{"id":70117,"date":"2018-07-09T17:46:51","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1085\/"},"modified":"2023-09-22T09:25:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T06:25:12","slug":"wall-1085","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1085\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20230917-to-20230923"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1085","date_from":"20230917","date_to":"20230923","book":"Jeremiah","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"80374","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"Picasso\u2019s Bull as a Template for Teshuvah\u00a0","post_title":"Picasso\u2019s Bull as a Template for Teshuvah\u00a0","slug":"picassos-bull-as-a-template-for-teshuvah","old_id":"80374","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34255,"post_title":"Shira Hecht-Koller","slug":"shira-hecht-koller","old_id":"34255","first_name":"Shira","last_name":"Hecht-Koller ","description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. She received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and is a graduate of the Bruriah Scholars Program in Advanced Talmud Studies at Midreshet Lindenbaum. \r\n","short_description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34256,"alt":"","title":"Shira head shot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","width":3456,"height":5184,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"576","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Part 1: An eye-opening opportunity to confront teshuvah afresh\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

A series of eleven lithographs by Picasso might not seem the most likely of \u201ctexts\u201d upon which to meditate in the weeks and days leading up to Yom Kippur. And yet, Picasso\u2019s <\/span>Bull Series<\/span><\/em>, seen hanging on a wall in a tightly packed gallery in the <\/span>Museu Picasso<\/em> <\/span>in Barcelona, provided me with an opportunity to see the process of <\/span>teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>with fresh eyes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I was on a trip with my two older children in the hectic weeks between camp and school, and as a parent traveling solo, I was forced to reflect on questions of identity and transformation in a uniquely personal way. Here I was, a woman, a mother, a professional, a partner, an educator, a learner, an explorer, approaching middle age, cloaked in layers of experiences, held in close relationships, equipped with knowledge \u2014 inborn and acquired \u2014 and influenced by varied external stimuli, determined to retain her self, a continuously evolving self, amidst the powerful forces acting upon her. This was my context when I met Picasso on his home turf, in Spain. This encounter prompted me to think about the process we are meant to undergo in the weeks before Yom Kippur.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The classic way of viewing the <\/span>teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>process is as a linear one. The path of transformation, as outlined by the Rambam, follows a clear trajectory of progression. The steps, presented in <\/span>Hilkhot Teshuvah<\/span><\/em>, Chapter 2:1-5, may not be easy to take, but the process is clear. It involves confronting the same situation and abstaining, verbally confessing, abandoning sins, removing them from one\u2019s thoughts, resolving never to commit them again, and regretting the past. According to the Rambam, if one follows the guidelines outlined in these laws (2:1-3) she or he will emerge as a new person (2:4), identity changed, spirit humbled. It is a formula meant to achieve lasting change in human behavior.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In contrast, in the thought of Rabbi Soloveitchik, the process of repentance that emerges is more abstract, and existential. It involves a transformation of identity and a curated creation of the self; a \u201csevering of one\u2019s psychic identity with one\u2019s previous \u201cI,\u201d and the creation of a new \u201cI,\u201d possessor of a new consciousness, a new heart and spirit, different desires, longings, goals\u201d (<\/span>Halakhic Man<\/span><\/em>, 110). For Rabbi Soloveitchik, \u201cthe first principle of repentance is that the sinner be divested of his status as a <\/span>rasha<\/span><\/em>, an evil person. This can only be attained if the sinner terminates his past identity and assumes a new identity for the future. It is a creative gesture which is responsible for the emergence of a new personality, a new self.\u201d The Rav further states that when an individual \u201cfinds himself in a situation of sin, he takes advantage of his creative capacity, returns to God, and becomes a creator and self-fashioner. Man, through repentance, creates himself, his own \u201cI\u2019\u201d(<\/span>Halakhic Man<\/span><\/em>, 113). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

If the Rambam is a reformer, the Rav is a radical calling for a reinvention of personhood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Where does Picasso come in? Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow\u2026.<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/p>\r\n

Image: Picasso's The Bull (lithograph series, 1945) photo courtesy of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":80375,"alt":"","title":"yk-shira picasson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","width":620,"height":438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":438,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":438,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":438,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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":"Picasso\u2019s Bull as a Template for Teshuvah\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Part 1: An eye-opening opportunity to confront teshuvah afresh","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":80375,"alt":"","title":"yk-shira picasson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","width":620,"height":438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":438,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":438,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":438,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"9","chapter_main_number":"576","date":"20271114","wall_id":"576"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"80377","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"Picasso\u2019s Bull as a Template for Teshuvah\u00a0 ","post_title":"Picasso\u2019s Bull as a Template for Teshuvah\u00a0","slug":"picassos-bull-as-a-template-for-teshuvah-2","old_id":"80377","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34255,"post_title":"Shira Hecht-Koller","slug":"shira-hecht-koller","old_id":"34255","first_name":"Shira","last_name":"Hecht-Koller ","description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. She received her J.D. from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and is a graduate of the Bruriah Scholars Program in Advanced Talmud Studies at Midreshet Lindenbaum. \r\n","short_description":"Shira Hecht-Koller is the Director of Education for 929 English. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34256,"alt":"","title":"Shira head shot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","width":3456,"height":5184,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shira-head-shot-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"577","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Part 2: Peeling away the layers to reveal one's core, reduction results in revelation\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

For part 1 of this essay \u2013 on Rambam, Soloveitchik and more \u2013 see here\u2026<\/span><\/a><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Picasso\u2019s Bull picks up where the Rav leaves off. The \u201cself \u201d that we \u2013 that I \u2013 seek to fashion in the days leading up to Yom Kippur, is not so much the result of assuming a new identity \u2013 that \u201ccreative gesture which is responsible for the emergence of a new self \u201d \u2014 but rather, the \u201cnew I\u201d results from a process of reduction, of synthesizing experiences and of stripping down to one\u2019s core, revealing an original entity. That is what teshuvah is predicated upon. There is no set path or sure steps, only a commitment to the transformative potential of wandering.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the Bull, Picasso visually dissects the image of a bull to discover its essential form. Each successive plate, depicting a bull in an increasingly simplified form, represents a stage in investigation to find the true spirit of the animal. According to Will Gompertz, BBC\u2019s arts editor, the series includes touches of influence from others at various points: from the German Renaissance painter Albrecht D\u00fcrer, and the Spanish romantic painter Francisco Goya, to the Dutch Modernist Theo Van Doesburg and Picasso\u2019s own rival Henri Matisse. Picasso\u2019s unique voice borrowed and synthesized a universe of sensibilities. They are acknowledged but then stripped away to reveal the original entity, the core of Picasso\u2019s vision.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first in the series are heavier in hand and shade. The images then move through a process of reduction and progression which ultimately results in an image that is classic Picasso; simple and elegant in its form, a single line. Picasso takes ideas from others and re-uses many of his own ideas to emerge with an image of simplicity, where everything comes together in a delicate figure of a bull, \u201ca unique picture made by combining prehistoric cave painting with modern abstraction, an experienced hand with a new process\u201d (Gompertz). In doing so, he exposes what is normally hidden. Reduction results in revelation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For me, this is what the teshuvah process is about. In the quest to fashion a new \u201cI,\u201d we must first undergo a process of synthesizing experiences, influences, knowledge and emotions in a way that only humans can. But then comes the harder task, peeling away the layers to reveal one's core. Each individual is a complex coalescence of factors, an amalgam of varied relationships, the product of accumulated life experiences, with threads and strands of emotions woven together in a tapestry of life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what lies beneath it all? Where do the external stimuli end and the individual self begin? What is at the core? Where is the simple, elegant line of Picasso\u2019s bull? Only once we peel away the subtle and fragile layers that have accumulated and recognize the imprint of the influences that act upon us \u2014 building us up, but also weighing us down \u2014 can we emerge, with clarity, as new people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ultimately, teshuvah is about exposing what is normally hidden in the quest to regenerate, create and grow. We are waiting for ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Picasso's The Bull (lithograph series, 1945) photo courtesy of the author<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":80375,"alt":"","title":"yk-shira picasson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","width":620,"height":438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":438,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":438,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":438,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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":"Picasso\u2019s Bull as a Template for Teshuvah\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Part 2: Peeling away the layers to reveal one's core, reduction results in revelation","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":80375,"alt":"","title":"yk-shira picasson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","width":620,"height":438,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","medium_large-width":620,"medium_large-height":438,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","large-width":620,"large-height":438,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","1536x1536-width":620,"1536x1536-height":438,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","2048x2048-width":620,"2048x2048-height":438,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson.jpg","post_full_size-width":620,"post_full_size-height":438,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/yk-shira-picasson-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"10","chapter_main_number":"577","date":"20271115","wall_id":"577"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":3,"id":"76670","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Shabbat Teshuva\u00a0 ","post_title":"Shabbat Teshuva\u00a0","slug":"shabbat-teshuva","old_id":"76670","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"514","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"\"Return O Israel unto the Lord your God \u2026.\" (Hosea 14:2)\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

