{"id":68849,"date":"2018-07-09T17:46:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-404\/"},"modified":"2023-08-23T17:46:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T14:46:46","slug":"wall-404","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-404\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Prophets-Jeremiah-4"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"404","date":"20270317","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"68968","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"JPS Audio Bible - Jeremiah Chapter 4 ","post_title":"JPS Audio Bible - Jeremiah Chapter 4","slug":"jps-audio-bible-jeremiah-chapter-4","old_id":"68968","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":"404","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":"Jeremiah Chapter 4","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_jeremiah_chapter_4","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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"117273","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Trickle-Down Theory Of Stupidity ","post_title":"The Trickle-Down Theory Of Stupidity","slug":"the-trickle-down-theory-of-stupidity","old_id":"117273","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":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Foolish leaders leading foolish people\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

God begins chapter 4 pleading with the people to change their ways or at the very least to prepare for the destruction that is coming. It seems like a simple ask, but God knows the people will not listen. God, the one who threatens destruction, sends a warning to the people and also gives them the code to unlock their salvation. Not listening to this is insanity, or, as the prophet puts it, stupid:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For My people are stupid, They give Me no heed; They are foolish children, They are not intelligent. They are clever at doing wrong, But unable to do right (verse 22).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We teach our children not to call other people names. Attacking someone\u2019s intelligence is wrong. Jeremiah not only does so here, he does it three different ways. Radak explains that God points out the mental state of the people in response to the rhetorical question in verse 21: \u201cHow long must I see standards and hear the blare of horns?\u201d The people are foolish and cannot recognize the proper way to live and follow God. If they could, then Jerusalem would not have to constantly hear the enemies at the gates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The people are also foolish children. Although this shows that God cares for them as children, God is saying that they are acting like children who believe they are wise but do not know what wise means. Their whole sense of wisdom is misplaced. Wisdom is from God and the Torah, but because they follow other gods, they do not have the right wisdom. The Hebrew words used by Jeremiah also appear in other examples of prophets attacking leaders: <\/span>avil, schal, nivonim<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Utter fools (<\/span>avil<\/span><\/em>) are the nobles of Tanis; the sagest of Pharaoh\u2019s advisers [have made] absurd predictions. How can you say to Pharaoh, \u2018I am a scion of sages, a scion of Kedemite kings?\u2019 (Is. 19:11);\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Samuel answered Saul, \u2018You acted foolishly (<\/span>schal<\/span><\/em>) in not keeping the commandments that the LORD your God laid upon you! Otherwise<\/span> the LORD would have established your dynasty over Israel forever\u2019 (I Sam. 13:13);<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ah, Those who are so wise (<\/span>nivonim<\/span><\/em>)\u2014 in their own opinion; so clever\u2014 in their own judgment!\u201d (Isaiah 5:21).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps then, Jeremiah is directing this attack not at the people as a whole, but at the leaders themselves. The leaders are the ones who have led the people astray. They are the fools who have caused so much pain and destruction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":117274,"alt":"","title":"-64e5bbd62f73d--64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant stupid sign.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-1024x680.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":680,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1020,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-1200x797.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":797,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"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 Trickle-Down Theory Of Stupidity","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Foolish leaders leading foolish people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":117274,"alt":"","title":"-64e5bbd62f73d--64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant stupid sign.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-1024x680.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":680,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1020,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-1200x797.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":797,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64e5bbd62f73d-64e5bbd62f73ejer4-ignorant-stupid-sign.jpg-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"506","name":"Prophecy","old_id":"906"},{"term_id":"622","name":"Criticism","old_id":"1022"}]},{"order":3,"id":"69137","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"The Great Undoing ","post_title":"The Great Undoing","slug":"the-great-undoing","old_id":"69137","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":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The prophet\u2019s world descends into cosmic chaos\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The creation of the world is a central theme in Jewish theology. For some thinkers, like Maimonides, it provides a universal basis on which to construct a religious philosophy; unlike the fundamentally particular and historical relationship between God and Israel, a theology of creation has the ability to speak to all people, emphasizing that beyond our differences we are rooted in the same reality. At the same time, creation can seem an almost impossibly distant concept: we are given to imagine a flash of light in the unfathomably far-off past, out of which the welter of our world somehow emerges. What \u2018preceded\u2019 the creation? What could it mean to create \u2018out of nothing\u2019? Questions like these make us dizzy, and seem to consign the act of creation to an unfathomable mystery.