{"id":67753,"date":"2018-07-09T17:45:46","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1078\/"},"modified":"2023-08-04T13:24:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-04T10:24:23","slug":"wall-1078","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1078\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230730-to-20230805"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1078","date_from":"20230730","date_to":"20230805","book":"Isaiah","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"50037","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Bread From Earth, Bread From Heaven ","post_title":"Bread From Earth, Bread From Heaven","slug":"bread-from-earth-bread-from-heaven","old_id":"50037","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"161","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Rather than independence and self-sufficiency, the wilderness is about Israel\u2019s willingness to embrace dependence","post_main_content_content":"

Inching closer to the Promised Land, Moses instructs the people to remember the experience of being fed by God in the desert, specifically how \u201cHe humbled you by letting you hunger, and then fed you with manna... in order to teach you that one does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of (<\/span>al kol motza pi<\/span><\/i>) the Lord\u201d (8:2-3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the simplest level, the verse can be read as contrasting bread from the earth with \u201cbread from heaven\u201d (Exodus 16:4), i.e. manna: While wandering in the desert, Israel lived not by earthly bread, but by the food provided directly by God. According to Jeffrey Tigay, God sought to teach the people that \u201cnature alone could not be relied on for food... Man does not live on natural foods alone but on whatever God decrees to be nourishing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some scholars aver that the phrase \u201ceverything that comes out of the mouth (<\/span>kol motza pi<\/span><\/em>) of the Lord\u201d refers not to providence in general but specifically to <\/span>what God says<\/span><\/em>. As central as divine law is for biblical theology, God\u2019s word does not refer only to God\u2019s law. \u201c<\/span>Everything<\/em> <\/span>that comes from the mouth of the Lord\u201d surely includes God\u2019s commandments, but it encompasses God\u2019s promises and commitments as well. We should not understate the centrality of law for Deuteronomy, but we should not over-state it either: God does indeed offer \u201cguidance,\u201d but divine commandments constitute more than guidance\u2014they are divinely-imposed <\/span>obligations<\/span><\/em>. Israel lives both by God\u2019s command and by God\u2019s promise.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Standing on the edge of the Promised Land, the people are taught that in order to survive and flourish, they will need both God\u2019s providence and God\u2019s word. Some might be tempted to choose between these two interpretive possibilities, as if the text were focused <\/span>either <\/span><\/i>on divine providence <\/span>or <\/span><\/i>on the divine word. But Deuteronomy\u2019s point is precisely that Israel requires both God\u2019s loving concern and God\u2019s concrete commandments. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

One can imagine a situation in which a lengthy sojourn in the wilderness is intended to teach independence and self-sufficiency. But for Deuteronomy, the point of Israel\u2019s prolonged wandering is just the opposite: The people need to learn that they are always and everywhere dependent on God. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What the wilderness ultimately tests is Israel\u2019s willingness to embrace dependence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Image: by James Tissot, c. 1900, Jewish Museum 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Spectacular Species ","post_title":"Seven Spectacular Species","slug":"seven-spectacular-species","old_id":"50012","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46249,"post_title":"Gil Troy","slug":"gil-troy","old_id":"46249","first_name":"Gil ","last_name":"Troy ","description":"Gil Troy is a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, has written ten books on the American presidency. 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Deuteronomy 8:8 produces one of the most potent images of the Land of Israel\u2019s bounty, this fertile \u201cland of wheat and barley, vines and figs and pomegranates, a land of oil producing olives and honey.\u201d These are the Seven Species that have launched many an art project, many a spiritual teaching, even seven iconic Israeli stamps. The spiritual power of those seven species is tapped two verses later: ve-achalta, ve-savata, u-verachta<\/em>: \u201cAnd you will eat and be sated, and you shall bless the Lord, your God, for the good land God has given you\u2026.\u201d That pitch-perfect phrase is so resonant, it appears in Birkat HaMazon, the grace-after-meals.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Warning, warning. This could be a great point of disconnect between some modern Western rationalists and the Bible. Waxing poetic about seven species! Reading spiritual power into vines or barley! Deifying a land that a little less than half the Jewish people inhabit \u2013 and which others lay claim to! Tree-huggers are one thing \u2013 but fig-worshippers? That\u2019s not my delightfully reasonable, ever-so-suburban, ready-for-prime-time liberal American Judaism!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Precisely.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rather than being editorial Jews, always judging how our 3,500-year-old tradition might prop up our modern liberal sensibilities, let\u2019s be humble readers, trying to understand the verse in its cultural and spiritual context \u2013 to tap into its countercultural power today. Modern believers often view religions as two-dimensional \u2013 facilitating spiritual interactions between me and my Maker, muting the communal resonance. Non-Orthodox American Jews often emphasize Judaism\u2019s ethnic, cultural, familial dimensions spiced up with some quaint rituals to charm the kids -- draining true spirituality from it. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Bringing land into the mix brings Judaism alive \u2013 in 3-D. This isn\u2019t \u201cjust\u201d a religion \u2013 it\u2019s a way of life. This isn\u2019t \u201cjust\u201d a culture or ethnic group \u2013 it\u2019s a spiritual system. Judaism\u2019s full-time, full-service, all-purpose. It\u2019s alive, it\u2019s sensual, and it thrives best in the land of Israel, Judaism\u2019s natural habit. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ve-Achalta<\/em> \u2013 \u201cand you will eat\u201d \u2013Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, literally sustains us; it\u2019s our lifeline.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ve-Savata<\/em> \u2013 \u201cand you will be sated\u201d \u2013 Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, nourishes, satisfies, fulfills us \u2013 physically then spiritually.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

U-Verachta<\/em> \u2013 \u201cyou shall bless\u201d - and then, how can you not be grateful? And why not consider the Prime Mover in all this, the deeper power, transcending the human, which Jews call \u201cGod.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Seven Species then become seven allies, seven props, seven ways into this Holy Trinity of eating, being satisfied, being grateful. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

