. It\u2019s estimated that in 2009, 4.8 billion pounds of fish were consumed in the United States alone. And every day, 50 million animals lose their lives for human use. Can any heart remain unmoved in the face of such shocking figures, and the ensuing, incalculable moral suffering?<\/span><\/p>\r\nThough cruelty flourished, Noah could not have imagined a world without animals existing in it. The Midrash teaches that Noah not only heroically saved two from each species by giving them shelter on the ark, but for all those weeks, he would run tirelessly from one to the next to give them proper care. The rabbis suggest that Noah and his sons didn\u2019t sleep at all since they were so preoccupied with the needs of the animals (<\/span>Midrash Tanchuma<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Noach<\/span><\/i> 9). Reading the story of the flood each year reminds us that to live in a redeemed world, we must prioritize care for the most vulnerable sentient beings on our planet.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Let Noah be our model, for the rabbis considered Noah righteous precisely because of his care for animals <\/span>(Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 4). <\/span><\/i>Today, let\u2019s follow Noah\u2019s compassionate spirit to end the rampant abuse and neglect shown to animals. Even more so, let us, as fervently committed Jews, return to the Garden of Eden and a world where eating sentient beings is not imaginable but anathema. We are to be a people of mercy and compassion, which the rabbis consider to be essential characteristics of the Jewish soul (BT <\/span>Beitzah<\/span><\/i> 32b).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":45383,"alt":"","title":"veganism","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","width":630,"height":480,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism-300x229.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":229,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","medium_large-width":630,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","large-width":630,"large-height":480,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","1536x1536-width":630,"1536x1536-height":480,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","2048x2048-width":630,"2048x2048-height":480,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","post_full_size-width":630,"post_full_size-height":480,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism-551x420.jpg","home_baner-width":551,"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":"God's Creatures are Our Responsibility","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"To live in a redeemed world, we must prioritize care for the most vulnerable sentient beings on our planet","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":45383,"alt":"","title":"veganism","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","width":630,"height":480,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism-300x229.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":229,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","medium_large-width":630,"medium_large-height":480,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","large-width":630,"large-height":480,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","1536x1536-width":630,"1536x1536-height":480,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","2048x2048-width":630,"2048x2048-height":480,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism.jpg","post_full_size-width":630,"post_full_size-height":480,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/veganism-551x420.jpg","home_baner-width":551,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"image by mazurkat\/shutterstock","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":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"9","chapter_main_number":"9","date":"20250910","wall_id":"9"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"415","name":"food","old_id":"815"},{"term_id":"416","name":"meat","old_id":"816"}]},{"order":5,"id":"36115","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Harmony, Not Conformity","post_title":"Harmony, Not Conformity","slug":"harmony-not-conformity","old_id":"36115","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34000,"post_title":"Sara Hurwitz","slug":"rabba-sara-hurwitz","old_id":"34000","first_name":"Sara","last_name":"Hurwitz","description":"Rabba Sara Hurwitz is President and co-founder of Yeshivat Maharat, the first Orthodox yeshiva to ordain women as clergy. She also serves on the Rabbinic staff at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Rabba Sara graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University and completed Drisha\u2019s three-year Scholars Circle Program. She was ordained in 2009 by Rabbi Avi Weiss and Rabbi Daniel Sperber. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabba Sara Hurwitz is President and co-founder of Yeshivat Maharat.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34001,"alt":"","title":"Rabba Sara Hurwitz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","width":355,"height":355,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","medium_large-width":355,"medium_large-height":355,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","large-width":355,"large-height":355,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","1536x1536-width":355,"1536x1536-height":355,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","2048x2048-width":355,"2048x2048-height":355,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","post_full_size-width":355,"post_full_size-height":355,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabba-Sara-Hurwitz.png","home_baner-width":355,"home_baner-height":355}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"11","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A united society that prioritizes material wealth is not a sustainable community.","post_main_content_content":"Conformity was the seemingly idyllic world after the flood. \u00a0Chapter 11 opens:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u201cThe whole world was of one language and of one common purpose...\u201cLet US make bricks. Let US build a city and a tower with its tops in heaven, and let US make a name for ourselves\"\u00a0 (11:3 - emphasis added).