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But there are also moments in the Bible which hint at another way of thinking about creation \u2014 one which is very close to us indeed, and which proceeds less metaphysically than socially. In this chapter, Jeremiah confronts a society on the verge of collapse: invasion, destruction, death and suffering are just around the corner, and the prophet is wrought with pain at the prospect of \u201cthe blare of horns, alarms of war.\u201d Intriguingly, he continues by stating: \u201cI look at the earth, it is unformed and void; at the skies, and their light is gone.\u201d The phrase \u201cunformed and void\u201d (<\/span>tohu va-vohu<\/span><\/i>) is exceedingly rare, and cannot be understood except as a reference to Genesis 1, which states that as God began the act of creation, the earth was \u201cunformed and void, with darkness over the face of the deep.\u201d Jeremiah seems to be saying that the destruction Israel is to experience is an un-doing of God\u2019s creation: a return to the state of darkness and chaos which prevailed \u2018before\u2019 the world existed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Clearly, Jeremiah did not mean that the death of Israelite people and the destruction of their towns was somehow tantamount to the structure of reality being untwined. Rather, his reference to Genesis is evidence that for some in ancient Israel, the concept of creation was much less a matter of an all-at-once production of something from nothing, and more a matter of establishing order in the midst of chaos. Seen this way, God\u2019s act of creation loses its distance \u2014 and its permanence. Instead, creation is revealed as something rather precarious, a process in need of constant reinforcement, and which could be undone at any moment. In this paradigm, we ourselves are participants, if junior ones, in the ongoing creative act \u2014 each contribution we make to maintaining the peaceful stability of the world staves off, for a moment longer, the dark forces of chaos which would undo the work of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: In the Beginning, by Daniel Heller, 1991 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69139,"alt":"","title":"Jer4-chaos by_Artist_Daniel_Heller","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-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":"The Great Undoing","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The prophet\u2019s world descends into cosmic chaos","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69139,"alt":"","title":"Jer4-chaos by_Artist_Daniel_Heller","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Jer4-chaos-by_Artist_Daniel_Heller-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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"},{"term_id":"558","name":"Creation","old_id":"958"}]},{"order":4,"id":"69147","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Path To A Real Return ","post_title":"The Path To A Real Return","slug":"the-path-to-a-real-return","old_id":"69147","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":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Truth, justice, righteousness","post_main_content_content":"

Jeremiah frames his appeal to the people to return\/repent by returning to God, abandoning idolatry. This turning of repentance will mark an end of exile. But it is the culmination of this repentance that caught my attention this time around: \u201cIf you swear \u2018As the Lord lives!\u2019 in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, the nations will bless themselves through you and will praise themselves by you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah makes it clear that God is at the center of this return, the core around whom we circle. But the return isn\u2019t simply greater ritual stringencies, longer prayer services, bigger prayer shawls. As we allow ourselves to swirl closer and closer to that Divine center, we find ourselves giving up delusions, and focusing on three grand virtues: truth, justice, and righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These three are so radical and unsettling, that even those devoted to the text of Scripture have gone out of their way to avoid their simple meaning. Malbim, for example, interprets truth as core beliefs of Torah, justice as mitzvot <\/span>bein adam le-havero<\/span><\/em> (interpersonal commandments), and righteousness as mitzvot <\/span>bein adam la-Makom<\/span><\/em> (commandments between God and people). Safely restoring the parameters of Jeremiah\u2019s remarks to religion, we are free to leave them to the fanatics and simply walk away.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But Jeremiah isn\u2019t talking about mitzvot. He\u2019s not preaching ritual punctiliousness at all. When he wants to tell us of a ritual practice (like abandoning idolatry or offering a sacrifice, for example) he has no problem being straightforward.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Here\u2019s what he\u2019s discussing as the core of our spiritual return: truth, justice, and righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These are virtues whether you are a theist or an atheist, whether you are observant or secular, whether you are Jewish or not. For Jeremiah, and Jeremiah\u2019s God, they guard the path to a real return. You can\u2019t be close to God without holding these aloft as your highest goals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God is aiming for nothing less than truth, justice, and righteousness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

