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The prophecies of (<\/span>chazon<\/span><\/em>)<\/span> Isaiah son of Amoz <\/span>who prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah (verse 1).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah is the first book of the later prophets, and this introductory verse provides important context for the prophet. Isaiah appeared at the end of the book of II Kings during the reign of Hezekiah, but this verse explains that his prophecies spanned the reigns of four kings of Judah. The midrash adds that Isaiah was killed by Manassas (Menashe), which would add a fifth king.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi explains that these are the four kings that Isaiah outlived. His prophetic visions began when Uzziah was stricken with leprosy, and it lasted until he was killed by Manassas. The book is mostly long-form poetic type prophecies with some narrative sprinkled in. Ibn Ezra explains that Isaiah\u2019s father Amoz is mentioned to explain that Isaiah was a member of the royal family. His father Amoz was the brother of Amatziah, the king before Uzziah. This would have provided him with a lot of access to the royal court. Isaiah also prophesied about other nations, so many commentators explain that this was not his first prophecy and that the book is not in chronological order.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This introductory verse also sets up the general type of prophecies with the word \u201cchazon.\u201d What does the word \u201cchazon\u201d mean? The literal translation is \u201ca vision.\u201d The word first appears in the beginning of the book of Samuel, in the only time the word appears outside the latter prophets:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Young Samuel was in the service of the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; prophecy (<\/span>chazon<\/span><\/em>) was not widespread (verse 3:1).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There the word is used to mean prophecy in general. Samuel\u2019s first prophecy is at night possibly in a dream state, so it is possible that all of Isaiah\u2019s visions come in the same dream-like state. Chazon is from the same root as <\/span>chazzan<\/span><\/em>- the cantor, leader in a synagogue service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a bit of anachronistic irony here as well. Isaiah\u2019s prophecy in this chapter is all about how God looks at the Temple sacrifices as worthless if they have no meaning behind them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2018What need have I of all your sacrifices?\u2019 says the LORD. \u2018I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, And suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls; And I have no delight In lambs and he-goats\u2019 (verse 11).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God prefers devotion to empty actions. God prefers the heartfelt prayer of the <\/span>chazzan <\/span><\/i>over the empty actions of the sacrifice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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Times","slug":"a-prophet-in-turbulent-times","old_id":"64644","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":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A complex work, spanning centuries\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The book of Isaiah takes its name from the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, who lived in Jerusalem in the second half of the eighth century BCE. Not much is known of Isaiah\u2019s background, and nothing is known of his birth or death. It is clear from some of the stories within the book that he traveled in elite circles, including regular conversations with kings, most importantly Hezekiah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah lived through a turbulent era in the history of Israel. The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727) explicitly wanted to create an Assyrian empire throughout the Near East and set out to do so by military means. In 722-720 the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. This \u201cexile of the Ten Tribes\u201d had both long-term and short-term implications for Jewish history. In the long term, the idea of finding the lost tribes has occupied thinkers from then until now. In the short term, it left the small country of Judah relatively isolated within the expanding Assyrian empire. When a new king, Sennacherib, ascended the Assyrian throne in 705, Hezekiah took the opportunity to rebel, along with a number of neighbors. The resulting Assyrian military campaign of 701 was a climactic episode in Isaiah\u2019s career and in the history of Judah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah played a formidable role in that story, and prophecies related to those events take up a lot of space in the book. The narrative of the planned Assyrian assault itself is narrated in great detail in chapters 36-39 (chapters found also in much the same form in the book of Kings). Jerusalem and Hezekiah survived that assault, and this may well have solidified Isaiah\u2019s reputation as a prophet; it certainly solidified the notions of a holy city, protected by God, and the sanctity of the Davidic line of kings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It has long been noted that the second part of the book, beginning immediately after that narrative, in chapter 40, has nothing to do with the events of the first part of the book. Here the historical background is entirely different: the empires mentioned are the Babylonians and (up-and-coming) Persians; Cyrus the Great (reigned 539-530) is mentioned by name as the imminent savior of the Jews (chapters 44 and 45). The prophet Isaiah is not mentioned beginning in chapter 40, and the prophecies presuppose that the Jews are already in exile. All this has suggested to interpreters (starting with Moshe Ibn Chiquitilla, in the 11<\/span>th<\/span> century in Spain) that the second half of the book is not in fact the work of Isaiah son of Amoz, but rather comes from the pen of an anonymous prophet during the time of the Babylonian Exile, in the 6<\/span>th<\/span> century BCE.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some scholars have further divided the book, finding signs of an \u201cThird Isaiah\u201d in chapters 55-56. Still, it is clear from all sorts of textual and ideological connections that the book as we have it is a unified, consciously edited work, which is meant to be read as an organic whole even though its origins span centuries.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Dead Sea Scroll - part of Isaiah Scroll (Isa 57:17 - 59:9), 1QIsab<\/sup><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64645,"alt":"","title":"is1-Is in DSS-1QIsa","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","width":567,"height":678,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","medium_large-width":567,"medium_large-height":678,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","large-width":567,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","1536x1536-width":567,"1536x1536-height":678,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","2048x2048-width":567,"2048x2048-height":678,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","post_full_size-width":567,"post_full_size-height":678,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"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":"Conceptual Overview I","tile_main_caption":"A Prophet In Turbulent Times","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A complex work, spanning centuries","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":64645,"alt":"","title":"is1-Is in DSS-1QIsa","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","width":567,"height":678,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","medium_large-width":567,"medium_large-height":678,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","large-width":567,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","1536x1536-width":567,"1536x1536-height":678,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","2048x2048-width":567,"2048x2048-height":678,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa.jpg","post_full_size-width":567,"post_full_size-height":678,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Is-in-DSS-1QIsa-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"624","name":"Academic","old_id":"1024"},{"term_id":"898","name":"Hezekiah","old_id":"1298"},{"term_id":"940","name":"Isaiah","old_id":"1340"}]},{"order":6,"id":"64640","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"An Approach To The Book Of Isaiah: Meet Malbim ","post_title":"An Approach To The Book Of Isaiah: Meet Malbim","slug":"an-approach-to-the-book-of-isaiah-meet-malbim","old_id":"64640","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. 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My comments on the Book of Isaiah will be informed chiefly by a talmudic proposition.\u00a0<\/span>In considering the pervasiveness of prophecy throughout the biblical period, as opposed to the relative paucity of prophets represented in literature, the Talmud (Megillah 14a) states:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Many prophets served Israel, as many as twice the number [of Jews] who left Egypt. However, a prophecy that is necessary for posterity was recorded, while a prophecy that is not necessary for posterity was not recorded.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our challenge, then, is to identify those elements within the Book of Isaiah that still maintain their relevance. Complicating the task is the poetic nature of most of the book, which poses analytical challenges of its own. Fortunately, for our endeavor, the commentary of Malbim addresses both perspectives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

