to Samuel were ongoing (v. 21), which is to say: \u00a0the prophecy conveyed by God to Samuel in 3:11\u201314 (related to the house of Eli) was not a singular event, but rather just the first of many such prophecies to be received by Samuel.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56940,"alt":"","title":"Isam3-BoySamuel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","width":258,"height":164,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","medium-width":258,"medium-height":164,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","medium_large-width":258,"medium_large-height":164,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","large-width":258,"large-height":164,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","1536x1536-width":258,"1536x1536-height":164,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","2048x2048-width":258,"2048x2048-height":164,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","post_full_size-width":258,"post_full_size-height":164,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","home_baner-width":258,"home_baner-height":164}},"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":"Samuel Receives The Call","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The first of many prophetic communications","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56940,"alt":"","title":"Isam3-BoySamuel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","width":258,"height":164,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","medium-width":258,"medium-height":164,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","medium_large-width":258,"medium_large-height":164,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","large-width":258,"large-height":164,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","1536x1536-width":258,"1536x1536-height":164,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","2048x2048-width":258,"2048x2048-height":164,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","post_full_size-width":258,"post_full_size-height":164,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Isam3-BoySamuel.jpeg","home_baner-width":258,"home_baner-height":164}},"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":"I Samuel","chapter":"3","chapter_main_number":"235","date":"20260723","wall_id":"235"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"},{"term_id":"839","name":"Samuel","old_id":"1239"}]},{"order":16,"id":"56945","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"Personal Love And Loyalties Versus A Higher Calling ","post_title":"Personal Love And Loyalties Versus A Higher Calling","slug":"personal-love-and-loyalties-versus-a-higher-calling","old_id":"56945","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":"235","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A foreshadowing of a great tragedy","post_main_content_content":"

From its first appearance on human lips in the Hebrew Bible, the word \u201chineni\u201d meant something more than \u201chere I am\u201d. Abraham said it three times when God ordered him to sacrifice his son \u2013 to God, to Isaac himself, and to the angel. Both Jacob and Esau said it to their father when he prepared to pass on Abraham\u2019s blessing. Jacob said it later to God in a moment of revelation, and Joseph said it to Jacob himself when the latter sent him to look for his brothers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In all these cases, the word expressed the speaker\u2019s complete presence in a moment of great importance, and this weight of dedication and solemnity carries through into Samuel\u2019s first conversation with God. Samuel, however, doesn\u2019t offer his \u201chineni\u201d to God. Mistaking God\u2019s call for summons from the man who raised him, Samuel offers his \u201chineni\u201d not once, but three times, to Eli instead.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Samuel\u2019s \u201chineni\u201d foreshadows the great tragedy of his life, and the personal cost he will have to pay for his calling. For the man to whom Samuel says \u201chineni\u201d is the very man whose horrible fate God is about to reveal. It is to this man, who raised Samuel and who guides him through this first prophetic experience, that Samuel will have to bring such dreadful news.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Samuel, it should be noted, does not offer God his \u201dhineni\u201d. He submits to Him instead with the respectful, yet somehow less potent, \u201cSpeak, for Your servant is listening.\u201d These words are apt: Samuel will indeed go on serving God all his life. But his calling does not diminish his care for Eli. He lies awake all night, afraid of sharing the vision with the man who called him \u201cson\u201d. And come morning, when Eli summons him, Samuel offers him, once again, his unconditional \u201chineni\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Samuel\u2019s calling will clash with his personal loyalties again years later, when God will instruct him to bring about king Saul\u2019s fall. Once again, Samuel will serve God despite his personal feelings, and carry out God\u2019s mission after yet another sleepless night. He will mourn Saul\u2019s fate until his own dying day, but even death won\u2019t release him from the pain of dual loyalties; when Saul will ask the witch of Endor to summon Samuel\u2019s spirit, Samuel will be forced to speak God\u2019s hurtful truths again. He will thus end his prophetic career as he had started it: telling a man he deeply cared for that his life is forfeit, and his house is doomed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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