The book of Joel is the second book of the “Trei-Asar” (The 12) – a book which consists of twelve short books of prophecy. The book is composed of four chapters which present two themes. The first part deals with the plague of locusts that came upon the land of Judah. The second deals with the “day of the Lord” that is to come. Regarding Joel’s historical period, we do not have firm historical information, but most researchers are of the opinion that he came after the Babylonian exile, and the subsequent return to Zion (during the Second Temple period).<\/p>\n","static_cube_color":"","updates_last_update":"16\/03\/2020","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"76783","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Dating a Prophet ","post_title":"Dating a Prophet","slug":"dating-a-prophet","old_id":"76783","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":"515","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He\u2019s hard to pin down...\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"
The Book of Joel confronts us with a problem unprecedented in our 929 experience: It lacks an explicit historical identification. The opening verse: \u201cThe word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel\u201d identifies only the prophet; there is no mention of the king(s) during whose reign(s) he prophesied. Naturally, that has led to considerable speculation.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Rashi identified Pethuel with the Prophet Samuel, who \u201centreated God (<\/span>pitah la`el<\/span><\/em>) with his prayer,\u201d but also cited another opinion to the effect that Joel\u2019s prophecy was uttered during the reign of Jehoram son of Ahab, during the selfsame seven years of famine prophesied by Elisha (2 Kings 8). Yet a third opinion, which he attributed to the 8<\/span>th<\/span> century Halakhot Gedolot, placed Joel, along with Nahum and Habakuk, during the reign of Manasseh.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Yosef Kara cited Rashi\u2019s first interpretation and attributed it to Seder Olam, the standard work of rabbinic chronology. Ibn Ezra, ever the skeptic, wrote: \u201cWe have no way to determine his era, and according to the straightforward (<\/span>peshat<\/span><\/em>) meaning of the text he was not the son of Samuel.\u201d Radak, ever the eclectic, wrote:<\/span><\/p>\r\n This prophet prophesied first about the locusts that God would bring to the Land of Israel on account of their sins. Then, he prophesied a future prophecy for the Messianic Age. Some say that during the reign of Jehoram son of Ahab, he prophesied a famine, to wit: \u201cGod has summoned a famine to come upon the land for seven years\u201d (2 Kings 8:1). Four [of those] years were taken up by the four species of locusts, and for three years, the rains were withheld.<\/span><\/p>\r\n He also cited the opinion that situated Joel in the era of Manasseh along with Nahum and Habakuk (attributing it to Seder Olam rather than Halakhot Gedolot), adding that this information was withheld from the text on account of that king\u2019s improprieties.<\/span><\/p>\r\n A most original interpretation was offered by Yosef Ibn Kaspi (Provence, 1279-1340), placing the subject of Joel\u2019s prophecy\u2014if not necessarily the prophet himself\u2014firmly in the Second Temple era:<\/span><\/p>\r\n Therefore, it appears to me that after he had verified through Isaiah and Hosea and others of his predecessors that the First Temple would be destroyed and a second one built, even though they had made no predictions of Second Temple events to befall our people save for Ezekiel who predicted the rise of the third creature [see Daniel 7, referring to the Greeks] and the troubles it would cause our people until the Hasmoneans defeated them, this prophet reinforced this matter, too. Therefore, he addressed \u201cthe people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem [who] were sold to the Ionians\u201d (4:6).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76784,"alt":"","title":"joel1-joel-michaelangelo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","width":502,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","medium_large-width":502,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","large-width":502,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","1536x1536-width":502,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","2048x2048-width":502,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","post_full_size-width":502,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo-352x420.jpg","home_baner-width":352,"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":"Dating a Prophet","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He\u2019s hard to pin down...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76784,"alt":"","title":"joel1-joel-michaelangelo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","width":502,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo-251x300.jpg","medium-width":251,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","medium_large-width":502,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","large-width":502,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","1536x1536-width":502,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","2048x2048-width":502,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo.jpg","post_full_size-width":502,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-joel-michaelangelo-352x420.jpg","home_baner-width":352,"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":"Joel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"515","date":"20270819","wall_id":"515"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"76705","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Ethical Giants - The Hebrew Prophets ","post_title":"Ethical Giants - The Hebrew Prophets","slug":"ethical-giants-the-hebrew-prophets","old_id":"76705","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":"2015","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"They did not believe that conscience is a still, small voice: it thunders or it does not speak at all","post_main_content_content":" \u201cWhen silence threatens to take the power of decision out of our hands \u2026 one looks into history for the courage to speak even in an unpopular cause. Looming as ethical giants are those extraordinary of men, the Hebrew prophets.