{"id":72897,"date":"2018-07-09T17:47:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-460\/"},"modified":"2023-11-09T16:08:24","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T14:08:24","slug":"wall-460","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-460\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Prophets-Ezekiel-8"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"460","date":"20270603","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"72909","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"JPS Audio Bible - Ezekiel Chapter 8 ","post_title":"JPS Audio Bible - Ezekiel Chapter 8","slug":"jps-audio-bible-ezekiel-chapter-8","old_id":"72909","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"460","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"JPS Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"Ezekiel Chapter 8","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"Hear the daily chapter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-753876298\/jps_audio_bible_ezekiel_chapter_8","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"118752","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The All-Seeing God\u00a0","post_title":"The All-Seeing God\u00a0","slug":"the-all-seeing-god","old_id":"118752","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"O mortal, have you seen what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the darkness?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Ezekiel is hanging out with the elders of Israel in exile in Babylonia and suddenly God whisks him away to Jerusalem in a trance. What seems like a nice virtual reality tour of the Temple turns into a parade of horribles. God shows Ezekiel every corner of the Temple, behind closed doors and in secret chambers. In each place the people are performing various forms of Idol worship, including bowing down to the sun goddess who makes an appearance at the end of Jeremiah. The people have a straightforward motivation:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Again [God] spoke to me, \u2018O mortal, have you seen what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the darkness, everyone in his image-covered chamber? For they say, \u2018GOD does not see us; GOD has abandoned the country\u2019\u201d (verse 12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a bit of irony in their reasoning. The people claim that God has abandoned them and Jerusalem and therefore they have no other choice but to worship other gods, but of course it was their abandonment of God that led to the destruction in the first place. The people also complain that because God has abandoned them, God does not see them. By bringing Ezekiel to the Temple, God shows Ezekiel that God sees everything. God also shows Ezekiel that the people are wrong. God did not abandon the city. If God truly abandoned the city God would not care what goes on there. Instead, and despite the destruction, God cares very much what goes on in Jerusalem.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":95188,"alt":"","title":"job34-dark hide hole","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole.jpg","width":1440,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole.jpg","2048x2048-width":1440,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"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 All-Seeing God\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"O mortal, have you seen what the elders of the House of Israel are doing in the darkness?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":95188,"alt":"","title":"job34-dark hide hole","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole.jpg","width":1440,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-768x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-768x1024.jpg","large-width":768,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole.jpg","1536x1536-width":1152,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole.jpg","2048x2048-width":1440,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-900x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":900,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/job34-dark-hide-hole-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"384","name":"God","old_id":"784"},{"term_id":"443","name":"See\/hear","old_id":"843"},{"term_id":"778","name":"Temple","old_id":"1178"}]},{"order":3,"id":"118743","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Facing East in Prayer \u2013 Then and Now ","post_title":"Facing East in Prayer \u2013 Then and Now","slug":"facing-east-in-prayer-then-and-now","old_id":"118743","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":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It wasn\u2019t always the thing\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Our<\/span> chapter<\/span><\/a> begins the second of Ezekiel\u2019s vision reports, which continue to the end of Chapter 11. In this organically structured literary unit, Ezekiel is lifted up by his hair by the hand of God and transported from Babylon to Jerusalem, where he is shown the abominations in the Temple. Some of the most terrible abominations that the prophet describes are recorded in<\/span> Ezekiel 8:16<\/span><\/a>:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Then [God] brought me into the inner court of the House of God\u2026were about twenty-five men, their backs to the Temple of God and their faces to the east; they were bowing low to the sun in the east<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This clearly refers to some kind of Israelite<\/span> sun worship<\/span><\/a>. An important part of the religious reformation during the reign of King Josiah, who ruled Judah from 640 to 609 BCE (see II Kings 22:1-23:30), was supposedly the eradication of the final vestiges of such veneration of the sun (see II Kings 23:5 & 11).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nevertheless, veneration of the sun seems to have survived among some Jews into Second Temple times. The 1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE Jewish Historian, Josephus Flavius, describes the Essenes (perhaps to be identified with the Qumran sect) as supplicating the sun to rise at dawn (<\/span>see War 2:128<\/span><\/a>). Also, in the 1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE, the Hellenistic Jewish Philosopher, Philo of Alexandria, describes the sect of the<\/span> Therapeutae<\/span><\/a> as \u201cturning their eyes and their whole body toward the East. And when they see the sun rising, they raise their hands toward the heaven, and pray\u2026\u201d (<\/span> On the Contemplative Live<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