One spring, trees didn't grow leaves.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Grass didn't sprout.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Flowers didn't blossom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One summer, no butterflies came.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Nor did any bird arrive<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Except for a hoopoe<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>That King Solomon had conversed with.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For King Solomon, wise enough <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To write three thousand parables,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Had learned to speak the language of the birds, <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And ordered a golden cage for the hoopoe, queen of the birds,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To be built in his royal gardens.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From Solomon the hoopoe learned the wisdom of the Jews.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And after the king's death, she would listen to the teachings of the sages<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>As she perched on branches outside their open windows.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>She escorted Elijah <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>When the prophet ascended to heaven on a chariot of fire,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Then glided down to console the ravens<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Crying for bread<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Now that Elijah could no longer feed them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the end of summer,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The hoopoe alone remained with us,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>An olive-leaf in her beak,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A reminder of Ararat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If only the hoopoe could fly back to Elijah <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And ask him to return;<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The hearts of the fathers are now turning to their sons,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The hearts of the sons are turning to their fathers,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Like eggs in a hoopoe's nest<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Waiting to hatch.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76671,"alt":"","title":"hos14-hoopoe","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-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":"929 Poetry Corner","tile_main_caption":"Shabbat Teshuva\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"At the end of summer, The hoopoe alone remained with us","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76671,"alt":"","title":"hos14-hoopoe","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos14-hoopoe-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Hosea","chapter":"14","chapter_main_number":"514","date":"20270818","wall_id":"514"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"699","name":"Teshuvah","old_id":"1099"}]},{"order":4,"id":"80214","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Teshuva and Analysis - Two Cures Through Love ","post_title":"Teshuva and Analysis - Two Cures Through Love","slug":"teshuva-and-analysis-two-cures-through-love","old_id":"80214","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":79817,"post_title":"Elie Jesner","slug":"elie-jesner","old_id":"79817","first_name":"Elie ","last_name":"Jesner ","description":"Elie Jesner is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in London with a strong interest in philosophy and religion. He trained at the Philadelphia Association, where he currently teaches, and has MAs in philosophy from both Cambridge University and Warwick University. He also spent three years studying Judaism at Yeshivat Har Etzion. ","short_description":"Elie Jesner is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist in London with a strong interest in philosophy and religion. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":79818,"alt":"","title":"Elie Jesner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner.jpeg","width":482,"height":632,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner-229x300.jpeg","medium-width":229,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner.jpeg","medium_large-width":482,"medium_large-height":632,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner.jpeg","large-width":482,"large-height":632,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner.jpeg","1536x1536-width":482,"1536x1536-height":632,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner.jpeg","2048x2048-width":482,"2048x2048-height":632,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner.jpeg","post_full_size-width":482,"post_full_size-height":632,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Elie-Jesner-320x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"573","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Meaningful transformation through overcoming resistance\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The psalmist is in a state of terror, begging God for mercy and compassion. A terrible sin has been committed, the author is broken and confused by his conduct.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We may find it difficult to relate: why reach out to God as such a time? Surely one should look to make amends, to improve oneself, to repair the relationship that has suffered?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

All of this is true, but the psalmist is demonstrating two important qualities here. There is both an awareness of his pain and an awareness of how it has been brought about by his own deeds, by the conflicts that live inside of him. I find this striking because these are the two things Freud says a person must have, or arrive at, in order to undergo a successful analysis.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is not a secret that many people come into analysis due to an underlying sense of guilt, often manifesting as low self esteem or a lack of confidence. Two key themes in how it achieves this are the overcoming of resistance and the modification of conscience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Resistance is not about conscious hostility to the analyst, though it can sometimes be expressed in that way. It is much more to do with the fact that we are fundamentally opposed to change, as much as we may protest otherwise. Our personalities have been formed in the crucible of our lives, we have adopted strategies that were necessary to survive. These are the things we refer to as \u2018defences\u2019. Our psyche is not about to readily give up on these, on the untested promise that something better awaits<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Helping a person become less defensive and more open is thus a major part of the work, only then is there any chance of meaningful transformation. As far as I can tell, this is also a major objective of religion. It is about giving up on our defensive narcissism and adopting a more humble and open way of being.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Modifying conscience is a more controversial topic, who is the analyst to tell a person what their moral compass should look like?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The analyst does not do exactly this, but rather attempts to modify the tone and character of one\u2019s conscience. Vic Sedlak explains that analysis aims at a conscience which is \u201cconcerned with nuanced moral judgment, which takes reality and humane consideration into account, rather than delivering absolute moralistic condemnation\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is not achieved through lecturing or criticism, but rather relies upon the analyst\u2019s capacity for compassion, understanding and non-judgment. The patient and grounded analyst will be able to contain and process the patient\u2019s overactive conscience. They thus model a less punitive and angry mode of being.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So the psalmist turns to a loving and compassionate God and the patient turns to a loving and compassionate analyst. In each case, we hope, a meaningful transformation is achieved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":80215,"alt":"","title":"ps6-therapy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy.jpg","width":6000,"height":3999,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-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":"Teshuva and Analysis - Two Cures Through Love","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Meaningful transformation through overcoming resistance","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":80215,"alt":"","title":"ps6-therapy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy.jpg","width":6000,"height":3999,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1365,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ps6-therapy-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"6","chapter_main_number":"573","date":"20271109","wall_id":"573"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"70527","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Jeremiah\u2019s Very Physical Suffering ","post_title":"Jeremiah\u2019s Very Physical Suffering","slug":"jeremiahs-very-physical-suffering","old_id":"70527","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":"421","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Bodies are canvasses for the trauma of destruction\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