M<\/b>eir <\/span>L<\/b>eib <\/span>B<\/b>en <\/span>Y<\/b>ehiel <\/span>M<\/b>ichel Weiser (1809-1879) served communities in Poland, Germany, and Rumania, in a career that was marked by an uncompromising individualism that put him at considerable odds with the nascent Liberal (Reform) movement and, at one point, even led to his incarceration by the Rumanian authorities on a trumped up charge of blasphemy against Christianity. (His release from prison was negotiated by Sir Moses Montefiore).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim occupied a singular position in respect of Bible studies. Rejecting the view of Ibn Ezra and Radak that parallel lines of biblical poetry are completely synonymous (a=b), Malbim argued that even synonyms retain their distinct individuality and the relationship between the parallel lines is \u201ca, and b even more so,\u201d a position adopted increasingly by modern scholars as demonstrated by James Kugel in <\/span>The Idea of Biblical Poetry<\/span><\/em> (1981; on Malbim, see p. 288 ff.).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Portrait of Malbim, published in HaRil Maimon, Sarei Hameah, Mossad HaRav Kook, 1961 \/ 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Canada","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38504,"alt":"","title":"BobChodos","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","width":262,"height":147,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos-150x147.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":147,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","medium-width":262,"medium-height":147,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","medium_large-width":262,"medium_large-height":147,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","large-width":262,"large-height":147,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","1536x1536-width":262,"1536x1536-height":147,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","2048x2048-width":262,"2048x2048-height":147,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","post_full_size-width":262,"post_full_size-height":147,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BobChodos.jpg","home_baner-width":262,"home_baner-height":147}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The house is on fire!","post_main_content_content":"

Unquestionably, the contemporary person whose role most closely resembles that of the ancient Israelite prophets is Greta Thunberg. She speaks in the same uncompromising language, warning of destruction if we don't change our ways. Here she is \"speaking truth to power,\" addressing the global elites assembled at Davos, Switzerland, last January: \"I don't want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house was on fire. Because it is.\" This is not the language of a political strategist, or of a realist settling for what she can get. It is the language of a prophet. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let us hope that, in contrast to Jeremiah, her message is heard.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Who is\u00a0your<\/em> prophet? Write and tell us, and your suggestion will appear here.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64637,"alt":"","title":"greta","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","width":204,"height":247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","medium-width":204,"medium-height":247,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":247,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","large-width":204,"large-height":247,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":247,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":247,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":247,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":247}},"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":"Prophets Of Today","tile_main_caption":"Greta Thunberg","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Speaking truth to power","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":64637,"alt":"","title":"greta","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","width":204,"height":247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","medium-width":204,"medium-height":247,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":247,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","large-width":204,"large-height":247,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":247,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":247,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":247,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/greta.jpg","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":247}},"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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"327","name":"Today's 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less than sacrifice and justice, prayer and compassion will suffice\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

For most English speakers, \u201cprophetic\u201d refers to premonitory knowledge of the future. But for many Jews, \u201cprophetic\u201d means something different: to \u201cspeak truth to power\u201d\u2014to hold corrupt authority to account for failing to honor God\u2019s true demands. What explains this different understanding? The answer, of course, is that the biblical prophets so often modeled this social critique in their own careers. And there are few prophetic passages that do so with quite the moral clarity and rhetorical power of the opening chapter of Isaiah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah 1 begins with the bleak prospects that we are accustomed to expect from biblical prophecy. Israel is buckling under sin; their bodies are maimed by their transgressions; their land is scorched. Scholarly attempts to date parts of these verses to Sennacherib\u2019s siege of Jerusalem in 701 BCE probably misconstrue their point in their present context. This situation transcends any particular historical event: it is, rather, the timeless condition of a people that has failed as a covenantal partner.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Such a people is bound eventually to turn to worship in order to appease their recalcitrant God. Yet it is precisely here that Isaiah has set his theological trap:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

