{"id":67757,"date":"2018-07-09T17:45:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-387\/"},"modified":"2023-07-31T08:41:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T05:41:06","slug":"wall-387","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-387\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Prophets-Isaiah-53"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"387","date":"20270222","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"67972","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"JPS Audio Bible - Isaiah Chapter 53 ","post_title":"JPS Audio Bible - Isaiah Chapter 53","slug":"jps-audio-bible-isaiah-chapter-53","old_id":"67972","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"387","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","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":"JPS Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Isaiah Chapter 53","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"Hear the daily chapter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-753876298\/jps_audio_bible_isaiah_chapter_53","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","date":"20270222","wall_id":"387"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"116868","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"We, The Suffering Servant(s) ","post_title":"We, The Suffering Servant(s)","slug":"we-the-suffering-servants","old_id":"116868","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":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And they - the nations of the world\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 53 speaks about the \u201csuffering servant\u201d that can be understood as a reference to the Jewish people as a whole, rather than to a particular individual, as claimed in Christian interpretation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, smitten, and afflicted by God;<\/span> But he was wounded because of our sins, crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, and by his bruises we were healed (53:4-5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim on 53:4 explains the state of the Jewish people vis-\u00e0-vis the nations of the world:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The \u2018ancient pagan peoples\u2019 (possible referring to Christians) would attribute to the Jews two terrible qualities:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

1) An <\/span>inner sickness<\/span><\/em>. They thought that the Jews\u2019 souls were ill and therefore unable to receive any positive characteristics and any wholeness; they were precluded from human virtue, they could not successfully study learned sciences, nor could they improve themselves by ethical teachings. Therefore, they would not allow the\u00a0 Jews to achieve any position of authority or achievement. They said that Jewish souls were tainted against learning anything, or acquiring any positive attributes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But now it becomes clear that this \u201cillness\u201d was not intrinsic to Jews, but rather due to their ongoing conditions of poverty and lowliness. Due to their economic situations, their hearts were closed off, and any proper attributes were lost. This \u201cillness\u201d was not a function of the Jews, but rather the conditions to which they were subjected by the idolaters that surrounded them, causing\u00a0 them\u00a0 to be lowly and wallow in\u00a0 absolute lowliness. The prophet states, \u201c\u2026our suffering that he (<\/span>the Jew<\/span><\/em>) endured\u2026\u201d--we (<\/span>the nations of the world<\/span><\/em>) caused him this \u201cillness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

2) An <\/span>outer sickness<\/span><\/em>. At times, the \u2018pagans\u2019 would harm and strike the Jews with assorted afflictions, in order that they recant their religion, in order to serve the sun and the moon, and they would say that the Jews themselves earned these afflictions due to their sins.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But now we realize that they endured afflictions as a result of our misdeeds\u2026 , i.e., that we personally brought these afflictions about...\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is so much easier to believe that one individual has suffered for everyone\u2019s sins, than to undergo the substantive personal changes which Malbim lists. Admitting wrong-doing is difficult under any circumstances, and when responsibility has to be assumed for an entire cadre of \u201chated\u201d individuals, whose \u201coutsider\u201d role in the societies of the world, make them wear the brand of \u201cscapegoat\u201d rather easily, the challenge is compounded. When negative attitudes are aided and abetted by non-Jewish clergy who appear only too willing to reinforce anti-semitic canards, religion is measured by the degree of anti-semitism espoused, rather than ethics and virtue. Similar claims apply to sexism and racial discrimination.