On the basis of<\/span> Ezekiel 8:16<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> Talmud Yerushalmi<\/span><\/a> rules that one may pray in any direction other than to the East. Moreover,<\/span> Talmud Bavli<\/span><\/a> (see also<\/span> Rashi on Ezekiel 8:16<\/span><\/a>) describes Ezekiel\u2019s vision of men turning their backs to the Temple and bowing to the sun in the East in downright scatological terms!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In what seems to be a rejection of Ezekiel\u2019s vision of east-facing sun-worshiping, the<\/span> Mishnah<\/span><\/a> describes a<\/span> Water Drawing Ceremony<\/span><\/a> referred to as<\/span> Simhat Beit Ha-Shoeva<\/span><\/a>. When they [the celebrants] reached the gate [of the Temple compound] which leads out to the east, they turned their faces from east to west and said,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Our fathers who were in this place, their backs were toward the Temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, and they worshiped the sun toward the east , but as for us, our eyes are turned to the Lord.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Since the time of<\/span> Daniel<\/span><\/a>, Jews have been facing Jerusalem in prayer. According to<\/span> Talmud Bavli Berakhot<\/span><\/a>, one standing in prayer in the East turns to face west, and one standing in the West turns to east\u2026Consequently, all Israel focus their hearts toward the Holy of Holies in the Temple. Jews to the West of Jerusalem typically place a<\/span> \u201c<\/span>mizrach<\/span><\/a>\u201d on an eastern wall to indicate the correct direction of prayer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Mizrah Leaf with with Shiviti motif (New York, 1939-1940)\u201c\u05ea\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05dc\u05d0 \u05db\u05d5\u05d5\u05e0\u05d4 \u05db\u05d2\u05d5\u05e3 \u05d1\u05dc\u05d0 \u05e0\u05e9\u05de\u05d4\u201d (tfilla b\u2019lo kavana k\u2019guf b\u2019lo neshama<\/em>), \u201cprayer without intention (kavana) is like a body without a soul.\" Magnes Database Record (CC)<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":118749,"alt":"","title":"-654ca7b5e236c--654ca7b5e236dezek8-mizrach 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Secrets Of Chashmal ","post_title":"The Secrets Of Chashmal","slug":"the-secrets-of-chashmal","old_id":"73329","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":70715,"post_title":"Judry Subar","slug":"judry-subar","old_id":"70715","first_name":"Judry ","last_name":"Subar","description":"Judry Subar, who lives in Potomac, Maryland, spent most of his professional career as a lawyer with the federal government in Washington, DC. 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Since his retirement, he has been involved in various writing and educational projects.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":70716,"alt":"","title":"judry subar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":400,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":400,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":400,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","post_full_size-width":400,"post_full_size-height":400,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","home_baner-width":400,"home_baner-height":400}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Burns with a pulsating, electric form - ephemeral, well-grounded and utterly strong\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Figures of flame and amber. Resplendent angels. In Chapter 8, Ezekiel renews his acquaintance with the strange creatures he met in Chapter 1, beings that allow him to perceive the goings on in the heavenly court. But maybe the multi-eyed beasts he got to know in Chapter 1\u2019s celestial drama are members of a different species than the one Ezekiel encounters here. After all, in Chapter 1, we\u2019re told explicitly that the flying things had the form of humans, while the Chapter 8 fellow (there\u2019s just one of him) isn\u2019t given anything like an animal identity for another couple of chapters, and maybe not even then. For all our chapter tells us, at least according to its traditional reading, this figure is just a mix of fire and \u201cchashmal,\u201d a curious ingredient that we met earlier in the book. Maybe what we have here is an entity that burns with a pulsating, electric form, but that seems to lack the substantiality that Ezekiel seeks as he receives a divine communication.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let\u2019s consider the two elements that make up Ezekiel\u2019s new friend. On the one hand, we have what verse 2 terms \u201ceish,\u201d fire. The lower half of this disembodied body, we\u2019re told, is nothing but fire. T.S. Eliot\u2019s <\/span>Little Gidding<\/span><\/i> says that \u201cthe fire and the rose are one,\u201d hinting at a parallel between flame that consumes and warms even as we cannot hold it in our hands and the subtle but powerful notes of a flower\u2019s scent. Perhaps, then, the creature described here wafts but does not fly, hovers but never touches the world below.