<\/p>\r\n They did not believe that conscience is a still, small voice. They believed that conscience thunders or it does not speak at all. They were articulate, passionate, and fearless, attacking injustice and corruption whether the guilty be kings or their own unrepentant people. Without physical protection, scornful of risks evoked by their unpopular messages, they went among the people with no shield other than truth.<\/p>\r\n Today we particularly need the Hebrew prophets because they taught that to love God was to love justice; that each human being has an inescapable obligation to denounce evil where he sees it and to defy a ruler who commands him to break the covenant. The Hebrew prophets are needed today because decent people must be imbued with the courage to speak the truth, to realize that silence may temporarily preserve status or security but to live with a lie is a gross affront to God.<\/p>\r\n The Hebrew prophets are needed today because we need their flaming courage; we need them because the thunder of their fearless voices is the only sound stronger than the blasts of bombs and clamor of war hysteria\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\r\n -From Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech to the Synagogue Council of America on December 5, 1966.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":65063,"alt":"","title":"mlk","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk.jpg","width":1920,"height":1919,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1919,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-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":"MLK on Justice and the Prophets","tile_main_caption":"Ethical Giants - The Hebrew Prophets","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"They did not believe that conscience is a still, small voice: it thunders or it does not speak at all","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":65063,"alt":"","title":"mlk","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk.jpg","width":1920,"height":1919,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1919,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/mlk-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"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":"Hosea","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":"20200701","wall_id":"2015"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":3,"id":"76775","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"Joel Ben Pethuel ","post_title":"Joel Ben Pethuel","slug":"joel-ben-pethuel","old_id":"76775","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":"515","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Son of Sam(uel) - or not?","post_main_content_content":" The Book of Joel opens with a seemingly straightforward superscription: \u201cThe word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel\u201d (Joel 1:1). The Prophet Joel is mentioned by name only here, though ten other biblical personalities also bear the name Joel. Also, Pethuel is mentioned only here. Moreover, unlike most other Prophets, no specific information is given in Scripture about when the Prophet Joel lived. The current dominant view seems to be that the Book of Joel was composed in the Second Temple Period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n The paucity of definite dating information for the Prophet Joel ben Pethuel only served to stimulate the interpretive ingenuity of Jewish tradition. Rashi on Joel 1:1 states somewhat elliptically that Joel ben Petheul was the son of Samuel the Prophet, apparently identifying the Prophet Joel with Joel, the first-born son of Samuel (see I Sam. 8:2). Ibn-Ezra though states bluntly that \u201caccording to the <\/span>pshat<\/span><\/em>, he (i.e. the Prophet Joel) is not the son of the Prophet Samuel\u201d, because we have no way of knowing in what generation the Prophet Joel lived.\" Since we are told there that Samuel\u2019s two sons fell into wicked ways, Rashi's view seems to be a surprisingly pejorative comment on the character and behavior of the Prophet Joel. Indeed, Rashi goes on to state that he [the Prophet Samuel] \u201cseduced God with his prayer\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Rashi\u2019s source for this rather disconcerting comment is a no less curious midrashic tradition preserved in Midrash Tehillim 80:1 and in Numbers Rabbah 10:5. Why was he called Pethuel [Hebrew \u201cpetu<\/em> \u2013 seduce, el<\/em> \u2013 God)? Because he would seduce (mitpateh<\/em>) by curling his hair like a virgin maiden\u2026Because he seduced God with his prayer. And this refers to Samuel Ha-Ramati (the prophet Samuel whose home was in Ramah, I Sam. 25:1), as Samuel says: \u201cI will pray to the Lord for you\u2026and there they said We have sinned against the Lord\u201d (I Sam. 7:5-6) [i.e. Samuel \u201cseduced\u201d God with his prayer to forgive those who had sinned]\u2026 \u201cAnd the name of his [Samuel\u2019s] first-born son was Joel, and his second son\u2019s name was Abijah\u201d (I Sam. 8:2)\u2026Just as this one was wicked so the other one was wicked. But in the end, they repented\u2026and for this reason the two sons of the Prophet Samuel deserved the Holy Spirit, as it is written: \u201cThe word of the Lord that came to Joel son of Pethuel\u201d (Joel 1:1).<\/span><\/p>\r\n According to Jewish tradition, the grave-site of the Prophet Joel ben Pethuel is located in the Galilean village of Jish (ancient Gush Halav) along with the grave-sites of the early Rabbinic Sages Shemaiah and Avtalyon and several ancient synagogues.<\/span><\/p>\r\n (For a detailed discussion of the various traditional Jewish interpretations of Joel 1:1, see Menahem Ben-Yashar and Jordan S. Penkower, <\/span>The Bible in Rabbinic Interpretation<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>Vol. 2 Joel Amos (2015), pp. 19-27).