{"id":65270,"date":"2018-07-09T17:45:11","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1071\/"},"modified":"2023-06-16T15:20:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T12:20:32","slug":"wall-1071","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1071\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230611-to-20230617"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1071","date_from":"20230611","date_to":"20230617","book":"Isaiah","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"65728","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"2","name":"From Isaiah To The Syrian Civil War ","post_title":"From Isaiah To The Syrian Civil War","slug":"from-isaiah-to-the-syrian-civil-war","old_id":"65728","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":65725,"post_title":"The Israel Antiquities Authority","slug":"the-israel-antiquities-authority","old_id":"65725","first_name":"","last_name":"The Israel Antiquities Authority","description":"The Israel Antiquities Authority (before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for excavation and conservation, and promotes research. ","short_description":"The Israel Antiquities Authority is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for excavation and conservation, and promotes research. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":65726,"alt":"","title":"\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","width":509,"height":396,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea-300x233.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":233,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","medium_large-width":509,"medium_large-height":396,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","large-width":509,"large-height":396,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","1536x1536-width":509,"1536x1536-height":396,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","2048x2048-width":509,"2048x2048-height":396,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","post_full_size-width":509,"post_full_size-height":396,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/\u05e8\u05e9\u05d5\u05ea-\u05d4\u05e2\u05ea\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea.png","home_baner-width":509,"home_baner-height":396}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"351","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Will the fate of the population across the border be as Isaiah prophesied regarding Damascus some 2600 years ago?","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cThe \u2018Damascus\u2019 Pronouncement. Behold, Damascus shall cease to be a city; It shall become a heap of ruins.The towns of Aroer shall be deserted; They shall be a place for flocks To lie down, with none disturbing. Fortresses shall cease from Ephraim, And sovereignty from Damascus\u2026\u201d (verses 1-3)<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

This prophecy was apparently spoken against the background of the treaty that was signed between Aram and Israel, in the days of Pekah ben Ramalyahu (Isaiah 7). In it, Isaiah prophesies about the destruction of Damascus, the capital of Aram, together with the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. Damascus will be abandoned, and its habitations will be a wasteland. Instead of houses and thriving cities, there will be empty fields where animals will graze, and the symbols of rule, the fortress and the kingdom, will disappear.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Present day Syria is an arid, desert zone, where the region next to Israel, just to the east of the Golan Heights, is the frontier, the desert\u2019s edge. All throughout the history of the Bashan and Horan (southern Syria) there were changes that were indicative of the nature of the ruling powers: when the government was strong, settlement and cultivation thrived, but when the ruling powers were weak, and unsupportive, the desert would expand westward, and the frontier would approach the Galilee.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today, next to Israel on the east, a civil war has been raging in Syria for close to a decade. During the war, massive numbers of citizens have been killed, and whole towns destroyed. Are we witnessing a similar situation to what Isaiah imagined? Will the war that is going on on the other side of the Rokad river and the border allow the desert to encroach once again? Will the population suffer the same destruction that Isaiah envisioned?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another aspect of having a problematic central government is the destruction of major archaeological sites and finds, and the loss of the historical heritage. There has been severe damage to the temple at Tadmor,* the museum at Musul, and at Palmyra, Krak and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is there any hope to put an end to the killing and to the destruction of cultural heritage?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*Tadmor (photo): An ancient city in present day Syria; an important way station for trade between the Parthian and Roman empires. Stunning architectural ruins from the classical period have been preserved, despite constant habitation. In 1980, Tadmor was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Written by: Oren Zingbaum, archaeologist of the Golan region, the Antiquities Authority.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Waj\/Shutterstock.com<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65729,"alt":"","title":"is17-tadmor","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","width":1000,"height":669,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-300x201.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":201,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-768x514.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":514,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":669,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":669,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":669,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":669,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-628x420.jpg","home_baner-width":628,"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":"From Isaiah To The Syrian Civil War","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Will the fate of the population across the border be as Isaiah prophesied regarding Damascus some 2600 years ago?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65729,"alt":"","title":"is17-tadmor","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","width":1000,"height":669,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-300x201.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":201,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-768x514.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":514,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":669,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":669,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":669,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":669,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is17-tadmor-628x420.jpg","home_baner-width":628,"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":"17","chapter_main_number":"351","date":"20270103","wall_id":"351"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"555","name":"Archaeology","old_id":"955"}]},{"order":2,"id":"115887","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Prophecy Against Religious Syncretism ","post_title":"A Prophecy Against Religious Syncretism","slug":"a-prophecy-against-religious-syncretism","old_id":"115887","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":62571,"post_title":"Yaakov Bieler","slug":"yaakov-bieler","old_id":"62571","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Bieler ","description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University in 1974. He has lectured and written extensively on Modern Orthodoxy, and blogs daily at https:\/\/yaakovbieler.wordpress.com ","short_description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":62572,"alt":"","title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","width":141,"height":180,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler-141x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":141,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium-width":141,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium_large-width":141,"medium_large-height":180,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","large-width":141,"large-height":180,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","1536x1536-width":141,"1536x1536-height":180,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","2048x2048-width":141,"2048x2048-height":180,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","post_full_size-width":141,"post_full_size-height":180,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","home_baner-width":141,"home_baner-height":180}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"351","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Oh, you who graft foreign plants\u2026\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The metaphor of planting and harvesting trees is central to chapter 17. However, as if often the case with biblical poetry, it is unclear how such a simile adds understanding to the topic at hand:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As when one beats an olive tree: Two berries or three on the topmost branch, four or five <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>on the boughs of the crown \u2014declares the LORD, the God of Israel\u2026 (verse 6)<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>That is why, though you plant a delightful<\/span> sapling, what you sow proves a disappointing slip. On the day that you plant, you see it grow; on the morning you sow, you see it bud\u2014but the branches wither away, on a day of sickness and mortal agony\u2026 (verses 10-11).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Radak interprets v. 6 as referring to the few survivors in Jerusalem who will be spared by Sennecharib\u2019s forces, either because they are too well-hidden, or too inconvenient to kill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But perhaps of greater contemporary significance is Malbim\u2019s interpretation of verse 10:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The prophet \u2026 imagines an individual planting a very beautiful and pleasing plant, but then grafting onto it a different species that is inferior and displeasing. By doing so, he is destroying the original plant and its descendants, and ruining its beauty and glory. <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>So too, they had the exalted God, and they are considered holy, the children of the living God. Nevertheless, they \u201cgrafted\u201d onto Him a \u201cforeign plant\u201d\u2014made an alliance with peoples and other gods, that thereby destroyed and ruined their self-definition, their independence, and their holiness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While Isaiah is once again giving an agricultural referent, it would appear that Malbim\u2019s interpretation is more pernicious than the more famous analogy that he presented to his audience in what is famously known as <\/span>Mashal HaKerem<\/span><\/em>, the parable of the vineyard (5:1-3):\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let me sing for my beloved, a song of my lover about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard<\/span> on a fruitful hill.<\/span> He broke the ground, cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines. He built a watchtower inside it; he even hewed a wine press in it, for he hoped it would yield grapes; instead, it yielded wild grapes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The implication of Isaiah 5 is that the Jews may have been disloyal to God, but they did not necessarily deliberately attempt to join Divine worship with idolatry. They merely emulated the beliefs of the surrounding peoples, as had been predicted by Moses (Deut. 6:14). However, when Isaiah 17 uses the imagery of <\/span>harkava,<\/span><\/i> grafting, the descriptions of giving lip service to traditional Jewish worship while at the same time incorporating idolatrous practices into one\u2019s observances, is raised.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It\u2019s one thing to substitute one object of devotion for another; and something else again when two traditions are self-consciously joined, without acknowledging that they are mutually exclusive. For those who regularly incorporate practices of the majority culture into their religious observance, they should consider how they would answer Isaiah 17\u2019s critique.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0shutterstock_1037781469<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":46937,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1037781469","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469.jpg","width":4563,"height":3042,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Prophecy Against Religious Syncretism","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Oh, you who graft foreign plants\u2026","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":46937,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_1037781469","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469.jpg","width":4563,"height":3042,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/shutterstock_1037781469-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"351","date":"20270103","wall_id":"351"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"429","name":"Idolatry","old_id":"829"},{"term_id":"464","name":"Agriculture","old_id":"864"},{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"}]},{"order":3,"id":"65713","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Biblical Clich\u00e9s?\u00a0 ","post_title":"Biblical Clich\u00e9s?\u00a0","slug":"biblical-cliches","old_id":"65713","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54356,"post_title":"Robert Alter","slug":"robert-alter","old_id":"54356","first_name":"Robert ","last_name":"Alter","description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has written over twenty books, focusing on such topics as the European novel from the 18th century to the present, contemporary American fiction, and modern Hebrew literature. He has also written extensively on the literary aspects of the Bible. His most recent work is his monumental three volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019 - from which the selections in 929 are taken. ","short_description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of the three-volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":54357,"alt":"","title":"robert alter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","width":184,"height":275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium-width":184,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium_large-width":184,"medium_large-height":275,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","large-width":184,"large-height":275,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","1536x1536-width":184,"1536x1536-height":275,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","2048x2048-width":184,"2048x2048-height":275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","post_full_size-width":184,"post_full_size-height":275,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","home_baner-width":184,"home_baner-height":275}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"351","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Was Isaiah having a bad day, or is this someone else\u2019s poetry?","post_main_content_content":"