And let us say \u201camen.\u201d<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>\r\n

artwork by: Linda Adams, courtesy of the artist<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50013,"alt":"","title":"dt8-Linda Adams-7 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He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. 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There's an astounding element of biblical political philosophy that doesn't enjoy much popularity in Religious Zionist writings. That's not surprising, because it's a notion that complicates our understanding of the unique relationship we enjoy with the land. Moses repeats it in chapter 9, but it's an idea that was introduced in the very first moments of God's first covenant with Abraham, in Genesis, chapter 15, in order to answer a simple, but troubling question.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If God is so committed to giving Abraham the land, why doesn't he fulfill that promise immediately? The Torah gives an explicit, though somewhat cryptic, answer. \"And you will join your fathers in peace, you will be buried at a ripe old age. And the fourth generation will return here, <\/span>for the sins of the Emorites will not be filled until then.<\/b>\" Apparently, the fact that, after God's covenant, the land is \"ours\" is not enough to justify settling it. There are other peoples living in the land, and our rights can't displace theirs until they have brought exile upon themselves for their own misdeeds.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the same message that Moses relays to the people as they prepare to enter the land. \"Not by your own righteousness or the purity of your heart do you come to inherit their land, but rather because of the wickedness of these nations that God drives them out from before you.\" Conquest is not a natural, national right that we enjoy. It is only acceptable when it fills the objectives of divine justice, and that divine justice can be directed against the Jewish people as much as any other nation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although this land is our land, Moses emphasizes again and again that we will remain on it only so long as we deserve it. When we have filled our \"quota\" of unworthy behavior, we too are expelled from the land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So now that we're here again (not by virtue of conquering, and not just by virtue of historic right, but by the approval of the land's previously sovereign powers) the most important question to answer is- how do we make sure we're worthy of staying? Some of the answer we learned in yesterday's chapter, and will see in tomorrow's chapter, have more to teach us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n


\r\n<\/span>Image: The Conquest of the Amorites<\/a> (watercolor circa 1896\u20131902 by James Tissot)<\/span>
\r\n<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49530,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","width":800,"height":607,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-300x228.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":228,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-768x583.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":583,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":607,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":607,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":607,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":607,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-554x420.jpg","home_baner-width":554,"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":"That The Land Is Ours Doesn't Justify Conquering It","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Only righteousness and justice count to be worthy of possession","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49530,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","width":800,"height":607,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-300x228.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":228,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-768x583.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":583,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":607,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":607,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":607,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":607,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-554x420.jpg","home_baner-width":554,"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":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"9","chapter_main_number":"162","date":"20260413","wall_id":"162"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"430","name":"Land of Israel","old_id":"830"},{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"}]},{"order":4,"id":"50163","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"The Beginning of Wisdom Is The Breaking Of The Tablets ","post_title":"The Beginning of Wisdom Is The Breaking Of The Tablets","slug":"the-beginning-of-wisdom-is-the-breaking-of-the-tablets","old_id":"50163","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"162","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Knowledge isn\u2019t of a piece, and even revelation is fragmented","post_main_content_content":"

One of the world\u2019s greatest halls of learning is the main reading room of the New York Public Library. Since the 1940\u2019s a set of four sizable murals, painted by a Depression era artist named Edward Laning, have framed the reading room. The striking panels appropriately tell \u201cThe Story of the Recorded Word\u201d \u2013 the title of the work. One mural portrays a medieval scribe painstakingly copying a manuscript by hand, another shows a later moment in history and portrays the inventor of the printing press, Johann Gutenberg, holding one of the proofs to his monumental Gutenberg Bible. Moving ahead further in time is Ottmar Mergenthaler, whose linotype machine further revolutionized printing. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first mural of the series, towards the left of the room, depicts Moses with the two Tablets. This would initially seem to be an appropriate, religious, way to begin the story of the recorded word. Yet on closer view, something is amiss. Rather than the triumphant, generative moment of God revealing his message for humankind, we have the very opposite \u2013 the breaking of the Tablets after the Israelites worshiped idols: In the panel, Moses holds only one Tablet \u2013 the other is smashed on the ground; there is a golden calf, with a pagan wreath, off to the side. And the Israelites cover their eyes in shame.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is hard to know why the artist, Edward Laning, would choose to begin a series of murals adorning a temple of knowledge on such a negative note. There is a Christian tradition which sees the breaking of the Tablets as prefiguring God\u2019s break with Jews \u2013 a central argument of Christian theology. On the other hand, maybe Laning was tapping into a curious Midrashic tradition, later developed in Kabbalistic and Hassidic writings, in which the breaking of the Tablets was part of the plan all along, and symbolized the necessarily fractured nature of understanding in our world.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is a fascinating message to great library-goers: Go on, dive into the books! But know that your path to knowledge is always secondary and broken, and you will never reach the absolute truth. It is a sobering idea, but also comforting as well. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: New York Public Library Main Building: McGraw Rotunda - The Story of the Recorded Word - Moses with the Tablets of Law, by Edward Laning, c. 1940, WPA project. Photo: Wally Gobetz, 2007<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50164,"alt":"","title":"Dt9-Moses-NYPL","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","width":1276,"height":1916,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":682,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","large-width":682,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","1536x1536-width":1023,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","2048x2048-width":1276,"2048x2048-height":1916,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-799x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":799,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"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 Beginning Of Wisdom Is The Breaking Of The Tablets","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Knowledge isn\u2019t of a piece, and even revelation is fragmented","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50164,"alt":"","title":"Dt9-Moses-NYPL","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","width":1276,"height":1916,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":682,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-682x1024.jpg","large-width":682,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","1536x1536-width":1023,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL.jpg","2048x2048-width":1276,"2048x2048-height":1916,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-799x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":799,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt9-Moses-NYPL-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"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":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"9","chapter_main_number":"162","date":"20260413","wall_id":"162"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"393","name":"Crisis","old_id":"793"},{"term_id":"652","name":"Commandments","old_id":"1052"}]},{"order":5,"id":"108051","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Godly Demands ","post_title":"Godly Demands","slug":"godly-demands","old_id":"108051","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38047,"post_title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","slug":"shoshana-michael-zucker","old_id":"38047","first_name":"Shoshana Michael ","last_name":"Zucker ","description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor by profession, but would much rather be learning and teaching Torah. A graduate of Barnard College, she made aliyah in 1983 and now lives in Kfar Saba where she is an active member of the Masorti Congregation Hod veHadar. ","short_description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38048,"alt":"","title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","width":231,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","medium_large-width":231,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","large-width":231,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","1536x1536-width":231,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","2048x2048-width":231,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","post_full_size-width":231,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","home_baner-width":231,"home_baner-height":310}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"163","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We are commanded to act as God\u2019s agents providing the sojourner \u2013 the vulnerable outsider who lives among us \u2013 with God\u2019s love\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