<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76776,"alt":"","title":"joel1-tomb","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","width":400,"height":533,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":533,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":533,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":533,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","post_full_size-width":400,"post_full_size-height":533,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb-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":"Joel Ben Pethuel","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Son of Sam(uel) - or not?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76776,"alt":"","title":"joel1-tomb","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","width":400,"height":533,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":533,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":533,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":533,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":533,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb.jpg","post_full_size-width":400,"post_full_size-height":533,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-tomb-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,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"Joel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"515","date":"20270819","wall_id":"515"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":4,"id":"76780","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Like A Bereaved Maiden Girded With Sackcloth ","post_title":"Like A Bereaved Maiden Girded With Sackcloth","slug":"like-a-bereaved-maiden-girded-with-sackcloth","old_id":"76780","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":57331,"post_title":"Josh and Leora Blechner","slug":"josh-and-leora-blechner","old_id":"57331","first_name":"Josh and Leora ","last_name":"Blechner","description":"Josh and Leora Blechner have been learning Tanach together since Leora was five years old. Josh is an in-house attorney in New Jersey and Leora is a middle school student at SAR academy.","short_description":"Josh and Leora Blechner have been learning Tanach together since Leora was five years old. Josh is an in-house attorney in New Jersey and Leora is a middle school student at SAR academy.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":57484,"alt":"","title":"blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1.jpg","width":501,"height":509,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1-295x300.jpg","medium-width":295,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1.jpg","medium_large-width":501,"medium_large-height":509,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1.jpg","large-width":501,"large-height":509,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":501,"1536x1536-height":509,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":501,"2048x2048-height":509,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":501,"post_full_size-height":509,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/blechner-1-413x420.jpg","home_baner-width":413,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"515","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A short book inspires a timeless poem of mourning\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" We are not sure when the prophet Joel prophesied, as it is never explicitly mentioned in the book. Many commentators place the prophet as early as the start of monarchy or as late as the evil king Manasseh. In any event, this prophet pre-dated the destruction of the Temple.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Joel is also a very short four chapters long. One can easily be dismissive of an unknown, fleeting prophet. Yet, this short collection of prophecies predating the destruction provides one of the most recognizable verses used in the fast of the 9th of Av. After a long morning of sitting on the floor and reading the poems of lament, we end the services with Lamentation number 45. This poem is usually sung and its tune is recognizable to many a shul-goer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The poem has a simple structure, each verse begins with the Hebrew word <\/span>alei<\/span><\/em>, \u201ccry out!\u201d followed by a treasure of the people lost in the destruction. The opening and closing phrase of this poem are the same and come from chapter one verse eight in Joel: \u201cLament the maiden girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth\u201d (1:8), or as the poet recalls \u201cLament for Zion and her cities like a woman giving birth, <\/span>and like a bride dressed in mourning for the husband of her youth<\/span><\/em>.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76781,"alt":"","title":"joel1-maiden","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-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":"Like A Bereaved Maiden Girded With Sackcloth","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A short book inspires a timeless poem of mourning","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76781,"alt":"","title":"joel1-maiden","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden.jpg","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel1-maiden-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":"Joel","chapter":"1","chapter_main_number":"515","date":"20270819","wall_id":"515"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"77011","color":"#eceffa","size":"1","name":"Is The Shofar The Voice Of God? ","post_title":"Is The Shofar The Voice Of God?","slug":"is-the-shofar-the-voice-of-god","old_id":"77011","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":"516","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A sound that resonates in our souls\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" Beginning at Mount Sinai on the threshold of receiving the Ten Commandments, the shofar has been used to announce the new moon and the jubilee year, to signify the start of battle and celebrate victory, to anoint kings and install new Israeli presidents, and of course, to stir us to repentance on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as we pray for inscription in the book of life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n What makes the shofar so significant to Jews and so emotionally stirring that hearing it can lead us to repentance? As a musical instrument it doesn\u2019t have the harmonious sounds of a violin. There are no lyrics that emanate from a shofar like beautiful poetry. And yet, while a passer-by might hear a cacophonous noise coming from a synagogue, as Jews, that singular sound of a shofar blast makes us stand still and silent, speaks to our inner core and deepens our prayer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n In an article by Dr. Gila Flam (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), she reviewed a 1919 paper authored by psychoanalyst and anthropologist Theodor Reik, entitled \u201cThe Shofar\u201d. In it, Reik postulated that the sound of the shofar \u201cwas no less than the voice of God.