By this point in the book, it is clear to us readers that Jeremiah is a tortured man, burdened by a message nobody wants to hear. In this way, he is like many of the other prophets, who are called to deliver messages of warning and impending doom to an obstinate people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But without minimizing the challenges that other prophets faced in fulfilling their prophetic roles, we might feel that Jeremiah stands out among them for his uniquely embodied, traumatic physical experience. In other prophets, the threat to the people, and the prophet himself, reads as a metaphor. In Jeremiah, the body itself is under attack. Just last chapter, we read about God\u2019s words burning Jeremiah from the inside, and he will also be made to eat the curses he delivers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The trauma of his prophecy is not just promised to the Israelites. As their prophet, Jeremiah himself is made to suffer repeatedly and explicitly. In Jeremiah, nothing is off limits. The body is treated as a legitimate victim of war. Four times in his book, the body is referred to as a spoil of war (21:9, 38:2, 39:18, 45:5). Each time, the context promises destruction and death to all those surrounding the prophet or who are the subject of the prophecy. In this chapter, verse 9 promises that anyone who surrenders to the conquerors will be allowed to escape with his life as a spoil of war.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Surrender, the verse says, and your very physical existence will be saved. In modern parlance, we might phrase this as \u201cescaping with your life\u201d. To some readers, this seems like a pragmatic message to a people who are suffering at the hands of a superior military power. However, the mention of famine and pestilence remind us that God ultimately controls life and death. Pestilence and famine are indiscriminate-- they strike all levels of society. They are divinely inflicted punishments to cause suffering and death. Mentioning pestilence and famine in a trio with the sword shows us that God also controls the Chaldeans, and indeed any enemy of the Israelites.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The message here is that God seems intent on bringing down the entire Israelite society, and is willing to let those who surrender to God\u2019s power, enacted through the army of the Israelites\u2019 enemy, live. The threat is concrete; Jeremiah bears no mere metaphor. We will continue to see his body, and the bodies of the Israelites, treated as canvasses for the trauma of destruction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70530,"alt":"","title":"jer21-canvas","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Jeremiah\u2019s Very Physical Suffering","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Bodies are canvasses for the trauma of destruction","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70530,"alt":"","title":"jer21-canvas","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-canvas-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"421","date":"20270411","wall_id":"421"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"588","name":"Trauma","old_id":"988"},{"term_id":"606","name":"Pain","old_id":"1006"},{"term_id":"738","name":"Body","old_id":"1138"},{"term_id":"840","name":"Jeremiah","old_id":"1240"}]},{"order":6,"id":"70535","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"The Age of Agency Begins ","post_title":"The Age of Agency Begins","slug":"the-age-of-agency-begins","old_id":"70535","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":67893,"post_title":"Saul Sadka","slug":"saul-sadka","old_id":"67893","first_name":"Saul ","last_name":"Sadka","description":"Saul Sadka is a businessman and author living in Tel Aviv, the author of the Sadka-Rabinowicz edition of the Torah. ","short_description":"Saul Sadka is a businessman and author living in Tel Aviv, the author of the Sadka-Rabinowicz edition of the Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":67894,"alt":"","title":"saul sadka","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka.jpg","width":1200,"height":1600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"421","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"\u201cI set before you the way of life and the way of death\u2026\u201d\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

With Nebuchadnezar approaching the city, the King sends emissaries to ask Jeremiah to intercede with God to miraculously save them. Jeremiah informs the King that this will not happen, and has a separate message for the people:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I set before you the way of life and the way of death: Those who stay in the city will die\u2026Those who leave\u2026 will be captured by the Chaldeans (21:8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We have seen similar words before: \u201cI\u00a0set before you this day life and prosperity, death and adversity.\u201d (Deut 30:15).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is no more explicit expression of the overriding moral imperative of the Tanach - the free agency of humankind - than these words. Here at the moment we are first introduced to Judah\u2019s destroyer, who will drive them into the wider world, we are reminded of Moses\u2019 words when the nation made their previous transition, from their desert cocoon into independence in their homeland.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The text echoes these words with a bitter irony. There are two paths, and you must choose, but there is no longer a\u00a0 good choice since \u201cI have set my face against this city for evil and not for good.\u201d (21:10) This, implies the text, is because \u201cThey have headed down the ancient (i.e. pagan) pathways, going on the unprepared tracks\u201d (18:15). There is no way back since they chose neither the path of good <\/span>or<\/em> <\/span>evil, they rejected the entire paradigm that is the upshot of monotheism - that we have agency to choose. So emphatically did they reject their ability to choose good or evil, to impact the world with their actions, that they sacrificed their own children to Baal (19:5), thereby asserting that since they are as helpless in the world as leaves in the breeze they must appease the gods at all cost, even their own seed. This is the final straw, and in the next verse God lays out their doom, that now begins to unfold.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The previous chapters end with Jeremiah\u2019s lament (20:7-18) regretting the day he was born. We can now see he recognized what his compatriots couldn't: \u201cSince life is about agency, and I am helpless, is not my life pointless?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Until the last moment God left an opening for repentance. In chapter 18 Israel is compared to a malformed lump of clay on God\u2019s potter\u2019s wheel. God can recycle it into a new container, if the people will reform - but that reformation is beyond His control. We see perhaps the clearest scriptural exposition of the rabbinic principle that \u201call is in the hands of Heaven but the fear of Heaven.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Now, instead of reformation as a pristine vessel, they must be smashed (19:11).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Judah has rejected the covenant, the final words and essential principle of which are echoed here, that monotheism both enables and demands a belief in personal agency in equal measure. It is this message, alien to ancient pagan ears, that went forth into the world from Jerusalem with Jeremiah and the exiles.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70536,"alt":"","title":"jer21-choice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","width":1920,"height":711,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-300x111.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":111,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-768x284.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":284,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1024x379.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":379,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":569,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":711,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1200x444.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":444,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1134x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1134,"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 Age of Agency Begins","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"\u201cI set before you the way of life and the way of death\u2026\u201d","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70536,"alt":"","title":"jer21-choice","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","width":1920,"height":711,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-300x111.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":111,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-768x284.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":284,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1024x379.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":379,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":569,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":711,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1200x444.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":444,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer21-choice-1134x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1134,"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":"21","chapter_main_number":"421","date":"20270411","wall_id":"421"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"376","name":"Choice","old_id":"776"},{"term_id":"395","name":"Covenant","old_id":"795"},{"term_id":"840","name":"Jeremiah","old_id":"1240"}]},{"order":7,"id":"70552","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Luxuries Don\u2019t Make A King ","post_title":"Luxuries Don\u2019t Make A King","slug":"luxuries-dont-make-a-king","old_id":"70552","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":"422","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Righteousness and justice do\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The first part of Jeremiah\u2019s rebuke to \u201che who builds his house without righteousness\u2026 without justice\u201d (13) is pretty clear. The prophet describes designing a house of luxury \u2013 a spacious, airy attic for hot days, cedar paneling, and fancy paint (14) \u2013 without paying the workers who construct it. (As if he literally \u201cbuilds his house\u201d himself, ignoring the existence of those who did the work and require payment.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Verse 18 indicates that the rebuke is not as generic as it seems, but is directed at Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, and with that royal context we can also understand the beginning of verse 15: \u201cDo you think you are more a king because you compete in cedar?\u201d Luxuries don\u2019t make the king; righteousness and justice do.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As verse 15 continues, however, the point is not so obvious: \u201cYour father ate and drank And dispensed justice and equity\u2014 Then all went well with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What do his father\u2019s eating habits have to do with anything?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps \u201cate and drank\u201d signifies the basic necessities of life \u2013 as opposed to the rich grandeur of Jehoiakim\u2019s palace \u2013 and the prophet is implying that he should, like his father, be content with the basics and focus his energies instead on doing his job.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Taking this idea even further, Malbim suggests the emphasis is on the juxtaposition of \u201cate and drank\u201d with \u201cperformed justice and righteousness.\u201d He writes, \u201cFor also while he ate and drank \u2013 also then, he did justice and righteousness. He did not eat a royal feast and did not engage in pleasures, for he was involved with justice even at mealtimes.\u201d (As a chronic multitasker, I can appreciate the values implied by this reading). The prophet draws a sharp contrast between one who takes his job so seriously he\u2019ll just have a sandwich at his desk, and one who is too busy indulging in physical pleasures. \u201cThen [therefore] it was well with him\u201d \u2013 Malbim continues, \u201c[Your father\u2019s] heart wasn\u2019t content from the eating, but from the fact that he performed justice for the oppressed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Radak\u2019s approach, however, sees the father\u2019s eating differently and stresses another important value: balance. He writes, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t attack you about your pleasures if you did justice and righteousness, for your father Josiah ate and drank like the way of kings, and enjoyed his good, and since he did justice and righteousness \u2013 then it was good for him. But you enjoy the good of this world on a bad path, for your buildings\u2026 your food and drink and your other pleasures \u2013 they are through injustice.\u201d In another twist, Radak mentions that some commentators suggest Jehoiakim had been fasting, trying to cancel the spiritual effects of his misdeeds, and the prophet says he\u2019s missing the point. Having and enjoying nice things can be perfectly fine \u2013 and denying them won\u2019t undo other things he\u2019s done.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The key is keeping justice and righteousness at the forefront of it all.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70556,"alt":"","title":"jer22-chateau-chambord","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord.jpg","width":1920,"height":626,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-300x98.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":98,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-768x250.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":250,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-1024x334.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":334,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":501,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":626,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-1200x391.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":391,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-1288x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1288,"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":"Luxuries Don\u2019t Make A King","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Righteousness and justice do","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70556,"alt":"","title":"jer22-chateau-chambord","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord.jpg","width":1920,"height":626,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-300x98.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":98,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-768x250.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":250,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-1024x334.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":334,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":501,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":626,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-1200x391.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":391,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-chateau-chambord-1288x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1288,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"422","date":"20270412","wall_id":"422"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"415","name":"food","old_id":"815"},{"term_id":"573","name":"Righteousness","old_id":"973"},{"term_id":"835","name":"King","old_id":"1235"}]},{"order":8,"id":"70562","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"The Celestial Scoreboard\u00a0 ","post_title":"The Celestial Scoreboard\u00a0","slug":"the-celestial-scoreboard","old_id":"70562","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":60873,"post_title":"Rori Picker Neiss","slug":"rori-picker-neiss","old_id":"60873","first_name":"Rori Picker ","last_name":"Neiss ","description":"Maharat Rori Picker Neiss serves as the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis. ","short_description":"Maharat Rori Picker Neiss serves as the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St Louis. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":60874,"alt":"","title":"rory picker neiss","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss.jpg","width":2400,"height":3000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss-240x300.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss-768x960.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":960,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss-819x1024.jpg","large-width":819,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss.jpg","1536x1536-width":1229,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss.jpg","2048x2048-width":1638,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss-960x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/rory-picker-neiss-336x420.jpg","home_baner-width":336,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"422","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"How to please the Judge\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

