{"id":72453,"date":"2018-07-09T17:47:14","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1090\/"},"modified":"2023-10-27T15:26:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T12:26:31","slug":"wall-1090","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1090\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20231022-to-20231028"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1090","date_from":"20231022","date_to":"20231028","book":"Jeremiah","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"118577","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"929 LIVE In Person ","post_title":"929 LIVE In 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Aram ","post_title":"Leaving Aram","slug":"leaving-aram","old_id":"36267","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34247,"post_title":"Robert Salehrabi","slug":"robert-salehrabi","old_id":"34247","first_name":"Robert ","last_name":"Salehrabi ","description":"Dr. Robert Salehrabi is an endodontist in private practice. He escaped from Iran along with his brother in 1985. His mother and sister left the following year, followed by his father who was smuggled out last. Robert lives with his wife and three children in Denver, CO. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Robert Salehrabi is an endodontist in in Denver, CO. He escaped from Iran along with his brother in 1985. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34266,"alt":"","title":"robert s","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/robert-s.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"12","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"I too left my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house. Like Abraham our father, I escaped from Aram Naharaim.","post_main_content_content":"

I too left my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house. Like Abraham our father, I escaped from Aram Naharaim.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It was September of 1985, and I was filled with anxiety. In just a number of days Shay, my fifteen year old brother, and I (then eighteen) would leave our parents, our sister, our community, and our birthplace Tehran. This was not going to be an easy journey physically or emotionally, we were leaving Iran, our family\u2019s home for the past 2,500 years.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

My mind was racing: what if we are caught by the Iranians? What if the truck breaks down in the desert, or worse if it is in an accident in an isolated location? What will happen if the smuggler hands us over? Even if we arrive safely, how am I going to adjust to life in a new country, live in a completely different culture? Nonetheless I knew, that if I wanted to evade the Iranian army, if I wanted to live a free Jewish future I needed to leave my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Tehran is in Northern Iran, and our plan was to cross the Southern border into Pakistan. Goodbye mom, Bye-bye dad, time to fly southeast to Zahedan. Upon arrival we followed the smuggler, without a word or gestures, through the airport to his car. There were two other Jewish boys in the car already, quite a relief. \u00a0The four of us were driven into a tiny village and left in a home. Our smuggler returned some two hours later with a pickup truck. We jumped into the bed and drove east, toward Pakistan. At some point the truck veered off the road into the desert, driving right through the roadless desert.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At around 10 PM, we entered a mountainous region, we were handed over to four motorcycles who drove us through the mountain pointing out the distant lights of the Iranian bases. After some six or so hours we stopped. One of the drivers pointed to a ditch, and said \u201cthere is the border, we have made into Pakistan.\u201d \u201cNo way\u201d I responded, \u201cwhere is the wall, the fence, the security guards?\u201d We drove two or so more miles, and were transferred into the truck of the Pakistani smugglers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After some thirty-six hours, after multiple exchanges we were in Pakistan. Not quite the promised land, but, the watermelon that I ate in a remote village near the border a couple of hours later tasted to me like it came straight from Eden.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The story is not just mine, and Shay\u2019s, it is the story of thousands of young Persian Jewish boys, who left behind their beautiful home and crossed the desert into Pakistan, or the hills into Turkey, who followed God\u2019s call to Abraham of <\/span>Lech Lecha<\/span><\/em>, \u201cgo forth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":102212,"alt":"","title":"-62120c2b8e90a--62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep desert.jpg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","width":1920,"height":1278,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-768x511.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":511,"large":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-1024x682.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":682,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1022,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1278,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-1200x799.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":799,"home_baner":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/07\/62120c2b8e90a-62120c2b8e90bgen12-jeep-desert.jpg-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":"My Own Private Lech-Lecha","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"I too left my land, my birthplace, my father\u2019s house. 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His teaching links Judaism to areas of social concern, personal creativity and the critical needs of family life.\r\nIn 2001 Rabbi Dov Berkovits founded Bet Av \u2013 Center for Creativity and Renewal in Torah in memory of his father, Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits, z\u201dl, . which became a focus for original Torah research and creative educational programming in areas of Judaism and the Arts and Jewish Environmental Philosophy.\r\nRabbi Berkovits has written widely on issues of Judaism and contemporary concern in Israel. He has published eight books including the \"The Temple of Life \u2013 Family Relationships and the Sanctity of Life\" and four volumes of \"Hadaf Hakiyumi \u2013 Teachings for Life from the Talmud\".\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dov Berkovits is the founder of Bet Av and has been a leader in innovative Torah education in Israel for forty years. ","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34010,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dov Berkovits","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","width":382,"height":410,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits-280x300.png","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","medium_large-width":382,"medium_large-height":410,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","large-width":382,"large-height":410,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","1536x1536-width":382,"1536x1536-height":410,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","2048x2048-width":382,"2048x2048-height":410,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","post_full_size-width":382,"post_full_size-height":410,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dov-Berkovits.png","home_baner-width":382,"home_baner-height":410}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"13","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What do Sodom, Egypt and the Garden of Eden have in common? Abundance - and threat","post_main_content_content":"

Water is the source of life everywhere on the planet, for too many a resource taken for granted. In the ancient Middle East control of a fresh water spring or well, of a river, was the source of economic power, culture, civilization, empire. In light of that, water in the Tanach becomes a \"mythic\" symbol.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The shepherds of Abraham and his nephew Lot are at odds over water and grazing lands for their large flocks. The family that came together from Babylon must separate. Abraham proposes that Lot move to the fertile valleys in the north of Israel, more suitable for grazing and that he would stay in the less arable south \u2013 or if Lot so chooses, he would take the trouble to travel to the north.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Lot chooses to go elsewhere, to the east, to the plain of the Jordan River blessed with plentiful water before the cataclysm that turned it into empty barren land. <\/span>We know well what Lot will find there \u2013 Sodom and Gomorrah. <\/span>The Torah's description of the fertile expanse links it to the source of life: \"like the garden of the Lord [of Eden], like the land of Egypt [watered by the mighty Nile].<\/span>\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But what connects these three areas in the Tanach's spiritual geography? Yes - All three are blessed with bountiful water so needed for survival and the flowering of civilization. Yet each in its own way symbolizes human failure \u2013 decadence, self interest, exploitation of the weak, cruelty, slavery and death. The Garden teaches that God blesses the world with abundance but it is always accompanied by the challenge of the snake, and the greater the blessing, the more menacing is the venom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Two alternative civilizations proliferate side by side - the pagan empires on the rivers and the Abrahamic family in the hills watered mostly by water from heaven. Together they make two very different statements concerning the source of life and the nature of the human spirit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Thomas Friedman in his book, \"Hot, Flat and Crowded\" wrote that societies with easily accessible energy resources are often totalitarian dictatorships while those with less available resources are often more democratic because of the need to develop human creativity. Nearly four thousand years earlier the Torah defines the basic challenge to the human spirit in similar terms.