\u201d In support of his argument, Reik points to the story from Exodus when \u201cthe voice of the shofar sounded louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice (<\/span>kol<\/span><\/em>) (Exodus 19:19).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u201c<\/span>Kol shofar<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/span><\/i> \u2013 the voice of the shofar \u2013 was also present along with thunder and lightning in Exodus 19:16. In Exodus 20:15 we read that all the people heard <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>kol hashofar<\/span><\/em> \u2013 the voice of the shofar\u201d and asked Moses, \u201cYou speak to us, but let not God speak to us\u201d, because the sound of God\u2019s voice was overwhelming. And finally, in Exodus 20:19, God says to Moses, \u201cI spoke to you from the heavens.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n The shofar as the voice of God is reiterated in a pivotal moment in Joel Chapter 2. God\u2019s call for repentance through the words \u201cBlow the shofar in Zion\u201d (2:1 and 15), bookend the words \u201cThe LORD gave His voice (<\/span>kolo<\/span><\/em>) to His army (2:11).\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n Perhaps the reason that the shofar stirs us is embedded in our collective memory of God speaking to us. In the blessing over the shofar we\u2019re not commanded to blow it, but to hear the voice (<\/span>lishmo\u2019a kol<\/span><\/em>), to internalize it, and let it resonate in our souls.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48588,"alt":"","title":"num29-shofarot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","width":776,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-300x245.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":245,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-768x628.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":628,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","large-width":776,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","1536x1536-width":776,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","2048x2048-width":776,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","post_full_size-width":776,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-513x420.jpg","home_baner-width":513,"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":"Is The Shofar The Voice Of God?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A sound that resonates in our souls","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48588,"alt":"","title":"num29-shofarot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","width":776,"height":635,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-300x245.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":245,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-768x628.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":628,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","large-width":776,"large-height":635,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","1536x1536-width":776,"1536x1536-height":635,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","2048x2048-width":776,"2048x2048-height":635,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot.jpg","post_full_size-width":776,"post_full_size-height":635,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/num29-shofarot-513x420.jpg","home_baner-width":513,"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":"Joel","chapter":"2","chapter_main_number":"516","date":"20270822","wall_id":"516"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"76837","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Rend Your Hearts: To Deal With Evil And Chaos ","post_title":"Rend Your Hearts: To Deal With Evil And Chaos","slug":"rend-your-hearts-to-deal-with-evil-and-chaos","old_id":"76837","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":47905,"post_title":"Natasha Mann","slug":"natasha-mann","old_id":"47905","first_name":"Natasha ","last_name":"Mann ","description":"Rabbi Natasha Mann serves as a rabbi at New London Synagogue and Hatch End\/Mosaic Masorti. Natasha hails from the grassy hills of Hertfordshire, England, and has spent most of her adult life between Los Angeles and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Natasha has worked in Jewish education and the non-profit world, promoting better education and legislation on human trafficking issues. ","short_description":"Rabbi Natasha Mann serves as a rabbi at New London Synagogue and Hatch End\/Mosaic Masorti.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":47906,"alt":"","title":"natasha mann","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-e1548150986169.jpg","width":735,"height":954,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-e1548150986169-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-e1548150986169-231x300.jpg","medium-width":231,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-768x568.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":568,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-1024x757.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":757,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-e1548150986169.jpg","1536x1536-width":735,"1536x1536-height":954,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-e1548150986169.jpg","2048x2048-width":735,"2048x2048-height":954,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-1200x887.