{"id":69567,"date":"2018-07-09T17:46:37","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1082\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T15:05:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T12:05:15","slug":"wall-1082","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1082\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230827-to-20230902"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1082","date_from":"20230827","date_to":"20230902","book":"Jeremiah","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"51666","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"They Tried to Kill Us, God Saved Us, \u00a0Let's...Share! ","post_title":"They Tried to Kill Us, God Saved Us, \u00a0Let's...Share!","slug":"they-tried-to-kill-us-god-saved-us-lets-share","old_id":"51666","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33859,"post_title":"Avidan Freedman","slug":"avidan-freedman","old_id":"33859","first_name":"Avidan","last_name":"Freedman","description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. He is an activist advocating for moral limits on Israeli arms exports, and on behalf of African refugees, and a proud husband and father of 5. He received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah in New York, and from the Israeli chief rabbinate.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Rabbi Avidan Freedman is the Rabbi of Hevruta, the Shalom Hartman Institute's post high school program for Israelis and North Americans, and an educator in the institute's high school. ","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33860,"alt":"Avidan Freedman","title":"Avidan Freedman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","width":856,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-768x919.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":919,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-856x1024.jpg","large-width":856,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","1536x1536-width":856,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365.jpg","2048x2048-width":856,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Avidan-Freedman-e1532029306365-351x420.jpg","home_baner-width":351,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Happiness and holiness multiply when they are divided","post_main_content_content":"

A well-known joke sums up every Jewish holiday with a three part formula: They tried to kill us, God saved us, let's eat. It's a narrative arc which is expressed quite explicitly in chapter 26, in the declaration made upon bringing the first fruits on the holiday of Shavuot. This same declaration later becomes the core of our Pesach reading at the <\/span>seder<\/span><\/i>, so that it figures prominently in 2\/3 of the major Biblical festivals. Not bad. It's just missing one critical element.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It's true that the most appropriate way to express our gratitude to God for our salvation is by enjoying all the good given to us. But if only <\/span>we<\/em> have enjoyed it, we've missed the whole point. The section about the bringing of first fruits concludes \"And you shall rejoice in all the good that God has given you and your family, you, the Levite, and the stranger in your midst.\" The joy of the holidays is only properly expressed when it is shared with the less fortunate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Maimonides codifies this idea in his laws of the holidays (<\/span>Shevitat Yom Tov \u00a06:18):<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

When he eats and drinks, he is obligated to feed the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, along with other poor and downtrodden people. But one who locks the doors of his courtyard, and eats with his children and wife, but doesn't feed the poor and embittered- this is not the joy of mitzva, but gluttonous joy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This isn't the Torah's formula for charity, it's the formula for happiness. We define the abundance of our happiness by how we treat it. When we share it, it grows. When we hoard it, it constricts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And this is also the formula for holiness. \u00a0Following the presentation of the declaration of the first fruits, the Torah discusses another declaration, <\/span>viduy maasrot<\/span><\/em>, the 'confession of tithes.' The parts of our produce deemed holy cannot be hoarded. Holiness finds its expression only in giving to 'the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, the widow.'<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And when we have acted properly towards what is holy in our midst, we can turn to God and ask that He, in return, turn to us from his holy abode. \"We have done what you decreed upon us, now you must do what you promised us\". \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51667,"alt":"","title":"dt26-mealsharing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","width":640,"height":427,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":427,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":427,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":427,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":427,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":427,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"They Tried to Kill Us, God Saved Us, \u00a0Let's...Share!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Happiness and holiness multiply when they are divided","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51667,"alt":"","title":"dt26-mealsharing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","width":640,"height":427,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","medium_large-width":640,"medium_large-height":427,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","large-width":640,"large-height":427,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","1536x1536-width":640,"1536x1536-height":427,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","2048x2048-width":640,"2048x2048-height":427,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing.jpg","post_full_size-width":640,"post_full_size-height":427,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-mealsharing-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"179","date":"20260506","wall_id":"179"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"516","name":"Holidays","old_id":"916"},{"term_id":"696","name":"Celebration","old_id":"1096"},{"term_id":"849","name":"Sharing","old_id":"1249"}]},{"order":2,"id":"51733","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Two Types Of Torah ","post_title":"Two Types Of Torah","slug":"two-types-of-torah","old_id":"51733","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49857,"post_title":"Tali Adler","slug":"tali-adler","old_id":"49857","first_name":"Tali ","last_name":"Adler","description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side. Tali is a musmekhet of Yeshivat Maharat and a Wexner Graduate Fellow. During her time at Yeshivat Maharat, Tali served as the clergy intern at Kehilat Rayim Ahuvim and Harvard Hillel. \r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Tali Adler is a faculty member at Yeshivat Hadar, an egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49865,"alt":"","title":"tali adler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","width":165,"height":159,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium-width":165,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","medium_large-width":165,"medium_large-height":159,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","large-width":165,"large-height":159,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":165,"1536x1536-height":159,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":165,"2048x2048-height":159,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":165,"post_full_size-height":159,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/tali-adler-1.jpg","home_baner-width":165,"home_baner-height":159}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"180","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Protected, guarded, distant - or open, exposed, vulnerable?","post_main_content_content":"

We encounter two types of Torah in Deuteronomy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first is the Torah of the Ark, the Torah Moses finishes writing at the very end of his life, handing it to the Levites to be carried in the ark along with the tablets Moses brought back from Sinai. This Torah is to be cradled; to be guarded. It is to be guarded by priests who convey its contents to the people. This is a Torah to that is treasured, but also a Torah that remains alone, far from the people to whom it was given.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The second, though, is the Torah of the stones. This Torah is different: it has no container. Its purpose is to be read, and to that end, it must be written clearly. Whereas the other Torah remains in the center of the Temple, surrounded by the scent of sacrifices and by songs of service, this Torah remains on the edge of the land; exposed to rain and wind and the eyes of anyone who cares to read it. This Torah is a Torah of the people, but it is also a Torah unprotected, a Torah that can not just be read, but misread, tarnished, and disrespected.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We still haven\u2019t decided what form we want our Torah to take: we still don\u2019t know whether our feelings of reverence are stronger than our feelings of pride, whether our desire to protect Torah is stronger than our need to spread it. The ark is lost and the stones have been reduced to dust, and still, we haven\u2019t decided how to shape the Torah, where to place it, or how to love it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51741,"alt":"","title":"dt27-two-torahs","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","width":279,"height":196,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium-width":279,"medium-height":196,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium_large-width":279,"medium_large-height":196,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","large-width":279,"large-height":196,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","1536x1536-width":279,"1536x1536-height":196,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","2048x2048-width":279,"2048x2048-height":196,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","post_full_size-width":279,"post_full_size-height":196,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":196}},"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":"Two Types Of Torah","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Protected, guarded, distant - or open, exposed, vulnerable?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51741,"alt":"","title":"dt27-two-torahs","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","width":279,"height":196,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium-width":279,"medium-height":196,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","medium_large-width":279,"medium_large-height":196,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","large-width":279,"large-height":196,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","1536x1536-width":279,"1536x1536-height":196,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","2048x2048-width":279,"2048x2048-height":196,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","post_full_size-width":279,"post_full_size-height":196,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt27-two-torahs.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":196}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"27","chapter_main_number":"180","date":"20260507","wall_id":"180"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"410","name":"Torah","old_id":"810"}]},{"order":3,"id":"51660","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"A Cure For Affluenza ","post_title":"A Cure For Affluenza","slug":"a-cure-for-affluenza","old_id":"51660","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37918,"post_title":"Shai Held","slug":"shai-held","old_id":"37918","first_name":" Shai ","last_name":"Held","description":"Rabbi Shai Held, theologian, scholar, and educator, is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar, where he also directs the Center for Jewish Leadership and Ideas. A 2011 recipient of the prestigious Covenant Award for excellence in Jewish education, Rabbi Held has been named multiple times to Newsweek\u2019s list of the 50 most influential rabbis in America. He holds a doctorate in religion from Harvard; Rabbi Held's first book, Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, was published by Indiana University Press in 2013; The Heart of Torah, a collection of essays on the Torah in two volumes, was published by JPS in 2017.","short_description":"Rabbi Shai Held is President, Dean, and Chair in Jewish Thought at Hadar,","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37919,"alt":"","title":"shai held","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","width":150,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":186,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/shai-held.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":186}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Preserving gratitude perpetuates generosity","post_main_content_content":"