We find great comfort in believing we know what God wants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

More selfishly, there are those of us who cling to the notion of a celestial scoreboard. A running meter that shows an up-to-date count of our merits and transgressions, hopefully with the former exceeding the latter. And like in the sporting events on which this image is modeled, an increase on one side cancels out an increase on the other.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Not so, Jeremiah proclaims.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Do you think you are more a king because you compete in cedar? Your father ate and drank and dispensed justice and equity\u2014 then all went well with him. He upheld the rights of the poor and needy\u2014 then all was well. That is truly heeding Me \u2014declares the LORD (15-16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah, in prophesying to King Jehoiakim, harkens back to the prior king, his father Josiah, who acted virtuously and supported the most powerless among his people. In sharp contrast, Jeremiah stands outside the lavish palace that Jehoiakim has built and excoriates him: \u201cBut your eyes and your mind are only on ill-gotten gains, on shedding the blood of the innocent, on committing fraud and violence\u201d (17). In one of his harshest prophecies to date, Jeremiah proclaims, \u201cHe shall have the burial of an ass, dragged out and left lying outside the gates of Jerusalem\u201d (19).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The commentator Radak cites earlier sources who state that Jehoiakim would abstain from food and drink on a consistent basis because he believed that his fasts would counterbalance his wicked deeds. It is in response to this that Jeremiah emphasizes that King Josiah ate and drank- and nevertheless maintained justice and equity and supported the rights of the poor and the needy. One is not in contrast to the other.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One cannot help but be reminded of a similar prophecy in Isaiah when he censured, <\/span><\/p>\r\n

No, this is the fast [God] desires: To unlock fetters of wickedness, and untie the cords of the yoke to let the oppressed go free; to break off every yoke. It is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to ignore your own kin\u201d (Isaiah 58:6-7). <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God does not rejoice in affliction or feel satisfaction in our asceticism. And God does not seek suffering to balance our scales. Rather, Jeremiah reminds us, God wants us to pursue equity and righteousness, to invoke justice, to protect the stranger, to lift up the poor, to protect the vulnerable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the fast that God desires. This is what it means to know God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70563,"alt":"","title":"jer22-scoreboard","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","width":960,"height":639,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":639,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":639,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":639,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":639,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-631x420.jpg","home_baner-width":631,"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 Celestial Scoreboard\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"How to please the Judge\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70563,"alt":"","title":"jer22-scoreboard","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","width":960,"height":639,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":639,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":639,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":639,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":639,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-scoreboard-631x420.jpg","home_baner-width":631,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"422","date":"20270412","wall_id":"422"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"571","name":"Repentance","old_id":"971"}]},{"order":9,"id":"70565","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"What Do You Get When You Combine Simba With Zazu?\u00a0 ","post_title":"What Do You Get When You Combine Simba With Zazu?\u00a0","slug":"what-do-you-get-when-you-combine-simba-with-zazu","old_id":"70565","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":"422","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"King Josiah\u2019s well-balanced lifestyle\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Simba: Oh, I just can't wait to be king<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Zazu: You've rather a long way to go, young master, if you think<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Simba: No one saying, \"do this\"<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Zazu: Now when I said that, I<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Simba: No one saying, \"be there\"<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Zazu: What I meant was<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Simba: No one saying, \"stop that\"<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Zazu: Look, what you don't realize<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Simba: No one saying, \"see here\"<\/b><\/p>\r\n

