{"id":60110,"date":"2018-07-09T17:43:47","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1054\/"},"modified":"2023-02-16T23:00:18","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T21:00:18","slug":"wall-1054","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1054\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230212-to-20230218"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1054","date_from":"20230212","date_to":"20230218","book":"II Samuel","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"42359","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"A People Without A Land, A Land with 7 Peoples ","post_title":"A People Without A Land, A Land with 7 Peoples","slug":"a-people-without-a-land-a-land-with-7-peoples","old_id":"42359","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"73","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A third way to read, beyond blind acceptance and knee-jerk rejection","post_main_content_content":"

The Torah never tried to sell anyone on the Zionist myth that the Jewish people were traveling to a \"land without a people\". From God's first conversation with Moses, the land of Israel is the place of many nations whose names end in \"-ite\". \u00a0What hasn't been discussed until chapter 23 is what is to be done with all those people when the Jews arrive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Torah's plan for what we can accurately call \"ethnic cleansing\" of the natives poses a tremendously difficult moral quandary. There are two reactions to this which are polar opposites of one another, but share something important. The first is to embrace the Torah and dismiss any revulsion at this \"authentic Torah-true\" policy as owing to the influence of non-Jewish values, precisely those values the Torah wants to distance us from by expelling or annihilating all non-Jews. The second is to embrace the morally intuitive revulsion and to dismiss the Torah as an archaic, barbaric text. What these reactions share is their understanding that there is only one way to honestly read the text, that the Torah demands Israel be \"pure\" of all non-Jews.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I believe in a third way, which seeks to appreciate the multiplicity of readings built into the text, even in a text as seemingly unequivocal as this one.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Firstly, the careful reader will notice that there is much repetition in the last half of chapter 23. Essentially, there are two parallel descriptions, which overlap and also contradict one another, in particular regarding the fate of the indigenous peoples of Canaan. While the first narrative has them destroyed by a heavenly angel, the second has them chased away by the mysterious '<\/span>tzir'a<\/span><\/i>', understood by commentators to be hornets, or disease, or perhaps even a metaphoric description of fear.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But not only is the method of expulsion unclear, so too are its parameters. Consider that earlier in the chapter, the Torah speaks twice of the <\/span>ger<\/span><\/i>, \u00a0which can't really be understood in context as 'convert', because we were not converts in the land of Egypt. Who is this <\/span>ger<\/span><\/i> whose soul we know, and whose soul-rest is the goal of our Shabbat, and what is he doing in the land purged of all non-Jews? Rabbinic understandings are beyond the scope of this essay, but suffice it to say that they go a long way both in resolving these contradictions and in softening the moral challenge.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"Behold my words are like fire, says God, and like a hammer which smashes the rock\". One can be more or less convinced by any particular reading. What can never be claimed when learning Torah is that you have the one and only authentic interpretation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Nicolas Poussin, The Victory of Joshua Over the Amalekites, 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Lessons Of Suffering: Cultivating Compassion ","post_title":"The Lessons Of Suffering: Cultivating Compassion","slug":"the-lessons-of-suffering-cultivating-compassion","old_id":"42355","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"73","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Turning memory into empathy and moral responsibility","post_main_content_content":"

One of the Torah\u2019s central projects is to turn memory into empathy and moral responsibility. \u00a0Parashat Mishpatim contains perhaps the most well-known articulation of this charge: \u201cYou shall not oppress a stranger (ger), for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt\u201d (Exodus 23:9; cf. 22:20). By <\/span>ger<\/span><\/i>, the Torah means one who is an alien in the place where he lives\u2014that is, one who is not a member of the ruling tribe or family, who is not a citizen, and who is therefore vulnerable to social and economic exploitation. The Torah appeals to our memory: having tasted the suffering and degradation to which vulnerability can lead, we are bidden not to oppress the stranger. The Torah\u2019s call is not based on a rational argument, but on a demand for empathy: since you know what it feels like to be a stranger, you must never abuse or mistreat the stranger.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On one level, of course, the Torah is appealing to the collective memory of the Jewish people: the formative story around which we orient our collective life is about our harrowing oppression Egypt and our miraculous redemption by God. But I would argue that we should also individually personalize the Torah\u2019s demand that we remember. Each of us is obligated to remember times when we have been exploited or abused by those who had power over us. From these experiences, the Torah tells us, we are to learn compassion and kindness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Part of us responds to the experience of suffering by wanting to make sure that no one else has to endure what we did, but another part of us feels entitled and above reproach: if you had been through what I\u2019ve been through, we can hear ourselves saying, you would understand that I don\u2019t owe anybody anything. The Torah challenges us to nurture and cultivate the compassionate response and to make sure that the raging, combative one never becomes an animating principle of our lives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We surely have moral obligations which are incumbent upon us because of the simple fact that we are human beings. In its recurrent appeals to memory, the Torah seeks to amplify and intensify those obligations, to remind us, even when it is difficult to hear, that the fate of the stranger is our responsibility. If we wish to take the obligation to serve God seriously, we must seek to grow in empathy and compassion.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":93261,"alt":"","title":"pro28-mercy 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Rabbi Sacks passed away on 7th November 2020, aged 72. He was one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, who bridged the religious and secular world through his ground-breaking canon of work.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks z\"k (1948-2020) was the former Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, and the International 929 president.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36222,"alt":"","title":"JSacks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","width":437,"height":548,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-768x448.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":448,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-1024x597.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":597,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","1536x1536-width":437,"1536x1536-height":548,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","2048x2048-width":437,"2048x2048-height":548,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594.jpg","post_full_size-width":437,"post_full_size-height":548,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/JSacks-e1532858712594-335x420.jpg","home_baner-width":335,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Biblical politics is different from every other account given in Western thought","post_main_content_content":"

