{"id":84543,"date":"2018-07-09T17:52:28","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1127\/"},"modified":"2022-02-02T19:43:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T17:43:22","slug":"wall-1127","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1127\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20240707-to-20240713"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1127","date_from":"20240707","date_to":"20240713","book":"Psalms","books_group":"Writings","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"84991","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"Miketz: Denial Ain't Just A River ","post_title":"Miketz: Denial Ain't Just A River","slug":"miketz-denial-aint-just-a-river","old_id":"84991","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":83630,"post_title":"Yoni Dolgin","slug":"yoni-dolgin","old_id":"83630","first_name":"Yoni ","last_name":"Dolgin ","description":"Yoni Dolgin runs a tech scouting and investment advisory in Tel Aviv. He is writing Haiku Yomi, a daily haiku on each 929 chapter.","short_description":"Yoni Dolgin runs a tech scouting and investment advisory in Tel Aviv. He is writing Haiku Yomi, a daily haiku on each 929 chapter.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":83631,"alt":"","title":"yoni dolgin","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin.jpg","width":1614,"height":1474,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin-300x274.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":274,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin-768x701.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":701,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin-1024x935.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":935,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1403,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin.jpg","2048x2048-width":1614,"2048x2048-height":1474,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin-1200x1096.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1096,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/yoni-dolgin-460x420.jpg","home_baner-width":460,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1127","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

Yoni Dolgin is haikuing on the connection between the weekly parsha and sustainability - see here to read his\u00a0previous parsha haikus<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84992,"alt":"","title":"haiku Yomi-Parsha-Miketz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","width":1080,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-768x768.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-1024x1024.jpeg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1080,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1080,"post_full_size-height":1080,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-420x420.jpeg","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":"Parasha Haiku","tile_main_caption":"Miketz: Denial Ain't Just A River","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84992,"alt":"","title":"haiku Yomi-Parsha-Miketz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","width":1080,"height":1080,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-300x300.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-768x768.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-1024x1024.jpeg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1080,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1080,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1080,"post_full_size-height":1080,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/haiku-Yomi-Parsha-Miketz-420x420.jpeg","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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1127"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"84752","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Love In The Parsha: Miketz - 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Since his retirement, Jud has been involved in various writing and educational projects.","short_description":"Judry Subar spent most of his professional career as a lawyer with the federal government in Washington. Since his retirement, he has been involved in various writing and educational projects.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":70716,"alt":"","title":"judry subar","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":400,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":400,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":400,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":400,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","post_full_size-width":400,"post_full_size-height":400,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/judry-subar.jpg","home_baner-width":400,"home_baner-height":400}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1127","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Both land and people might become impoverished if they don\u2019t have an opportunity to run just a little bit wild","post_main_content_content":"

<\/header>\r\n
<\/section>\r\n

In the beginning, the world was a wild and chaotic place.\u00a0 While the arc of the Genesis narrative bends relentlessly toward the taming of the chaos, progress is slow.\u00a0 As the human species settles in for the long haul, its members commit all sorts of mischief.\u00a0 From Cain\u2019s fratricide to the Babel builders\u2019 inability to deal with diversity to Simon\u2019s and Levi\u2019s attempt to take the law into their own hands, we observe considerable instability.<\/p>\r\n

When we get to\u00a0Parashat Miketz<\/em>, we see a pivot to a more sedate reality.\u00a0 Pharaoh has a dream whose key symbols epitomize domesticated farming and ranching: cows and sheaves of grain.\u00a0 Joseph organizes a welfare-state bureaucracy that meets the people\u2019s needs.\u00a0 At the end of\u00a0Miketz<\/em>, as Joseph and his estranged brothers edge closer to recognizing difficult truths about each other, the Egyptians and Jacob\u2019s sons exhibit the careful etiquette that marks a society as orderly.\u00a0 It\u2019s as if all the Torah\u2019s characters finally personify a well-ordered ideal as they follow God\u2019s decree (Genesis 1:28) that humans should master the Earth.<\/p>\r\n

But Egypt\u2019s leaders later go too far.\u00a0 They use their highly structured society to abuse its weakest members, reinforcing class divisions by enslaving the Israelites.\u00a0 The Torah, though, doesn\u2019t let them get away with their cruelty.\u00a0 Succeeding chapters use the Egyptians\u2019 move away from the\u00a0Miketz<\/em>-ian ideal to remind us of the need to protect the well-being and the dignity of the enslaved and the poor.\u00a0 The Israelites are freed, and then instructed to take care of anyone whom they might want to enslave.<\/p>\r\n

Yet another Torah passage (Deuteronomy 15:1) begins with the word \u201cmiketz<\/em>\u201d (which, depending on context, means \u201cafter\u201d or \u201cat the end,\u201d but either way ties a textual discussion to a particular point in time).\u00a0 It requires that a Shmita<\/em>, a remission of debts that accompanies a land-use sabbatical, be observed every seven years.\u00a0\u00a0 The passage suggests that both land and people might become impoverished if they don\u2019t have an opportunity to run just a little bit wild.\u00a0 The Torah\u2019s intertextual echo of the word \u201cmiketz<\/em>\u201d underscores an important reality about civilization.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible to over-civilize ourselves, to move too far from our original wild state; therefore, we should find the right balance, over time, between our charge to master the world and our need to use care when we exercise that mastery.<\/p>\r\n

