{"id":60469,"date":"2018-07-09T17:43:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1056\/"},"modified":"2023-03-02T14:26:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T12:26:41","slug":"wall-1056","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1056\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230226-to-20230304"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1056","date_from":"20230226","date_to":"20230304","book":"II Samuel","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"113226","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"Purim Is Coming! ","post_title":"Purim Is Coming!","slug":"purim-is-coming","old_id":"113226","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1056","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Purim is clickable - just look down!","post_main_content_content":"

Jonesing for some quality Purim content? Looking for the whole megillah? Well, look no further. We've got you covered.<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. You can navigate to the Book of Esther from the drop-down menu in the upper left hand corner of the screen.<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Or go to each chapter via the links here:
    \r\nChapter 1<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 2<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 3<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 4<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 5<\/a>,\u00a0
    \r\n    Chapter 6<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 7<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 8<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 9<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter\u00a0 10,<\/a>\u00a0the Summary Page<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. ALSO - Check out two 929 series, excerpting new books on Purim, its narrative, characters and more, by two prominent scholars:\r\n\r\n
      \r\n\t
    1. Dr. Seymour (\"Epi\") Epstein -\u00a0The Esther Scroll\u00a0 - The Author's Tale <\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Mosaic)<\/li>\r\n\t
    2. Dr. Erica Brown - Esther: Power, Fate And Fragility In Exile<\/em><\/a> (Koren). Scroll down for the Esther material.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
    3. AND: Not least: check out these two videos on Megillat Esther:\r\n\r\n
        \r\n\t
      1. The Megillah Project<\/a> - A\u00a0unique partnership between\u00a0BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change<\/a>,\u00a0Judaism Unbound<\/a>,\u00a0929 English<\/a>,\u00a0The Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto<\/a>, and\u00a0jewishLIVE<\/a>.\u00a0
        \r\nSee         the project website here.<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
      2. 24 in 24: 929's production, Esther: The Human And The Divine<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>featuring Shira Schiowitz<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

         <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":82041,"alt":"","title":"ps30-purim","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","width":738,"height":700,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-300x285.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":285,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":700,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","large-width":738,"large-height":700,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":700,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":700,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":700,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-443x420.png","home_baner-width":443,"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":"Collected 929 Wisdom, Insight, Fun And Frivolity","tile_main_caption":"Purim Is Coming!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jonesing for some quality Purim content? Looking for the whole megillah? Well, look no further - it's all just a click away...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":82041,"alt":"","title":"ps30-purim","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","width":738,"height":700,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-300x285.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":285,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":700,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","large-width":738,"large-height":700,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":700,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":700,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":700,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-443x420.png","home_baner-width":443,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1056"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"89232","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"THE MEGILLAH PROJECT ","post_title":"THE MEGILLAH PROJECT","slug":"the-megillah-project","old_id":"89232","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"682","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

        From the Studio that brought you The Plagues and The Binding, we present \u2013<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        THE MEGILLAH PROJECT<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        With an all-star cast from around the world, including musicians, independent film makers, literary critics, scholars, theologians, public intellectuals, activists, authors, educators, rabbis, and poets, offering unique perspectives <\/span>on The Book of Esther from a wide variety of disciplines and sources of knowledge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Visit the full collection at <\/span>www.megillahproject.com<\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n

        We believe that a plurality of voices can be brought together to explore the vast canon of Jewish literature. Tradition tells us that the Torah has \u201cseventy faces,\u201d and we look forward to exploring them with you.\u00a0The Megillah Project \u2013 an online platform of specially curated content exploring the many dimensions of The Book of Esther \u2013 is brought to you by a unique partnership between <\/span> BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change<\/a>,\u00a0Judaism Unbound<\/a>,\u00a0929 English<\/a>,\u00a0The Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto<\/a>, and\u00a0jewishLIVE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":89233,"alt":"","title":"megillah project","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","width":994,"height":312,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project-300x94.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":94,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project-768x241.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":241,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","large-width":994,"large-height":312,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","1536x1536-width":994,"1536x1536-height":312,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","2048x2048-width":994,"2048x2048-height":312,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","post_full_size-width":994,"post_full_size-height":312,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","home_baner-width":994,"home_baner-height":312}},"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":"From the Studio that brought you The Plagues and The Binding, we present \u2013","tile_main_caption":"THE MEGILLAH PROJECT","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"See inside for details","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":89233,"alt":"","title":"megillah project","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","width":994,"height":312,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project-300x94.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":94,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project-768x241.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":241,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","large-width":994,"large-height":312,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","1536x1536-width":994,"1536x1536-height":312,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","2048x2048-width":994,"2048x2048-height":312,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","post_full_size-width":994,"post_full_size-height":312,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/megillah-project.jpg","home_baner-width":994,"home_baner-height":312}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"115","chapter_main_number":"682","date":"20280410","wall_id":"682"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"514","name":"Megillah","old_id":"914"},{"term_id":"515","name":"Purim","old_id":"915"},{"term_id":"516","name":"Holidays","old_id":"916"}]},{"order":3,"id":"60659","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Tamar's Coat of Many Colors ","post_title":"Tamar's Coat Of Many Colors","slug":"tamars-coat-of-many-colors","old_id":"60659","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41916,"post_title":"Sandra E. Rapoport","slug":"sandra-e-rapoport","old_id":"41916","first_name":"Sandra E. ","last_name":"Rapoport ","description":"Sandra E. Rapoport is an attorney, Bible teacher, and award-winning author whose books give voice to the women of the Bible. Her third book, Biblical Seductions, was a National Jewish Book Awards Finalist and a Boston Globe Top-Ten Bestseller. Her fourth and most recent book, The Queen & The Spymaster, is a novel based on the story of Esther.","short_description":"Sandra E. Rapoport is an attorney, Bible teacher, and award-winning author of four books on Bible and Midrash.\r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41917,"alt":"","title":"sandra rapoport","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","width":150,"height":175,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":175,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":175,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":175,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":175,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":175,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":175,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sandra-rapoport.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":175}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"276","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And when Tamar rends her royal tunic, symbolizing her lost honor and the violence done to her, she prefigures the future rending of the Davidic kingdom","post_main_content_content":"