<\/span><\/p>\r\nAt first glance, the Torah seems to be \u00a0describing a utopian community where everyone is united around a common purpose. Emphasizing the plurality \u00a0of \u201cUS\u201d is an image of a society that seamlessly moves together, in one large mass, with one voice. <\/span><\/p>\r\nAnd yet, God severely punishes the people for building the Tower of Babel. \u00a0Why is sameness so bad? The problem with Babel, is that the people didn\u2019t actually care about unity, oneness, and togetherness. They used their unity to build walls, not relationships.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe midrash (The Pirkei De-Rabbi Eliezer, 24) describes how the people loved their tower more than people. \u00a0\u201cIt had seven steps from the east and seven steps from the west. Bricks were hauled up from one side, and the descent would be from the other. If one man fell down and died, no attention was paid to him, but if one brick fell down, they would sit and weep\u2026\u201d \u00a0This was not a society that cared about one another. A united society that is built on prioritizing material wealth- bricks and mortar-- is not a sustainable community.<\/span><\/p>\r\nPerhaps then, God\u2019s so called punishment, the demand for diversity was not meant to reprimand the people, but it was meant to teach them to rebuild their world placing <\/span>harmony, not conformity, at the center of their world.<\/b> \u00a0\u00a0Now that the world was made up of people with diverse languages and cultures, everyone needed to work that much harder to bring down their personal walls, and learn to live with and love one another. <\/span><\/p>\r\nGod models how to exist in such a world. When God goes down to mete out their punishment, God says: \u201cCome let US go down\u201d (11:7). Rashi, addressing the question of who God is talking to, suggests that God \u201ctook counsel with the Angels, with his judicial court.\u201d Surely God knows how to mete out judgment and punishment, but by addressing the Angels, God models how to collaborate. <\/span><\/p>\r\nLet us too, strive for harmony, not conformity. <\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":61778,"alt":"","title":"1kings5-unity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity.png","width":1920,"height":1916,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity-768x766.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":766,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity-1024x1022.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1022,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1916,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity-1200x1198.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1198,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/1kings5-unity-421x420.png","home_baner-width":421,"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":"Harmony, 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Herzog was a member of the Knesset from 2003, and has held various ministerial posts, including Minister of Welfare and Social Services (2007\u201311). ","short_description":"Isaac \u201cBougie\u201d Herzog is the President of the State of Israel, and the son of former president Chaim Herzog.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36133,"alt":"","title":"isac herzog","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","width":274,"height":253,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","medium-width":274,"medium-height":253,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","medium_large-width":274,"medium_large-height":253,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","large-width":274,"large-height":253,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","1536x1536-width":274,"1536x1536-height":253,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","2048x2048-width":274,"2048x2048-height":253,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","post_full_size-width":274,"post_full_size-height":253,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/isac-herzog.jpg","home_baner-width":274,"home_baner-height":253}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"11","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"There cannot be one spokesperson for God","post_main_content_content":"When we read about the Tower of Babel in the Bible, the first thing we think of is the sin of arrogance: Humans sought to place themselves above the community, to the point of striving to be like God. When I read this chapter, I look at the punishment God meted out to the people involved, and ask myself: Is this really a punishment?<\/span><\/p>\r\nFrom the biblical story we learn that until the Tower of Babel all human beings spoke the same language. The construction of the tower can be seen as an expression of the sin of arrogance - the desire of human beings to put themselves at the center, instead of the community. This can also be seen as an act of arrogance and aggrandizement, a phenomenon that unfortunately also exists in politics today, when elected officials act to realize their own narrow interests without thinking about the good of the entire country. God, as punishment for the pride of the builders of the Tower, confuses their language and spreads them around the world.<\/span><\/p>\r\nI love the Bible and am attached to it with every fiber of my soul. Part of my love for the Book of Books stems from the fact that the Bible allows for many interpretations, which enables different audiences to connect to the text personally and individually.<\/span><\/p>\r\nUnfortunately, there are those who seek to claim ownership of the text, and to exclude those whose interpretations are different from their own. I do not define myself as a religious person, but I have no doubt that the Bible belongs to me, just as it belongs to all those extremists who seek to ascribe to it only one interpretation. \u00a0These are the same extremists who forbid women's singing, who seek to hasten the coming of the messiah with extreme and dangerous steps, or use the Bible to promote racial agendas and inequality. These agendas elevate them above everyone else.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe Bible does not belong to any of them. If the story of Babel teaches us about the danger of the sin of arrogance, a danger whereby you place yourself above God and appoint yourself as God\u2019s speaker here on earth. The punishment in the story of the Tower of Babel teaches us that there is and cannot be one spokesman for God: each man and his language - and all of them beautiful, each one and his interpretation of the Bible- for the Bible contains it all, as our tradition teaches \u201cthere are seventy facets of the Torah.