{"id":70832,"date":"2018-07-09T17:46:57","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-431\/"},"modified":"2023-10-08T15:38:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T12:38:00","slug":"wall-431","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-431\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Prophets-Jeremiah-31"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"431","date":"20270425","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"70722","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"JPS Audio Bible - Jeremiah Chapter 31 ","post_title":"JPS Audio Bible - Jeremiah Chapter 31","slug":"jps-audio-bible-jeremiah-chapter-31","old_id":"70722","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"JPS Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Jeremiah Chapter 31","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"Hear the daily chapter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-753876298\/jps_audio_bible_jeremiah_chapter_31","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"80793","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"At Sixes And Sevens: On Sukkot And Sacred Vegetation ","post_title":"At Sixes And Sevens: On Sukkot And Sacred Vegetation","slug":"at-sixes-and-sevens-on-sukkot-and-sacred-vegetation","old_id":"80793","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34011,"post_title":"Jeremy Benstein","slug":"dr-jeremy-benstein","old_id":"34011","first_name":"Jeremy","last_name":"Benstein","description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English. He is one of the founders of the Heschel Center for Sustainability. He writes the MiliMiliM - Hebrew Corner on the site, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Dr. Jeremy Benstein is the managing editor of 929-English, and is the author of a book about the Hebrew language, \"Hebrew Roots, Jewish Routes: A Tribal Language in a Global World\" (Behrman House, 2019). ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34232,"alt":"","title":"Jeremy Benstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Presentation1-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1116","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"\"Fair moon, to thee I sing, bright regent of the heavens, say, why is everything either at sixes or at sevens?\" \u2013 Gilbert and Sullivan, H.M.S. Pinafore, Act II, 1878","post_main_content_content":"

On Sukkot, we take three branches of trees, and a citron, (etrog<\/em>), clasp them together and shake them up and down and back and forth and dance with them, leading up to the prayers for the life-giving rain on the holiday's culmination on the Eighth Day of Assembly, Shemini Atzeret<\/em>. Native Americans ain't got nothing on us.<\/p>\r\n

During the Great Hallel<\/em>, we shake our sacred vegetation in six different directions \u2013 forward and back, right and left, up and down: the six axes of three dimensional space. However, when saying the name of God, we cease movement, holding the minim <\/em>close to our hearts.<\/p>\r\n

This is the seventh direction, the one that binds all the others together, not an axis of physical space, but the direction of interiority, of the spirit, the meeting point at the Center. It is a sort of eye of the storm: that point of calm, when we are cognizant of the \"still, small voice\" (I Kings 19:12), when after being pulled and shaken in all directions, we are at rest, at one.<\/p>\r\n

But while the number seven is common in Judaism there is something different about this rhythm of 6+1 (which we see also in the week: 6 days of work + Shabbat). The three axes of physical reality each go off in two vectors, making six directions, all organized around and connected at the Center.<\/p>\r\n

The directions are replete with symbolism, all meeting at the Center, the point of connection and reconnection:<\/p>\r\n

\u2022 Backward and forward<\/em> movement calls up images of the unending passage of time \u2013 the connection to past and future, of past with future, the intergenerational responsibilities to both progenitors and progeny. We of course stand at the center, in the momentary present, building bridges of sentiment and action between history and memory of what has been, and between dreams and ideals of what yet could be.<\/p>\r\n

\u2022 Right and left<\/em> speak the language of politics, poignantly reminding us of the need to heal the wounds of our fragmented society: between conservative and progressive, between me\/in-group\/parochial and we\/out-group\/universal. Nobody sees themselves as an extremist \u2013 everybody sees themselves as standing firmly in the Center, surrounded by people and factions who are \"overboard\" in one direction or the other. We need to expand this Center, building bridges to all, for all.<\/p>\r\n

\u2022 Up and down<\/em> call out the eternal dyads of heaven and earth, transcendence and immanence, spirit and matter. One of the great unifications that we can strive for is to heal the great rift between body and soul, our temporal physical selves and our divine intimations of eternity, and bring into alignment our spiritual values and our social and ecological reality.<\/p>\r\n

The pastoral produce is a product of the redolent fecundity of the earth, the transpirational spirit-breath of the air, the radiant energy of the sun, and of the restorative, life-giving waters, of above and below can help ground you, and Center yourself, in our many worlds and realities.<\/p>\r\n

image: Leopold Pilichowski, Sukkot, 1894\/95 (wikipedia)<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":80794,"alt":"","title":"Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","width":800,"height":618,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-768x593.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":593,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":618,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":618,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":618,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":618,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-544x420.jpg","home_baner-width":544,"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":"Holiday Special","tile_main_caption":"At Sixes And Sevens: On Sukkot And Sacred Vegetation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"There's a whole lot of shakin' goin' on...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":80794,"alt":"","title":"Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","width":800,"height":618,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-768x593.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":593,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":618,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":618,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":618,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":618,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Leopold_Pilichowski_Sukkot-544x420.jpg","home_baner-width":544,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1116"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"},{"term_id":"680","name":"Symbolism","old_id":"1080"},{"term_id":"846","name":"Sukkot","old_id":"1246"}]},{"order":3,"id":"118222","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Rosh Hashanah Chapter ","post_title":"The Rosh Hashanah Chapter","slug":"the-rosh-hashanah-chapter","old_id":"118222","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Prayer, repentance and memory tie it all together\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

My grandfather\u2019s Hebrew name was Ephraim. I remember after he passed away, and my grandmother would spend Rosh Hashanah with us, that she loved when the following verse from the service:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Truly, Ephraim is a dear son to Me, a child that is dandled! Whenever I have turned against him, I will still remember him. That is why My heart yearns for him; I will receive him back in love \u2014declares GOD\u201d (verse 19).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chapter 31 is the haftarah for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, and this verse appears in the musaf service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What connects chapter 31 to Rosh Hashanah?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are three parts that connect to the themes of the day. The first is Rachel\u2019s crying out for her children:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thus said GOD: A cry is heard in Ramah \u2014 Wailing, bitter weeping\u2014 Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, who are gone (verse 15).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The prime example of proper prayer is from Hannah in I Samuel, but verse 15 also sets a paradigm of emotional prayer. Rachel cries bitterly for her lost children. She wants God to forgive them so that they may return.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rachel\u2019s soulful prayer leads to the second connection, the repeated use of the word \u201creturn:\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thus said GOD: Restrain your voice from weeping, your eyes from shedding tears; For there is a reward for your labor \u2014declares GOD: They shall return from the enemy\u2019s land. And there is hope for your future \u2014declares GOD: Your children shall return to their country. I can hear Ephraim lamenting\u2026 Receive me back, let me return, For You, O ETERNAL One, are my God\u2019 (verses 16-18).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