The next shmita year begins next Rosh Hashanah 2021, almost a year from now. We have time to prepare. As we move through 5781 we invite you to join us in preparation for the upcoming shmita year \u2013 a sabbatical year for the Earth but also for ourselves, our communities, and our world. Each week we will share thoughts on how the weekly parsha can help guide our thinking around shmita themes of work and rest, wealth and debt, responsible land use, fair labor practices, private and public property ownership, and physical and spiritual revitalization.<\/p>\r\n

Join us for the journey.<\/p>\r\n

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"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":"A New Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Miketz: Run Wild ","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"in conjunction with Hazon.org","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":81608,"alt":"","title":"shmita","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","width":711,"height":708,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","medium_large-width":711,"medium_large-height":708,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","large-width":711,"large-height":708,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","1536x1536-width":711,"1536x1536-height":708,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","2048x2048-width":711,"2048x2048-height":708,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita.jpg","post_full_size-width":711,"post_full_size-height":708,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/shmita-422x420.jpg","home_baner-width":422,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1127"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":4,"id":"85215","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"ParashArt: Miketz ","post_title":"ParashArt: Miketz","slug":"parashart-miketz","old_id":"85215","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":81886,"post_title":"Emily Shapiro","slug":"emily-shapiro","old_id":"81886","first_name":"Emily ","last_name":"Shapiro ","description":"Emily Shapiro is an educational consultant for Jewish schools in Milan and Copenhagen through the organization \"Educating for Impact.\" She also runs a local Bat Mitzvah program and Parsha Art program in her hometown of Be'er Sheva, where she lives with her husband and four children. Some of her adventures in Torah and art can be found at: https:\/\/emilyshapirokatz.wixsite.com\/yetzira","short_description":"Emily Shapiro is an educational consultant for Jewish schools in Milan and Copenhagen through the organization \"Educating for Impact.\" ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":81888,"alt":"","title":"Emily Shapiro Katz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz.jpg","width":2008,"height":2015,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz-768x771.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":771,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz-1020x1024.jpg","large-width":1020,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz.jpg","1536x1536-width":1531,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz.jpg","2048x2048-width":2008,"2048x2048-height":2015,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz-1196x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1196,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Emily-Shapiro-Katz-419x420.jpg","home_baner-width":419,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1127","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Dreams and Surrealism","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/t4h73-Eh9i0","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"New 929 Art and Tanach Series","tile_main_caption":"ParashArt: Miketz","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Dreams and Surrealism","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/t4h73-Eh9i0","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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1127"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"84781","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"The Hubbub of the Wrongdoers ","post_title":"The Hubbub of the Wrongdoers","slug":"the-hubbub-of-the-wrongdoers","old_id":"84781","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":"631","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"God, spare me from my fear of them!\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The supplicant of our psalm beseeches God to spare him from <\/span>pachad \u2018oyev<\/span><\/em> (2), which can be interpreted in two very different fashions. The standard translation is \u201cthe enemy\u2019s terror,\u201d which denotes the threat or intimidation emanating from the enemy. However, it can also mean that rather than beseeching God to save him from his enemies, per se\u2014as he had already done several times\u2014he was now asking that He spare him from <\/span>his<\/span><\/em> \u201cfear of the enemy,\u201d which is how Robert Alter translated it. This would allow for a meaningful psychological insight strongly reminiscent of the famous remark of FDR: \u201cWe have nothing to fear but fear itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It continues with a plea to be concealed \u201cfrom a band (<\/span>sod<\/span><\/em>) of evil men, from a crowd (<\/span>merig\u2019shat<\/span><\/em>) of evildoers\u201d (3). As Alter noted, the verbal root R-G-Sh \u201cindicates an agitated condition\u2026 Given that the malice of the evil men here is expressed in slanderous speech (\u201cwho whetted their tongue like a sword,\u201d v.4), <\/span>hubbub<\/span><\/em> seems an appropriate term for this particular agitation\u201d (The Hebrew Bible, vol. 3, 156 note).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashi, here, marched to a very different tune. Basing himself on what he called a \u201cPsalms Legend\u201d (<\/span>Aggadat Tehillim<\/span><\/em>), he attributed the entire psalm to a prophecy David had about Daniel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This psalm was expounded by the authors of <\/span>Aggadat Tehillim<\/span><\/em> about Daniel who was cast into the lions\u2019 den and the entire psalm suits it well. David foresaw the entire episode prophetically and prayed for him since Daniel was his descendant, as it was told to King Hezekiah: \u201cYour descendants will be taken to serve as eunuchs in the court of the Babylonian king\u201d (Isaiah 39:7), alluding to Hananiah, Mishaal, and Azariah.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The fear of the enemy refers to the necromancers who plotted against [Daniel], to wit: \u201cThereupon, the ministers and satraps looked for some fault in Daniel\u2019s conduct\" (Daniel 6:5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84782,"alt":"","title":"ps64-mob","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob.png","width":1280,"height":664,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-300x156.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":156,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-768x398.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":398,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-1024x531.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":531,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":664,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":664,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-1200x623.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":623,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-810x420.png","home_baner-width":810,"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 Hubbub of the Wrongdoers","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"God, spare me from my fear of them!","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84782,"alt":"","title":"ps64-mob","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob.png","width":1280,"height":664,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-300x156.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":156,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-768x398.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":398,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-1024x531.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":531,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":664,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":664,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-1200x623.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":623,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-mob-810x420.png","home_baner-width":810,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"64","chapter_main_number":"631","date":"20280130","wall_id":"631"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"84816","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Rain And Grain ","post_title":"Rain And Grain","slug":"rain-and-grain","old_id":"84816","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38047,"post_title":"Shoshana Michael Zucker","slug":"shoshana-michael-zucker","old_id":"38047","first_name":"Shoshana Michael ","last_name":"Zucker ","description":"Shoshana Michael Zucker is a translator and editor by profession, but would much rather be learning and teaching Torah. 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":"632","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Unappreciated miracles that are critical for our sustenance and very existence\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The third section of Psalm 65 focuses God\u2019s gift of rain to the world, and the agricultural bounty that rain makes possible. Later Jewish tradition emphasizes the life-giving importance of rain by including praise to God for causing rain to fall in the blessing of the Amida prayer that recounts the many powers with which God sustains the world. On weekdays, an additional, seasonal request for rain is inserted in the petition for a livelihood.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although sometimes tenuous for city\/suburban-dwelling supermarket-shoppers, these connections were so clear to the rabbis of the Talmud that the Mishna\u2019s unchallenged statement, \u201cOne mentions the God\u2019s might in giving the rains in the blessing about the revival of the dead, and the request for rain in the petition for prosperous years\u201d (5:2) receives only the barest of explanation in the Gemara.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A midrash reports Rabbi Judah bar Ezekiel\u2019s personal prayer of praise for rain: \u201cMay the name of the One Who Spoke and the world came into being be glorified, extolled and blessed, for appointing tens of thousands of angels for each drop that falls\u201d (Deuteronomy Rabbah 7:6). Hyperbole, no doubt but nonetheless a moving statement of water\u2019s great value, especially when utilized properly.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Judah\u2019s words were later quoted by philosopher Emmanuel Levinas: \u201cTo be able to eat and drink is a possibility as extraordinary, as miraculous, as the crossing of the Red Sea. We do not recognize the miracle this represents because we live in a Europe which, for the moment, has plenty of everything, and not in a Third World country, and because our memory is short.... To return to a stage of indigence in Europe, despite all the progress of civilization, is a most natural possibility for us, as the war years and the concentration camps have shown. In fact, the route which takes bread from the earth in which it grows to the mouth which eats it is one of the most perilous. It is to cross the Red Sea. An old Midrash, conceived in this spirit, teaches: \u2018Each drop of the rain which is to water your furrows is led by 10,000 angels so that it may reach its destination.\u2019\u201d (<\/span>Nine Talmudic Readings<\/span><\/em>, translated from French by Annette Aronowicz).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Covid-19 pandemic has stirred many people\u2019s short memory, reminding us that affluence, food security and even life are more fragile than we usually care to contemplate. Psalm 65 further highlights that clean water is a great gift, one that is critically important for survival and therefore worthy of our best efforts to protect.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84817,"alt":"","title":"ps65-rain grain","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Rain And Grain","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Unappreciated miracles that are critical for our sustenance and very existence","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84817,"alt":"","title":"ps65-rain grain","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-rain-grain-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"65","chapter_main_number":"632","date":"20280131","wall_id":"632"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"84821","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"The Trials and Tribulations Of A Personal God ","post_title":"The Trials and Tribulations Of A Personal God","slug":"the-trials-and-tribulations-of-a-personal-god","old_id":"84821","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":"632","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A psalm of the human condition\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

