{"id":75418,"date":"2018-07-09T17:47:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1099\/"},"modified":"2023-12-29T14:04:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T12:04:22","slug":"wall-1099","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1099\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20231224-to-20231230"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1099","date_from":"20231224","date_to":"20231230","book":"Ezekiel","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"75348","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Ezekiel, Meet Walter Benjamin ","post_title":"Ezekiel, Meet Walter Benjamin","slug":"ezekiel-meet-walter-benjamin","old_id":"75348","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":64460,"post_title":"Vincent Calabrese","slug":"vincent-calabrese","old_id":"64460","first_name":"Vincent ","last_name":"Calabrese ","description":"Vincent Calabrese is a doctoral student in Jewish thought at the University of Toronto and a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute","short_description":"Vincent Calabrese is a doctoral student in Jewish thought at the University of Toronto and a rabbinical student at the Hadar Institute","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":64461,"alt":"","title":"vincent calabrese","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese.jpg","width":2117,"height":2504,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-254x300.jpg","medium-width":254,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-768x908.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":908,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-866x1024.jpg","large-width":866,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese.jpg","1536x1536-width":1299,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese.jpg","2048x2048-width":1731,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-1015x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1015,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/vincent-calabrese-355x420.jpg","home_baner-width":355,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"491","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"They share a cataclysmic view of historical redemption\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

This chapter continues the apocalyptic vision of the war of Gog and Magog which precedes the redemption of Israel. The prophet is not sparing in his description of this awful conflict, writing that God \u201cwill assign to Gog a burial site there in Israel\u2014the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It shall block the path of travelers, for there Gog and all his multitude will be buried. It shall be called the Valley of Gog\u2019s Multitude. The House of Israel shall spend seven months burying them, in order to cleanse the land\u201d (33:11-12). Such is the scale of the destruction to be wrought in the war -\u00a0 due to the abundance of corpses, which produce the most serious kind of ritual impurity, dedicated burial teams will work non-stop until all can be interred. The scene calls to mind nothing so much as the aftermath of a nuclear accident, during which the land itself becomes imbued with the presence of death \u2014 redemption as catastrophe.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Such a chilling scene in Ezekiel\u2019s vision of redemption is hardly congenial to our finer feelings. When imagining the perfected world of the messianic age, we are more easily drawn to the peaceful and bucolic images also offered by the prophets, as in Isaiah\u2019s statement that the wolf will lie down with the lamb that the lion will eat straw. This tendency is even more pronounced in those currents of culture which have officially forsworn the idea of a divine redemption but are still animated by the idea.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The western philosophical and political discourse on progress has very often been but a secularized theology of redemption, and these crypto-theologies have themselves tended to emphasize sweetness and light. Thus the liberalism common to much 19th-century politics and religion tended to imagine a long process of gradual improvement leading to the new Jerusalem. Even in the Marxist theory of progress, which admits that the perfected society might be ushered in by violence, the process itself was for the most part understood to be a necessary one in which one stage unfolds inexorably into the next; fundamentally the journey to redemption is one marked by continuity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The philosopher Walter Benjamin offered a critique of this view of history as a necessary series of events progressing towards a perfected world. History, he insisted, was a catastrophe, and redemption cannot be understood in terms of comfort and light; we experience redemption in the form of a traumatic rupture, much closer to Ezekiel\u2019s vision of Gog and Magog than to the secular visions of redemption through progress. He rejected the secular theories which, through viewing the journey towards redemption as a necessary and mechanical one turned \u201cthe future\u2026 into homogeneous, empty time.\u201d Benjamin asserted that the alternative view, according to which redemption comes through rupture and even catastrophe, awakens us to the particularity of each moment, and makes \u201cevery second of time [into] the strait gate through which Messiah might enter\u201d (Benjamin, Theses on the Philosophy of History, end).