{"id":94446,"date":"2018-07-09T18:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-1154\/"},"modified":"2022-02-02T19:44:39","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T17:44:39","slug":"wall-1154","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-1154\/","title":{"rendered":"weekend-from-20250112-to-20250118"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"weekend","wall_id":"1154","date_from":"20250112","date_to":"20250118","book":"Job","books_group":"Writings","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"94712","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Balak: A Right-Sizing Blessing ","post_title":"Balak: A Right-Sizing Blessing","slug":"balak-a-right-sizing-blessing","old_id":"94712","type":"song","iframe":"","writer":{"id":94710,"post_title":"Fred Scherlinder Dobb","slug":"fred-scherlinder-dobb","old_id":"94710","first_name":"Fred Scherlinder ","last_name":"Dobb ","description":"Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb serves as rabbi at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD (a Shmita Project partner synagogue). He also chairs the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, and serves on the national board of Interfaith Power and Light. Fred lives in Washington DC with his wife Minna, and two children. \r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb serves as rabbi at Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda, MD (a Shmita Project partner synagogue). ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":94711,"alt":"","title":"Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","width":140,"height":150,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb-140x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":140,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","medium-width":140,"medium-height":150,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","medium_large-width":140,"medium_large-height":150,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","large-width":140,"large-height":150,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","1536x1536-width":140,"1536x1536-height":150,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","2048x2048-width":140,"2048x2048-height":150,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","post_full_size-width":140,"post_full_size-height":150,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Fred-Scherlinder-Dobb.jpg","home_baner-width":140,"home_baner-height":150}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"1154","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Shmita must be our design principle, a consciousness to cultivate. Living la vida shmita will help us survive, and thrive, through anything. Motivated by its morals to curb our carbon and flatten our footprint, shmita-consciousness will enlarge us all.","post_main_content_content":"
<\/header>\r\n
\r\n

\"Behold, I\u2019m bidden to bless:\u00a0 And God has blessed; I cannot\/will not reverse it.\u201d\u00a0(Numbers\u00a023:20<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\r\n

What\u2019s a blessing, anyway?!\u00a0The root\u00a0bet-resh-khaf<\/em>, in biblical context, can mean gifting, predicting, describing, cursing, magnifying, and more.\u00a0That last idea, \u2018enlargement,\u2019 often works best \u2013 including when King Balak sends Balaam to curse the Israelites, but feeling the Divine flow, this prophet-for-hire only blesses.\u00a0Balaam\u2019s beautiful blessing is so enlarging, it opens our morning liturgy:\u00a0\u05de\u05b7\u05d4\u05be\u05d8\u05bc\u05b9\u05a5\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc \u05d0\u05b9\u05d4\u05b8\u05dc\u05b6\u0596\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b7\u05e2\u05b2\u05e7\u05b9\u0591\u05d1 \u05de\u05b4\u05e9\u05c1\u05b0\u05db\u05bc\u05b0\u05e0\u05b9\u05ea\u05b6\u0596\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d9\u05b4\u05e9\u05c2\u05b0\u05e8\u05b8\u05d0\u05b5\u05bd\u05dc\u00a0\u2014 \u201chow good are your tents, Jacob; your dwelling places, Israel!\u201d (24:5<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n

Our ancestors traveled light, leaving little trace; their tents were simple and portable.\u00a0Balaam\u2019s \u201cblessing\u201d wasn\u2019t about physical enlargement, then, but spiritual uplift.\u00a0Just the blessing we need today!\u00a0A blessing which we already have, in the form of Shabbat, and shabbaton<\/em>\/ shmita.\u00a0Turning every seventh day from concrete things to spiritual ideals, Shabbat undergirds Judaism\u2019s eco-ethos.\u00a0And every seventh year, shmita\u2019s \u201cradical release\u201d confirms that ethic.<\/p>\r\n