God wants Ephraim to return and Ephraim wants to return. Returning (<\/span>shuv<\/span><\/em>) and repentance (<\/span>teshuvah<\/span><\/em>) have the same root.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This leads to the third connection in verse 19, my grandmother's favorite verse, with the connection to memory. The verse is one of the selections from prophets in the section of memory. Besides the use of the word \u201cremember\u201d the verse also talks about the Ephraim as a stand-in for the Northern Tribes. As bad as the tribe of Judah is now, the North was even worse, yet God still longs for his lost children. This theme of remembering only the good despite the bad echoes Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy in chapter 2, verse 2:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I accounted to your favor the devotion of your youth, Your love as a bride\u2014 How you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Not surprisingly, this verse is also included in the selection of remembrance in the Rosh Hashana Musaf. The wilderness theme then circles back to the beginning of chapter 31:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thus said GOD: The people escaped from the sword, Found favor in the wilderness; When Israel was marching homeward (verse 2).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These three themes of prayer, repentance, and memory make chapter 31 the perfect haftorah for Rosh Hashana.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":117935,"alt":"","title":"-65028f2ae4c96--65028f2ae4c97jer20- rosh hashanah pomegranate 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","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":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The ebb and flow of Jewish history\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Jeremiah 31 contains a verse which reverses two very different points in the relationship between God and Israel in Deuteronomy. God, instead of continuing to threaten the Jews with exile, now predicts a time of the ingathering and flourishing of the Jewish people:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And as God once delighted in making you prosperous and many, so will <\/span>God<\/span> now delight in causing you to perish and in wiping you out (Deut. 28:63).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And just as I was watchful over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant\u2014declares the LORD (Jer. 31:29).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As an individual possessing deep faith looking upon the ebb and flow of Jewish history, R. Samson Rafael Hirsch comments on the verse in Deuteronomy:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Just as He delighted for your sakes to do good on your behalf, so He will delight for your sakes to cause you to perish. In other words, \u201cjust as it was for your benefit when He brought to you blessing and multiplicity, so it will be for your benefit when He brings upon you the great evil.\u201d God, via His attribute of mercy, when striving to construct your future and the future of mankind, brings to you goodness, as well, decreeing for you all sorts of afflictions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The verse in Jeremiah then is an indication that the Jews will have been duly \u201cchastised and improved\u201d during their sojourn in exile, and the time will come for God to shower them with the goodness that He always had intended, had they listened to the countless prophets He sent to them, warning them not to transgress. Hirsch describes God as the \u201cpunishing parent\u201d distributing \u201ctough love.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Bear in mind that your God disciplines you, just as a man disciplines his son (Deut. 8:5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nachmanides (Ramban) comments:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