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And then we have <\/span>chashmal <\/span><\/i>-- the top half of our creature\u2019s figure is the same color as <\/span>chashmal<\/span><\/i>. JPS translates this term as \u201camber,\u201d the super-hard resin that can preserve eons-old organic matter. Because rubbing amber produces static electricity, and because amber in ancient Greek was <\/span>elektron, <\/span><\/i>the relationship between <\/span>chashmal <\/span><\/i>meaning amber and <\/span>chashmal <\/span><\/i>meaning electricity in Modern Hebrew makes sense. (This connection is explained further <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>). Various rabbinic sources understand chashmal as referring to a category in the taxonomy of angels. So we have a figure partly composed of something that might be unchangeable, or maybe is constantly changing, or perhaps is simply out of this world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Does this then mean that the Chapter 8 being is ephemeral, well-grounded and utterly strong all at once? The Septuagint offers another perspective, understanding the appearance of the creature not as \u201ceish,\u201d fire, but as man, \u201cish.\u201d We can wonder, then, whether Ezekiel had a fundamentally human experience when the creature facilitated his vision, described later in our chapter, of the human error about which he prophesied.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73330,"alt":"","title":"ez8-electricity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Secrets Of Chashmal","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Burns with a pulsating, electric form - ephemeral, well-grounded and utterly strong\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":73330,"alt":"","title":"ez8-electricity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-300x169.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":169,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-768x432.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":432,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-1024x576.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":576,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-1200x675.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-electricity-747x420.jpg","home_baner-width":747,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"73332","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Idolatry, Destruction And Exile ","post_title":"Idolatry, Destruction And Exile","slug":"idolatry-destruction-and-exile","old_id":"73332","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":72948,"post_title":"Tova Ganzel","slug":"tova-ganzel","old_id":"72948","first_name":"Tova ","last_name":"Ganzel ","description":"Dr. Tova Ganzel is the Director of the Midrasha at Bar-Ilan University, and is one the first trained women\u2019s halakhic advisors (Yoatzot Halacha). She received her PhD from Bar-Ilan\u2019s Department of Bible Studies, and teaches at the Institute for Advanced Torah Studies at Bar-Ilan University. 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The consequence foretold in Deuteronomy for idolatry is exile. Along with this message, Ezekiel\u2019s prophecy again emphasizes that these acts by the people have caused the defilement of the nation, the land, and the Temple \u2013 a result not mentioned in Deuteronomy but in Leviticus. However, there is a quantitative difference: in Leviticus, only two verses speak of idolatry as causing defilement of the people and of the Temple, while in Ezekiel this issue appears in no less than thirty verses. The necessity of repeatedly emphasizing this matter during Ezekiel\u2019s time is understandable bearing in mind the constant presence of false prophets, who continued to insist that the Temple would not be destroyed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ezekiel\u2019s descriptions of the varieties of idolatry committed by the people deliberately follows the style employed in Deuteronomy in the commands and warnings not to follow the deeds of the nations and not to serve their gods. This technique lends additional validity to Ezekiel\u2019s prophecies about the sins \u2013 particularly about the punishment that God will bring. In addition, the nation\u2019s sin is amplified through a broad generalization of all the different types of idolatry and their enumeration together in Chapter 8. In this way the prophet underlines the prophetic message that he is conveying: the sins of the people have included idolatry, and this represents justification for the imminent destruction and exile.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Posted in conjunction with hatanach.com. For full article, <\/span>see here<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73333,"alt":"","title":"ez8-exile","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Idolatry, Destruction And Exile","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The punishment fits the crime","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":73333,"alt":"","title":"ez8-exile","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-exile-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"73317","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Hoist with Their Own Petard ","post_title":"Hoist with Their Own Petard","slug":"hoist-with-their-own-petard","old_id":"73317","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":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Or - beaten with their own branches\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In this chapter, God transported Ezekiel from Babylon to Jerusalem, where he had a ringside seat to the many abominations that were still being practiced in and around the Temple. Afterwards, He said to him: \u201cDo you see, O mortal? Is it not enough for the House of Judah to practice the abominations that they have committed here, that they must fill the country with lawlessness and provoke Me still further and thrust the branch to their nostrils?\u201d (17).<\/span> What does thrusting a branch into one\u2019s nostrils signify?