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Paganism, as theology and as morality, derives from the human predilection to use rich natural resources as a base for power and empire, exploitation and conquest \u2013 Sodom, Egypt and yes, the Garden. Alternatively, the belief that those resources are a Divine gift, and that human creativity in a spirit of humility can afford personal fulfillment for all humanity, can create a blessed planet \u2013 the \"Abrahamic revolution.\"<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36452,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_161025986","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986.jpg","width":3898,"height":3898,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Too Much Of A Good Thing","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What do Sodom, Egypt and the Garden of Eden have in common? Abundance - and threat","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":36452,"alt":"","title":"shutterstock_161025986","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986.jpg","width":3898,"height":3898,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/shutterstock_161025986-420x420.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":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"13","chapter_main_number":"13","date":"20250916","wall_id":"13"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"360","name":"Nature\/Environment","old_id":"760"},{"term_id":"435","name":"Water","old_id":"835"}]},{"order":4,"id":"36714","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Hagar: The Bible's First Theologian ","post_title":"Hagar: The Bible's First Theologian","slug":"hagar-the-bibles-first-theologian","old_id":"36714","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36663,"post_title":"Beth Kissileff","slug":"beth-kissileff","old_id":"36663","first_name":"Beth ","last_name":"Kissileff ","description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (2016 - https:\/\/www.bloomsbury.com\/us\/reading-genesis-9780567381521), and the forthcoming Reading Exodus, and the author of the novel Questioning Return - https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Questioning-Return-Novel-Beth-Kissileff\/dp\/1942134231. \r\nHer journalism appears in many publications; she has taught most recently at the University of Pittsburgh. Visit her online at www.bethkissileff.com. ","short_description":"Beth Kissileff is the editor of the anthology Reading Genesis (Bloomsbury\/ T and T Clark, 2016) , a journalist and teacher.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36664,"alt":"","title":"BethKissileff","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","width":3478,"height":3200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-300x276.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":276,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-768x707.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":707,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1024x942.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":942,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1413,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1884,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-1200x1104.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1104,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BethKissileff-e1533157952224-456x420.jpg","home_baner-width":456,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The nature of the God of Genesis is able to be grasped \u00a0by a woman who has been treated as an object in her household not by the master.","post_main_content_content":"

Something interesting happens to Hagar in the course of Genesis 16. She goes from being the Egyptian handmaid in the house of Sarah and Abraham to being the Bible\u2019s first theologian, seeing and describing the nature of God. Hagar moves from object to subject. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

In a recent book <\/span>The Cost of Living<\/span><\/em>, British writer Deborah Levy writes of an older man and a younger woman, \u201cIt had not occurred to him that she might not consider herself to be the minor character and him the major character. In this sense, she had unsettled a boundary, collapsed a social hierarchy, broken with the usual rituals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And yet, this is precisely the function of Hagar in Genesis 16. She is the one to experience a revelation from an angel, who meets her by a fountain of water in the desert when she has fled from Sarai, and tells her she will bear a son and his name will be Ishmael (with the root \u201csh-m-a\u201d to hear) since \u201cthe Lord has heard your affliction.\u201d(Genesis 16: 11) <\/span><\/p>\r\n

After her conversation with the angel something shifts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is the moment when Hagar speaks for herself and describes the God she has experienced. \u201cAnd she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, <\/span>You God see me<\/span><\/em> for she said, Have I also looked after him that sees me?\u201d(Genesis 16: 13) No one before her has had the capacity to describe God, yet Hagar portrays God as \u201c<\/span>El Roi<\/span><\/i>\u201d the \u201cDeity who sees.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hagar is the first individual to be able to grasp and characterize in language the magnitude of who and what God is, as pointed out by Dolores Williams in an essay \u201c<\/span>Hagar in African American Biblical Appropriation<\/span><\/a>.\u201d The nature of the God of Genesis is able to be grasped \u00a0by a woman who has been treated as an object in her household not by the master. <\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abraham argued with God (Genesis 18:17-33); Hagar described God. Who is a major character and who a minor one?<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":36806,"alt":"","title":"hagar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","width":626,"height":176,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-300x84.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":84,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":176,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":176,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":176,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":176,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":176,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","home_baner-width":626,"home_baner-height":176}},"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":"Hagar: The Bible's First Theologian","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The nature of the God of Genesis is able to be grasped \u00a0by a woman who has been treated as an object in her household not by the master.","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":36806,"alt":"","title":"hagar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","width":626,"height":176,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar-300x84.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":84,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","medium_large-width":626,"medium_large-height":176,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","large-width":626,"large-height":176,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","1536x1536-width":626,"1536x1536-height":176,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","2048x2048-width":626,"2048x2048-height":176,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","post_full_size-width":626,"post_full_size-height":176,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/hagar.jpg","home_baner-width":626,"home_baner-height":176}},"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":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"438","name":"Slavery","old_id":"838"}]},{"order":5,"id":"36697","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Abraham Father of Us All ","post_title":"Abraham Father of Us All","slug":"abraham-father-of-us-all","old_id":"36697","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36695,"post_title":"Samir Assi","slug":"samir-assi","old_id":"36695","first_name":"Samir ","last_name":"Assi ","description":"Sheikh Samir Assi is a leading Muslim cleric the imam and central preacher of the El-Jazzar Mosque, the main mosque of Acre","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36696,"alt":"","title":"Samir Aasi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Samir-Aasi.jpg","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"16","type_929":"2","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A Muslim View of Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael","post_main_content_content":"