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Paul Klee, Angelus Novus, 1920 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75353,"alt":"","title":"","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","width":321,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","medium_large-width":321,"medium_large-height":400,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","large-width":321,"large-height":400,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","1536x1536-width":321,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","2048x2048-width":321,"2048x2048-height":400,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","post_full_size-width":321,"post_full_size-height":400,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Klee_paul_angelus_novus_1920.jpg","home_baner-width":321,"home_baner-height":400}},"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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Lamp That Is Tamid\u00a0 ","post_title":"The Lamp That Is Tamid\u00a0","slug":"the-lamp-that-is-tamid","old_id":"75355","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":"491","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Hope springs eternal\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 38 of Ezekiel described the future battles of Gog, and chapter 39 tells of Gog\u2019s ultimate defeat. The defeat will be total, and instead of conquering the land of Israel, the soldiers of Gog will be buried in the land. Ezekiel says that \u201cthe House of Israel shall spend seven months burying them\u201d (verse 12) in order to give glory to God, who arranged their defeat.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This process will require a special crew of workers, as described in verse 14:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0\u201cAnd they shall appoint men to serve permanently, to traverse the land and bury any invaders who remain above ground, in order to cleanse it. The search shall go on for a period of seven months.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Hebrew word rendered here as \u201cpermanently\u201d is <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em>. In modern Hebrew <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is generally translated as \u201calways.\u201d However, that is not the only opinion as to the correct meaning. Others say that it is better translated as \u201cregular\u201d (recurring at uniform intervals) and not \u201cperpetual\u201d or \u201ceternal.\u201d So according to this opinion, a better translation of the verse in Ezekiel would be, \u201cThey shall appoint men in regular employment\u2026\u201d\u00a0 The burial of the dead was to be done every day, not to be done perpetually (as evidenced by the seven-month limitation.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The dispute over the meaning of <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em> impacts our understanding of other phrases using the word. For example, the <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em> offering (Numbers 28:2), is often translated as \u201ccontinuous offering.\u201d But a better translation may be \u201cregular burnt offering,\u201d since the prominent characteristic was that it was brought regularly, twice each day, not that it was continually offered on the altar.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another phrase, one that is still in use today, is <\/span>ner tamid<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> This phrase is used in Exodus 27:20 and Leviticus 24:2 to refer to the menorah lit each evening. The menorah is only meant to be lit from evening to morning, so <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em>\u00a0can\u2019t mean \u201ccontinuous\u201d, but rather \u201cregular.\u201d This is the opinion of Rashi and Ibn Ezra on Exodus 27:20.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, Ramban disagrees with Rashi. Based on an earlier midrash, he says that the <\/span>ner tamid<\/span><\/em>\u00a0was a perpetually lit lamp, and the fire from it was used to light the menorah each night.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Even though the meaning of \u201cregular\u201d seems to fit the plain meaning of the verses here, the concept of <\/span>ner tamid<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>being an eternal lamp, that would never be extinguished proved to be much more popular. To this day, such a lamp is hung above or near the ark in synagogues, and remains always lit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At the time of this writing, we are living in an unprecedented situation where most synagogues are closed world-round. It is certainly comforting to know that the eternal lamp remains lit, even if we cannot see it ourselves. But we all hope to return to a time when <\/span>tamid<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0can mean \u201cregular,\u201d and we can return to visiting the synagogue at the standard intervals that we were always accustomed to.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Blown glass ner tamid<\/em> (eternal light) by artist David Ascalon \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75356,"alt":"","title":"ez39-Ner_Tamid","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","width":450,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-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 Lamp That Is Tamid\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Hope springs eternal","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75356,"alt":"","title":"ez39-Ner_Tamid","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","width":450,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","medium_large-width":450,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","large-width":450,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","1536x1536-width":450,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","2048x2048-width":450,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid.jpg","post_full_size-width":450,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez39-Ner_Tamid-315x420.jpg","home_baner-width":315,"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":"39","chapter_main_number":"491","date":"20270718","wall_id":"491"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":3,"id":"75388","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"A Tape Measure Is Essential for Any Building Project ","post_title":"A Tape Measure Is Essential for Any Building Project","slug":"a-tape-measure-is-essential-for-any-building-project","old_id":"75388","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":66417,"post_title":"Maor Greene","slug":"maor-greene","old_id":"66417","first_name":"Maor ","last_name":"Greene ","description":"Maor Greene is a rabbinical student and doctoral student in Hebrew Bible at Jewish Theological Seminary. They are writing their dissertation on metaphors of violent speech in Psalms. They currently accompany others on their spiritual journeys through their work as a Jewish spiritual director. They hold degrees from Duke University (BS), Princeton Theological Seminary (M Div), Hebrew University (MA), and JTS (M Phil). ","short_description":"Maor Greene is a rabbinical student and doctoral student in Hebrew Bible at Jewish Theological Seminary.