Deuteronomy portrays God as a gracious giver of gifts. Yet Deuteronomy worries that these gifts<\/span> could easily become snares, that the people will feel entitled to God\u2019s bounty instead of being grateful for it and that they will come to forget the God who has given them so much. The first-fruits ceremony prescribed in chapter 26 is a liturgical attempt to keep gratitude from dissipating in the face of affluence and abundance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Israelite farmer bringing his first fruits to the Temple is also instructed to recite a liturgical formula situating the bounty before him the context of God\u2019s long history of gracious involvement with the people, from<\/span> 26:5-10.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The biblical memory deliberately blurs the line between past and present. The ritual conflates the farmer\u2019s ancestors, the contemporary community, and the individual farmer himself. The pilgrim starts out talking about his ancestors (\u201cMy father was a fugitive Aramean, etc.\u201d) but soon shifts, almost imperceptibly, to the first person plural: \u201cThe Egyptians dealt harshly with us and oppressed us, etc.\u201d). This subtly transforms the distant memory of the salvation of the farmer\u2019s forebears into his own generation\u2019s story. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

The formula goes further, this time shifting from the plural to the singular: \u201cWherefore I now bring the first fruits of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.\u201d Now, the experience of those who came before him becomes the pilgrim\u2019s own life-story. Not only has the farmer\u2019s own generation gone through that transformation; but so also has he personally.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first eleven verses of the chapter emphasize that the land is a gift, repeating the verb <\/span>n-t-n<\/span><\/i>(give) no fewer than seven times (26:1,2,3, 6, 9,10,11). In a book that wants to instill an enduring sense of gratitude, the Israelite is charged to acknowledge again and again just how much has been given <\/span>to<\/em> <\/span>him rather than (just) accomplished <\/span>by<\/em> <\/span>him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Deuteronomy instructs the pilgrim to enjoy the bounty God has given him \u201ctogether with the Levite and the stranger in your midst\u201d (26:11). Deuteronomy\u2019s teaching is clear: If you remember how much has been given to you, you will be receptive both to God\u2019s command and to the needs of the downtrodden. But if you assume that you have single-handedly earned every last thing you have, you will forget both God and your neighbor. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

So Deuteronomy repeatedly bids us: Remember how much you have been given, and never forget to be grateful.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51661,"alt":"","title":"dt26-grateful","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","width":1920,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-768x575.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":575,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-1024x767.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":767,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-1200x899.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":899,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-561x420.jpg","home_baner-width":561,"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 Cure For Affluenza","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Preserving gratitude perpetuates generosity","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51661,"alt":"","title":"dt26-grateful","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","width":1920,"height":1438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-768x575.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":575,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-1024x767.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":767,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-1200x899.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":899,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt26-grateful-561x420.jpg","home_baner-width":561,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"179","date":"20260506","wall_id":"179"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"},{"term_id":"520","name":"Gratitude","old_id":"920"},{"term_id":"542","name":"Generosity","old_id":"942"}]},{"order":4,"id":"51805","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"A Topsy-Turvy World ","post_title":"A Topsy-Turvy World","slug":"a-topsy-turvy-world","old_id":"51805","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":50592,"post_title":"Avi Strausberg","slug":"avi-strausberg","old_id":"50592","first_name":"Avi ","last_name":"Strausberg ","description":"Rabbi Avi Strausberg is the Director of National Learning Initiatives at Hadar, and based in Washington, DC. She received her rabbinic ordination from Hebrew College in Boston. Energized by engaging creatively with Jewish text, she maintains a Daf Yomi haiku blog in which she writes daily Talmudic haikus.","short_description":"Rabbi Avi Strausberg is the Director of National Learning Initiatives at Hadar, and based in Washington, DC.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":50594,"alt":"","title":"avi strausberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1.jpg","width":1334,"height":1348,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-297x300.jpg","medium-width":297,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-768x776.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":776,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-1013x1024.jpg","large-width":1013,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1334,"1536x1536-height":1348,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1334,"2048x2048-height":1348,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-1188x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1188,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/avi-strausberg-1-416x420.jpg","home_baner-width":416,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"181","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What if we didn\u2019t view success and failure as a zero sum game?","post_main_content_content":"

Deuteronomy 28 contains a powerful litany of blessing and curses about what will happen or fail to happen if we do not obey God. \u00a0Among seemingly apocalyptic threats of skies turning to copper and soil to iron, twice, God threatens that if we fail to obey, the \u201cnatural pecking\u201d order will be reverse. \u00a0We are warned that the stranger in our midst will rise higher and higher, while we will sink lower and lower. The stranger will be the head and we will be the tail.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is a text that is consumed with fear that we will not get to be the ones in charge. \u00a0\u201cNatural order\u201d seems to dictate that the <\/span>ger<\/span><\/em>, the foreigner with no claim, should be beneath us, he should be powerless and vulnerable. \u00a0God forbid, the roles are reversed. This fear of the stranger rising to power is the same fear that animated Pharaoh's drive to oppress the Israelites in the opening chapters of the Book of Exodus. \u00a0Pharaoh sees the Israelites growing in number and he says, \u201cLet\u2019s deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase.\u201d What is he so afraid of? He\u2019s afraid of this curse in Deuteronomy 28. He\u2019s afraid that as the Israelites rise higher and higher, the Egyptians will sink lower and lower.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The world of our Torah is one in which the stranger must be kept down for fear that he will rise up against the native. \u00a0But, this is not the world of the world to come. In Tractate Pesachim, we read the story of Rav Yosef, the son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi who became ill and nearly died. \u00a0When he recovers, his father asks him, what did you see as you were about to die? Rav Yosef answers, I saw an inverted world. Those above were below and those below were above. \u00a0Meaning, in the world to come, the powerful in this world are marginalized and the marginalized become the powerful. His father affirms his vision and says, \u201cMy son, you have seen a clear world.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