Modernity conflated blessing with expansion, and it\u2019s killing us, since nothing corporeal can grow indefinitely.\u00a0Not organisms, or populations; things, or economies.\u00a0Only the spiritual realm allows for continual growth.\u00a0Our entire way of life must therefore incorporate Shabbat and shmita values, setting limits. It must be sufficiently small-scale, resilient, and relational to handle periodic disruptions: cessation of commercial agriculture, even pandemics.\u00a0We\u2019re \u201cbidden to bless\u201d (23:20<\/a>)\u00a0l\u2019dor vador,<\/em> intergenerationally.\u00a0Shmita must thus be our design principle \u2013 an asymptote toward which we bend our arcs; a consciousness to cultivate. Living la vida shmita <\/em>will help us survive, and thrive, through anything.\u00a0 What\u2019s more enlarging than that?!<\/p>\r\n

In shmita, as in our ethical mussar tradition, the goal is balance.\u00a0That includes\u00a0anavah<\/em>, humility, understood as taking up just the right amount of space.\u00a0The point transcends the dichotomy of shrinkage (from a too-large footprint) versus expansion (from gifts remaining hidden); it\u2019s about right-sizing.\u00a0Striking that balance, more than \u201cenlarging\u201d alone, is the real blessing.\u00a0And shmita is Torah\u2019s great right-sizer.\u00a0We flourish for the long-term when we periodically prune ourselves, and grow intentionally \u2013 when our structures and our norms make room for the human and non-human other (Ex. 23:11<\/a>), the disadvantaged and empowered (Lev. 25:6<\/a>), alike.\u00a0As God self-contracted (m\u2019tzamtzem<\/em>) to enable relationship with the rest of Creation, we too expand our experience when we do\u00a0tzimtzum<\/em>\u00a0and right-size, shmita-size, ourselves.<\/p>\r\n

Only on his third try, finally seeing all our ancestors \u201cencamped tribe by tribe\u201d (Num. 24:2<\/a>), came Balaam\u2019s most enduring blessing.\u00a0From Mount Pe\u2019or he saw a dozen interconnected micro-communities, \u201ctribe-by-tribe\u201d \u2014 each at a relational and human scale where connections can abound, resources be shared, individuals celebrated, and holiness abide.\u00a0Mah tovu\u00a0<\/em>(Num. 24:5<\/a>), indeed:\u00a0How good, how sustainable, are such shmita-conforming dwelling places!<\/p>\r\n

What\u2019s a blessing, anyway? Shmita is!\u00a0We mustn\u2019t reverse it; rather, let\u2019s magnify it.\u00a0Motivated by its morals to curb our carbon and flatten our footprint, Shmita-consciousness will enlarge us all.<\/p>\r\n

The next shmita year begins next Rosh Hashanah 2021, only a few months from now. We still have some 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.<\/em><\/p>\r\n

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

See here for more information on the Hazon Shmita project, and its blogs.<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/section>","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 Weekly Series: The \"Shmitah Parasha\" Blog","tile_main_caption":"Balak: A Right-Sizing Blessing","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":"Job","chapter":false,"chapter_main_number":false,"date":false,"wall_id":"1154"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"94492","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Will Job Be Vindicated? ","post_title":"Will Job Be Vindicated?","slug":"will-job-be-vindicated","old_id":"94492","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":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And if so - will it be by God his Persecutor?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In Chapter 19, Job is displeased with his \u201cfriends\u2019\u201d comments. He rejects their suggestion that to account for his terrible condition, he must have sinned. Job maintains his innocence, and even challenges them personally: \u201cWhy do you pursue me like God, maligning me insatiably?\u201d (verse 22).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What is unclear in this soliloquy, however, is to whom Job is referring in v. 25: \u201c<\/span>But I know that <\/span>go\u2019ali,<\/span><\/em> my Vindicator lives; in the end He will testify on earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To whom is Job referring?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Malbim understands \u201c<\/span>go\u2019ali<\/span><\/em>\u201d as denoting some person, whom Job assumes will successfully argue the veracity of his claims. But he makes no indication who this individual might be.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashbam and Metzudat David, due to the appearance of a particular word in this verse,\u00a0 state that Job is trusting in God Himself to eventually admit that an error has been made:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rashbam : \u201cThe Holy One, Blessed be He, Who can be properly referred to as \u201c<\/span>Acharon<\/span><\/em>\u201d (<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>in the end\u201d; even after all of creation no longer exists).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Metzudat David: God, Who redeems my soul and allows it to be successful, He is alive and extant eternally, and even when the entire world is destroyed, He will <\/span>in the end <\/span><\/em>continue to exist\u2026<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We can only conclude from the view of these commentators, that they assume that Job was: 1) extremely self-confident regarding his personal righteousness, and 2) his faith in the integrity of God was absolute, leading him to believe that his claims of innocence would be eventually vindicated.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, both of these presumptions can be contested:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