[T]he birth of Israel's monarchy, its social contract, was <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> its birth as a body politic. It was the <\/span>second<\/span><\/i> foundational event in Jewish political history, not the first. In this respect, biblical politics is different from every other account given in Western thought.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first event took place at Mount Sinai in the days of Moses. It was there that God proposed a covenant with the people: 'You have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession, though the whole earth is mine. You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation' (Ex. 19: 6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God tells Moses to take this proposal to the people, to see whether they are willing to agree. Moses does, and the people give their consent, both before and after the revelation when they hear the Ten Commandments. Before: 'The people all responded together, \"We will do everything the Lord has said\"' (Ex 19: 8). After: 'They responded with one voice, \"Everything the Lord has said we will do\"' (Ex. 24: 3). This was Israel's great foundational moment, its birth as a body politic, a nation under the sovereignty of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What was transacted at Sinai was not a <\/span>contract<\/span><\/i>. It was a <\/span>covenant<\/span><\/i>. In a contract, two or more individuals, each pursuing their own interest, come together to make an exchange for mutual benefit. \u00a0So there are commercial contracts that create the market, and there is the social contract that creates the state. A covenant is something different, more like a marriage than a deal. In a covenant, two or more individuals, each respecting the dignity and integrity of the other, come together in a bond of love and trust, to share their interests, sometimes their lives, by pledging their faithfulness to one another, to do together what neither can achieve alone.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: <\/span>Future Tense<\/span><\/i><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51917,"alt":"","title":"dt29-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":900,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Israel\u2019s Foundational Moment: Covenant Not Contract","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Biblical politics is different from every other account given in Western thought","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51917,"alt":"","title":"dt29-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","width":1600,"height":900,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1600,"2048x2048-height":900,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt29-covenant-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"}]},{"order":4,"id":"42528","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Sinai Is Everywhere ","post_title":"Sinai Is Everywhere","slug":"sinai-is-everywhere","old_id":"42528","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36423,"post_title":"Ari Hoffman","slug":"ari-hoffman","old_id":"36423","first_name":"Ari ","last_name":"Hoffman","description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture. He is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U., and his writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Tablet Magazine, The New York Observer, and a range of other publications. He holds a doctorate in English Literature from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford.\r\n","short_description":"Ari Hoffman is a columnist for the Forward, where he writes about politics and culture, and is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at N.Y.U.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36424,"alt":"","title":"Ari Hoffman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","width":1044,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":743,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-743x1024.jpg","large-width":743,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","1536x1536-width":1044,"1536x1536-height":1438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400.jpg","2048x2048-width":1044,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-871x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":871,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ari-Hoffman-e1532985000400-305x420.jpg","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"74","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"After the brightness fades, we still have books","post_main_content_content":"

Central to every jot and tittle of Jewish observance, the routes to <\/span>shul <\/span><\/i>and the routines that bind seasons and people together, is the underlying belief in the wild proposition of revelation. The great French writer Gustave Flaubert, of <\/span>Madame Bovary<\/span><\/i> fame, is reputed to have said \u201cbe regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.\u201d Supposedly, Philip Roth had this dictum taped on the wall above his desk. Regularity might be a small price to pay for Alexander Portnoy and Mickey Sabbath, after all.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This chapter is violently original, in that way that can fuel questions and a religious civilization in equal measure. God carefully stage manages His entry into the world, with tiered seating and even refreshments for the elders, who astonishingly sit down to eat and drink while the atmosphere is still singed with Divinity. This recalls nothing as much as the scenes from Hemingway\u2019s <\/span>A Farewell to Arms<\/span><\/i>, where cheese and canned spaghetti find their way to the bombed out battlefields, and palettes are cleansed with shrapnel. Here it is not shrapnel but sapphire, and the shocking clarity of the sight irradiates millennia later.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The peculiarly Jewish moment is, of course, that the precious stones swirling storm clouds are at the revelatory periphery rather than its heartland. What is to be given is something that must be read, and what is seen is a tablet that needs writing. It is not just that God is mostly in the thin small voice, although that is undoubtedly true. It is that after the brightness fades and the picnic on the slope is swept up, when all the august crowd that was there that day has long since blended into sand, we still have books. Strap-hanging on the subway, paperback in hand. Curled up on a couch on a rainy afternoon, where the realest weather seems between the covers of a novel. Sinai is everywhere, if only we can see it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Cover illustration: Mount Sinai (Arabic: \u0637\u0648\u0631 \u0633\u064a\u0646\u0627\u0621\u200e \u1e6c\u016br S\u012bn\u0101\u02bc\u202f or \u062c\u0628\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0633\u0649 Jabal M\u016bs\u00e1\u202f; Egyptian Arabic: Gabal M\u016bsa, lit. \"Moses' Mountain\" or \"Mount Moses\"; Hebrew: \u05d4\u05e8 \u05e1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u200e Har Sinai ), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is the traditional and most accepted identification of the biblical Mount Sinai. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Photographer: <\/span>Mohammed Moussa<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":42529,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","width":800,"height":536,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-300x201.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":201,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-768x515.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":515,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":536,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":536,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-627x420.jpg","home_baner-width":627,"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":"Sinai Is Everywhere","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"After the brightness fades, we still have books","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42529,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","width":800,"height":536,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-300x201.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":201,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-768x515.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":515,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":536,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":536,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Mount_Moses-627x420.jpg","home_baner-width":627,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Mount Sinai<\/a> (Arabic: \u0637\u0648\u0631 \u0633\u064a\u0646\u0627\u0621\u200e \u1e6c\u016br S\u012bn\u0101\u02bc\u202f or \u062c\u0628\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0633\u0649 Jabal M\u016bs\u00e1\u202f; Egyptian Arabic: Gabal M\u016bsa, lit. \"Moses' Mountain\" or \"Mount Moses\"; Hebrew: \u05d4\u05e8 \u05e1\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9\u200e Har Sinai ), is a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt that is the traditional and most accepted identification of the biblical Mount Sinai. Photographer: Mohammed Moussa<\/a>","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":"Exodus","chapter":"24","chapter_main_number":"74","date":"20251210","wall_id":"74"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"541","name":"Revelation","old_id":"941"}]},{"order":5,"id":"59746","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"When The Personal is Political: Joab Kills Abner ","post_title":"When The Personal Is Political: Joab Kills Abner","slug":"when-the-personal-is-political-joab-kills-abner","old_id":"59746","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34891,"post_title":"Miriam Gedwiser","slug":"miriam-gedwiser","old_id":"34891","first_name":"Miriam","last_name":"Gedwiser ","description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz Upper Upper school and is a core faculty member at Drisha. She has a BA from the University of Chicago in the History and Philosophy of Science and a JD from NYU School of Law. She studied in the Drisha Scholars Circle as well as at other programs in Israel and Boston, and has taught at a variety of synagogues and Hillels. She previously practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm, and completed a judicial clerkship in the Southern District of New York","short_description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz and at Drisha.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":60045,"alt":"","title":"Miriam Gedwiser 2 cropped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","width":453,"height":522,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-260x300.jpg","medium-width":260,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","medium_large-width":453,"medium_large-height":522,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","large-width":453,"large-height":522,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":453,"1536x1536-height":522,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":453,"2048x2048-height":522,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":453,"post_full_size-height":522,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-364x420.jpg","home_baner-width":364,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"266","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And creates a PR nightmare for the new king","post_main_content_content":"