        \"She was wearing a <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em>, for maiden princesses were customarily dressed in such robes. And his servant brought her outside, and barred the door after her. And Tamar put dust upon her head, and she rent the <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> that she was wearing. She put her hands on her head as she walked about, crying aloud as she went.\"\u00a0 II Sam. 13:18\u201319.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The tunic Tamar was wearing announced her royal and virgin status. A <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> was a multi-colored, striped tunic or cloak that maiden princesses wore over their clothing. This finely flowing and identifiable garment functioned as both a badge and a shield, and bore an implicit warning: \u201cHere walks one of the king\u2019s beloved virgin daughters. Let no one molest her in any way, for she is under the protection of the king.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        We have encountered such a distinctive coat of many colors once before; the only other time such a garment is mentioned, in Genesis 37:3, when Jacob gives his beloved son, Joseph, a <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em>. Much has been written about Joseph's special cloak. It was a mark of Jacob\u2019s special love for the boy, his son from his beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob gifted the cloak to him because it was known in the ancient Near East as a princely garment. The cloak singled the boy out above his brothers and prompted envy and rage in them, and cockiness and braggadocio in Joseph himself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joseph\u2019s bloody and torn <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> was the final proof that his brothers presented to their aged father to demonstrate unequivocally that their brother \u201cwas no longer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/i> links the Joseph and Tamar stories. In both stories the cloak is considered \u201croyal\u201d raiment, calculated to point out the wearer\u2019s favored status. In both stories the coats are torn, providing mute evidence of brutal violence perpetrated against the wearer. And in both stories the violence was done to the wearer by his or her siblings. Finally, in both stories the wearer is exiled or an outcast.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        After she is raped by her brother Amnon and thrown bodily out of Amnon's house, Tamar displays mourning and agony. She rubs dirt onto her head, crying out for her lost maiden self and for her lost future. She will never be a virgin bride; no Israelite man will wed her now; she may never bear children, never be a mother in Israel. She has been violated and shamed. With dust trickling down her face, she stands and grasping the neckline of her striped tunic -- the <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> -- tears it apart in one pull. This, too, is an act of public mourning. In the words of the Malbim, she has been stripped of her honor as she now strips herself of her cloak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        As the author of Samuel intended, when Tamar rends her royal tunic -- her <\/span>kutonet passim <\/span><\/em>-- <\/span><\/i>she is the Tanach's clarion voice, prefiguring the future rending of the Davidic kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        image: by Elisheva Horowitz courtesy of the artist (see her representation of Joseph's tunic here<\/a>).<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60821,"alt":"","title":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva 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Coat Of Many Colors","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And when Tamar rends her royal tunic, symbolizing her lost honor and the violence done to her, she prefigures the future rending of the Davidic kingdom","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60821,"alt":"","title":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva 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Samuel","chapter":"13","chapter_main_number":"276","date":"20260920","wall_id":"276"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"484","name":"Mourning","old_id":"884"},{"term_id":"523","name":"Joseph","old_id":"923"},{"term_id":"567","name":"Tamar","old_id":"967"},{"term_id":"576","name":"Clothes","old_id":"976"},{"term_id":"771","name":"Honor","old_id":"1171"}]},{"order":4,"id":"60541","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"The Context of Amnon\u2019s Hatred for Tamar ","post_title":"The Context of Amnon\u2019s Hatred For Tamar","slug":"the-context-of-amnons-hatred-for-tamar","old_id":"60541","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":"276","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The rape emerged from a milieu of sexual license fused with military power that the king himself had helped foster","post_main_content_content":"

        After the horrific rape of his half-sister Tamar, \u201cAmnon felt a very great loathing for her; indeed his loathing was greater than the passion that he had felt for her.\u201d (13-15) One may readily imagine causes for his hatred; Rav Soloveitchik, for example, writes insightfully about how the sinner is revolted by the object of his sin, as a displacement of the disgust and shame he feels with himself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The Talmud however, rather than take such a psychologically plausible tack, gives an apparently bizarre explanation of Amnon\u2019s loathing. \u201cTamar caused one of her pubic hairs to become entwined around his sexual organ, cutting it,\u201d (Sanhedrin 21a; so as to make him infertile, Rashi explains.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        What?? Why introduce such a lurid scenario, for which there is no warrant in the text? Why not give one of the less extreme and more plausible explanations for Amnon\u2019s hatred that are available?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Before we dismiss the rabbis as misogynistic fantasists, let us look at the context of this statement. Doing so uncovers a striking reading of the Amnon and Tamar story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The Talmud precedes its reading of our story by telling us that in addition to the children of David from his 18 lawfully wedded wives (the maximum number permitted him), there were 400 soldiers in David\u2019s army who were his children from beautiful non-Jewish women who were captured in war.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        These sons of David \u201cgrew their hair in a gentile hairstyle and sat in carriages of gold. They walked at the head of the troops and were the strong-arm enforcers of the house of David.\u201d (Sanhedrin 21a) The Talmud depicts David\u2019s erotic freedom, straining against the Torah\u2019s limits, (\u201cHe shall not increase wives\u2026Deut. 17:17\u201d) and engendering a nexus of sexuality, power and barely veiled violence in the persons of his privileged sons from the beautiful captives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The Talmud then states that Tamar was the offspring one of the captive women. Positing these origins helps the Talmud explain the injury that she inflicted on Amnon. Ben Ish Hai (1835-1909) in his Ben Yehoyada commentary accounts for the Talmud\u2019s explanation of Amnon\u2019s weird injury thus: idolatrous women of the time applied a kind of cream that caused their pubic hair to become as stiff and sharp as needles, a protection against endemic rape.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        I doubt the historical truth or physiological plausibility of the Ben Ish Hai\u2019s explanation. But thematically, it complements the Talmud\u2019s picture of the unwholesome background to our chapter: The rape emerged from a milieu of sexual license fused with military power in David\u2019s court that the king himself had helped foster. Amnon hated Tamar\u2019s effort to defend herself from rampant sexual abuse, a resentment that the Talmud makes physical in the image of damage to his male organ.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        After the rape, the Talmud adds, David forbade a man to be alone with a single woman, (Sanhedrin 21b) implicitly recognizing a responsibility to change the culture that made it possible. But this decree came too late to save his kingdom from the bloody consequences of Amnon\u2019s abuse.<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: Ephraim Moses Lilien, David With His Heroes, 1914<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60542,"alt":"","title":"2sam13-david-lilien","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","width":1024,"height":713,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-768x535.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":535,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-1024x713.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":713,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":713,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":713,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":713,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-603x420.jpg","home_baner-width":603,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Context of Amnon\u2019s Hatred For Tamar","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The rape emerged from a milieu of sexual license fused with military power that the king himself had helped foster","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60542,"alt":"","title":"2sam13-david-lilien","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","width":1024,"height":713,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-300x209.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":209,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-768x535.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":535,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-1024x713.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":713,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":713,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":713,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":713,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-david-lilien-603x420.jpg","home_baner-width":603,"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":"13","chapter_main_number":"276","date":"20260920","wall_id":"276"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"457","name":"Rape","old_id":"857"},{"term_id":"543","name":"Violence","old_id":"943"},{"term_id":"567","name":"Tamar","old_id":"967"},{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]},{"order":5,"id":"112962","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Tamar: An Artist\u2019s Conception","post_title":"Tamar: An Artist\u2019s Conception","slug":"tamar-an-artists-conception","old_id":"112962","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"276","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But don\u2019t be fooled - that\u2019s not Amnon the rapist\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