AND BEAR IN MIND, THAT, JUST AS A MAN DISCIPLINES HIS SON, placing upon him the yoke of instruction for his benefit, as it is said, \u2018Chasten thy son, for there is hope; but set not thy heart on his destruction\u2019 (Prov 19:18). SO THE ETERNAL YOUR GOD CHASTENS YOU, at first with the affliction of the wilderness and the trial with the manna, so that the goodness of the Land and its fruits should be pleasing to you. Therefore, walk after Him, for the Eternal thy God bringeth thee into a good Land (Deut 8:7).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Divine intention during the Jews\u2019 wandering in the desert was that once they entered the promised land, they would remain long term. While this was not to be, at least the people have something to look forward to in the future, when their term of exile will be over.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One wonders what R. Hirsch would have said regarding the Holocaust. Would he explain that too as in the Jews\u2019 \u201cbest interests\u201d?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65340,"alt":"","title":"is11-waves","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves.jpg","width":1920,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-300x150.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-768x384.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-1024x512.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":960,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-1200x600.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-840x420.jpg","home_baner-width":840,"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":"Exile And Ingathering, Punishment And Redemption","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The ebb and flow of Jewish history\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65340,"alt":"","title":"is11-waves","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves.jpg","width":1920,"height":960,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-300x150.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-768x384.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":384,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-1024x512.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":512,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":768,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":960,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-1200x600.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/is11-waves-840x420.jpg","home_baner-width":840,"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":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"403","name":"Redemption","old_id":"803"},{"term_id":"432","name":"Exile","old_id":"832"},{"term_id":"547","name":"Punishment","old_id":"947"}]},{"order":5,"id":"71337","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Listening To The Prophets with Rabbi Abby Sosland- Jeremiah 31 ","post_title":"Listening To The Prophets with Rabbi Abby Sosland- Jeremiah 31","slug":"listening-to-the-prophets-with-rabbi-abby-sosland-jeremiah-31","old_id":"71337","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56624,"post_title":"Abby Sosland","slug":"abby-sosland","old_id":"56624","first_name":"Abby ","last_name":"Sosland","description":"Rabbi Abby Sosland is a spiritual advisor, writer, and educator, based at The Leffell School in Westchester, New York. 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She is the first female Latin American rabbi, and is a AJWS Global Justice Fellow in 2019-2020 She and her husband Rabbi Mario Karpuj founded Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs, Georgia. She is the author of The Voice of Silence: A Rabbi's Journey into a Trappist Monastery and Other Contemplation (2017)","short_description":"Rabbi Dr. Analia Bortz is a medical doctor and with her husband Rabbi Mario Karpuj founded Congregation Or Hadash in Sandy Springs, Georgia. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64463,"alt":"","title":"analia bortz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","width":225,"height":225,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","medium_large-width":225,"medium_large-height":225,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","large-width":225,"large-height":225,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","1536x1536-width":225,"1536x1536-height":225,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","2048x2048-width":225,"2048x2048-height":225,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","post_full_size-width":225,"post_full_size-height":225,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","home_baner-width":225,"home_baner-height":225}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A Judahite prophet in today\u2019s Israel\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The prophet Jeremiah sits down on a vacant chair at the Israeli Parliament, and hears Dr. Ruth Calderon\u2019s opening remarks when she is installed as a member of the Knesset. Dr. Calderon opens a page of the Talmud and teaches a class instead of a boring introduction to her own biography. The Haredi member of the Shas ultra-Orthodox party drops his jaw. A woman?\u00a0 So much erudition in Talmudic discourse! Prophet Jeremiah doesn\u2019t know what the Talmud is (it was written after his death) so he decides to take a Torah class instead. He attends a class at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, and is delighted to hear some discussion on the Book of Genesis. The voice of the teacher is soft, her knowledge is measureless, her name is Dr. Avivah Zornberg, she reads excerpts from her published book, \u201cThe Beginning of Desire.\u201d The prophet is confused, who is Kant and what is this philosopher doing in this Book of Genesis?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perplexed by Dr. Zornberg\u2019s scholarship and sophistication, Jeremiah decides to take a walk. It\u2019s a beautiful summer morning and the people of Jerusalem are celebrating the beginning of a new month. It\u2019s Rosh Hodesh Elul. When the prophet arrives at the Western Wall he joins in the singing of Hallel, that special joyous prayer. He is mesmerized by the voices of the Women of the Wall and he starts singing and dancing, joining them in prayer, trying to focus in the spirit of the moment instead of the disturbing verbal aggression and intolerance that surround them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah is puzzled by the scene, then he does a reality check. He opens his book to chapter 31, verse 17:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThere is hope for your future-declares the Lord, Your sons shall return to their Land.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah learns what we habitually forget\u2014that the locus of possibility expands when the unimaginable is imagined and then made real through systematic effort. The sons have returned to the Land, after two thousand years of exile, the romanticized utopian vision becomes a reality. After all, it is part of the nature of humankind to start with romance and build actuality. The fact is that the sons have a place in the State of Israel, but, what about the daughters? Are the imaginations of women less vivid than men? Should their minds be denied the privilege of contemplating the countless orbs of argent light? Should women\u2019s voices and teachings be silenced?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah is ecstatic to know that there is something he can do about his writings. He adds just one word to the verse: <\/span>Your sons and daughters shall return to their Land.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah is pleased, then he opens Yochi Brandes\u2019 book,<\/span> The Secret Book of Kings <\/span><\/i>and enjoys its reading.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Photo: Women of the Wall, Yochi Rappeport, 2016 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71311,"alt":"","title":"jer31-Women_of_the_Wall","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall.jpg","width":3000,"height":2003,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-768x513.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":513,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-1024x684.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":684,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1026,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1367,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-1200x801.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":801,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-629x420.jpg","home_baner-width":629,"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":"Listening to Women\u2019s Voices","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A Judahite prophet in today\u2019s Israel","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71311,"alt":"","title":"jer31-Women_of_the_Wall","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall.jpg","width":3000,"height":2003,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-768x513.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":513,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-1024x684.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":684,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1026,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1367,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-1200x801.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":801,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Women_of_the_Wall-629x420.jpg","home_baner-width":629,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"71321","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Resurrection of the Blind and the Lame\u00a0 ","post_title":"The Resurrection of the Blind and the Lame\u00a0","slug":"the-resurrection-of-the-blind-and-the-lame","old_id":"71321","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":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The soul and body, heaven and earth in all of us\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In our Chapter, Jeremiah prophesies the coming redemption of Israel. God proclaims: \u201cI will\u2026gather them from the ends of the earth - the blind and the lame among them\u2026\u201d (8). This assurance of the future repatriation of even the blind and the lame may be seen as an eschatological correction of: \u201cThe blind and lame will not enter the palace\u201d (2 Samuel 5:8). However, Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy about the blind and the lame seems rather to echo the prophecy of Isaiah (35:5-6): \u201cThen the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall shout aloud\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These two verses figure in a discussion of resurrection in Bavli Sanhedrin 90a-92b. Resh Lakish contrasted: \u201cI will bring\u2026from the ends of the earth -\u00a0 the blind and the lame among them\u201d (8) with: \u201cThen the eyes of the blind shall be opened\u2026Then the lame shall leap like a deer\u201d (Isaiah 35:5-6). How can these two verses be reconciled? The blind and the lame will rise [from their graves, i.e. be resurrected with their disabilities] and only then they will be healed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This Talmudic discussion of resurrection also preserves a version of the multicultural Parable of the Lame and the Blind. The Roman Emperor Antoninus said to Rabbi [Yehudah Ha-Nasi]: The body and the soul can each escape judgement, for neither could have sinned without the other. Rabbi replied: This may be compared to a human king who owned a beautiful orchard that contained delectable figs. As watchmen, he appointed a lame man and a blind man, thinking that neither would be able to steal the royal fruit. But when the lame man saw the luscious figs, he told the blind man to lift him up on his shoulders. In this way, the lame man directed the blind man, so that together they were able to pluck the figs from the tree and eat them. When the king returned, he demanded to know what had become of his figs. The lame man pleaded: Can I walk?! And the blind man pleaded: Can I see?! But the wise king figured out their ruse. He placed the lame man on the shoulders of the blind man and judged them as one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Similarly, in the Final Judgement, the Holy One, blessed be He, will reunite the soul and the body to judge them as one. For it is written that: \u201cHe shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people\u201d (Psalms 50:4). Rabbi interpreted this verse to mean that \u201cthe heavens\u201d refers to the soul that comes from heaven, and \u201cthe earth\u201d refers to the body that comes from the earth.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

See also: Bregman,<\/span> \"The Parable Of The Lame And The Blind: Epiphanius' Quotation From An Apocryphon Of Ezekiel<\/span><\/a>\" in <\/span>The Journal of Theological Studies<\/span><\/i> 42:1 (1991),125\u2013138<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: The Blind and the Lame, from Johann Theodor de Bry's Emblemata saecularia (1596) \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71322,"alt":"","title":"jer31-blind-lame","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","width":458,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame-229x300.jpg","medium-width":229,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","medium_large-width":458,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","large-width":458,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","1536x1536-width":458,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","2048x2048-width":458,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","post_full_size-width":458,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame-321x420.jpg","home_baner-width":321,"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 Resurrection of the Blind and the Lame\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The soul and body, heaven and earth in all of us\u00a0\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71322,"alt":"","title":"jer31-blind-lame","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","width":458,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame-229x300.jpg","medium-width":229,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","medium_large-width":458,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","large-width":458,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","1536x1536-width":458,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","2048x2048-width":458,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame.jpg","post_full_size-width":458,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-blind-lame-321x420.jpg","home_baner-width":321,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"71313","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Grab Your Timbrel! ","post_title":"Grab Your Timbrel!","slug":"grab-your-timbrel","old_id":"71313","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":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The end of the exile is near\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