'What need have I of all your sacrifices?' says the LORD. 'I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, And suet of fatlings, And blood of bulls; And I have no delight In lambs and he-goats. \u2026 Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; Aid the wronged. Uphold the rights of the orphan; Defend the cause of the widow' (1:11, 17).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It will be noted that Isaiah nowhere calls for the abrogation of cultic worship. What he <\/span>does<\/span><\/em> say is, in fact, far more radical: without concomitant attention to morality and decency, cultic worship\u2014including prayer (Isa 1:15)\u2014is not only ineffective; it is <\/span>actively abominable<\/span><\/em>. God certainly commands sacrifice. But if Israel believes that he may be appeased with fatlings while those created in his image go hungry in the streets, they do not understand the first thing about the God they claim to serve.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This stirring assertion opens not only the book of Isaiah but also the entirety of the Latter Prophets. It is, in effect, the \u201cdistillation\u201d of biblical prophecy. Like any effective abstract, it encapsulates an argument while leaving the full nuance to the careful reader. The latter component should not be dismissed. Biblical prophecy is wildly diverse; attempts wholly to equate it with social critique are literarily dishonest. Yet out of this diversity, Isaiah 1 sets the stage for the emergence of a sublime and terrifying claim: God and his Torah demand sacrifice <\/span>and<\/span><\/em> justice, prayer <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> compassion. According to the prophets, nothing less will suffice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: John Singer Sargent, Frieze of Prophets, 1895.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64712,"alt":"","title":"is1-john singer sargent frieze of 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Distillation Of Biblical Prophecy","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Nothing less than sacrifice and justice, prayer and compassion will suffice\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":64712,"alt":"","title":"is1-john singer sargent frieze of 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A Prophet For Today ","post_title":"Isaiah: A Prophet For Today","slug":"isaiah-a-prophet-for-today","old_id":"65234","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":65182,"post_title":"Benny Lau & Yoel Bin Nun","slug":"benny-lau-yoel-bin-nun","old_id":"65182","first_name":"Benny Lau","last_name":"and Yoel Bin Nun","description":"Rabbi Dr. Binyamin Lau is the founder and head of the Israeli initiative 929 and is a community leader, activist, author, and public speaker.\r\nRabbi Yoel Bin Nun, PhD. is a religious Zionist rabbi who was among the founders of Yeshivat Har Etzion and who emphasized the importance of the study of Tanach, and not just Talmud, in yeshiva. \r\nTogether they are the authors of \"Isaiah: Prophet of Righteousness and Justice\" (Maggid Books, 2019)","short_description":"Rabbi Dr. Binyamin Lau is the founder and head of the Israeli initiative 929. Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun, PhD. is a religious Zionist rabbi who was among the founders of Yeshivat Har Etzion. Together they are the authors of \"Isaiah: Prophet of Righteousness and Justice\" (Maggid Books, 2019)\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":65183,"alt":"","title":"lau bin nun","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun.jpg","width":1054,"height":691,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun-300x197.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":197,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun-768x503.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":503,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun-1024x671.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":671,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun.jpg","1536x1536-width":1054,"1536x1536-height":691,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun.jpg","2048x2048-width":1054,"2048x2048-height":691,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun.jpg","post_full_size-width":1054,"post_full_size-height":691,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/lau-bin-nun-641x420.jpg","home_baner-width":641,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The events of that period and the prophet\u2019s struggles during that time connect his prophecies to our generation as we struggle to fashion Jewish society upon the land of our forefathers","post_main_content_content":"

A divine poet walked the streets of Jerusalem. His words rose up over the heads of the people who lived in the Golden City. It was the hey\u00adday of King Uzziah, the most praiseworthy and promising of the kings of Judah since the days of Solomon. The city grew and prospered with bustling complacency, and only Isaiah etched out the words that he felt in his heart. By day, he gazed up at the spiraling towers of the city; by night, heavenly visions spread themselves out before him, and his eyes constantly darted between the two. As the urban skyline spread out around him, his spiritual turmoil intensified within, until it could no longer be contained.\u00a0 That was when prophecy burst out.<\/p>\r\n

Isaiah was a poet, a man of the book. He was active in scholarly circles, and his melodious words rang out loftier than everyday speech. People who heard his prophecies mocked these lyrical words: \u201cFor with stammering lips and foreign tongue he will speak to this people\u201d (Is. 28:11). Each chapter is a magnificent aesthetic arrangement, a work of art so for\u00admidable that many fear to approach it. The noise, sights, and smells of the bustling marketplace shatter the reverent silence of Isaiah\u2019s ivory tower. Yet Isaiah does not shrink from appearing in public. Sometimes he casts himself in the role of a street-theater actor in order to win the attention of passersby, particularly those with power. He even enlists his own children as props for his prophecies. He is a real person, a family man, a citizen of Judah. He is a character who almost always swims against the tide\u2026<\/p>\r\n

\u2026 There is yet another dimension to Isaiah. For decades, he hovered around the royal palace in Jerusalem, a political thinker who sought to under\u00admine what he perceived as problematic governmental inclinations. The image of the future that Isaiah drew is directly related to how he saw the world around him, and how he operated within it.<\/p>\r\n

... This dimension expresses, more than anything else, his call to us today from 2,700 years ago. The events of that period and the prophet\u2019s struggles during that time connect his prophecies to our generation as we struggle to fashion Jewish society upon the land of our forefathers\u2026 His words are rousing, tumultuous, daring and explicit, exhibiting no fear or restraint towards the government or the wealthy sectors of society. In its historical context, the prophetic call penetrates deeply, conveying the depth and complexity of the reality that faced the rulers who were being challenged by the prophet. Once these dilemmas are understood, and the protests and warnings of the prophet are heard, there is no escaping the subsequent questions that arise in our own world in the twenty-first century.<\/p>\r\n

Our purpose is to transform the reading of the Bible into a living, relevant foundation for living, relevant dialogue.<\/p>\r\n

From: Lau and Bin Nun, Isaiah: Prophet of Righteousness and Justice <\/em>(Maggid Books, 2019), chapter 1.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65184,"alt":"","title":"Isaiah-LauBinNun","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","width":1816,"height":1816,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","2048x2048-width":1816,"2048x2048-height":1816,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"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":"Excerpts from \"Isaiah: Prophet of Righteousness and Justice\"","tile_main_caption":"Isaiah: A Prophet For Today","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The events of that period and the prophet\u2019s struggles during that time connect his prophecies to our generation as we struggle to fashion Jewish society upon the land of our forefathers","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65184,"alt":"","title":"Isaiah-LauBinNun","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","width":1816,"height":1816,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun.png","2048x2048-width":1816,"2048x2048-height":1816,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Isaiah-LauBinNun-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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"},{"term_id":"940","name":"Isaiah","old_id":"1340"}]},{"order":10,"id":"64651","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Restore Your Judges As Of Old ","post_title":"Restore Your Judges As Of Old","slug":"restore-your-judges-as-of-old","old_id":"64651","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":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In memory of the Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Meir Shamgar (1925-2019)","post_main_content_content":"