        Chapter 13 is another difficult read. Amnon obsesses over his half sister and upon the advice of his friend he creates a ruse to be alone with her and he rapes her.\u00a0 Worse still, the rape is ignored by David. Like Jacob\u2019s failure to act after Dinah is raped, David hears about the incident and stays silent. Absalom is the lone family member who, like Levi and Simeon, sees the torment of his sister and seeks revenge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        I recently visited the Muse d\u2019 Orsay in Paris. Hanging in the museum is the above 1875 painting by Alexandre Cabanel simply titled \u201cTamar\u201d. Cabanel was the favorite painter of Napoleon III. The name of the painting alone refocuses chapter 13 on the victim who gets lost in the story. Tamar takes center stage in the painting as well. She is half naked having been expelled from the rooms of her perpetrator and collapsed into the lap of her brother.\u00a0 Her jewelry is strewn on the floor. Absalom seems to be calling out with one hand, perhaps for medical assistance, for help, or perhaps for revenge. His other hand on the pillow is clenched in rage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        As part of the Orientalist romanticism at the time, Tamar is depicted as the pale white victim while the other characters in the painting are given a North African complexion and dress. The servant in the back right of the painting is a reference to a similar figure in another painting titled \u201cthe Women of Algiers\u201d by Eug\u00e8ne Delacroix that depicts a group of women in a harem in Algeria. Cabanel\u2019s Tamar takes that romanticized version of a harem and shows the dark side of the violated woman. The absence of anyone else in the painting points to the isolation of the characters: Tamar the victim, and Absalom the lone family member willing to protect her.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        image:\u00a0Alexandre Cabanel: Thamar et Absalon<\/em>, 1875<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":112964,"alt":"","title":"-63fb0626d4634--63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar Mus\u00e9e_d'Orsay.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","width":800,"height":590,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-300x221.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":221,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-768x566.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":566,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":590,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":590,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":590,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":590,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-569x420.jpg","home_baner-width":569,"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":"Tamar: An Artist\u2019s Conception","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But don\u2019t be fooled - that\u2019s not Amnon the rapist","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":112964,"alt":"","title":"-63fb0626d4634--63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar Mus\u00e9e_d'Orsay.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","width":800,"height":590,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-300x221.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":221,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-768x566.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":566,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":590,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":590,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":590,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":590,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/02\/63fb0626d4634-63fb0626d46362Sam13-Alexandre_Cabanel-Thamar-Mus\u00e9e_dOrsay.jpg-569x420.jpg","home_baner-width":569,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"13","chapter_main_number":"276","date":"20260920","wall_id":"276"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"457","name":"Rape","old_id":"857"},{"term_id":"567","name":"Tamar","old_id":"967"},{"term_id":"690","name":"Art","old_id":"1090"}]},{"order":6,"id":"60529","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Considering Tamar In The Age Of #MeToo ","post_title":"Considering Tamar In The Age Of #MeToo","slug":"considering-tamar-in-the-age-of-metoo","old_id":"60529","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"276","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Despite the horror and shame, a model of female courage and response","post_main_content_content":"