17:12 \u201cWoe, crowd of many peoples, like the roar of the sea they roar. And the clamor of nations like the clamor of mighty waters they clamor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This marks a new prophecy, concerning not Damascus but the many nations that have despoiled Israel. The identification of a specific historical event has proven elusive. Although some scholars are inclined to attribute this prophecy to Isaiah, one reason to be skeptical about the attribution is that the poetry is in no way on the level of the great poetry of the book\u2019s first chapters: both the simile of the roar of the seas and the wind-driven chaff (verse 13) are biblical cliches, and the verbatim repetition of the second half of verse 12 in the first half of 13 seems inert.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: Robert Alter, <\/span>The Hebrew Bible, <\/span><\/i>vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"From Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","tile_main_caption":"Biblical Clich\u00e9s?\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Was Isaiah having a bad day, or is this someone else\u2019s poetry?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"17","chapter_main_number":"351","date":"20270103","wall_id":"351"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":4,"id":"65745","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Where In The World Is Kush? ","post_title":"Where In The World Is Kush?","slug":"where-in-the-world-is-kush","old_id":"65745","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":"352","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"East? South? Africa? Assyria?\u00a0\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

Our chapter addresses \u201ca land of shadowy (alt: buzzing) wings beyond the rivers of Kush\u201d (1). While most English translations (e.g., JPS, King James) render Kush as Ethiopia (or Nubia), that was not the consensus of the traditional exegetes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi stated that \u201cit is situated in the east.\u201d Ibn Ezra\u2014followed by Malbim\u2014identified it explicitly with Assyria, and others (Radak, Ibn Kaspi), while offering no specific geographic designation, took it\u2014along with the following verse\u2014as indicating a country with a network of rivers traversed by sailboats\u2014a description more likely for Assyria than Ethiopia.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, if Kush sounds familiar, it is probably because the opening verse of the Book of Esther demarcates the empire of King Ahasuerus as extending from Hodu (India) to Kush. Since he ruled from Susa, Persia, over 127 provinces, it would be reasonable to assume that the farther reaches of his kingdom were in Africa. However, Gen. 2:13 names Kush as the location of the River Gihon\u2014one of the rivers (along with the Tigris and Euphrates) of what appears to be a Mesopotamian Garden of Eden.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This uncertainty regarding the exact location of Kush may very well be behind the following difference of opinion recorded in the Talmud:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cFrom Hodu to Kush.\u201d Rav and Samuel gave different interpretations of this. One said that Hodu is at one end of the world and Kush at the other, and the other said that Hodu and Kush adjoin one another, and that [the meaning is that] as he ruled over Hodu and Kush, so he ruled from one end of the world to the other. (BT Megillah 11a)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Either way, here is Malbim\u2019s* summary of the chapter, contained in his commentary to the last verse.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