While verses 7-14 of this psalm praise God abundantly as impersonally overseeing the natural world, the first half (vv. 2-6), depict God as variously (v. 2) the recipient of vows, (v. 3) the hearer of prayers, (v. 4) the forgiver of sins, (v. 5) the encourager of spiritual growth, and (v. 6) the trustworthy Deity who delivers us over and again. In other words - the personal God par excellence.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The two halves of the psalm would be complementary were one to see creation as entailing a hierarchy, with humans at the top, the \u201capple of God\u2019s eye,\u201d as it were (see e.g., Deut. 32:10). If the world, and all that is in it, merely serves as the backdrop for man\u2019s meaningful spiritual journey, then in order to encourage him to offer sacrifices,\u00a0 pray, repent and develop spiritually, his environment would play an important, albeit only supporting, role.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There have never been guarantees to specific, all-too mortal, individuals that over the course of their lives, they will not be caught up in (v. 7) earthquakes, (v. 8) storms and floods, (v. 9) experiencing living at great distances from civilization, or (v. 10-4) drought and famine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The liturgical poem that serves as a centerpiece of the \u201cDays of Awe\u201d prayers implies that at the advent of each Jewish calendrical year, there will be the potential for some existential threat to an individual\u2019s continued existence:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u2026On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast, who by famine, who by thirst, who by storm, who by plague, who by strangulation, and who by stoning. Who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