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":66418,"alt":"","title":"maor greene","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","width":240,"height":240,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","medium-width":240,"medium-height":240,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","medium_large-width":240,"medium_large-height":240,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","large-width":240,"large-height":240,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","1536x1536-width":240,"1536x1536-height":240,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","2048x2048-width":240,"2048x2048-height":240,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","post_full_size-width":240,"post_full_size-height":240,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/maor-greene.jpg","home_baner-width":240,"home_baner-height":240}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"492","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Especially one to measure our hearts\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Growing up I often watched my father as he did various small building projects around the house. I would watch him use tools such as hammers, saws, sanders, and other fascinating devices. I learned from him that the most essential tool in home building is the tape measure. You cannot build anything if you do not have the correct dimensions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Ezekiel 40, God seems to agree that tape measures are essential. As Ezekiel is transported to Jerusalem in a vision, he meets an angelic figure who instructs him about the correct dimensions of the future Temple. What is this figure holding in his hand? A linen cord and a measuring rod.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The angelic figure will spend the next several chapters explicitly using the measuring rod to show to Ezekiel the exact dimensions of the Temple and its contents. God, by way of this angelic figure meticulously measuring out dimensions, lays out a clear plan about what this new Temple should look like.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The linen cord is not mentioned again, but Rashi helpfully explains that this cord was used for measuring out the ground, while the measuring rod is useful for structures such as walls and gates. Both are essential for good building planning. The modern tape measure is essentially a combination of a measuring cord and a measuring rod.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Based on this account from Ezekiel, it would appear that God and my father are in agreement about the importance of a tape measure. Indeed, if a tape measure is essential for precision even in small building projects, then how much more so is it necessary for God\u2019s future home!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Two millennia ago, the Second Temple built according to many of these precise measurements, was destroyed. Since then, many Jews have understood God as dwelling within the community of Israel and within our hearts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Ezekiel, the angelic figure has no difficulty measuring out the physical dimensions of the Temple. Our task is much harder \u2013 we must find ways to measure our hearts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a long tradition in Judaism of <\/span>tikkun middot<\/span><\/em>. Often this term is translated as the repairing (<\/span>tikkun<\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/i> of our characters (<\/span>middot<\/span><\/em>). However, the term <\/span>middot<\/span><\/em> literally means measures. By engaging in <\/span>tikkun middot<\/span><\/em>,<\/span> we are measuring and correcting the dimensions of our hearts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How well do we embody qualities of character such such as compassion, patience, humility, and righteousness? If we wish for God to dwell in our hearts more fully, we must measure our own <\/span>middot<\/span><\/i> with the same care and precision of the angelic figure instructing Ezekiel. We must use our own internal tape measures to repair our hearts and the world.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75391,"alt":"","title":"ez40-tape measure","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure.jpg","width":1920,"height":1351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-300x211.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":211,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-768x540.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":540,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-1024x721.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":721,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1081,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-1200x844.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":844,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-597x420.jpg","home_baner-width":597,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"A Tape Measure Is Essential for Any Building Project","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Especially one to measure our hearts","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75391,"alt":"","title":"ez40-tape measure","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure.jpg","width":1920,"height":1351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-300x211.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":211,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-768x540.