During the reign of Hezekiah, many of the ten [lost] tribes returned to Jerusalem in order to take shelter under his wings. The view of the Sages is that this prophecy is futuristic, and so it was interpreted by the exegetes. However, as much as I may diverge from their path in pursuit of <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/i>, I have already noted in chapter 11 that the futuristic prophecies began during the time of Hezekiah\u2014as the prophet himself acknowledged at the opening of chapter 48.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While scholars (and adventurers) have scoured the earth in search of the actual ten lost tribes\u2014one theory even identified them with the American Indians\u2014Malbim saw them also as a symbol for the reunification of one Jewish nation under God, indivisible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*For the significance of Malbim\u2019s commentary to the Book of Isaiah,<\/span> see our introduction to chapter 1.<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65746,"alt":"","title":"is18-map","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","width":1280,"height":1069,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-300x251.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":251,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-768x641.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":641,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-1024x855.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":855,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1069,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1069,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-1200x1002.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1002,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-503x420.png","home_baner-width":503,"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":"Where In The World Is Kush?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"East? South? Africa? Assyria?\u00a0\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65746,"alt":"","title":"is18-map","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","width":1280,"height":1069,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-300x251.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":251,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-768x641.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":641,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-1024x855.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":855,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1069,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1069,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-1200x1002.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1002,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is18-map-503x420.png","home_baner-width":503,"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":"18","chapter_main_number":"352","date":"20270104","wall_id":"352"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"361","name":"Hebrew language","old_id":"761"},{"term_id":"774","name":"Africa","old_id":"1174"}]},{"order":5,"id":"65736","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Prophets of Today: Wangari Maathai ","post_title":"Prophets of Today: Wangari Maathai","slug":"wangari-maathai","old_id":"65736","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":"352","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope","post_main_content_content":"

Wangari Maathai was an eminent Kenyan social-environmental activist and teacher, and the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She spent a major part of her life fighting for social and environmental issues. She also became the first environmentalist and African woman to receive a Nobel Prize. In the 1970s she founded the \u2018Green Belt Movement\u2019 that was aimed at planting trees in order to protect the environment and the livelihoods of indigenous women. This movement not only planted over 47 million trees worldwide, including re-foresting her native Kenya, but has bettered the lives of over 900,000 women through economic empowerment. \u201cMama Trees,\u201d as she was affectionately known, spoke from experience when she said: \u201cEvery person who has ever achieved anything has been knocked down many times. But all of them picked themselves up and kept going, and that is what I have always tried to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Labeled a \u201csubversive\u201d by Kenya\u2019s former president, Daniel Arap Moi, she was beaten unconscious and jailed when she fought against the government\u2019s plan to build a skyscraper in the middle of Uhuru Park, one of the last remaining public green spaces in Nairobi. Maathai\u2019s efforts prevailed, and she went on to become internationally recognized as a leader in environmental and human rights activism.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Quotes:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Recognizing that sustainable development, democracy and peace are indivisible is an idea whose time has come... Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own - indeed, to embrace the whole of creation in all its diversity, beauty and wonder.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We can love ourselves by loving the earth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Human rights are not things that are put on the table for people to enjoy. These are things you fight for and then you protect.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We tend to put the environment last because we think the first thing we have to do is to eliminate poverty. But you can't reduce poverty in a vacuum. You are doing it in an environment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Every one of us can make a contribution. And quite often we are looking for the big things and forget that, wherever we are, we can make a contribution. Sometimes I tell myself, I may only be planting a tree here, but just imagine what's happening if there are billions of people out there doing something. Just imagine the power of what we can do.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A tree has roots in the soil yet reaches to the sky. It tells us that in order to aspire we need to be grounded and that no matter how high we go it is from our roots that we draw sustenance. It is a reminder to all of us who have had success that we cannot forget where we came from. It signifies that no matter how powerful we become in government or how many awards we receive, our power and strength and our ability to reach our goals depend on the people, those whose work remain unseen, who are the soil out of which we grow, the shoulders on which we stand<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Photo: Wangari Maathai, 2001 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65737,"alt":"","title":"Wangari_Maathai","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","width":390,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai-195x300.jpg","medium-width":195,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","medium_large-width":390,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","large-width":390,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","1536x1536-width":390,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","2048x2048-width":390,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","post_full_size-width":390,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai-273x420.jpg","home_baner-width":273,"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":"Prophets Of Today","tile_main_caption":"Wangari Maathai","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65737,"alt":"","title":"Wangari_Maathai","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","width":390,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai-195x300.jpg","medium-width":195,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","medium_large-width":390,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","large-width":390,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","1536x1536-width":390,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","2048x2048-width":390,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai.jpg","post_full_size-width":390,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Wangari_Maathai-273x420.jpg","home_baner-width":273,"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":"18","chapter_main_number":"352","date":"20270104","wall_id":"352"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"327","name":"Today's Prophets","old_id":"727"},{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"774","name":"Africa","old_id":"1174"}]},{"order":6,"id":"65792","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"To Cower Like A Woman ","post_title":"To Cower Like A Woman","slug":"to-cower-like-a-woman","old_id":"65792","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41525,"post_title":"Sivan Rotholz","slug":"sivan-rotholz","old_id":"41525","first_name":"Sivan ","last_name":"Rotholz","description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. She taught feminist Torah study and creative writing at Brooklyn College, Tel Aviv University, and Temple Israel of the City of New York. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College and a Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law and is the Managing Editor of the Saturday Poetry Series on As It Ought To Be. ","short_description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41526,"alt":"","title":"sivan rotholz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","width":320,"height":312,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-300x293.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":312,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":312,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":312,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":312,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":312,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":312}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"353","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Biblical roots of patriarchal misogyny and toxic masculinity","post_main_content_content":"