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":887,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/natasha-mann-e1548150986169-324x420.jpg","home_baner-width":324,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"516","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Teshuvah changes the world by changing us\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" The tearing of garments is symbolic of (and responsive to) overwhelming grief. It is an outward display of internal turmoil. In the midst of Joel\u2019s call to repentance, he shares the words of the Divine (2:13): \u201cRend your hearts, not your garments, and turn back (<\/span>v\u2019shuvu<\/span><\/em>) to the Eternal your God.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n One reading is that we can, at times, be guilty of performative emotional measures, the same way that we can be guilty of performative worship. In Joel\u2019s example, it is simply not good enough to perform repentance (<\/span>teshuvah<\/span><\/em>); it must come from within. However, this reading does not address the fact that Joel tells us to rend our hearts <\/span>instead of our garments<\/span><\/em>. Here, Rashi suggests that the text could mean that if we rend our hearts, we will no longer need to rend our garments. If we do <\/span>teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>properly, in our hearts, we will no longer be in a situation that requires the tearing of garments.<\/span><\/p>\r\n The problem with this reading is that it doesn\u2019t ring true to the world. We know that some of the best people in the world live through situations which would induce garment-rending emotional turmoil. One of the primary themes of the Book of Job is that good religious practice and ethical behavior do not save us from heartbreak. I\u2019m reminded of one of the most intense moments of prayer on the High Holy Days: the <\/span>Unetaneh Tokef<\/span><\/em>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n In the liturgical poem, we admit to a startling lack of power: we cannot know who will live and who will die in this coming year; who by fire, and who by water, and so on. And then, in an incredible moment, the poetry turns around and apparently grants us some modicum of power. <\/span>\u2018Ut\u2019shuvah, utefillah, utzedakah<\/span><\/em>,\u2019<\/span><\/i> it says, <\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/i>ma\u2019avirin et-ro\u2019a hag\u2019zeira.<\/span><\/em>\u2019<\/span><\/i> This is usually translated with some slight of hand into something like: \u2018But repentance, prayer, and just deeds can annul the evil decree.\u2019 However, a better translation would read: \u2018Repentance, prayer, and just deeds can <\/span>cause the evil of the decree<\/em> <\/span>to pass away.\u2019 Nothing is annulled; it passes by. And that which passes by is not \u2018the evil decree\u2019, but rather the evil <\/span>of<\/em> <\/span>the decree. It is not the decree that changes; our fates remain unchanged, but the evil passes over us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n This is a deliberate shift from the original text (which is from Genesis Rabbah 44:12), which states that these three acts \u2018annul evil decrees\u2019 (<\/span>mevatlim gezerot ra\u2019ot<\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/i>. The anonymous author of the <\/span>Unetaneh Tokef<\/span><\/em>, however, shifted this idea into a stunningly theologically sophisticated statement. If we engage in repentance, and prayer, and acts of justice, we can cause the evil of the decree to pass us by. What changes is not the chaos. It\u2019s us. Perhaps this is what Joel is trying to teach us: If we rend our hearts by doing <\/span>teshuvah<\/span><\/em>, we will be better able to handle the situations which cause people to rend garments.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>does change the world - but it does so by changing us.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76838,"alt":"","title":"joel2-rend heat 3d","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d.jpg","width":1443,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-768x1022.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1022,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-770x1024.jpg","large-width":770,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d.jpg","1536x1536-width":1154,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d.jpg","2048x2048-width":1443,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-902x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":902,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-316x420.jpg","home_baner-width":316,"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":"I\u2764Teshuvah-1","tile_main_caption":"Rend Your Hearts: To Deal With Evil And Chaos","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Teshuvah changes the world by changing us","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76838,"alt":"","title":"joel2-rend heat 3d","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d.jpg","width":1443,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-225x300.jpg","medium-width":225,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-768x1022.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":1022,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-770x1024.jpg","large-width":770,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d.jpg","1536x1536-width":1154,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d.jpg","2048x2048-width":1443,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-902x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":902,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend-heat-3d-316x420.jpg","home_baner-width":316,"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":"Joel","chapter":"2","chapter_main_number":"516","date":"20270822","wall_id":"516"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"76830","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"Rend Your Hearts, Not (And?) Your Clothes ","post_title":"Rend Your Hearts, Not (And?) Your Clothes","slug":"rend-your-hearts-not-and-your-clothes","old_id":"76830","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36277,"post_title":"Yedidya Sinclair","slug":"yedidya-sinclair","old_id":"36277","first_name":"Yedidya","last_name":"Sinclair","description":"Rabbi Yedidya Sinclair serves as Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon, the leading US Jewish environmental organization. From 2011-16 he was Vice President for Research and Senior Economist at Energiya Global, a Jerusalem-based solar energy company focused on the developing world and he continues to consult on renewable energy and climate change preparedness. In 2014 he published together with Hazon, a translation of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's great work on shmitta, the Sabbatical year, \"Introduction to Shabbat Ha'aretz.