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":92599,"alt":"","title":"pro14-people crowd","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"One Bible, Many Languages, and They are all Beautiful","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"There cannot be one spokesperson for God","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":92599,"alt":"","title":"pro14-people crowd","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/pro14-people-crowd-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"11","chapter_main_number":"11","date":"20250914","wall_id":"11"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"425","name":"Pluralism","old_id":"825"}]},{"order":7,"id":"72122","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Potential Threats And Proportionate Responses ","post_title":"Potential Threats And Proportionate Responses","slug":"potential-threats-and-proportionate-responses","old_id":"72122","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":"441","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Gedaliah and Johanan failed to strategize effectively, resulting in mass slaughter\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"How does one assess a potential threat and a proportionate response?<\/span><\/p>\r\nOne of the great tragedies in Jewish history, commemorated by fasting each year on the third of Tishrei, was the assassination of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor of Judah, at the hand of Ishmael, son of Nethaniah. Several reasons are offered for seeing his death as a particular disaster, including the fact that his murderer was a fellow Jew as well as the impact it had on the future of organized Jewish autonomy.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe tragedy of Gedaliah\u2019s death was further compounded by the fact that it was preventable; in fact, the Talmud points out a verse that implies the deaths of Gedaliah and others were his own fault.<\/span><\/p>\r\nJeremiah 41:9 tells of \u201cthe cistern into which Ishmael [son of Nethaniah] threw all the corpses of the men he had killed \u2018<\/span>b\u2019yad\u2019 Gedaliah<\/span><\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 While \u201cb\u2019yad\u201d literally means \u201cat the hand [of]\u201d; several interpretations have been offered. Metzudat David reads simply as \u201cin the place of Gedaliah, i.e. in Mizpah.\u201d Radak suggests the phrase means \u201cbecause of Gedaliah\u201d and explains that Ishmael had come to Mizpah in order to kill Gedaliah; he also killed others, but only because they were with Gedaliah or coming to visit him. The Talmud (Niddah 61a) goes a step further, understanding the phrase more literally as \u201cby the hand of Gedaliah.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u201cBut did Gedaliah kill them? Didn\u2019t Ishmael kill them?\u201d ask the rabbis of the Talmud. They then explain on what grounds the deaths could be attributed to Gedaliah, himself the primary victim: \u201cSince he should have been concerned about the counsel of Johanan son of Kareah, but he was not concerned, Scripture considers it as if he killed them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhat\u2019s that about? At the end of chapter 40, Johanan had told Gedaliah of Ishmael\u2019s plot to kill him and offered to carry out a preemptive strike (40:15). Gedaliah dismissed the warning and Johanan\u2019s offer to kill Ishmael, insisting Johanan was \u201cspeaking falsely about Ishmael!\u201d (ibid. 16). Instead, he welcomed Ishmael in \u2013 making it easy for Ishmael to kill him and the others. We can see, then, how Gedaliah was responsible: he was too trusting and neglected to take appropriate action when warned.<\/span><\/p>\r\nOne wonders whether Johanan himself might share the blame, for similarly not taking Gedaliah\u2019s skepticism seriously. Would Gedaliah have been more willing to listen if Johanan had proposed a more appropriate action, instead of jumping to kill a man who had yet to sin? Perhaps his extreme rejection of the report was a reaction to the extreme recommendation that came with it: presented with all or nothing, Gedaliah chose nothing.<\/span><\/p>\r\nWhat he should have done, as one Talmudic rabbi further clarifies, was somewhere in the middle: \u201cEven though one should not accept bad speech, one should be concerned about it.\u201d Gedaliah might be commended for hesitating to assume what he heard was true, but he is also criticized for completely dismissing the warning of a fatal threat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72129,"alt":"","title":"jer41-checkmate","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate.jpg","width":1920,"height":1208,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-300x189.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":189,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-768x483.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":483,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-1024x644.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":644,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":966,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1208,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-1200x755.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":755,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-668x420.jpg","home_baner-width":668,"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":"Potential Threats And Proportionate Responses","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Gedaliah and Johanan failed to strategize effectively, resulting in mass slaughter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72129,"alt":"","title":"jer41-checkmate","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate.jpg","width":1920,"height":1208,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-300x189.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":189,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-768x483.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":483,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-1024x644.