        The rape of Tamar, so vividly depicted in 2 Samuel Chapter 13, is heartbreaking and infuriating. Here is a young woman, raised in a cosseted royal household, likely under the microscope of public opinion, in an environment of male dominance, who, while trying to help her brother through a supposed illness, becomes his rape victim.\u00a0 But besides relating a horrific event of sexual violence, the narrative also illustrates Tamar\u2019s courage, way ahead of her time, and demonstrates an example of victim response that only now, in 21<\/span>st<\/span> century society, is becoming normalized.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        First, Tamar verbally and without any mistake refuses consent. \u201cCome lie with me\u201d asks her brother. \u201cDon\u2019t force me\u201d is her unequivocal reply (13:12).\u00a0 While her refused consent didn\u2019t help Tamar, we know today that consent is key in judging guilt of sexual violence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Second, she fought. Following the attack, we hear about Amnon\u2019s sudden hatred of Tamar.\u00a0 Many commentaries suggest that Amnon\u2019s hatred is a projection of his self-hatred with the knowledge that forever more every time he sees Tamar he\u2019ll be reminded of his own degeneracy. But many commentaries, including Rashi, are less charitable to Amnon and speculate that he was really expressing anger over the fight Tamar put up. Evidently, when Amnon had finished with Tamar and before he had thrown her out, she managed to tie something (a hair, a string\u2026it doesn\u2019t really matter) around Amnon\u2019s organ, mutilating him for life. Good for you, Tamar! It might not have served her well in today\u2019s judicial system but would surely play well in the court of public opinion.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        And thirdly, she didn\u2019t try to hide the truth or protect her aggressor. Amnon tried to dispose of Tamar, ordering his attendant to \u201cGet that woman out of my presence and bar the door behind her (13:17).\u201d But Tamar did not slink home and try to bury the crime that had been committed against her. Instead she outed Amnon to all, putting dust on her head, tearing her royal princess robe and \u201cwalked away, screaming loudly as she went (13:19).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        If only it hadn\u2019t taken more than 3,000 years for Tamar\u2019s example to become entrenched in a movement.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: #metoo by Wolfmann \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60530,"alt":"","title":"2sam13-metoo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","width":1024,"height":575,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-300x168.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":168,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-768x431.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-1024x575.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":575,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":575,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":575,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":575,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-748x420.jpg","home_baner-width":748,"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":"Considering Tamar In The Age Of #MeToo","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Despite the horror and shame, a model of female courage and response","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60530,"alt":"","title":"2sam13-metoo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","width":1024,"height":575,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-300x168.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":168,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-768x431.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-1024x575.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":575,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":575,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":575,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":575,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-metoo-748x420.jpg","home_baner-width":748,"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":"13","chapter_main_number":"276","date":"20260920","wall_id":"276"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"457","name":"Rape","old_id":"857"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"567","name":"Tamar","old_id":"967"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]},{"order":7,"id":"60568","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Absalom\u2019s Return: Oedipal Struggle and Dynastic Succession\u00a0 ","post_title":"Absalom\u2019s Return: Oedipal Struggle and Dynastic Succession\u00a0","slug":"absaloms-return-oedipal-struggle-and-dynastic-succession","old_id":"60568","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56443,"post_title":"Moshe Halbertal","slug":"moshe-halbertal","old_id":"56443","first_name":"Moshe ","last_name":"Halbertal ","description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. His latest book, co-authored with Stephen Holmes, The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel was published by Princeton University Press in 2017. Halbertal was the recipient of the Michael Bruno Memorial Award of the Rothschild Foundation and the Goldstein-Goren Book Award for the best book in Jewish thought in the years 1997 to 2000. In 2010, Halbertal was named a member of Israel\u2019s Academy for the Sciences and the Humanities.","short_description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56444,"alt":"","title":"Moshe-Halbertal","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The author critically examines the deep conflict between the logic of power and the logic of love","post_main_content_content":"

        Absalom\u2019s rebellion constitutes the longest narrative unit in the Book of Samuel. Through its detailed and complex structure, manifold characters and subplots, the author critically examines the deep conflict between the logic of power and the logic of love. In the dramatic events recounted in 2 Samuel 14-19, the price of sovereignty -- of striving to seize and keep it -- reached its most calamitous heights. In Absalom\u2019s rebellion against David, the family as a unit responsible for smoothly transferring sovereign power on the incumbent ruler\u2019s death ended up plunging Israel back into civil war. Within a relatively long stretch of six chapters, the author of the Book of Samuel meticulously lays out the relationship between this arguable oedipal struggle and the inner logic of dynastic succession. The first step in this devastating sequence was Absalom\u2019s return to Jerusalem from Geshur, where he has fled in forced exile after he had killed Amnon.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom\u2019s return was initiated by Joab, who had been David\u2019s unswervingly loyal general all along. Within David\u2019s circle, Joab represents the voice of clearheaded and farseeing realpolitik. He therefore must have calculated that allowing Absalom to stay away from the court too long could become a source of trouble for David. Absalom should be brought back not only to appease him but also to keep him under surveillance. Otherwise, unmonitored in his banishment, the angry and ambitious prince, whose assassination of David\u2019s firstborn son could easily be interpreted as an attack on the king\u2019s own authority, might well begin to plot subversion while slowly developing a power base to help him carry it out. Joab also knew that despite David\u2019s wistful longing for Absalom, the king could not simply invite back to Jerusalem and rehabilitate the murderer of an heir to the throne. An indirect approach thus had to be fashioned to persuade David to allow Absalom\u2019s return. For this purpose, the savvy Joab enlisted a very wise woman from the village Tekoa, a few miles south of Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        She was sent by Joab to soften up the king and to elicit from him an authoritative verdict that could then be shrewdly recycled as an argument against the banishing of Absalom. It was a clever ploy and a masterful performance of personal persuasion by a gifted tragedienne, following Joab\u2019s script and extracting an explicit ruling sealed by an oath from a powerful yet initially hesitant sovereign. The ruling was elicited by her bold and iconic presentation of the unbearable price of relentlessly adhering to the revenge ethos within the family. The verdict might have been very different if presented in the abstract or by a less talented emissary.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Excerpts from The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel<\/em> \u2013 Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes, Princeton University Press, 2017, pp. 118-119.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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from:\u201cThe Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel\u201d ","tile_main_caption":"Absalom\u2019s Return: Oedipal Struggle and Dynastic Succession\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The author critically examines the deep conflict between the logic of power and the logic of love","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book cover.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg.png","width":2000,"height":2000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg.png","2048x2048-width":2000,"2048x2048-height":2000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/halbertal-book-cover.jpg-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"381","name":"love","old_id":"781"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"}]},{"order":8,"id":"60599","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Powerful, Powerless Joab ","post_title":"Powerful, Powerless Joab","slug":"powerful-powerless-joab","old_id":"60599","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":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He cannot trust Absalom, but he must yield to stabilize a volatile situation that might threaten the king","post_main_content_content":"