Zazu: Now see here!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

(The Lion King)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The two views of Simba and Zazu mirror the tension between the last kings of Judah and the prophet Jeremiah. These Kings of Judah believed (as did Simba) that being king primarily meant having the ability to use the nation's resources for the king's own welfare. On the other hand, Jeremiah thought (as did Zazu) that a king\u2019s task is to use the nation's resources exclusively for the benefit of the nation. Due to these two different world views, Jeremiah spends an entire chapter (chapter 22) admonishing these kings of Judah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is one king, however, that Jeremiah does not criticize. During the seething prophecy to King Jehoiakim about his excessive love of money and abuse of the needy, Jeremiah gives compliments to King Josiah, Jehoiakim's father: \u201cYour father ate and drank, as well as dispensed justice and equity\u2014 then all went well with him. He upheld the rights of the poor and needy\u2014 then all was well. That is truly being dedicated to me \u2014declares the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 We see that in contrast to his attitude toward the other kings, Jeremiah praised King Josiah's way of running the kingdom, as he was concerned with the welfare of all his citizens. A close reading of these verses teaches us of another positive feature that King Josiah possessed, which also induced Jeremiah's admiration.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We find that in the midst of extolling King Josiah's acts of justice and charity, Jeremiah mentions that he also ate and drank well. There are other places where routine activities have a place of importance in Jeremiah's prophecies. For example, in chapter 29, Jeremiah instructs the people to build houses, plant gardens, get married, and to have children during their seventy years of exile. In chapter 15, we find Jeremiah expressing disappointment that he isn't able to go to the various festive parties and social gatherings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From these prophecies, we see that Jeremiah wanted the people to do justice, give charity, keep Shabbat, pray to God, as well as to enjoy the physical pleasures of life and have normal social interactions with family and friends. Jeremiah believed that the ability to live spiritually and ethically is complemented by having a well-balanced lifestyle. King Josiah was the ruler who successfully combined Simba's love of life with Zazu\u2019s ideas of restraint, duty and calling. This ability of King Josiah to synthesize these two ideas is what caused him to receive Jeremiah's lavish praise, even in the chapter of rebuke to the kings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: by Ben Schachter<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70566,"alt":"","title":"Jer22-Norin - SimbaasKing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing.jpg","width":1243,"height":1048,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-300x253.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":253,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-768x648.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":648,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-1024x863.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":863,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing.jpg","1536x1536-width":1243,"1536x1536-height":1048,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing.jpg","2048x2048-width":1243,"2048x2048-height":1048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-1200x1012.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1012,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-498x420.jpg","home_baner-width":498,"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":"What Do You Get When You Combine Simba With Zazu?\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"King Josiah\u2019s well-balanced lifestyle\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70566,"alt":"","title":"Jer22-Norin - SimbaasKing","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing.jpg","width":1243,"height":1048,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-300x253.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":253,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-768x648.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":648,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-1024x863.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":863,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing.jpg","1536x1536-width":1243,"1536x1536-height":1048,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing.jpg","2048x2048-width":1243,"2048x2048-height":1048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-1200x1012.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1012,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Jer22-Norin-SimbaasKing-498x420.jpg","home_baner-width":498,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"422","date":"20270412","wall_id":"422"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"301","name":"Ben Schachter","old_id":"701"},{"term_id":"835","name":"King","old_id":"1235"},{"term_id":"942","name":"Josiah","old_id":"1342"}]},{"order":10,"id":"70578","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Eretz, Eretz, Eretz ","post_title":"Eretz, Eretz, Eretz","slug":"eretz-eretz-eretz","old_id":"70578","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"422","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A land with head, mouth, ears\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In our chapter, faced with the refusal of the people to listen to his prophecies (20-21), Jeremiah cries out in exasperation to what we generally consider the inanimate world: \u201cO Land, land, land [Eretz, Eretz, Eretz]! Hear the word of the Lord!\u201d (29). From biblical to modern times, the Hebrew word Eretz means generally \u201cland\u201d but, depending on the context, more specifically \u201cthe Land of Israel\u201d. Rashi interprets this repetition of the word \u201cland\u201d that the Land of Israel is a \u201cland among lands\u201d but the most important of them all. Rashi adds that Jeremiah calls out to the \u201cland\u201d three times because the Land of Israel is made up of three \u201clands\u201d: Judah, Transjordan and the Galilee.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Midrash on Psalms 19:1 elaborates on what might be seen as the \u201csecular\u201d versus the \u201csacred\u201d aspects of \u201cland\u201d. What does not have a head in human terms, does have a head in the eyes of God? This is the \u201cland\u201d, as it says: \u201cWhile He [God] had not yet made the land [eretz<\/em>]\u2026the beginning [rosh<\/em>, literally \u201chead\u201d] of the soil of the earth\u201d (Proverbs 8:26)\u2026And what does not have hands in human terms, does have hands in the eyes of God? As it says: \u201cthe land is expansive [rahavat-yadaim<\/em>, literally \u201cwide of hands\u201d]\u201d (Genesis 34:21). Indeed, for God, the land has a navel (see Ezekiel 38:12), a mouth (see Numbers 16:32) and legs (see Ecclesiastes 1:4). And what in human terms does not have ears, does have ears with which to hear the word of God. As Jeremiah makes clear when he cries out to the land, as it says: \u201cLand, land, land! Hear the word of the Lord!\u201d (29).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In contrast to the pessimistic context of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy, Israelis associate \u201cEretz, Eretz, Eretz \u2013 Land, Land, Land\u201d) as the opening line and refrain of the exuberant praise of the Land of Israel written by Shaike Paikov in 1976, <\/span>sung here by Ilanit <\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Eretz, Eretz, Eretz!<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A land of a light blue sky without a cloud.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And the sun is for it<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>like milk and honey.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A land we were born in<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>a land we will live in,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and we will continue living here<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>no matter what happens.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Eretz, Eretz, Eretz!<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>The sea up against the shore,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and flowers and children<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>without end.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In the North - the Sea of Galilee,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In the South - sands,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And the East to the West<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>kisses the borders\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Eretz, Eretz, Eretz!<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Land of the Torah,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>you're the source of light<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>and the language of faith.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Eretz, Eretz, Eretz!<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>A dear land,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>You promised<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>that it is not a fairytale\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Photo by: Amos Meron, Ashdod Marina Aerial View, 2012 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70579,"alt":"","title":"jer22-Ashdod_Marina","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","width":800,"height":446,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-300x167.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":167,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-768x428.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":428,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":446,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":446,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":446,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":446,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-753x420.jpg","home_baner-width":753,"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":"Eretz, Eretz, Eretz","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A land with head, mouth, ears","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70579,"alt":"","title":"jer22-Ashdod_Marina","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","width":800,"height":446,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-300x167.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":167,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-768x428.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":428,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":446,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":446,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":446,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":446,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer22-Ashdod_Marina-753x420.jpg","home_baner-width":753,"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":"22","chapter_main_number":"422","date":"20270412","wall_id":"422"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"362","name":"Poetry","old_id":"762"},{"term_id":"430","name":"Land of Israel","old_id":"830"},{"term_id":"497","name":"Land","old_id":"897"}]},{"order":11,"id":"118049","color":"#eceffa","size":"2","name":"From Our Own Minds ","post_title":"From Our Own Minds","slug":"from-our-own-minds","old_id":"118049","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":59587,"post_title":"Benjamin Morse","slug":"benjamin-morse","old_id":"59587","first_name":"Benjamin ","last_name":"Morse ","description":"Dr. Benjamin Morse studied religion and art history at Vassar, Oxford, and the Courtauld before completing a PhD in biblical interpretation. 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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":59588,"alt":"","title":"Benjamin Morse by Lenka Opalena","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","width":1069,"height":1576,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-203x300.jpg","medium-width":203,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-695x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":695,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-695x1024.jpg","large-width":695,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","1536x1536-width":1042,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena.jpg","2048x2048-width":1069,"2048x2048-height":1576,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-814x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":814,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Benjamin-Morse-by-Lenka-Opalena-285x420.jpg","home_baner-width":285,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"423","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Counter-cultural musings on what we are and where we\u2019re going\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The prophet\u2019s heart has been crushed (v.9) by adulterers who choose godlessness over fidelity (10, 15). A lonely place to be\u2014to see it and be the one to proclaim that the people\u2019s falsity will have consequences. They have been deluded by frauds who \u201cspeak their own minds\u201d (16) and tell them what they want to hear: \u201cAll will be well with you\u201d (17).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Western secular culture has no use for Jeremiah\u2019s plea to return to ethical living rooted in YHWH and His holy word. We have chosen other ways to ascribe meaning to our lives. When the gods of politics and class left us craving more, we got into bed with psychology and theory. And now, Lord over all, identity. Self-improvement, groupthink, the fulfillment of our appetites. But for what?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To grow. As a person. And then what, <\/span>travel<\/span><\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To be happy. To be a good person. Maybe it\u2019s only the philosopher who asks what exactly constitutes human flourishing, but if the goal is not (godly) Goodness, or the common good,\u00a0 then what is the point of success, of mental health, or of pursuing one\u2019s dreams?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is by hyping everyone up with deceitful dreams that charlatans make the herds of Jeremiah\u2019s day forget God\u2019s name (25-27). Similarly, a pantheon of technocrats and entertainment gurus seduce us with avenues to our \u201ctrue selves\u201d. Something other than ordinary sheep. Endless cycles generated to keep us hungry and online. Get with a cause or, better yet, a brand that endorses a cause. Speak your truth, so long as it aligns with the ideology of the tribe, and all will be well with you.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cIRL\u201d (since even the real world needs to be flattened into an acronym), the individual is no longer a vital soul with local obligations but a unit whose autonomy is schematized according to \u201crights\u201d within a global system. S\/he is fed politically fabricated verbal confections which, as Orwell put it, \u201cgive an appearance of solidity to pure wind.\u201d An affirming diet of \u201cflyblown metaphors\u201d that send us over the rainbow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How do we know if, despite our best intentions, we are in fact running towards evil (10)? Which echoes the questions Gauguin raised in the corner of a tableau of Tahitian nudes: where do we come from, what are we, and where are we going? To answer these, I think we need to go rogue and consider once more the godlessness in ourselves and in our lands (15).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I express all this as an abstract apologist who has spent the greater part of his adult life saying he has more in common with atheists and agnostics than he does with traditional religious believers. That\u2019s getting to be less the case by the day. When the center simply has to hold, the God-seeking philosopher must stop regurgitating empty linguistic constructions to make himself feel better. He interrogates all present assumptions to avoid exiling himself from what\u2019s just, what\u2019s right, and what\u2019s good.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span>Image: Paul Gauguin, <\/span>D'o\u00f9 venons-nous \/ Que sommes-nous \/ O\u00f9 allons-nous<\/span><\/em> (Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? [1897]). Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":118053,"alt":"","title":"-65087ef066eff--65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg.jpg","width":1741,"height":655,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-300x113.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":113,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-768x289.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":289,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-1024x385.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":385,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":578,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1741,"2048x2048-height":655,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-1200x451.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":451,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-1116x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1116,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"From Our Own Minds","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Counter-cultural musings on what we are and where we\u2019re going","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":118053,"alt":"","title":"-65087ef066eff--65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg.jpg","width":1741,"height":655,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-300x113.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":113,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-768x289.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":289,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-1024x385.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":385,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":578,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1741,"2048x2048-height":655,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-1200x451.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":451,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2023\/09\/65087ef066eff-65087ef066f00jer23-BMorse-Gaugin.jpg-1116x420.jpg","home_baner-width":1116,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"23","chapter_main_number":"423","date":"20270413","wall_id":"423"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"389","name":"Culture","old_id":"789"},{"term_id":"423","name":"Politics","old_id":"823"},{"term_id":"436","name":"Morality","old_id":"836"}]},{"order":12,"id":"70609","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Textual 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He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"423","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Literally! (Or not\u2026)\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cBehold, My word is like fire\u2014declares the LORD\u2014and like a hammer that shatters rock!\u201d (29)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