What if we didn\u2019t view success and failure as a zero-sum game? \u00a0What if we stopped worrying about who was the head and who was the tail and instead worked to create a society in which the dignity of all human beings was honored? \u00a0What if God\u2019s curse ceased to hold power over us?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image by: Alexas Fotos<\/span> from Pixabay<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51806,"alt":"","title":"dt28-upside-down","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","width":1920,"height":1291,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-768x516.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":516,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1024x689.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":689,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1033,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1291,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1200x807.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":807,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-625x420.jpg","home_baner-width":625,"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 Topsy-Turvy World","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What if we didn\u2019t view success and failure as a zero sum game?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51806,"alt":"","title":"dt28-upside-down","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","width":1920,"height":1291,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-768x516.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":516,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1024x689.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":689,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1033,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1291,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-1200x807.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":807,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt28-upside-down-625x420.jpg","home_baner-width":625,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"28","chapter_main_number":"181","date":"20260510","wall_id":"181"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"364","name":"Equality","old_id":"764"},{"term_id":"453","name":"Stranger","old_id":"853"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"583","name":"Curse","old_id":"983"}]},{"order":5,"id":"108506","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"What Does The Ara-mean? ","post_title":"What Does The Ara-mean?","slug":"what-does-the-ara-mean","old_id":"108506","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":"179","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Musings on the identity of the Aramean here and in the haggadah\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The chapter begins with the commandment to bring the first fruits, but it also contains a passage that is a significant part of the Pesach Haggadah.\u00a0 The passage is a mini-history of the Israelites. It describes them going down to Egypt, then God saving them from the Egyptians with signs and wonders. Next, God brings the people to the land of milk and honey and now the people bring the first fruits to God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The passage opens with the phrase \u201c<\/span>Arami oved avi<\/span><\/em>.\u201d What does this phrase mean? Rashi translates it as \u201can Aramean destroyed my father.\u201d The Aramean, according to Rashi, is Laban. This is also how the Targum translates it. Some commentators say the word <\/span>oved<\/span><\/em> should be with an <\/span>ayin<\/span><\/em>- meaning worked. As in: Laban \u2018worked\u2019 Jacob. The Pesach Haggadah also follows this interpretation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Go out and learn what Laban the Aramean sought to do to Jacob our father; since Pharaoh only decreed [the death sentence] on the males but Laban sought to uproot the whole [people]. As it is stated (Deut. 26:5), \u2018An Aramean was destroying my father and he went down to Egypt, and he resided there with a small number and he became there a nation, great, powerful and numerous.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are many questions about this opinion. Why start this passage with Laban without naming him? Going down to Egypt was not directly after the Laban story, so why connect the two? Ibn Ezra asks many of these questions. He prefers to translate the phrase as \"my father was a lost Aramean.\" <\/span>Oved<\/em> <\/span>is not used as a transitive verb here, but as an adjective. The Aramean is Jacob, and he was lost because he was poor. This sets up a nice, mirrored structure. Jacob was poor, he went down to Egypt with a small group of people as one side. The mirror to that is that God intervened and a large nation came out of Egypt. The people then entered the land flowing with milk and honey. This sets up the ultimate contrast between the humble beginnings of the people and the eventual wealth that leads the farmer to bring his first fruits to the Temple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashbam goes further back and explains that the Aramean here is Abraham who was a wanderer. Abraham is a stand-in for all three of the forefathers who did not have a set land of their own and wandered about. Rashbam\u2019s interpretation also maintains the mirrored structure. One can ask though: what did Rashbam and Ibn Ezra say on Pesach? Did they have a different version of the haggadah?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":53867,"alt":"","title":"jo13a-seder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","width":590,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","medium_large-width":590,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","large-width":590,"large-height":384,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","1536x1536-width":590,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","2048x2048-width":590,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","post_full_size-width":590,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","home_baner-width":590,"home_baner-height":384}},"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":"What Does The Ara-mean?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Musings on the identity of the Aramean here and in the haggadah","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":53867,"alt":"","title":"jo13a-seder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","width":590,"height":384,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","medium_large-width":590,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","large-width":590,"large-height":384,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","1536x1536-width":590,"1536x1536-height":384,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","2048x2048-width":590,"2048x2048-height":384,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","post_full_size-width":590,"post_full_size-height":384,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo13a-seder.jpg","home_baner-width":590,"home_baner-height":384}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Deuteronomy","chapter":"26","chapter_main_number":"179","date":"20260506","wall_id":"179"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"366","name":"Commentators","old_id":"766"},{"term_id":"464","name":"Agriculture","old_id":"864"},{"term_id":"481","name":"Laban","old_id":"881"},{"term_id":"597","name":"Pesach","old_id":"997"}]},{"order":6,"id":"69225","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Daughter Jerusalem, Mother Earth ","post_title":"Daughter Jerusalem, Mother Earth","slug":"daughter-jerusalem-mother-earth","old_id":"69225","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":"406","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Jeremiah and Greta: Prophesies of impending destruction, unless...","post_main_content_content":"