1) Even after a biblical personality has been guaranteed that Divine assistance would \u201calways\u201d be forthcoming, we find many individuals who are suspicious of themselves, and assume that it is possible for them to have sinned, even without their knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nachmanides understands an iconic biblical verse as necessitating everyone to confront just such a possibility. On Deut.29:28 \u201cConcealed acts concern the LORD our God\u2026\u201d he writes,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThe literal intent of the verse is that the \u201cconcealed acts\u201d are the sins that are hidden from those who are guilty of them, in the spirit of \u2018Who can be aware of errors? Clear me of unperceived guilt?\u2019\u201d (Psalms 19:13).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

While the commentator asserts that it would be unfair to hold us accountable for sins about which we were never aware, is this necessarily so? Is ignorance a no-fault excuse in every case?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

2) Shouldn\u2019t God be expected to be consistent, i.e., if He has already caused Job incredible hardship, how can the sufferer be so sure that all will be reversed by the One responsible? And even if we posit that God \u201cgives and takes away,\u201d how can <\/span>all <\/span><\/i>of the losses be compensated? While animals may be replaced, can the same be said about children, let alone the disruption from the individual and his spouse of their time together?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I believe that verse 25 generates more questions than it answers.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Blake Book of Job Linell set 13, 1821 \/ wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94494,"alt":"","title":"job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","width":600,"height":516,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13-300x258.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","medium_large-width":600,"medium_large-height":516,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","large-width":600,"large-height":516,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","1536x1536-width":600,"1536x1536-height":516,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","2048x2048-width":600,"2048x2048-height":516,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","post_full_size-width":600,"post_full_size-height":516,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13-488x420.jpg","home_baner-width":488,"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":"Will Job Be Vindicated?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And if so - will it be by God his Persecutor?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94494,"alt":"","title":"job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","width":600,"height":516,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13-300x258.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":258,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","medium_large-width":600,"medium_large-height":516,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","large-width":600,"large-height":516,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","1536x1536-width":600,"1536x1536-height":516,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","2048x2048-width":600,"2048x2048-height":516,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13.jpg","post_full_size-width":600,"post_full_size-height":516,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-Blake_Book_of_Job_Linell_set_13-488x420.jpg","home_baner-width":488,"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":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":3,"id":"94482","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"What Does A Friend In Need Need? ","post_title":"What Does A Friend In Need Need?","slug":"what-does-a-friend-in-need-need","old_id":"94482","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":49419,"post_title":"Josh Weiner","slug":"josh-weiner","old_id":"49419","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Weiner ","description":"Rabbi Josh Weiner has worked as a social worker, tour guide and kindergarten teacher. He is currently the assistant rabbi at the Adath Shalom community in Paris, teaches halacha at the Zacharias Frankel college, a new conservative rabbinical seminary in Berlin, and supports entrepreneurial Jewish education in both cities. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Rabbi Josh Weiner is currently the assistant rabbi at the Adath Shalom community in Paris and teaches halacha at the Zacharias Frankel college in Berlin.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":49420,"alt":"","title":"josh weinder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287.jpg","width":360,"height":448,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287-241x300.jpg","medium-width":241,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287.jpg","large-width":360,"large-height":448,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287.jpg","1536x1536-width":360,"1536x1536-height":448,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287.jpg","2048x2048-width":360,"2048x2048-height":448,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287.jpg","post_full_size-width":360,"post_full_size-height":448,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/josh-weinder-e1550144676287-338x420.jpg","home_baner-width":338,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Acceptance, love, space, being there, and sometimes, just silence\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Job lashes out at God and at the world. More than his pain and frustration, in reading this chapter I feel his loneliness. \u201c<\/em><\/span>I cry \u2018Violence\u2019 but am not answered; I shout but can get no justice!<\/span><\/em>\u201d <\/em>It\u2019s not clear - and perhaps intentionally ambiguous - who he would like to be answered by: is it the God who he holds responsible for his suffering? Or is it the friends who are preaching to him but don\u2019t seem to listen to what he is saying? Verses 14 to 17 drive home this sense of loneliness. \u201c<\/em><\/span>My relatives are gone, my friends have forgotten me\u2026 my odor is repulsive to my wife<\/span>.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\r\n