With powerful words, Moses restates the terms of the covenant, asking<\/span> \u201cAnd now, O Israel, what does the Eternal your God demand of you? Only this: to revere the Eternal your God, to walk only in God\u2019s paths, to love God, and to serve the Eternal your God with all your heart and soul,\u00a0 keeping the Eternal \u2019s commandments and laws, which I enjoin upon you today, for your good (10:12-13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although \u201conly this\u201d is language that expresses limitation, the demands here are tremendous. Lest we be overwhelmed by the \u200ecomprehensiveness of the demand and the lack of detail, the Torah provides some examples \u200eto get us started. After piling on superlatives to establish God\u2019s awesome grandeur, specific \u200edetails bring God\u2019s goodness down to earth: \u201cT<\/span>he awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe, but upholds the cause of the orphan and the widow, and loving the <\/span>ger\/<\/span><\/i>stranger\/sojourner, providing him with food and clothing. You, too, must love the sojourners, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt<\/span> (10:17-19).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Note the transition between Deuteronomy 10:18 and 10:19, between the theological statement that God cares for widows, orphans and the <\/span>sojourner,<\/span> and the commandment directed at us to love the <\/span>sojourner<\/span>. God\u2019s love for the sojourner is immediately translated into concrete, human needs.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moreover, the Torah specifies how God works in this world. <\/span>Through us<\/span><\/em>. We are <\/span>commanded to act as God\u2019s agents providing the sojourner \u2013 the vulnerable outsider who lives among us \u2013 with God\u2019s love, food and clothing, as the verse specifies.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is especially important in Deuteronomy, whose original audience (according to its self-understanding) had been living in the wilderness for 40 years, eating manna and wearing clothes that never wore out (see Deuteronomy 8:4). Therefore, the idea that God doesn\u2019t provide human needs directly indeed requires emphasis. The transition from the wilderness into the Land is also a transition from the miraculous to the natural (Joshua 5:12). We forgot this to our own detriment.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Godly Demands","tile_main_caption":"We are commanded to act as God\u2019s agents providing the sojourner \u2013 the vulnerable outsider who lives among us \u2013 with God\u2019s love","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","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":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"10","chapter_main_number":"163","date":"20260414","wall_id":"163"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"},{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"}]},{"order":6,"id":"50241","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Second Edition Of The People Too ","post_title":"Second Edition Of The People Too","slug":"second-edition-of-the-people-too","old_id":"50241","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49857,"post_title":"Tali Adler","slug":"tali-adler","old_id":"49857","first_name":"Tali ","last_name":"Adler","description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side. Tali is a musmekhet of Yeshivat Maharat and a Wexner Graduate Fellow. During her time at Yeshivat Maharat, Tali served as the clergy intern at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim and Harvard Hillel. \r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49865,"alt":"","title":"tali adler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","width":165,"height":159,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium-width":165,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium_large-width":165,"medium_large-height":159,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","large-width":165,"large-height":159,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":165,"1536x1536-height":159,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":165,"2048x2048-height":159,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":165,"post_full_size-height":159,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","home_baner-width":165,"home_baner-height":159}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"163","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Less divine than the first, but built to last","post_main_content_content":"

The unspoken truth of Deuteronomy is that this generation is the second set of tablets.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first generation, like the first set of tablets, was carved by God the moment they heard the voice at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by fire and thunder and great sounds. And, like the first set of tablets, forty days later, at the foot of that same mountain, they shattered.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This generation, the generation of Deuteronomy that Moses is speaking to now, is the second set of tablets. Like the second set, they have never been touched directly by the Divine. Like the second set, they are made of earth-stuff instead of heavenly material. They have never been freed by God or stood at the edge of a splitting sea. Like the second set of tablets that Moses had to bring up the mountain himself, this generation has been shaped by human hands rather than Divine ones. The carving that God did for their parents when they stood at Sinai must now be done by Moses, a generation later, as he recounts God\u2019s words spoken so many years before.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deuteronomy is the story of this carving, the final act of Moses\u2019s life: inscribing the word of God on the hearts of the Jewish people It is Moses\u2019s final act of faith, of hope, and of trust, that this generation, this set of tablets, so much less divine than the first, might be sturdy enough to last.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Moses on Mount Sinai, by Daniele da Volterra, 1555<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":50242,"alt":"","title":"dt10-moses people","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","width":299,"height":417,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people-215x300.jpg","medium-width":215,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","medium_large-width":299,"medium_large-height":417,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","large-width":299,"large-height":417,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","1536x1536-width":299,"1536x1536-height":417,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","2048x2048-width":299,"2048x2048-height":417,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","post_full_size-width":299,"post_full_size-height":417,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","home_baner-width":299,"home_baner-height":417}},"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":"Second Edition Of The People Too","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Less divine than the first, but built to last","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":50242,"alt":"","title":"dt10-moses people","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","width":299,"height":417,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people-215x300.jpg","medium-width":215,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","medium_large-width":299,"medium_large-height":417,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","large-width":299,"large-height":417,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","1536x1536-width":299,"1536x1536-height":417,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","2048x2048-width":299,"2048x2048-height":417,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","post_full_size-width":299,"post_full_size-height":417,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/dt10-moses-people.jpg","home_baner-width":299,"home_baner-height":417}},"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":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"10","chapter_main_number":"163","date":"20260414","wall_id":"163"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"370","name":"Divine\/human","old_id":"770"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"598","name":"Israelites","old_id":"998"}]},{"order":7,"id":"68091","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"God\u2019s Great \u201cHineni\u201d ","post_title":"God\u2019s Great \u201cHineni\u201d","slug":"gods-great-hineni","old_id":"68091","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":"386","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The master serves with intimacy, fidelity, mutuality\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

It isn\u2019t often that a phrase reserved for a faithful servant emerges from the mouth of the master. Yet here, in Isaiah 52, we see precisely this great wonder.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When God called upon Abraham, that faithful patriarch answered the call, \u201cHineni<\/em>\/Here I am!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jacob responds not once, but twice when called, \u201cHineni<\/em>\/Here I am!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Moses, at the burning bush, responds wholeheartedly, \u201cHineni<\/em>\/Here I am!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And the prophets Samuel and Isaiah each launch their service as prophets with that powerful word.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Across the Bible, Hineni<\/em> signifies that a person is willing to give themselves completely to God\u2019s mission, whatever that might be.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So it is particularly striking that God\u2019s redemption, as seen by Isaiah, opens with God responding to us with that same open devotion. On the occasion of the ultimate redemption, all of God\u2019s children will witness something transforming, the turning of God to God\u2019s people openly, without hiding. \u201cTherefore, My people shall know My name. Therefore, on that day, they will know that it is I Who speaks: Hineni<\/em>\/Here I am!\u201d (verse 6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So many wonders to notice here: that the redemption is mutual; just as we turn to God even during our times of wandering and tribulation, so God will turn to us at the end of time, a fullness of embrace that eclipses anything we might aspire to in these difficult days.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our redemption is about emerging from hiding, openly facing each other with full hearts and commitment to the mission that embraces us and God together: redeeming a broken world, binding the wounds, caring for widow and orphan, redeeming the land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When we can be unembarrassed by the commitments of our faith, when God reveals intimacy and fidelity in public, when we know God\u2019s real nature not as mere fact to comprehend but as an existential compass that gives us direction and inspiration, then we are ready to answer with our all: Hineni<\/em>!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And so is God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: by Ben Schachter<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68095,"alt":"","title":"Is52-hineni - BArston","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston.jpg","width":2344,"height":1034,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-300x132.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":132,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-768x339.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":339,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-1024x452.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":452,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":678,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":903,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-1200x529.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":529,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-952x420.jpg","home_baner-width":952,"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":"God\u2019s Great \u201cHineni\u201d","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The master serves with intimacy, fidelity, mutuality","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68095,"alt":"","title":"Is52-hineni - BArston","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston.jpg","width":2344,"height":1034,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-300x132.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":132,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-768x339.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":339,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-1024x452.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":452,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":678,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":903,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-1200x529.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":529,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Is52-hineni-BArston-952x420.jpg","home_baner-width":952,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"52","chapter_main_number":"386","date":"20270221","wall_id":"386"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"301","name":"Ben Schachter","old_id":"701"},{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"403","name":"Redemption","old_id":"803"}]},{"order":8,"id":"68097","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Seeing God Eye To Eye ","post_title":"Seeing God Eye To Eye","slug":"seeing-god-eye-to-eye","old_id":"68097","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":"386","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"If Moses couldn\u2019t\u00a0 - how could anyone else?","post_main_content_content":"