That is in regard to individuals. But way back in the aftermath of the Flood, humanity as a whole was guaranteed by God to survive His fits of frustration and irritation with His creation (see Gen. 9:11.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Psalms is made up of the supplications of individuals facing worldly trials and tribulations, and as such, continues to be highly relevant to the overall human condition of those individuals.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84822,"alt":"","title":"ps65-hand suffering","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering.png","width":999,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-156x300.png","medium-width":156,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-533x1024.png","medium_large-width":533,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-533x1024.png","large-width":533,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering.png","1536x1536-width":799,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering.png","2048x2048-width":999,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-624x1200.png","post_full_size-width":624,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-219x420.png","home_baner-width":219,"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 Trials and Tribulations Of A Personal God","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A psalm of the human condition\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84822,"alt":"","title":"ps65-hand suffering","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering.png","width":999,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-156x300.png","medium-width":156,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-533x1024.png","medium_large-width":533,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-533x1024.png","large-width":533,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering.png","1536x1536-width":799,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering.png","2048x2048-width":999,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-624x1200.png","post_full_size-width":624,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-hand-suffering-219x420.png","home_baner-width":219,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"65","chapter_main_number":"632","date":"20280131","wall_id":"632"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"84813","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Trusting Our Silence To Enrich Our Voices ","post_title":"Trusting Our Silence To Enrich Our Voices","slug":"trusting-our-silence-to-enrich-our-voices","old_id":"84813","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":"632","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Music is the silence between the notes\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Words are important in Tanach. God created the world with words, gave us the 10 Commandments with words, spoke to our prophets who relayed God\u2019s words, and King David wrote some of Jewish liturgy\u2019s most moving words. And yet in this chapter David presents a song, the lyrics of which include an exaltation of silence. \u201cSilence is praise to You\u201d says David in\u00a0 verse 2. Many sages explain that words alone are inadequate to express our relationship with God, and sometimes mere words can even detract from the depth of emotion we are trying to express. Rashi tells us that any attempt to verbalize praise of God implies a finite quality to Godliness. Silence, on the other hand, says Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz \u201cincludes all that can and cannot be verbalized.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David spent long swaths of time on the run from his enemies. Silence for David, at least in those times, was the norm, and so presumably he had become accustomed to it and perhaps even adept at leveraging it in his praise of God. Today we have become so accustomed to the noise of the world that we are uncomfortable with silence. The \u201cpregnant pauses\u201d in conversation leave us fidgety, needing to fill in some noise. When we find ourselves alone, we often invite in the noise, from music, talk radio, television, a phone call. And if not that, we look for something active to fill the silent void: we pick up a book or turn to a hobby. We busy ourselves in an attempt to quiet our minds. Rarely do we allow our silence into the forefront.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbi Dov Ber Pinson, a proponent of meditation, suggests that our need for noise, and discomfort with silence comes from a fear of being alone with our own thoughts. David had no fear of his own thoughts and trusted his own silence as a vehicle for self-expression and praise of God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Composer Claude Debussy said, \u201cMusic is the silence between the notes.\u201d Just as musical silences enhance what was just experienced and heighten our anticipation of what is to come, so too does the insertion of a silent pause deepen the impact of a great speech.\u00a0 Even more so do our silent prayers, the things in our heart that we are sure God must know, enrich the prayers and praises we verbalize.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84814,"alt":"","title":"ps65-music","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music.jpg","width":1920,"height":1226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-300x192.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-768x490.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":490,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-1024x654.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":654,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":981,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-1200x766.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":766,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-658x420.jpg","home_baner-width":658,"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":"Trusting Our Silence To Enrich Our Voices","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Music is the silence between the notes","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84814,"alt":"","title":"ps65-music","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music.jpg","width":1920,"height":1226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-300x192.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":192,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-768x490.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":490,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-1024x654.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":654,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":981,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-1200x766.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":766,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps65-music-658x420.jpg","home_baner-width":658,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"65","chapter_main_number":"632","date":"20280131","wall_id":"632"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"84867","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"On Dry Land ","post_title":"On Dry Land","slug":"on-dry-land","old_id":"84867","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":78134,"alt":"","title":"josh blechner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","width":276,"height":351,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner-236x300.jpg","medium-width":236,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","medium_large-width":276,"medium_large-height":351,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","large-width":276,"large-height":351,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","1536x1536-width":276,"1536x1536-height":351,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","2048x2048-width":276,"2048x2048-height":351,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","post_full_size-width":276,"post_full_size-height":351,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/josh-blechner.jpg","home_baner-width":276,"home_baner-height":351}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"633","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Twice\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In the opening of the Torah portion Yitro, we are told that Moses' father-in-law travels to the Israelite camp because he heard \"all that God had done for Moses and for Israel\". Rashi explains that the wonders that Yitro heard were the splitting of the sea and the war with Amalek. The splitting of the sea still has a central place in the daily prayer service with the recitation of the Song of the Sea poem every morning. It is also a feature of the Passover Seder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is fitting, therefore, that King David lists this miracle above all others in Psalm 66. Verse 5-6: \u201cCome and see the works of God, who is held in awe by men for His acts.He turned the sea into dry land; they crossed the river on foot; we therefore rejoice in Him.\u201d The use of the word \"river\" is interesting here. The rest of the facts sound familiar- the dry land, the rejoicing in God after, by wasn't it the Reed Sea?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