We left Abner and Joab in an uneasy truce: Joab gave up pursuit of Abner to prevent heavy loss of life, but Abner has not backed off, and Israelites continue to die.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As the battles heat up between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner\u2019s self-importance grows even as his military success wanes. But when he asserts sexual dominion over Saul\u2019s concubine, Ish-boshet protests. This leads Abner to switches sides, promising to bring his erstwhile followers into David\u2019s camp. David agrees on condition that Abner return his wife, Michal daughter of Saul, proving that not only Abner can use the women of Saul\u2019s house to demonstrate political power. This happens while Joab is away doing his job of raiding David\u2019s enemies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In verse 22, \u201cDavid\u2019s soldiers and Joab returned from a raid.\u201d The phrase \u201cDavid\u2019s soldiers\u201d appeared five times in the previous chapter and seems to underscore Joab and his troops' loyalty. But in verse 23, \u201cJoab and the whole force with him arrived.\u201d Here lies a hint that Joab is coming into his own as a subject independent of his service to the king, just as his own interests and David\u2019s are about to diverge for the first time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abner's arrival troubles Joab on three levels: personally, Abner killed Joab's brother; professionally, Abner is a rival for the position of head general; and politically, who is to say that Abner can be trusted to do as he says, rather than to double-cross David as he crossed Ish-boshet?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Abner returns, Joab takes advantage of the pretense of collegiality that Abner always sought in their relationship to get close, then kills Abner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But Joab was not motivated by David\u2019s best interests, as the text makes clear, that it was the personal motive that ruled the day: \u201cThus [Abner] died for shedding the blood of Asahel, Joab\u2019s brother\u201d (verses 27, 30). As we could have known from our first<\/span> introduction to him<\/span><\/a>, Joab\u2019s identity was too wrapped up with his brothers to let this one go.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab\u2019s insubordination creates a public relations nightmare for David, for the people of Israel will assume that loyal Joab was once again working at David\u2019s direction, and that David had intended to double-cross Abner all along.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David\u2019s solution to the P.R. predicament, and perhaps also to a sense of personal betrayal, is to curse Joab and his house in perpetuity. In a display of self-preservation mixed with enduring loyalty, right after absorbing the curse, Joab complies with David\u2019s orders to publicly mourn Abner.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David and Joab, the king and the general he cursed, remain intertwined for the rest of the book of Samuel.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the same time, the fault lines that began to come out in this chapter - between Joab\u2019s interests and David\u2019s; and between Joab\u2019s control of the troops that keep David in power and David\u2019s own choices as to what to do with that power - will continue to simmer beneath the surface of Joab's next appearance in Chapter 11.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: \u201cJoab and Abner Kissing before Joab Murders Him,\u201d<\/span> Constantin Karl Falkenstein, from his \"The History Of The Art Of Printing, Its Origin And Development,\" Germany, 1804.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":59747,"alt":"","title":"2sam3-joab and abner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","width":1024,"height":1010,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-300x296.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":296,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-768x758.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":758,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-1024x1010.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1010,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1010,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":1010,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":1010,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-426x420.jpg","home_baner-width":426,"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":"When The Personal Is Political: Joab Kills Abner","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And creates a PR nightmare for the new king","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":59747,"alt":"","title":"2sam3-joab and abner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","width":1024,"height":1010,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-300x296.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":296,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-768x758.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":758,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-1024x1010.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1010,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1010,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":1010,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":1010,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-joab-and-abner-426x420.jpg","home_baner-width":426,"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":"II Samuel","chapter":"3","chapter_main_number":"266","date":"20260906","wall_id":"266"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"900","name":"Joab","old_id":"1300"}]},{"order":6,"id":"59740","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Michal and David, Unity and Disunity ","post_title":"Michal and David, Unity and Disunity","slug":"michal-and-david-unity-and-disunity","old_id":"59740","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"266","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