In our introduction to Shadal at the beginning of the Book of Jeremiah,* we cited a brief excerpt from the introduction to his commentary emphasizing the importance of grammar and philology. In the continuation of that passage, he added:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It occurs frequently in every book\u2014and Scripture in particular\u2014that the apparent meaning of [individual] words is not the meaning of the entire sentence\u2026 Whoever thinks that to understand Scripture correctly requires only the understanding of the definition of each individual word commits a great travesty towards Scripture\u2026 On the contrary, the literal sense is often misleading and inaccurate\u2026 In such a case, and in many others that resemble it, it appears that there is a double meaning: The literal one, which is truly superficial and contrived, and the substantial and authentic one. It is clear, however, that these are not two different meanings but one and the same.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this regard, Shadal was following the lead of the Talmud, which had put forth that very proposition based on its interpretation of the verse cited above.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The school of R. Yishmael taught: \u201cAs a hammer shatters a rock.\u201d Just as a hammer shatters a rock into several pieces, so is every divine utterance divisible into seventy languages (Shabbat 88b, following Rashi\u2019s reading of the text).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This principle, called variously \u201cpolyphony\u201d (many sounds) or \u201cmultivalence\u201d (many values), dictates that the exegete consider that while the \u201cdefault\u201d position of biblical exegesis is that \u201cno verse may be purged of its literal sense\u201d (<\/span>ein mikra yotzei miyedei peshuto<\/span><\/em>), neither is the literal sense to be taken as its only legitimate meaning. Indeed, Sa\u2019adyah Gaon (Baghdad; 882-942), the earliest rabbinic Bible commentator, defined exegesis as knowing when the literal sense can be sustained and when it needed to be replaced by something figurative, metaphorical, or allegorical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