The Book of Isaiah begins with a chapter that is indicative of the whole of the prophecy attributed to Isaiah \u2013 an amalgam of chastisement for sin and the promise of redemption for repentance and right living. A notable example of Isaiah\u2019s prophecy of salvation is God\u2019s declaration: \u201cI will restore your judges as of old...Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness\u201d (Isaiah 1:26-27).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In praise of Israel\u2019s righteous \u201cjudges as of old,\u201d Exodus Rabbah 30:24 interprets Isaiah\u2019s prophecy in a dramatic depiction of the process of judgement. When a judge sits in judgement and renders a true verdict, the Holy One, blessed be He, descends from Heaven and causes his Shekhinah (Divine Presence) to dwell beside the judge, as it says: \u201cThe Lord was with the judge\u201d (Judges 2:18).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

An even more daring interpretation of Isaiah\u2019s prophecy is found in Tanhuma Shoftim 1. God Himself will serve as the Head (\u2018Av Bet-Din) of the Court, as He says: \u201cI will restore your judges as of old\u2026\u201d. This Midrash seems to interpret our verse to suggest that God promises \u2013 as it were: I Myself will return, with your judges of old, to serve as the Head of the Court that will judge humanity in the End of Days.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah\u2019s prophecy that God will restore the judges of Israel \u201cas of old\u201d provides the basis for the 11<\/span>th<\/span> benediction of the Amidah: \u201cRestore our judges as in former times, and our counsellors as of yore\u2026.Blessed are You Lord, King who loves righteousness and justice.\u201d Significantly, this \u201cBenediction of Justice\u201d (Birkat Ha-Din<\/em>) immediately follows the Benediction that we recite: \u201cSound the great shofar for our freedom. Raise a banner to gather our exiles and bring us together from the four corners of the earth into our land. Blessed are You Lord, who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This messianic hope began to be fulfilled in our time with the return of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and with the setting up of a system of courts, headed by the Israel Supreme Court. Sadly, on Friday, October 18, former Supreme Court President, Meir Shamgar, one of the giants of the Israeli judiciary, died. Israel President Reuven (Ruvi) Rivlin hailed Shamgar as one of the \u201cfounding fathers of the Israeli legal system...A possessor of judicial courage who fully believed in the court and the legal system but also knew the limits of its power\u201d. Among his many watershed decisions and pronouncements, Justice Shamgar said of the role of the Supreme Court: \u201cI advocate that it is not only the right of the court to intervene but is rather its duty to be the center of gravity for the creation of norms for the public\u201d (see Isaiah 1:17).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Photo: Meir Shamgar, by Jonathan Klinger, 2007 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64685,"alt":"","title":"is1-Meir_Shamgar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar.jpg","width":320,"height":541,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar-177x300.jpg","medium-width":177,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":541,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":541,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":541,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":541,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":541,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-Meir_Shamgar-248x420.jpg","home_baner-width":248,"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":"Restore 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Sticks And More ","post_title":"Carrots, Sticks And More","slug":"carrots-sticks-and-more","old_id":"64688","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64460,"post_title":"Vincent Calabrese","slug":"vincent-calabrese","old_id":"64460","first_name":"Vincent ","last_name":"Calabrese ","description":"Vincent Calabrese is a doctoral student in Jewish thought at the University of Toronto and a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute","short_description":"Vincent Calabrese is a doctoral student in Jewish thought at the University of Toronto and a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64461,"alt":"","title":"vincent 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save the people from itself, we need threats, promises - and reason","post_main_content_content":"

To change a person\u2019s way of life is a task so difficult that it can seem impossible. But prophets of Israel were not charged with converting individual souls \u2014 their task was nothing less than to effect national transformation. It is not hard to understand, then, why for most of the prophets, their calling might seem a burden too heavy to bear. How, then, confronted with their stiff-necked people, did they proceed? In the first chapter of Isaiah, which reads like an epitome of the prophetic genre, we can see the main strategies to which Israel\u2019s prophets made recourse in their attempt to save the people from itself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first is the threat: the prophet lays before the people a vision of their own destruction. They are no better than the denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, and a people consumed with greed and acquisitiveness will be brought low: \u201c[I]f you refuse and disobey, You will be devoured [by] the sword\u201d (verse 20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The second is the promise. The future, should Israel change its ways, will be one where the best elements of its past are restored, but also transcended. God \u201cwill restore your magistrates as of old, and your counselors as of you\u2019re. After that you shall be called City of Righteousness, Faithful City\u201d (v. 26). The change envisioned is so profound that very name of Jerusalem itself will be changed. Keeping in mind the essential significance of names and name-changes in the Bible (think of Abraham, Sarah, or Jacob), we can get an inkling of just how meaningful this promise would be to Isaiah\u2019s listeners.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The third, rather more rare but all the more intriguing, is hinted at in verse 18:\u00a0 \u201c\u201cCome, let us reach an understanding\u201d \u2014 says the LORD.\u201d The verb in this sentence can also be taken to mean \u201clet us <\/span>reason<\/span><\/i> together,\u201d and that is the meaning it was sometimes given by medieval Jewish philosophers, who wished to find an anchor in the Bible for their favored approach of solving religious controversies by reasoned argument rather than emotional appeal.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These strategies to which the prophets made recourse are still valuable to those of us charged with the religious and moral formation of the Jewish people. Each has its place, depending on the audience and subject. There are some who respond best when the negative consequences of their actions are emphasized, others who are best motivated by a clear vision of how things could be better. Whichever of these routes is taken, there will be times when it is appropriate for the Rabbi or teacher to try to touch her listeners\u2019 hearts, and others when the best approach is to spell things out in careful, reasoned terms. While this task will always be difficult, and perhaps even painful, the prophets provide us with models of how to undertake it with integrity, and even with artistry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64689,"alt":"","title":"is1-carrot and stick","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","width":518,"height":257,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick-300x149.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":149,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","medium_large-width":518,"medium_large-height":257,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","large-width":518,"large-height":257,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","1536x1536-width":518,"1536x1536-height":257,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","2048x2048-width":518,"2048x2048-height":257,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","post_full_size-width":518,"post_full_size-height":257,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","home_baner-width":518,"home_baner-height":257}},"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":"Carrots, Sticks And More","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"To save the people from itself, we need threats, promises - and reason","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":64689,"alt":"","title":"is1-carrot and stick","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","width":518,"height":257,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick-300x149.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":149,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","medium_large-width":518,"medium_large-height":257,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","large-width":518,"large-height":257,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","1536x1536-width":518,"1536x1536-height":257,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","2048x2048-width":518,"2048x2048-height":257,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","post_full_size-width":518,"post_full_size-height":257,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-carrot-and-stick.png","home_baner-width":518,"home_baner-height":257}},"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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"390","name":"Prophets","old_id":"790"},{"term_id":"447","name":"Heart","old_id":"847"},{"term_id":"552","name":"Change","old_id":"952"},{"term_id":"608","name":"Promise","old_id":"1008"},{"term_id":"752","name":"Reason","old_id":"1152"}]},{"order":12,"id":"64696","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Like Sodom And Gomorrah ","post_title":"Like Sodom And Gomorrah","slug":"like-sodom-and-gomorrah","old_id":"64696","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36147,"post_title":"Aaron Koller","slug":"aaron-koller","old_id":"36147","first_name":"Aaron","last_name":"Koller","description":"Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University, where he is chair of the Beren Department of Jewish Studies. His last book was Esther in Ancient Jewish Thought (Cambridge University Press), and his next is Unbinding Isaac: The Akedah in Jewish Thought (forthcoming from JPS\/University of Nebraska Press in 2020); he is also the author of numerous studies in Semitic philology. Aaron has served as a visiting professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and held research fellowships at the Albright Institute for Archaeological Research and the Hartman Institute. He lives in Queens, NY with his wife, Shira Hecht-Koller, and their children.","short_description":"Aaron Koller is professor of Near Eastern studies at Yeshiva University, and chair of the Department of Jewish Studies there.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36148,"alt":"","title":"AJ Koller headshot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot.jpg","width":5184,"height":3456,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/AJ-Koller-headshot-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"As before, the conclusion is clear, but still not internalized: wickedness leads to destruction","post_main_content_content":"