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":540,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-1024x721.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":721,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1081,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-1200x844.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":844,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-tape-measure-597x420.jpg","home_baner-width":597,"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":"40","chapter_main_number":"492","date":"20270719","wall_id":"492"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":4,"id":"75396","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Blueprint For A Future With A Divine Partner ","post_title":"Blueprint For A Future With A Divine Partner","slug":"blueprint-for-a-future-with-a-divine-partner","old_id":"75396","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":"492","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We need to read between the lines\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Beginning in chapter 40 of the Book of Ezekiel, we are introduced to a lengthy passage of what reads a bit like a complex blueprint for the construction of the third holy temple. But wait. The third? The first had just been destroyed: <\/span>wouldn\u2019t this nation to whom Ezekiel was prophesying, 25 years into their Babylonian exile, be more interested in knowing how to build the second temple? <\/span>Why, Ezekiel asks God (according to <\/span>Midrash Tanchuma, Tzav<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> 14), are you showing me this and asking me to prophecy about it now? Wouldn\u2019t it be more effective to get these instructions when we finally return to our land, ready to rebuild? That question implies that, in fact, Ezekiel may not have realized at first that this is not the next temple he\u2019s being shown, but the one after the next.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Ezekiel ask his \u201cwhy now?\u201d question, God\u2019s response (again from <\/span>Midrash Tanchuma<\/span><\/em>) is to tell Ezekiel that studying the building plans is as important as the construction itself. As it turned out, those who undertook the task of studying those plans learned far more than engineering specs. As detailed and specific as these plans are, they are actually incomplete: some of the dimensions include length and width, but not height; or height and width, but not length. And some parts of the instructions are so complex as to be indiscernible.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There are differing opinions about who is going to build this Temple: man, or God. Rambam proposed a hybrid answer.\u00a0 Man, precisely the Messiah, would build those elements for which the construction can be grasped by human intellect, while God will provide the rest. So, studying the plans entailed not just understanding a set of measurements, but reading between the lines and appreciating the significance of what was left out.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

These chapters do far more than teach a nation in exile how to build a temple. They represent the nature of our partnership with God, in which He gives us instructions to fulfill our role in this world and the assurance that if we learn and execute that well, He will fill in the blanks.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Finally, by presenting the plans for the third temple before the second one has been built (and destroyed), God puts His faith in one generation to work towards aspirational goals for some future generation. And that is something the Jewish people, especially during challenging times, have learned to do quite well.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75397,"alt":"","title":"ez40-blueprint","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint.jpg","width":1920,"height":1052,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-300x164.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":164,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-768x421.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":421,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-1024x561.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":561,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":842,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1052,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-1200x658.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":658,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-767x420.jpg","home_baner-width":767,"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":"Blueprint For A Future With A Divine Partner","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We need to read between the lines","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75397,"alt":"","title":"ez40-blueprint","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint.jpg","width":1920,"height":1052,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-300x164.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":164,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-768x421.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":421,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-1024x561.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":561,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":842,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1052,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-1200x658.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":658,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez40-blueprint-767x420.jpg","home_baner-width":767,"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":"40","chapter_main_number":"492","date":"20270719","wall_id":"492"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"75486","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Rashi and Heavenly Guidance ","post_title":"Rashi and Heavenly Guidance","slug":"rashi-and-heavenly-guidance","old_id":"75486","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":"494","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He got his interpretations straight from the Source\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In our remarks on Chapter 40, we took note of Rashi\u2019s admission that he found Ezekiel\u2019s visions of the Temple particularly perplexing. We cited his commentary to v.3 of this chapter to the effect that: \u201cI was unable to understand these three verses at all.