The ancient prediction of imminent destruction in this chapter feels all too contemporary. <\/span>Bat-tzion<\/span><\/em>, Jeremiah calls the beloved treasure about to be destroyed, \u201cbeautiful and pleasing.\u201d He is terrified that she will be lost, and he sees it so clearly.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Reading this chapter, all I can think of is Greta Thunberg, our modern day Jeremiah. Perhaps in the future we'll call a prophetic environmental call-to-action a Gretiad.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Bat-tzion<\/span><\/em> literally means the Daughter of Jerusalem; today, how could it not mean \u201cMother Earth\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Mother, daughter; Jerusalem, Earth. All microcosms of each other, all interrelated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Mother Earth: our beloved home, not just for any single tribe, but for every single human being. Her green forests, her salty oceans, her caves and crevasses, her majestic slopes, and the enchanted atmosphere which surrounds her - clouds and wind and storms and stillness, ever changing in a circular drift. Like all living things, she has her moods; within her healthy state there are forces of extreme destruction, floods and fires and earthquakes and tornadoes, just as death is a part of life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what is happening now is a different type of destruction. <\/span>Bat-Tzion's<\/span><\/em> very existence is threatened as she is poisoned by her own children.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And so, as Jeremiah warned the ancient Israelites, Greta Thunberg warns us. Yes, the rich will be able to escape for a while, but not forever; we are all part of a system. As Jeremiah says, the old and the young; the newly married, children in the street, and grandparents \u2013 none of us will be safe.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the point is not just that destruction is coming; it is that we can avert this destruction. It is the job of prophets to prophesy, and is the job of the people to listen.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today our modern climate prophets come in many forms. In this chapter, Jeremiah is the equivalent of a \u201cdark green\u201d environmentalist, requiring wholesale reinvention of the existing systems in order to heal the ills he sees. I wonder if there were gentler, \u201clight green\u201d voices of his time which didn\u2019t make it into the canon - urging people to find their best selves, to change their lives for the sake of continuity and justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I wonder at the fact that Jeremiah's call seems to have worked; despite all the pain and suffering of the past two thousand years, we are still here to read his words around 2600 years later. Our tribe still exists, we still celebrate, still rejoice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I can only hope that we heed Greta and the other climate prophets enough that two and a half millennia from today, our species will still be able to breathe air, drink water, and see the stars above, until like us, they too will be laid to rest on this <\/span>Bat-Tzion<\/span><\/em>, our Mother Earth.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69233,"alt":"","title":"jer6-destruction","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-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":"","tile_main_caption":"Daughter Jerusalem, Mother Earth","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jeremiah and Greta: Prophesies of impending destruction, unless...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69233,"alt":"","title":"jer6-destruction","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction.jpg","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-destruction-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":"6","chapter_main_number":"406","date":"20270321","wall_id":"406"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"327","name":"Today's 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shofar-blowing and tent-pitching\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In chapter 6, Jeremiah warns of the impending war:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Flee for refuge, O people of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem! Blow the horn in Tekoa, set up a signal at Beth-hakerem! For evil is appearing from the north, and great disaster. Fair Zion, the lovely and delicate, I will destroy. Against her come shepherds with their flocks, they pitch tents all around her; each grazes the sheep under his care. (Jeremiah 6:1-3)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The sense of doom is captured in the translation. And yet, this is one of those times where reading the verses in anything but the original Hebrew will leave something lacking.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why is that so? Because the verses above contain a play on words, repeated three times \u2013 but the translation does not reflect that. Let\u2019s take a look.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The verb for \u201cblow (the horn)\u201d in verse 1 is <\/span>tik\u2019u<\/span><\/em>. This is the same root as the name of the town Tekoa (south of Jerusalem). So \u201cblow the horn in Tekoa\u201d has the same root repeated twice in a row.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That same root appears in verse 3: \u201cpitch (tents)\u201d is <\/span>tak\u2019u<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> So a person hearing this prophecy would hear these keywords repeated, and feel a pounding rhythm that added emphasis and urgency.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In some cases, the Bible uses a wordplay with words that don\u2019t have a common origin. The message is still clear to the listener. But in this case, they are all related.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Tak\u2019a<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/em>meaning \u201cto blow a horn\u201d is familiar to us from Rosh Hashana. A long blast of the shofar is called <\/span>tekiah<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> Dr. Ernest Klein writes that the verb fully means \"to thrust, clap, give a blow, blast\". Ben Yehuda\u2019s dictionary notes that perhaps the origin of the root is imitative, coming from the sound of the <\/span>tekiah<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The linguist Menachem Kaddari writes that the word also means \u201cto strike\u201d or \u201cto drive in (a sword or a peg)\u201d. This is the meaning in verse 3. And some scholars say that this is the origin of the name of the town of Tekoa \u2013 it originally meant \u201ca place of setting up tents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In modern Hebrew two words that carry that sense of \u201cdriving in\u201d are <\/span>takua<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201cstuck\u201d and <\/span>teka<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201c(electrical) plug.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69242,"alt":"","title":"jer6-shofar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar.jpg","width":1620,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar-253x300.jpg","medium-width":253,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar-768x910.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":910,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar-864x1024.jpg","large-width":864,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar.jpg","1536x1536-width":1296,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar.jpg","2048x2048-width":1620,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar-1013x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1013,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-shofar-354x420.jpg","home_baner-width":354,"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":"Prophetic Paronomasia","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Of shofar-blowing and 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language","old_id":"761"},{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"}]},{"order":8,"id":"69248","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Does God Desire Destruction?\u00a0 ","post_title":"Does God Desire Destruction?\u00a0","slug":"does-god-desire-destruction","old_id":"69248","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":"406","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"As the prophet said: \u201cto uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow\u2026\u201d\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In this chapter, Jeremiah reacts with characteristic anguish at the complacency of Judean society\u00a0 \u2014 \u201cThe word of the LORD,\u201d Jeremiah notes sadly, has \u201cbecome for them an object of scorn; they will have none of it.\u201d But this complacency cannot be understood as mere apathy. Rather, the people\u2019s imperviousness to Jeremiah\u2019s warnings is a direct result of a failure of leadership. The priests and prophets of his day \u201coffer healing offhand for the wounds of My people, saying \u201c\u2018All is well, all is well,\u2019 when nothing is well.\u201d When the religious and moral authorities tell people that their conduct is already sufficient, few, it seems, are in need of further convincing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This picture of a collusion between short-sighted politicians (for this seems to be the real role of the priests and prophets) and a populace not over-eager to hear criticism is a depressing one. The people are unable to hear Jeremiah\u2019s message, and so their coming doom is sealed. What is perhaps even more disturbing, however, is that this state of affairs seems to itself be a fulfillment of prophecy and a working-out of the divine will. When Jeremiah complains of the people that \u201ctheir ears are blocked and they cannot listen,\u201d it is difficult not to hear an echo of the charge given to the prophet Isaiah at his commission. There, rather than inducing the people to repent, Isaiah was given the strange and terrible task of <\/span>preventing<\/span><\/i> them from doing so \u2014 \u201cDull that people\u2019s mind, stop its ears, and seal its eyes \u2014 lest, seeing with its eyes and hearing with its ears, it also grasp with its mind, and repent and save itself.\u201d Jeremiah\u2019s anguish, then, is only the confirmation that Isaiah\u2019s mission was \u2018successful.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Such a conception of God\u2019s action in history is undoubtedly disturbing. How could it be that God could actually <\/span>desire <\/span><\/i>the people\u2019s destruction and work to <\/span>forestall <\/span><\/i>acts of repentance that might prevent such a fate? This idea offends our moral sensibilities, and indeed contrasts sharply with other prophetic witnesses, such as those to be found in Ezekiel and Jonah, which stress that God does not desire the death of the sinner, but waits with bated breath for the chance to extend forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While this latter strain of prophetic thinking is undoubtedly more attractive to most of us, the line which runs from Isaiah\u2019s commission to Jeremiah\u2019s unheeded lamentation asks us to take seriously the possibility that sometimes, a community might be too deeply corrupted to survive in its current form. Perhaps there are times when nothing less than a terrible purgation is required to return us to a state in which rebuilding can occur. When God first spoke to Jeremiah, he was told the prophet\u2019s task was \u201cto uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant\u201d (1:9).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps, Jeremiah prompts us to consider, it is sometimes the case that in order to build, the old structure must be torn down to the foundations.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Roberts Siege and The Destruction of Jerusalem, 1850 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69249,"alt":"","title":"jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg","width":800,"height":510,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem-300x191.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":191,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem-768x490.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":490,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":510,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":510,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":510,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":510,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer6-Roberts_Siege_and_Destruction_of_Jerusalem-659x420.jpg","home_baner-width":659,"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":"Does 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I Really Need To Know I Learned In The Tanach ","post_title":"All I Really Need To Know I Learned In The Tanach","slug":"all-i-really-need-to-know-i-learned-in-the-tanach","old_id":"69416","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64758,"post_title":"Avraham Norin","slug":"avraham-norin","old_id":"64758","first_name":"Avraham ","last_name":"Norin ","description":"Avraham Norin teaches in Israel at the Machon Meir and Ora conversion program. He lives in the Southern Hebron Hills with his wife and six children.","short_description":"Avraham Norin teaches in Israel at the Machon Meir and Ora conversion program","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64759,"alt":"","title":"avraham norin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin.jpg","width":1064,"height":1600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-681x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":681,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-681x1024.jpg","large-width":681,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin.jpg","1536x1536-width":1021,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin.jpg","2048x2048-width":1064,"2048x2048-height":1600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-798x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":798,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/avraham-norin-279x420.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"407","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Share, don\u2019t hit, and: promote justice, show kindness, give charity","post_main_content_content":"