King David may actually be combining two different miracles.\u00a0 A mini-version of the crossing of the Reed Sea happens when the Israelites enter the land of Israel in the Book of Joshua. In chapter 3, God stops the waters of the Jordan allowing the Israelites to cross the river on dry land. David flexes his poetic muscle here by referencing both the significant moment of the splitting of the sea when the Israelite were saved from Egypt\u00a0 with the moment the Israelites became a nation when they crossed the Jordan river to sing God's praises.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: courtesy of Bracha Lavee<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":41725,"alt":"","title":"Ex14-BLavee","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee.jpg","width":1890,"height":1537,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-300x244.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":244,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-768x625.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":625,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-1024x833.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":833,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee.jpg","2048x2048-width":1890,"2048x2048-height":1537,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-1200x976.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":976,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-516x420.jpg","home_baner-width":516,"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":"On Dry Land","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Twice","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":41725,"alt":"","title":"Ex14-BLavee","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee.jpg","width":1890,"height":1537,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-300x244.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":244,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-768x625.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":625,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-1024x833.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":833,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1249,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee.jpg","2048x2048-width":1890,"2048x2048-height":1537,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-1200x976.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":976,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Ex14-BLavee-516x420.jpg","home_baner-width":516,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"66","chapter_main_number":"633","date":"20280201","wall_id":"633"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"84847","color":"#faeed8","size":"2","name":"Within The Temple Courtyard ","post_title":"Within The Temple Courtyard","slug":"within-the-temple-courtyard-2","old_id":"84847","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36669,"post_title":"Yakov Azriel","slug":"yakov-azriel","old_id":"36669","first_name":"Yakov ","last_name":"Azriel","description":"Yakov Azriel, who lives in Israel, has published five books of poetry in the USA and hundreds of poems in journals and magazines. His poems have won twenty-two prizes in international poetry competitions, and he has twice been awarded fellowships from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture.","short_description":"Yakov Azriel is an English language poet who lives in Israel","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36670,"alt":"","title":"Yakov.Azriel.Photo","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","width":1099,"height":1519,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-217x300.jpg","medium-width":217,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":741,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-741x1024.jpg","large-width":741,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","1536x1536-width":1099,"1536x1536-height":1519,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668.jpg","2048x2048-width":1099,"2048x2048-height":1519,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-868x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":868,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/Yakov.Azriel.Photo_-e1533158407668-304x420.jpg","home_baner-width":304,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"633","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"

 <\/p>\r\n

\"I will come into Your house with sacrifices \u2026\" (Psalm 66:13)<\/p>\r\n


\r\nI
\r\nSometimes I want my money back, the price
\r\nI've had to pay, my God, is just too high;
\r\nThe Sabbath suit You ordered me to buy
\r\nIs thread-bare, and its fabric full of lice.
\r\nThe Sabbath bread I've eaten, slice by slice,
\r\nIs frozen solid, Lord, and though I try
\r\nTo taste Your honey and to sanctify
\r\nYour Sabbath wine, all liquids turn to ice.<\/p>\r\n

I've paid a lifetime's salary to rent
\r\nA room within Your walls \u2014 unfurnished, small,
\r\nUnheated and unlit, as if the night
\r\nHad overwhelmed this house for which I've spent
\r\nMy savings, Lord \u2014 is this my home at all?
\r\nWhere is the hearth's fire? Where is the fire's light?<\/p>\r\n


\r\nII
\r\nSometimes I learn that what I thought was right
\r\nIs wrong, and what I thought was plainly wrong
\r\nIs absolutely right, that noise makes song
\r\nAnd melody, that darkness blazes light.
\r\nSometimes I learn that grayness harbors white
\r\nWhile glazing white hides dismal gray, that long
\r\nIs really short, that weak is really strong,
\r\nThat dust and ashes suddenly ignite.<\/p>\r\n

Sometimes I learn a Sabbath suit is more
\r\nThan shabby cloth and thread, sometimes I learn
\r\nA Sabbath meal is more than bits of ice,
\r\nSometimes I learn a room may have a door
\r\nWhich opens to a court where altars burn
\r\nAnd consecrate the secret sacrifice.<\/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":"929 Poetry Corner - Within The Temple Courtyard","tile_main_caption":"Sometimes I learn that what I thought was right Is wrong, and what I thought was plainly wrong Is absolutely right, that noise makes song And melody, that darkness blazes light.","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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"66","chapter_main_number":"633","date":"20280201","wall_id":"633"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"84876","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Major v. Minor ","post_title":"Major v. Minor","slug":"major-v-minor","old_id":"84876","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":79834,"post_title":"Ron Weidberg","slug":"ron-weidberg","old_id":"79834","first_name":"Ron ","last_name":"Weidberg ","description":"Ron Weidberg is a composer, musicologist, lecturer on music at the Open University and the Academic Kiryah of Kiryat Ono. ","short_description":"Ron Weidberg is a composer, musicologist, lecturer on music at the Open University and the Academic Kiryah of Kiryat Ono. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":79835,"alt":"","title":"ron weidberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg.jpg","width":364,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg-218x300.jpg","medium-width":218,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg.jpg","medium_large-width":364,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg.jpg","large-width":364,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":364,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":364,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg.jpg","post_full_size-width":364,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/ron-weidberg-306x420.jpg","home_baner-width":306,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"634","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A new series - this time: Charles Ives","post_main_content_content":"