\" Yedidya holds a BA from Oxford University, an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and lives with his family in Jerusalem.","short_description":"Yedidya Sinclair is a Jerusalem-based rabbi and economist, and is Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36278,"alt":"","title":"yedidya sinclair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium_large-width":200,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","large-width":200,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","1536x1536-width":200,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","2048x2048-width":200,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","post_full_size-width":200,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","home_baner-width":200,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"516","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Inner transformation is the essence of teshuvah\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" When an all-devouring locust storm engulfs the land, Joel urges the people to fast saying: \u201cYet even now, says the Lord, turn back to me with all your hearts, and with fasting weeping and lamenting. Rend your hearts, rather than your garments, and turn back to the Lord your God\" (2:12-13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n Joel\u2019s call becomes a model for the Jewish fast days that respond to calamity. Fasts commemorating historic national disasters are fixed in our calendar, while the leaders of each generation may call fasts in the face of famine, war or plague.<\/span><\/p>\r\n These verses crystallize from Joel the question of what fast days are for. Are they mainly days of mourning when we grieve our losses and mourn our misfortune? Or are fasts a time for <\/span>teshuvah<\/span><\/em>, to examine our actions, and resolve to do better in the future, so that God may take away our suffering?<\/span><\/p>\r\n This issue runs through the rabbinic writings on fasts. Joel\u2019s words, \u201crend your hearts rather than your garments,\u201d are a paradoxical particular point of focus. On the one hand, \u201crending\u201d \u2013 <\/span>keriyah<\/span><\/em> in Hebrew \u2013 is a mark of mourning. The bereaved rends her clothing for close relatives who have died.\u00a0 The Talmud (Mo\u2019ed Katan 28a) reads our verse as teaching how much of your garment you have to tear \u2013 as far as your heart.<\/span><\/p>\r\n On the other hand, we\u2019re supposed to rend our hearts, <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> our garments. The Mishnah in <\/span>Ta\u2019anit<\/span> (2:1) cites our verse as part of the exhortation to <\/span>teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>that was delivered on a public fast day: rend your hearts not your clothes; go through an inner process of change, don\u2019t just put on the outer trappings of mourning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n A profound teaching from the Talmud <\/span>Yerushalmi Ta\u2019anit<\/span> interprets this verse to trace the common spiritual roots of both <\/span>teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>and mourning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n \u201cRabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi said, if you rend your hearts in <\/span>teshuvah<\/span><\/em>, you will not need to rend your clothes over your sons and daughters, but only over God. Why? Because he is gracious and merciful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n Teshuvah,<\/em> <\/span>rending our hearts in inner transformation, will avert the punishment that may cause us to rend our clothing in mourning, says Yehoshua Ben Levi. But beyond that, <\/span>teshuvah<\/em> <\/span>is a rending of our hearts in grief at separation from God. Unlike the permanent loss of bereavement, the loss of closeness to God may be assuaged and overcome, because God is merciful.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76844,"alt":"","title":"joel2-rend_heart-statue2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1.jpg","width":2178,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1-300x264.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":264,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1-768x677.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":677,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1-1024x903.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":903,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1354,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1805,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1-1200x1058.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1058,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel2-rend_heart-statue2-1-476x420.jpg","home_baner-width":476,"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":"I\u2764Teshuvah-2","tile_main_caption":"Rend Your Hearts, Not (And?) 