Who is David\u2019s wife Egla (meaning: heifer)?? In chapter 3, verses 2-5, we find a list of David\u2019s sons with their respective mothers. Egla is the mother of Yitre\u2019am, the 6<\/span>th<\/span> in this list of those born in Hebron. The Talmud (Sanhedrin 21:a) responds to questions we might have on this list, first and foremost, where is Michal, who so loved David? Rashi says that Egla is Michal, \u201cwho was cherished by him\u201d, learning it from Samson who refers to his beautiful, beloved wife, Delila, as \u201cmy heifer\u201d (Judges 14:18).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, if that is the case, and we know that Michal did not have a child (Samuel II, 6:23), then how can she be referred to here as the mother or Yitre\u2019am? She didn\u2019t have a child from that day forward, explains Rashi based on the Talmud, but prior to \u201cthat day\u201d (the day she mocked David, dancing in the streets, coming up in chapter 6), she did. Others notice that Egla is the only one here who\u2019s called \u201cDavid\u2019s wife\u201d even though all of the six mentioned here were known as his wives. This is because she\u2019s the only princess and therefore suitable for him (Malbim) and because she was his first wife (Radak).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The relationship between David and Michal continues to be complicated throughout their lives, which is perhaps not only about the two of them, as man and woman, husband and wife, but as a mirror to the relationship between Judah and Benjamin, the tribes they respectively come from. When facing Joseph, Judah fights bravely for Benjamin, as if it\u2019s known that whoever has Benjamin on his side, will be the uncontested leader of the Children of Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is played out throughout our history, but, what is each one\u2019s role in this partnership? In the original story (Genesis 43-45), quite surprisingly, Benjamin doesn\u2019t say anything. Is that the right way for the joint leadership to work? David accepts Michal\u2019s help, support and presence, so much so that he sends to bring her back. He needs her desperately by his side, but he doesn\u2019t accept her sarcastic comments regarding his behavior, even if she might be right. They represent two different styles of leadership and kingship, which when not aligned well, will ultimately lead to the detriment of their joint future and eventually, the demise of the kingdom. There will be other efforts by Benjaminites later on, such as Mordechai and Esther, but those will be short-lived as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The question of how to lead our people in unity, where each \u201ctribe\u201d has their suitable unique role, is still awaiting resolution.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":59741,"alt":"","title":"2sam3-unity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-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":"Michal and David, Unity and Disunity","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The question of how to lead our people in unity, where each \u201ctribe\u201d has their suitable unique role, is still awaiting resolution \u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":59741,"alt":"","title":"2sam3-unity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam3-unity-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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"3","chapter_main_number":"266","date":"20260906","wall_id":"266"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"526","name":"Husband\/Wife","old_id":"926"},{"term_id":"568","name":"Judah","old_id":"968"},{"term_id":"594","name":"Unity","old_id":"994"},{"term_id":"792","name":"Tribes","old_id":"1192"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"894","name":"Michal","old_id":"1294"}]},{"order":7,"id":"59869","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Mephibosheth ","post_title":"Mephibosheth","slug":"mephibosheth","old_id":"59869","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"267","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Physically handicapped - he becomes a talmudic sage and teacher of David","post_main_content_content":"

At the beginning of our chapter we learn that Jonathan had a crippled son named Mephiboshet. Later (chapter 9), we will learn that David had Mephibosheth brought to him by Ziba, a servant of the House of Saul. When Mephibosheth came to David, he prostrated himself, and David said to him, \u201c\u2018Don\u2019t be afraid, for I will keep faith with you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will give you back all the land of your grandfather Saul; moreover, you shall always eat at my table.\u2019 [Mephibosheth] prostrated himself again, and said, \u2018What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?\u2019\u201d (verses 6-8). And the brief biblical account of Mephibosheth concludes that he \u201clived in Jerusalem, for he ate regularly at the king\u2019s table. He was lame in both feet\u201d (verse 13; see 21:7,compare verse 8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Talmudic Sages (Berakhot 4a) regard Mephibosheth as the teacher of David, with whom he regularly consulted when making halakhic decisions. David would say: \u201cMy Rabbi, Mephibosheth! Did I correctly adjudicate? Did I correctly convict? Did I correctly acquit? Did I correctly declare clean? Did I correctly declare unclean? And I am not ashamed (boshti) [to ask]\u201d. This is based on a midrashic application of Psalms 119:46 \u201cI will speak of Your decrees in the presence of kings (Mephibosheth was the grandson of King Saul), and I will not be ashamed (lo\u2019 evosh<\/em>)\u201d. The Talmud goes on to say that he was called Mephibosheth because he would cause David to be \u201cashamed\u201d (mevayyesh penay David<\/em>) in matters of Halakhah. But David merited to have a son named Chileab (Kil-Av,\u00a0 see 2 Samuel 3:3), who humiliated (she-hayyah makhlim<\/em>) Mephibosheth in matters of halakhah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When the Gibeonites sought to execute seven of Saul\u2019s male descendants, David \u201cspared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between the two, between David and Jonathan, son of Saul\u201d (21:7). According to the Midrash on this verse (Midrash Shmuel 28:5, see also Talmud Bavli Yevamot 79a, Talmud Yerushalmi Kiddushin 65b), because Mephibosheth was a Torah scholar, David prayed before the Holy Ark and Mephibosheth, the physically handicapped Sage, was saved.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mephibosheth#\/media\/File:Mephibosheth_kneels_before_David.gif<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":59870,"alt":"","title":"2sam4-handicapped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped.png","width":1180,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-277x300.png","medium-width":277,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-768x833.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":833,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-944x1024.png","large-width":944,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped.png","1536x1536-width":1180,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped.png","2048x2048-width":1180,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-1106x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1106,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-387x420.png","home_baner-width":387,"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":"Mephibosheth","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Physically handicapped - he becomes a talmudic sage and teacher of David","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":59870,"alt":"","title":"2sam4-handicapped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped.png","width":1180,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-277x300.png","medium-width":277,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-768x833.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":833,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-944x1024.png","large-width":944,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped.png","1536x1536-width":1180,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped.png","2048x2048-width":1180,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-1106x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1106,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam4-handicapped-387x420.png","home_baner-width":387,"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":"II Samuel","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"267","date":"20260907","wall_id":"267"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"662","name":"Halacha","old_id":"1062"}]},{"order":8,"id":"59930","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Jerusalem: No Man\u2019s Land, And Everyone\u2019s\u00a0 ","post_title":"Jerusalem: No Man\u2019s Land, And Everyone\u2019s\u00a0","slug":"jerusalem-no-mans-land-and-everyones","old_id":"59930","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":"268","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Establishing his capital between the two tribes was a brilliant move of David\u2019s towards unification of the warring factions","post_main_content_content":"