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":644,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":966,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1208,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-1200x755.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":755,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-checkmate-668x420.jpg","home_baner-width":668,"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":"41","chapter_main_number":"441","date":"20270509","wall_id":"441"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"72113","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Fasting To Commemorate The Murder Of Gedaliah ","post_title":"Fasting To Commemorate The Murder Of Gedaliah","slug":"fasting-to-commemorate-the-murder-of-gedaliah","old_id":"72113","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":"441","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But was he perhaps partly to blame for his own demise?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"Our Chapter describes, in grisly detail, the political assassination of Gedaliah, governor of Judah under Babylonian rule, and his followers, and continues with the bloody aftermath of this seminal incident. The murder of Gedaliah has been previously narrated in II Kings 25:22-26. Moreover, Jeremiah Chapters 39-40 has expanded on the relationship between Jeremiah and Gedaliah and has detailed the events leading up to Gedaliah\u2019s murder. Johanan son of Kareah and his fellow officers warn Gedaliah that Ishmael son of Nethaniah is plotting his assassination. Regrettably, Gedaliah replies to Johanan: \u201c\u2026What you are saying about Ishmael is not true!\u201d (40:14-16). Gedaliah\u2019s unwarranted trust in Ishmael, \u201cwho was of royal descent and one of the king\u2019s commanders\u201d (41:1) leads to Gedaliah\u2019s demise: \u201cThen Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, because the king of Babylon had put him in charge of the land\u201d (verses 2-3). The bodies of those murdered were then thrown into a cistern (verses 7 and 9).<\/span><\/p>\r\nAccording to Talmud Bavli Niddah 61a, in early Rabbinic times (1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE) the sages discovered a large cistern full of bones, which they identified as the very cistern that Ishmael had filled with the bodies of those he had murdered. Surprisingly, this text goes on to hold Gedaliah at least indirectly responsible for this whole incident. This is suggested by a literal reading of Jeremiah 41:9, which speaks of the bodies of those slain \u201cby the hand of Gedaliah\u201d \u2013 <\/span>be-yad Gedaliah <\/span><\/i>(but more contextually translated \u201cin the affair of Gedaliah\u201d). This leads to the assertion that because Gedaliah rejected the warning of his imminent assassination, Scripture regards him as if he himself had killed those who died with him!<\/span><\/p>\r\nDespite this midrashic suggestion implicating Gedaliah in his own death and in the death of his companions, the sages determined that \u201cthe fast of the seventh month\u201d (Zechariah 8:19) commemorates the murder of Gedaliah, which occurred \u201cin the seventh month\u201d (see II Kings 25:25 and Jeremiah 41:1). According to Talmud Bavli Rosh Ha-Shanah 18b, fasting to mourn the murder of Gedaliah teaches that the death of the righteous is as tragic as the \u201cburning of the House of our God\u201d (i.e. the Destruction of the Temple). This fast is celebrated on the 3<\/span>rd<\/span> of the month of Tishri, since fasting would be inappropriate on the two-day celebration of Rosh HaShanah at the beginning of Tishri. The \u201cFast of Gedaliah\u201d is classified as a \u201cminor fast\u201d, on which it is customary to not eat from dawn to dusk.<\/span><\/p>\r\nIt should be noted that Tzom Gedaliah is one of four fasts that Zechariah prophecies: \u201cshall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah. But you must love honesty and integrity\u201d (Zechariah 8:19).<\/span><\/p>\r\nImage: Detail of a miniature of the death of Gedaliah. Image taken from f. 202v of La Bible historiale compl\u00e9t\u00e9e, 1357 \/ picryl\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72114,"alt":"","title":"jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","width":697,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-204x300.jpg","medium-width":204,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-697x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":697,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-697x1024.jpg","large-width":697,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","1536x1536-width":697,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","2048x2048-width":697,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","post_full_size-width":697,"post_full_size-height":1024,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-286x420.jpg","home_baner-width":286,"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":"Fasting To Commemorate The Murder Of Gedaliah","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But was he perhaps partly to blame for his own demise?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72114,"alt":"","title":"jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","width":697,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-204x300.jpg","medium-width":204,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-697x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":697,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-697x1024.jpg","large-width":697,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","1536x1536-width":697,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","2048x2048-width":697,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","post_full_size-width":697,"post_full_size-height":1024,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402-286x420.jpg","home_baner-width":286,"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":"41","chapter_main_number":"441","date":"20270509","wall_id":"441"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"72119","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Power Conflicts Of Biblical Proportions ","post_title":"Power Conflicts Of Biblical Proportions","slug":"power-conflicts-of-biblical-proportions","old_id":"72119","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":"441","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Ishmael\u2019s murderous acts hark back to earlier struggles...","post_main_content_content":"The story in our chapter unfolds in locations steeped in conflicts from biblical Israel's past.