Twice in this chapter, Isaiah invoked the legendary cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. By Isaiah\u2019s time, these cities had been legendary for a millennium or more: their destruction was narrated back in Genesis 19, set in the time of Abraham. The two invocations of the cities make for a powerful pair. The second one, in v. 10, is in an address to the people of Jerusalem and Judah: \u201cHear the word of the Lord, O officers of Sodom \/ give ear to the teaching of God, people of Gomorrah!\u201d The explicit comparison of Isaiah\u2019s audience to those legendarily wicked towns has an immediate effect: without even a word of \u201cthe word\u201d or \u201cthe teaching,\u201d Isaiah has already landed a body blow. The people, in his\/God\u2019s eyes, are no better than those famously evil communities!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The other reference comes in the previous verse. In my understanding, the opening of the book (verses 1-9) comes from the end of Isaiah\u2019s career, from after the Assyrian campaign of 701 BCE. This is the meaning of the lines (7-8): \u201cYour land is a waste, your cities burnt down \/ before your eyes, the yield of your soil is consumed by strangers \u2013 a wasteland as overthrown by strangers! Fair Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city protected.\u201d This was the situation after 701, with Judah as a whole ravaged, and Jerusalem (= Zion) left standing intact. And here comes the great reveal: \u201cHad not the Lord of Hosts left us some survivors, we would be like Sodom, just like Gomorrah\u201d!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this paragraph, written by Isaiah at the end of his career, he loops back to an image used at the very beginning of his career, perhaps 50 years earlier. Back then, the young prophet was indicting the people, <\/span>wicked<\/span><\/i> as Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, weary and retrospective, Isaiah says that the people were very nearly like Sodom and Gomorrah in another way: they were nearly wiped out, obliterated, annihilated, like those wicked cities of old.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In creating this link between verses 9 and 10, then, Isaiah aptly sums up one of the major messages, and one of the major frustrations, of his career. The message is simple: the wickedness of the people leads to their own destruction. The frustration is that he has been preaching the same message for decades, and yet the destruction came anyway, and thus the wickedness still persists. It\u2019s hard work being a prophet.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, John Martin, 1852 \/ 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He is the author of Isaiah and his Contemporaries, now available from Kodesh Press at: https:\/\/kodeshpress.com\/product\/isaiah-and-his-contemporaries","short_description":"Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Jaffe is Dean of Judaic Studies at the Maimonides School in Brookline, and is the Rabbi of the Maimonides Kehillah there. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64701,"alt":"","title":"yaakov-jaffe","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/yaakov-jaffe.png","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The red wool, symbolizing sin, has not yet turned white\u00a0\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