        For a few chapters, Joab has been sidelined as interfamilial crimes threaten the continuity of David\u2019s kingship. If David\u2019s passivity in the face of these events telegraphs a sense of helplessness, Joab\u2019s own absence underscores once again how<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab\u2019s power depends on his obedience<\/span><\/a>. If the king does not want to act, Joab can neither make him act, nor act himself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        And yet, Joab\u2019s <\/span>intimate connection to the king<\/span><\/a> does yield its own sort of power. When Absalom reaches out, Joab tries to flex that power. Much as Nathan did, Joab has a fictional legal case presented before the king, and then uses David\u2019s reaction to the third-party scenario to make a point about David\u2019s own situation. Unlike Nathan, however, Joab sends his message by way of a third party, the wise woman of Tekoa.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab\u2019s use of the front-woman highlights not only his limits, but how shrewdly he operates within them. Joab presents his case through a nonthreatening widow whom he has expertly prepared for every turn of the conversation. The accuracy with which the woman\u2019s handler predicted David\u2019s reactions leaves David with no doubt that it was Joab, who knows the king better than anyone, who sent her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab may leave this episode feeling good about his unique power in the king\u2019s court, but any security is soon shattered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        When Joab ignores Absalom\u2019s missives, Absalom has Joab\u2019s field burned. Joab responds to this blackmail by giving in and doing what Absalom wants.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Is Joab prioritizing his own interests over the king\u2019s<\/span> again<\/span><\/a>? A close look at Absalom\u2019s words suggests otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        When Joab asks Absalom \u201cWhy did your servants set fire to my field?\u201d we might expect Absalom to respond \u201cbecause you did not come when I asked you to.\u201d But Absalom\u2019s response is subtly different: \u201cI sent for you to come here; I wanted to send you to the king to say [on my behalf]: \u2018Why did I leave Geshur? I would be better off if I were still there. Now let me appear before the king; and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death!\u2019\u201d Joab\u2019s action or inaction is never mentioned; what Absalom wants is the only relevant topic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom\u2019s actions were not personal revenge against Joab, but just another means to achieve his desired ends. If so, Joab could surmise two things: (a) that not only Joab, but anyone who stood in Absalom\u2019s way - perhaps even David, eventually - would be at equal risk, and (b) that appeasing Absalom would not prevent Absalom from engaging in future destructive acts if he deemed them useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab is trapped. He senses that he must yield not just to protect himself, but to stabilize a volatile situation that might come to threaten even the king. At the same time, he knows Absalom cannot be trusted in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        If we have correctly read between the lines as to Joab\u2019s premonitions, they prove sadly accurate in the chapters that follow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: David and Absalom Reconcile, by Rudolf von Ems: Weltchronik, c. 1360 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60600,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-david absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","width":800,"height":493,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-300x185.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":185,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-768x473.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":473,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":493,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":493,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":493,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":493,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-682x420.jpg","home_baner-width":682,"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":"Powerful, Powerless Joab","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He cannot trust Absalom, but he must yield to stabilize a volatile situation that might threaten the king","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60600,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-david absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","width":800,"height":493,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-300x185.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":185,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-768x473.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":473,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":493,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":493,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":493,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":493,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-682x420.jpg","home_baner-width":682,"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"900","name":"Joab","old_id":"1300"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":9,"id":"60654","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Absalom\u2019s Strategic Assault on David\u2019s \u2018Justice\u2019 (Mishpat) ","post_title":"Absalom\u2019s Strategic Assault on David\u2019s \u2018Justice\u2019 (Mishpat)","slug":"absaloms-strategic-assault-on-davids-justice-mishpat","old_id":"60654","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38322,"post_title":"James A. Diamond","slug":"james-a-diamond","old_id":"38322","first_name":"James ","last_name":"Diamond ","description":"Prof. James A. Diamond holds the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo. His most recent book is \u201cJewish Theology Unbound\u201d published by Oxford University Press. ","short_description":"Prof. James A. Diamond holds the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38323,"alt":"","title":"James Diamond","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913.jpg","width":1186,"height":1386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-257x300.jpg","medium-width":257,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-768x898.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":898,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-876x1024.jpg","large-width":876,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913.jpg","1536x1536-width":1186,"1536x1536-height":1386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913.jpg","2048x2048-width":1186,"2048x2048-height":1386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-1027x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1027,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-359x420.jpg","home_baner-width":359,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"278","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"David\u2019s current abuse of mishpat while in power is an extension of his manipulation of mishpat during his dubious beginnings and renders his regime particularly vulnerable\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

        The initial step in Absalom\u2019s insurrection against his father is crafting his image as a champion of the rule of law. Absalom seizes on some failure of David\u2019s governance that must have caused resentment among the populace. Those seduced by power always exploit political disgruntlement to rally support in their fledgling campaigns against the current regime.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom intercepts litigants seeking justice in David\u2019s courts. His warning that the king will not afford them a \u201chearing\u201d must credibly appeal to be effective. This strategy proved successful for regime change previously. Discontent with corruption in the administration of justice was the very reason the people rejected Samuel\u2019s prophetic dynasty in favor of kingship: that Samuel\u2019s successor sons were \u201cbent on gain, accepted bribes, and subverted justice (<\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i>)\u201d (I Sam 8:3). Thus begins a recurring play on the term <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> (law; custom; practice) throughout the Saul\/David narrative.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom\u2019s first question regarding what town the disputant comes from and its elicited response, \u201cfrom one of the Israelite tribes,\u201d are revealing. For the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century commentator Malbim, Absalom pointedly targets David\u2019s bias favoring his own tribe to the detriment of all other Israelites. Once the litigant identifies himself as outside David\u2019s clan, Absalom offers an impartial alternative to David\u2019s prejudiced judicial administration. Fueling civil unrest garners Absalom popular support needed to ensure a successful insurgency already stirring in the first verse describing his ominous formation of a private militia, \u201cAbsalom provided himself with a chariot, horses, and fifty runners.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Ironically<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>David\u2019s own pretensions to Saul\u2019s throne began with <\/span>subversions<\/span><\/i> of the law. First, he attracted a ragtag band of misfit recruits comprising those \u201cin straits, in debt, and desperate\u201d (1 Sam 22:2) who sought <\/span>escape<\/span><\/i> from the law. These weren\u2019t citizens mistreated by Saul, but rather precisely those failing to fulfil their legal obligations toward others, seeking relief that an outlaw life with David offered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Second, David\u2019s premiere association with <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> occurred during his refuge from Saul under the protection of the Philistines. David would ransack for personal gain non-Israelite towns leaving no survivors who could controvert his deceptive report to the Philistine king that he had plundered Israelite villages, conduct characterized as \u201chis practice\/law (<\/span>mishpato<\/span><\/i>) as long as he stayed in the territory of the Philistines (I Samuel 27:11).\u201d David\u2019s insurrection was thus marked by the lawlessness of his supporters compounded by banditry, wholesale murder, and deception characteristic of his <\/span>mishpat.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