Charles Ives - Psalm 67 for Two Choirs<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Charles Ives (1874 - 1954) wrote this piece at the beginning of his career as a composer in the year 1894, and saw it as one of his greatest achievements. That was also the opinion of his father, George Ives, who himself was a conductor of choirs and woodwind orchestras, and whose strange musical experiments greatly influenced the musical creativity of his son.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The father claimed that this work was very appropriate for church use, but very quickly it became clear that the composition was very challenging for communal settings, on account of the bi-tonal experiments that Ives included. This means that the two choirs are not singing in the same key! The places where Ives has one voice imitating another really sound like a competition between major and minor.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Ives ends the psalm in conciliation, when the choir sings the final words on the same two chords with which it opened the work. Ives, as was his wont, hewed very close to the original words, from the King James version.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The work was first performed in 1937, after Ives\u2019 greatness was recognized, and the breadth of his work became known. His daring harmonic style, that was far ahead of its time, was highly influential among American liturgical composers in the first half of the 20th century. This clip demonstrates the prodigious abilities of the Jerusalem Academy Chamber Choir under the baton of Prof. Stanley Sperber.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Charles Ives: The Sixty Seventh Psalm - Jerusalem Academy Chamber Choir, Israel, 2011; <\/span>12th International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf, Germany.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":" https:\/\/youtu.be\/l5ddwbbJrBg","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"The Psalms In Classical Music","tile_main_caption":"Major v. Minor","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A new series - this time: Charles Ives","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":" https:\/\/youtu.be\/l5ddwbbJrBg","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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"67","chapter_main_number":"634","date":"20280202","wall_id":"634"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"84931","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"Isaiah Challenges The Psalmist ","post_title":"Isaiah Challenges The Psalmist","slug":"isaiah-challenges-the-psalmist","old_id":"84931","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":36535,"post_title":"Ezra Butler","slug":"ezra-butler","old_id":"36535","first_name":"Ezra ","last_name":"Butler","description":"Ezra Butler used to study third century texts, but is currently an artist and independent researcher living in Chicago.","short_description":"Ezra Butler used to study third century texts, but is currently an artist and independent researcher living in Chicago.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36536,"alt":"","title":"EzraButler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819.jpg","width":597,"height":761,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819-235x300.jpg","medium-width":235,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-681x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":681,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-681x1024.jpg","large-width":681,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819.jpg","1536x1536-width":597,"1536x1536-height":761,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819.jpg","2048x2048-width":597,"2048x2048-height":761,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819.jpg","post_full_size-width":597,"post_full_size-height":761,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/EzraButler-e1533041370819-329x420.jpg","home_baner-width":329,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"635","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Moral criticism and intertextuality\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

It is almost as if Isaiah 10, in which Isaiah chastises the people of Israel, for their suborning evil, creating nefarious laws, and subverting justice for the poor and needy, was written with Psalm 68 in mind, as 68:11 tells us that God provides for the needy.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Psalm 68:13, \u201chousewives are sharing in the spoils.\u201d In Isaiah 10:2, \u201cwidows are the spoils.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Psalm 68:7 \u201cGod restores the lonely to their homes, and frees the imprisoned.\u201d Isaiah asks (10:3-4) \u201cTo whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your dignity, from collapsing during imprisonment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In Psalms 68: 21, God delivers us an escape from death. In Isaiah 10:4, death surrounds us.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Psalm 68:14 boasts that there will be riches for even those who don\u2019t make any effort, with \u201cwings of a dove covered in silver and its pinions in gold.\u201d Isaiah (10:14) talks about the King of Assyria plundering other nations, and he says \u201cI was able to seize, like a nest, the wealth of people. As one gathers abandoned eggs, so I gathered the earth. Nothing so much flapped a wing or opened a mouth to peep.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Psalm 68:32 has tributes to God from the kingdoms of Egypt and Cush. Isaiah 10:6 recalls when God empowered the King of Assyria to destroy other nations, and to keep their spoils for himself. That king thought himself (10:7-8) all-powerful, because he had other princes doing his bidding.\u00a0 Psalm 68:28 boasts of the \u201cprinces of Judah\u2026 the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Psalm 68:36 says that \u201cGod gives might and power to the people\u201d. Isaiah 10:13 has the King of Assyria saying \u201cby the power of my own hand I did it, and by my own skill, as I am smart.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It\u2019s almost as if Isaiah read the arrogance and greed of the psalmist, and responded with the reality of how the corrupt operate. When a leader urges people to join a fight with the bombastic promise that \u201ceveryone will share in the spoils\u201d, what usually comes next is that the same leader creates his own version of \u201cjustice\u201d that results in the people most at risk being harmed.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0 courtesy of the author<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84932,"alt":"","title":"Ps68-EButler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler.png","width":2048,"height":2048,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Isaiah Challenges The Psalmist","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Moral criticism and intertextuality","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84932,"alt":"","title":"Ps68-EButler","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler.png","width":2048,"height":2048,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Ps68-EButler-420x420.png","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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"68","chapter_main_number":"635","date":"20280203","wall_id":"635"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":13,"id":"84918","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"The Weak And Small Shall Prevail ","post_title":"The Weak And Small Shall Prevail","slug":"the-weak-and-small-shall-prevail","old_id":"84918","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":80006,"post_title":"Bencian Grjnhaus","slug":"bencian-grjnhaus","old_id":"80006","first_name":"Bencian ","last_name":"Grjnhaus ","description":"Bencian Grjnhaus was a pre-War Lithuania scholar who authored an unpublished Bible commentary, Bina BeMikra, that encompassed all the biblical books excluding the books of the Pentateuch. The manuscript was recently donated to the National Library in Israel where it is being digitized and made available to scholars. The excerpts of his work that appear here have been selected, translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Z. Berger, Ed.D.","short_description":"Bencian Grjnhaus was a pre-War Lithuania scholar who authored an unpublished Bible commentary, Bina BeMikra, that encompassed all the biblical books excluding the books of the Pentateuch. ","credit":"","image":false,"image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"635","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Some thoughts on Psalms - from pre-War Lithuania","post_main_content_content":"