In that day, the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling and terrified because the LORD of Hosts will raise His hand against them.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

What better way to depict how low the Egyptians will fall than comparing them to women? What better way to showcase the lowest point a man might reach than to compare him to a woman trembling, bracing herself for a blow?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What could be worse than being like a woman?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The roots of misogyny run deep. The Bible is rife with woman-hatred, and, as<\/span> I\u2019ve written about before in this series<\/span><\/a>, the Rabbis picked up biblical misogyny like a torch with which they lit the fires of normative Judaism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Rabbis believed that Pharaoh (of \u201clet my people go\u201d fame) had sex \u2018like a woman,\u2019 and they used Isaiah 19:16 to prove it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Midrash Tanchuma the Rabbis ask, \u201c[How] do we know that Pharaoh had intercourse like a woman?\u201d Although he was male, they answer, \u201che \u2018disrobed himself like a female\u2019 \u2026 Similarly, the prophet [Isaiah] said: <\/span>In that day, the Egyptians shall be like women.<\/span><\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why did Isaiah threaten that the Egyptians would \u201cbe like women, trembling and terrified\u201d? Why did the Rabbis use a metaphor of femininity to degrade Pharaoh? What\u2019s so bad about anyone -- male, female, or otherwise -- having sex or undressing like a woman?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is wrong with being like a woman?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I\u2019ve been thinking about the ways in which patriarchal misogyny hurts all of us. The women who are raised to believe that all that they are is everything a man would never want to be. The men who are raised to eschew their vulnerability, to suppress their emotions, to never show weakness, all in the name of \u201cnot acting like a girl.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Such thinking has gotten us generation upon generation of women who lack self-esteem and who internalize misogyny until they are filled with self-doubt or self-loathing. Billion-dollar industries have been founded on capitalizing on this reality.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Men, meanwhile, are suffering from interminable toxic masculinity. Unable or unwilling to access their emotions. Terrified someone might think they might have sex like a woman, undress like a woman, \u201cbe like women, trembling and terrified.\u201d They are taught to both believe women inferior, which causes and reinforces a deeply destructive gender hierarchy, and to hate a group of humans that comprises roughly one-half of the population of this earth.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Patriarchal misogyny harms everyone. It\u2019s time to shut the book on Isaiah\u2019s view of women and write new depictions of positive femininity AND masculinity into the history books of our future.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65793,"alt":"","title":"is19-woman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman.jpg","width":1920,"height":1474,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-300x230.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":230,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-768x590.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":590,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-1024x786.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":786,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1179,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1474,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-1200x921.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":921,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-547x420.jpg","home_baner-width":547,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"To Cower Like A Woman","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Biblical roots of patriarchal misogyny and toxic masculinity","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65793,"alt":"","title":"is19-woman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman.jpg","width":1920,"height":1474,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-300x230.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":230,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-768x590.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":590,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-1024x786.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":786,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1179,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1474,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-1200x921.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":921,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-woman-547x420.jpg","home_baner-width":547,"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":"19","chapter_main_number":"353","date":"20270105","wall_id":"353"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]},{"order":7,"id":"65798","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"One God to Love Them All ","post_title":"One God To Love Them All","slug":"one-god-to-love-them-all","old_id":"65798","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33992,"post_title":"Bradley Shavit Artson","slug":"rabbi-dr-bradley-shavit-artson","old_id":"33992","first_name":"Bradley Shavit ","last_name":"Artson","description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson holds the Abner and Roslyn Goldstine Dean's Chair of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles, and is professor of philosophy there. Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"353","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"My people My creation My heritage. Egypt. Assyria. Israel. All nations?","post_main_content_content":"

The grandeur of the Biblical vision bursts forth when you least expect it. In the middle of Isaiah\u2019s prophecies condemning the nations for their oppression of Israel, and for their dire role in Israel\u2019s gruesome exile, after passages detailing their own eventual downfall and disgrace, Isaiah shifts tone and speaks, surprisingly, of the ways that both Egypt and Assyria will eventually find their way under God\u2019s sheltering embrace.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Israel\u2019s greatest enemies in antiquity will form a bizarre alliance, one founded on their devotion to the one God of creation: \u201cOn that day there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria; Assyria will come into Egypt and Egyptians into Assyria, and Egypt will serve the Lord with Assyria (19:23).\u201d That\u2019s pretty heady stuff. After earning scriptural infamy as the archenemies of the Children of Israel, the authors of Israel\u2019s enslavement and of its exile, these two villains will see the light and yearn to join together in God\u2019s service.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what follows is even more astounding. Not only will these former enemies seek to serve God, but God will draw them near with the same kind of intimate language reserved before for the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