Robert Fulghum, a minister in Utah, once wrote an essay called \"All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten\". People enjoyed it so much that they made copies of it and send it out to their friends. Together with other essays, it became a #1 best-selling book. Here is part of the essay which was the book's catalyst:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

All of what I really need<\/span> t<\/span>o know about how to live\u2026I learned in kindergarten\u2026<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>These are the things I learned:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Share everything.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Play fair.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Don't hit people.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Put things back where you found them.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Clean up your own mess.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Don't take things that aren't yours.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody...<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah, a prophet from Anatoth, lived 2500 years before Robert Fulghum. At that time, many people thought that by bringing sacrifices, God's love and protection were guaranteed. In response to this idea, Jeremiah said the following prophecy:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat meat\u201d (7: 21).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah was saying that sacrifices don\u2019t have any religious value in the eyes of God, if they are giving prior to the correction of one's actions. The implication of this prophecy is that God doesn't wish for the people to bring sacrifices to the Temple, until they repent.\u00a0<\/span>Jeremiah explains God's reasoning:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices (7:22).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The people who heard Jeremiah proclaim this prophecy were undoubtedly confused. In the Torah, particularly in the book of Leviticus, God clearly commands that the people bring sacrifices. What does Jeremiah mean when he says that God didn't ask their fathers to do so? To clarify his message, Jeremiah continues to prophesize:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0\u2026but this thing I commanded them, saying: 'Hear my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and walk in all the ways that I command you, that it may be well with you' (7:23).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah wasn't saying that God is against sacrifices.\u00a0 Rather, Jeremiah was giving a similar message to the above essay of Robert Fulghum:\u00a0 First work on the basics. Promote justice, show kindness, and give charity. These are the items which the people of Israel should have \"learned in kindergarten.\" After having fulfilled these fundamental items, Jeremiah agrees that sacrifices should be given, as we can see from his prophecy about the redemption:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

You will again say\u2026'Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, because His mercy endures forever', while bringing thanksgiving sacrifices into the house of the Lord (33:10-11).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah's ideas were not at all popular in his time. The people refused to listen to his prophecies, and did not pass them on to their friends. But they did make it into the Tanach- the all-time #1 bestseller!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69436,"alt":"","title":"jer7-kindergarten","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"All I Really Need To Know I Learned In The Tanach","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Share, don\u2019t hit, and: promote justice, show kindness, give charity","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69436,"alt":"","title":"jer7-kindergarten","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-kindergarten-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"7","chapter_main_number":"407","date":"20270322","wall_id":"407"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"387","name":"Sacrifice","old_id":"787"},{"term_id":"391","name":"In\/Justice","old_id":"791"},{"term_id":"399","name":"Education","old_id":"799"},{"term_id":"505","name":"Tanach","old_id":"905"}]},{"order":10,"id":"69441","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"The Temple! The Temple! The Temple! ","post_title":"The Temple! The Temple! The Temple!","slug":"the-temple-the-temple-the-temple","old_id":"69441","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":"407","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The sanctuary has become a den of thieves","post_main_content_content":"