\u00a0 After Ishmael murders Gedaliah, he slaughters a group of men in \"a cistern\" (Jeremiah 41:7). This is not just any waterhole, but one with a history from an earlier civil war: it was the very same one \"that King Asa (of Judah) had constructed on account of King Baasha of Israel\" (41:9).\u00a0 Mizpah, where Gedaliah is murdered, also has a broader connection to this same war between Judah and Israel. According to 1 Kings 16:22, at the end of the conflict, Asa used the ruins of Israelite fortifications to build Mizpah. The hostilities between Ishmael's forces and the forces under the leadership of Johanan ben Kareah end \"by the great pool in Gibeon\" (Jeremiah 42:12). This pool, like King Asa's cistern, has a history, this time from the monarchy's earliest days. It was there that, in the aftermath of King Saul's death, fighting broke out between the men loyal to the House of David and those loyal to the House of Saul (2 Samuel 2:12\u201317).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nIt is not only where the story unfolds, but also how, that follows the script of conflicts over power in biblical Israel.\u00a0 The murder of the men \"in a cistern\" recalls Jehu's purge of the Omrides, during which the brothers of Ahaziah of King Judah, are \"slaughtered at the pit of Beth-eked\" (2 Kings 10:14).The group of murdered men numbers seventy: of eighty, only ten survive (41:7\u20138). This, too, is in keeping with precedents established by other usurpers of power in Israel's past. When Jehu seizes control, he issues orders resulting in the slaughter of Ahab's seventy descendants (2 Kings 10:1, 6\u20137). Similarly, after the death of the judge Gideon\/Jerubaal, his son, Abimelech, prevents rival claims to his own leadership by killing Gideon's other survivors, \"seventy men on one stone\" in Ophrah (Judges 9:5).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72120,"alt":"","title":"jer41-power","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power.jpg","width":1920,"height":1276,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1276,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Power Conflicts Of Biblical Proportions","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Ishmael\u2019s murderous acts hark back to earlier struggles...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72120,"alt":"","title":"jer41-power","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power.jpg","width":1920,"height":1276,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-768x510.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":510,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-1024x681.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":681,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1021,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1276,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-1200x798.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":798,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-power-632x420.jpg","home_baner-width":632,"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":"41","chapter_main_number":"441","date":"20270509","wall_id":"441"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"72208","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Mitzri vs. Ivri ","post_title":"Mitzri vs. Ivri","slug":"mitzri-vs-ivri","old_id":"72208","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":67893,"post_title":"Saul Sadka","slug":"saul-sadka","old_id":"67893","first_name":"Saul ","last_name":"Sadka","description":"Saul Sadka is a businessman and author living in Tel Aviv, the author of the Sadka-Rabinowicz edition of the Torah. ","short_description":"Saul Sadka is a businessman and author living in Tel Aviv, the author of the Sadka-Rabinowicz edition of the Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":67894,"alt":"","title":"saul sadka","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka.jpg","width":1200,"height":1600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":1600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/saul-sadka-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"442","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Jeremiah squares off against his own Korah\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"Judah has been crushed and conquered by Babylon. The people have failed to make peace with their new situation. They have failed to recognize that this is a divine punishment for their sins. They flail about, blaming the messenger and attacking the symptoms of their defeat, not the cause. Instead of repentance and contrition, they are rebellious and petulant. Instead of recognising Babylon as the heaven-sent punishment that Jeremiah had long predicted, they fight among themselves and imagine that killing Gedaliah will restore their fortunes.<\/span><\/p>\r\nDespite the fulfillment of Jeremiah\u2019s doom-prophecies they fail to learn the moral message.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nWe now see the aptly-named Yohanan ben Kerach try to take the people back to Egypt. His name is deliberately resonant of a previous character who had pretensions of leadership - Korach. Indeed, in Hebrew the names are the same, only differing in the vocalisation. The allusion to the previous Kerach\/Korach contrasts with Jeremiah, who is presented as a new Moses.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe desire to flee Babylonian rule echoes Jonah\u2019s futile attempt to override God\u2019s will, Egypt will soon fall. However, when seen in the context of what Egypt and Babylon, the two great powers of the time, symbolized to the Judeans, we see how this fits into the Bible\u2019s overarching message.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nMuch to the chagrin of many over millennia, the Torah is virtually devoid of afterlife mythology of the sort that was universal at the time it was received. Moses, prince of Egypt, led the people from a land where he was destined to be buried in a great pyramid to having no known burial place at all. Egypt was the old order, the land of mystery and death worship. It was the bounded womb in which Israel was formed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nThe Torah presents two types of people - the Egyptain (<\/span>Mitzri<\/span><\/i>) and the Hebrew (<\/span>Ivri<\/span><\/i>) - the Hebrew words resonate the deeper meaning, those who are \u201cbounded\u201d and those who \u201ccross over.