For a couple of years now, our family, along with hundreds of others, has regularly hosted Christian groups for Friday night dinner. It is moving to share Shabbat with people who, though usually visiting Jerusalem for the first time, feel that it is a place that they have always known through their bible study. Some speak of the sense of belonging they feel here.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the origins of these feelings are in today\u2019s chapter, in which David conquers Jerusalem and sets up his capital here. Why Jerusalem? Some scholars and commentators have suggested that David chose it as the site of Mount Moriah and the Akeidah, or because of its strategic importance a place ringed with mountains.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Others have noted that Jerusalem was not in the territory of any of the tribes. The Book of Joshua, (15:63) recounts that the men of Judah tried to conquer Jerusalem from the Jebusites who lived there but didn\u2019t succeed. An almost identical verse in Judges (1:21) adds that the tribe of Benjamin also tried to take Jerusalem, but they didn\u2019t manage either. Jerusalem was coveted by both tribes but possessed by neither.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Making peace between his own tribe, Judah, and the tribe of Saul, Benjamin was an urgent priority for David in the early years of his reign. So, some have pointed out that establishing his capital in a place right between both tribes\u2019 land was a brilliant move towards unification of the warring factions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The rabbis drew\u00a0 halachic implications from this unique aspect of Jerusalem\u2019s status. For example, Jerusalem residents were not allowed to take payment for hosting guests in their homes on the pilgrimage holidays, (though the guests were encouraged to leave a gift, Yoma 12a). As the exclusive patrimony of no tribe or family, those who lived in the city held it in trust for the rest of the Jewish people who treasured Jerusalem and came to worship there three times each year.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today, Jerusalem is both the eternal capital of the Jewish people, established over 3000 years ago by King David, and also a city that is special to billions of other people worldwide. We feel blessed to be among those who are privileged to live here and, in the spirit of the Talmud, are grateful to be able to share our small piece of Jerusalem with others who love her.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":59931,"alt":"","title":"2sam5-jerusalem between 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No Man\u2019s Land, And Everyone\u2019s\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Establishing his capital between the two tribes was a brilliant move of David\u2019s towards unification of the warring factions","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":59931,"alt":"","title":"2sam5-jerusalem between 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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":"268","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A decisive defeat of the Philistines from the perspective of 3000 years","post_main_content_content":"

If you walk west on Emek Refaim street in Jerusalem, there\u2019s a spot where the street ends, the ground seems to drop off from beneath you, and you find yourself looking down.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A sharp right turn will keep you on elevated ground; in fact, you\u2019ll soon find yourself walking uphill towards the San Simon Monastery. Turn left, and you will remain on elevated ground as well, and eventually walk uphill towards neighborhoods like Arnona and Talpiot. But right ahead of you, there is no way but down: down into what was once known as the valley of Rephaim, and through it down to the Brook of Sorek, and through it all the way down to Israel\u2019s coastal plain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Had you stood in this very spot sometime between 1892-1998, you might have seen a train chugging up the valley towards you, bearing goods and passengers form Jaffa\u2019s port. When the Jerusalem businessman Yosef Navon first approached the Ottoman government with his plan to build a Jaffa-Jerusalem railway, he followed in the footsteps of many others who tried, for millennia, to connect Israel\u2019s fertile coastal plain with its forbidding mountain range. The route he picked wasn\u2019t original either; long before Navon\u2019s train, the Philistines marched up this valley to make war against King David.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Philistines could have picked other routes for their attack. Yet they preferred the Valley of Rephaim, and probably for the same reason Navon chose it for his railway: unlike other passages, this valley is broad enough to accommodate heavy machinery. It allowed Navon to build a rail, and it allowed the Philistines to march up with their heavy iron weapons and their chariots. But these preparations ultimately failed them: by circling around the Philistines and forcing them to flee to the coastal plain through a narrower route, David turned their heavy weapons into a liability. The boy who killed an armored giant with a stone became the king who deprived well-armed armies from what they saw as their advantage. And so the Philistines retreated, never to make a serious stand again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The site of this final defeat lies roughly where Navon\u2019s railway ended, in what became, in recent years, a hub of restaurants, live concerts and cultural events. If you follow in the Philistines\u2019 footsteps all the way there can enjoy a classic Jerusalem-esque juxtaposition, and sip iced coffee in the very place where a war that spanned three biblical books and several centuries had come to a decisive end.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Emek Refaim St., photo: Avishai Teicher, 2007 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":59934,"alt":"","title":"2sam5-emek_refaim_st","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-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":"Emek Refaim: From Battlefield to Boulevard","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A decisive defeat of the Philistines from the perspective of 3000 years","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":59934,"alt":"","title":"2sam5-emek_refaim_st","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam5-emek_refaim_st-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":"II Samuel","chapter":"5","chapter_main_number":"268","date":"20260908","wall_id":"268"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"539","name":"Israel","old_id":"939"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"864","name":"Philistines","old_id":"1264"}]},{"order":10,"id":"59964","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"One Woke Queen ","post_title":"One Woke Queen","slug":"one-woke-queen","old_id":"59964","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":59587,"post_title":"Benjamin Morse","slug":"benjamin-morse","old_id":"59587","first_name":"Benjamin ","last_name":"Morse ","description":"Dr. Benjamin Morse studied religion and art history at Vassar, Oxford, and the Courtauld before completing a PhD in biblical interpretation. His dissertation reads the Hebrew Bible\u2019s \u201cmodern methods\u201d through the lens of painting and collage. His illustrated children\u2019s Torah, The Oldest Bedtime Story Ever, has won multiple awards.\r\nPhoto by Lenka Opalena.","short_description":"Dr. Benjamin Morse studied religion and art history, and is the author and illustrator of the illustrated children\u2019s Torah, The Oldest Bedtime Story Ever. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":59588,"alt":"","title":"Benjamin Morse by Lenka Opalena","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","width":1069,"height":1576,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-203x300.jpg","medium-width":203,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-695x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":695,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-695x1024.jpg","large-width":695,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","1536x1536-width":1042,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","2048x2048-width":1069,"2048x2048-height":1576,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-814x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":814,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-285x420.jpg","home_baner-width":285,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"269","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Why Michal denied David an heir","post_main_content_content":"