        David\u2019s current abuse of <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> while in power is really an extension of his manipulation of <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> during his dubious beginnings. But it is what renders his regime particularly vulnerable to the machinations of his opponents, in this case his own son. The recurring appearance of the term <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> in the record of Absalom\u2019s nascent strategy toward an eventual coup invokes David\u2019s Machiavellian distortion of <\/span>mishpat <\/span><\/i>to gain power which, when systemically instituted while in power, exposes his greatest weakness. It also further corroborates Samuel\u2019s prediction of the king\u2019s oppressive <\/span>mishpat <\/span><\/i>which would inevitably degenerate into enslavement (I Sam 8:11-17).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60655,"alt":"","title":"2sam15-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","width":1280,"height":739,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-300x173.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-768x443.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":443,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-1024x591.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":739,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":739,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-1200x693.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-727x420.png","home_baner-width":727,"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":"Absalom\u2019s Strategic Assault on David\u2019s \u2018Justice\u2019 (Mishpat)","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"David\u2019s current abuse of mishpat while in power is an extension of his manipulation of mishpat during his dubious beginnings and renders his regime particularly vulnerable\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60655,"alt":"","title":"2sam15-justice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","width":1280,"height":739,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-300x173.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-768x443.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":443,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-1024x591.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":739,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":739,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-1200x693.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice-727x420.png","home_baner-width":727,"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":"15","chapter_main_number":"278","date":"20260922","wall_id":"278"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"414","name":"Law","old_id":"814"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"884","name":"Corruption","old_id":"1284"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":10,"id":"60647","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"David's Concubines: More Than Meets The Eye? ","post_title":"David's Concubines: More Than Meets The Eye?","slug":"davids-concubines-more-than-meets-the-eye","old_id":"60647","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":"278","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Vested with power, they were queens for a day, representing a different sort of public","post_main_content_content":"

        \u201cAnd the king went out, and all his household with him, on foot, and the king left his ten concubines to watch over [his palace].\u201d<\/p>\r\n

        In 2 Samuel 15 the prophecy David brought upon himself when he took Bathsheba and murdered her husband is coming to fruition. His son Absalom has risen up in an attempt to usurp the throne. David receives word that \u201cThe hearts of the men of Israel are following Absalom,\u201d and David responds by taking all of his servants and all of his household and fleeing Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        All of his household except his concubines, who he leaves in charge of the palace.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        Concubines in the biblical age were a kind of second wife, of a lower status than first wives, but still legally bonded to their husbands, and possessing a number of rights afforded to wives.<\/p>\r\n

        Within the monarchy, concubines played a critical role tied to power. The biblical precursor to the adage \u201cwhoever has the money holds the power\u201d was that power lay in the hands of whomever lay with the concubines.<\/p>\r\n

        Concubines were a symbol of power and dominion.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        So why did David leave his concubines in charge when he and his household fled Jerusalem? Perhaps he left them as a statement that, although he had fled, Jerusalem was still his.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        But David did not merely leave these women in his palace; he left them there to watch over it<\/em>. Clearly these women, in this moment, were not merely symbols<\/em> of power\u2014they had been vested<\/em> with it.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        But unlike his queens, these were not the daughters of kings and political allies, these were more likely the handmaids of those better-connected women, or women of status whose fathers nonetheless lacked the means to pay a king\u2019s dowry.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        These were not women trained in royal affairs\u2014were they qualified to watch over the palace<\/em>?<\/p>\r\n

        Perhaps\u00a0David's leaving his concubines in charge was\u00a0an act of desperation. Or perhaps they weren't left in charge at all, serving merely\u00a0as palace\u00a0guards.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        But I am loath to write these women off too quickly, hesitant to strip them of a rare power they might have held, if only for a moment.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

        I am thinking instead of the debates that are unfolding in politics today, of whether a lifelong politician beholden to Big Money or a former bartender rooted in the proletariat is better suited to make decisions that affect the American masses. I like to at least entertain the idea that\u00a0David\u2019s concubines might have been\u00a0the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs of their day\u2014capable, determined, industrious women who understood Jerusalem and its people and held deep reverence for an unprecedented opportunity to govern.<\/p>\r\n

        Perhaps, in this moment, David\u2019s concubines come to teach us that we should all put greater faith in the hands of the capable and committed, regardless of social status.<\/p>\r\n

        Image: by Francesco de\u2019 Rossi Salviati, c. 1553 \/ wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60648,"alt":"","title":"2sam15-Salviati_concubines","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines.jpg","width":300,"height":612,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines-147x300.jpg","medium-width":147,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":612,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":612,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":612,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":612,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":612,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-Salviati_concubines-206x420.jpg","home_baner-width":206,"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":"David's Concubines: More Than Meets The Eye?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Vested with power, they were queens for a day, representing a different sort of 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Samuel","chapter":"15","chapter_main_number":"278","date":"20260922","wall_id":"278"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"835","name":"King","old_id":"1235"},{"term_id":"908","name":"Queen","old_id":"1308"}]},{"order":11,"id":"60670","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Beware of Ziba Bearing Gifts ","post_title":"Beware Of Ziba Bearing Gifts","slug":"beware-of-ziba-bearing-gifts","old_id":"60670","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"279","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And Shimei bearing curses\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