Isaiah 52 contains one of the most evocative, lyrical and concise descriptions of the advent of the Messianic Age, along with the Jewish people\u2019s joyous response to this long-anticipated event: \u201cHow welcome on the mountain Are the footsteps of the herald Announcing happiness, Heralding good fortune, Announcing victory, Telling Zion, \u2018Your God is King!\u2019 Hark! Your watchmen raise their voices, As one they shout for joy; For every eye [lit. \u201ceye to eye\u201d] shall behold The LORD\u2019s return to Zion\u201d (verses 7-8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The imagery of being able to intimately \u201csee\u201d God \u201ceye to eye\u201d is incorporated into a prayer that is recited immediately after the Torah is taken out of the Ark on Shabbat and Yom Tov mornings:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2026May we see Him \u201ceye to eye\u201d upon His return to His abode, as it is written: (Isaiah 52:8) \u201cFor they shall \u2018see\u2019 \u2018eye to eye\u2019 as HaShem returns to Zion.\u201d And it is said: (Ibid. 40:5) \u201cthe Glory of HaShem shall be revealed and all flesh together shall \u2018see\u2019 that the mouth of HaShem has spoken\u201d (<\/span>ArtScroll <\/span><\/i>\u201cAl HaKol\u2026\u201d, p. 439).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This prayer and its placement within the prayer service tacitly suggest that while we are expected to await God\u2019s direct reappearance in our lives, hoping to finally be able to cry out: \u201c<\/span>This <\/b>is my God\u2026\u201d (Exodus 15:2), until such a time we will have to make do with what studying the Torah can tell us about God, much in the same manner as our prayers at best serve as temporary substitutes for the Temple and its sacrifices: (Hosea 14:3) \u201cTake with you words, and return unto the LORD; say unto Him: Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I have often used the metaphor of an insect \u201cfrozen\u201d in amber, to describe the limbo-like spiritual condition in which Jews find themselves presently, both in Israel and out.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But how literally should we take the idea of being able to \u201csee\u201d God \u201ceye to eye\u201d? When Moses requested of God on Sinai to \u201csee\u201d Him, God appeared to respond that this was literally impossible, \u201cAnd He said: Thou canst not see My face, for man shall not see Me and live\u201d (Exodus 33:20). Was God\u2019s response to Moses factually correct for all times and places, with the idiom in Isaiah 52:8 therefore having to be understood only figuratively? Or will the Messianic era usher in such a sea-change in man\u2019s nature and spirituality, that heretofore impossibilities will become realities? I suppose that we will have to wait and see.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68119,"alt":"","title":"is52-eye-to-eye","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Seeing God Eye To Eye","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"If Moses couldn\u2019t\u00a0 - how could anyone else?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68119,"alt":"","title":"is52-eye-to-eye","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is52-eye-to-eye-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"52","chapter_main_number":"386","date":"20270221","wall_id":"386"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"500","name":"Messiah","old_id":"900"}]},{"order":9,"id":"68153","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Suffering Jews\u00a0\u00a0 ","post_title":"The Suffering Jews\u00a0\u00a0","slug":"the-suffering-jews","old_id":"68153","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":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An anachronistic view of anti-Semitism?","post_main_content_content":"

The so-called \u201cSuffering Servant\u201d passage\u2014that began with 52:13\u2014has been the subject of so many different interpretations, that two 19<\/span>th<\/span> century Bible scholars, Samuel Driver and Adolph Neubauer, even compiled an entire book of them, entitled:<\/span> The \"Suffering Servant\" of Isaiah, According to the Jewish Interpreters<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i> Malbim* was content to go with the conventional identification of the servant as the personification of the Jewish people. The following is his commentary to 53:4: \u201cYet it was our sickness that he was bearing, our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, smitten and afflicted by God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The ancient idolatrous people attributed two things to Israel. [A] An internal malady; i.e., they considered them spiritually ill and undeserving of any benefit\u2014neither humanistic rewards nor scientific studies nor moral qualities. For that reason, they would not allow them to occupy any offices or positions because they regarded their souls as too sick to receive any instruction or direction. Now they will see that this malady was not intrinsic to them; rather it was the poverty and destitution that made their hearts autistic and barren of positive qualities\u2026 [B] An external malady. The idolaters would occasionally beat Israel and inflict on them grievous afflictions to force them to abandon their religion and worship the sun and the moon. They would say that Israel is susceptible to such afflictions on account of its transgressions. Now they will see that they themselves caused those afflictions by means of their own transgressions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe accounted him plagued\u201d addresses the [ostensible] internal malady, and \u201cafflicted by God\u201d addresses the afflictions and oppressions.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim\u2019s description of the \u201csuffering servant\u201d seems to be more consistent with 19<\/span>th<\/span> century Central European Jewish history than Judea in the 8-7<\/span>th<\/span> century BCE. While surely anachronistic, it is an accurate representation, on the one hand, of what Jews have confronted throughout our exile, and, on the other, how the \u201cnormalization\u201d of Jewish history over the past century has changed such perceptions.\u00a0<\/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>\r\n