We Muslims revere the Prophet Abraham: \"Ibrahim Abuna,\" Abraham our Father. For us, he is the father of all prophets. For that reason we mention his name in all five daily prayers. As everyone knows, he was born and lived much of his life in present-day Iraq, and called to cease the worship of statues and stars, and believe solely in the one God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nimrod, the king of Iraq, commanded that our Prophet Abraham of blessed memory, be burned, but God saved him from the furnace. King Nimrod released him, and Abraham left Iraq for the holy blessed soil of the Holy Land (Israel-Palestine). His wife Sarah accompanied him on the journey.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From there Abraham went down to Egypt, and there confronted Pharaoh who tried to molest Sarah. God saved Sarah from Pharaoh, who released the two of them, and gave Sarah Hagar as a handmaiden. The three of them then returned to the Holy Land.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Since Abraham was old, and Sarah was beyond child-bearing years, Sarah allowed Abraham to marry Hagar. When Hagar became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Ishmael, Sarah became jealous of Hagar. God commanded Abraham our Father to take Hagar and her son Ishmael to the desert. There he left them, because God wanted to bless Ishmael and make him the leader of a very great nation. Abraham our Father fulfilled God's wishes. He would visit them frequently there in the desert, concerning himself with their well-being, until he died and was buried in Hebron.<\/span><\/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":"Abraham Father of Us All","tile_main_caption":"We Muslims revere the Prophet Abraham: \"Ibrahim Abuna,\" Abraham our Father. For us, he is the father of all prophets.","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":"","old_create_date":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Torah","book":"Genesis","chapter":"16","chapter_main_number":"16","date":"20250921","wall_id":"16"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"418","name":"Abraham","old_id":"818"},{"term_id":"446","name":"Islam","old_id":"846"}]},{"order":6,"id":"36906","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Are Women Excluded From the Covenant? ","post_title":"Are Women Excluded From the Covenant?","slug":"are-women-excluded-from-the-covenant","old_id":"36906","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36841,"post_title":"Efrat Gerber-Aran","slug":"efrat-gerber-aran","old_id":"36841","first_name":"Efrat ","last_name":"Gerber-Aran ","description":"Efrat Gerber-Aran is an analyst, a writing seminar facilitator and social activist, who holds an undergraduate degree in Middle Eastern Studies and a Master\u2019s Degree in literature. Her research interests are in modern women\u2019s midrashim as an expression of modern Orthodox feminism in Israel.\r\n","short_description":"Efrat Gerber-Aran is an analyst, a writing seminar facilitator and social activist","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36842,"alt":"","title":"efrat gerber-aran","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","width":150,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","medium-width":150,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","medium_large-width":150,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","large-width":150,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","1536x1536-width":150,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","2048x2048-width":150,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","post_full_size-width":150,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/efrat-gerber-aran.png","home_baner-width":150,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Blessed is the Circumcision of the Heart","post_main_content_content":"

It is not that I am in favor of female circumcision (I am against it), but when I read Genesis Chapter 17, I cannot ignore the gender problem that arises from the commandment to perform circumcision. \u00a0Women do not participate in the covenant between God and the children of Abraham, and I would like to propose a midrash that will give an alternative understanding of circumcision.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the Torah of Moses we are told \u201cevery male among you shall be circumcised\u201d (Genesis 17:10), and it says, \"that shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you\" (17:11). \u00a0Our (male) Sages said: \u201cJust as circumcising the foreskin applies only to males, so too does the covenant that is \u2018between Me and you\u2019 apply only to males.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our female Sages objected: \u201cDoes the covenant really apply only to men? About Sarah the Torah states: \u2018I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations\u2019 (17:16), in order to teach us that God\u2019s blessing applies to both males and in females.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The men concurred with the women sages and said: \u201cCircumcision of the foreskin applies only to males, while the covenant \u2018between Me and you\u2019 applies to males and females alike.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And what is the covenant that applies to both males and females?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is <\/span>milat halev<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> the circumcision of the heart, as it is written: \"Cut away, therefore, the foreskin of your hearts\" (Deuteronomy 10:16).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And what does <\/span>milat halev<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>circumcision of the heart mean? \u00a0This is prayer, as it says: \"What is the service of God that is performed in the heart? It is prayer\u201d (Taanit 2a). <\/span><\/p>\r\n

From now on, do not say, \"Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your hearts,\" but rather \"and you shall verbalize (make into \u2018milah<\/em>\u2019 a word, instead of a circumcision, \u2018milah<\/em>\u2019) your heart.\" In other words, by virtue of the words we utter, our heart becomes a heart that feels and understands. \u00a0It sees the people around us and understands their pain.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At a covenantal birth ceremony, whether for a girl or a boy, we should pray - \"May it be Your will, that You circumcise the thickening of our hearts so that we shall see the other, the weak and the estranged, who are nevertheless created in Your image according to Your likeness. \u00a0Grant this baby girl or baby boy a heart that feels and understands. Blessed are You, God, who circumcises our hearts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":68454,"alt":"","title":"is58-heart-hand","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","width":1280,"height":1230,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-300x288.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":288,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-768x738.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":738,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1024x984.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":984,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1230,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1230,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1200x1153.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1153,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-437x420.png","home_baner-width":437,"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":"Are Women Excluded From the Covenant?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Blessed is the Circumcision of the Heart","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":68454,"alt":"","title":"is58-heart-hand","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","width":1280,"height":1230,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-300x288.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":288,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-768x738.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":738,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1024x984.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":984,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1230,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1230,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-1200x1153.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1153,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/is58-heart-hand-437x420.png","home_baner-width":437,"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":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"365","name":"Gender","old_id":"765"},{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"447","name":"Heart","old_id":"847"}]},{"order":7,"id":"36912","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"It Cuts Both Ways ","post_title":"It Cuts Both Ways","slug":"it-cuts-both-ways","old_id":"36912","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36149,"post_title":"Shai Secunda","slug":"shai-secunda","old_id":"36149","first_name":"Shai ","last_name":"Secunda","description":"Shai Secunda occupies the Jacob Neusner chair in Judaism at Bard College, where he directs the Interdisciplinary Study of Religions program. He is the author of The Iranian Talmud: Reading the Bavli in Sasanian Iran (Philadelphia, 2014), and The Talmud\u2019s Red Fence: Menstruation and Difference in Babylonian Judaism and its Sasanian Context (Oxford, 2020), and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture.","short_description":"Shai Secunda is a professor of Jewish studies at Bard College, and writes regularly for the Jewish Review of Books on Jewish scholarship and culture. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36150,"alt":"","title":"Shai Secunda","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","width":1202,"height":1287,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-280x300.jpg","medium-width":280,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-768x822.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":822,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-956x1024.jpg","large-width":956,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","1536x1536-width":1202,"1536x1536-height":1287,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599.jpg","2048x2048-width":1202,"2048x2048-height":1287,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-1121x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1121,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Shai-Secunda-e1532842797599-392x420.jpg","home_baner-width":392,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"17","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Your people claim you in birth and in death","post_main_content_content":"