Our book begins with a poetic, prophetic sermon \u2013 likely given one Yom Kippur in the Temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0 The text describes a day in which many sacrifices were offered (1:11), when many Jews gathered to appear in God\u2019s house (1:12).\u00a0 It describes a day of extra prayer (1:15), a special day which is called a \u201cShabbat\u201d and also a holiday (1:13-14) and includes a call for repentance and forgiveness (1:16-20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Jewish people have gathered, packing the temple grounds \u2013 there is standing room only!\u00a0 Sacrifices have been offered all day, but the people fear that perhaps the atonement of the day has not yet been achieved. The proverbial red wool which symbolizes sin has not yet turned white (1:18) \u2013 but the people cannot understand why they have not been forgiven, if they have concluded the complete sacrificial rite of Leviticus chapter 16?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From the back of the temple the prophet charges the people \u201cYour hands are full with blood!\u201d\u00a0 The day of atonement achieves its purpose when it is preceded by change in action; sacrifices alone are not enough.\u00a0 \u201cWash, clean yourself\u201d \u2013 the blood and sin must be removed; only then can you achieve repentance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is little evidence that murder was prevalent in Jerusalem at the time \u2013 the blood here is almost definitely the inadvertent deaths of the poor as a result of the rampant oppression and mistreatment of the destitute in Jerusalem at the time.\u00a0 Rather than pursuing justice, the judges took bribes (1:23). The powerful would mix dross into silver and water down the wine (1:22 & 1:25); although some take these verses as a metaphor of the diluted quality of the Jews at the time and not as actual crimes the people had committed. The prophet anticipates and hopes that one day new judges would be returned to the city who would pursue truth and justice (1:26-27), and return the city to its destiny and old reputation being known as the \u201cCity of Justice\u201d (Genesis 14:18, Joshua 10:2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The text gives little indication of what year this prophecy took place. As it appears at the start of the book, we can assume it took place during the reign of Uzziah, a king known from 2 Chronicles (26) for his economic prosperity but not for his focus on justice, law, and truth.\u00a0 But it provides a powerful message to begin the book, and orient the people around its central message \u2013 to avoid a possible impending tragedy on the horizon \u2013 the people must change their ways.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64702,"alt":"","title":"is1-bloody 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The opening of the book of Isaiah recounts a series of transgressions and then continues to immediately take the reader to task for the same. God complains: \u201cI reared children and brought them up and they have rebelled against me!\u201d\u00a0 Then God goes into detail: \u201cAn ox knows its owner, an ass its master's crib: Israel does not know, my people takes no thought... they continue to sin, and yet should know better!\u201d The Holy One is not thrilled: \u201cWhat need have I of all your sacrifices? \u2026 Everything you do fills me with loathing, your observances, your holy days...\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In other words: you, reader, might go through the motions of your religious and spiritual lives; but without action, they are nothing. So do the right thing now! Our chapter tells us that this means to work on behalf of justice and to come to the help of the wronged. \u201cUphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Provencal grammarian and commentator David Kimchi (d. 1235), also known as Radak, explains that Isaiah singled out orphans and widows because \u201cyou do not open your ears to their screams.\u201d It can be easy to ignore those who whose voices we do not hear, he reminds us: those who have no strong lobby behind them, those without clout, who are silently suffering on the margins, hidden away from our gaze. Interestingly, Radak notes that \u201clearning to do good\u201d entails in fact both, learning from the good, <\/span>and<\/span><\/em> learning from the not so good. Both negative and positive events and experiences, then, are our models in the struggle for a more just and sustainable world. This includes suffering, and also the recognition of our own shortcomings in alleviating pain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah 1 is read on Shabbat Chazon (\u201cVision\u201d), the shabbat preceding the ninth of Av, a fast day dedicated to mourning that recalls the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and many other horrors of our collective past. The chapter lifts up the fast and its suffering: even before we begin to absorb Isaiah\u2019s messages in the yearly reading of the seven <\/span>haftarot<\/span><\/em> of consolation that are customarily recited on the shabbatot between the ninth of Av and Rosh Hashanah, our text hints at the dawn of a new year that, we hope, will be filled with justice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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\u201cIsaiah begin where Moses ends,\u201d says Abarbenel (1437-1508) on Isaiah\u2019s famous opening, \u201cHear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!\u201d similar to Moses, in his Song of Ha\u2019azinu, read in synagogues around the world (this year) on the Shabbat between Yom Kippur and Sukkot \u201cGive ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter!\u201d Interestingly, Isaiah clarifies that it is God who has spoken, while Moses says, he is speaking. Their \u201clistening\u201d and \u201chearing\u201d verbs are also reversed, and commentators have debated whether this has to do with closeness: Moses is closer to the heavens, thus asking it to listen and the earth should hear, while Isaiah asks the closer earth, to him, to listen and the heavens \u2013 to hear.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The rest of this chapter continues to parallel Moses\u2019 song (Deuteronomy 32). Isaiah gives his reprove to the Kingdom of Judea, following the destruction of Samaria (Kingdom of Israel) in the north, so their destiny won\u2019t be the same. He\u2019s opting for Moses\u2019 style, possibly hoping that they will hear him better. Just like Moses told the People of all the good they have received from God, which they have - and will - repay with evil, Isaiah brings this very same idea through his parable of the ox and donkey: even these animals have recognition, awareness and appreciation of their master, the one who feeds them and cares for them, while the People \u2013 do not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Talmud uses this verse (1:3) at the end of Tractate Makot (23:a), discussing lashes: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The mishna teaches: And two straps go up and down the doubled strap of calf hide. The Sage taught: And they are straps of donkey hide. As a certain Galilean interpreted before Rav \u1e24isda: It is written: \u201cThe ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master\u2019s trough; but Israel does not know, My people does not consider\u201d (Isaiah 1:3). The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: Let the one who recognizes its master\u2019s trough, an ox and donkey, come and exact retribution, through lashes with a strap of ox and donkey hide, from one who does not recognize his Master\u2019s trough and performs transgressions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This verse (1:3) became especially famous in Israel of the early 1960\u2019s, when a young educator and poet, Emanu\u2019el Zamir, born in British Mandate Israel (1925-1962), heard a Beduin tune and story about a donkey going to bring wood and going to the spring and <\/span>combined that with Isaiah\u2019s words into a <\/span>debka<\/span><\/i> song and dance<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":47991,"alt":"","title":"num22-donkey","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","width":929,"height":613,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-300x198.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-768x507.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":507,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","large-width":929,"large-height":613,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","1536x1536-width":929,"1536x1536-height":613,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","2048x2048-width":929,"2048x2048-height":613,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","post_full_size-width":929,"post_full_size-height":613,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-637x420.png","home_baner-width":637,"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 Donkey Knows Its Master","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Yet the people are ignorant, rebellious and ungrateful","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":47991,"alt":"","title":"num22-donkey","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","width":929,"height":613,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-300x198.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":198,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-768x507.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":507,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","large-width":929,"large-height":613,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","1536x1536-width":929,"1536x1536-height":613,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","2048x2048-width":929,"2048x2048-height":613,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey.png","post_full_size-width":929,"post_full_size-height":613,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num22-donkey-637x420.png","home_baner-width":637,"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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"512","name":"Music","old_id":"912"},{"term_id":"578","name":"Listening","old_id":"978"},{"term_id":"940","name":"Isaiah","old_id":"1340"}]},{"order":17,"id":"64720","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"The Absence Of Learning As A Precursor To Exile ","post_title":"The Absence Of Learning As A Precursor To Exile","slug":"the-absence-of-learning-as-a-precursor-to-exile","old_id":"64720","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":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