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Note, first, that this odd locution comes at the end of a sentence that is, itself, divided in two. Its beginning addresses the various abominations that were on display in the preceding verse, but it segues, in the second part, into the more general \u201clawlessness\u201d (<\/span>chamas<\/span><\/i>, see Genesis 6:11), which usually signifies social wrongdoing. Does the thrusting relate to one, the other, or both?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi, following the Talmud (Yoma 77a), treated <\/span>zemorah<\/span><\/i> as the sound of breaking wind\u2014recalling that \u201ctheir backs were to the Temple\u201d (6)\u2014and, as Moshe Greenberg explained, \u201ceither literally, or figuratively (i.e., an allusion to the odor of idolatrous offerings), a contemptuous flouting of God\u201d (173). Kara, and, to an extent, Eliezer of Beaugency, interpreted it to mean that they had kept about them items that they should have discarded (with <\/span>zemorah<\/span><\/i> meaning a branch that is usually pruned) with which they would eventually be beaten in punishment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hence, our title, courtesy of Shakespeare (Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 4). Not only does the expression hoist with one\u2019s own petard embody Kara\u2019s interpretation, but petard, a small bomb, <\/span>derives <\/span>etymologically<\/span> from the <\/span>Latin<\/span> pedere<\/span><\/i> (\"to break wind\"), so even Rashi\u2019s interpretation fits. As to why they would be doing it to their own noses, Radak pointed out that this is one of the eighteen biblical instances of euphemistic speech, and its intended destination was really God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Illustration of a petard from \"Sketchbook on military art, including geometry, fortifications, artillery, mechanics, and pyrotechnics,\" 17th C. \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73318,"alt":"","title":"ez8-petard","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","width":800,"height":559,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-300x210.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":210,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-768x537.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":537,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":559,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":559,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":559,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":559,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-601x420.jpg","home_baner-width":601,"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":"Hoist with Their Own Petard","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Or - beaten with their own branches","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":73318,"alt":"","title":"ez8-petard","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","width":800,"height":559,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-300x210.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":210,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-768x537.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":537,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":559,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":559,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":559,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":559,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-petard-601x420.jpg","home_baner-width":601,"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":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"73282","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Ezekiel\u2019s Heavenly Ascent to Confront Hiram, King of Tyre ","post_title":"Ezekiel\u2019s Heavenly Ascent to Confront Hiram, King of Tyre","slug":"ezekiels-heavenly-ascent-to-confront-hiram-king-of-tyre","old_id":"73282","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":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The high price of pride\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Our Chapter begins with Ezekiel\u2019s second vision (Ezekiel 8:1-11:25). While sitting in his own house with the elders of Judah, \u201cthe hand of God\u201d suddenly falls upon Ezekiel. In his prophetic vision, Ezekiel sees a human-like figure shining \u201clike electrum\u2014ke-eyn ha-hashmalah\u201d (Ezekiel 8:2). This figure stretches out \u201cthe form of a hand \u2013 tavnit yad\u201d which takes the prophet by the hair of his head (be-tzitzit roshi). Then, we are told, a spirit lifts Ezekiel up between heaven and earth, to Jerusalem, where he has visions of God (verse 3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This remarkable heavenly ascent of Ezekiel (compare Ezekiel, Chapters 40-48), is cited in a midrashic text devoted entirely to Hiram, King of Tyre, against whom Ezekiel prophecies in Chapter 28. It may be recalled that King Hiram supplied King Solomon with precious building materials needed for the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem (see I Kings 9:11).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In our midrashic composition (Yalqut Shimoni II 367), Hiram is described as being overly proud. He constructed in the Sea a celestial palace set on four enormous pillars, upon which he raised seven jewel encrusted firmaments. After Hiram had completed the seventh magnificent firmament, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Ezekiel: O Son of Man, go and say to Hiram, what are you so proud of?! Ezekiel replied: How can I go to him, for he is hovering in the air? So, the Holy One, blessed be He, sent a spirit who took Ezekiel by the hair of his head (see Ezekiel 8:3) and brought him to Hiram. When Hiram saw Ezekiel approaching, he began quaking in his boots.