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Just as puzzling, perhaps, is the standard (<\/span>Mikra\u2019ot Gedolot<\/span><\/em>) text of Rashi\u2019s commentary to the last nine chapters, so much so that a special study was devoted to its text in the form of a doctoral dissertation at Dropsie College in Philadelphia almost a century ago (Abraham J. Levy: Rashi\u2019s Commentary on Ezekiel 40-48, 1931), edited on the basis of 11 manuscripts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In some of these manuscripts (and in certain early printed editions as well) the comment we just cited from 42:3 is followed by a most incredible remark: \u201cAs for me, I had neither a teacher nor an assistant throughout this edifice [i.e., Ezekiel\u2019s Temple]; rather it is as though it was shown to me from heaven.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Methodologically, this statement needs to be parsed in two distinct ways. First, is it genuinely Rashi\u2019s, and, second, what does it mean? The first question is quite complicated. While there are several hundred manuscripts extant of Rashi\u2019s Bible commentary (in whole or in part), none has ever been identified as having been written in his own lifetime, let alone by his own hand. Furthermore, the popularity it gained earned it the sincerest form of flattery: imitation, and significant portions of the commentaries of some of his students and colleagues (e.g., Rashbam, Yosef Kara) are so like his that they were often interchanged by copyists\u2014and if not by copyists, then by printers. Indeed, the <\/span>Mikra\u2019ot Gedolot<\/span><\/em> text of Rashi to this chapter (among others) even contains several comments that are introduced by the words: \u201cAs Rashi explained,\u201d an unambiguous sign that later hands tampered with the Master\u2019s text.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Regarding the second question: What does it mean to get direction \u201cfrom heaven\u201d? A clue may come from an early 13<\/span>th<\/span> century collection of responsa by one of the Tosafists that was entitled: \u201cQuestions and Answers from Heaven\u201d (<\/span>she\u2019elot uteshuvot min hashamayim<\/span><\/em>). This may well signify that medieval Jewish scholars, among them Rashi, referred to inspiration, figuratively, as heavenly guidance. A more literal interpretation, however, may well have led to the folk adage that Rashi was imbued with \u201cthe Holy Spirit\u201d (<\/span>ru`ach hakodesh<\/span><\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Guillaume de Paris: Rashi, from \u201cPostillae maiores totius anni cum glossis et quaestionibus\u201d (Lyon, 1539) \/ wikipedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75487,"alt":"","title":"ez42-Rashi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","width":800,"height":1146,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-209x300.jpg","medium-width":209,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-715x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":715,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-715x1024.jpg","large-width":715,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1146,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1146,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1146,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-293x420.jpg","home_baner-width":293,"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":"Rashi and Heavenly Guidance","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He got his interpretations straight from the Source\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75487,"alt":"","title":"ez42-Rashi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","width":800,"height":1146,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-209x300.jpg","medium-width":209,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-715x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":715,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-715x1024.jpg","large-width":715,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1146,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1146,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1146,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez42-Rashi-293x420.jpg","home_baner-width":293,"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":"42","chapter_main_number":"494","date":"20270721","wall_id":"494"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"75516","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"2","name":"The Once And Future Redemption\u00a0 ","post_title":"The Once And Future Redemption\u00a0","slug":"the-once-and-future-redemption","old_id":"75516","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":74351,"post_title":"Noam Goldberg-Kellman","slug":"noam-goldberg-kellman-2","old_id":"74351","first_name":"Noam ","last_name":"Goldberg-Kellman ","description":"Noam Goldberg-Kellman is a senior at SAR High School and a recipient of Maharat\u2019s Emerging Scholars Award. After spending next year in Migdal Oz, she will attend the University of Michigan. ","short_description":"Noam Goldberg-Kellman is a senior at SAR High School and a recipient of Maharat\u2019s Emerging Scholars Award. After spending next year in Migdal Oz, she will attend the University of Michigan. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":74352,"alt":"","title":"noam goldberg kellman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman.jpeg","width":602,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman.jpeg","medium_large-width":602,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman.jpeg","large-width":602,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman.jpeg","1536x1536-width":602,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman.jpeg","2048x2048-width":602,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman.jpeg","post_full_size-width":602,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/noam-goldberg-kellman-422x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":422,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"495","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