The book of Isaiah opens with a \u201cshape up or ship out\u201d prophecy in which Isaiah details steps that the Jewish people must take to save themselves from exile. Some of those steps seem predictable: \u201cpurify yourselves\u2026stop doing evil\u2026 (1:16)\u201d. But then comes a curious self-improvement requirement: \u201clearn to do good (1:17)\u201d. Not DO good but LEARN (limdu<\/em>) to do good. This direction to not act reflexively but to invest some thought and scrutiny into one\u2019s actions is supported by the next verse in which Isaiah says \u201clet us reason together\u201d. Radak explains that God is asking them to engage in some critical analysis of their behaviour. Don\u2019t just act, really think about it first and learn what you should be doing and how to get there.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This exhortation hearkens back to the events of 2 Kings, chapter 22, when the Temple High Priest found Moses\u2019 Torah scroll in the temple. Our sages tell us that the scroll was open to the verses detailing the exile from Israel that had been decreed against the people should they decline to the spiritual level at which they apparently now sat. Me\u2019am Lo\u2019ez offers an explanation that at the time this scroll was found the written Torah had been forgotten and the oral tradition \u2013 the knowledge passed from parent to child - had also died out. Effectively then, learning had ceased. So how does one \u201clearn to do good\u201d in an environment devoid of learning. And what might exile to Babylonia serve to achieve?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ironically it is in the Babylonian Talmud (Rosh HaShanah) that we learn \u201cmeshane makom, meshane mazal<\/em> \u2013 change your place and change your fortune.\u201d Similar to Abraham having to \u201clech lecha<\/em>\u201d \u2013 go and leave his birthplace in order to realize his destiny, so too, perhaps, must the Jewish people of the First Temple era leave their environment in order to learn, or relearn, how to enact their destiny.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","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 Absence Of Learning As A Precursor To Exile","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Similar to Abraham having to \u201clech lecha\u201d \u2013 go and leave his birthplace in order to realize his destiny, so too, perhaps, must the Jewish people of the First Temple era leave their environment in order to learn, or relearn, how to enact their destiny.\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"466","name":"Goodness","old_id":"866"},{"term_id":"783","name":"Destiny","old_id":"1183"},{"term_id":"940","name":"Isaiah","old_id":"1340"}]},{"order":18,"id":"64717","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Ingratitude: Does Israel Bite The Hand That Feeds It - Or Simply Not Recognize It? ","post_title":"Ingratitude: Does Israel Bite The Hand That Feeds It - Or Simply Not Recognize It?","slug":"ingratitude-does-israel-bite-the-hand-that-feeds-it-or-simply-not-recognize-it","old_id":"64717","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":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An exercise in the analysis of poetic\/prophetic ","post_main_content_content":"

As our contribution to Chapter One, and as a Malbim sampler, here is his commentary on verse 3: \u201cAn ox knows its owner and a donkey [knows] its master\u2019s trough, yet my people knows not, Israel does not comprehend.\u201d Ibn Ezra explained simply that oxen and donkeys are cited because they are common dumb, domesticated, animals; owners and masters are one and the same; troughs represent the ways that owners maintain their livestock; Israel is, of course, God\u2019s people; and not knowing and not comprehending are \u201crepetitious (<\/span>kaful<\/span><\/em>), as is the style of most prophecies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim actually divided his commentary into two separate parts: Linguistic Commentary (<\/span>Be\u2019ur ha-Millot<\/span><\/em>) and Thematic Commentary (<\/span>Be\u2019ur ha-Inyan<\/span><\/em>). In the latter, he drew a meaningful distinction between each pair of ostensible synonyms:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Knows<\/span><\/em>: We have evidence of two kinds of recognition, even in the nature of dumb animals. An ox will recognize its master simply by his purchase of it, while a donkey\u2014which has no recognition to that extent\u2014will recognize him, nonetheless, by his placing fodder in the trough for it to eat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Israel does not know<\/span><\/em>: Namely, when I call them by the name \u201cIsrael,\u201d it is a sign that they are My lot, My acquisition, and My servants (this is parallel to \u201cI raised children,\u201d verse 2), and they ought to recognize their master as an ox does. Nevertheless, they did not want to know.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My people<\/span><\/em>, too, when I elevated them above all the other peoples by calling them My people, and My inheritance (parallel to \u201cI raised children and elevated them,\u201d verse 2), they ought to have recognized this special favor as a donkey does. Nevertheless: <\/span>does not comprehend<\/span><\/em>: They declined to understand.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ingratitude, as Malbim explained, can result from either ignorance or lack of appreciation. Some people just don\u2019t recognize the hand that feeds them, while others actually bite it. Rather than an interpretation that limits the lesson, Malbim\u2019s exegesis expands the verse to embrace a much broader range of social and cultural possibilities. Rather than seeing prophetic poetry as merely repetitious\u2014even if that has the advantage of lending it greater emphasis\u2014Malbim\u2019s perspective on the medium awards it a more powerful sermonic tone and, thereby, reinforces its contribution to posterity.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64718,"alt":"","title":"is1-ingratitude","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","width":460,"height":431,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude-300x281.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":281,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","medium_large-width":460,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","large-width":460,"large-height":431,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","1536x1536-width":460,"1536x1536-height":431,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","2048x2048-width":460,"2048x2048-height":431,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","post_full_size-width":460,"post_full_size-height":431,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude-448x420.jpg","home_baner-width":448,"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":"Ingratitude: Does Israel Bite The Hand That Feeds It - Or Simply Not Recognize It?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An exercise in the analysis of poetic\/prophetic style","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":64718,"alt":"","title":"is1-ingratitude","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","width":460,"height":431,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude-300x281.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":281,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","medium_large-width":460,"medium_large-height":431,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","large-width":460,"large-height":431,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","1536x1536-width":460,"1536x1536-height":431,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","2048x2048-width":460,"2048x2048-height":431,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude.jpg","post_full_size-width":460,"post_full_size-height":431,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-ingratitude-448x420.jpg","home_baner-width":448,"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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"366","name":"Commentators","old_id":"766"},{"term_id":"520","name":"Gratitude","old_id":"920"}]},{"order":19,"id":"64693","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Chason - \u201cStored Wealth\u201d ","post_title":"Chason - \u201cStored Wealth\u201d","slug":"chason-stored-wealth","old_id":"64693","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64450,"post_title":"David Curwin","slug":"david-curwin","old_id":"64450","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Curwin ","description":"David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat, and the author of the Balashon blog www.balashon.com","short_description":"David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat, and the author of the Balashon blog www.balashon.com","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64452,"alt":"","title":"david curwin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","width":427,"height":464,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-276x300.png","medium-width":276,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","medium_large-width":427,"medium_large-height":464,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","large-width":427,"large-height":464,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","1536x1536-width":427,"1536x1536-height":464,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","2048x2048-width":427,"2048x2048-height":464,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","post_full_size-width":427,"post_full_size-height":464,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-387x420.png","home_baner-width":387,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How is this connected to our \u201cmagazine\u201d?","post_main_content_content":"