The great American novelist, Philip Roth, had a complex relationship with Judaism and the Jewish people. To begin with, he was an atheist (though one of Judaism\u2019s secrets is its uncanny ability to absorb an endless array of permutations, including professing against the faith). As for peoplehood, Roth\u2019s early work was seen by the American Jewish community as a betrayal; it had the unforgivable timing of appearing only shortly after six million Jews were exterminated in Europe. Yet Roth\u2019s voice remained a Jewish voice, documenting the aches and breaks of the American Jewish immigrant experience, and weighing in on Jewish life, most successfully through the ventriloquism of fiction. In this way, Roth took on the specter of circumcision and its meaning for secular Jews with sharp profundity:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Circumcision makes it clear as can be that you are here and not there, that you are out and not in \u2013 also that you\u2019re mine and not theirs...Quite convincingly, circumcision gives the lie to the womb-dream of life in the beautiful state of innocent prehistory, the appealing idyll of living \u2018naturally,\u2019 unencumbered by man-made ritual. To be born is to lose all that. The heavy hand of human values falls upon you right at the start, marking your genitals as its own.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I often think of this passage, from <\/span>The Counterlife <\/span><\/i>(1986), when reading God\u2019s demand that Abraham and his male progeny circumcise themselves. It may seem that the cited approach here is a modern re-interpretation of an ancient ritual, but to my mind, it perfectly captures <\/span>milah<\/span><\/em>\u2019s<\/em> early, primitive truth. Circumcision reminds us of the persistent, primal claims that traditions, like Judaism, make of its people, whether they like it or not.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Roth died this spring and was buried in the Bard College cemetery. Supposedly, he chose that Hudson Valley idyll as his final resting place in order to be close to Hannah Arendt \u2013 another great Jew who had a tortured relationship with the Jewish people. Roth\u2019s funeral was a thoroughly secular affair, and yet I am confident that pilgrims to his grave will practice the Jewish custom of placing rocks on his tombstone, just as they do for Arendt. During life, we have the freedom, or at least its illusion, to chart our own path. But your people claim you in birth and in death.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":37126,"alt":"","title":"roth's books","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","width":3961,"height":2247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-300x170.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":170,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-768x436.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":436,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1024x581.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":581,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":871,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1162,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1200x681.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":681,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-740x420.jpg","home_baner-width":740,"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":"It Cuts Both Ways","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Your people claim you in birth and in death","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":37126,"alt":"","title":"roth's books","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","width":3961,"height":2247,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-300x170.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":170,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-768x436.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":436,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1024x581.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":581,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":871,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1162,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-1200x681.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":681,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/roths-books-e1533652582527-740x420.jpg","home_baner-width":740,"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":"17","chapter_main_number":"17","date":"20250922","wall_id":"17"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"445","name":"Fiction","old_id":"845"},{"term_id":"448","name":"Ritual","old_id":"848"}]},{"order":8,"id":"72470","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"To Be Or Not To Be Vengeful ","post_title":"To Be Or Not To Be Vengeful","slug":"to-be-or-not-to-be-vengeful","old_id":"72470","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":46656,"post_title":"Molly Morris","slug":"molly-morris","old_id":"46656","first_name":"Molly ","last_name":"Morris ","description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. Her particular area of interest is biblical leadership. Molly participates in the 929 initiative with a dedicated group from the Beth Avraham Yoseph of Toronto congregation. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Molly Morris holds a Masters degree in Leadership and Community Engagement. 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":"446","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Vengeance is the Lord\u2019s - therefore we don\u2019t have to\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Jeremiah 46 marks the beginning of a series of prophecies about the downfall of the nations that had a hand in Israel\u2019s destruction. Who are these prophecies for? Are they directed to the doomed nations themselves, or to Israel? Rabbi Menachem Leibtag proposes, as do many of our sages, that it is the latter. The intent of these prophecies, says Rabbi Leibtag, is to impact the Jewish people\u2019s relationship with God by informing how we see His hand in history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the beginning of these prophecies Jeremiah says, \u201cThat day will be a day of revenge for my Lord, a day of vengeance to avenge Himself of His enemies (46:10).\u201d Revenge. Vengeance. Avenge. These are difficult terms to reconcile with a God who commanded us \u201cDon\u2019t take vengeance (Leviticus 19:18).\u201d We\u2019re supposed to fashion ourselves in the image of God, but isn\u2019t the essence of vengeance simply reflecting back the image of our enemies? It all seems very contradictory.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The modern notion of vengeance is about giving as good as we get and getting even. But in the context of considering God as vengeful, what if we define vengeance not as the common human trait of needing to settle a score, but rather through a lens of divine justice. In that case we are compelled to consider that God, the ultimate source of true justice, has a higher intent than score-settling.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Aron Moss explains that if we truly understand God as the ultimate judge, and his \u201cvengeance\u201d as divine justice, then God has effectively liberated us from our own need to seek revenge. \u201c<\/span>It is precisely G\u2011d's vengefulness that enables humans to let go of the desire for revenge. We know there is a true Judge, and He will do justice. So, we humans can leave the vengeance to Him, and get on with living.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is not to say that we should stand idly by and be trampled. In Deuteronomy 22:26 we are commanded, \"If someone is coming to kill you, rise against him and kill him first.\" There are conditions under which we must take action, but revenge is not one of them. Our belief that the world is ultimately in God\u2019s hands extends to our national experience, at the hands of our neighbors and nations of the world, from biblical times through today. There is a plan, God\u2019s on it, and vengeance is His providence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0 Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, \"Justice and Divine Vengeance Pursuing Crime,\" 1808, The Louvre \/ wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72471,"alt":"","title":"jer46-divine vengeance","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","width":793,"height":656,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-300x248.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":248,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-768x635.