The climax of the chapter is verse 21, with its repetitive call: \u201c<\/em><\/span>Pity me, pity me, you are my friends.<\/span><\/em>\u201d <\/em>These four words in the Hebrew, for me, show the distance between what Job\u2019s companions think he needs, and what he is asking from them. They are giving theological speeches, scientific explanations, and what they think is comforting advice. What he is asking for is pity - or, perhaps an alternative translation of the Hebrew word <\/span>\u2018hannuni<\/span><\/em>\u2019 - acceptance. Accept me for who I am, where I\u2019m at.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Mishna in Pirkei Avot speaks about approaching friends in extreme situations:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201c<\/span>Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said: Do not try to appease your friend during his hour of anger; Nor comfort him at the hour while his dead still lies before him; Nor question him at the hour of his vow; Nor strive to see him in the hour of his disgrace.<\/span>\u201d (Avot 4:18)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What does a person need in times of tragedy? There are usually very practical answers to this question, and sometimes the best thing that a family-member, friend, rabbi or community member can do to help a person going through a crisis is to deal with bureaucratic tasks or household chores. But beyond that - what do they need from you? Often, to just be there with them, to give space for the silence, to accept them, to love them. \u201c<\/em><\/span>You are my friends<\/span><\/em>\u201d<\/em> says Job - a fact that doesn\u2019t seem to be conditional on anything else. But being a friend is also an enormous responsibility one has to strive to live up to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image:\u00a0Vladimir Borovikovsky,\u00a0Job and His Friends<\/em>, 1810s \/ wiki<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94490,"alt":"","title":"job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","width":1000,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-300x216.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":216,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-768x553.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":553,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-583x420.jpg","home_baner-width":583,"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":"What Does A Friend In Need Need?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Acceptance, love, space, being there, and sometimes, just silence","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94490,"alt":"","title":"job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","width":1000,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-300x216.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":216,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-768x553.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":553,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-vladimir-borovikovsky-job-and-his-friends-583x420.jpg","home_baner-width":583,"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":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":4,"id":"94478","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Redemption Rising ","post_title":"Redemption Rising","slug":"redemption-rising","old_id":"94478","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":68635,"post_title":"Chelsea Simon","slug":"chelsea-simon","old_id":"68635","first_name":"Chelsea ","last_name":"Simon ","description":"Chelsea Simon is a Ph.D. candidate at the Hebrew Union College researching Second Temple Period History through the lens of Jewish Thought.","short_description":"Chelsea Simon is a Ph.D. candidate at the Hebrew Union College ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":68636,"alt":"","title":"chelsea simon","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon.jpg","width":889,"height":772,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon-300x261.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon-768x667.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":667,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon.jpg","large-width":889,"large-height":772,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon.jpg","1536x1536-width":889,"1536x1536-height":772,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon.jpg","2048x2048-width":889,"2048x2048-height":772,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon.jpg","post_full_size-width":889,"post_full_size-height":772,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/chelsea-simon-484x420.jpg","home_baner-width":484,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Opening the doors for healing, after a year of strife and of grief\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

The past year propelled people around the world to their breaking points, causing Job\u2019s words to resonate as we tread through grief: \u201c[God] uproots, like a tree, my hope\u201d (verse 10) and \u201cMy nearest [relatives] have left and the [people] I know have forgotten me\u201d (verse 14). For those of us left to grieve the physical, tangible losses of a pandemic, these words may echo the experiences of the past year.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