Chapter 43 continues with the measurements for the future Temple. There are many echoes and allusions to Exodus and the Passover story in these passages. For instance, the altar hearth is described with a width and height of four cubits and \u201cwith four horns projecting upward from the hearth\u201d (43:15). The motif of four is familiar from the Passover Seder: four questions, four sons, four cups of wine, and four phrases of redemption. Even more poignantly, a few verses later God commands the people through Ezekiel: \u201cYou shall take some of its blood and apply it to the four horns [of the altar], to the four corners of the base, and to the surrounding rim\u201d (43:20). This instruction alludes to God\u2019s commandment in Exodus 12:6 to \u201ctake some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses.\u201d The sacrificial blood that Ezekiel prophesied is to be placed on the Temple altar references the sacrificial blood that distinguished the Israelites as a separate nation in Egypt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first communal sacrifice in Exodus and the first communal sacrifice in messianic times bookend the People of Israel\u2019s journey to redemption.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ezekiel and the Exodus both follow a homeless people in the \u201cwilderness\u201d longing for the land of Israel. Both stories bridge the divide between past, present, and future through their focus on intergenerational storytelling. The Passover Seder, notably, with its emphasis on experiential education: \u201cimagine you, like your ancestors, are slaves in Egypt.\u201d But in Ezekiel too, God encourages the people to retell events to their children, and often compares the Jews in Babylon to their pentateuchal ancestors. And both books constantly reaffirm divine sovereignty with the refrain \u201cyou shall know that I am the LORD.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Exodus begins with the Israelites as strangers in Egypt and ends with them wandering in the desert. But despite the uncertainty, there exists the covenant between God and the people and hope of the Promised Land. The exodus from Egypt and the forty years in the wilderness lent the Israelites a shared, if traumatic, history and transformed them from a family into a nation. Ezekiel, similarly, records a transitional moment for the Jewish people. Exiled, dispersed, and facing the destruction of the Temple, the Jews are forced to adapt to the changed circumstances of life and Jewish ritual outside the Land of Israel. But even in a foreign land, the Jews are able to hear God\u2019s words through Ezekiel: \u201cyou shall know that I am the LORD.\u201d The covenant between God and His people still stands in Babylon and there is still a promise of return to the Land of Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While yearning for redemption and fantasizing about plans for the new Temple, the exiled Jews invented a new culture and way of life outside of Jerusalem. In both the wilderness and exile, a new national narrative was born from shared trauma, yearning for their homeland, and a promised redemption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Once And Future Redemption\u00a0","tile_main_caption":"The first communal sacrifice in Exodus and the first communal sacrifice in messianic times bookend the People of Israel\u2019s journey to redemption","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"43","chapter_main_number":"495","date":"20270722","wall_id":"495"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"75521","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Ezekiel\u2019s Spiritual Growth ","post_title":"Ezekiel\u2019s Spiritual Growth","slug":"ezekiels-spiritual-growth","old_id":"75521","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":62571,"post_title":"Yaakov Bieler","slug":"yaakov-bieler","old_id":"62571","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Bieler ","description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University in 1974. He has lectured and written extensively on Modern Orthodoxy, and blogs daily at https:\/\/yaakovbieler.wordpress.com ","short_description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":62572,"alt":"","title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","width":141,"height":180,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler-141x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":141,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium-width":141,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium_large-width":141,"medium_large-height":180,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","large-width":141,"large-height":180,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","1536x1536-width":141,"1536x1536-height":180,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","2048x2048-width":141,"2048x2048-height":180,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","post_full_size-width":141,"post_full_size-height":180,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","home_baner-width":141,"home_baner-height":180}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"495","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He becomes a medium for the message, like Moses\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Ezekiel 43 contains a powerful vision in which the prophet describes the Third Temple, the conditions that are inviolate pre-requisites for it to be built, as well as the dedication service that will inaugurate its utilization.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