The showdown between this royal couple has elements of a soap opera. As the only woman in the Hebrew Bible who is said to love a man (1 Sam. 18.20), Michal has by now seen through David\u2019s press smile. She peers down from her window at his acrobatic reveries over the arrival of the ark in Jerusalem, and her love has turned to disdain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David makes offerings and passes out celebratory cakes to his fans before returning home to bless his household. Michal has witnessed the womenfolk apparently admiring more than his piety and has had enough: \u201cHow the king of Israel glorified himself today, exposing himself before the slave girls of his servants, disrobing like some vulgar dancer\u201d (v. 20, translation my own). David is indignant and scores of interpreters have written her off as an ice queen who was too bitter to swoon from the majesty, but I\u2019m with her.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

His reply validates precisely the arrogance Michal is calling him out for: it was before the <\/span>LORD<\/span><\/i> he was dancing, the same LORD \u201cwho chose me above thy father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people\u201d (v. 21). He lords his election over her in an effort to put her in her place and eradicate the memory and authority of his predecessor. He will be as \u201cvile\u201d and as \u201cbase\u201d as he wants and achieve honor from the handmaids she dared to mention. The chapter then closes with a thunk: \u201cAnd Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death\u201d (v. 22).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David\u2019s supporters\u2014his southern base and those who followed throughout history\u2014would have no reason to doubt that the obstruction of motherhood was a sentence against Michal. Even feminist scholars who describe this scene as her suicide proliferate commentary that confines, erases, and murders her.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is barrenness ever equated with punishment. And nowhere in this chapter (or in the one that follows in which God puts a damper on David\u2019s ambitions to build him a house) does it say God closed her womb or that David denied Michal children by refusing to have sex with her. On the contrary. It seems more likely that Michal closed the door on David so that he could not have an heir her father\u2019s northern tribes would recognize.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Samuel and Kings tell the story of the people\u2019s mistake to put power in human hands when they should have worshiped God alone\u2014a mistake that ends in the Exile. Michal\u2019s attack on David\u2019s hubris is theologically shrewd. Her denial of an heir disrupts his political hegemony. Michal wasn\u2019t an ice queen; she was a prophet.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":59977,"alt":"","title":"2sam6-David-dancing window","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window.jpg","width":1296,"height":1390,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-768x824.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":824,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-955x1024.jpg","large-width":955,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window.jpg","1536x1536-width":1296,"1536x1536-height":1390,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window.jpg","2048x2048-width":1296,"2048x2048-height":1390,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-1119x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1119,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"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":"One Woke Queen","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Why Michal denied David an heir","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":59977,"alt":"","title":"2sam6-David-dancing window","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window.jpg","width":1296,"height":1390,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-768x824.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":824,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-955x1024.jpg","large-width":955,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window.jpg","1536x1536-width":1296,"1536x1536-height":1390,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window.jpg","2048x2048-width":1296,"2048x2048-height":1390,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-1119x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1119,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-dancing-window-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"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":"II Samuel","chapter":"6","chapter_main_number":"269","date":"20260909","wall_id":"269"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"894","name":"Michal","old_id":"1294"}]},{"order":11,"id":"59967","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Locked In A Tower Of Politics And History ","post_title":"Locked In A Tower Of Politics And History","slug":"locked-in-a-tower-of-politics-and-history","old_id":"59967","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41525,"post_title":"Sivan Rotholz","slug":"sivan-rotholz","old_id":"41525","first_name":"Sivan ","last_name":"Rotholz","description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. She taught feminist Torah study and creative writing at Brooklyn College, Tel Aviv University, and Temple Israel of the City of New York. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College and a Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law and is the Managing Editor of the Saturday Poetry Series on As It Ought To Be. ","short_description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41526,"alt":"","title":"sivan rotholz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","width":320,"height":312,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-300x293.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":312,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":312,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":312,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":312,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":312,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":312}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"269","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Jilted lover, unloved childless wife, resented for her power, Michal is fated to gaze through a window...","post_main_content_content":"