The structure of this psalm makes clear that a diverse group of nations gathered to attack Israel, each for their own reason. Some hated the nation of Israel \u2013 they would have attacked even if they had been bribed not to\u2013 while others looked towards the spoils of war: had they received appropriate payment, they would have refrained from fighting. But God subdued them, allowing Israel to defeat them all.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In response, David wrote the following psalm. 2) God will arise\u2026 Sing to God, chant hymns to His name, play the <\/span>sal<\/span><\/i> in tribute to Him who rides the clouds\u20269) Before God \u2013 the God Who revealed Himself in all His glory on Mount Sinai. 10) You released a bountiful rain, O God, on Your land, and You established a foundation and home for Your nation, which languished 40 years on the road. 11) Oh God! Your nation dwelled there, and through Your goodness You established a solid foundation for the needy of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Or, perhaps, God\u2019s name that appears at the end of the verse is connected with His name at the beginning of the following verse: Oh, God, our Lord gives a command informing that a great host of kings are in flight. Shaddai! At the time when the foreign kings spread out their wings across the entire land, and Israel walked in darkness and the shadow of death, You acted as Savior, breaking the power of our enemies, and shining upon us Your great light, like snow whose whiteness brightens even nights of dread and darkness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

You majestic mountains \u2013 i.e., the great nations \u2013 why do you attack us? Do you believe that you will succeed thanks to your power and strength? Not so! Just gaze upon the mountain that God chose to reveal Himself, where He descended with His chariots that are myriads upon myriads. It was not a high, steep mountain, rather it was a small, modest, one \u2013 Mount Sinai \u2013 where God raised His holy countenance. This is true in our situation, as well. Even as we are weak and small in number, God\u2019s hand will come to protect us, rather than support those who are strong and greater in number.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And do not think that God\u2019s appearance on the modest Mount Sinai was a one-time occurrence, and that now He has left and has established Himself in a higher place, appropriate for His honor. This is not true, for God\u2019s presence will remain there forever, for God despises the haughty ones who believe that \u201cMy own power and the might of my own hand will win this for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To the enemy! You were so certain in your victory as you set out to war, that you imagined rising to great heights, taking Israelite captives, and receiving tribute from God in exchange for these captive men. But you did not succeed, for God\u2019s wrath was poured out on you, and to us He offered succor and support.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":83538,"alt":"","title":"Bencian Grjnhaus cover pic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","width":1000,"height":667,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-300x200.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-768x512.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","large-width":1000,"large-height":667,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":667,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":667,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":667,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-630x420.png","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"God despises the haughty","tile_main_caption":"The Weak And Small Shall Prevail","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Some thoughts on Psalms - from pre-War Lithuania","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":83538,"alt":"","title":"Bencian Grjnhaus cover pic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","width":1000,"height":667,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-300x200.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-768x512.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","large-width":1000,"large-height":667,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":667,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":667,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic.png","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":667,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Bencian-Grjnhaus-cover-pic-630x420.png","home_baner-width":630,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"68","chapter_main_number":"635","date":"20280203","wall_id":"635"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"84942","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"God Rides The Clouds\u00a0 ","post_title":"God Rides The Clouds\u00a0","slug":"god-rides-the-clouds","old_id":"84942","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":"635","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Divine glory in the seventh heaven\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Psalm 68<\/span><\/a> is a hymn of praise to God\u2019s powerful acts and victories.<\/span> \u201cSing to God, chant hymns to His name. Extol Him who rides the clouds. The Lord is His name. Exult in His presence\u201d (verse 5) features the dramatic image of God riding on the clouds. This basic idea is found already in<\/span> Deut. 33:26<\/span><\/a>, where God is described as \u201criding through the heavens\u2026through the skies in His glory\u201d. Similarly, our psalm describes God as He \u201cwho rides the ancient highest heavens\u201d (verse 34). See also<\/span> Daniel 7:13<\/span><\/a>. It may be recalled that Moses meets with God in a cloud on the summit of Mount Sinai (<\/span>Ex. 24:15-18<\/span><\/a>). Similarly, in the New Testament, Jesus is described as ascending into the clouds (Acts 1:9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Heavenly beings who \u201cride the clouds\u201d are found occasionally even in<\/span> Norse<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> Hindu<\/span><\/a> mythology. However, according to<\/span> Moshe Weinfeld<\/span><\/a>, the depiction of deities riding the clouds was particularly common in the Ancient Near East. This is illustrated most prominently, in Ugaritic texts, in which the god Baal is invoked as \u201cRider of the Clouds\u201d (see for example, <\/span>Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament<\/span><\/em>, 1969, page 130).