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":635,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","large-width":793,"large-height":656,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","1536x1536-width":793,"1536x1536-height":656,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","2048x2048-width":793,"2048x2048-height":656,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","post_full_size-width":793,"post_full_size-height":656,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-508x420.jpg","home_baner-width":508,"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":"To Be Or Not To Be Vengeful","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Vengeance is the Lord\u2019s - therefore we don\u2019t have to","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72471,"alt":"","title":"jer46-divine vengeance","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","width":793,"height":656,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-300x248.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":248,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-768x635.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":635,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","large-width":793,"large-height":656,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","1536x1536-width":793,"1536x1536-height":656,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","2048x2048-width":793,"2048x2048-height":656,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance.jpg","post_full_size-width":793,"post_full_size-height":656,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-divine-vengeance-508x420.jpg","home_baner-width":508,"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":"46","chapter_main_number":"446","date":"20270516","wall_id":"446"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"72467","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Pharaoh Neco ","post_title":"Pharaoh Neco","slug":"pharaoh-neco","old_id":"72467","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":"446","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Stands up to Nebuchadnezzar\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Our chapter begins a series of Jeremiah\u2019s oracles against foreign nations (46-49 are particularly aimed at the nations surrounding Judah). Our chapter is entirely devoted to an oracle against Egypt. Jeremiah begins by directing his prophecy in a very specific way: \u201cConcerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, which was at the river Euphrates near Carchemish, and which was defeated by King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah\u201d (46:2). Jeremiah goes on to describe the Battle of Carchemish in dramatic poetry (verses 3-12). This seminal military event, which can be dated to about 605 BCE, is also described in a cuneiform tablet housed in the British Museum (BM 21946), part of what is known as the \u201cNebuchadnezzar Chronicle.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This text complements Jeremiah\u2019s description of the battle by claiming that Nebuchadnezzar (Nebuchadrezzar here and elsewhere) \"crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Carchemish. They fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat and beat them to non-existence\u2026\u201d. Jeremiah goes on to prophecy Nebuchadrezzar\u2019s unsuccessful attempts to invade and conquer Egypt (apparently in 601 BCE and again in 568 BCE, see also Jeremiah 43:8-13, Ezekiel 29:19-20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Extra-biblical sources add to what we know of Pharaoh Neco, who ruled Egypt from 610-595 BCE in the 26<\/span>th<\/span> dynasty whose capital was the city of Sais, in the Western Nile Delta. The 5<\/span>th<\/span> century BCE Greek historian, Herodotus (in his <\/span>Histories <\/span><\/i>II 158) relates that Neco began the construction of a forerunner to the modern Suez Canal. But this project was suspended when Neco began preparations for war. However, he is credited by Herodotus (<\/span>Histories <\/span><\/i>IV 42) with sending an expedition that set out from the Red Sea and successfully rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, returning to Egypt by way of the \u201cPillars of Hercules\u201d (the Strait of Gibraltar). Josephus (Antiquities X 5.1) relates that on his way to do battle at the Euphrates, Neco fought and killed the Judean king Josiah, who was blocking Neco\u2019s advance at Megiddo (see II Kings 23:29, compare II Chronicles 35:20-25). On his way back to Egypt, in Jerusalem, Neco deposed the young newly crowned king of Judah, Jehoahaz, and fined the Land a hundred talents of silver and a talent (about 75 lbs.) of gold. Neco replaced Jehoahaz with his brother, Eliakim, whom he renamed Jehoiakim (see II Chronicles 36:1-4).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jewish tradition (see Ginzberg, Legends of the Jews, \u201cThe Throne of Solomon\u201d) relates that Pharaoh Neco was one of those rulers who tried unsuccessfully to ascend and sit in the marvelous throne of King Solomon. When Neco tried to do so he was injured by one of the throne\u2019s mechanical lions resulting in his being referred to in Hebrew as <\/span>Neco <\/span><\/i>\u2013 i.e. \u201cthe Lame.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: A small kneeling bronze statuette, likely Necho II, now residing in the Brooklyn Museum \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72468,"alt":"","title":"jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","width":320,"height":780,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue-123x300.png","medium-width":123,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":780,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","large-width":320,"large-height":780,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":780,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":780,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":780,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue-172x420.png","home_baner-width":172,"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":"Pharaoh Neco","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Stands up to Nebuchadnezzar\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72468,"alt":"","title":"jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","width":320,"height":780,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue-123x300.png","medium-width":123,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":780,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","large-width":320,"large-height":780,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":780,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":780,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue.png","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":780,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer46-Necho-KnellingStatue-172x420.png","home_baner-width":172,"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":"46","chapter_main_number":"446","date":"20270516","wall_id":"446"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"72531","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"The Two Sides of Divine And Human Reality ","post_title":"The Two Sides of Divine And Human Reality","slug":"the-two-sides-of-divine-and-human-reality","old_id":"72531","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":72540,"post_title":"Elizabeth Breit","slug":"elizabeth-breit","old_id":"72540","first_name":"Elizabeth ","last_name":"Breit ","description":"Elizabeth Breit is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary expecting to graduate in 2022. She holds a BA in Religious Studies from Yale College and a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School. ","short_description":"Elizabeth Breit is a rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary expecting to graduate in 2022","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":72542,"alt":"","title":"elizabeth_breit","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","width":300,"height":235,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit-300x235.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":235,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":235,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":235,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":235,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":235,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":235,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/elizabeth_breit.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":235}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"447","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Protection and compassion vs. vengeance and destruction\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Consciously or not, I\u2019ve always imagined God to be a source of goodness, protection, safety, and compassion. And yet, throughout the book of Jeremiah, God is also a source of anger, destruction, vengeance, and tragedy. In Jeremiah 47, God promises to inflict such devastation on the Philistines that \u201cparents will not turn to help their children\u201d (v. 3). Parents will feel so helpless that they will turn their eyes from their children so that they won\u2019t see the harm done to them.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is a horrific image. And it is attributed to divine origin. It\u2019s upsetting. Even the text seems a bit flustered. \u201cWhy won\u2019t you stop?!\u201d a voice cries out (v. 6). It\u2019s not clear whether this voice is Jeremiah\u2019s or God\u2019s, relayed through Jeremiah. But the passage is unambiguous that this suffering is unstoppable because it is divine will. The verse begs for relief but knows that no respite will come. The \u201cyou\u201d invoked (who won\u2019t stop) is \u201cthe sword of God.