\u201d The Ivri crosses over across the earth, with symbolic river and sea crossings marking their literal \u201crites of passage\u201d, but also crosses the divide between heaven and earth in life, Jacob\u2019s ladder being the prototypical image of this. Egyptians, in contrast, dedicated their lives fruitlessly to the storage of their useless corpses, having failed to break the mental shackles that no longer confined the <\/span>Ivri<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\r\nWe all get to choose - are we a <\/span>Mitzri <\/span><\/i>or an <\/span>Ivri<\/span><\/i>? Moses became the ultimate leader of Hebrews because he was the first to make that choice, as a prince of both. Ben Kerach and Korach exemplify the other choice. It's not just that they pine for the safety of Egypt, on a deeper level they crave the comforts of the old order before free-agency, where eternal life was a matter of reciting the correct incantations and collecting the ideal grave goods. God\u2019s plan was that they would face in the opposite direction towards the new world of Babylon and soon Persia, from where the theology that underpins the Tanakh would begin to enlighten the world.\u00a0 <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Image: Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi aka Sandro Botticelli, Punishment of Korach, 1481 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72209,"alt":"","title":"Jer42-Botticcelli,_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","width":800,"height":503,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-300x189.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":189,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-768x483.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":483,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":503,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":503,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":503,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":503,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-668x420.jpg","home_baner-width":668,"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":"Mitzri vs. Ivri","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jeremiah squares off against his own Korah","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72209,"alt":"","title":"Jer42-Botticcelli,_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","width":800,"height":503,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-300x189.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":189,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-768x483.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":483,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":503,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":503,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":503,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":503,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-Botticcelli_Sandro_-_The_Punishment_of_Korah-668x420.jpg","home_baner-width":668,"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":"42","chapter_main_number":"442","date":"20270510","wall_id":"442"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"72188","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Let The Lord YOUR God tell us! ","post_title":"Let The Lord YOUR God tell us!","slug":"let-the-lord-your-god-tell-us","old_id":"72188","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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He informed them that God\u2019s instructions were to remain in the Land of Israel and suffer Babylonian sovereignty. In fact, if they were to go to Egypt as they had intended, they would be greeted there with the very distress and destruction they were seeking to avoid.<\/span><\/p>\r\nShadal* noticed that the pronominal suffixes used in referenced to God changed from speaker to speaker. The people first refer to Him as Jeremiah\u2019s God while he refers to Him as their God, and, indeed, at the end they, too, acknowledge Him as their God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n[They said to Jeremiah] Let the LORD your God tell us where we should go and what we should do. The prophet Jeremiah answered them, \u201cAgreed: I will pray to the LORD your God as you request...\u201d Thereupon they said to Jeremiah\u2026 \u201cWe swear that we will do exactly as the LORD your God instructs us through you - Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will obey the LORD our God to whom we send you, in order that it may go well with us when we obey the LORD our God.\u201d (3-6)<\/span><\/p>\r\nShadal\u2019s explanation (on v.6) for the changes is as follows:<\/span><\/p>\r\nThey [later] said \u201cour God\u201d in the sense of obeying Him. Otherwise it would appear that they did not accept His lordship. However, when they said to Jeremiah \u201cyour God,\u201d their intention was that you are His servant and that was out of respect, as when Saul said to Samuel \u201cto sacrifice to the Lord your God\u201d (1 Samuel 15:15) and \u201cto bow before the Lord your God\u201d (30), and many others.<\/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\nImage: Arthur Szyk, The Four Sons (from his illustrated Haggadah), 1934 \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72191,"alt":"","title":"Jer42-The_Four_Sons","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons.jpg","width":448,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons.jpg","medium_large-width":448,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons.jpg","large-width":448,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons.jpg","1536x1536-width":448,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons.jpg","2048x2048-width":448,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons.jpg","post_full_size-width":448,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-The_Four_Sons-314x420.jpg","home_baner-width":314,"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":"Let The Lord YOUR God tell us!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Are they the wicked son? 