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A graduate of Barnard College, she made aliyah in 1983 and now lives in Kfar Saba where she is an active member of the Masorti Congregation Hod veHadar. ","short_description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor and lives in Kfar Saba \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38048,"alt":"","title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","width":231,"height":310,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker-224x300.jpg","medium-width":224,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","medium_large-width":231,"medium_large-height":310,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","large-width":231,"large-height":310,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","1536x1536-width":231,"1536x1536-height":310,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","2048x2048-width":231,"2048x2048-height":310,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","post_full_size-width":231,"post_full_size-height":310,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Shoshana-Michael-Zucker.jpg","home_baner-width":231,"home_baner-height":310}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"517","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Or:\u00a0 how to avert a catastrophe, with mercy and grace, kindness and generosity\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" The prophetic books often present a stark portrayal of reward and punishment: if Israel is faithful to God and obeys the commandments, all will be well, but if not, horrible things will happen. Many of those terrifying threats occupy the first chapter and half of the Book of Joel, while the second half of chapter 2 prescribes demonstrative fasting, prayer and shofar-blowing as a way of returning to God, avoiding a terrible fate and even meriting reward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Chapter 3 begins with a climactic vision that goes far beyond physical bounty to prophesy a future in which God\u2019s spirit will rest on the entire people regardless of age, gender or socioeconomic status (verses 1-2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n But that vision does not cancel the horrors, \u201cthe great and terrible day of the ETERNAL\u201d with blood, fire, pillars of smoke, a darkened sun and bloody moon (verses 3-4) isn\u2019t cancelled \u201cBut everyone who calls on the name of the ETERNAL shall escape... will be among the survivors\u201d (verse 5).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n It all sounds so simple. Scary, but simple.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Scary, simple and unrealistic. Although Joel is prophesying about the End of Days, of which we have no knowledge, his vision rings untrue. Calling out in prayer rarely guarantees an escape route from natural disaster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Could that be what caused the anonymous rabbi speaking in midrash Sifrei Devarim<\/em> 49:1 to radically reread Joel 3:5? \u201cAnd it is written, \u2018All who will be called by the name of the ETERNAL shall escape.\u2019 How is it possible for a person to be called by the name of the Holy Blessed One? Rather just as the ETERNAL is called \u2018merciful and gracious,\u2019 you, too, be merciful and gracious, and give gratuitously to all\u2026.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n The switch from \u201ccall on\u201d to \u201ccall by\u201d is accomplished by adjusting the vowel points added to the consonants of the basic Hebrew text. Beyond the local point the midrash is making about how to live a good human life, this emendation adds a level to the Biblical text, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n What if the prophet meant to say: \u201cBut everyone who is called by the name of the ETERNAL, who is merciful, gracious and generous shall escape\u2026\u201d In that case, even if a miracle doesn\u2019t save them from impending doom, the merciful and gracious might save others and (hopefully) themselves with their kindness and generosity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n And if there are enough such people, perhaps the crisis could be avoided altogether.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76947,"alt":"","title":"joel3-generosity","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity.jpg","width":1920,"height":1639,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity-300x256.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":256,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity-768x656.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":656,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity-1024x874.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":874,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1311,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1639,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity-1200x1024.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1024,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-generosity-492x420.jpg","home_baner-width":492,"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":"Calling 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Fate Of All Flesh ","post_title":"The Fate Of All Flesh","slug":"the-fate-of-all-flesh","old_id":"76905","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":"517","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Blood, fire and a very ominous-shaped cloud\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" In this brief chapter, Joel pronounced the fate of \u201call flesh\u201d (1), including God\u2019s ominous warning that \u201cI will set portents in the sky and on earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke\u201d (3). While a pillar is customarily called an <\/span>amud<\/span><\/em>\u2014like the \u201cpillar (<\/span>amud<\/span><\/em>) of cloud\u201d that showed [the Israelites] the way\u201d out of Egypt (Exodus 13:21)\u2014this one is designated <\/span>timrot<\/span><\/em>, a word which appears only one other time in Tanakh (Song of Solomon 3:6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n Rashi implicitly associated <\/span>timrot<\/span><\/em> with the palm tree (<\/span>tamar<\/span><\/em>), interpreting the phrase as \u201cupright, allowing the smoke to rise to heights.\u201d Radak agreed and elaborated:<\/span><\/p>\r\n Pillars of smoke are columns of smoke. Because the palm is a tall tree, erect and upright, something tall and erect is compared to it. Hence, pillars of smoke are called \u201cpalms\u201d of smoke, just as rabbinic Hebrew describes rising smoke as \u201cpalming\u201d (<\/span>mitamer<\/span><\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n Radak also conveyed the essence of the disagreement whether these \u201cportents,\u201d along with those cited in the following verse (\u201cthe sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood\u201d), were meant to be taken literally (Ibn Ezra) or figuratively (Maimonides).