There are lots of ways to rejoice when something good happens. We might smile, we might shout. We might even sing and dance.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I\u2019m not sure about taking up a timbrel (what is a timbrel, anyway?), but Jeremiah predicts a future redemption when \u201cagain you shall take up your timbrels and go forth to the rhythm of the dancers\u201d (31:4).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This image of \u201cgoing forth\u201d with dancing and timbrels calls to mind an earlier moment of biblical salvation that inspired similar celebration. In Exodus 15, Moses led the people in song after the splitting of the sea, exclaiming appreciatively over God\u2019s miracles in delivering His people from Egyptian servitude and then pursuit. But then we discover that the women\u2019s song was slightly different:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThen Miriam the prophetess, Aaron\u2019s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to the LORD\u2026\u201d (Exodus 15:20-21).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Depending on how one reads the account of the singing, the men and women may have been chanting the same words or different texts; they may have been singing responsively or completely separately. But one detail of the women\u2019s song that caught particular midrashic attention is the timbrels.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Some of us today watch musicals with cynical amusement at the questionable realism of an entire group of people spontaneously breaking into coordinated song and dance routines. We might similarly ask about the Song of the Sea: How did they all learn the words on the spot? And as the Midrash Mechilta asks, where did the women get the timbrels?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The midrash answers that they were so confident in a miraculous salvation, they packed timbrels to bring from Egypt. They knew they\u2019d have something to celebrate, something over which to make music and express thanks to God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One wonders when they packed those timbrels. Did they grab them at the last minute, a sudden whim during their hasty departure from Egypt? Did they start gathering things to pack the first time Moses showed up and said they were on the verge of redemption? Did they put the timbrels in right away, or was there a gradual build-up of faith during the plagues? Maybe the more miracles they saw, the more certain more of them became, the more they shared that conviction in whispered conversations, and the more women started putting timbrels aside to be ready.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Did slaves in Egypt even have timbrels, or did they have to make them in order to pack them?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And back to Jeremiah: What message does the imagery of going out with timbrels convey?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The exile he\u2019s talking about hasn\u2019t even happened yet, and he\u2019s already telling the people to get ready for its end. He reminds them of another exile that seemed hopeless, and of those who built up faith in its end. And he suggests, perhaps, that before the next long exile begins, it\u2019s already time to fill up with hope and start preparing for its end.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Cover art by Bracha Lavee, courtesy of the artist (https:\/\/bracha-lavee.com)<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":41814,"alt":"","title":"Ex15-BLavee","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee.jpg","width":1020,"height":1339,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-229x300.jpg","medium-width":229,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-768x1008.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1008,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-780x1024.jpg","large-width":780,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1339,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee.jpg","2048x2048-width":1020,"2048x2048-height":1339,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-914x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":914,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-320x420.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"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":"Grab Your Timbrel!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The end of the exile is near","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":41814,"alt":"","title":"Ex15-BLavee","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee.jpg","width":1020,"height":1339,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-229x300.jpg","medium-width":229,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-768x1008.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1008,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-780x1024.jpg","large-width":780,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1339,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee.jpg","2048x2048-width":1020,"2048x2048-height":1339,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-914x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":914,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Ex15-BLavee-320x420.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"71335","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"A Passing Moment Of Hope And Consolation ","post_title":"A Passing Moment Of Hope And Consolation","slug":"a-passing-moment-of-hope-and-consolation","old_id":"71335","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":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

The Hebrew Bible, especially the Book of Kings, remembers Josiah, the Judean king at the beginning of Jeremiah's career, for consolidating worship of the God of Israel in Jerusalem (2 Kings 22\u201323:30; 2 Chronicles 34\u201335:19). Taking political advantage of the decline in Assyrian authority over the territory directly to Judah's north, the former Kingdom of Israel, Josiah extended his reforming activities into what was once a separate, even enemy, kingdom. According to 2 Kings 23, after Josiah purged idolatry from Jerusalem and its environs, he proceeded to destroy temples at Bethel and Samaria, \"which the kings of Israel had built, vexing [the Lord]\" (2 Kings 23:19). The Book of Chronicles has Josiah at work even further from Judah, \"in the towns of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali\" (2 Chronicles 35:6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A good part of Jeremiah 31 originates in this period of expansion of Judean authority into Israel's territories. It predicts the replanting of \"the hills of Samaria\" (5), near the kingdom's capital city of the same name, and \"the watchmen on the heights of Ephraim\" announcing the return to Zion (6). The prophecy uses the tribally specific name Ephraim (9, 18, 20), and calls him God's \"dear son\" (20). It also offers comfort to the wailing Rachel, Ephraim's paternal grandmother in the Torah (15). The Hebrew Bible's account closely associates the kingdom of Israel with the tribe of Ephraim, whose territory and population were main power bases for the kingdom. For example, Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led the original split from the Kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam son of Solomon, descended from this tribe (1 Kings 11:26\u201329; 12:1\u201335). Originally, the restoration and return of \"Israel\" in the prophecy (2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 21), referred to the political entity distinct from \"Judah.\" Jeremiah envisioned a restored united monarchy under Josiah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This hopeful moment in history passed all too quickly, and Judah itself would fall to Babylon.\u00a0 The prophecy, however, remained as part of Jeremiah's \"scroll of consolation\" (see Jer 30:1\u20133). The prophecy's original political significance faded. At the same time, the prophecy acquired new meaning as later Jewish readers identified with the restored Ephraim and Israel.<\/span>
\r\n<\/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":"A Passing Moment Of Hope And Consolation","tile_main_caption":"With the fading of the prophecy's original political significance, the prophecy acquired new meaning as later Jewish readers identified with the restored Ephraim and Israel.","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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"71318","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Christians, Watchmen, Guardians and Waiters\u00a0 ","post_title":"Christians, Watchmen, Guardians and Waiters\u00a0","slug":"christians-watchmen-guardians-and-waiters","old_id":"71318","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64450,"post_title":"David Curwin","slug":"david-curwin","old_id":"64450","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Curwin ","description":"David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat, and the author of the Balashon blog www.balashon.com","short_description":"David Curwin is a writer living in Efrat, and the author of the Balashon blog www.balashon.com","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64452,"alt":"","title":"david curwin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","width":427,"height":464,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-276x300.png","medium-width":276,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","medium_large-width":427,"medium_large-height":464,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","large-width":427,"large-height":464,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","1536x1536-width":427,"1536x1536-height":464,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","2048x2048-width":427,"2048x2048-height":464,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin.png","post_full_size-width":427,"post_full_size-height":464,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/david-curwin-387x420.png","home_baner-width":387,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The varied derivations of a common root\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