During my grandfather\u2019s funeral several years ago, we read verses 25-27: \u201cBut I know [that] my Redeemer lives and eventually will rise up from the earth and ashes \u2013 and [this will be] after my skin will have been peeled away, but from my body I will behold God, that I will perceive for myself, even my eyes will see, and not another \u2013 my innermost being (literally, kidneys) yearns [for fulfillment] within me.\u201d Job\u2019s perpetual struggle with God, his suffering and reasoning and mourning, melds with hope for redemption that overtakes him from his physical body to his soul, a theme that emerges out of strife and remains poignant during these difficult days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As history courses through times of terror and seasons of joy, we may find ourselves struggling with God, questioning events and the loss of lives. The visual language of redemption rising from the earth is mixed with remembrance in the JPS translation, which asserts that Job\u2019s Redeemer \u201cwill testify on earth.\u201d I often return to this chapter as I sit in questioning, searching for the hope of vindication.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Tisha B\u2019Av is still a month away, but this passage has been on my mind this year as I think about individual and communal mourning. Job\u2019s openness with himself, among community, and with God belies the depth of the human experience. Out of such suffering, Job expresses his deepest emotions \u2013 left to future readers as we wander through destruction. To honestly process emotions and reactions with ourselves, our communities, and God may open the doors for healing to begin to take hold.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":51429,"alt":"","title":"dt23-open-door","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1.png","width":1920,"height":1295,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-300x202.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-768x518.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":518,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-1024x691.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":691,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1036,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1295,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-1200x809.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":809,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-623x420.png","home_baner-width":623,"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":"Redemption Rising","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Opening the doors for healing, after a year of strife and of grief","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":51429,"alt":"","title":"dt23-open-door","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1.png","width":1920,"height":1295,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-300x202.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":202,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-768x518.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":518,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-1024x691.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":691,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1036,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1295,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-1200x809.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":809,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/dt23-open-door-1-623x420.png","home_baner-width":623,"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":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":5,"id":"94476","color":"#f2e9df","size":"1","name":"The Law And The Pen As Weapons Of Resistance ","post_title":"The Law And The Pen As Weapons Of Resistance","slug":"the-law-and-the-pen-as-weapons-of-resistance","old_id":"94476","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":38322,"post_title":"James A. Diamond","slug":"james-a-diamond","old_id":"38322","first_name":"James ","last_name":"Diamond ","description":"Prof. James A. Diamond holds the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo. His most recent book is \u201cJewish Theology Unbound\u201d published by Oxford University Press. ","short_description":"Prof. James A. Diamond holds the Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Chair of Jewish Studies at the University of Waterloo.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":38323,"alt":"","title":"James Diamond","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913.jpg","width":1186,"height":1386,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-257x300.jpg","medium-width":257,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-768x898.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":898,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-876x1024.jpg","large-width":876,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913.jpg","1536x1536-width":1186,"1536x1536-height":1386,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913.jpg","2048x2048-width":1186,"2048x2048-height":1386,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-1027x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1027,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/James-Diamond-e1534858914913-359x420.jpg","home_baner-width":359,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Job\u2019s \"din toyre mitt Gott:\" calling God to account\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

One of the greatest lessons Job teaches us is that suffering demands resistance. The friends represent those who accept or justify suffering as either deserved or somehow redemptive. Job refuses to capitulate to their rationalizations, setting the stage for a dominant trend in Judaism of theological protest where the pain caused by God\u2019s inexplicable mistreatment of sufferers is amplified by its experience as a betrayal. As such, it reflects a deep-seated intimacy with, rather than rejection of, God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One common form of protest is the demand that God\u2019s actions conform to some objective standard of justice (<\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/em>), a theme in Job that recurs in this chapter: \u201cI cry, \u201cViolence!\u201d but am not answered; I shout, but can get no justice (<\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/em>)\u201d (7). Job follows Abraham\u2019s precedent who challenged God\u2019s intention to commit injustice by holding Him accountable to <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/em>: \u201cShall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly (<\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/em>)?\u201d (Gen 18:25). And this from the one the Tanakh uniquely calls God\u2019s \u2018lover\u2019 (Isa. 41:8)!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rabbinic tradition follows suit casting various figures that have been ill-treated as summoning God to court, such as Moses launching a lawsuit against God for barring his entry to the Land of Israel. The Hasidic master, Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev famously pursued such litigation against God <\/span>(din toyreh mit Gott<\/span><\/i>) on behalf of his oppressed community. This mode of resistance culminates in Eli Wiesel\u2019s account of concentration camp inmates indicting God for high crimes against the Jews. Indeed, the very name Israel originates in an act of \u201cstruggling with God and prevailing\u201d (Gen 32:29).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, faced with the prospect of God ignoring his summons to <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/em>, <\/span><\/i>Job<\/span> marshals another powerful form of protest in this chapter when he proclaims \u201cO that my words were written down; Would they were inscribed in a record, incised on a rock forever with iron stylus and lead!\u201d (23-24). Job\u2019s urge to record his suffering echoes the same spirit of those tortured prisoners of gulags, concentration camps, and ghettos who resist with Job\u2019s \u2018stylus\u2019 when <\/span>mishpat<\/em> <\/span>fails them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