During the course of this revelation, the prophet twice refers directly to God, Whose voice he hears (verses 19, 27). However, in another verse, an \u201cIsh\u201d (<\/span>man<\/span>) is described as standing next to Ezekiel: \u201cAnd I heard speech addressed to me from the Temple, though (<\/span>the<\/span><\/em>) \u201cIsh\u201d was standing beside me... \u201c (6). This noun serves as the antecedent for additional indirect references (v. 7 and 18.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Can this \u201cman\u201d be further identified, and his role in the prophetic revelation clarified?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Both Radak and Metzudat David suggest that this \u201cman\u201d is possibly the same angel who had earlier begun to speak with Ezekiel, and who had been tasked with showing the prophet the dimensions of the future Temple, as well as explaining to him the purposes of some of its features: \u201cHe brought me over to it (<\/span>the land of Israel<\/span><\/i> on a very high mountain<\/span><\/i>,) and there, standing at the gate, was an \u201cIsh\u201d who shone like copper. In his hand were a cord of linen and a measuring rod\u201d (40:3).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But Abrabanel and Malbim are less concerned with <\/span>who<\/em> <\/span>this \u201cIsh\u201d is, and comment instead on <\/span>how<\/em> <\/span>the prophet was receiving the Divine vision, paralleling none other than Moses\u2019 experience within the Tabernacle, with the \u201cIsh\u201d serving as a \u201cfoil\u201d for this purpose:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Abrabanel: \u201cSince the Divine Presence dwelt there, the prophecy came to him from there, as it had come to Moses from the Tent of Meeting (Num. 7:89). And the text (in Ezekiel) states: \u2018\u2026speech addressed to me from the Temple\u2026\u2019 as if He was speaking to Himself, and the speech reached him\u201d (Ezekiel).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim: \u201cUntil this point, he had received prophecy via the angel, who was holding the implements for measurement\u2026 But now, Ezekiel heard (the Voice) speaking to him from the Temple, as it is stated: (Numbers 7:89) \u201cWhen Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with Him, he would hear the Voice addressing him from above the cover that was on top of the Ark of the Covenant between the two cherubim; thus He spoke to him.\u201d <\/span>
\r\n<\/span>Regarding Ezekiel\u2019s statement, \u201c\u2026(<\/span>the<\/span><\/i>) \u201cIsh\u201d was standing beside me\u201d\u2014for the angel did not enter into the Holy of Holies, the place of God\u2019s Glory, but rather stood beside him, and both received equally the speech of the Divine Presence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

According to Abrabanel and Malbim, Ezekiel 43 constitutes a manifestation of spiritual growth on the part of the prophet, where he \u201cgraduates\u201d from having served as a receptacle for an angel\u2019s instruction, to an actual intermediary for God\u2019s messages, emulating the paradigm of Moses, \u201cthe father of the prophets\u201d (Vayikra Rabba 1:15).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Ezekiel Prophesying by Gustave Dor\u00e9, engraving (ca. 1866) \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75530,"alt":"","title":"ez43-ezekiel prophesying - dore","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore.jpg","width":800,"height":996,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore-768x956.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":956,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":996,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":996,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":996,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":996,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-ezekiel-prophesying-dore-337x420.jpg","home_baner-width":337,"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 Spiritual Growth","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He becomes a medium for the message, like Moses","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75530,"alt":"","title":"ez43-ezekiel prophesying - 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then rebuild\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

If you were an archivist in an ancient library of Jewish texts, you would not be blamed for thinking this chapter fell out of the Exodus box and into the Ezekiel box. Most of the chapter is concerned with construction specifications for a new Temple, to replace the one God destroyed. But there is a little clue in the chapter that something about this time around is completely different.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In verses 10-11, God insists that the Israelites must feel ashamed of their sins before they can know God\u2019s instruction on how to rebuild the Temple. Compared to earlier chapters, where God seems to claim that the Israelites will be restored for God\u2019s sake, this chapter presents the idea that the Israelites themselves must engage in true <\/span>teshuva<\/span><\/em>, repentance and return, in order to merit the rebuilding.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Jewish idea of <\/span>teshuva<\/em> <\/span>is core to this chapter. The Hebrew word \u201cteshuva\u201d literally means \u201creturn\u201d; Jews do repentance by returning to the site of our prior misdeeds or failures with a new intention. Maimonides wrote in his \u201cLaws of Repentance\u201d that true <\/span>teshuva<\/span><\/em> happens when a person returns to the same situation in which they previously sinned, has the opportunity to sin again, and does not do so.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As we near the end of the book of Ezekiel, it seems clear that God believes the Israelites to be capable of <\/span>teshuva<\/span><\/em>. The sins committed in the Temple precinct were a major cause of the expulsion and destruction of the Temple that we read about at the beginning of Ezekiel. Now, God wants the people to build another Temple, very much like the first, with trust that they will not again be led to sin there. How does God know that the people will merit to rebuild the Temple? Because they have to do real <\/span>teshuva<\/span><\/em>; they have to feel the weight of their actions and feel remorse for them. God is willing to forgive our sins, it seems, as long as we are willing to do the work of improvement.