After many chapters of destruction and disaster, in chapter 31 Jeremiah delivers prophecies of a bright future. For example, he announces:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cFor the day is coming when watchmen<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Shall proclaim on the heights of Ephraim:<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Come, let us go up to Zion,<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>To the LORD our God!\u201d (6)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let\u2019s look at the word \u201cwatchmen.\u201d In Hebrew, it is <\/span>notzrim<\/span><\/em>. In Modern Hebrew, that means \u201cChristians.\u201d How did that come to be?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The verb <\/span>natzar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0means \u201cto watch\u201d or \u201cto guard.\u201d According to some theories, this is the origin of the ancient town of Nazareth. Nazareth sits on a mountain, overlooking the Jezreel Valley, and so therefore served as a good guard post to watch for invading armies. Since Jesus was from Nazareth, Christians called themselves Nazarenes, which entered Hebrew as <\/span>notzrim<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Returning to <\/span>natzar<\/span><\/em>, the word has some interesting cognates. In Arabic the cognate is <\/span>nazar<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201clooked at, examined.\u201d Since someone looking at something stands across from it, the word <\/span>nazir\u00a0<\/span><\/em>in Arabic came to mean \u201copposite.\u201d The opposite of the zenith (the highest point) was the <\/span>nazir assamt<\/span><\/em>, which via French, came into English as \u201cnadir\u201d \u2013 \u201cthe lowest point.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Hebrew consonants sometimes can switch out, and that happens a few times with <\/span>natzar<\/span><\/em>. A related synonym, more frequently found in Aramaic, is <\/span>natar<\/span><\/em>. The anti-Zionist Orthodox group, Neturei Karta, gets its name from here \u2013 that phrase translates as \u201cguardians of the city.\u201d And the Hebrew word for target, <\/span>matara<\/span><\/em>, derives from <\/span>natar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as well.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Two other verbs that may also be related are <\/span>nezer<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and <\/span>neder<\/span><\/em>. They are both types of vows, and as such guard against (or in favor of) particular behavior or objects. <\/span>Neder<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is a more general type of vow or oath. The cognate <\/span>nezer<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is a more particular kind of vow, that of the <\/span>nazir<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 the Nazirite. The <\/span>nazir\u00a0<\/span><\/em>as described in Numbers 6:1-21, vows to abstain from alcohol, cutting his hair and contact with the dead.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The last cognate isn\u2019t through Hebrew, Arabic or Aramaic, but the ancient language of Akkadian. The Akkadian word <\/span>meltzar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is related to the Hebrew <\/span>netzer<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and meant \u201cguardian.\u201d But in modern Hebrew it means \u201cwaiter.\u201d How did a guardian turn into a waiter?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This goes back to the book of Daniel. In the first chapter, Daniel was kept by the king in the royal palace. He did not want to eat the food and wine provided by the king, so he asked the guard (the <\/span>meltzar<\/span><\/em>) to bring him legumes instead. Since this guard was occupied with bringing and removing food to Daniel, eventually people began to think of a <\/span>meltzar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as not just a steward, but simply as a waiter in a restaurant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Today Jeremiah and Daniel would be amazed at how the land of Israel is full of both guardians and waiters!<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71319,"alt":"","title":"jer31-netzer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Christians, Watchmen, Guardians and Waiters\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The varied derivations of a common root","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71319,"alt":"","title":"jer31-netzer","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-netzer-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"71315","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Woman Shall Encircle A Man\u00a0 ","post_title":"A Woman Shall Encircle A Man\u00a0","slug":"a-woman-shall-encircle-a-man","old_id":"71315","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":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A feminist prophecy \r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Here is a true story how a chapter of Jeremiah saved a wedding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jack and Jessica's (not their real names) wedding day was approaching. Everything was ready for the big event. The only unresolved issue was Jessica\u2019s refusal to keep the custom of walking around the groom at the wedding ceremony. In Jessica's eyes, the custom of circling seven times around the groom was archaic. Her parents suggested that she discuss the issue further with her scholarly grandfather.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0\"Grandpa, why should I walk around my husband under the <\/span>chuppah<\/span><\/i>? This custom is from a time when women were not permitted to have their own aspirations. The circling around the groom signifies that the main role of a woman in a marriage is to fulfill her husband's desires. And notice, grandpa, that her needs were not considered important enough for the man to circle her. This is unfair!\u00a0 And this is the reason why I refuse to circle around Jack, even once, let alone seven times!\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"My dear Jessica, I wish to teach you a chapter of Jeremiah that might allow you to see the custom in a new light. God sent the Assyrians to exile the Northern Tribes of Israel. One hundred years later, as recorded in Jeremiah chapter 31, God implored the ten northern tribes to return to the land of Israel. \"Erect markers, Set up signposts\u2026 Return, Maiden Israel! Return to these towns of yours!\" However, the exiled northern tribes did not wish to return simply because Jeremiah said that God is waiting for them. They were waiting for God to perform a miracle, just as he did when he redeemed Israel from Egypt. They argued that God was the one who sent them away, and therefore he should be the one to bring them back.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah responds to their arguments with a prophecy. <\/span>\"For the LORD has created something new on earth: a woman courts a man.\"<\/span> Jeremiah foresaw a time when women will not need to wait passively for men to call on them. Jeremiah was telling the Northern Tribes to be proactive, instead of waiting for God to make the first move. Just as these liberated women of the future will determine their own fate, the tribes of Israel should not wait for God to redeem them. They should take responsibility over their fate.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\"The literal Hebrew translation of the words \"a woman will court a man\" is \"a woman will encircle a man\". I think that the custom of the groom encircling the bride is based on these words. The bride circling around her husband embodies the message which Jeremiah gave the Northern Tribes of Israel. With this in mind, think about the custom again.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jessica encircled her husband seven times under the <\/span>chuppah<\/span><\/i>. For each rotation, she focused on one of the lessons she had learned from her grandfather's teaching of Jeremiah's prophecy: Activism, Zionism, Feminism, Equality, Innovation, Reunion, and Partnership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It was a lovely wedding.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71316,"alt":"","title":"jer31-ring","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring.jpg","width":1920,"height":1278,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1022,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1278,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-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":"A Woman Shall Encircle A Man\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A feminist prophecy ","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71316,"alt":"","title":"jer31-ring","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring.jpg","width":1920,"height":1278,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1022,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1278,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-ring-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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"118226","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Tanakh Podcast-Jeremiah31 ","post_title":"The Tanakh Podcast-Jeremiah31","slug":"the-tanakh-podcast-jeremiah31","old_id":"118226","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33692,"post_title":"Alex Israel","slug":"33692-2","old_id":"33692","first_name":"Alex","last_name":"Israel","description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem. His first book \"I Kings - Torn in Two\" was published in 2013. See his website www.alexisrael.org, and his podcasts at https:\/\/elmad.pardes.org\/ and https:\/\/tanachstudy.com\/ \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33693,"alt":"","title":"alex israel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","width":1657,"height":2500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-679x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":679,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-679x1024.jpg","large-width":679,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","1536x1536-width":1018,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel.jpg","2048x2048-width":1357,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-795x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":795,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/alex-israel-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"4","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Tanakh Podcast","tile_main_caption":"Jeremiah 31: The Children Will Return To Their Borders","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"In a chapter brimming with love, God promises the return of the nation to their borders, the flourishing of national agriculture, the return to Zion, and the end of national suffering, with the famous image of Rachel weeping for her lost sons.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":108885,"alt":"","title":"-635baf915f04f--635baf915f050tanakh podcast - 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Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92561,"alt":"","title":"molly morris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","width":2192,"height":2488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-264x300.jpg","medium-width":264,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-768x872.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":872,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-902x1024.jpg","large-width":902,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1353,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1804,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-1057x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1057,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/molly-morris-370x420.jpg","home_baner-width":370,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It\u2019s all about remembering who we are\u00a0\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Sometimes while learning Tanach I come upon a passage that literally takes my breath away, as this one did: \u201cErect markers, Set up signposts; Keep in mind the highway, The road that you traveled. Return, Maiden Israel! Return to these towns of yours!\u201d (21).