        David\u2019s hasty departure from Jerusalem in the previous chapter meant that he and his household had fled on foot and without the provisions necessary to sustain them, surely not the best way to avoid capture by Absalom\u2019s rebel forces. To his aid, came Ziba, servant to Saul and major domo to Mephi-Boshet, sole surviving son of Jonathan, whom we first met in chapter 4 and again in chapter 9. The chickens of foreshadowing (<\/span>see our comments there<\/span><\/a>) are coming home to roost.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Ziba brought along donkeys for transportation, food and drink for the wayfarers, and spun a tale of conspiracy against David featuring his own master, Mephi-Boshet. If Ziba were to be believed, that son of Jonathan had set a new record for ingratitude: ignoring all that David had done for him on account of his relationship with his father, Mephi-Boshet had used the turmoil surrounding Absalom\u2019s rebellion to pursue the restoration of his ancestral rule. David responded by decreeing that all Mephi-Boshet\u2019s property now belonged to Ziba. When we reach the denouement of the Absalom episode, we will witness David doing a \u201cflip flop.\u201d Caught between the rock of the solemnity with which royal decrees deserve to be met and the hard place of the discovery that Ziba had lied about Mephi-Boshet\u2019s true feelings towards him, David declared that \u201che and Ziba should divide the property\u201d (19:30).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        As though this were not enough of a blow to David\u2019s pride, no sooner had Ziba gone then Shimei son of Gera, another relative of Saul, seized the opportunity to heap curses upon him, jeering \u201cKeep going, you bloody wicked man\u201d (7). Here, David showed remarkable restraint, accepting these taunts as part of his divinely ordained suffering, and forbidding Abishai son of Zeruiah from striking Shimei. En passant, we recall that David had earlier exclaimed \u201cthe Zeruiah boys are just too tough [or savage] for me\u201d (2 Samuel 3:39), hinting at yet another score that will not be settled until we get to David\u2019s last will and testament (1 Kings 2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: Shimei curses David, 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60675,"alt":"","title":"2sam16-shimei ben gera","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","width":800,"height":639,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-300x240.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-768x613.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":613,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","large-width":800,"large-height":639,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":639,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":639,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":639,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-526x420.png","home_baner-width":526,"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":"Beware of Ziba Bearing Gifts","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And Shimei bearing curses\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60675,"alt":"","title":"2sam16-shimei ben gera","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","width":800,"height":639,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-300x240.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-768x613.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":613,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","large-width":800,"large-height":639,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":639,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":639,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera.png","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":639,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-shimei-ben-gera-526x420.png","home_baner-width":526,"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":"16","chapter_main_number":"279","date":"20260923","wall_id":"279"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"583","name":"Curse","old_id":"983"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"}]},{"order":12,"id":"60682","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Sexual Violence and Political Power ","post_title":"Sexual Violence And Political Power","slug":"sexual-violence-and-political-power","old_id":"60682","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39842,"post_title":"Avigayil Halpern","slug":"avigayil-halpern","old_id":"39842","first_name":"Avigayil ","last_name":"Halpern ","description":"Avigayil Halpern graduated from Yale in May of 2019 and is beginning study toward rabbinic ordination at the Hadar Institute. Avigayil has written extensively on issues of Jewish observance and gender in the Jewish media, and was an opinion columnist for the Yale Daily News.","short_description":"Avigayil Halpern graduated from Yale in May of 2019 and is beginning study toward rabbinic ordination at the Hadar Institute","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39843,"alt":"","title":"A. Halpern headshot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221.jpg","width":1612,"height":1935,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221-250x300.jpg","medium-width":250,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221-768x922.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":922,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221-853x1024.jpg","large-width":853,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221.jpg","2048x2048-width":1612,"2048x2048-height":1935,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221-1000x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/A.-Halpern-headshot-e1536749058221-350x420.jpg","home_baner-width":350,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"279","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Acts of violence are perpetrated by individuals, but also within systems","post_main_content_content":"

        At the end of Chapter 16, we meet a nameless group of women. David\u2019s concubines are mentioned only over two verses, a short section that holds a deep well of pain and violence. In a deeply disturbing attempt at reifying his power, Absalom sleeps with -- it would seem, rapes, as the women have no option to opt out -- his father\u2019s concubines. The women have been left behind as others have fled, \u201cleft to mind the palace\u201d (16:21). The reader gets the impression that they are viewed as almost an accoutrement to the palace, an accessory that accompanies the building rather than members of the royal household.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The apex of Absalom\u2019s rebellion is this act of sexual violence. This is, per the advice of Ahithophel, the moment that will solidify his power, his complete replacement of his father. By having sex with the women his father has sex with, he will himself become the king. But, unlike many other women in the Prophetic books, these several concubines are silent. If they spoke \u2014 or screamed, or protested \u2014 the text does not report it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom\u2019s rape of his father\u2019s concubines is shocking in its scale and implied violence. But it is not new. The event takes place on the palace roof; this is the same palace roof from which his father King David observed Bathsheba bathing and demanded her attentions. Acts of violence, in particular sexual violence, often take place embedded in a context that has created a situation in which they will be overlooked or downplayed. Absalom\u2019s assault is not even the first act of sexual aggression in the book to take place in that exact location!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Acts of violence are perpetrated by individuals, but also within systems. Absalom does not act alone; he is encouraged by Ahithophel, and he acts in a context where women are already being treated as objects, left with the royal palace rather than taken to safety away from Absalom. To combat such violence takes more than individual condemnations; palace roofs must cease to be places where men feel they can do whatever they want.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: Absalom\u2019s Sin, by <\/span>Richard McBee<\/span><\/a>, courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60683,"alt":"","title":"2sam16-McBee-Absaloms Sin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","width":402,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","medium_large-width":402,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","large-width":402,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","1536x1536-width":402,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","2048x2048-width":402,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","post_full_size-width":402,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"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":"Sexual Violence And Political Power","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Acts of violence are perpetrated by individuals, but also within systems","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60683,"alt":"","title":"2sam16-McBee-Absaloms Sin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","width":402,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","medium_large-width":402,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","large-width":402,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","1536x1536-width":402,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","2048x2048-width":402,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin.jpg","post_full_size-width":402,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam16-McBee-Absaloms-Sin-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"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":"16","chapter_main_number":"279","date":"20260923","wall_id":"279"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"457","name":"Rape","old_id":"857"},{"term_id":"543","name":"Violence","old_id":"943"},{"term_id":"574","name":"Sex","old_id":"974"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":13,"id":"60691","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"The End Of Ahithophel ","post_title":"The End Of Ahithophel","slug":"the-end-of-ahithophel","old_id":"60691","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":"280","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A good advisor gone bad? An evil man with some good moments? He left himself, and us, hanging","post_main_content_content":"