In this chapter, God directed Jeremiah to position himself on a specific site on the Temple Mount and to address all those who passed him on their way in, saying: \u201cMend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell in this place\u201d (3). He also added a word of caution: \u201cDon\u2019t put your trust in illusions and say, \u2018The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these [buildings]\u2019\u201d (4).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why the threefold repetition?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi, relying on the Aramaic Targum, connected it to the three annual pilgrimage festivals, and was followed in this interpretation by his younger colleague Yosef Kara. Radak, however, on the authority of his father, Yosef, identified it with three specific chambers in the Temple: the outermost (\u2018<\/em><\/span>ulam<\/span><\/em>), the middle (<\/span>heikhal<\/span><\/em>), and the innermost (<\/span>d\u2019vir<\/span><\/em>). Shadal concurred in Radak\u2019s identification, adding, in the name of Ludovico, a Christian exegete, that it is conceivable that as Jeremiah referred to each of the three halls, he pointed to it with his finger.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These interpretations to v.4 link up with vs.10-11, in which the prophet denounced the people who thought the Temple would provide them with sanctuary from the enemy and who said: \u201cWe are safe\u2014to do all these abhorrent things.\u201d He asked them, rhetorically, \u201cDo you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of thieves? As for Me, I have been watching\u2014declares the Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What had God been watching? The earlier exegetes assumed that Jeremiah was simply reporting to the people that while they may have been fooling themselves about the security offered by the Temple\u2014they were not fooling Him; He \u201csaw\u201d through them. Shadal,* however, saw in it something more consequential:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If it appears to be a den of thieves to you, then I, too, regard it as such. Therefore, I no longer consider it sacred and I will give it over into the hands of the enemy. It will not provide you with cover.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary, <\/span>see our introduction.<\/span><\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69442,"alt":"","title":"jer7-temple3","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","width":1278,"height":314,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-300x74.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":74,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-768x189.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":189,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-1024x252.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":252,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","1536x1536-width":1278,"1536x1536-height":314,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","2048x2048-width":1278,"2048x2048-height":314,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-1200x295.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":295,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","home_baner-width":1278,"home_baner-height":314}},"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 Temple! The Temple! The Temple!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The sanctuary has become a den of thieves","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69442,"alt":"","title":"jer7-temple3","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","width":1278,"height":314,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-300x74.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":74,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-768x189.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":189,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-1024x252.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":252,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","1536x1536-width":1278,"1536x1536-height":314,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","2048x2048-width":1278,"2048x2048-height":314,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3-1200x295.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":295,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-temple3.jpg","home_baner-width":1278,"home_baner-height":314}},"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":"7","chapter_main_number":"407","date":"20270322","wall_id":"407"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"366","name":"Commentators","old_id":"766"},{"term_id":"778","name":"Temple","old_id":"1178"}]},{"order":11,"id":"69446","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Don\u2019t Pray - God Just Might Listen ","post_title":"Don\u2019t Pray - God Just Might Listen","slug":"dont-pray-god-just-might-listen","old_id":"69446","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37561,"post_title":"Deena Cowans","slug":"deena-cowans","old_id":"37561","first_name":"Deena ","last_name":"Cowans","description":"Deena Cowans is a rabbinical student at JTS and alumnus of the Master's in Public Administration- Development Practice at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). \r\nDeena is the Director of Education (Rosh Chinuch) at Camp Ramah in the Rockies since January 2016, and was the Youth and Family Programs at Congregation Ansche Chesed in 2016-2017.","short_description":"Deena Cowans is a rabbinical student at JTS, and the Director of Education at Camp Ramah in the Rockies","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37562,"alt":"","title":"deena cowans","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","width":181,"height":207,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","medium-width":181,"medium-height":207,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","medium_large-width":181,"medium_large-height":207,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","large-width":181,"large-height":207,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","1536x1536-width":181,"1536x1536-height":207,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","2048x2048-width":181,"2048x2048-height":207,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","post_full_size-width":181,"post_full_size-height":207,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/deena-cowans-e1534076835642.jpg","home_baner-width":181,"home_baner-height":207}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"407","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Especially if you are brokenhearted and pleading for mercy\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The Talmud in Bava Metzia teaches that God always hears the prayers of the broken- hearted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Indeed, much of the Jewish prayer service, especially on the High Holidays, is dedicated to reminding God to listen to our prayers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So what do we do when God doesn\u2019t want to listen?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In verse 16, God tells Jeremiah not to pray on behalf of the Israelites, because God will not listen. On those \u201cglass half full\u201d kind of days, this verse provides some comfort that God does indeed heed the pleas of the brokenhearted. But on glass half empty days, those days in which we are particularly likely to want to cry out for help or even just for God\u2019s attention, this verse could be terrifying. Sure, God might hear our prayer, but what do we do if God has turned away from us, or decided to meet our prayers with obstinate rejection?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It seems the verse contains its own answer. God has to tell Jeremiah not to pray specifically because God will be moved by Jeremiah\u2019s prayer if Jeremiah offers it. In the case of the disobedient Israelites, God was determined to enact their punishment. But the verse seems to imply that God needs to take the extra step of forbidding Jeremiah\u2019s prayer because it might interfere with God\u2019s plan. It seems God learned from Moses, that God cannot help but listen to pleas for mercy on God\u2019s people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To those who doubt God\u2019s attentiveness to our needs, this chapter of Jeremiah delivers a strong message: God hears our pleading and prayer, and God is moved by it, even when God would rather not have mercy on us. God\u2019s default is listening. This, of course, does not guarantee any answer, let alone an answer we want. But at least we can know that, like the Talmud claims, the gates of prayer are always open to the brokenhearted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: \"One\" - statue of prayer in the three monotheistic relgions, Nes Ammim, sculptor: Tova Halperin, photo by Dr. Avishai Teicher, 2013 \/ wikicommons CC2.5<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69447,"alt":"","title":"jer7-prayer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-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":"Don\u2019t Pray - God Just Might Listen","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Especially if you are brokenhearted and pleading for mercy","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69447,"alt":"","title":"jer7-prayer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer7-prayer-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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"7","chapter_main_number":"407","date":"20270322","wall_id":"407"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"69543","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Impossible? Or Merely Very Improbable?\u00a0 ","post_title":"Impossible? Or Merely Very Improbable?\u00a0","slug":"impossible-or-merely-very-improbable","old_id":"69543","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":"408","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Of spiritual and physical falls\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cDo [people] fall, and not rise up?\u201d (verse 4).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A rhetorical question, and a strange one on the face of it. After all, don\u2019t all humans eventually fall and stay down?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Unless, of course, the prophet is talking about spiritual falls, which the context indicates he is. Translation without interpretation being the challenge that it is, I have avoided translating the next piece of verse 4, but will let the commentator Metzudat David explain the whole thing: <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Will they fall in their sins and not be able to rise? Meaning, is repentance not effective, such that they will rise from their fall? And if one of them repents, will God not \u201crepent\u201d from His anger?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this reading, Jeremiah raises two rhetorical questions: (1) Is it impossible to rise from sin? Of course not; one can repent! (2) If one repents, will God stay angry? Of course not; He will, in turn, \u201crepent\u201d from his anger!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

(We will leave aside the philosophical questions of how God might possess a changeable attribute of anger, and allow the prophet his human terminology).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Metzudat David\u2019s reading, the verse emphasizes that no failure is permanent because change is always possible \u2013 a typical prophetic theme \u2013 and Jeremiah\u2019s rhetorical surprise is at those who don\u2019t realize that truth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi, however, takes a different approach. \u201cIs it good for them that they bring themselves down in a fall from which they have no rise, so that if\/when they want to repent of their wickedness, God will not \u2018repent\u2019 of His decrees?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For Rashi, the rhetorical question is not \u201ccan there be a fall from which one cannot rise?!\u201d but rather \u201cWhy would they let themselves fall such that they cannot rise?! What could they possibly hope to gain?!\u201d Apparently, there is such a thing as a moral\/spiritual fall from which one cannot rise, if one chooses to make it so \u2013 and the prophet\u2019s surprise is directed at those who would make such a choice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cWill they really let their own misbehavior get so out of hand?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Maybe those who bring themselves down that far don\u2019t realize what they\u2019re doing. Maybe they didn\u2019t consciously choose the degree to which they\u2019ve messed up \u2013 and maybe they actually can still choose to make a change and rise.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Many of us have experienced some sense of our own misbehavior spiraling out of control \u2013 in the stereotypical party while the parents are away, for instance, or the more common small fib that keeps growing. In these situations, would we say it\u2019s not our fault, just like a physical fall from which we can\u2019t get up? Or do we recognize our own accountability at the heart of the mess?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Once we\u2019ve recognized the role of our own choices, can we restore our own ability to make further choices, and take control of the situation?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If so, then even in Rashi\u2019s portrayal, repentance was never really impossible. It was (to quote Douglas Adams) merely very improbable. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69544,"alt":"","title":"jer8-fall","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall.jpg","width":1920,"height":1246,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-768x498.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":498,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-1024x665.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":665,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":997,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1246,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-1200x779.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":779,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-647x420.jpg","home_baner-width":647,"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":"Impossible? Or Merely Very Improbable?\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Of spiritual and physical falls\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69544,"alt":"","title":"jer8-fall","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall.jpg","width":1920,"height":1246,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-300x195.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-768x498.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":498,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-1024x665.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":665,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":997,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1246,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-1200x779.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":779,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-fall-647x420.jpg","home_baner-width":647,"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":"8","chapter_main_number":"408","date":"20270323","wall_id":"408"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"552","name":"Change","old_id":"952"},{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"},{"term_id":"699","name":"Teshuvah","old_id":"1099"}]},{"order":13,"id":"69546","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"The Fault Is Not In Our Stars ","post_title":"The Fault Is Not In Our Stars","slug":"the-fault-is-not-in-our-stars","old_id":"69546","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":69033,"post_title":"Chaim Strauchler","slug":"chaim-strauchler","old_id":"69033","first_name":"Chaim ","last_name":"Strauchler ","description":"Rabbi Chaim Strauchler serves as senior rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto. He is also vice-president of the Rabbinical Council of America, an executive member of the Rabbinical Vaad HaKashruth of COR, and an associate editor for Tradition. Rabbi Strauchler is married to Avital. They have five children: Tehilla, Adir, Atara, Zvi and Freda.","short_description":"Rabbi Chaim Strauchler serves as senior rabbi of Shaarei Shomayim Congregation in Toronto.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":69076,"alt":"","title":"Chaim Strauchler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler.jpg","width":435,"height":505,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler-258x300.jpg","medium-width":258,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler.jpg","medium_large-width":435,"medium_large-height":505,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler.jpg","large-width":435,"large-height":505,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler.jpg","1536x1536-width":435,"1536x1536-height":505,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler.jpg","2048x2048-width":435,"2048x2048-height":505,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler.jpg","post_full_size-width":435,"post_full_size-height":505,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Chaim-Strauchler-362x420.jpg","home_baner-width":362,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"408","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"By blaming ourselves for our suffering, we become masters of our fate, not victims","post_main_content_content":"