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ezekiel challenged him: What are you so proud of? Hiram answered: Though I am \u201cborn of woman\u201d (i.e. I was born a mortal man), nevertheless I will live forever. Just as God\u2019s dwelling place is in the heart of the seas, so is mine. Just as God\u2019s dwelling is above seven firmaments, so is mine. And not only that, but how many other kings have died, but I will live forever. David, king of Israel, reigned for forty years and died, but I live on. Solomon reigned forty years and died, but I live on! Indeed, I have buried twenty-one kings of Israel, but I am still alive and well! Behold! I am a god and my dwelling place is a divine dwelling! Ezekiel said to Hiram: But have there not been kings greater than you though they have not done what you have done? Hiram was so proud because he had supplied the cedars for the Temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, had Hiram conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, and condemned him to die a strange death. But what then became of Hiram\u2019s celestial palace? The Holy One, blessed be He, tore open the earth and hid it away for the Righteous in the World to Come.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Mural in the Cryptic Room of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, depicting King Hiram (detail), painted by Allyn Cox (mid 20th C.) wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73283,"alt":"","title":"ez8-hiram","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","width":586,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram-293x300.jpg","medium-width":293,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","medium_large-width":586,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","large-width":586,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","1536x1536-width":586,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","2048x2048-width":586,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","post_full_size-width":586,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram-410x420.jpg","home_baner-width":410,"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":"Ezekiel\u2019s Heavenly Ascent to Confront Hiram, King of Tyre","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The high price of pride","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":73283,"alt":"","title":"ez8-hiram","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","width":586,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram-293x300.jpg","medium-width":293,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","medium_large-width":586,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","large-width":586,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","1536x1536-width":586,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","2048x2048-width":586,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram.jpg","post_full_size-width":586,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-hiram-410x420.jpg","home_baner-width":410,"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":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"73320","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Ezekiel, The Astral Commuter ","post_title":"Ezekiel, The Astral Commuter","slug":"ezekiel-the-astral-commuter","old_id":"73320","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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","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64463,"alt":"","title":"analia bortz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","width":225,"height":225,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","medium_large-width":225,"medium_large-height":225,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","large-width":225,"large-height":225,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","1536x1536-width":225,"1536x1536-height":225,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","2048x2048-width":225,"2048x2048-height":225,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","post_full_size-width":225,"post_full_size-height":225,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/analia-bortz.jpg","home_baner-width":225,"home_baner-height":225}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A cross-pollinated vision\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

By now, we are familiar with Prophet Ezekiel. Born into a priestly lineage in Jerusalem, he develops his prophetic ministry in Babylon. As the rising of the Babylonian empire eliminates the small state of Judah, Ezekiel goes into exile. His visions wander between worlds as we read on chapter 8:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cHe stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by the hair of my head. A spirit lifted me up between heaven and earth and brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the Penimith Gate that faces north; that was the site of the infuriating image that provokes fury. And the Presence of the God of Israel appeared there, like the vision that I had seen in the valley. And He said to me, \u201cO mortal, turn your eyes northward.\u201d I turned my eyes northward, and there, north of the gate of the altar, was that infuriating image on the approach\u201d (Ezek. 8:3-5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ezekiel prophesies in Babylon, but in some of his visions, he is transported back to Jerusalem. David Vanderhooft (\u201cEzekiel in and on Babylon\u201d pp.103-104) observes that Ezekiel was the only prophet to experience \u201cvisionary transportation between the two acculturative loci \u2014 Babylonia and Jerusalem\u201d and describes Ezekiel as \u201ca kind of intellectual interlocutor who deciphers the experience of Babylon for his Judean compatriots.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