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":67364,"alt":"","title":"is42-messiah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah.jpg","width":1114,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-174x300.jpg","medium-width":174,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-594x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":594,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-594x1024.jpg","large-width":594,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah.jpg","1536x1536-width":891,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah.jpg","2048x2048-width":1114,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-696x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":696,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-244x420.jpg","home_baner-width":244,"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":"We, The Suffering Servant(s)","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And they - the nations of the world","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":67364,"alt":"","title":"is42-messiah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah.jpg","width":1114,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-174x300.jpg","medium-width":174,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-594x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":594,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-594x1024.jpg","large-width":594,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah.jpg","1536x1536-width":891,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah.jpg","2048x2048-width":1114,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-696x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":696,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is42-messiah-244x420.jpg","home_baner-width":244,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","date":"20270222","wall_id":"387"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"458","name":"Nations","old_id":"858"},{"term_id":"478","name":"Christianity","old_id":"878"},{"term_id":"491","name":"Suffering","old_id":"891"},{"term_id":"539","name":"Israel","old_id":"939"},{"term_id":"707","name":"Service","old_id":"1107"}]},{"order":3,"id":"116866","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Unbelievable ","post_title":"Unbelievable","slug":"unbelievable","old_id":"116866","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Literally - who would have believed it?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cWho can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of GOD been revealed?\u201d (verse 1). Verse 1 continues the story told at the end of chapter 52. \u201cFor they shall see what has not been told them, shall behold what they never have heard.\u201d (52:12). Israel was unrecognizable in its exiled state. The beautiful nation was deformed, completely downtrodden. However, when God began to redeem the nation, they transformed once again to a people of splendor and beauty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 53 opens with the foreign nations witnessing this retransformation. There is a dispute between Rashi and Radak as to what exactly is perplexing the foreign nations. Rashi explains that the foreign nations cannot believe their own eyes. They say to themselves that if they heard another nation report on the Israelite transformation, they would not believe it. It is as if they are saying \u201cno one will believe us!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Radak, on the other hand, believes the report is not the report of the nations, but the report of the prophets. The other nations are amazed that the visions of the prophets have come true and that Israel is being restored. They exclaim that no one would have believed the reports of the prophets that the people would be saved. At the time the prophets spoke of the restoration, Israel was unrecognizable and distraught. There was no way that anyone would believe such a report, so it is not the fault of the other nations that they did not believe the words of the prophets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The two opinions can be categorized as follows: Rashi\u2019s view is that the discussion is embedded in the prophecy itself. It emphasizes the astonishment of the other nations at Israel\u2019s rejuvenation. Radak is about the idea of prophecy. It adds an additional message to the people that even the other nations realize that the messages from God\u2019s prophets ring true.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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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 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Suffering Is Sometimes All We Ask For ","post_title":"Meaningful Suffering Is Sometimes All We Ask For","slug":"meaningful-suffering-is-sometimes-all-we-ask-for","old_id":"68156","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":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The identity of the suffering servant\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

Ah, the Suffering Servant! <\/span><\/p>\r\n

So marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, form, beyond human semblance!\u201d \u201cHe was despised, shunned by men, A man of suffering\u2026 \u2013 Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. \u2026 Wounded because of our sins!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This passage (52:13-53:12), relatively modest in its influence in Jewish life and literature, looms large in Christian eyes. For who could this suffering servant be, if not Jesus?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The claim is made explicitly and repeatedly in the New Testament. 1 Peter asserts, \u201cChrist \u2026 committed no sin, no deceit was found in his mouth \u2026 He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed\u201d (2:21-25). What are Jews to do with this?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For historical scholars, the identity of the servant is less exciting: as Brettler and Levine put it recently, the text \u201cmost likely originally referred to one of the prophet\u2019s exilic contemporaries, whom he viewed as vicariously atoning for the guilt-ridden exilic (or early post-exilic) community. We know neither this individual\u2019s name nor anything about him beyond what this passage says.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Already in antiquity, the Jews read differently. The Church father Origen, who died in 253 CE, reported that learned Jews say that \u201cthese prophecies referred to the whole people as though of a single individual.\u201d This line of interpretation is most famously found in the commentary of Rashi on 53:3:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt is the way of the prophet to refer to all of Israel as a single person, as in, \u2018Do not fear, my servant Jacob\u2019 (Jeremiah 46:27-28), and here too \u2013 \u2018Indeed, My servant shall prosper\u2019 (Isaiah 52:13) \u2013 this refers to the House of Jacob.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The claim that the servant is the collective Jewish people is particularly powerful for Jews who are suffering in exile. Not only does it avoid the question of the messiah\u2019s identity, but it gives meaning and religious significance to their own suffering. For a people accustomed to suffering, meaningful suffering is sometimes all we ask for.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For further reading:
\r\n<\/span><\/i>The bibliography on this chapter is huge. For a wonderful and helpful overview, see Marc Zvi Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine, \u201c<\/span>Isaiah\u2019s Suffering Servant: Before and After Christianity<\/span><\/a>,\u201d <\/span>Intepretation<\/span><\/i> 73 (2019), 158-173. On the Jewish side, see in particular Elliott Horowitz, \u201c<\/span>Isaiah\u2019s Suffering Servant and the Jews: From the Nineteenth Century to the Ninth<\/span><\/a>,\u201d in <\/span>New Perspectives on Jewish-Christian Relations: In Honor of David Berger<\/span><\/i> (ed. Elisheva Carlebach and David Berger; Leiden: Brill, 2012), 419-436.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Tragic mask on the fa\u00e7ade of the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden, 2008 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68157,"alt":"","title":"is53-suffering","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","width":800,"height":650,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-300x244.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":244,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-768x624.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":624,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":650,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":650,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":650,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":650,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-517x420.jpg","home_baner-width":517,"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":"Meaningful Suffering Is Sometimes All We Ask For","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The identity of the suffering servant\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68157,"alt":"","title":"is53-suffering","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","width":800,"height":650,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-300x244.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":244,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-768x624.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":624,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":650,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":650,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":650,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":650,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is53-suffering-517x420.jpg","home_baner-width":517,"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":"478","name":"Christianity","old_id":"878"},{"term_id":"491","name":"Suffering","old_id":"891"},{"term_id":"500","name":"Messiah","old_id":"900"},{"term_id":"753","name":"Meaning","old_id":"1153"}]},{"order":6,"id":"68166","color":"#e2f4fa","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. 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She taught as an Associate Professor of Religious and Jewish studies at the University of South Carolina. ","short_description":"Dr. Katja Vehlow is a rabbinical student at JTS in New York City. She taught as an Associate Professor of Religious and Jewish studies at the University of South Carolina. ","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":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Whether we accept with love, or fight with courage - each of us is more than a diagnosis\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The words of today\u2019s chapter, written some 2,700 years ago, remain vivid and seem to address the reader directly. They are challenging: who is this \u201csuffering servant\u201d and what was he doing? <\/span>In the eyes of many Jews, the \u201csuffering servant\u201d represents the people of Israel who, while now in exile, would surely experience redemption and triumph in the Last Days. Some early rabbinic interpretations identified the \u201csuffering servant\u201d with a personal messiah who would fulfill Isaiah\u2019s prophecy, but medieval interpreters such as\u00a0 Rashi and Radak thought that the servant passages did not refer to the person of the messiah, but rather the collective fate of Israel. Others, such as Maimonides, stuck to the older rabbinic interpretation of a personal messiah.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the passages really came to life in Christian tradition where the \u201csuffering servant\u201d personified the life, suffering, and death of Jesus. Not surprisingly, the chapter remains one of the most charged texts in the Jewish-Christian encounter to this day.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A very different line of reading appears in the Babylonian Talmud, in Berachot 5a, where verse 10 is used to argue that God crushes those God desires with sickness:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, one might have thought that this applies even if [a person] does not accept [their suffering] with love. The verse therefore also states \u201cif his soul acknowledges his guilt.