No greater resistance is imaginable than that of the <\/span>Oyneg Shabbes<\/span><\/em> group of writers, historians, and artists in the Warsaw Ghetto who persisted in meticulously documenting the horrors they witnessed despite being decimated by starvation, disease, and ultimately deportations to their deaths in the camps.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Strikingly, ancient rabbis cite this verse in support of Moses\u2019 authorship of Job, drawing an analogy between Job\u2019s compulsion to \u201cinscribe\u201d and Moses\u2019 characterization as an \u201cinscriber\u201d, an allusion to Moses\u2019 own acts of inscription as a lawgiver. The implications of this analogy are monumental for it places Job\u2019s record of his suffering on par with Moses\u2019 lawgiving, the foundational moment for Judaism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Job\u2019s appeal for an enduring chronicle of his pain reverberates loudly in nineteen-year-old David Gruber\u2019s \u2018inscription\u2019, appended to the <\/span>Oyneg Shabbes<\/span><\/em> cache as he hid it for posterity, \u201cWhat we were unable to cry and shriek out to the world we buried in the ground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":84779,"alt":"","title":"ps64-pen sword","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","width":738,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword-300x76.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":76,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","large-width":738,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","home_baner-width":738,"home_baner-height":186}},"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 Law And The Pen As Weapons Of Resistance","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Job\u2019s \"din toyre mitt Gott:\" calling God to account","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":84779,"alt":"","title":"ps64-pen sword","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","width":738,"height":186,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword-300x76.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":76,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":186,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","large-width":738,"large-height":186,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":186,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":186,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":186,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/ps64-pen-sword.jpg","home_baner-width":738,"home_baner-height":186}},"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":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":6,"id":"94473","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"Show Up And Shut Up ","post_title":"Show Up And Shut Up","slug":"show-up-and-shut-up","old_id":"94473","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":93281,"post_title":"Ariel Goldberg","slug":"ariel-goldberg","old_id":"93281","first_name":"Ariel ","last_name":"Goldberg ","description":"Ariel Goldberg is a therapist in in Washington DC. He has his semicha from Yeshivat HaMivtar (Efrat, Israel). From 2013-17 he served as a hospital chaplain and spiritual educator in Manhattan. He loves teaching about Torah and psycho-spiritual growth. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Ariel Goldberg is a therapist in in Washington DC","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":93282,"alt":"","title":"ariel goldberg","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg.jpg","width":2659,"height":2249,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg-300x254.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":254,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg-768x650.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":650,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg-1024x866.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":866,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1299,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1732,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg-1200x1015.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1015,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ariel-goldberg-497x420.jpg","home_baner-width":497,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"We can learn the mitzvot of comforting mourners by doing the reverse of whatever Job\u2019s friends did\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Viktor Frankl taught that the <\/span>will to meaning<\/em> <\/span>is the most basic human drive.\u00a0 It represents a desire for ultimate meaning. This belongs to a realm beyond the world, where suffering makes sense. Job longs for ultimate meaning, believing that if he can but understand why he lost everything, he can endure. One is reminded of Nietzsche\u2019s aphorism \u201cA man with a <\/span>why<\/em> <\/span>can live with any <\/span>how<\/span><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