He masters Babylonian realia and perceives Jerusalem\u2019s fate.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Prophet has the rare capacity of identifying visions from Jerusalem and Babylon. His visions are so vivid that frighten the reader:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThen He brought me into the inner court of the House of the LORD, and there, at the entrance to the Temple of the LORD, between the portico and the altar, were about twenty-five men, their backs to the Temple of the LORD and their faces to the east; they were bowing low to the sun in the east. And He said to me, \u201cDo you see, O mortal? Is it not enough for the House of Judah to practice the abominations that they have committed here, that they must fill the country with lawlessness and provoke Me still further and thrust the branch to their nostrils? I in turn will act with fury, I will show no pity or compassion; though they cry aloud to Me, I will not listen to them.\u201d (Ezek. 8:16-18)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ezekiel\u2019s proficiency immerses the readers into both places. Jerusalem and Babylon have crafted his prophecy. In the liminal edges of both cultures, the prophet feels [un]comfortable with the familiarity of these locations. It is notable how he narrows his cosmic visions from chapter 1 to the minutiae of the inner court of the Temple in chapter 8. The destruction of Jerusalem occurs because of the Israelites\u2019 abandonment of their ritual and spiritual paths.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":73321,"alt":"","title":"ez8-commuter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ez8-commuter-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Ezekiel, 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No Substitutes ","post_title":"Accept No Substitutes","slug":"accept-no-substitutes","old_id":"73323","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":37561,"post_title":"Deena Cowans","slug":"deena-cowans","old_id":"37561","first_name":"Deena ","last_name":"Cowans","description":"Deena Cowans is a rabbinical student at JTS and alumnus of the Master's in Public Administration- Development Practice at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). \r\nDeena is the Director of Education (Rosh Chinuch) at Camp Ramah in the Rockies since January 2016, and was the Youth and Family Programs at Congregation Ansche Chesed in 2016-2017.","short_description":"Deena Cowans is a rabbinical student at JTS, and the Director of Education at Camp Ramah in the Rockies","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":37562,"alt":"","title":"deena 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we lose access to something we love and want - do we live with our longing, and suffer the pain of absence? Ezekiel, and God, say yes...\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Way back in the Book of Exodus, the Israelites were afraid when Moses was on the mountain longer than they expected, and they made a Golden Calf to replace a God they couldn\u2019t see and a leader who they felt abandoned them. At the time, God and Moses were livid at their lack of faith. How could these people, who so recently witnessed God\u2019s miracles during the exodus, forget the God who saved them?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet it is human instinct to forget what we once knew in favor of what is in front of us.<\/span> Researchers Ayelet Fishbach and Xianchi Dai show<\/span><\/a> that \u201cdesire depends on the length of non-consumption of a good and the presence of salient alternatives.\u201d Meaning, if we really want something but we have a suitable alternative, our desire for the original thing we wanted wanes over time; but if there is no substitute for what we wanted, then our desire tends to grow over time. And, of course, it is in our nature to seek substitutes. Most of us don\u2019t want to suffer from unfulfilled desires when we could find something to fill our lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Israelites easily fall into this trap, and Ezekiel spends much of this chapter observing their abhorrent substitutes in shock and horror. In place of worship to God in the Temple, Ezekiel sees the Israelites worshipping creeping creatures and worshipping the sun and the Mesopotamian god Tammuz. God is furious with the Israelites, and Ezekiel himself is stunned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Yet God understands their actions, even if God abhors them. In verse 12, God speaks for the Israelites, saying \u201cThe Lord does not see us, the Lord has abandoned the country.\u201d Apparently, the Israelites have not learned their lesson from the Golden Calf, and once again take an \u201cout of sight, out of mind\u201d approach to God. Though God and Ezekiel consider bugs and celestial objects a sorely inadequate substitute for the One True God of Israel, the Israelites do not, or they have convinced themselves that their substitute is adequate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The problem is that when we lose access to something we love and want, we face a terrible conundrum. Do we live with our longing, and suffer the pain of absence? Or do we turn to a substitute, knowing full well it may not be good or good for us? This chapter would have us wait, relying on our faith and imagining the sweetness of our eventual reunion to get us through hard times. We should take solace in knowing that, just as God will eventually reconcile with the Israelites, we can pray to eventually be reunited with what we have lost, and we will savor the sweetness of the reunion when it happens.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Accept No Substitutes","tile_main_caption":"When we lose access to something we love and want - do we live with our longing, and suffer the pain of absence? 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8:12 \u201cAnd He said to me, \u201cDo you see, man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chambers of his sculpted images, for they say \u2018The LORD does not see us. The LORD has abandoned the land.