Image: Jewish refugees from Russia at port of Liverpool, 1882 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68154,"alt":"","title":"is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","width":350,"height":262,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","medium_large-width":350,"medium_large-height":262,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","large-width":350,"large-height":262,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","1536x1536-width":350,"1536x1536-height":262,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","2048x2048-width":350,"2048x2048-height":262,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","post_full_size-width":350,"post_full_size-height":262,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","home_baner-width":350,"home_baner-height":262}},"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 Suffering Jews\u00a0\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An anachronistic view of anti-Semitism?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68154,"alt":"","title":"is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","width":350,"height":262,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","medium_large-width":350,"medium_large-height":262,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","large-width":350,"large-height":262,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","1536x1536-width":350,"1536x1536-height":262,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","2048x2048-width":350,"2048x2048-height":262,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","post_full_size-width":350,"post_full_size-height":262,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-sokolow-Jewish_refugees_Liverpool_1882.jpg","home_baner-width":350,"home_baner-height":262}},"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":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","date":"20270222","wall_id":"387"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"491","name":"Suffering","old_id":"891"},{"term_id":"661","name":"Oppression","old_id":"1061"}]},{"order":10,"id":"68166","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Can Someone Be Punished For Another\u2019s Sins? ","post_title":"Can Someone Be Punished For Another\u2019s Sins?","slug":"can-someone-be-punished-for-anothers-sins","old_id":"68166","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64460,"post_title":"Vincent Calabrese","slug":"vincent-calabrese","old_id":"64460","first_name":"Vincent ","last_name":"Calabrese ","description":"Vincent Calabrese is a doctoral student in Jewish thought at the University of Toronto and a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute","short_description":"Vincent Calabrese is a doctoral student in Jewish thought at the University of Toronto and a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64461,"alt":"","title":"vincent calabrese","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese.jpg","width":2117,"height":2504,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-254x300.jpg","medium-width":254,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-768x908.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":908,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-866x1024.jpg","large-width":866,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese.jpg","1536x1536-width":1299,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese.jpg","2048x2048-width":1731,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-1015x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1015,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-355x420.jpg","home_baner-width":355,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An age-old conundrum. And Isaiah\u2019s answer is surprising","post_main_content_content":"

We can think of the Bible in many ways \u2014 as a unified authority speaking with one voice, for example, or, the opposite, as a disjointed collection of documents from disparate times and places. More productive than either of these approaches is to see the Bible as a set of conversations. What binds the Bible together is not so much a single set of answers, but a shared concern with a set of issues- essentially contested ideas regarding which no final answer is ever reached.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One such controversy, one of the Bible\u2019s longest-running, is over vicarious punishment. Could a just God ever bring punishment on us for the sins of our ancestors or compatriots? Or is a purely individualist sense of responsibility the only one compatible with divine justice? The Ten Commandments famously speak of God visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children. And yet Deuteronomy 24 states that \u201cparents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents: a person shall be put to death only for his own crime.\u201d Echoes of these positions are repeated throughout the course of Biblical history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah 53 is a particularly striking affirmation of the idea that some may suffer for the sins of others. The chapter speaks of a figure who is \u201cwounded because of our sins, crushed because of our iniquities,\u201d and whose punishment seems to have a redemptive effect \u2014 his is \u201cthe chastisement that made us whole\u201d; it is \u201cby his bruises we were healed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While this passage has historically been a point of great contention in Jewish-Christian polemics, it has a history of Jewish interpretation which for many contemporary Jews may be just as unfamiliar and uncomfortable. A number of prominent Jewish thinkers, both medieval (such as Judah HaLevi) and modern (Hermann Cohen and Franz Rosenzweig) have understood this passage to be teaching that the Jewish people suffer collectively for the sins of the world. In HaLevi\u2019s metaphor, Israel is the \u201cheart\u201d of humanity: if the other organs (nations of the world) suffer, the heart necessarily does as well; conversely, a healthy heart is necessary for a healthy body. According to Cohen, the historical task of the Jewish people \u2014 to bear witness to monotheism in a world which is essentially pagan \u2014 also meant that they were condemned to suffer for the sins of others.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is often claimed that, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, such views are no longer tenable. I think it is a mistake, however, to write off such interpretations as HaLevi\u2019s and Cohen\u2019s as simply naive \u2014 they were in no way ignorant of the reality of Jewish suffering. Their interpretation, rather, is one of the handful of avenues available to those who wish to find a transcendent <\/span>meaning<\/span><\/em> in the historical travails of the Jewish people. Ultimately, this conversation, which has continued in fits and starts since the era of the First Temple, has not yet been closed.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68167,"alt":"","title":"is53-punish","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish.jpg","width":1920,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-768x471.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":471,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-1024x628.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":942,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1177,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-1200x736.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":736,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-685x420.jpg","home_baner-width":685,"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":"Can Someone Be Punished For Another\u2019s Sins?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An age-old conundrum. And Isaiah\u2019s answer is surprising","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68167,"alt":"","title":"is53-punish","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish.jpg","width":1920,"height":1177,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-300x184.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":184,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-768x471.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":471,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-1024x628.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":628,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":942,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1177,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-1200x736.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":736,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-punish-685x420.jpg","home_baner-width":685,"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":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","date":"20270222","wall_id":"387"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"491","name":"Suffering","old_id":"891"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"},{"term_id":"615","name":"Argument","old_id":"1015"}]},{"order":11,"id":"68188","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Beruriah And Women\u2019s Voices ","post_title":"Beruriah And Women\u2019s Voices","slug":"beruriah-and-womens-voices","old_id":"68188","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":"388","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The task that we inherit from our teachers is to make a world in which a Beruriah could thrive","post_main_content_content":"

For the final entry in this<\/span> series on feminine imagery in the Book of Isaiah<\/span><\/a>, I want to participate in a revolutionary chain of transmission. Throughout this series I have considered the patriarchal misogyny of the Book of Isaiah and how it was cultivated by the Rabbis. But just as biblical women deserve a voice, so, too, do the Rabbis\u2019 female contemporaries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the Talmud, in tractate Berakhot, a heretic approaches the great Talmudic scholar Beruriah. He quotes to her from Isaiah 54:1, saying, \u201cSing, barren woman who has not given birth,\u201d then mocking her with the challenge, \u201cA woman who has not given birth should sing and rejoice?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Beruriah responds by calling the man a fool. \u201cGo to the end of the verse,\u201d she tells him, evincing an encyclopedic knowledge of Torah, \u201c[where God tells us that] \u2018the children of the forsaken shall be more numerous than the children of the favored wife.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Beruriah bests the heretic, suggesting that Isaiah 54:1 teaches that the People Israel should sing because they \u201cdid not give birth to children [destined] for [eternal damnation] like you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this scene, the heretic is \u201cstopped in his tracks by a woman learned enough to direct him to read to the end of the verse\u2026 Not only does Beruriah resist the [heretic\u2019s] temptation to argue that the text does not represent women's experience, she vehemently rejects all kinship with him\u2026 [T]he Beruriah of this story views herself as a representative of the normative tradition. It is not she but the [heretic] who is marginal: the implication of her taunt is that he is not a member of the community of Israel at all\u201d (<\/span>Rachel Adler<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Despite being \u201cother\u201d because of her gender, Beruriah is known as a great Talmudic scholar in her own right, and she repeatedly bests her male interlocutors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As Rachel Adler -- next in the revolutionary chain of transmission that is feminist Torah -- reminds us, <\/span><\/p>\r\n