photo: by Jeremy Benstein<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69148,"alt":"","title":"jer4-path","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","width":538,"height":634,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path-255x300.jpg","medium-width":255,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","medium_large-width":538,"medium_large-height":634,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","large-width":538,"large-height":634,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","1536x1536-width":538,"1536x1536-height":634,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","2048x2048-width":538,"2048x2048-height":634,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","post_full_size-width":538,"post_full_size-height":634,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path-356x420.jpg","home_baner-width":356,"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 Path To A Real Return","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Truth, justice, righteousness","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69148,"alt":"","title":"jer4-path","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","width":538,"height":634,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path-255x300.jpg","medium-width":255,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","medium_large-width":538,"medium_large-height":634,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","large-width":538,"large-height":634,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","1536x1536-width":538,"1536x1536-height":634,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","2048x2048-width":538,"2048x2048-height":634,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path.jpg","post_full_size-width":538,"post_full_size-height":634,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-path-356x420.jpg","home_baner-width":356,"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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"463","name":"Truth","old_id":"863"},{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"},{"term_id":"573","name":"Righteousness","old_id":"973"},{"term_id":"647","name":"Return","old_id":"1047"}]},{"order":5,"id":"69151","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Apocalyptic Visions ","post_title":"Apocalyptic Visions","slug":"apocalyptic-visions","old_id":"69151","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":68344,"post_title":"Alicia Jo Rabins","slug":"alicia-jo-rabins","old_id":"68344","first_name":"Alicia Jo ","last_name":"Rabins ","description":"Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician, performer and Torah teacher. She is the author of Divinity School (2015 APR\/Honickman First Book Prize) and Fruit Geode (finalist for the 2018 Jewish Book Award). As a musician and performer, Rabins has released three albums and tours internationally with Girls in Trouble, her indie-folk song cycle about women in Torah, and is in post-production on A Kaddish for Bernie Madoff: The Film, a mystical Jewish feminist rock opera about the largest financial crime in history. Rabins lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and their two children. ","short_description":"Alicia Jo Rabins is a writer, musician, performer and Torah teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":68346,"alt":"","title":"Alicia Jo Rabins","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1.jpg","width":1042,"height":1115,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1-957x1024.jpg","large-width":957,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1042,"1536x1536-height":1115,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1042,"2048x2048-height":1115,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":1042,"post_full_size-height":1115,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Alicia-Jo-Rabins-1-393x420.jpg","home_baner-width":393,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The agony of the human-Divine relationship","post_main_content_content":"

Jeremiah 4 is mired in pain, stuck in emotional quicksand, like a bad relationship, or a bad breakup.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Part of me reads with awe, seeing this chapter as a beautifully unrestrained poem on the agony and ecstasy of the human-Divine relationship. The other part of me feels like I\u2019m listening to a twenty-two year old going through their first real breakup \u2013 listening with that strange mix of empathy for their suffering, and impatience with the high drama of it all.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But this is not about human-human relationships; instead, it\u2019s about the tribal-Divine relationship. Literary repetition echoes throughout this chapter as if to illustrate the stuckness of the speaker (God\u2019s? Jeremiah\u2019s?).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Spiritual estrangement is painful on both sides, and here we have an obsessive, unsolvable, so-bad-it\u2019s-good conflict.\u00a0 If a friend were speaking like this about their relationship, going over the same territory again and again in small circles, I would gently suggest that they might benefit from some therapy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In fact, time itself moves in circles here; Jeremiah speaks apocalyptic visions of creation itself reversed, restored to the original pre-creation wild and waste of Genesis, \"<\/span>tohu va\u2019vohu<\/span><\/em>\" (\u201cwithout form and void\u201d). Farmland turned back to desert, people non-existent. Even the birds flee, and for this final vision of loss, Jeremiah uses the same word used when Cain is banished: \u201c<\/span>nad<\/span><\/em>,\u201d to wander, restlessly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Birds banished like Cain! The poet in me adores and admires this obsessive, no-holds-barred take on what it means to be in relationship with God \u2013 and more deeply, how it feels to be alive.