The first chapter of Isaiah ends with the prophet warning the people that due to their depraved moral situation, their economic stability will not last: \u201cStored wealth shall become as tow, And he who amassed it a spark; And the two shall burn together, With none to quench.\u201d\u00a0 (Isaiah 1:31)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Hebrew word for \u201cstored wealth\u201d is <\/span>chason<\/span><\/em>. The translators chose that phrase, as they say in a footnote because it connects \u201c<\/span>chason<\/em> <\/span>with <\/span>chasan<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>\u2018to store\u2019 (Isaiah 23:18) and <\/span>chossen<\/span><\/em>, \u2018treasure\u2019 (Isaiah 33:6)\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In modern Hebrew, a storeroom is a <\/span>machsan<\/span><\/em>. That word is related to the Hebrew words above, but actually came to Hebrew via a cognate in Arabic - the plural, <\/span>makhazin<\/span><\/i>,<\/span> meaning \u201cstorehouses.\u201d This Arabic word spread to Italian, and then to French, and eventually ended up in English, where it became the word \u201cmagazine\u201d. Magazine originally meant \u201ca place where goods are stored\u201d, usually for ammunition, and only much later came to refer to a periodical containing miscellaneous writings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another word that may be related to this root is <\/span>chazan<\/span><\/em>. Today the word means a cantor, or leader of prayer. But the original meaning was \u201cofficer, superintendent.\u201d In the Talmud (Bava Metzia 93b), <\/span>chazan<\/span><\/em> refers to a guard (of the city). Based on this usage, some scholars think that <\/span>chazan<\/em> <\/span>ultimately derives from the same root that gave the words meaning \u201cto store\u201d and \u201cstorehouse.\u201d Others disagree and say it comes from a different source - the Hebrew verb <\/span>chazah<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto see\u201d, and so the <\/span>chazan<\/span><\/em> could be best defined as an \u201coverseer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Additional origins of <\/span>chazan<\/span><\/em> are suggested as well, including a derivation from Persian. Today there is no consensus as to the etymology of the word. In fact, that debate goes back hundreds of years. The medieval commentator Rashi, on Makkot 22b, admits that even he doesn\u2019t know the origin, stating \u201cI have not heard any explanation (for the word <\/span>chazan<\/span><\/em>).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi concedes to not having an explanation frequently throughout his commentary on the Torah and Talmud. By doing so, he displayed exceptional humility and intellectual honesty, giving much more weight to the myriads of explanations that he does provide.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":64694,"alt":"","title":"is1-magazines","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/is1-magazines-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Words 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Arts","old_id":"769"}]},{"order":21,"id":"64624","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Isaiah 1 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Isaiah 1","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-isaiah-1","old_id":"64624","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. We are assembling a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation. With these digital texts, we can create new, interactive interfaces for Web, tablet and mobile, allowing more people to engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.","short_description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42230,"alt":"","title":"Sefaria Logo2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","width":1200,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cIsaiah-Does God Want Sacrifices?\u201d<\/a> by Miriam Pearl Klahr: What do Jewish sources teach about the ideal way to worship?<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe World to Come: Jewish Messianism from Antiquity to Zionism\u201d<\/a> by Benjamin Steiner: Texts exploring what is to come.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","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":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Source Sheets - Isaiah 1","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":22,"id":"64704","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points to Ponder - Isaiah 1 ","post_title":"Points to Ponder - Isaiah 1","slug":"points-to-ponder-isaiah-1","old_id":"64704","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":"335","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. Earth and Heaven<\/em>. Isaiah\u2019s prophecy begins thus: \u201cHear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!\u201d (verse 2). If this reminds you of\u00a0 \u201cGive ear, O heavens, let me speak; Let the earth hear the words I utter!\u201d from Moses\u2019 song of Haazinu 150 chapters ago (Deut 32), it\u2019s probably not a coincidence. The heavens and the earth are the natural witnesses to the cosmic covenant between God and the people. And when the covenant is broken, they re-enter the picture, and told that Israel \u201chas forsaken the Lord\u201d (verse 4).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Sodom squared<\/em>. Sodom (and Gomorrah) are mentioned twice in the prophecy. In verse 9, as the image of total destruction that almost befell Judah, and in verse 10, as the image of total corruption and evil that exist in Judah.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. The Temple schedule<\/em>. Verses 11-15 describe the routine Temple cult in Jerusalem, that which is no longer desirable: sacrifices, offerings, oblations, incense, pilgrimage, new moons, sabbaths and holidays, and even assemblies and \u201cProclaiming of solemnities.\u201d<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. \u201cEicha!\u201d - A lament<\/em>. \u201cAlas, how she has become a harlot, The faithful city That was filled with justice\u2026\u201d (verse 21) asks the prophet in a query of rebuke, even as he mourns the situation. It is a lament that echoes in the ears of those who hear it throughout the generations, that other great lament: \u201cAlas! Lonely sits the city once great with people! She that was great among nations is become like a widow\u201d (Lamentations 1:1).<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"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":"Isaiah 1","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","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":"Isaiah","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"335","date":"20261210","wall_id":"335"},"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\/64609"}],"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=64609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}