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although the elders go on to say that the LORD does not see them, they may be hedging their bets or are perhaps fearful that some groups in the community of Judah--certainly prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel--would vehemently object to what they are doing. The fact that they worship strange gods in their private chambers seems to contradict the pagan assembly in the Temple depicted here. Perhaps as a rule they practice their pagan rites in the darkness of their chambers but here have exceptionally joined together to celebrate the cult of strange gods within an inner hall of the Temple, still hidden from the eyes of the general populace but not from the prophet, who has enlarged the hole in the wall so that he can see everything.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"From Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","tile_main_caption":"What The Elders Of Israel Do In The Dark","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But here - they do it together","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"72941","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Ezekiel 8 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- Ezekiel 8","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-ezekiel-8","old_id":"72941","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. 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\u201cDrawing Water from the Well of Salvation\u201d<\/a> by Josh Pernick: How to obtain rain as a blessing<\/p>\r\n

\u201cChodesh Tammuz\u201d<\/a> by Etan Vann: The month of Tammuz in the Torah<\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Source Sheets - Ezekiel 8","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"73276","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Points to Ponder - Ezekiel 8 ","post_title":"Points to Ponder - Ezekiel 8","slug":"points-to-ponder-ezekiel-8","old_id":"73276","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38102,"post_title":"929-English","slug":"929-english","old_id":"38102","first_name":"","last_name":"929-English","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38333,"alt":"","title":"\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","width":1513,"height":860,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-300x171.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":171,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-768x437.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":437,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1024x582.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":582,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","1536x1536-width":1513,"1536x1536-height":860,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5.png","2048x2048-width":1513,"2048x2048-height":860,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-1200x682.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":682,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/\u05dc\u05d5\u05d2\u05d5-739x420.png","home_baner-width":739,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"460","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

    \r\n\t
  1. The date<\/em>. The sixth year of the exile of Jehoiachin. The destruction won\u2019t take place for another five years. As far as the Judahites are concerned, and those in Babylonia as well, there is a Temple in Jerusalem, and God\u2019s presence is still among them. Ezekiel\u2019s vision shows what is really happening in the Temple, and where God\u2019s presence has taken itself to (hint: see verses 3-4. The full answer will be in the coming chapters).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. A diverse cult<\/em>. The \u201cinfuriating image (<\/span>semel)<\/span><\/i>\u201d towards the north (3) was apparently a Canaanite cultic image; Tammuz (14) was Mesopotamian; the sun god (16), Egyptian; and there were many more fetishes, images and abominations. The Temple to the God of Israel, the one God, is described as an idolatrous free-for-all, with no boundaries.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. Anarchy.<\/em> In verse 12 we hear a view that was common at that time \u201c\u2018The LORD does not see us; the LORD has abandoned the country.\u2019\u201d The disasters that befell Judah are interpreted as the lack of divine providence. What Ezekiel sees in the Temple and in the streets is a result of this understanding - if no one is watching, and there is no responsible adult, there is social, moral and religious anarchy.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Seeing through walls<\/em>. Through the wall, via a special hole, Ezekiel sees the secret cultic ceremonies. This is also a sort of answer to those who felt that \u201cGod couldn\u2019t see\u201d (or wasn\u2019t watching).<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. Bewailing Tammuz<\/em>. In the courtyard of the Temple there were women, sitting and bewailing Tammuz (14). Tammuz (from \u2018dumuzi\u2019) was a Sumerian god, who according to the myth, died and went down to the underworld (later rising in return), and in his folk cult there were mourning rites. The Hebrew month of Tammuz, one of the hot, dry summer months, is named for him, coming to the Land of Israel with the return of the exiles from Babylonia, who brought back their calendar.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  6. Lawlessness<\/em>. In humanity\u2019s pre-history, 454 chapters ago (Gen. 6) - \u201cthe world was filled with lawlessness.\u201d And then came the Flood. What does that mean about what can be expected for Jerusalem. Stay tuned. <\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Ezekiel 8","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"8","chapter_main_number":"460","date":"20270603","wall_id":"460"},"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\/72897"}],"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=72897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}