Why are we sitting by? Let us gather into the fortified cities And meet our doom there. For the LORD our God has doomed us, He has made us drink a bitter draft, Because we sinned against the LORD<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(verse 14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Who are the villains in Jeremiah? They are the Jews themselves, who brought about their own destruction with their sins. Author Dara Horn calls this tendency of Jews to believe that anti-Semitism is their own fault the \u2018Eicha problem\u2019. While in its classical form the \u2018Eicha problem\u2019 might be phrased as, \u201cThe way to stop anti-Semitism is to stop sinning against God,\u201d\u00a0 it also has secular forms. Hayim Nahman Bialik, in his poem \u201cIn the City of Slaughter\u201d after the 1903 Kishinev Pogroms, criticized traditional Jews for reciting the confession of sins in response to tragedy. Yet, Bialik\u2019s Zionist response was likewise informed by the \u2018Eicha Problem\u2019. He blames the Jews for not having defended themselves from attack. Either way, Jewish suffering is the Jew\u2019s fault.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Horn argues that we are foolish to take responsibility for others\u2019 aggression against us. We must stop blaming ourselves. While Horn is right to call attention to how we process national tragedy, Eicha and Jeremiah are not the problem; they are part of the solution. Jeremiah embodies a fundamental Jewish philosophy that has allowed us to survive through history despite our political weakness. We believe that we matter. We believe that our actions matter. We do not believe that we are victims. We believe (whether in religious terms through our commitment to God and the Torah or in secular terms through our engagement politically, militarily, or diplomatically) that our fate is in our own hands.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To fully assign blame to others is to lose our belief in our own capacity to act. The belief that we control our own destiny, no matter our enemy's actions, has allowed us to consider a future that might be different. It has allowed us to hope for better tomorrows.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: from \u201cThe City of Slaughter,\u201d from the Complete Poetic Works of Khayyim Nahkman Bialik, edited by Israel Efros \u2013 1948 [Lionel S. Reiss]<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69547,"alt":"","title":"jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter.jpg","width":1825,"height":2375,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-231x300.jpg","medium-width":231,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-768x999.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":999,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-787x1024.jpg","large-width":787,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter.jpg","1536x1536-width":1180,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter.jpg","2048x2048-width":1574,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-922x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":922,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-323x420.jpg","home_baner-width":323,"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 Fault Is Not In Our Stars","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"By blaming ourselves for our suffering, we become masters of our fate, not victims","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69547,"alt":"","title":"jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter.jpg","width":1825,"height":2375,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-231x300.jpg","medium-width":231,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-768x999.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":999,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-787x1024.jpg","large-width":787,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter.jpg","1536x1536-width":1180,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter.jpg","2048x2048-width":1574,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-922x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":922,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer8-suffering-Bialik-Lionel-S-Reiss-130-The-City-of-Slaughter-323x420.jpg","home_baner-width":323,"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":"8","chapter_main_number":"408","date":"20270323","wall_id":"408"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"412","name":"Responsibility","old_id":"812"},{"term_id":"572","name":"Victim","old_id":"972"},{"term_id":"783","name":"Destiny","old_id":"1183"},{"term_id":"915","name":"Hate","old_id":"1315"}]},{"order":14,"id":"69690","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"The Many Sides Of Pride ","post_title":"The Many Sides Of Pride","slug":"the-many-sides-of-pride","old_id":"69690","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":"409","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How do we tell the good from the bad?","post_main_content_content":"