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the part of me who tries to live with equanimity \u2013 call her the middle-aged person who\u2019s learned to pace herself, or the mother trying to yell at her kids less, or the seeker looking for a right and true way to live \u2013 that part of me appreciates the language and imagery and passion while taking a big step backwards from the pattern of relationship here.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It\u2019s hard for me not to read this chapter as an example of unhealthy communication. Conflict and hurt feelings leading to threats, retaliations and dire predictions. More speaking than listening, more screaming than breathing, and an overall cascading one-directional self-justification.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Righteous anger in the face of injustice is important, but this feels to me like the sort of anger which has crossed over into enjoying its own righteousness, rather than addressing the problem at hand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Simply put, I think Jeremiah, God, and the Jewish people - just like all of us humans in relationship - could benefit from some therapy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Eliah Repin, Cry of the Prophet Jeremiah, 1844 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69152,"alt":"","title":"jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","width":481,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","medium_large-width":481,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","large-width":481,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","1536x1536-width":481,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","2048x2048-width":481,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","post_full_size-width":481,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin-337x420.jpg","home_baner-width":337,"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":"Apocalyptic Visions","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The agony of the human-Divine relationship","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69152,"alt":"","title":"jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","width":481,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","medium_large-width":481,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","large-width":481,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","1536x1536-width":481,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","2048x2048-width":481,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin.jpg","post_full_size-width":481,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-agony-Jeremiah_by_Repin-337x420.jpg","home_baner-width":337,"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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"468","name":"Relationships","old_id":"868"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"}]},{"order":6,"id":"69221","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Jeremiah Blames God ","post_title":"Jeremiah Blames God","slug":"jeremiah-blames-god","old_id":"69221","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":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Does he prefer repentance - or punishment?\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

What happens when God\u2019s own representative is upset with God?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Warning his people of the impending destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah faces continual opposition from \u201cprophets\u201d who claim everything is and will be fine. The people and their leaders prefer those cheerful predictions over Jeremiah\u2019s words of gloom and doom \u2013 and because of that, the prophet says, they are in for a surprise when that day of destruction finally arrives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How does Jeremiah himself feel about the prospect of having his prophecies proven right? Another surprise: he blames God, accusing Him of deception.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cAnd I said: Ah, Lord GOD! Surely You have deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying: It shall be well with you\u2014 Yet the sword threatens the very life!\u201d (4:10)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This accusation is shocking not only because it blames God for human sin (using the same Hebrew root used to blame the serpent for the first human sin, as Metzudat Tzion points out) but because it seems patently false. When did God say it would be well with them? Isn\u2019t Jeremiah\u2019s career basically one big attempt to refute claims that He said that, to convince the people they should repent?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some explain he means that since God didn\u2019t bring swift justice against the people for their sins, and\/or against the false prophets for their soothing lies. The people thought those \u201cprophets\u201d were right\u00a0 - which is why they didn\u2019t repent, and why the sword is now upon them (v. 10).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It seems, then, that Jeremiah would prefer God strike sinners at the moment of sin, to clarify that it was indeed a sin \u2013 an odd perspective from a guy whose life mission, to inspire repentance, exists only in the space between sin and punishment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But perhaps that\u2019s exactly (part of) the point. Emotion isn\u2019t logical, and even a prophet can question from a place of personal emotion \u2013 even if the questions and complaints contradict the prophet\u2019s own divine message.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As surprising as the fact of Jeremiah\u2019s outburst, is how quick it is. In verse 9, \u201cthe word of God\u201d describes the shock of the destruction to come. In verse 10, heartbroken at his own message, the prophet offers an aside \u2013 \u201cand I said\u201d \u2013 regardless of the truth of God\u2019s wisdom and justice, he lashes out: \u201cCouldn\u2019t You have made it more obvious, so they would listen to me in time?