\u201d So perhaps somehow God is simultaneously destroying and asking God\u2019s own self, \u201cwhy won\u2019t you stop?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What are we to make of that? Is God trapped in a cycle of violence? Maybe the text is meant as a reflection of painful human reality. It\u2019s not a value judgment or theological assertion, but a statement of fact, reflecting the series of betrayals that humans inevitably commit, and their consequences. So Israel will suffer, and so the nations will suffer. They all face punishment for their transgressions: Israel worshipping other gods and other nations harming Israel. We might be tempted to read this passage with satisfaction, noting that God\u2019s revenge is taken on our behalf. After all, God is destroying the Philistine enemy. But this passage comes on the heels of chapter after chapter of destruction inflicted on the Israelites. It\u2019s hard not to feel a sort of desperate sympathy. Whatever your nation, you\u2019ll face divine wrath. And there\u2019s not much room for self-satisfaction. So maybe it\u2019s a chapter that gives a sense of smallness, let\u2019s call it humility, in the onslaught of unavoidable violence, whether directed against us or against others. There isn\u2019t much space for pride when everyone is struck low.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But we aren\u2019t left with only powerlessness. Jeremiah also gives a sustaining promise: powers may rise and fall, there will be times of boon and of emptiness, Israel will suffer as all nations will suffer, but the thread of the Jewish people will never be entirely severed. Israel may be winnowed or dispersed, but God will not break the covenant (33:20). Maybe that strand of hope keeps us persevering in the face of overwhelming assault. In a time in which a Pharaoh wasn\u2019t just a character of the Exodus, long-ago escaped and destroyed, but your next-door neighbor attacking Gaza, maybe that is the reminder of God\u2019s compassion that Jeremiah needed to give.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":67678,"alt":"","title":"is45-good and evil","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil.jpg","width":1920,"height":1483,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-768x593.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":593,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-1024x791.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":791,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1483,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-1200x927.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":927,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-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":"","tile_main_caption":"The Two Sides of Divine And Human Reality","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Protection and compassion vs. vengeance and destruction","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":67678,"alt":"","title":"is45-good and evil","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil.jpg","width":1920,"height":1483,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-300x232.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":232,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-768x593.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":593,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-1024x791.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":791,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1483,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-1200x927.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":927,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is45-good-and-evil-544x420.jpg","home_baner-width":544,"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":"47","chapter_main_number":"447","date":"20270517","wall_id":"447"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"72523","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Philistines Be Upon Us! ","post_title":"Philistines Be Upon Us!","slug":"philistines-be-upon-us","old_id":"72523","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":"447","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"When did they become so uncouth?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In chapter 47, Jeremiah delivers a prophecy against the Philistines. He predicts that they will be destroyed in attacks both by the Egyptians and by the Babylonians.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Philistines, <\/span>[Pelishtim]<\/span><\/i> in Hebrew, were a people that lived on the southern Mediterranean coast of Canaan, and were long time rivals of Israel during the period of the judges and early kings. Their origin is not entirely clear, but it is likely they were from Aegean origin. This would make them related to the Greeks, and there is some linguistic evidence to support this. For example, the biblical word <\/span>[seren]<\/span><\/i> used to describe Philistine princes may be cognate with the Greek <\/span>[tyrannos]<\/span><\/i> meaning \u201clord, master\u201d and the origin of the English word \u201ctyrant.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A tradition of the Philistines coming from the Aegean is reflected in the Bible. In our chapter, Jeremiah calls them \u201cthe remnant from the Island of Caphtor\u201d (47:4), likely the island of Crete. The name <\/span>[Pelishtim] <\/span><\/i>(and the name of their land, <\/span>[Peleshet]<\/span><\/i>), also supports this approach. Beginning in post-Biblical Hebrew the root <\/span>[palash]<\/span><\/i> means \u201cto invade.\u201d (In Biblical Hebrew it meant \u201cto roll (in dust)\u201d but this apparently came from an earlier sense meaning, \u201cto burrow\u201d, which led to the later meaning of \u201cto invade.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is unclear whether <\/span>[Peleshet] <\/span><\/i>derives from <\/span>[palash].<\/span><\/i> Perhaps that was a name given to them by their Israelite neighbors (a phenomenon known as an exonym), or maybe their original name just happened to sound like <\/span>[palash]<\/span><\/i>. In either case, it\u2019s likely that the Israelites viewed the Philistines as invaders, and made an association between the two words.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How did \u201cphilistine\u201d become a person who doesn\u2019t appreciate arts and culture?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 1693, in the town of Jena, Germany, there was tension between university students and residents of the town. This tension became violent, and several students were killed by townspeople, after having fallen asleep at their table in an inn. At the funeral, the university pastor evoked the story of Samson and the Philistines, where Samson was attacked after falling asleep.\u00a0 He quoted Judges 16:20 \u2013 \"the Philistines be upon you, Samson.\" This became the rallying cry of the students, who called the uncultured townsfolk Philistines. This usage eventually spread into English.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Illustration depicting a Philistine victory over the Israelites (1896), from,: The Art Bible, with numerous illustrations, G. Newnes \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72524,"alt":"","title":"jer47-philistines","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","width":800,"height":792,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-300x297.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-768x760.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":760,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":792,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":792,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":792,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":792,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-424x420.jpg","home_baner-width":424,"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":"Philistines Be Upon Us!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"When did they become so uncouth?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72524,"alt":"","title":"jer47-philistines","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","width":800,"height":792,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-300x297.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-768x760.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":760,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":792,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":792,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":792,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":792,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer47-philistines-424x420.jpg","home_baner-width":424,"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":"47","chapter_main_number":"447","date":"20270517","wall_id":"447"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"72606","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Jeremiah Knew his \u201cNumbers\u201d ","post_title":"Jeremiah Knew his \u201cNumbers\u201d","slug":"jeremiah-knew-his-numbers","old_id":"72606","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34243,"post_title":"Moshe Sokolow","slug":"moshe-sokolow","old_id":"34243","first_name":"Moshe","last_name":"Sokolow","description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University, and teaches a weekly class in parashat hashavu`a at Lincoln Square Synagogue. He is the author of TANAKH: An Owner\u2019s Manual (Jerusalem: Urim\/Ktav, 2015).\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Dr. Moshe Sokolow is Associate Dean of the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34244,"alt":"","title":"sokolow","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","width":302,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow-300x298.