*For an explanation of our objectives in studying Shadal\u2019s commentary, <\/span>see our introduction<\/span><\/a> in Jeremiah chapter 1.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Paul Klee: Polyphony, 1932 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70610,"alt":"","title":"jer23-klee polyphony","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony.jpg","width":800,"height":498,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony-300x187.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":187,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony-768x478.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":478,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":498,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":498,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":498,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":498,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer23-klee-polyphony-675x420.jpg","home_baner-width":675,"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":"Textual Polyphony","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Literally! 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","post_title":"Who Will Be Brought Low And Who Will Rise Up?","slug":"who-will-be-brought-low-and-who-will-rise-up","old_id":"70695","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39778,"post_title":"Aliza Libman Baronofsky","slug":"aliza-libman-baronofsky","old_id":"39778","first_name":"Aliza Libman ","last_name":"Baronofsky ","description":"Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a first-year student in the Advanced Kollel at Yeshivat Maharat and teaches at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, in Rockville, MD. She studied Tanach at Midreshet Lindenbaum and York University and previously taught Tanach and math at the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA. Aliza is the creator of www.chumashandmath.blogspot.com, a repository of interdisciplinary lesson plans. ","short_description":"Aliza Libman Baronofsky is a student in the Advanced Kollel at Yeshivat Maharat and teaches at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, in Rockville, MD. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39779,"alt":"","title":"aliza baronofsky","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky.jpg","width":1425,"height":1794,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-238x300.jpg","medium-width":238,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-768x967.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":967,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-813x1024.jpg","large-width":813,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky.jpg","1536x1536-width":1220,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky.jpg","2048x2048-width":1425,"2048x2048-height":1794,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-953x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":953,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/aliza-baronofsky-334x420.jpg","home_baner-width":334,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"424","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Echoes of Genesis: Conflict and Return\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In a few short weeks, Jews \u2018from Hodu to Cush\u2019 will read the book of Esther, whose eponymous hero is descended from King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim. We 929ers last met him in II Kings 24:6, when he was called Jehoiachin. At age 18, his three-month reign was cut short \u2013 or so II Kings tells us \u2013 by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon capturing him and taking him to Babylon.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In our chapter, Jeremiah has a vision of two baskets of figs: \"One basket contained very good figs, like first-ripened figs, and the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten\" (2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The good figs symbolize Jeconiah, the elders of Judah and all the artisans and skilled workers exiled with them. We might be under the impression that this group is to be written off, gone forever, but that is not the case: God promises that he will return them to their land, plant them and not uproot them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Anyone who looks for connections between Biblical texts would have a field day with this chapter. From its first words, where the rare word <\/span>dudai <\/span><\/em>is used to mean \u201cbasket\u201d when it has previously meant \u2018mandrake\u2019, Jeremiah\u2019s vision is worded to hearken back to ancient Jewish discord. In the story of Rachel and Leah in Genesis 30, <\/span>dudaim<\/em> <\/span>are roots or flowers used as a Biblical aphrodisiac. There, the mandrakes brought by Reuben for his mother become a bargaining chip in the struggle between the sisters for the love of Jacob. As in our chapter, there are two sides. One is a winner and the other is a loser.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the grander allusion is still to come: When I first read this chapter, I half expected the bad figs to rise up and eat the good figs, just as the skinny cows eat the fat cows in Pharaoh's dream (Genesis 40:41). Though the Bible does not use the identical words in Jeremiah and Genesis, the comparison of good and bad still brings forth a critical idea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the story of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream, a captive (Joseph) who has been written off for dead by his remaining family gets an opportunity to rise out of his captivity by helping the Egyptians. He will rise to prominence and return to his ancestral home, both through the deliverance of his descendants, and literally through the carrying of his bones.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In our story, Jeconiah and his inner circle have been exiled to Babylon, but their story is not yet over. God tells us in this chapter that they will return to their land. As we see in the book of Esther, Jeconiah\u2019s descendants are those who will save their entire people, just as Joseph\u2019s dream interpretation and agricultural planning saves his family from starvation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Who will be brought low and who will rise up? It\u2019s not the obvious answer and it\u2019s not in our hands.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - Rise and Fall, 1798 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70696,"alt":"","title":"jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall.jpg","width":750,"height":1063,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall-212x300.jpg","medium-width":212,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall-722x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":722,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall-722x1024.jpg","large-width":722,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall.jpg","1536x1536-width":750,"1536x1536-height":1063,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall.jpg","2048x2048-width":750,"2048x2048-height":1063,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall.jpg","post_full_size-width":750,"post_full_size-height":1063,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Rise_and_Fall-296x420.jpg","home_baner-width":296,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Who Will Be Brought Low And Who Will Rise Up?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Echoes of Genesis: Conflict and 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And Figments ","post_title":"Figs And Figments","slug":"figs-and-figments","old_id":"70671","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":45752,"post_title":"Salvador Litvak","slug":"salvador-litvak","old_id":"45752","first_name":"Salvador ","last_name":"Litvak ","description":"Salvador Litvak is an author, filmmaker, and spiritual leader. His first movie, the raucous and inspiring When Do We Eat? became a cult hit and Passover tradition. As the Accidental Talmudist, Salvador Litvak shares Jewish wisdom with over a million followers. Learn more and catch his daily show at accidentaltalmudist.org.\r\n\r\n","short_description":"As the Accidental Talmudist, Salvador Litvak shares Jewish wisdom with over a million followers. Learn more and catch his daily show at accidentaltalmudist.org.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":45753,"alt":"","title":"salvador litvak","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-e1544911611429.jpg","width":550,"height":595,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-e1544911611429-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-e1544911611429-277x300.jpg","medium-width":277,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-768x467.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":467,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-1024x623.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":623,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-e1544911611429.jpg","1536x1536-width":550,"1536x1536-height":595,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-e1544911611429.jpg","2048x2048-width":550,"2048x2048-height":595,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-1200x730.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":730,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/salvador-litvak-e1544911611429-388x420.jpg","home_baner-width":388,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"424","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Mindfulness - Jeremiah style\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Ancient Israel was a land that nurtured the Israelites when we fulfilled our Torah obligations, and spit us out \u2014 with maximum prejudice \u2014 when we did not. Here in Jeremiah 24, the prophet receives a vision that is both terrifying and encouraging. Though we have failed to uphold the covenant, and thus triggered the events which will result in the destruction of Solomon\u2019s Temple and our exile to Babylonia, there still remain enough of us clinging to God and Torah that we will be restored to the Holy Land within 70 years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah warned King Zedekiah that these events would transpire if he did not abort his foolish plan. Zedekiah was a weak puppet sovereign, installed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to govern Israel as a province. Though God-fearing, Zedekiah also had ambitions of heroic glory. Against the repeated counsel of Jeremiah and others, he rebelled against the distant tyrant in Babylon.Though his underlying cause was just, his timing and strategy were woefully short-sighted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God may help those who help themselves, as He did in our battle against Amalek during the Exodus, but only if<\/span> the people<\/span><\/i> retain God\u2019s good graces. Jeremiah knew the people were on the edge of disaster, and he warned Zedekiah repeatedly to accept the status quo. Because he would not listen, Zedekiah caused the Temple to be destroyed, his sons to be murdered before his eyes, and his eyes to be torn from their sockets. Eventually he died in prison.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From this tragic tale we learn it is not enough to be right. We must also be mindful of good counsel, particularly when it contradicts our rash urges. We also need good timing and awareness of the extended consequences of our seemingly righteous proposals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Just as Jeremiah distinguished between the good figs and bad figs of his vision, so may we merit to distinguish between the good figments and bad figments of our imaginations!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70672,"alt":"","title":"jer24-mindfulness","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-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":"Figs And Figments","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Mindfulness - Jeremiah style\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70672,"alt":"","title":"jer24-mindfulness","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-mindfulness-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":"24","chapter_main_number":"424","date":"20270414","wall_id":"424"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"947","name":"Zedekiah","old_id":"1347"},{"term_id":"948","name":"Babylonians","old_id":"1348"}]},{"order":15,"id":"70607","color":"#f6edf6","size":"2","name":"The Hammer, The Fire, The Word And The Self ","post_title":"The Hammer, The Fire, The Word And The Self","slug":"the-hammer-the-fire-the-word-and-the-self","old_id":"70607","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":"423","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Maybe the hammer hits a verse and shatters it into pieces for us to collect. Maybe we are the hammers, pounding away at each text until we unleash a torrent of shining sparks. Or maybe each verse is a hammer that strikes our hearts, and we must face the consequences","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cBehold, My word is like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that shatters rock!\u201d (Jeremiah 23:29)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Such powerful imagery \u2013 the intensity of fire, the shattering of a rock \u2013 but what does it mean?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When it comes to biblical interpretation, the options are endless - beginning with the question of whether we want to interpret the metaphor in context or out of it.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the context of Jeremiah\u2019s polemic against false prophets (verse 28), Rashi suggests he\u2019s contrasting the puny experience of a dream to the burning, shattering impact of true divine encounters. Alternatively, Radak contrasts their content: the false prophets\u2019 optimistic predictions will come to nothing, while nothing stands in the way of true prophecy \u2013 as a fire inevitably burns whatever it touches.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Whether the experience or the prediction, in context the prophet emphasizes the difference between true and false.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Out of context\u2026 What might it mean to describe the word of God as fire, as something that shatters?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbinic interpretations abound, but my favorite speaks directly to the very notion of multiple interpretations in biblical study.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201c\u2019Like a hammer that shatters rock\u2019 \u2013 Just as this hammer shatters into a number of sparks, so too one verse goes out to a number of meanings\u201d (Sanhedrin 34a).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The details here are themselves subject to much analysis (e.g. is it the hammer or the rock that is shattered?), but the fundamental idea is that a biblical verse, the word of God, is like a hammer; strike with it and you\u2019ll end up with numerous pieces, a wealth of meanings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some find all those pieces confusing. \u201cJust tell me what it means! What\u2019s the right answer?\u201d \u2013 I hear it all the time, from students who might be more attracted to clear contrasts of truth and falsehood (like that outlined above). The experience of engaging with the many sparks of a piece of Torah can be overwhelming. Fire isn\u2019t comfortable; it can even be dangerous.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But it can also be tremendously alluring, and impossible to hold back. \u201cI thought, \u201c\u2026No more will I speak in His name\u201d\u2014 But [His word] was like a raging fire in my heart\u2026 I could not hold it in\u201d (above, 20:9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Maybe the hammer hits a verse and shatters it into pieces for us to collect. Maybe we are the hammers, pounding away at each text until we unleash a torrent of shining sparks. Or maybe each verse is a hammer that strikes our hearts, and we must face the consequences.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We can also read our out-of-context interpretation back to the context: With Rashi\u2019s peshat, we find a description of the impact of God\u2019s word on those it touches, of the experience of learning Torah and the impact of all those sparks on the self. And in Radak\u2019s, we might consider the inevitability of that experience, and of its growth and impact on the world. We may as well embrace the fire, and let it burn.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Hammer, The Fire, The Word And The Self","tile_main_caption":"Maybe the hammer hits a verse and shatters it into pieces for us to collect. Maybe we are the hammers, pounding away at each text until we unleash a torrent of shining sparks. Or maybe each verse is a hammer that strikes our hearts, and we must face the consequences","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","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":"23","chapter_main_number":"423","date":"20270413","wall_id":"423"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"702","name":"Fire","old_id":"1102"},{"term_id":"753","name":"Meaning","old_id":"1153"}]},{"order":16,"id":"70674","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"A People Divided: The Tale Of Two Communities\u00a0 ","post_title":"A People Divided: The Tale Of Two Communities\u00a0","slug":"a-people-divided-the-tale-of-two-communities","old_id":"70674","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":44114,"post_title":"Shalom Holtz","slug":"shalom-holtz","old_id":"44114","first_name":"Shalom ","last_name":"Holtz ","description":"Shalom E. Holtz is Professor of Bible at Yeshiva University. He is the author of numerous comparative studies of biblical and ancient Near Eastern law. His most recent book is Praying Legally (2019), which examines courtroom metaphors in Hebrew prayer. ","short_description":"Shalom E. Holtz is Professor of Bible at Yeshiva University.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":44115,"alt":"","title":"shalom holtz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","medium_large-width":200,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","large-width":200,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","1536x1536-width":200,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","2048x2048-width":200,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","post_full_size-width":200,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/shalom-holtz.jpg","home_baner-width":200,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"424","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Remaining is no reward; exile, no punishment\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

A Babylonian Chronicle records that, in his seventh year (597), Nebuchadnezzar <\/span><\/p>\r\n

besieged the city of Judah and on the second day of the second month of Adar, seized the city, and captured the king. He appointed there a king of his own choice, received its heavy tribute and returned to Babylon.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The biblical account of this same event (2 Kings 24:10-17) names the two Judan kings, the deposed king Jeconiah and the king of Babylon's \"own choice,\" Zedekiah, who would lead Judah for the eleven years before its destruction. Our chapter's prophecy comes in the wake of this event.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For the first time in history, the people are divided between an exilic community in Babylon, with most of the original Judan political and military elite, and a homeland community still in Judah, where \"only the poorest of the land\" remain (2 Kings 24:14). The social and geographic gaps between the communities led the Judeans in Jerusalem to view the exile of Jeconiah as a religious-economic justification for a land grab. In their eyes, the very fact that they get to remain in the land must prove that they are in the right. According to the prophet Ezekiel (himself a member of the community in exile) the homeland Judans say to their brethren in exile, \"Keep far from the Lord; the land has been given as a heritage to us\" (Ezekiel 11:15).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