Pride is enjoying an interesting ride these days. For many, \u201cpride\u201d is akin to arrogance, a vice and human tendency to be discouraged and overcome. Yet \u201cpride\u201d is also what helps marginalized groups assert their worth, even in the face of social disdain and scorn. Hence, Pride parades.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How are we to discern the good kind from the bad? When is pride simply hubris\/hutzpah, an overweening self-absorption that renders real humanity impossible? And when is pride the flickering reminder of the divine light that is within each and every one of us?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah offers an important way to distinguish the two. He perceives God instructing: \u201cLet not the wise take pride in wisdom, nor the strong in strength, nor the rich in their wealth.\u201d Each of these three \u2013 wisdom, strength, and wealth \u2013 are measured not in absolute terms, but relative to others who possess less. Each of these gain the value and demonstrate their purpose when put in the service of human thriving and cooperation. We can use our wisdom for self-aggrandizement, but that hardly seems like something to be proud of. When we use your wisdom to produce consoling literature, or a scientific advance that can save lives, that is another matter entirely. Power, smarts, force: these come and go. Hardly worth attending.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cBut only in this may one take pride: in earnest devotion to Me, for I the Lord act with kindness, justice, and equity in the world, for in these I delight, says the Lord.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When our efforts are manifestations of kindness, when they advance the work of justice and equity, then they delight God (and that part of ourselves that is the spark of the divine within). If those are the goals, and we advance them by using what wisdom, wealth, or power we have for those worthy goals, that indeed is something to take pride in.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The means (often mistaken for goals) are not worthy sources of pride. Only when we are clear that it is the goals (justice, equity, kindness) that matter, and only when we subsume our ephemeral talents in the service of those timeless goals, only then do we generate the kind of belonging and redemption that deserves our pride, and God\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69691,"alt":"","title":"jer9-arrogance2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","width":841,"height":445,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-300x159.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-768x406.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":406,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","large-width":841,"large-height":445,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","1536x1536-width":841,"1536x1536-height":445,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","2048x2048-width":841,"2048x2048-height":445,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","post_full_size-width":841,"post_full_size-height":445,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-794x420.png","home_baner-width":794,"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 Many Sides Of Pride","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How do we tell the good from the bad?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69691,"alt":"","title":"jer9-arrogance2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","width":841,"height":445,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-300x159.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":159,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-768x406.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":406,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","large-width":841,"large-height":445,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","1536x1536-width":841,"1536x1536-height":445,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","2048x2048-width":841,"2048x2048-height":445,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2.png","post_full_size-width":841,"post_full_size-height":445,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-arrogance2-794x420.png","home_baner-width":794,"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":"9","chapter_main_number":"409","date":"20270324","wall_id":"409"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"372","name":"Wisdom","old_id":"772"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"},{"term_id":"952","name":"Pride","old_id":"1352"}]},{"order":15,"id":"69679","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"A Twisted Society ","post_title":"A Twisted Society","slug":"a-twisted-society","old_id":"69679","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49926,"post_title":"Binyamin Cohen","slug":"binyamin-cohen","old_id":"49926","first_name":"Binyamin ","last_name":"Cohen ","description":"Binyamin Cohen is a Jewish Studies teacher at Rochelle Zell Jewish High School in Deerfield, IL. He completed his Master\u2019s in Jewish Education through Pardes Day School Educators Program in conjunction with Hebrew College. He is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and currently lives in Chicago.","short_description":"Binyamin Cohen is a Jewish Studies teacher at Rochelle Zell Jewish High School in Deerfield, IL. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49927,"alt":"","title":"binyamin cohen","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen.jpg","width":800,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen-768x960.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":960,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/binyamin-cohen-336x420.jpg","home_baner-width":336,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"409","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The elite don\u2019t feel the pinch, but they are the corruptors - and they won\u2019t be safe behind palace walls","post_main_content_content":"

In this chapter, Jeremiah describes a sick and twisted society, one built on slander and duplicity. Three times in the first seven verses, the tongues of the Israelites are mentioned. These tongues are bent like a bow to do violence (v.2); they have been <\/span>trained<\/span><\/em> to speak lies and sin (v.4); and they are \u201ca sharpened arrow\u201d, speaking kindness while concealing the hate (v.7). This society is sick not just on an interpersonal level; the very bodies of its members are corrupted and perverted for evil purposes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The prophet describes consequences of such a society in frightening terms (v.20):<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from the streets and the young men from the broad places.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Kingdom of Judah in which Jeremiah lived was a vassal to the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Life under this regime meant partial autonomy, but extensive tribute. For many of the Babylonians\u2019 vassals, who remembered their recently lost freedom, this situation was unacceptable. For the proudly (formerly) independent nations living under the thumb of their Mesopotamian overlords, it was only a matter of time before rebellion broke out.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Judah was divided into two factions. The pro-rebellion faction wanted to throw off the yoke of Babylon. They believed that God would help them as God had in the past, as God always would. Notably, they were represented by the ruling class, the king, priests, and other elites. Jeremiah represents the anti-rebellion faction. He recognized (and was told by God) that for the Israelites many sins, idolatry, and corrupt society, they had been forsaken by God. God would not be coming to their aid like in the past, until they changed their ways.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So, when Jeremiah tells the people that \u201cDeath\u2026 is entered into our palaces\u201d, he\u2019s sending the ruling class an important message: you are not immune. You may feel safe to rebel behind your high walls and full storehouses, but you are not. This fate is coming to all the \u201cuncircumcised\u201d, a term usually reserved (often derogatorily) for Israel\u2019s enemies, but in a damning twist of fate, the prophet tells us (v.25) \u201call these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The vulnerable always suffer worst from society's ills; the Judahite elite don\u2019t feel the pinch. But they are the corruptors of society, the architects of the idolatrous depravity that has poisoned their society. Death and destruction will find them first; there is no privilege to protect them from God\u2019s wrath.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69683,"alt":"","title":"jer9-palace","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-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":"A Twisted Society","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The elite don\u2019t feel the pinch, but they are the corruptors - and they won\u2019t be safe behind palace walls","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69683,"alt":"","title":"jer9-palace","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer9-palace-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":"9","chapter_main_number":"409","date":"20270324","wall_id":"409"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"377","name":"Speech\/words","old_id":"777"},{"term_id":"440","name":"Wealth\/money","old_id":"840"},{"term_id":"501","name":"Deception","old_id":"901"},{"term_id":"503","name":"Power","old_id":"903"}]},{"order":16,"id":"69687","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Warning: Your Tongue Is A Deadly Weapon ","post_title":"Warning: Your Tongue Is A Deadly Weapon","slug":"warning-your-tongue-is-a-deadly-weapon","old_id":"69687","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":66417,"post_title":"Maor Greene","slug":"maor-greene","old_id":"66417","first_name":"Maor ","last_name":"Greene ","description":"Maor Greene is a rabbinical student and doctoral student in Hebrew Bible at Jewish Theological Seminary. They are writing their dissertation on metaphors of violent speech in Psalms. They currently accompany others on their spiritual journeys through their work as a Jewish spiritual director. They hold degrees from Duke University (BS), Princeton Theological Seminary (M Div), Hebrew University (MA), and JTS (M Phil). ","short_description":"Maor Greene is a rabbinical student and doctoral student in Hebrew Bible at Jewish Theological Seminary.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":66418,"alt":"","title":"maor greene","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","width":240,"height":240,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","medium_large-width":240,"medium_large-height":240,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","large-width":240,"large-height":240,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","1536x1536-width":240,"1536x1536-height":240,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","2048x2048-width":240,"2048x2048-height":240,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","post_full_size-width":240,"post_full_size-height":240,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","home_baner-width":240,"home_baner-height":240}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"409","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But also a\u00a0 powerful tool of creation, connection, and compassion","post_main_content_content":"

Did you know that almost everyone carries a deadly, concealed weapon on their person at all times? This weapon does not show up on metal detectors and does not require a license from any governmental agency to carry it. However, this weapon has the power to destroy the lives of individuals, nations, and even the entire world. This weapon is our tongue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Most people spend a good chunk of our formative years learning how to use our tongues. There is real skill involved both in the cognitive process of learning a language, but also in the physical coordination needed to form words in our mouths. Difficulty in the physical act of speaking is often referred to as \u201cgetting tongue-tied.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Of course, tongues do not have to be weapons of mass destruction. In fact, they can be incredibly powerful tools of creation, connection, and compassion. However, despite all of our training, our tongues can frequently misfire, causing immense harm to those around us. If we are honest with ourselves, we confess that there are other times we intentionally use our tongues to cause harm to others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah knew that the tongue could be a deadly weapon. The first section of Chapter 9 focuses on Judah\u2019s sinful, destructive speech. It emphasizes the role of the tongue:<\/span><\/p>\r\n