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Bavli Megillah 31a<\/span><\/a> notes that the exaltation of God as He \u201cwho rides the clouds\u201d is immediately followed by describing Him as \u201cthe father of orphans, the champion of widows, God, in His holy habitation\u201d (<\/span>68:6<\/span><\/a>). This suggestive connection between God\u2019s majesty and His care for the needy is formulated as a principle: Where you find mention of God\u2019s powerfulness (<\/span>gevurato<\/span><\/em>), there you also find mention of His humility <\/span>(<\/span><\/i>\u2018anvatanuto<\/span><\/em>). This is illustrated also by examples from Torah (<\/span>Deut. 10:17-18<\/span><\/a>) and from Prophets (<\/span>Isaiah 57:15<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Midrash Tehilllim 114:1<\/span><\/a> ponders the description of God as He \u201cwho rides the clouds \u2013 <\/span>rokhev ba-\u2018aravot<\/span><\/em>\u201d. This leads to a discussion of how many \u201cheavenly firmaments \u2013 <\/span>reqi\u2019in<\/span><\/em>\u201d there are. First, the number two is suggested on the basis of the repetition of the word \u201cheavens \u2013 <\/span>shamayim<\/span><\/em>\u201d in<\/span> our psalm, verse 34<\/span><\/a>. But the number three is also suggested on the basis of the appearance of the word \u201cheavens\u201d three times in<\/span> I Kings 8:27<\/span><\/a>. Finally, seven is suggested on the basis of seven biblical words for \u201cheaven\u201d (<\/span>vilon, raqia\u2019, shachaq, zevul, ma\u2019on, makhon,\u2018aravot<\/span><\/em>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But, the Glory of God is in the highest \u201cSeventh Heaven\u201d called <\/span>\u2018aravot<\/span><\/em> -- as in the description of God as \u201criding the clouds \u2013 <\/span>rokhev ba-\u2018aravot<\/span><\/em>\u201d in <\/span>68:5<\/span><\/a>. It is then added that when God looks down from <\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/i>aravot<\/span><\/em> and sees the good deeds of the Righteous Ones, it is pleasing (<\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/i>arev<\/span><\/em>) to Him. God then \u201cseeds\u201d <\/span>the clouds with the good deeds of the righteous and \u201cthey produce fruit'\u201d <\/span>as it says: \u201cSay that the righteous shall fare well. He shall eat the fruit of his deeds\u201d (<\/span>Isaiah 3:10<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84943,"alt":"","title":"ps68-heaven 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Rides The Clouds\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Divine glory in the seventh heaven","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84943,"alt":"","title":"ps68-heaven 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Goldish\u00a0 ","post_title":"Fine Goldish\u00a0","slug":"fine-goldish","old_id":"84937","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":"635","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"On the wings of a dove\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Psalm 68 describes a military victory. It opens with these words of encouragement:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cGod will arise, His enemies shall be scattered, His foes shall flee before Him.\u201d (Psalm 68:2)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Later it describes the defeat of God\u2019s enemies:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe kings and their armies are in headlong flight; housewives are sharing in the spoils; even for those of you who lie among the sheepfolds there are wings of a dove sheathed in silver, its pinions in fine gold.\u201d (68:13-14).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is a difficult image to understand (not helped by the obscure words used in the English translation). According to the Da'at Mikra commentary, the verses can be explained this way:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After the defeated kings flee, the soldiers of Israel will divide up the spoils found in the royal homes. Those soldiers, after returning home, will be able to rest as if they were lying in the shelters of the sheep. And they will return home like doves, who return to nest, laden with the silver and gold (like the shining wings of a dove) that they captured in the war.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I would like to focus on one phrase in the verses above \u2013 \u201cfine gold.\u201d The Hebrew is <\/span>yerakrak charutz<\/span><\/em>. The second word in the phrase,\u00a0<\/span>charutz<\/span><\/em>\u00a0clearly means \u201cgold.\u201d But for those familiar with the Hebrew words for colors, <\/span>yerakrak<\/span><\/em>\u00a0seems to be similar to <\/span>yarok<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i> \u201cgreen.\u201d So why is it also identified as \u201cgold\u201d here?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There\u2019s no reason to doubt that both words mean gold here. In other Semitic languages, like Ugaritic and South Arabian, there is a cognate word that means gold. But based on other uses of the words <\/span>yarok<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and <\/span>yerakrak<\/span><\/em>\u00a0in Hebrew, it seems that the color of this gold might be on the spectrum of green to yellow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The verse says the gold is <\/span>yerakrak<\/span><\/em>, not <\/span>yarok<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> What\u2019s the difference between them?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The only other time <\/span>yerakrak<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>appears in the Bible is in Leviticus 13:49 and 14:37, when discussing the laws of <\/span>tzaraat<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i> the skin disease. Since the color of the skin is important for identifying the type of affliction, the exact meaning of <\/span>yerakrak<\/span><\/em>, and the other colors mentioned there is important.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A serious debate arose in the Talmud, and then in the later rabbinic authorities, as to the significance of the reduplication of the last two letters. Some say that it meant an intensified color, and others say it meant a paler version of the color. While some modern scholars say the first opinion is likely correct, in modern Hebrew the latter opinion took hold. So since <\/span>adom<\/span><\/em>\u00a0is \u201cred,\u201d we say that <\/span>adamdam<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is \u201creddish\u201d (not fully red).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, our verse in Psalms is clearly a parable, so no such precision is necessary regarding the color of the metal. I\u2019m sure the soldiers were glad to take it home, regardless of the shade of gold.<\/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":"","tile_main_caption":"Fine Goldish\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"On the wings of a dove","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84938,"alt":"","title":"ps68-gold silver dove","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove.png","width":1280,"height":1054,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove-300x247.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":247,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove-768x632.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":632,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove-1024x843.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":843,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove.png","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1054,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove.png","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1054,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove-1200x988.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":988,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps68-gold-silver-dove-510x420.png","home_baner-width":510,"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":"Writings","book":"Psalms","chapter":"68","chapter_main_number":"635","date":"20280203","wall_id":"635"},"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":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/84543"}],"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=84543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}