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And then \u2013 close parentheses. Jeremiah refocuses, back to faithfully delivering God\u2019s word. \u201cAt that time, it shall be said concerning this people and Jerusalem\u2026\u201d (v. 11). Menachem Bula, in the Daat Mikra commentary, points out how the phrase \u201cat that time\u201d returns our focus to what will happen \u201con that day\u201d (v. 9), and how the verse shifts from Jeremiah\u2019s words back to the word of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Because even a prophet will have complaints and questions about God and His justice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But ultimately, the prophet remains loyal to God\u2019s message, even when it breaks his heart and even if his challenges go unanswered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69222,"alt":"","title":"jer4-blame","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame.jpg","width":1920,"height":932,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-300x146.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":146,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-768x373.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":373,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-1024x497.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":497,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":746,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":932,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-1200x583.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":583,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-865x420.jpg","home_baner-width":865,"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":"Jeremiah Blames God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Does he prefer repentance - or punishment?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69222,"alt":"","title":"jer4-blame","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame.jpg","width":1920,"height":932,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-300x146.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":146,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-768x373.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":373,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-1024x497.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":497,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":746,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":932,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-1200x583.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":583,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-blame-865x420.jpg","home_baner-width":865,"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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"},{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"}]},{"order":7,"id":"69144","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"\u00a0Prepare Your Field For Winter ","post_title":"\u00a0Prepare Your Field For Winter","slug":"prepare-your-field-for-winter","old_id":"69144","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":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And remember to till (your sins) before you sow (repentance)","post_main_content_content":"

A singular proverb utilized by Jeremiah in this chapter is the subject of considerable and wide-ranging exegetical speculation: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

For thus said the Lord to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem; break up the untilled ground and do not sow among thorns (3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to Rashi, just as farmers till the soil in the summer to prevent thorns growing in the winter, so should Israel improve their behavior before their punishment begins, lest their subsequent prayers be rejected as stimulated by their distress rather than their penitence. According to Yosef Kara, just as one who sows a field before tilling it will find thorns ruining the seeds, so will one who prays while bearing the stigma of sin have his prayers rejected. And Radak said that just as tilling the soil prepares it to receive the seeds by removing thorns, so does the removal of sin\u2014by means of repentance\u2014prepare the soul to receive the word of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim, whose modernized commentaries we followed throughout Isaiah, wrote that just as thorns \u201cchoke off\u201d budding plants, so do \u201cnegative attributes and deleterious imaginations\u201d stifle the inclination to repent. Hence, they must be extirpated.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Shadal* wrote:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

First, plow your field and remove from its midst the thorns and weeds and do not sow seeds among the thorns. The meaning is that if you wish to repent and have Me accept your repentance, it is not enough to appear to approach Me; you must remove your evil intentions from My sight. To wit: \u201cIf you remove your abominations from My presence\u201d (1). He likened repentance to sowing, and abandoning sin to plowing without which the sowing is ineffectual.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The comparison between human behavior and agronomy can be extended, homiletically, to embrace the conclusion that \u201cthose who sow with tears, will harvest joy\u201d (Ps. 126:5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary, <\/span>see our introduction.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n