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75535,"alt":"","title":"ez43-change","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change.png","width":1396,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-218x300.png","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-745x1024.png","medium_large-width":745,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-745x1024.png","large-width":745,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change.png","1536x1536-width":1117,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change.png","2048x2048-width":1396,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-873x1200.png","post_full_size-width":873,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-305x420.png","home_baner-width":305,"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":"Wanted: Real Teshuva","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Remorse, repent, return - then rebuild\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75535,"alt":"","title":"ez43-change","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change.png","width":1396,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-218x300.png","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-745x1024.png","medium_large-width":745,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-745x1024.png","large-width":745,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change.png","1536x1536-width":1117,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change.png","2048x2048-width":1396,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-873x1200.png","post_full_size-width":873,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-change-305x420.png","home_baner-width":305,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"43","chapter_main_number":"495","date":"20270722","wall_id":"495"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"75540","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"God\u2019s Voice ","post_title":"God\u2019s Voice","slug":"gods-voice","old_id":"75540","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":"495","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"There\u2019s a whole lot of roaring going on\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Ezekiel continues to describe his vision of the future rebuilt Temple (Ezekiel 40-48). Here, the prophet is brought to the gate facing east (Ezekiel 43:1). Standing there, Ezekiel describes what he hears and sees: \u201cAnd there, the Glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east and its roar was like the roar of mighty waters, and the earth was lit up by His Glory\u201d (verse 2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Mekhilta de-Rabbi Yishmael to Exodus 19:18 (Bahodesh 4) comments on this metaphorical description of the divine voice: \u201cIts roar was like the roar of mighty waters\u2026\u201d Who has given power and strength to the waters? Is it not He (i.e. God)? But, behold! We describe Him using figures of speech understandable to His creatures, i.e. only what the human ear can comprehend. Similarly: \u201cA lion has roared. Who can but fear? My Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?\u201d (Amos 3:8). Who is it that gave power and strength to the lion? Is it not God?! But, behold! We describe Him using figures of speech understandable to His creatures, i.e. only what the human ear can comprehend.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Avot de-Rabbi Natan (Version A, Chapter 2) elaborates on the enormous power of the Voice of God: \u201cThe Lord goes forth like a warrior. Like a fighter He whips up His rage. He yells. He roars aloud\u201d (Isaiah 42:13). Not like one warrior, but like all the warriors in the world. Similarly: \u201cA lion has roared. Who can but fear? My Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?\u201d (Amos 3:8). Not like one lion, but like all the lions in the world. Similarly: \u201cAnd there, the Glory of the God of Israel was coming from the east and its roar was like the roar of mighty waters\u201d (Ezekiel 43:2). \u201cLike the roar of mighty waters\u201d refers to the voice of the angel Gabriel. \u201cAnd the earth was lit up by His Glory\u201d refers to the face of the <\/span>Shekhinah<\/span><\/em> (the Divine Presence of God). Now, if the Angel Gabriel, who was but one of many thousands and thousands of angels, who stand before God, has a roar that goes forth from one end of the world to the other, then, all the more so, the roar of the King of all kings, the Holy One, Blessed be He, who created the whole world. He created the upper realms and He created the lower realms. But the human eye is shown only what it can see and the human ear is given to hear only what it can hear.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Talmud Bavli (Berakhot 3a) records that the night has three watches, and at each watch the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and roars like a lion. For it is written: \u201cThe Lord roars from on high. He makes His voice heard from His holy dwelling. He roars aloud over His [earthly] abode\u201d (Jeremiah 25:30).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75541,"alt":"","title":"ez43-waters","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"God\u2019s Voice","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"There\u2019s a whole lot of roaring going on","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75541,"alt":"","title":"ez43-waters","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez43-waters-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Ezekiel","chapter":"43","chapter_main_number":"495","date":"20270722","wall_id":"495"},"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\/75418"}],"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=75418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}