On that day Israel will be a third party with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land, for the Lord, Master of Legions, will bless them, saying \u2018Blessed is My people, Egypt, and the work of My hands, Assyria, and My heritage, Israel (19:24).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My people \u2026 My creation \u2026 My heritage. Egypt. Assyria. Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Could it be that God\u2019s love is so great that it can\u2019t be contained in a single covenant? That God\u2019s service is bigger than any single religion? Might it be that the oneness of this God is not numerical, but refers to the mystical ways that all distinctions and differences are integrated into this embracing unity without ever being smothered into uniformity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Egyptians: be Egypt, and serve God in the special ways that only you can. Assyrians: cultivate your ancient identity and offer it to a broader humanity for all to benefit. Jews: share the wisdom of your heritage as a blessing to all humankind.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God\u2019s greatness transcends all boundaries and breaks through any wall. God\u2019s love washes us all, and bathes us in a light that both highlights our differences and underscores our shared humanity.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65799,"alt":"","title":"is19-nations","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","width":1280,"height":1156,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-300x271.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":271,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-768x694.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":694,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-1024x925.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":925,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1156,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1156,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-1200x1084.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1084,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-465x420.png","home_baner-width":465,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"One God To Love Them All","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"My people My creation My heritage. Egypt. Assyria. Israel. All nations?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65799,"alt":"","title":"is19-nations","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","width":1280,"height":1156,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-300x271.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":271,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-768x694.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":694,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-1024x925.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":925,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1156,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1156,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-1200x1084.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1084,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-nations-465x420.png","home_baner-width":465,"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":"19","chapter_main_number":"353","date":"20270105","wall_id":"353"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"469","name":"Egypt","old_id":"869"},{"term_id":"539","name":"Israel","old_id":"939"},{"term_id":"610","name":"Universal Message","old_id":"1010"},{"term_id":"953","name":"Assyria","old_id":"1353"}]},{"order":8,"id":"65850","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"It\u2019s Called Acting! ","post_title":"It\u2019s Called Acting!","slug":"its-called-acting","old_id":"65850","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64758,"post_title":"Avraham Norin","slug":"avraham-norin","old_id":"64758","first_name":"Avraham ","last_name":"Norin ","description":"Avraham Norin teaches in Israel at the Machon Meir and Ora conversion program. He lives in the Southern Hebron Hills with his wife and six children.","short_description":"Avraham Norin teaches in Israel at the Machon Meir and Ora conversion program","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64759,"alt":"","title":"avraham norin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin.jpg","width":1064,"height":1600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-681x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":681,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-681x1024.jpg","large-width":681,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin.jpg","1536x1536-width":1021,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin.jpg","2048x2048-width":1064,"2048x2048-height":1600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-798x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":798,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-279x420.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"354","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Multi-media prophesying","post_main_content_content":"

In our chapter, Isaiah joins the list of prophets who act in shocking manners.\u00a0 After the Assyrians capture the city of Ashdod, God commands Isaiah to \"Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and take off your shoe from your feet.\" The verses then describe Isaiah who walks away- naked and barefoot. If this wasn't enough, we then have a prophecy of God explaining the reason Isaiah needed to walk naked and barefoot FOR THREE YEARS.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is almost as shocking as when we read that God commanded Hosea to marry a well-known prostitute, with the knowledge that she has no plans in quitting her job (Hosea chapter 1). Indeed, Hosea followed God's orders, married Gomer the prostitute and named the three children she bore, and he was not the father of any of them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One prophet who objected to a shocking commandment was Ezekiel. At first he was commanded to lie on his left side for 390 days, and he didn't complain. He was then commanded to lie on his right side for 40 more days, and here too he doesn't object. But after completing his 14 months of lying on his side, he was commanded to make a barley cake and \"bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man\", and here Ezekiel\u00a0 protests. God does not heed Ezekiel's objections, and commands him to eat this dish with the exact ingredients which he commanded. (Ezekiel chapter 4).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These shocking acts are not random. In each of these cases, the acts that the prophets did were highly symbolic. The three years of Isaiah walking naked, Hosea marrying a prostitute, the names of their children, the days Ezekiel lies on his side, and the dung that he needed to eat all have clear symbolism, spelled out in the Bible itself. The question is: how did these prophets do abnormal, unethical, and inhuman acts and still retain the respect of the people?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The key to understanding these acts is realizing that the prophet did not do them in reality, but rather they acted them out in a play. A prophet has the job of <\/span>communicating<\/em> <\/span>God's message. Communication is more than speaking; it is ensuring that the other party hears your message. If a prophet walked into the middle of the market place and started shouting out his prophecies, who would listen?\u00a0 He would either be looked at as insane or irrelevant. But if a prophet acted out a play in the middle of the market, who wouldn't stop his shopping to enjoy good entertainment? Therefore, to be a successful prophet, besides being a spiritual person, you would need to have good drama skills.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: by Ben Schachter, courtesy of the artist.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65851,"alt":"","title":"Is20-Schachter-ANorin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin.jpg","width":1501,"height":1028,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-300x205.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":205,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-768x526.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":526,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-1024x701.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":701,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin.jpg","1536x1536-width":1501,"1536x1536-height":1028,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin.jpg","2048x2048-width":1501,"2048x2048-height":1028,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-1200x822.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":822,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-613x420.jpg","home_baner-width":613,"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":"It\u2019s Called Acting!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Multi-media prophesying","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65851,"alt":"","title":"Is20-Schachter-ANorin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin.jpg","width":1501,"height":1028,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-300x205.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":205,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-768x526.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":526,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-1024x701.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":701,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin.jpg","1536x1536-width":1501,"1536x1536-height":1028,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin.jpg","2048x2048-width":1501,"2048x2048-height":1028,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-1200x822.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":822,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Is20-Schachter-ANorin-613x420.jpg","home_baner-width":613,"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":"20","chapter_main_number":"354","date":"20270106","wall_id":"354"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"525","name":"Communication","old_id":"925"},{"term_id":"570","name":"Drama","old_id":"970"},{"term_id":"680","name":"Symbolism","old_id":"1080"}]},{"order":9,"id":"65801","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"2","name":"Isaiah\u2019s Comforting Words - But For Whom?\u00a0 ","post_title":"Isaiah\u2019s Comforting Words - But For Whom?\u00a0","slug":"isaiahs-comforting-words-but-for-whom","old_id":"65801","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34250,"post_title":"Sarah Rudolph","slug":"sarah-rudolph","old_id":"34250","first_name":"Sarah ","last_name":"Rudolph","description":"Sarah Rudolph is a freelance Jewish educator, writer, and editor. She has been sharing her passion for Jewish texts of all kinds for over 15 years, with students of all ages. Sarah\u2019s essays have been published in a variety of internet and print media, including Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Action, OU Life, The Lehrhaus, TorahMusings, and more. Sarah lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children, but is privileged to learn online with students all over the world through www.TorahTutors.org and www.WebYeshiva.org. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Sarah Rudolph is a freelance Jewish educator, writer, and editor.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34251,"alt":"","title":"Sarah R","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","width":2824,"height":4246,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-681x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":681,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-681x1024.jpg","large-width":681,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","1536x1536-width":1022,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","2048x2048-width":1362,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-798x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":798,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-279x420.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"353","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God didn\u2019t build a nation to win, but to be a blessing for the world","post_main_content_content":"