Image: Vincent van Gogh, The Sower (after Millet), 1889 \/ CC-wikiepdia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69145,"alt":"","title":"jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025.jpg","width":1256,"height":1556,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-242x300.jpg","medium-width":242,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-768x951.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":951,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-827x1024.jpg","large-width":827,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025.jpg","1536x1536-width":1240,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025.jpg","2048x2048-width":1256,"2048x2048-height":1556,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-969x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":969,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-339x420.jpg","home_baner-width":339,"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":"\u00a0Prepare Your Field For Winter","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And remember to till (your sins) before you sow (repentance)","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69145,"alt":"","title":"jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025.jpg","width":1256,"height":1556,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-242x300.jpg","medium-width":242,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-768x951.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":951,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-827x1024.jpg","large-width":827,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025.jpg","1536x1536-width":1240,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025.jpg","2048x2048-width":1256,"2048x2048-height":1556,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-969x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":969,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer4-sow-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_025-339x420.jpg","home_baner-width":339,"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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"464","name":"Agriculture","old_id":"864"},{"term_id":"854","name":"Metaphor","old_id":"1254"}]},{"order":8,"id":"69131","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"My Gut, My Gut! ","post_title":"My Gut, My Gut!","slug":"my-gut-my-gut","old_id":"69131","type":"event","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54356,"post_title":"Robert Alter","slug":"robert-alter","old_id":"54356","first_name":"Robert ","last_name":"Alter","description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has written over twenty books, focusing on such topics as the European novel from the 18th century to the present, contemporary American fiction, and modern Hebrew literature. He has also written extensively on the literary aspects of the Bible. His most recent work is his monumental three volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019 - from which the selections in 929 are taken. ","short_description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of the three-volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":54357,"alt":"","title":"robert alter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","width":184,"height":275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium-width":184,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium_large-width":184,"medium_large-height":275,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","large-width":184,"large-height":275,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","1536x1536-width":184,"1536x1536-height":275,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","2048x2048-width":184,"2048x2048-height":275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","post_full_size-width":184,"post_full_size-height":275,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","home_baner-width":184,"home_baner-height":275}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A tale of a prophet\u2019s innards\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

4:19 \u201cMy gut, my gut<\/em>--I writhe, the walls of my heart, my heart moans in me, I am not still, for the ram\u2019s horn\u2019s sound I have heard, the blare of war.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My gut, my gut.<\/span><\/i> Even though this is inelegant in English, it faithfully represents the Hebrew <\/span>me\u2019ai me\u2019ai<\/span><\/i>. The gut or intestine (the King James Version\u2019s \u201cbowels\u201d) was thought to be the seat of emotion or compassion, but the expressive thrust here is that the prophet\u2019s innards and heart are pounding within him as he envisages the unfolding disaster.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"From Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","tile_main_caption":"My Gut, My Gut!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A tale of a prophet\u2019s innards\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"117265","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Tanakh Podcast-Jeremiah4 ","post_title":"The Tanakh Podcast-Jeremiah4","slug":"the-tanakh-podcast-jeremiah4","old_id":"117265","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33692,"post_title":"Alex Israel","slug":"33692-2","old_id":"33692","first_name":"Alex","last_name":"Israel","description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem. His first book \"I Kings - Torn in Two\" was published in 2013. See his website www.alexisrael.org, and his podcasts at https:\/\/elmad.pardes.org\/ and https:\/\/tanachstudy.com\/ \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33693,"alt":"","title":"alex israel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","width":1657,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-679x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":679,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-679x1024.jpg","large-width":679,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","1536x1536-width":1018,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","2048x2048-width":1357,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-795x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":795,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"404","type_929":"4","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","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":"The Tanakh Podcast","tile_main_caption":"Jeremiah 4: The Un-Creation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We