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":298,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","medium_large-width":302,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","large-width":302,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","1536x1536-width":302,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","2048x2048-width":302,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","post_full_size-width":302,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sokolow.jpg","home_baner-width":302,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"448","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Future prophecies based on past events\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The published commentary of Shadal* to the Book of Jeremiah ends in Chapter 47, obliging us to offer our own observations on the balance of the book.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this chapter, which is devoted to a detailed prophecy on Moab, there are some striking similarities to a passage in the Book of Numbers. For the Israelites to cross (from east to west) into its Promised Land, they had to traverse the territories of Ammon, Moab, Edom, and the Amorites. However, God had prohibited them from provoking the first three, who were related to them (Ammon and Moab through Lot, and Edom\/Seir through Esau), or from crossing through their territories, so they were forced into a confrontation with Sihon, King of the Amorites (Numbers 21:21 ff.).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After a successful military engagement, Israel occupied the land of the Amorites, which also included territory that the Moabites had lost to the Amorites in an earlier war. The Torah celebrated that victory as follows:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Therefore, the bards would recite: \u201cCome to Heshbon; firmly built and well-founded is Sihon\u2019s city. For fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from Sihon\u2019s city, consuming Ar of Moab, the lords of Bamoth by the Arnon. Woe to you, O Moab! You are undone, O people of Chemosh! His sons are rendered fugitive and his daughters captive, by an Amorite king, Sihon.\u201d (Numbers 21: 27 ff.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Compare that poem to verses 45-47 of our chapter:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from the midst of Sihon, consuming the brow of Moab, the pate of the people of Shaon. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons are carried off into captivity, your daughters into exile. But I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come\u2014declares the LORD.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Arguably, the ancient victory song was sufficiently popular in the age of Jeremiah that he capitalized on it, predicting that what had befallen it in the past would ensue in the future, albeit ending on a note of consolation.<\/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: The Conquest of the Amorites, James Tissot, c. 1896\u20131902 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":49530,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","width":800,"height":607,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-300x228.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":228,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-768x583.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":583,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":607,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":607,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":607,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":607,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-554x420.jpg","home_baner-width":554,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Jeremiah Knew his \u201cNumbers\u201d","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Future prophecies based on past events","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":49530,"alt":"","title":"Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","width":800,"height":607,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-300x228.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":228,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-768x583.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":583,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":607,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":607,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":607,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":607,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Dt3-Tissot_The_Conquest_of_the_Amorites-554x420.jpg","home_baner-width":554,"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":"48","chapter_main_number":"448","date":"20270518","wall_id":"448"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":13,"id":"72609","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Pain And Suffering, Public And Private ","post_title":"Pain And Suffering, Public And Private","slug":"pain-and-suffering-public-and-private","old_id":"72609","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. 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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":"448","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Then, as now, people needed to share their sorrows, along with their joys\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In the course of a lengthy description of the disasters in store for Moab, Jeremiah exclaims, apparently redundantly, \u201cOn all the roofs of Moab and in its squares, there is naught but lamentation\u201d (48:38).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why mention roofs and squares specifically, and why both?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We could simply read the verse as describing an outpouring of grief; Moab is being destroyed, and its citizens\u2019 pain pushes past the walls and roofs of their homes. Mentioning roofs and squares together portrays a grief that pours out in every direction, enhancing the reader\u2019s sense of just how bad things could be.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Radak explains, \u201cOn all the roofs of Moab \u2013 in the open. Lamentation will be on the roofs, where people will see them; and similarly, in the squares.\u201d For Radak, the significant detail about roofs and squares is their openness, and he is careful to note that the point is the same for both.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Reading this verse in the midst of COVID-19 and \u201csocial distancing,\u201d however, I was struck not by the similarity but by a difference between \u201croofs\u201d and \u201csquares\u201d: A roof is part of one\u2019s house and might still be isolated from others, while public squares, these days, are off-limits. We sit apart from each other, confined to our own homes and avoiding the mass gatherings that might take place in a \u201csquare.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But that is precisely where Radak\u2019s point about the similarity becomes crucial.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The reason the openness of roofs and squares is important, says Radak, is that they are \u201cseen.\u201d It\u2019s a modern buzzword, to talk about one being \u201cseen\u201d in one\u2019s pain, but it seems the human need for that visibility is ancient. Radak\u2019s comment suggests a sorrow that bursts out of the Moabite homes to be seen \u2013 to be shared. It\u2019s a shared pain both because everyone is suffering it and because they see each other suffering it.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Even as we sense the painful difference between lamenting on one\u2019s own rooftop and coming together in the square, perhaps Radak has a point: Both roofs and squares are visible to others. Even in Radak\u2019s day, even in Jeremiah\u2019s \u2013 and certainly with today\u2019s world wide web of connection \u2013 individuals in crisis could be visible to each other, could see each other, could be with each other even while physically separate.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And it\u2019s not only lamentation that can be shared from rooftop to rooftop. The image of each Moabite lamenting alone on a rooftop echoes the balcony wedding celebrations and other socially-distant gatherings that have taken place in recent weeks, people sharing their joy from balcony to balcony in the same way Moabites might have shared their lamentations from rooftop to rooftop.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There will always be joys to celebrate, and creative ways to display and share our joys as well as our sorrows \u2013 on each rooftop for now, and similarly, when we can finally descend and join together again in the public squares.