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As the Jewish people are heading into the Babylonian exile, God tells them to put down markers along the way and remember where they are coming from so they will find their way back when the time comes for them to return, as it surely will. Our sages interpret the word \u201ctziyunim\u201d, road markers, as behavioural rather than physical. The exiled people need to distinguish themselves from those of the land to which they are exiled, by keeping God\u2019s commandments. In that way they will hold on to their true selves and maintain their connection, no matter how thin that thread becomes, to their homeland and to God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi refers to this very verse when he quotes the Sifri saying, with respect specifically to tefillin (phylacteries) and mezuzot (doorposts), that continuing to do these mitzvot in exile will serve to keep them familiar so that \u201cthe commandments won\u2019t be strange to you when you return from exile.\u201d And we learn in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of our Fathers) chapter 3, that the markers on the road refer to three things: \u201cKnow from where you come, and where you are going, and before whom you are destined to give an account and reckoning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the nation being exiled in this story has heard the prophecy of the exile and know how long it is to last. So, they know that they themselves may not be returning, but their children and grandchildren will be. That\u2019s who they are leaving markers for. By maintaining their identity and adhering to the commandments, they are setting up landmarks for their descendants\u2019 return. And they succeeded beyond all measure in this exile, by setting up houses of learning and establishing formal Torah scholarship for generations to come.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The generation going into the Babylonian exile heeded God\u2019s word as did our own parents, grand-parents and great-grandparents. The \"Baal Teshuva\" movement of the past half-century and the unprecedented number of Jews who grew up in virtual religious or spiritual exile, owe their return to God and to their homeland to those who left road markers and landmarks to lead us back.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71333,"alt":"","title":"jer31-home","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","width":1280,"height":825,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-300x193.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":193,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-768x495.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":495,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1024x660.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":660,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":825,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":825,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1200x773.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":773,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-652x420.jpg","home_baner-width":652,"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":"Marking The Way Back Home\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"It\u2019s all about remembering who we are\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71333,"alt":"","title":"jer31-home","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","width":1280,"height":825,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-300x193.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":193,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-768x495.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":495,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1024x660.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":660,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":825,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":825,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-1200x773.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":773,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-home-652x420.jpg","home_baner-width":652,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"71329","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Wailing And Bitter Weeping Is Heard ","post_title":"Wailing And Bitter Weeping Is Heard","slug":"wailing-and-bitter-weeping-is-heard","old_id":"71329","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. 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NOTE: In most editions of the Bible, Chapter 31 begins with \u201cThus said the Lord\u2026\u201d In others, including the <\/span>JPS Prophets<\/span><\/i> whose translation 929 generally follows, it begins with \u201cAt that time,\u201d the ostensible last verse of Chapter 30. The consequence for us is that the verse of our title will be 31:14 in most editions, but 31:15 in others.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This chapter, which serves as the Haftarah for the second day of Rosh Hashanah, features a well-known motif in Jewish art and culture: Matriarch Rachel mourning over the exile of her children. The first day\u2019s Haftarah features the prayer of Hannah, another exemplary mother, perhaps in keeping with an epithet of that festival, \u201cthe day the world was conceived;\u201d <\/span>hayom harat olam<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our focus, here, is on where that mourning is said to have occurred: Ramah, a site we encountered in 1 Samuel 1:1 as the home of Elkanah, Hannah, and their son Samuel, who was later buried there (1 Samuel 25:1). The implicit assumption is that as the exiles from Jerusalem\u2014who were mostly Judean and Benjaminite\u2014passed by her tomb, Rachel cried out to God on their behalf, receiving the words of consolation that follow, here, in the next verse.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what was Rachel doing in Ramah, which is clearly situated north of Jerusalem (the direction in which Judean exiles would head towards Babylonia), when her tomb lies near Bethlehem, which is to the south (and hardly a direction in which Babylonian-bound captives would head)?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It could be that Rachel\u2019s tomb may not be where it has traditionally been located. Indeed, in the words of none other than Samuel himself\u2014prophet and direct descendant of Rachel\u2014to Saul\u2014future king and also a direct descendant: \u201cWhen you leave me today, you will find two men by the tomb of Rachel, near the border of Benjamin at Zelzah\u201d (1 Samuel 10:2). (<\/span>See our comments <\/span><\/a>at greater length in 1 Samuel 10.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Shadal,* whom we overlooked in 1 Samuel 10, shared our argument and, possibly, our conclusion, noting here: \u201cRamah is in the portion of Benjamin, near the tomb of Rachel. Samuel was a resident of Ramah, and told Saul \u201cWhen you leave me today, you will find two men by the tomb (<\/span>kevurat<\/span><\/i>) of Rachel\u2026\u201d<\/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: Freso - Rachel is weeping for her children, 14th C.\u00a0 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71330,"alt":"","title":"jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","width":439,"height":327,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children-300x223.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":223,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","medium_large-width":439,"medium_large-height":327,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","large-width":439,"large-height":327,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","1536x1536-width":439,"1536x1536-height":327,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","2048x2048-width":439,"2048x2048-height":327,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","post_full_size-width":439,"post_full_size-height":327,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","home_baner-width":439,"home_baner-height":327}},"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":"Wailing And Bitter Weeping Is Heard","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But where is it coming from?\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71330,"alt":"","title":"jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","width":439,"height":327,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children-300x223.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":223,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","medium_large-width":439,"medium_large-height":327,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","large-width":439,"large-height":327,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","1536x1536-width":439,"1536x1536-height":327,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","2048x2048-width":439,"2048x2048-height":327,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","post_full_size-width":439,"post_full_size-height":327,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-Freso_-_Rachel_is_weeping_for_her_children.jpg","home_baner-width":439,"home_baner-height":327}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":15,"id":"71478","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A New Covenant ","post_title":"A New Covenant","slug":"a-new-covenant","old_id":"71478","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":48172,"post_title":"Thalia Halpert Rodis","slug":"thalia-halpert-rodis","old_id":"48172","first_name":"Thalia ","last_name":"Halpert Rodis ","description":"Thalia Halpert Rodis is in her fourth year of rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in New York. She is the rabbinical intern at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn and serves on the board of Jews in ALL Hues.\r\n","short_description":"Thalia Halpert Rodis is in her fourth year of rabbinical studies at HUC-JIR in New York. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":48173,"alt":"","title":"thalia halpert rodis","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596.jpg","width":870,"height":825,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596-300x284.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":284,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596-768x728.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":728,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-870x1024.jpg","large-width":870,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596.jpg","1536x1536-width":870,"1536x1536-height":825,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596.jpg","2048x2048-width":870,"2048x2048-height":825,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-1020x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1020,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/thalia-halpert-rodis-e1548535224596-443x420.jpg","home_baner-width":443,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A new foundation, or filling in the cracks in the old one?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The people of Israel are exiled in Babylon and God hears their suffering. Their feelings of abandonment, their hopelessness, their yearning to return to their land are deeply felt when God says, \u201cA cry is heard in Ramah -- wailing, bitter weeping -- Rachel weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, who are gone\u201d (v. 15).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Just two verses later, God makes a promise. We read, \u201cthere is hope for your future --declares the Lord: your children shall return to their country.\u201d But how can the Israelites believe this God, this God who would allow them to live in exile, this God who made a covenant with them but let them struggle? How can the Israelites learn to trust in the Divine again?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is an essential question for all of us. When trust is broken and hope is all but lost, how do we move forward? It seems that two answers to this question emerge time and again:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. \u00a0 <\/span>Return to the foundations where trust was broken and try to fill in the cracks and beautify it, or\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. \u00a0 <\/span>Discard the foundations and build something entirely new.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