dwell upon the deep connection between sin and the land, from Genesis to Jeremiah, and Creation language to describe the natural world disintegrating due to the sins of the nation. Jeremiah has a visceral emotional response to these terrifying images","tile_preview_embedded":"\r\n","tile_preview_image":{"id":108885,"alt":"","title":"-635baf915f04f--635baf915f050tanakh podcast - Alex Israel.JPG","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","width":350,"height":352,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG-298x300.jpg","medium-width":298,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","medium_large-width":350,"medium_large-height":352,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","large-width":350,"large-height":352,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","1536x1536-width":350,"1536x1536-height":352,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","2048x2048-width":350,"2048x2048-height":352,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","post_full_size-width":350,"post_full_size-height":352,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2022\/10\/635baf915f04f-635baf915f050tanakh-podcast-Alex-Israel.JPG.jpg","home_baner-width":350,"home_baner-height":352}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/2egQRyoCKgeSE3AW8HUj8k","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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"589","name":"audio","old_id":"989"},{"term_id":"857","name":"podcast","old_id":"1257"}]},{"order":10,"id":"69461","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lion Has Left Its Lair ","post_title":"A Lion Has Left Its Lair","slug":"a-lion-has-left-its-lair","old_id":"69461","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38552,"post_title":"Benny Lau","slug":"benny-lau","old_id":"38552","first_name":"Benny","last_name":"Lau ","description":"Rav Benny Lau is the founder and co-head of the Israeli initiative 929 along with Gal Gabbai. In addition, he is the rabbi of the Ramban synagogue in Jerusalem and is a community leader, activist, author, and public speaker.","short_description":"Rav Benny Lau is the founder and co-head of the Israeli initiative 929 along with Gal Gabbai.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":1708,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The imminence of destruction\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Since 609 BCE, when Pharaoh Necho assisted Assyria in its war against Babylonia, there was ongoing conflict between Egypt and Babylonia. In 605, Nebuchadnezzar succeeds his father Nebopolassar on the throne, and his first act is to decisively rout the Egyptian forces at Carchemish, on the Euphrates. In Babylonian chronicles, this victory signifies the end of Assyria and the beginning of the Babylonian Empire. Until now, the fortress of Carchemish has blocked the Babylonians' westward and southward expansion. Now Nebuchadnezzar can extend his dominion throughout the lands of Assyria's former empire. Within a year, he defeats the Egyptians; sailing south along the Mediterranean coast, he makes landfall at Ashkelon and captures it. After this defeat, Egypt retreats beyond the wadi, where it awaits the right time to recapture its lost territories and stronghold. These events are described in II Kings: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The King of Egypt did not continue to venture out of his land anymore, for the King of Babylonia had conquered from the wadi of Egypt to the River Perat, all that had belonged to the King of Egypt (24:7).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Immediately after his victory at Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar embarks on a campaign to quiet the region and subdue Egypt's allies. The outcome is clear from the start: Who can resist this mighty, foreign king who has overcome the powerful Egyptian Empire?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The horn announces the outbreak of war, calling for an emergency assembly at the enemy's approach. \"Raise a banner toward Zion\" signifies the same, as reinforced by verse 21, in which Jeremiah asks, \"How long will I see the banner and hear the sound of the horn?\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is an old Zionist lyric \"Raise a banner and a flag toward Zion,\" which expressed \u2014 perhaps more than any other song \u2014 the moment the people became determined to return to the land of their forefathers: \"who by wagon, who on foot.\" The modern connotations of \"a banner toward Zion\" are the complete opposite of the phrase's sense in this chapter of Jeremiah, in which banners warn Zion of the approaching enemy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah does not yet refer to the Babylonians by name. \"A lion has left its lair\" \u2014 this is the moment he becomes aware of the imminence of destruction. The prophet's description \u2014 the king and ministers' hearts stopping and the priests' and prophets' astonishment \u2014 depicts the paralysis that will strike the city when the enemy from the north approaches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cThe Earth Quakes as Nebuchadnezzar Approaches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69252,"alt":"","title":"jer-lau2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","width":884,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-300x215.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":215,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-768x552.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":552,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","large-width":884,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","1536x1536-width":884,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","2048x2048-width":884,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","post_full_size-width":884,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-585x420.jpg","home_baner-width":585,"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 Lion Has Left Its Lair","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The imminence of destruction","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69252,"alt":"","title":"jer-lau2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","width":884,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-300x215.