Michal loves David, and this is her undoing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The daughter of Israel\u2019s first king and first wife of its second, Michal is destined to be the greatest queen the Jewish people have ever known. But politics and history have other plans.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In King Saul\u2019s court Michal proves a formidable character, orchestrating David\u2019s escape from her father\u2019s murderous wrath and serving as history\u2019s first example that if you love someone, you must set them free. On the run and separated from Michal during the many years that follow, David accumulates power, wives, and children, while Saul marries Michal off to another man. When King David finally demands Michal be restored to him, his motives are political\u2014having the daughter of the overthrown king by his side will bolster his claim to the throne.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is no grand display of affection when the calculating king and his denigrated queen are reunited. Instead, Michal appears only once more in the Tanakh, for her swan song.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 2 Samuel 6, David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant\u2014God\u2019s earthly abode\u2014to Jerusalem. <\/span>At this epic moment David leaps, exposed, before the Ark, his manhood on display before all of Israel.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Michal is watching from the window.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t the king of Israel do himself honor today\u2014exposing himself today in the sight of the slavegirls of his subjects, as one of the riffraff might expose himself!\u201d Michal chastises the king upon his return. In a rare biblical moment, we know exactly what Michal is thinking. She is royalty; David is rabble.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Michal\u2019s rebuke is rife with sexual resentment as well. Even Israel\u2019s slave girls are privy to David\u2019s manhood, but Michal has most likely been denied sexual relations with her husband since her return to him. And David has every reason to refrain. He has nearly obliterated the House of Saul, every member of it a threat to his reign. Were he to father a child with Michal, that child would be as much an heir of Saul as of David.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a girl, Michal loved David enough to set him free, her resourcefulness and altruism enabling a boy to become a king. But Queen Michal is a jilted lover, her reunion with King David a fallacy. Chapter\u00a0 6 closes with the chilling words: \u201cAnd Michal daughter of Saul had no child till her dying day.\u201d She is, in fact, the only one of David\u2019s wives that does not bear him children.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Doomed to live out her days as neither beloved wife nor mother, possessed by a king who fears her power, fated to gaze through a window and watch life pass her by, Michal is, perhaps, history\u2019s first princess locked in a tower. 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In A Tower Of Politics And History","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jilted lover, unloved childless wife, resented for her power, Michal is fated to gaze through a 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She is a graduate of Mandel School For Educational Leadership, works at Midreshet Lindenbaum, and is writing a doctorate in psychology at Bar Ilan University.","short_description":"Naomi (Jaffe) Eini is an educational psychologist, lecturer and workshop facilitator, and doctoral candidate in psychology.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":58420,"alt":"","title":"naomi eini","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini.jpg","width":960,"height":1135,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini-254x300.jpg","medium-width":254,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini-768x908.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":908,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini-866x1024.jpg","large-width":866,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":1135,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":1135,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":1135,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/naomi-eini-355x420.jpg","home_baner-width":355,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"269","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Dance as if no one is looking at you","post_main_content_content":"

King David had guts!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"As the Ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the LORD; and she despised him for it.\" (II Samuel, 6:16)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The king of Israel is deeply involved in a spiritual dance, full of love for his Creator, and he sees nothing else but Him. Michal, Saul's daughter observes David who is drawn into his inner self, shedding his barriers and outward layers, and all she sees is a king making a fool of himself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

He is inside and she is a complete outsider. She is not the only one, sometimes we also are an outsider like Michal.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I learn three lessons from King David's behavior:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. To appreciate and be happy with the all the good you have at this very moment.\u00a0 In his book Midnight Muse<\/em> (1998), Rev. Crystal Boyd writes:\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    \"We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby,\u2026when we retire\u2026<\/span>So, stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you get married, until your kids leave home\u2026\u00a0 until summer, until fall, until winter, until spring or until you die\u2026 to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy. <\/span>Happiness is a journey, not a destination.\u00a0 Work as if you don't need the money, love as if you have never been hurt and dance as if no one is looking at you.\"\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

      \r\n\t
    1. To make the most of the present.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

      \"This is the day that the Lord made; we shall exult and rejoice thereon\" (Ps. 118:<\/span>24)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

      Today is <\/span>the <\/b>day.\u00a0 Let's utilize it to its fullest.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        \r\n\t
      1. To learn how to ignore internal and external criticism<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