The Talmud (Bava Batra 14b) calls the book of Isaiah \u201centirely comfort,\u201d though it might take some creative interpretation to reconcile certain prophecies of doom with that description.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When the prophecies of doom are directed not at Isaiah\u2019s own people, but at their enemies, we see the comfort more easily. Divine retribution will \u201ccome like havoc\u201d to Babylon (13:4), which will \u201cnevermore be settled\u201d (ibid. 20), while God \u201cwill pardon Jacob\u2026 again choose Israel, and will settle them on their own soil\u201d (14:1). This contrast in destinies is so comforting that the prophet seems to encourage Israel to gleefully rub it in Babylon\u2019s face: \u201crecite this song of scorn over the king of Babylon\u2026 How is oppression ended!\u201d (ibid. 4). There is comfort in the fall of one\u2019s oppressors.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Isaiah turns to Egypt, however, it is harder to tell which nation is being comforted. Egypt will be terrified, shattered at the mere mention of Judah (19:16-17) \u2013 but wait, what else will happen \u201con that day\u201d? \u201cSeveral towns in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing loyalty to the LORD of Hosts\u201d (v.18); \u201can altar to the LORD inside the land of Egypt\u201d (v.19); and these will remind the Egyptians of God, \u201cso that when [the Egyptians] cry out to the LORD against oppressors, He will send them a savior and champion to deliver them\u201d (v.20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Instead of inviting his people to finally celebrate Egypt\u2019s downfall, Isaiah foretells a newfound Egyptian belief in the God of Israel, rewarded by His interventions on their behalf.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Israel will still be God\u2019s <\/span>nachalah<\/span><\/i> (inheritance, special people) \u2013 but Egypt will be newly blessed as His nation, and Assyria (how did they get into Egypt\u2019s prophecy?) as \u201cthe work of My hands\u201d (v. 25, according to Radak; others read the entire verse as referring to Israel).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is it good for the Jews?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The LORD said to Abram, \u2018Go forth from your native land\u2026 you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you\u2019 (Gen. 12:1-3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God didn\u2019t build a nation to win, but to be a blessing for the world. Those who persist in cursing His nation \u2013 well, the prophet describes what\u2019s coming to them. But those who pay attention when God \u201cmakes Himself known,\u201d who \u201cacknowledge the LORD\u201d and even \u201cserve [Him] with sacrifice...\u201d (Is.19:21) \u2013 well, isn\u2019t that the goal? And how fitting that it is Egypt, highlighted almost from the beginning of Abram\u2019s journeys as<\/span> the antithesis of his budding nation<\/span><\/a>, the \u201cland that is not theirs (Gen.15:13) \u2013 along with Assyria, in the region where his journeys began \u2013 that finally comes around. (Yehuda Elitzur develops some of these points in<\/span> this Hebrew article<\/span><\/a>.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Foretelling the ultimate fulfillment of Israel\u2019s national goal is a comfort indeed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65802,"alt":"","title":"is19-comfort","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Isaiah\u2019s Comforting Words - But For Whom?\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God didn\u2019t build a nation to win, but to be a blessing for the world","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65802,"alt":"","title":"is19-comfort","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is19-comfort-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"353","date":"20270105","wall_id":"353"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"469","name":"Egypt","old_id":"869"},{"term_id":"504","name":"Blessing","old_id":"904"},{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"},{"term_id":"607","name":"Comfort","old_id":"1007"}]},{"order":10,"id":"65847","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Prophecy: The Tricks Of The Trade ","post_title":"Prophecy: The Tricks Of The Trade","slug":"prophecy-the-tricks-of-the-trade","old_id":"65847","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64700,"post_title":"Yaakov Jaffe","slug":"yaakov-jaffe","old_id":"64700","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Jaffe ","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. 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":"354","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He doesn\u2019t just talk the talk, he walks the walk (barefoot)","post_main_content_content":"

This chapter is one of a number of chapters in the later prophets where the prophet is asked to engage in an unusual, troubling action. The prophet walks without shoes and clothes (either only in sack cloth or even bereft of that) for three years, predicting the fall of Egypt, thereby reminding the Jews that Egypt would not be able to help save them from the Assyrians. Our story echoes the disturbing stories of Hosea marrying an adulterous woman (chapters 1-2) and Ezekiel\u2019s wife dying (chapter 24) \u2013 in each story, a reader finds it hard to imagine how a saintly prophet and his family could be asked to engage in such behaviors!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi and the Talmud take all of these texts literally \u2013 one should follow the simple meaning of the text \u201cpeshuto shel mikra<\/em>\u201d and therefore if the text indicates that the stories happened, then we must assume they happened, without evidence to the contrary.\u00a0 As is his wont, Ibn Ezra follows the more Midrashic view, arguing the texts did not really happen as they appear to have. Instead, the prophet is given a vision of himself engaging in the unusual action, and then relays that message to the people, \"I saw myself walking without clothes.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi\u2019s view gives a more robust sense of the purpose and role of prophecy. Prophets do not just convey a message from their Creator, they try to influence, impact, and change people. Words can only go so far \u2013 but enacting and living an unusual life provides an unshakable, visual recollection of the message, and so people cannot help but remember the message that one day soon Egypt would be defeated.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The life of the prophet is not easy.\u00a0 The prophet will face adversity, and \u2013 as we see in this chapter and as we saw in chapters 7-8 \u2013 the prophet\u2019s own life becomes part of the messaging and drama. If only the people will listen and learn that the Egyptians will not save them from the Assyrians. And so the denizens of that one, lonely, solitary \u201cisland\u201d (a metaphor for the lonely Jerusalem, the one city still free from Assyrian rule) will realize their only true support comes from the Almighty, and turn to Him for salvation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: from William Blake (1752-1827),\u00a0To Justify the Ways of God to Men<\/em>\u00a0\/ wikipedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":80966,"alt":"","title":"ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake,","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","width":422,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake-211x300.jpg","medium-width":211,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","medium_large-width":422,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","large-width":422,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","1536x1536-width":422,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","2048x2048-width":422,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","post_full_size-width":422,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake-296x420.jpg","home_baner-width":296,"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":"Prophecy: The Tricks Of The Trade","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He doesn\u2019t just talk the talk, he walks the walk (barefoot)","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":80966,"alt":"","title":"ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake,","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","width":422,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake-211x300.jpg","medium-width":211,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","medium_large-width":422,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","large-width":422,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","1536x1536-width":422,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","2048x2048-width":422,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake.jpg","post_full_size-width":422,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps17-Prophecy_by_William_Blake-296x420.jpg","home_baner-width":296,"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":"20","chapter_main_number":"354","date":"20270106","wall_id":"354"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"377","name":"Speech\/words","old_id":"777"},{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"},{"term_id":"552","name":"Change","old_id":"952"}]},{"order":11,"id":"65856","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"The Year The Assyrians Came ","post_title":"The Year The Assyrians Came","slug":"the-year-the-assyrians-came","old_id":"65856","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":"354","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And punished the rebellious Ashdodis - and everyone else","post_main_content_content":"