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":215,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-768x552.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":552,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","large-width":884,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","1536x1536-width":884,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","2048x2048-width":884,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","post_full_size-width":884,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-585x420.jpg","home_baner-width":585,"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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"434","name":"War","old_id":"834"},{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"}]},{"order":11,"id":"69006","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Jeremiah 4 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Jeremiah 4","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-jeremiah-4","old_id":"69006","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. He received ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He received the Covenant Award in 2000. He is the author of APassover Haggadah: Go Forth and Learn, published by JPS in 2011, and the newly released For Such a Time as This: Biblical Reflections in the Book of Esther, published by Koren Publishing in 2017 (Hebrew). ","short_description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":40937,"alt":"","title":"david-Silber-2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","width":151,"height":175,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium-width":151,"medium-height":175,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","medium_large-width":151,"medium_large-height":175,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","large-width":151,"large-height":175,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":151,"1536x1536-height":175,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":151,"2048x2048-height":175,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":151,"post_full_size-height":175,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/david-Silber-2.jpg","home_baner-width":151,"home_baner-height":175}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"404","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":"929 Audio","tile_main_caption":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Jeremiah 4","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-753876298\/rabbi-david-silber-a-lesson-on-Jeremiah-chapter-4","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"2","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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"68947","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Jeremiah 4 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - Jeremiah 4","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-jeremiah-4","old_id":"68947","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. We are assembling a free living library of Jewish texts and their interconnections, in Hebrew and in translation. With these digital texts, we can create new, interactive interfaces for Web, tablet and mobile, allowing more people to engage with the textual treasures of our tradition.","short_description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42230,"alt":"","title":"Sefaria Logo2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","width":1200,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Sefaria-Logo2-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cFather Figure\u201d<\/a> by Sari Laufer: Fatherhood in Jewish texts.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMusic in the Hebrew Bible\u201d<\/a> by Jamie Fisher: A compilation of sources on music in Tanakh.<\/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 - Jeremiah 4","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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":13,"id":"69129","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points to Ponder - Jeremiah 4 ","post_title":"Points to Ponder - Jeremiah 4","slug":"points-to-ponder-jeremiah-4","old_id":"69129","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":"404","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. Listen to the voices<\/em>. Listen to the sound of the shofar (3 times in this chapter), warning of the approaching enemy, and also the lion who appears, and the cries of anguish. Follow the voices (7 times), and note the different places where they are sounded, and you\u2019ll see that there is an invitation in the prophecy also to give voice.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Imagine the sights<\/em>. In verses 23-26, Jeremiah shares with us his ominous vision of the future: earth and heavens, mountains and valleys, people and winged creatures, and vegetation and settled areas. Painful images.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Not just a messenger<\/em>.\u00a0 Note the place of the prophet in the chapter. He reacts. Blames God. Feels the pain. Very involved in his prophecy. He has skin in the game. That\u2019s Jeremiah. He\u2019s not a mailman. He\u2019s part of the people, part of the message.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. What is more painful than giving birth? Giving birth for the first time<\/em>. Jerusalem\u2019s cries of pain will sound like a \u201cmavkira\u201d - \u201cAnguish as of a woman bearing her first child\u201d (verse 31).<\/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":"Jeremiah 4","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":"Jeremiah","chapter":"4","chapter_main_number":"404","date":"20270317","wall_id":"404"},"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\/68849"}],"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=68849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}