To imagine and transmit a legend about a female scholar through a thousand years of patriarchal culture is nothing if not a transcendence of context. But such insights are precious and fragile. They can survive only if we build a new world to sustain them. The task that we inherit from our teachers is to make a world in which a Beruriah could thrive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As we enter a new year, a new decade, a new age, although we still suffer from <\/span>an Isaian patriarchal misogyny cultivated by the Rabbis<\/span>, we must not forget the women who have risen up in the face of their oppression. I, for one, am dedicated to joining their ranks and making this a world in which Beruriah could thrive.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Fresco from Pompeii: a Roman woman with a tabula and stilus (ca. 50 AD) \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68190,"alt":"","title":"is54-beruriah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","width":640,"height":633,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah-300x297.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":633,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":633,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":633,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":633,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":633,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah-425x420.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"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":"Beruriah And Women\u2019s Voices","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The task that we inherit from our teachers is to make a world in which a Beruriah could thrive","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68190,"alt":"","title":"is54-beruriah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","width":640,"height":633,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah-300x297.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":633,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":633,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":633,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":633,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":633,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-beruriah-425x420.jpg","home_baner-width":425,"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":"54","chapter_main_number":"388","date":"20270223","wall_id":"388"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"483","name":"Feminism","old_id":"883"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]},{"order":12,"id":"68195","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"All Your Children ","post_title":"All Your Children","slug":"all-your-children","old_id":"68195","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":"388","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Listening to different voices is essential to reach the truth and achieve peace","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cAll of Your children (<\/span>banayich<\/span><\/em>) are students of God; great is the peace of Your children\u201d (Isaiah 54:13).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Gemara Berachot (64a) <\/span>Rabbi Elazar says in the name of Rabbi Haninah that this phrase refers to Torah scholars increasing peace in the world. <\/span>Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook questioned this position, suggesting that it seemed counterintuitive considering the prevalence of disagreement among Torah scholars. How can such differences of opinion generate peace? He answers that it is precisely these differences that lead to truth, which in turn results in complete peace, noting that the word \u201c<\/span>shalom<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/i> means both peace and completeness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rav Kook\u2019s insight goes further. It is not just that divergent viewpoints <\/span>can<\/span><\/em> result in complete understanding, he says, but that<\/span> those differing voices are a <\/span>necessity<\/span><\/em> to complete understanding, because in each opinion, even when they are contradictory, is a kernel of truth. When fitted together in the right way, they complete a full picture.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Haninah, there, emphasized that we should read the word <\/span>banayich<\/span><\/em>, \u201cchildren,\u201d as <\/span>bonayich<\/span><\/em>, \u201cbuilders.\u201d Rav Kook further elucidated that just <\/span>as \u201ca building is erected from all sides, using a variety of materials and skills\u201d, so too, \u201cthe whole truth is constructed from diverse views, opinions, and methods of analysis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is not to say that every single opinion warrants a voice. Some voices should, in fact, be silenced. Those that speak hatred with intent to perpetuate divisiveness or speak for purposes of self-aggrandizement do not contribute to <\/span>shalom<\/em> <\/span>\u2013 either complete truth or peace. Verse 54:13 includes the words, \u201cyour children (who) <\/span>are students of God<\/span><\/em>.\u201d Rather than aiming to be non-inclusive this conditional wording puts parameters around the kinds of voices that contribute to <\/span>shalom<\/span><\/em>. In a traditional context, for example, the disagreements of Hillel and Shamai, two Torah scholars authentically seeking knowledge, resulted in deeper understanding of Torah, while the cynical challenges posed by Korach (Numbers 16), were voiced in opposition to Moses only to further Korach\u2019s own agenda, and did not contribute to shalom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This idea of a framework for divergent voices might serve to help us be more cognizant of the intent of the multitude of voices we hear and foster more open-minded listening to those who sincerely seek understanding. Their questions and assumptions, even when uncomfortable for us to hear, may include grains of truth that need to be integrated, through honest conversation, to arrive at shalom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68197,"alt":"","title":"is54-children","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-300x200.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-768x512.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-1024x683.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-1200x800.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-630x420.png","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":"All Your Children","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Listening to different voices is essential to reach the truth and achieve peace","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68197,"alt":"","title":"is54-children","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children.png","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-300x200.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-768x512.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-1024x683.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-1200x800.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is54-children-630x420.png","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":"54","chapter_main_number":"388","date":"20270223","wall_id":"388"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"425","name":"Pluralism","old_id":"825"},{"term_id":"441","name":"Shalom","old_id":"841"}]},{"order":13,"id":"68250","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"A Different Sort of Thirst ","post_title":"A Different Sort of Thirst","slug":"a-different-sort-of-thirst","old_id":"68250","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":"389","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Where in Maslow\u2019s hierarchy of needs is the Torah?","post_main_content_content":"

I once overheard a friend on the phone with another friend, saying that they really had to speak more often, and impressing upon her that she wasn\u2019t just saying it, as one does, but felt a deep lack when they weren\u2019t in touch often enough. \u201cLike I have to breathe, I have to talk to you!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham Maslow\u2019s hierarchy of needs may categorize friendship as a less fundamental necessity than air to breathe, but for those of us fortunate to have our physical needs met \u2013 and maybe for those who aren\u2019t \u2013 there will always be things we feel we cannot live without in the same way we cannot live without air to breathe, food to eat, or water to drink.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a well-circulated story of Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, of blessed memory, who headed Yeshivat Har Etzion for many years: At the end of the 9<\/span>th<\/span> of Av, while others would run to the dining hall to break their fast, he would run to the study hall. After all, he pointed out, eating and drinking aren\u2019t the only things forbidden on the 9<\/span>th<\/span> of Av; Torah study, because of the great joy we like to think it brings, is also prohibited on that day of mourning. After 25 hours without it, Rav Lichtenstein thirsted for Torah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In chapter 55 verse 1, the prophet Isaiah invites \u201call who are thirsty, come for water; even if you have no money, come, buy food and eat.\u201d Which food and water could be so readily available, even without funds? As the prophet continues, the metaphor becomes clear: \u201cWhy do you spend money for what is not bread, your earnings for what does not satisfy? Give heed to Me, and you shall eat choice food and enjoy the richest viands\u201d (v. 2). Sustenance for the soul can be gained simply by attending to God\u2019s words; this \u201cfood and water\u201d is free to all who desire it and more deeply nourishing, the prophet suggests, than much of what we squander our money on.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to the Talmud (Bava Kama 82a), the tri-weekly Torah reading was established when the Jewish people in the wilderness went without water for three days and began to feel faint. Based on our text from Isaiah, \u201cwater\u201d is understood there too as a metaphor for Torah; as tradition has it, the leaders resolved then and there that we would never again let three days go by without Torah. It would be irresponsible to deny ourselves such a basic need.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cMan cannot survive on bread alone, but lives on the word of God\u201d (Deut. 8:3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jewish tradition is clear that fundamental physical needs take priority over the spiritual; we can agree with Maslow on that. But prioritizing one doesn\u2019t negate the crucial nature of the other. Like we have to breathe, we need our friends; like we have to eat and drink, we need our connection with Torah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Maslow's hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid with the more basic needs at the bottom \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68251,"alt":"","title":"is55-maslow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow.png","width":1280,"height":905,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-300x212.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-768x543.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-1024x724.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":905,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":905,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-1200x848.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-594x420.png","home_baner-width":594,"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 Different Sort of Thirst","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Where in Maslow\u2019s hierarchy of needs is the Torah?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68251,"alt":"","title":"is55-maslow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow.png","width":1280,"height":905,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-300x212.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-768x543.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-1024x724.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":905,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":905,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-1200x848.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-maslow-594x420.png","home_baner-width":594,"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":"55","chapter_main_number":"389","date":"20270224","wall_id":"389"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"},{"term_id":"415","name":"food","old_id":"815"},{"term_id":"616","name":"Spirit","old_id":"1016"},{"term_id":"676","name":"Material","old_id":"1076"},{"term_id":"804","name":"Need","old_id":"1204"}]},{"order":14,"id":"68253","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"The Inscrutability Of God ","post_title":"The Inscrutability Of God","slug":"the-inscrutability-of-god","old_id":"68253","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"389","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"My way is the high way","post_main_content_content":"