<\/span><\/p>\r\n Malbim added:<\/span><\/p>\r\n They will also come to recognize God by means of supernatural signs appearing both in heaven and on earth. The catastrophes to befall the wicked include \u201cblood, fire, and pillars of smoke.\u201d The earthly sign will be blood, which represents that sword that will smite Gog and Magog as detailed in Ezekiel, and the heavenly sign will be fire and brimstone that God will rain upon them until the smoke rises from the intensity of the flames.<\/span><\/p>\r\n I would say that if one describes the shape of a palm tree with one\u2019s hands\u2014the erect trunk followed by the spreading branches atop it\u2014one will note its striking similarity to the shape of a mushroom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n Blood, fire, and a mushroom cloud? Hmmm\u2026<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":76940,"alt":"","title":"joel3-cloud","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","width":944,"height":934,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-300x297.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-768x760.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":760,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","large-width":944,"large-height":934,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","1536x1536-width":944,"1536x1536-height":934,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","2048x2048-width":944,"2048x2048-height":934,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","post_full_size-width":944,"post_full_size-height":934,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-424x420.png","home_baner-width":424,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Fate Of All Flesh","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Blood, fire and a very ominous-shaped cloud","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":76940,"alt":"","title":"joel3-cloud","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","width":944,"height":934,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-300x297.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":297,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-768x760.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":760,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","large-width":944,"large-height":934,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","1536x1536-width":944,"1536x1536-height":934,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","2048x2048-width":944,"2048x2048-height":934,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud.png","post_full_size-width":944,"post_full_size-height":934,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/joel3-cloud-424x420.png","home_baner-width":424,"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":"Joel","chapter":"3","chapter_main_number":"517","date":"20270823","wall_id":"517"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"76966","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Joel vs. Isaiah: Whose Vision? ","post_title":"Joel vs. Isaiah: Whose Vision?","slug":"joel-vs-isaiah-whose-vision","old_id":"76966","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":76889,"post_title":"Yael Hess","slug":"yael-hess","old_id":"76889","first_name":"Yael ","last_name":"Hess ","description":"Yael Hess is the director of the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem. She is a colonel in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves and has served in key positions in the IDF Education Corps for many years, including heading the Education Corps\u2019 Culture Branch and the IDF\u2019s education system.","short_description":"Yael Hess is the director of the Mandel Leadership Institute in Jerusalem, and is a colonel in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":76890,"alt":"","title":"Yael Hess","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess.jpg","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess.jpg","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess.jpg","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess.jpg","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess.jpg","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Yael-Hess-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"518","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Shouldn't peace be preferable?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":" Thus spoke Isaiah, the son of Amotz: \"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks\u2026\" (2:4). And thus spoke Joel, the son of Petuel: \"Beat your plowshares into swords, And your pruning hooks into spears\" (4:10). Joel and Isaiah. Two images. Two prophets. Two periods. Two melodies. Contradictory? Complementary? One thing is clear: they are talking to each other.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Isaiah is one of the most influential prophets in the history of Israelite prophecy; Joel less so. Joel is also more puzzling from a historical point of view. But this dialogue of theirs, whether it is theirs or whether the biblical editor created it, affords us the readers a moment of reflection on the end times.<\/span><\/p>\r\n We can imagine the two different workshops. Both of them have ironmongers and blacksmiths, wrapped in leather aprons, making tools out of other tools. One group is taking swords and making work implements; joyously, I would hope. The other, working more quietly, with serious faces and furrowed brows, are taking the tools for harvesting and are making of them weapons of destruction.<\/span><\/p>\r\n Which do you prefer? It should be clear, no? Between war and peace, isn't peace preferable?<\/span><\/p>\r\n Yes \u2013 peace is preferable. But precisely because of that, it's not clear which of the two pictures is more appropriate. \"One who wants peace should prepare for war,\" the 4<\/span>th<\/span> century Roman sage Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus taught us. And it's no wonder that Israeli army commanders throughout the generations found this slogan fitting to decorate the walls of army training bases throughout the country. This of course fits in with what we have learned from the elderly Kohelet: \"A time for weeping, a time for laughing\u2026 a time for war and a time for peace.\"<\/span><\/p>\r\n