With his vision of the fig baskets, Jeremiah stands diametrically opposed to the thinking of his fellow Judans in the homeland. Contrary to the casual theological observers among his brethren, for Jeremiah in this chapter, the exile does not reflect reward for good behavior or punishment for sin. Those in exile are actually \"the good figs,\" and the \"bad figs\" are those who remained behind.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70675,"alt":"","title":"jer24-split","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split.jpg","width":1920,"height":1271,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-1024x678.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1017,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1271,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-1200x794.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":794,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-634x420.jpg","home_baner-width":634,"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 People Divided: The Tale Of Two Communities\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Remaining is no reward; exile, no punishment","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70675,"alt":"","title":"jer24-split","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split.jpg","width":1920,"height":1271,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-768x508.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":508,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-1024x678.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":678,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1017,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1271,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-1200x794.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":794,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-split-634x420.jpg","home_baner-width":634,"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":"24","chapter_main_number":"424","date":"20270414","wall_id":"424"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"430","name":"Land of Israel","old_id":"830"},{"term_id":"432","name":"Exile","old_id":"832"},{"term_id":"947","name":"Zedekiah","old_id":"1347"}]},{"order":17,"id":"70692","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Moving The Jewish Center Of Gravity\u00a0 ","post_title":"Moving The Jewish Center Of Gravity\u00a0","slug":"moving-the-jewish-center-of-gravity","old_id":"70692","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":"424","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"An inverse Zionism?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cThus said the LORD, the God of Israel: As with these good figs, so will I single out for good the Judean exiles whom I have driven out from this place to the land of the Chaldeans\u201d (verse 5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cAs a whole, the congregation of Israel lived an inauthentic life outside of Israel\u201d (Rabbi Abraham Isaak Kook, Orot Hatorah 13:7).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In many of its forms, modern Zionism has involved a rejection of exilic life. Likewise, exilic life, at its outset, required a rejection of a certain form of Jewish nationalism. Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies reorient the center of Jewish life from Israel to Babylon, even as Jeremiah himself remains fixed in Jerusalem. The process begins with the legitimization of Jewish life in Babylon as a viable national identity, separate from the national identity embodied by the monarchy of Zedekiah and the city of Jerusalem.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah utilizes the metaphor of two baskets of figs to first equate the Jewish people living in Babylon (after their removal with King Jehoiachin in 597 BCE) with those who remain under Zedekiah\u2019s rule in Jerusalem (1-10). The structures of state and those of exile are simply containers, which hold no more meaning than their ability to organize the people. In comparing these two baskets of figs, Jeremiah denigrates those who stay in Jerusalem as a disgrace, horror and curse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By contrast, Jews living in Babylon will experience divine favor, will be built up, and will be graced with knowledge of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In moving the Jewish \u201ccenter of gravity\u201d from Jerusalem to Babylon, Jeremiah theologically decouples the Jewish people from its land, so that it might survive as \u201ca people without a land.\u201d This constitutes a crucial move in the Jewish story - allowing the Jewish people to remain connected to the land in their dreams and prayers, while residing on foreign soil. This too might be considered a form of Zionism - an inverse Zionism.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: The Ptolemaic geocentric model of the Universe according to the Portuguese cosmographer and cartographer Bartolomeu Velho (detail) \/ 1568\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":70693,"alt":"","title":"jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","width":1067,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-768x518.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":518,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-1024x691.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":691,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","1536x1536-width":1067,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","2048x2048-width":1067,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","post_full_size-width":1067,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-622x420.jpg","home_baner-width":622,"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":"Moving The Jewish Center Of Gravity\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"An inverse Zionism?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":70693,"alt":"","title":"jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","width":1067,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-300x202.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-768x518.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":518,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-1024x691.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":691,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","1536x1536-width":1067,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","2048x2048-width":1067,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail.jpg","post_full_size-width":1067,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/jer24-centers-Bartolomeu_Velho_1568-detail-622x420.jpg","home_baner-width":622,"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":"24","chapter_main_number":"424","date":"20270414","wall_id":"424"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"635","name":"Jerusalem","old_id":"1035"},{"term_id":"638","name":"Zionism","old_id":"1038"},{"term_id":"948","name":"Babylonians","old_id":"1348"}]},{"order":18,"id":"70777","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Of Millstones and Lamplights ","post_title":"Of Millstones And Lamplights","slug":"of-millstones-and-lamplights","old_id":"70777","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":62571,"post_title":"Yaakov Bieler","slug":"yaakov-bieler","old_id":"62571","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Bieler ","description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University in 1974. He has lectured and written extensively on Modern Orthodoxy, and blogs daily at https:\/\/yaakovbieler.wordpress.com ","short_description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":62572,"alt":"","title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","width":141,"height":180,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler-141x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":141,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium-width":141,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium_large-width":141,"medium_large-height":180,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","large-width":141,"large-height":180,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","1536x1536-width":141,"1536x1536-height":180,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","2048x2048-width":141,"2048x2048-height":180,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","post_full_size-width":141,"post_full_size-height":180,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","home_baner-width":141,"home_baner-height":180}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"425","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Sitting in the dark with no food to eat","post_main_content_content":"

The verses of this chapter describe God\u2019s frustration with the Jewish people\u2019s failing to heed the warnings to mend their ways delivered by His prophets, and His readiness to punish them by bringing invading armies to embitter their lives.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Among the descriptions of these terrible attacks against Israel is a poetic rendering of what a decimated and destroyed people will sound and look like: \u201cAnd I will banish from them the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride, and the sound of the mill and the light of the lamp\u201d (v. 10).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The examples in the first portion of the verse speak for themselves, i.e., things will become so bad that people will no longer be heard laughing, and there will be no more weddings, the quintessential form of human happiness and hope for the future, at least not publicly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what is meant by the phrases at the end of the verse, \u201cthe sound of the mill,\u201d and \u201cthe light of the lamp\u201d that are predicted to also cease during times of persecution?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Taking its cue from the explicit reference to \u201cweddings,\u201d the Talmud understands \u201cthe sound of the mill\u201d and \u201cthe light of the lamp\u201d as allusions to Jewish ritual observances in general, that before could only be hinted at due to the occupying and persecuting authorities, but now were not be publicized at all:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2026The Sages taught: When the gentile governors issued decrees outlawing observance of the mitzvot, members of Jewish communities devised clandestine ways of indicating observance of mitzvot to each other. For example: If one produces the sound of a<\/span> millstone in the city called Burni, this is tantamount to announcing: Week of the son, week of the son, i.e., there will be a circumcision. If one displays the light of a lamp in the city called Beror Chayil, this is tantamount to announcing: There is a wedding feast there, there is a wedding feast there\u2026 (Sanhedrin 32b)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, Abravanel, Metzudat David, and Malbim understand the phrases more generically, in the sense that they represent overall economic, rather than specifically ritual, deprivation. The sounds of grinding grain into flour will not be heard, implying that everyone\u2019s food supply will be heavily impacted, and, in order to conserve fuel, people will be forced to sit in darkness. According to these commentators, the contrast between the beginning of the verse and its final portion is one where the society has not only had to forego its celebrations of the human lifecycle, but also the basic necessities of food and light that had previously offered some respite from the harsh conditions under which they were made to subsist, but now have been severely limited, if not done away with entirely.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is interesting to reflect upon which would be a more debilitating situation\u2014to no longer feel comfortable to publicly celebrate the religious milestones in our lives, or to have to significantly alter and restrict our patterns of everyday 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