        In our chapter, Michal represents the superego, which is the mechanism in our psyche that, according to Freud, incorporates social morals and acts to tame our impulses and leads to controlled and \"normative\" functioning. King David is teaching us to be wary of being a slave to social norms and to \"what will other people say\".\u00a0 He chose a different option \u2013 in front of everyone he chose to give himself over fully to his natural impulse of worshipping God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        You are the king! How can you allow yourself to be humiliated in the sight of the<\/span> handmaids <\/b>of his servants? Michal mocks David and fails to understand a great secret.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        \"So to her dying day Michal daughter of Saul had no children.\" (ibid. v.23).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        To be a servant of God requires a certain \"madness\". We learn that this madness is also a prerequisite for bringing up children.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Translated by Chava Wilschanski<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        image: Copyright, with the generous permission of Ivan Schwebel<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60013,"alt":"","title":"2sam6-David - I Schwebel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","width":569,"height":748,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1-228x300.jpg","medium-width":228,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","medium_large-width":569,"medium_large-height":748,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","large-width":569,"large-height":748,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":569,"1536x1536-height":748,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":569,"2048x2048-height":748,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":569,"post_full_size-height":748,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1-319x420.jpg","home_baner-width":319,"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":"Parenthood, Madness and Worshiping God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Dance as if no one is looking at you","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60013,"alt":"","title":"2sam6-David - I Schwebel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","width":569,"height":748,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1-228x300.jpg","medium-width":228,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","medium_large-width":569,"medium_large-height":748,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","large-width":569,"large-height":748,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":569,"1536x1536-height":748,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":569,"2048x2048-height":748,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":569,"post_full_size-height":748,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam6-David-I-Schwebel-1-319x420.jpg","home_baner-width":319,"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":"II Samuel","chapter":"6","chapter_main_number":"269","date":"20260909","wall_id":"269"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"894","name":"Michal","old_id":"1294"}]},{"order":13,"id":"60079","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"David\u2019s Success Is In His Successor\u00a0 ","post_title":"David\u2019s Success Is In His Successor\u00a0","slug":"davids-success-is-in-his-successor","old_id":"60079","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56118,"post_title":"Tzvi Sinensky","slug":"tzvi-sinensky","old_id":"56118","first_name":"Tzvi ","last_name":"Sinensky ","description":"Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky is the Director of Interdisciplinary Learning and Educational Outreach at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, NJ. He holds a graduate certificate degree in Gender Studies from Utah State University, and is pursuing a PhD on the intersection between Jewish thought and gender studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. ","short_description":"Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky is the Director of Interdisciplinary Learning and Educational Outreach at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston, NJ.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56119,"alt":"","title":"tzvi_sinensky","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","width":240,"height":280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":280,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","medium_large-width":240,"medium_large-height":280,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","large-width":240,"large-height":280,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","1536x1536-width":240,"1536x1536-height":280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","2048x2048-width":240,"2048x2048-height":280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","post_full_size-width":240,"post_full_size-height":280,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/tzvi_sinensky.jpg","home_baner-width":240,"home_baner-height":280}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"270","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God answers his prayers, that he merits to build the Temple - through his son\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

        Imagine the intensity of David\u2019s disappointment. Having defeated his enemies, he turns to the prophet Nathan, requesting that he merit to build a permanent home for God, a Temple. God speaks to Nathan that very night, and responds favorably to David\u2019s request. Indeed, God explains, David has merited that his son will build the Temple. Wait a minute. David\u2019s son, not David himself, will merit to build the house of God? We would anticipate that Davd would respond with intense disappointment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        After all, not only did David make a request of the prophet to this effect, but Psalms teaches us that David suffered countless sleepless nights until he would finally be able to build the Temple:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        A song of ascents. O Lord, remember in David\u2019s favor his extreme self-denial,<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>how he swore to the Lord, vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>\u201cI will not enter my house, nor will I mount my bed,<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>until I find a place for the Lord, an abode for the Mighty One of Jacob.\u201d (132:1-5)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Despite his sleeplessness, David somehow is comforted by the prophet\u2019s report. Why? The precise words of Nathan give us a clear answer:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        When your days are done and you lie with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own issue, and I will establish his kingship.<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish his royal throne forever.<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to Me. When he does wrong, I will chastise him with the rod of men and the affliction of mortals;<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>but I will never withdraw My favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed to make room for you.<\/span>
        \r\n<\/span>Your house and your kingship shall ever be secure before you; your throne shall be established forever.\u201d (v. 13-16)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        David did not desire to build the Temple himself. More important to him was the eventual success of his family dynasty, particularly their association with God and His Temple. If David\u2019s son was to build the Temple, and his family line would be secure, nothing would make David more happy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Ironically David\u2019s success resulted from his lack of self-interest. His ultimate allegiances were to his family and, above all, to God. If through David\u2019s line the honor of God would be fully restored, even if David himself had no direct hand in that process, nothing could be a greater source of joy for the servant of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: Hugo Balinn, <\/span>The Warner Murals in the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, Los Angeles, California \/ cc 3.0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60080,"alt":"","title":"Wilshire Blvd. Wall Murals \/ Photography by Tom Bonner. 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        Two of Israel\u2019s shining leaders were not able to achieve their life goals. Moses did not enter the land of Israel with the nation he had liberated from Egypt and led through 40 years in the desert. King David was not able to build the Temple to God whom he served with joy, dedication, humility and love.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        2 Samuel 7 opens after David had defeated the Philistines, secured his kingship over the whole nation of Israel and brought the Ark of the Tabernacle to Jerusalem, the city of David. God has granted him security, and David comments to the prophet Nathan that while he lives in a palace of cedar, the Ark of God remains in a tent. Nathan tells David that God is with him in whatever he wants to do.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        That night, however, God appears to Nathan and tells him that God\u2019s Ark has lived in tents since the desert, and God has never asked that the Temple be built. God promised David that his dynasty will continue and his son will build the Temple. Since Saul\u2019s reign only lasted one generation, a continuing line of kingship could not be taken for granted.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The work of David, with God\u2019s help, is to establish a unified nation with security among its neighbors. Until that occurs, the Ark will remain in a tent. It is not yet time.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Unlike Moses, who had a great deal of trouble accepting God\u2019s dictum that he would not enter the land, David responds with praise and thanks to God for the gift of a multi-generational dynasty and for the gift of being told about it. He accepts God\u2019s plan and decision with gratitude and humility. As we see in other Biblical stories talking with one another, perhaps David\u2019s gratitude is the completion of Moses\u2019 struggle to accept God\u2019s decree.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        When my grandmother died in 1982, peacefully and suddenly, a lesson I took from her passing was that a sign of a full life is leaving tasks uncompleted.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Pirkei Avot 2:21 teaches us that \u201cIt is not up to you to complete the task\u2026\u201d Sometimes that is a relief, sometimes it is a bitter disappointment. We learn from the lives and paths of Moses, David (and my grandmother) that part of our responsibility is to raise the next generation to continue the work of creating, settling and improving the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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