Our chapter includes a prophetic statement of fundamental theological importance: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways\u2019, declares the Lord, \u2018As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

We have here a classic Scriptural statement of the belief in the inscrutability of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Maimonides elaborates on this principle and its implications in his Mishneh Torah (Laws of Repentance 5:5, see also his Guide for the Perplexed 3:20): The Holy One, blessed be He, does not know with a knowledge that is external from Him as do people. Rather, He and His knowledge are one. Human understanding cannot completely grasp this concept. For just as it is beyond the ability of a person to comprehend and conceive the essential nature of the Creator, so too it is beyond one\u2019s ability to comprehend and conceive of the Creator's knowledge. As God says: \"For My thoughts are not your thoughts.\u201d Nevertheless, people have freedom of choice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the other hand, Rashi interprets Isaiah 55 verse 8 by reference to verse 7: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

My thoughts are not the same as your thoughts. For this reason, I tell you: \u201cLet the wicked forsake their ways and the man of iniquity his thoughts\u2026 (55:7) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

meaning, to do what is right in My eyes. Rashi refers to the midrash on our verse (Tanhuma Buber Vayeshev 11). \u201cNeither are your ways My ways\u201d (Isaiah 55:8). This may be compared to a human king. When he judges someone, he asks whether the accused killed the victim or not. If the accused confesses, the king has him executed. But the ways of the Holy One, blessed be He, are just the opposite. For God shows mercy to the one who confesses his sins, as it says: \u201cWhoever conceals his sins will not succeed. But the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy\u201d (Proverbs 28:13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Midrash (Pesiqta Rabbati 44) relates Isaiah\u2019s prophecy to a basic Rabbinic statement on repentance. If a person sins intentionally planning to repent later, he will not be given the opportunity to repent (see Mishnah Yoma 8:9). Such a sinner is like one who immerses in a mikveh <\/em>(ritual bath) to cleanse himself of impurity, while continuing to hold in his hand the same impure reptile from which he contacted impurity. Let him first cast away what is impure and then immerse and be purified. This is as Scripture says: \u201cLet the wicked forsake their ways\u2026Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on them\u2026for He will abundantly pardon\u201d (Isaiah 55:7). Rabbi Tanhuma bar Abba (5<\/span>th<\/span> century CE), who often opens and closes Rabbinic discussions, adds a more general observation: \u201cFor My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways\u201d (Isaiah 55:8). From this verse we learn that the very nature of the Holy One, blessed be He, is simply not at all like human nature.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68254,"alt":"","title":"is55-bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman.jpg","width":1323,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-207x300.jpg","medium-width":207,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-706x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":706,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-706x1024.jpg","large-width":706,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":1058,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":1323,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-827x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":827,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-289x420.jpg","home_baner-width":289,"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 Inscrutability Of God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"My way is the high way","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68254,"alt":"","title":"is55-bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman.jpg","width":1323,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-207x300.jpg","medium-width":207,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-706x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":706,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-706x1024.jpg","large-width":706,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":1058,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":1323,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-827x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":827,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-bregman-289x420.jpg","home_baner-width":289,"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":"55","chapter_main_number":"389","date":"20270224","wall_id":"389"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"459","name":"Forgiveness","old_id":"859"},{"term_id":"581","name":"Mercy","old_id":"981"},{"term_id":"619","name":"Free Will","old_id":"1019"}]},{"order":15,"id":"68260","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Eternalizing The Covenant ","post_title":"Eternalizing The Covenant","slug":"eternalizing-the-covenant","old_id":"68260","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64462,"post_title":"Analia Bortz","slug":"analia-bortz","old_id":"64462","first_name":"Analia ","last_name":"Bortz ","description":"Rabbi Dr. Analia Bortz is a medical doctor with postdoctoral studies in Bioethics. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64463,"alt":"","title":"analia bortz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","width":225,"height":225,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","medium_large-width":225,"medium_large-height":225,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","large-width":225,"large-height":225,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","1536x1536-width":225,"1536x1536-height":225,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","2048x2048-width":225,"2048x2048-height":225,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","post_full_size-width":225,"post_full_size-height":225,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","home_baner-width":225,"home_baner-height":225}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"389","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We must actively seek: explore, listen, act and never marginalize dissent","post_main_content_content":"