Our chapter opens with a specific date \u2013 well, specific by biblical standards: \u201cIn the year that the Tartan came to Ashdod, when King Sargon of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and captured it.\u201d The short prophecy that follows tells of the coming fall of \u201cEgypt and Kush\u201d at the hands of Assyria. Egypt at the time \u2013 this is the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty \u2013 was ruled from the south, and the kings were in fact \u201cNubian\u201d rather than native Egyptian.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When did the <\/span>tartanu<\/span><\/i> (an Assyrian title) arrive at Ashdod? The context is developed in an important<\/span> book on Isaiah<\/span><\/a> by Dr. Shawn Zelig Aster. As he argues, Sargon narrated the background for these events for us in an inscription relating to 716 BCE:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Azuri, king of Ashdod, whose heart planned not to bring tribute, therefore sent (messages containing) hostility against the land of Assyria to the kings surrounding him. Because of the crimes he committed towards the people of his land, I changed his rule. I established Ahimti his beloved brother, over them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the people of Ashdod did not accept their new king, Ahimti, and in 714, when Sargon was busy fighting up in eastern Turkey or northwestern Iran, and the Ashdodites took the opportunity to overthrow Ahimti. Again, Sargon tells the story:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

They appointed Yamani, a <\/span>\u1e2bup\u0161u<\/span><\/i> soldier, who was not a master of the throne, to the kingship over them, and seated him on the throne of his lordship.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Most importantly, this was not just a local event in Ashdod. The Ashdodites got help from many of their neighbors, including Judah, and finally relied on Egyptian aid, as well:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To the kings of Philistia, Judah, Edom, and Moab, who live by the sea, who bear tribute and gifts of the god Ashur my lord, (they sent) words of lies and words of treachery, to make them hostile to me. To Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who will not save, they sent payments seeking help, and asked repeatedly for auxiliaries.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Egyptian focus in Isaiah\u2019s prophecy then makes good sense. Ashdod relied on Egypt for help against Assyria; Isaiah retorts that Egypt itself will soon need help! And Isaiah\u2019s involvement becomes clearer overall. When the Assyrians came back, in 712, to punish Ashdod for the insurrection, it was not only Ashdod, but all of its enemies, who were punished. There are cities in Judah which archaeologists have found were destroyed at this time, and this was presumably punishment for supporting Yamani, the anti-Assyrian king of Ashdod.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Sargon II and dignitary. From the palace of Sargon II at Dur Sharrukin in Assyria (now Khorsabad in Iraq), c. 716\u2013713 BC (Louvre) \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65857,"alt":"","title":"is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","width":429,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-215x300.jpg","medium-width":215,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","medium_large-width":429,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","large-width":429,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","1536x1536-width":429,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","2048x2048-width":429,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","post_full_size-width":429,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-301x420.jpg","home_baner-width":301,"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 Year The Assyrians Came","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And punished the rebellious Ashdodis - and everyone else","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65857,"alt":"","title":"is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","width":429,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-215x300.jpg","medium-width":215,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","medium_large-width":429,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","large-width":429,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","1536x1536-width":429,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","2048x2048-width":429,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary.jpg","post_full_size-width":429,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is20-Sargon_II_and_dignitary-301x420.jpg","home_baner-width":301,"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":"20","chapter_main_number":"354","date":"20270106","wall_id":"354"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"469","name":"Egypt","old_id":"869"},{"term_id":"953","name":"Assyria","old_id":"1353"}]},{"order":12,"id":"65922","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Go Set A Watchman\u00a0 (Isaiah 21:6) ","post_title":"Go Set A Watchman\u00a0 (Isaiah 21:6)","slug":"go-set-a-watchman-isaiah-216","old_id":"65922","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34235,"post_title":"Marc Gitler","slug":"marc-gitler","old_id":"34235","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Gitler","description":"Rabbi Marc Gitler, a recipient of the Wexner Fellowship, was ordained at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah, and earned an MPA from NYU . The founder of Fast for Feast, he lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children. He used to work for 929 North America.\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Marc Gitler, founder of Fast for Feast, lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sarah and their four children. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34236,"alt":"","title":"Marc Gitler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","width":407,"height":407,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","medium_large-width":407,"medium_large-height":407,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","large-width":407,"large-height":407,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","1536x1536-width":407,"1536x1536-height":407,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","2048x2048-width":407,"2048x2048-height":407,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","post_full_size-width":407,"post_full_size-height":407,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Gitler.jpg","home_baner-width":407,"home_baner-height":407}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"355","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"To \u2018kill\u2019 an Atticus...","post_main_content_content":"