\u201d \u2026.\u00a0 And if one accepts [that suffering with love], what is their reward? As the verse also states: \u201cThat he might see his offspring and have a long life.\u201d [This means that] moreover, in addition to these earthly rewards, their Torah study will endure and their Torah study will be successful, as it is stated in the same verse: \u201cGod\u2019s purpose,\u201d the Torah, \u201cmight prosper by his hand.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to this interpretation, suffering should be accepted lovingly, leading to the mainstays of a good life in this world-view: offspring and Jewish learning. This talmudic passage then turns suffering into reward\u2014a perspective that does not sit well with our contemporary western values. Instead, people who have severe illnesses are often encouraged to engage in battle with their disease; we talk about cancer survivors, for example, who continue fighting, and we prize their struggle.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Instead, these lines tell us not to fight suffering but to embrace it head on. At a time when many people live with cancer as a chronic illness, much like heart disease or diabetes, this idea can offer us many lessons. While living with suffering, the rabbis encourage us to remember that acceptance has its own rewards. The traditional answers given here\u2014children and learning\u2014might look differently for each of us, but they are a reminder that we are more than our diagnosis, more than an illness. We are human beings with free choice, with the ability to shape our lives, whatever happens.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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53:12 \u201cTherefore I will give him shares among the many, and with the mighty he shall share out spoils, for he laid himself bare to death and was counted among the wrongdoers, and it is he who bore the offense of many and interceded for the wrongdoers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is another somewhat perplexing declaration because the Servant is dead, and \u201che laid himself bare to death\u201d appears to be a reiteration of that fact. Perhaps the reference is to a posthumous restoration of his reputation and to a posthumous acceptance of his prophecy by the many, though it is just as conceivable that the words refer to reward in the afterlife. That was not an available alternative in previous biblical literature, but the beginnings of such an idea might be emerging at this late moment, as the polemic against it in Job and Qohelet appears to attest.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. 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\u201cPain, Disability, and Suffering\u201d<\/a> by Aron Wander: Torah texts on life\u2019s difficulties.\u00a0<\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Source Sheets - Isaiah 53","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","date":"20270222","wall_id":"387"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"68149","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points to Ponder - Isaiah 53 ","post_title":"Points to Ponder - Isaiah 53","slug":"points-to-ponder-isaiah-53","old_id":"68149","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"387","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. Who are you - servant of God?<\/em> This last peroration about the servant of God is one of the most challenging. The big issue here is that he suffers instead of someone else. Who is it that is said to be suffering, and for whom, and when, and actually - why?? Is it Israel for the other nations? The prophet for the people? Some individual or select group from the people of Israel, for the rest of the people? The messiah, for Israel - or for the entire world? All these answers and more can be found in the commentaries, both early and more recent. Among the Christians of course, there is less doubt and discussion. The profile here fits Jesus to a T. And his suffering for the sins of the world is not a theological problem, or \u201cbug\u201d - it\u2019s a built-in feature.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Like sheep to the slaughter<\/em>. That phrase is from this chapter. The servant of God <\/span> suffers in silence the travails that are not his fault. \u201c Like a sheep being led to slaughter, Like a ewe, dumb before those who shear her, He did not open his mouth\u201d (verse 7). In 24 chapters, Jeremiah will testify to a similar experience \u201cFor I was like a docile lamb Led to the slaughter;\u201d (Jer. 11:19).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Living or dead<\/em>? Verses 8-9 tell of the servant who was \u201ccut off from the land of the living,\u201d and even buried with the wicked. Is this a metaphor - or the resurrection? Depends on who you ask.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. A justification of suffering<\/em>. Suffering is generally seen as a trial or challenge for the sufferer. Justifying that suffering is a challenge for the suffering believer. And when the simple equation of suffering = punishment doesn\u2019t work, then the challenge is even greater. The image of the suffering servant of God suggests the possibility of suffering as penance, or atonement, for the individual of group whose destiny it is to atone for others. That\u2019s not the only answer, but if the question of suffering interests you, stay tuned. It will be challenging.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Isaiah 53","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Isaiah","chapter":"53","chapter_main_number":"387","date":"20270222","wall_id":"387"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/67757"}],"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=67757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}