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72611,"alt":"","title":"Jer48-cityscape","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape.png","width":1280,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Pain And Suffering, Public And Private","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Then, as now, people needed to share their sorrows, along with their joys","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72611,"alt":"","title":"Jer48-cityscape","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape.png","width":1280,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1280,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Jer48-cityscape-420x420.png","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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Jeremiah","chapter":"48","chapter_main_number":"448","date":"20270518","wall_id":"448"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"72457","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"The Ongoing Feud With The Edomites ","post_title":"The Ongoing Feud With The Edomites","slug":"the-ongoing-feud-with-the-edomites","old_id":"72457","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":"449","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A conflict that goes back to the womb\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In II Kings, the actual destruction of Jerusalem is attributed to Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, who successfully accomplished his mission.Psalms 137 and Jeremiah 49 tell us another bona fide account of the Edomites arriving in the area of Judah during the siege, settling the southern Hebron hills, and serving as auxiliaries to Nebuzaradan's army of destruction.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The most explicit source of this tradition is Psalms 137, composed from the perspective of the Babylonian exiles: \"By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat and indeed wept as we remembered Zion.\" This psalm is best known for the exiles' oath: \"If I forget you, O Jerusalem....\" But the subsequent verses are not nearly as well-known:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cRemember, O Lord, what the Edomites did on the day of Jerusalem's fall, when they said: Destroy! Destroy it to its foundations! Daughter of Babylonia, doomed to destruction, praised is he who repays you, visiting upon you what you visited upon us. Praised is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rock!\u201d (137:7-9).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The exiled Jews swear revenge against the Edomites, who rejoiced at the fall of Jerusalem and made sure it was razed to the ground. To comprehend the enormity of this rage, we must understand the history of Edomite-Israelite relations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The connection between these two nations began, of course, with the struggle between Jacob and Esau in their mother's womb (according to Jewish tradition, Esau is the progenitor of Edom) and the Biblical story of the Israelites asking to cross through Edomite land (Num. 20) and being refused.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Centuries later, the two rivals met again. King David set out to conquer Edom and take its copper mines and trade routes. From the little information the verses offer us, we can ascertain that David's army massacred the Edomites, wiping out every male. Only Hadad, an Edomite prince, managed to escape to Egypt, where he was granted political asylum (II Sam. 8:14). The Edomites constantly attempted to regain their independence and remove Judah's yoke.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One of the most shocking events in the history of this fraught relationship occurred during the reign of King Amaziah of Judah. Scripture describes how Amaziah killed ten thousand Edomites and led another ten thousand captives to the rocky cliffs atop the Edomite city of Selah (possibly today's Petra), where he cast them down to their deaths (II Chr. 25:12). This was no act of war, but an act of vengeance. We can imagine how the Edomites preserved the memory of this atrocity from generation to generation, until they were finally presented with the opportunity to take revenge.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cWho Destroyed Jerusalem: Different Spiritual Traditions\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":"The Ongoing Feud With The Edomites","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A conflict that goes back to the womb","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":"49","chapter_main_number":"449","date":"20270519","wall_id":"449"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":15,"id":"72740","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"We Are Family ","post_title":"We Are Family","slug":"we-are-family","old_id":"72740","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64462,"post_title":"Analia Bortz","slug":"analia-bortz","old_id":"64462","first_name":"Analia ","last_name":"Bortz ","description":"Rabbi Dr. Analia Bortz is a medical doctor with postdoctoral studies in Bioethics. 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Israel are scattered sheep, harried by lions. First the king of Assyria devoured them, and in the end King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon crunched their bones.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Assuredly, thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: I will deal with the king of Babylon and his land as I dealt with the king of Assyria.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>And I will lead Israel back to his pasture, and he shall graze in Carmel and Bashan, and eat his fill in the hill country of Ephraim and in Gilead.<\/span>
\r\n<\/span>In those days and at that time \u2014declares the LORD\u2014 The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, and there shall be none; The sins of Judah, and none shall be found; For I will pardon those I allow to survive. (Jer. 50:17-20)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah finally get together again in the words of Jeremiah. So much animosity for such a long period of time since the death of King Solomon concludes with the hope that after they have been defeated by the Assyrians (the kingdom of Israel) and the Babylonians (the kingdom of Judah) \u201cTheir Redeemer is mighty, His name is LORD of Hosts. He will champion their cause\u2014 So as to give rest to the earth\u201d (Jer. 50:34).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Jeremiah who lives after the Assyrian exile in the southern kingdom of Judah attempts to recreate the necessity of bonding between the two kingdoms. The Prophet realizes that the true enemy is attacking from outside and the alternative is to weave the internal web net of understanding each other and uniting both kingdoms. God will reside and guide the people of Israel composed by both kingdoms.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When the matriarch Rachel cries for her children going into exile, she shares the tears of both kingdoms.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Professor Marvin A. Sweeney sustains <\/span>Rachel\u2019s children in Jeremiah referred only to the northern tribes of Israel, i.e., the Joseph tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh), and Benjamin, who are, in fact, her children according to the Bible. They also naturally pass by Beth-el, which was a large city in the Northern Kingdom (Amos 7:13), on their way into exile and on their way back home. After the revision of the oracles in light of the destruction of Judah and the exile of the Judahites to Babylon, Rachel\u2019s crying no longer refers to only her \u201csons\u201d the Rachel tribes, but to all Israel and Judah, who would return to YHWH and Jerusalem following the Babylonian Exile.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Book of Jeremiah thus demonstrates both the continuity and the versatility of Jewish tradition, geopolitically, mixing the tears of Rachel\u2019s northern kingdom with Jeremiah\u2019s southern kingdom of Judah. God appears as the one who crowns the unification of the entire people, bringing solace and comfort and re-establishing harmony.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Man\u00e9-Katz,\u00a0 Rachel Weeping for Her Children, Man\u00e9-Katz Museum, c. 1940s<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":72741,"alt":"","title":"jer50-rachel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","width":1024,"height":709,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-300x208.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":208,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-768x532.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":532,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-1024x709.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":709,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":709,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":709,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":709,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-607x420.jpg","home_baner-width":607,"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":"We Are Family","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"North and South - back together again","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":72741,"alt":"","title":"jer50-rachel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","width":1024,"height":709,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-300x208.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":208,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-768x532.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":532,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-1024x709.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":709,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":709,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":709,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":709,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/jer50-rachel-607x420.jpg","home_baner-width":607,"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":"50","chapter_main_number":"450","date":"20270520","wall_id":"450"},"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":"","other_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/72453"}],"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=72453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}