Incline your ear and come to Me, listen and you shall be revived. And I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the enduring loyalty promised to David<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(Isaiah 55:3)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Brit Olam<\/span><\/em>, an everlasting covenant, is the contract we signed at Sinai and renew in every generation. While Yishayahu Leibowitz articulated that a man of faith must sacrifice his principles in the name of loving God and fearing God, David Hartman invited us to make this covenant a living pact that reaches out to each human being, and in so doing, establishes a partnership within the responsibility that both God and humanity shape pluralistically. We make this covenant come alive with differing interpretations, constructive dialogue and diverse points of view. Instead of approaching the text through dogmatic lenses that freeze its meaning and make it a museum exhibit, we maintain God\u2019s gift of an eternal \u201c<\/span>brit<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/i>, by personal perspectives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The covenant is eternal only if we are seekers: \u201cHappy is the heart that seeks God\u201d (I Chronicles 16:10). Seekers renew meaning by asking questions, by awakening curiosity, by respecting disagreement. The journey inspires us to seek, to explore, not to be content with the conformity of the known. Isaiah presents an eternal covenant, we make of it a living bond.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The vision of Isaiah does not gift us with a perfect world, but with a world full of\u00a0 imperfections, inviting those seekers to explore, to listen, to act and never to marginalize dissent.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God has a human partner, not just an ideal nor an abstract concept, but a real partner that recreates God\u2019s creation. In the midst of daily maintaining our eternal covenant we bring God to eternity.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68261,"alt":"","title":"is55-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant.jpg","width":1920,"height":1357,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-768x543.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-1024x724.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1086,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1357,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-1200x848.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-594x420.jpg","home_baner-width":594,"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":"Eternalizing The Covenant","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We must actively seek: explore, listen, act and never marginalize dissent","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68261,"alt":"","title":"is55-covenant","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant.jpg","width":1920,"height":1357,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-768x543.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":543,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-1024x724.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":724,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1086,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1357,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-1200x848.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is55-covenant-594x420.jpg","home_baner-width":594,"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":"55","chapter_main_number":"389","date":"20270224","wall_id":"389"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"370","name":"Divine\/human","old_id":"770"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"}]},{"order":16,"id":"68316","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"Border Crossings ","post_title":"Border Crossings","slug":"border-crossings-2","old_id":"68316","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":60755,"post_title":"Katja Vehlow","slug":"katja-vehlow","old_id":"60755","first_name":"Katja ","last_name":"Vehlow ","description":"Dr. Katja Vehlow is a rabbinical student at JTS in New York City. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":60757,"alt":"","title":"Katja Vehlow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow.jpg","width":454,"height":580,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow-235x300.jpg","medium-width":235,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow.jpg","medium_large-width":454,"medium_large-height":580,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow.jpg","large-width":454,"large-height":580,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow.jpg","1536x1536-width":454,"1536x1536-height":580,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow.jpg","2048x2048-width":454,"2048x2048-height":580,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow.jpg","post_full_size-width":454,"post_full_size-height":580,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Katja-Vehlow-329x420.jpg","home_baner-width":329,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"390","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The perspective of a soon-to-become United States citizen\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Today\u2019s passage invites us to think about border crossings and radical acceptance. Being a good citizen seems easy at first glance: just follow the laws and be a mensch. But then it gets harder when Isaiah tells us to embrace those who are not like us in our communities.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Isaiah calls them foreigners \u201cwho attach themselves to God \u2026 who keep Shabbat.\u201d In this part of Isaiah, we read a lot about the second Exodus that will bring back the exiles to their ancestral customs and land. But this return is not the return to the past! Nothing will be as it once was (or as it is imagined to have been). This includes the people of Israel itself. Foreigners, we read, now form an integral part of God\u2019s plan for Israel.\u00a0 God Godself will guide them to God\u2019s sacred mount, and God\u2019s house now will be called \u201ca house of prayer for all people.\u201d The most precious gift is reserved for those who are childless, who must make a home in a strange place without the comfort of family. More than sons or daughters, God will give them a monument and a name\u2014<\/span>yad vashem<\/span><\/em>\u2014a name, furthermore, that will not perish.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I am in the process of becoming a US citizen, and much in this chapter feels very real. It is not enough for immigrants to assimilate, to learn the language, wear the right clothes, and acquire the customs and mores of our new home\u2014as if that was not hard enough! But if society does not actively welcome us, we are not at home, no matter how much we think we are like everybody else. Unfortunately, Isaiah does not tell us how we this should be done, but his message has implications for us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Making space is an active process. A few days ago, in a controversial act that might be reversed in the future, New York became the thirteenth US state to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver\u2019s licenses that will allow them to drive legally and to get insurance, and it will make more than a legal difference. I vividly remember the moment, maybe three years ago, when I received my NY city ID, a local identity card. The card comes with many benefits (the guide to the same can be accessed in 29 languages!)\u2014from prescription drug discounts to discounted membership to museums. Like many of my friends, I signed up. I was surprised how real it felt to hold it in my hands. That little piece of plastic made me feel more secure, more of a New Yorker, more American. The city, I felt, had contracted a little to let me in.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68317,"alt":"","title":"is56-citizen","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Border Crossings","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The perspective of a soon-to-become United States citizen","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68317,"alt":"","title":"is56-citizen","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-citizen-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"56","chapter_main_number":"390","date":"20270225","wall_id":"390"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"989","name":"Migration","old_id":"1389"}]},{"order":17,"id":"68293","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Universalism And Its Limits ","post_title":"Universalism And Its Limits","slug":"universalism-and-its-limits","old_id":"68293","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":"390","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Membership in the community does not come free of obligations","post_main_content_content":"

Isaiah 56 contains some of the most extreme statements of openness to \u201cothers\u201d in the Hebrew Bible: \u201cLet not the foreigner, who has attached himself to the Lord, say, \u2018The Lord will keep me apart from His people,\u2019 and let not the eunuch say, \u2018I am a withered tree\u2019.\u201d The foreigners and the eunuchs, each normally disenfranchised, are promised full membership in the community.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What challenge does each face? The foreigner\u2019s challenge is straightforward. As a recent immigrant, she has no roots in the land, no heritage, no network of friends and family to fall back on. But God promises her a place in the sanctuary, \u201cfor My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The eunuch faces a different challenge. Eunuchs were often quite influential people, serving royalty and wielding great authority. Their power cannot be passed on, however, and their accomplishments will die with them. The prophet offers them immortality of a different type, however \u2013 immortality of reputation: \u201cI will give them \u2026 a monument and a name, better than sons or daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not perish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chinese-American biblical scholar Gale Yee<\/span> draws attention<\/span><\/a> to the political resonances of this vision for today. Immigrants, foreigners, and sexual minorities deserve acceptance into the religious community. There is an important caveat, though: membership in the community does not come free of obligations. It is for \u201cthe eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, \u2026 who hold fast to My covenant.\u201d The covenantal community, the house of prayer, is open for anyone who wishes to be part of it, and fulfill its communal and religious obligations. For such a person, there is a great \"return\" on that investment: the religious community can provide a home, a sanctuary, and even a monument and a name.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68294,"alt":"","title":"is56-membership","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership.jpg","width":1920,"height":1114,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-300x174.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":174,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-768x446.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":446,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-1024x594.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":594,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":891,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1114,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-1200x696.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":696,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-724x420.jpg","home_baner-width":724,"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":"Universalism And Its Limits","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Membership in the community does not come free of obligations","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68294,"alt":"","title":"is56-membership","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership.jpg","width":1920,"height":1114,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-300x174.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":174,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-768x446.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":446,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-1024x594.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":594,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":891,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1114,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-1200x696.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":696,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is56-membership-724x420.jpg","home_baner-width":724,"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":"56","chapter_main_number":"390","date":"20270225","wall_id":"390"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"529","name":"Children","old_id":"929"},{"term_id":"989","name":"Migration","old_id":"1389"}]}],"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\/67753"}],"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=67753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}