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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":"442","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Jeremiah knows he can't spin God's message","post_main_content_content":"Jeremiah had an unenviable task ahead of him with the small band of Jews who remained in the lands of Judah following the Babylonian siege. They asked Jeremiah to pray for the answer to what they should do next, pledging to follow whatever God told them. Jeremiah was caught between a rock and hard place, knowing he couldn\u2019t refuse to fulfill what the people wanted to believe was a righteous proposition, while knowing that ultimately they were not going to make good on their promise.<\/span><\/p>\r\nJeremiah was no fool \u2013 he\u2019d been prophesying for a long time and knew the people well. So, when they asked him to pray to \u201c<\/span>your<\/span><\/i> God\u201d, rather than \u201c<\/span>our<\/span><\/i> God\u201d, it was clear they had disassociated themselves from God, paving the way to reject an unfavourable answer. Their choice of words offers other hints to the people\u2019s intentions. Malbim points out that they didn\u2019t ask\u00a0 if they should stay in their land or seek refuge in Egypt, but rather asked \u201cMay God tell us the way in which we should go (42:3)\u201d, inferring that they had already made up their mind to head to Egypt and were perhaps just looking for guidance on what route to take. Jeremiah attempted to prepare them to accept an answer they didn\u2019t want to hear by agreeing to pray to \u201c<\/span>your<\/span><\/i> God\u201d, and adding \u201c\u201cwhatever God answers I will tell you; I will not withhold anything (42:2-4).\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\nIt\u2019s pretty common to use prayer to ask God to validate a decision we\u2019ve already made rather than authentically ask for divine guidance in making a decision. \u201cPlease God, let me get this job\/this house\/the winning lottery ticket (that I\u2019ve already decided to take\/buy\/spend).\u201d It\u2019s human nature to ask for divine intervention in getting what we want but forget to ask for God\u2019s help in understanding what we need \u2013 what would be best for us in the biggest picture.<\/span><\/p>\r\nSo, what\u2019s a leader to do when placed in the situation of delivering news that will surely be met unfavourably by the populace and rejected? 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You can\u2019t spin God\u2019s message.<\/span><\/p>\r\nImage:\u00a0 by Ben Schachter, courtesy of the artist<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72194,"alt":"","title":"Jer42-MMorris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","width":1125,"height":511,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-300x136.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":136,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-768x349.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":349,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-1024x465.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":465,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1125,"1536x1536-height":511,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1125,"2048x2048-height":511,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","post_full_size-width":1125,"post_full_size-height":511,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-925x420.jpg","home_baner-width":925,"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":"Where Politics And Prophecies Differ\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jeremiah knows he can't spin God's message","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72194,"alt":"","title":"Jer42-MMorris","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","width":1125,"height":511,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-300x136.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":136,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-768x349.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":349,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-1024x465.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":465,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","1536x1536-width":1125,"1536x1536-height":511,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","2048x2048-width":1125,"2048x2048-height":511,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris.jpg","post_full_size-width":1125,"post_full_size-height":511,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer42-MMorris-925x420.jpg","home_baner-width":925,"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":"42","chapter_main_number":"442","date":"20270510","wall_id":"442"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":13,"id":"72252","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"2","name":"Stay Put And Wait It Out ","post_title":"Stay Put And Wait It Out","slug":"stay-put-and-wait-it-out","old_id":"72252","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"443","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Reading Jeremiah in these times...","post_main_content_content":"It\u2019s hard to read Jeremiah these days. Every word, every verse, doesn\u2019t just seem like an ancient prophecy of faraway, long gone times, but a gloomy vision into a future; a future when people will bear the ramifications of not listening to God and doing whatever they feel like for their own pleasures and desires; a future we have, maybe, lived, until a few days ago.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThese are tragic chapters, as we watch the remnants of the Jewish population in Judah, being scattered and decimated. When Jeremiah, the prophet, finishes his warning at the beginning of this chapter, telling the people that they should not go down to Egypt as they wished, the people, led by Yochanan ben Kareah yell at him: \u201cLiar! God did not send you; you are part of a conspiracy against us!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\nAt this point, they have been through too much and can\u2019t bear another piece of bad news. Life is extremely confusing: Gedaliah who was a Jewish leader, instated by the Babylonians, is dead; his murderer, an heir to the House of David, is trying to take over and restore the kingship violently; the land is desolate after siege, intrigues, destruction. It\u2019s hard to know where to go and what to do.