    The 20th century writer and activist Audre Lorde wrote frequently about racism, homophobia, and sexism. She encouraged her fellow activists to discard historically white heteronormative systems and work within systems of their own creation to achieve liberation. She wrote, \u201cFor the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. They may allow us to temporarily beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.\u201d Lorde is clear that attempts at repair within current societal systems will ultimately serve to perpetuate harmful behaviors rather than catalyze meaningful change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    So how does God attempt to reestablish trust with the suffering Israelites? It seems that God utilizes both approaches. In the same way that God was watchful \u201c<\/span>eshkod<\/span><\/i>\u201d in the past \u201cto uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster,\u201d now God \u201cwill be watchful \u201c<\/span>eshkod<\/span><\/i>\u201d over them to build and to plant.\u201d (Jeremiah 31:28). The foundations of an attentive Divine presence will remain, and the cracks will be filled in with building and planting rather than destruction. And yet God also presents a new foundation altogether. God promises the Israelites a \u201c<\/span>brit chadashah<\/span><\/i>,\u201d a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) where God\u2019s Torah will be close to them and God will \u201cinscribe it upon their hearts.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    In every moment of challenge and despair, we have the opportunity to choose: Do we uproot or do we build, remain or start from scratch? Each instance requires its own answer. Usually, our approach will already be inscribed upon our hearts<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":71480,"alt":"","title":"jer31-cracks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-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":"A New Covenant","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A new foundation, or filling in the cracks in the old one?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":71480,"alt":"","title":"jer31-cracks","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":864,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer31-cracks-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":16,"id":"71253","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Rachel\u2019s Tears Comfort Leah\u2019s Descendants ","post_title":"Rachel\u2019s Tears Comfort Leah\u2019s Descendants","slug":"rachels-tears-comfort-leahs-descendants","old_id":"71253","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38552,"post_title":"Benny Lau","slug":"benny-lau","old_id":"38552","first_name":"Benny","last_name":"Lau ","description":"Rav Benny Lau is the founder and co-head of the Israeli initiative 929 along with Gal Gabbai. In addition, he is the rabbi of the Ramban synagogue in Jerusalem and is a community leader, activist, author, and public speaker.","short_description":"Rav Benny Lau is the founder and co-head of the Israeli initiative 929 along with Gal Gabbai.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":1708,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/8-1.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"She becomes the mother of the entire people\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    Jeremiah, serving at this early stage as a tailwind for the vision of national healing, tells of a prophecy about the children of Rachel, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who were exiled from their lands by Assyria. He has already promised her children that they will again plant vineyards on the Samarian hills. Now he illuminates his words: Those who passed by Ramah (the village of a-Ram, adjacent to Ramallah) as they were exiled will return. The procession of exiles passed by Rachel\u2019s Tomb on the \u201cRoad to Ephrath.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    There is much disagreement about the location of this tomb. In the context of this chapter, the opinion of Noga Hareuveni seems most plausible: He identifies Ephrat with Nahal Perat (Wadi Qelt). Rachel, weeping for her children, is called upon to hold back her tears, for her children will return from hostile lands to their own borders \u2014 to Samaria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    By turning directly to the tribes of Israel and mentioning Rachel, Jeremiah reaches the climax of his prophecies of consolation. The conflict between Rachel and Leah, between Joseph and Judah, between the House of David and the House of Saul, is about to end. Ephraim is the firstborn, and Rachel is the true mother.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    A note: Our interpretation of Jeremiah's famous words \"A voice is heard in Ramah...\" undermines two basic, highly charged premises within Jewish tradition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    First, tradition places Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem in Judah, at a site that has been sanctified by thousands of years of Jewish tears. Second, Rachel is one of the most beloved figures in all of Jewish tradition: in Midrash, liturgy, poetry, literature, and art. The explanation offered here \u2014 that Rachel is buried in the portion of Benjamin and weeps only over her direct descendants, Ephraim and Manasseh \u2014 detracts from the raw emotion and power of these midrashim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    When discussing these famous lines, it is impossible not to mention the midrashic tradition \u2014 and all subsequent Jewish traditions \u2014 of Rachel comforting Leah's descendants as they go into exile, forty years after Jeremiah spoke these words:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    When Nebuzaradan exiled them, they passed by there, and Rachel left her grave and wept and begged for mercy on their behalf, as it says: \"A voice is heard in Ramah, of mourning and great weeping \u2014 Rachel weeping for her children\" [Jer. 31:14]. And God responds: \"your work will be rewarded \u2014 declares the Lord...your children will return to their borders\" [31:15]. (Rashi, ad loc.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    This midrash, and Rashi in its wake, has an awesome power. It has elicited Jewish tears throughout the generations, irrevocably sanctifying the site. And Rachel has become the mother of all Jews, including those descended from her sister, Leah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cA Voice Is Heard in Ramah\" in the Post-Biblical Collective Jewish Memory\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":69252,"alt":"","title":"jer-lau2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","width":884,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-300x215.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":215,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-768x552.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":552,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","large-width":884,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","1536x1536-width":884,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","2048x2048-width":884,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","post_full_size-width":884,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-585x420.jpg","home_baner-width":585,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Rachel\u2019s Tears Comfort Leah\u2019s Descendants","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"She becomes the mother of the entire people","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":69252,"alt":"","title":"jer-lau2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","width":884,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-300x215.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":215,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-768x552.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":552,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","large-width":884,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","1536x1536-width":884,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","2048x2048-width":884,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","post_full_size-width":884,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2-585x420.jpg","home_baner-width":585,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":17,"id":"71251","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"No More Pain ","post_title":"No More Pain","slug":"no-more-pain","old_id":"71251","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54356,"post_title":"Robert Alter","slug":"robert-alter","old_id":"54356","first_name":"Robert ","last_name":"Alter","description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has written over twenty books, focusing on such topics as the European novel from the 18th century to the present, contemporary American fiction, and modern Hebrew literature. He has also written extensively on the literary aspects of the Bible. His most recent work is his monumental three volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019 - from which the selections in 929 are taken. ","short_description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of the three-volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":54357,"alt":"","title":"robert alter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","width":184,"height":275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium-width":184,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium_large-width":184,"medium_large-height":275,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","large-width":184,"large-height":275,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","1536x1536-width":184,"1536x1536-height":275,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","2048x2048-width":184,"2048x2048-height":275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","post_full_size-width":184,"post_full_size-height":275,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","home_baner-width":184,"home_baner-height":275}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Life-breath like a garden\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