I just can\u2019t look at my son\u2019s classmate Atticus the same way again.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 2015, fifty-five years after the publishing of To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em>, Harper Lee released Go Set a Watchman,<\/em>\u00a0a story that she had written prior to Mockingbird<\/em>, but due to a variety of reasons was not released publicly for a half century.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The book\u2019s title comes from the sixth verse in our chapter \u201cThe Lord said to me: Go set a watchman and let him announce what he sees.\u201d According to Lee\u2019s friends the book was so titled because <\/span>somebody needed to be the moral compass of the town. God had sent Isaiah as a watchman over Israel to keep them on the right path. The verse expresses God\u2019s desire for Israel to set its own watchman to keep them on the straight and narrow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In <\/span>Mockingbird<\/em> <\/span>Atticus Finch was that watchman; defending Tom Robinson against a rape charge, even though he was fully aware that he had zero chance of winning the case in racist Alabama of the 1930\u2019s. But Atticus takes the case because it was a moral necessity, and affords him the opportunity to teach his children about the horrors of bigotry and stand as a watchman against the vile beliefs of his fellow citizens.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sadly, in the recently released book Atticus is transformed. Amongst his papers is a pamphlet titled \u201cThe Black Plague.\u201d He attends a Citizen\u2019s Council meeting (something akin to the KKK), and when confronted by his daughter asks her <\/span>\u201cDo you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and churches and theaters? Do you want them in our world?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah\u2019s watchman reports of Babylon\u2019s destruction, and the smashing of its false idols. The beloved figure of <\/span>Mockingbird<\/span><\/em>, Atticus, is similarly smashed to pieces. Both to his daughter and readers alike he is no longer the watchman. Is Harper Lee predicting that if the Alabama of her youth continues in its bigoted ways that it will face a fate similar to Ancient Babylon?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Like most critics, when I see Atticus at school, I will pretend that the Watchman was never published.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65923,"alt":"","title":"is21-watchman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","width":373,"height":458,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman-244x300.jpg","medium-width":244,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","medium_large-width":373,"medium_large-height":458,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","large-width":373,"large-height":458,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","1536x1536-width":373,"1536x1536-height":458,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","2048x2048-width":373,"2048x2048-height":458,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","post_full_size-width":373,"post_full_size-height":458,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman-342x420.jpg","home_baner-width":342,"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":"Go Set A Watchman\u00a0 (Isaiah 21:6)","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"To \u2018kill\u2019 an Atticus...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65923,"alt":"","title":"is21-watchman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","width":373,"height":458,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman-244x300.jpg","medium-width":244,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","medium_large-width":373,"medium_large-height":458,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","large-width":373,"large-height":458,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","1536x1536-width":373,"1536x1536-height":458,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","2048x2048-width":373,"2048x2048-height":458,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman.jpg","post_full_size-width":373,"post_full_size-height":458,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-watchman-342x420.jpg","home_baner-width":342,"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":"21","chapter_main_number":"355","date":"20270107","wall_id":"355"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"373","name":"Literature","old_id":"773"},{"term_id":"577","name":"Racism","old_id":"977"}]},{"order":13,"id":"65925","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"For Everything There Is A Purpose Under Heaven\u2026Even Exile ","post_title":"For Everything There Is A Purpose Under Heaven\u2026Even Exile","slug":"for-everything-there-is-a-purpose-under-heaveneven-exile","old_id":"65925","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":"355","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A necessary stage in the growth of the people","post_main_content_content":"

As Isaiah foretells the downfall and destruction of the Babylonian empire and end to that particular exile of the Jewish nation, one is driven to consider the relative brevity of this exile: only 70 years, compared to our current period of diaspora which has continued for nearly 2000 years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What could God have had in mind for this short period of total eviction from the land of Israel? The truth is, calling this a 70-year exile is a bit misleading because we know that many years earlier, when Nebuchadnezzar first laid siege on Israel, he deported some 10,000 of the brightest and most promising of the Jewish nation. So, by the time Nebuchadnezzar finished his mission of conquest with the destruction of the Temple and the final deportation of Jews, the new exiles were actually joining already established Jewish communities in Babylonia. These were not just subsisting communities, but ones that had prioritized the development of a religious infrastructure. This community continued to grow deeper in religiosity and spirituality during the next 70 years of exile.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While in exile, with no Temple at which to worship or bring sacrifices, the Jewish people were forced to find alternate modes of religious expression. The result was a new focus on study and learning as a focal point for worship. Remember back in Chapter 1 when God said, \u201cLEARN to do good\u201d? This period of exile spawned the roots of formal Judaic scholarship, culminating in the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) compiled many centuries later by the descendants of those who were exiled to, and remained in Babylonia.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is not to suggest that exile was then, or is now, a good thing. Ultimately something was missing during this period of exile, namely the Jewish homeland, the holy city of Jerusalem and our Temple. But prior to this exile, there was also something missing: a formal learning structure in order to support and perpetuate religious practice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God realized that to complete development of our national persona we needed to be temporarily displaced. Perhaps that is our lesson as we await the end of our current exile. Our land is part of our whole promised package and over 45% of world Jewry now lives in our homeland, so we\u2019re making progress. But to be ready for the Messianic era to come, we need to remain vigilant and continue to strengthen ourselves in the study of Torah and Jewish scholarship.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image:\u00a0 Babylonian Talmud \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65926,"alt":"","title":"is21-talmud","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","width":800,"height":560,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-300x210.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":210,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-768x538.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":538,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":560,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":560,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":560,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":560,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-600x420.jpg","home_baner-width":600,"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":"For Everything There Is A Purpose Under Heaven\u2026Even Exile","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A necessary stage in the growth of the people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65926,"alt":"","title":"is21-talmud","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","width":800,"height":560,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-300x210.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":210,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-768x538.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":538,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":560,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":560,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":560,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":560,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is21-talmud-600x420.jpg","home_baner-width":600,"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":"21","chapter_main_number":"355","date":"20270107","wall_id":"355"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"422","name":"Diaspora","old_id":"822"},{"term_id":"432","name":"Exile","old_id":"832"},{"term_id":"500","name":"Messiah","old_id":"900"}]}],"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\/65270"}],"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=65270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}