<\/span><\/p>\r\nJeremiah seeks God\u2019s instructions. They all wait for 10 days for a reply; a favorable reply that will allow them to do what they want. Ten. Whole. Days. In \u201cspiritual quarantine\u201d, unable to move, perhaps food supplies diminishing, fights increasing... Their reaction demonstrates that they were hoping for, perhaps even counting on, a certain response: God will surely see their dire situation and allow them reprieve in Egypt. When they get a message they don\u2019t want to hear, they quickly and adamantly accuse the messenger, then rush to do the opposite, which leads to further disaster.<\/span><\/p>\r\nFascinating studies with Vietnam POW\u2019s, quoted in Jim Collin\u2019s book \u201cGood to Great\u201d, show that those who dreamed of \u2018I\u2019ll be home for Christmas, New-Years\u2019 etc. fared much worse in captivity than those with realistic expectations, focused on the here and now. Optimism? Yes; hope? Yes, of course, and faith, indeed. But, at the very same time, an awareness that just because we asked, even very nicely, or prayed, or any number of methods we use to try to manipulate a situation, it doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019ll get the answer we want. But then, we\u2019re met with helplessness, which drives us crazy; waiting is often so hard, especially considering the combination of unknown and danger we face. We start telling ourselves things like, \u2018by Pesach, it will be ok; by May\u2026 by summer\u2019\u2026 When, in reality, we don\u2019t know.<\/span><\/p>\r\nMaybe today\u2019s chapter is about not leaving Israel for Egypt, or about listening to the prophet, but for me, right now, it is about the need to develop an ability, even if at times, excruciating, to stay put and wait it out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72253,"alt":"","title":"jer43-post apocalyptic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","width":960,"height":848,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-300x265.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":265,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-768x678.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":678,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":848,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":848,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":848,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-475x420.jpg","home_baner-width":475,"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":"Stay Put And Wait It Out","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Reading Jeremiah in these times...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72253,"alt":"","title":"jer43-post apocalyptic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","width":960,"height":848,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-300x265.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":265,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-768x678.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":678,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":848,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":848,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":848,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":848,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer43-post-apocalyptic-475x420.jpg","home_baner-width":475,"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":"43","chapter_main_number":"443","date":"20270511","wall_id":"443"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"72286","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Two Egypts? ","post_title":"Two Egypts?","slug":"two-egypts","old_id":"72286","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":"444","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The ancient home of alchemy\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"In chapter 44, Jeremiah speaks to the Judeans who have fled to Egypt. He addresses them as follows:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u201cThe word which came to Jeremiah for all the Judeans living in the land of Egypt, living in Migdol, Tahpanhes, and Noph, and in the land of Pathros\u201d (Jeremiah 44:1)<\/span><\/p>\r\nHe mentions two \u201clands\u201d \u2013 Egypt (in Hebrew <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>) and Pathros. These correspond to an ancient division of Egypt between Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. While today our maps have north on top, and so we might think that \u201cupper\u201d means north, it is actually the opposite here. Upper Egypt had the highlands, and the Nile flows north from there to Lower Egypt, where it empties into the Mediterranean Sea.<\/span><\/p>\r\nThis division is reflected in the name Pathros, which in its original form in Ancient Egyptian meant \u201cthe southern land.\u201d But what about the origin of <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\r\nIn Hebrew, <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>\u00a0appears to be in the plural form, ending with the suffix <\/span>-im<\/span><\/em>. There is mention of a different form of the name, <\/span>Matzor<\/span><\/em>, in some biblical passages (e.g. Micah 7:12, II Kings 19:24) which is interpreted as the singular form of <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> According to some scholars, the original division had <\/span>Matzor<\/span><\/em>\u00a0meaning Lower Egypt, Pathros meaning Upper Egypt, and together they were <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 the two Egypts.<\/span><\/p>\r\nMatzor<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is likely related to a Semitic root meaning \u201cborder.\u201d In Hebrew we have the related word <\/span>metzar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0meaning \u201cnarrow place\u201d or \u201cstrait.\u201d Why was <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>\u00a0called that? Either because the meaning extended from \u201cborder\u201d to \u201cregion\u201d, and therefore applied to the entire land, or because the Egyptians were known for having strict borders (as seen in the story of Joseph and his brothers).<\/span><\/p>\r\nBut ancient Egyptians did not call their land <\/span>Matzor<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>or <\/span>Mitzrayim<\/span><\/em>. They called it something like \u201cKemet\u201d (or \u201ckm.t\u201d), which may echo Ham, the biblical father of <\/span>