    31:11 \u201cAnd they shall come and sing gladly on Zion\u2019s heights and shall shine with the LORD\u2019s bounty, for the grain and the new wine and the oil, and for the flocks and the cattle. And their life-breath shall be like a watered garden, and they shall no longer be in pain.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    The tricky Hebrew noun is the multivalent <\/span>nefesh<\/span><\/i>. It does not mean \u201csoul,\u201d as many translators continue to render it. The core meaning is \u201clife-breath\u201d and, by extension, \u201clife,\u201d but the latter would be misleading here because it could suggest \u201ca lived life.\u201d <\/span>Nefesh<\/span><\/i> also often implies \u201cessential self.\u201d It sometimes means \u201cthroat\u201d or \u201cgullet\u201d (by metonymy because the throat is a passageway for the breath), and that is the probable sense in verse 13, where the satisfaction of appetite is invoked.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

    From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"From Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","tile_main_caption":"No More Pain","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Life-breath like a garden","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":18,"id":"70721","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Jeremiah 31 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Jeremiah 31","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-jeremiah-31","old_id":"70721","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. 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    \u201cBring Your Timbrels!\u201d<\/a> by Jake Best Adler: When is it the right time to rejoice, and how should we prepare?<\/p>\r\n

    \u201cDancing in Jewish Tradition\u201d<\/a> by Hadar Cohen: Explore sources about dance.<\/p>\r\n

     <\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Source Sheets - Jeremiah 31","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":20,"id":"71249","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points to Ponder - Jeremiah 31 ","post_title":"Points to Ponder - Jeremiah 31","slug":"points-to-ponder-jeremiah-31","old_id":"71249","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

      \r\n\t
    1. A change in public opinion<\/em>. Jeremiah expresses things that will be said in the future, which are very different from what\u2019s being said today. The future call of the watchmen in Samaria to go up to Jerusalem (v. 6), the amazement of the nations at the redemption (v. 10), the blessing of those returning to Judah (v. 23), and an old aphorism that is no longer relevant (v. 29-30).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    2. Maiden Israel<\/em>. Even the nickname says something about the nature of\u00a0 the redemption. Not a widow, or abandoned, or a suffering wife, but a young woman with her whole life ahead of her (v. 4).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    3. Again and again and again<\/em>. 3 positive messages in verses 4-5 begin with the word \u201cagain\u201d (<\/span>\u2018od<\/span><\/i>), and communicate the idea that the good will arrive, and only increase, more and more.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    4. A woman courts a man<\/em> (verse 22). This is also one of the changes that the redemption will bring to the world. Does this imply a change in the relations between the sexes? Or is it a metaphor for the repentance of the people and their seeking God? There is the <\/span>peshat<\/span><\/i>, the literal, contextual meaning, and there are many interpretations. Worth looking into.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    5. Sweet prophecy<\/em>. Finally, a little satisfaction for the prophet. He shares this moment with us (v. 26).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
    6. The dedication<\/em>. The riddle of the contradictions in the dedication of the prophet is solved once again. Jeremiah\u2019s mission was defined in Chapter 1 as \u201cSee, I appoint you this day Over nations and kingdoms: To uproot and to pull down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant\u201d (1:10). The prophecy in verse 28 explains that these are two different periods: destruction, and then building.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Jeremiah 31","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"31","chapter_main_number":"431","date":"20270425","wall_id":"431"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":"","link_teaser":"","listen_link":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/70832"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}