        In our chapter, Hushai manages to counter Ahithophel\u2019s advice to Absalom to attack David and his meager forces without delay (see also Psalms 41:9; 55:12\u201314, and 2 Samuel 15:12). This allows David to escape once again. Ahithophel, David\u2019s once trusted counselor, whose advice has now been rejected, returns home to Giloh and commits suicide (17:1-23).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        According to Talmud Bavli Sanhedrin 106a, Ahithophel was a pre-eminent Torah scholar. Curiously, the 16<\/span>th<\/span> century eminent rabbi, talmudist, and posek, Moshe Isserles, records in his work Torat Ha-Olah 11:1, that he found in \u201can old book\u201d, that the great Greek philosopher, Socrates, was a disciple of none other than our Ahitophel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        According to Talmud Bavli Makkot 11a, Ahithophel did, on occasion, give David very good and important advice. When David was excavating the foundations for the Temple in Jerusalem, the waters of the primeval Chaos (Tehom \u2013 see Genesis 1:2) came surging up, threatening to flood the world.\u00a0 David inquired if it might be permissible to write the Divine Name of God on a potsherd and use it to stop the upsurge of the primordial waters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        When no one replied immediately, David shouted out: Whoever knows the answer and does not reveal it, let him be strangled by his throat in punishment for remaining silent at such a critical moment! On hearing this curse, Ahithophel reasoned\u00a0 to himself, employing the Rabbinic principle of <\/span>qal ve-homer<\/span><\/em> (drawing inference from a minor case to the major case): If in order to restore peace between husband and wife, the Divine Name of God may be washed off in the \u201cbitter waters\u201d (in the <\/span>sotah<\/em> <\/span>ritual, see Numbers 5:23), how much the more so may the Divine Name be washed off to save the whole world! So, he advised David that using the Divine Name for what David proposed is permissible. David acted on Ahithophel\u2019s sage advice and the world was saved.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Nevertheless, later when Ahithophel saw that his advice to Absalom to immediately attack David was not followed, he returned home and hung himself (17:23).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        For the rabbinic sages, Ahithophel was a classic example of a wicked person (rasha<\/em>\u2019), who has no share in the world to come (Mishnah Sanhedrin 11:1). According to Midrash Tanhuma Buber Va-Yetze 6: \u201cThe death of the wicked is neither on earth or in the heavens\u201d, as exemplified by Ahithophel who hanged himself between heaven and earth. So too the death of Haman and his sons (see Esther, Chapters 7 and 9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        On a personal note, as a resident of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Giloh, I find it a bit disturbing that such a wicked personality as Ahithophel is said to have come from the biblical village of Giloh (see Joshua 15:51, 2 Samuel 15:12). And that is where the evil Ahithophel died and was buried \u201cin the tomb of his father.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        \u00a0Image: <\/span>Rudolf von Ems, Ahithophel Hanging Himself, c. 1365 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60700,"alt":"","title":"2sam17-ahithophel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","width":545,"height":668,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel-245x300.jpg","medium-width":245,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","medium_large-width":545,"medium_large-height":668,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","large-width":545,"large-height":668,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","1536x1536-width":545,"1536x1536-height":668,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","2048x2048-width":545,"2048x2048-height":668,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","post_full_size-width":545,"post_full_size-height":668,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel-343x420.jpg","home_baner-width":343,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The End Of Ahithophel","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A good advisor gone bad? An evil man with some good moments? He left himself, and us, hanging","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60700,"alt":"","title":"2sam17-ahithophel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","width":545,"height":668,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel-245x300.jpg","medium-width":245,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","medium_large-width":545,"medium_large-height":668,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","large-width":545,"large-height":668,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","1536x1536-width":545,"1536x1536-height":668,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","2048x2048-width":545,"2048x2048-height":668,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel.jpg","post_full_size-width":545,"post_full_size-height":668,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam17-ahithophel-343x420.jpg","home_baner-width":343,"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":"17","chapter_main_number":"280","date":"20260924","wall_id":"280"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"383","name":"Death","old_id":"783"},{"term_id":"627","name":"Talmud","old_id":"1027"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"}]},{"order":14,"id":"60669","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"Another Shrewd Woman Saves The Day ","post_title":"Another Shrewd Woman Saves The Day","slug":"another-shrewd-woman-saves-the-day","old_id":"60669","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54356,"post_title":"Robert Alter","slug":"robert-alter","old_id":"54356","first_name":"Robert ","last_name":"Alter","description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has written over twenty books, focusing on such topics as the European novel from the 18th century to the present, contemporary American fiction, and modern Hebrew literature. He has also written extensively on the literary aspects of the Bible. His most recent work is his monumental three volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019 - from which the selections in 929 are taken. ","short_description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of the three-volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":54357,"alt":"","title":"robert alter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","width":184,"height":275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium-width":184,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium_large-width":184,"medium_large-height":275,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","large-width":184,"large-height":275,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","1536x1536-width":184,"1536x1536-height":275,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","2048x2048-width":184,"2048x2048-height":275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","post_full_size-width":184,"post_full_size-height":275,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","home_baner-width":184,"home_baner-height":275}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"280","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And the allusion to Joshua foreshadows similar destruction for Absalom the pursuer","post_main_content_content":"

        17:19 \u201cAnd the woman took a cloth and stretched it over the mouth of the well and spread groats on top of it, so that nothing could be noticed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Commentary: The woman is evidently the wife of the man from Bahurim (the same Hebrew word means both \u201cwoman\u201d and \u201cwife,\u201d like <\/span>femme<\/span><\/i> in French and <\/span>Frau<\/span><\/i> in German). This is still another instance in the David story in which the enterprising intervention of a shrewd woman saves the day. As has often been noted, this moment alludes to the story told in Joshua 2 of Rahab the harlot, who hides the two spies sent out to Jericho by Joshua. In Joshua, the spies are hidden up above, in the roof thatch; here they hide below in the well. There may be a certain agricultural affinity between the covering of thatch and the cloth covered with groats (if that is what the anomalous Hebrew <\/span>rifot<\/span><\/i> means) under which the pairs of spies hide. In any case, the destruction of all the men of Jericho who sought Joshua\u2019s spies foreshadows the destruction of Absalom\u2019s army.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"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":"From Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","tile_main_caption":"Another Shrewd Woman Saves The Day","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And the allusion to Joshua foreshadows similar destruction for Absalom the pursuer","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"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":"17","chapter_main_number":"280","date":"20260924","wall_id":"280"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/60469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}