I am shaken by Job\u2019s statements in verses 25-27, rebutting Bildad and Eliphaz\u2019s rebukes of him. Adin Steinsaltz translates verse 25 as follows. \u201c\u2026Although I protest the injustice that God has done to me, I know that my redeemer lives, and He will stand last on the dust.\u201d This is a cry for ultimate meaning.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In 15:17 Eliphaz begins his explanation of Job\u2019s suffering by instructing him \u201clisten to me; what I have seen, I will declare.\u201d Job responds in 19:26 \u201cAfter my skin has been destroyed\u2026. from my flesh, directly, without an intermediary, I will view God.\u201d And in 19:27\u00a0 \u201cmy eyes will see, not those of a stranger.\u201d Job is saying, in Steinsaltz\u2019s surmise \u201cYou cannot stand in my shoes, cannot perceive what God is showing me through my own suffering.\u00a0 Your explanations of my experience will inevitably fail. Only I can understand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Shulchan Aruch teaches that we can learn the mitzvot of <\/span>Nachum aveylim<\/em> <\/span>(comforting mourners) by doing the reverse of whatever Job\u2019s friends did when they visited him.\u00a0 Considering Job\u2019s friends, the most essential thing <\/span>not to do<\/span><\/em> when comforting mourners or sufferers is to offer explanations. No two experiences of suffering are alike. Even if we have found a sense of ultimate meaning in our own experiences of suffering, we cannot adequately convey it to others because unless a sufferer discovers it for herself it will not be meaningful.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How can we help? The most basic intervention, I believe, is showing up and shutting up.\u00a0 Ironically, Job\u2019s friends\u2019 model this, initially, when they \u201csat with Job on the ground for a full week without saying a word, since they could see the\u00a0 great extent of his anguish\u201d (Job 2:13). Their presence was meaningful because it helped heal the estrangement Job felt in his suffering.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If the sufferer speaks, then listening to and validating her anger may be supportive. Job demonstrates that feeling angry at God is kosher. This message is not well-known, however\u00a0 and, in my pastoral experience, many sufferers feel ashamed of their anger and may repress it. Validating their anger can be healing. Rabbi Y. Kestenbaum teaches in his book <\/span>From Whence My Help Comes<\/em> <\/span>that \u201cby talking about what most angers them, the person suffering has regained control, if not of the situation, more importantly of his\/herself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When a sufferer feels that others are present with them and that they may safely articulate their anger, they can begin their search for ultimate meaning, as Job indeed goes on to do.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

image: Job Rebuked,\u00a0Blake Book of Job Linell set 10, 1821 \/ wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94474,"alt":"","title":"job19-agoldberg - Job rebuked - William Blake","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","width":486,"height":368,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake--150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake--300x227.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":227,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","medium_large-width":486,"medium_large-height":368,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","large-width":486,"large-height":368,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","1536x1536-width":486,"1536x1536-height":368,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","2048x2048-width":486,"2048x2048-height":368,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","post_full_size-width":486,"post_full_size-height":368,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","home_baner-width":486,"home_baner-height":368}},"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":"Show Up And Shut Up","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"We can learn the mitzvot of comforting mourners by doing the reverse of whatever Job\u2019s friends did\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94474,"alt":"","title":"job19-agoldberg - Job rebuked - William Blake","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","width":486,"height":368,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake--150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake--300x227.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":227,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","medium_large-width":486,"medium_large-height":368,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","large-width":486,"large-height":368,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","1536x1536-width":486,"1536x1536-height":368,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","2048x2048-width":486,"2048x2048-height":368,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","post_full_size-width":486,"post_full_size-height":368,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-agoldberg-Job-rebuked-William-Blake-.jpg","home_baner-width":486,"home_baner-height":368}},"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":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":7,"id":"94460","color":"#e0e9ef","size":"1","name":"Friending Job ","post_title":"Friending Job","slug":"friending-job","old_id":"94460","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":94404,"post_title":"Scott Shay","slug":"scott-shay","old_id":"94404","first_name":"Scott ","last_name":"Shay ","description":"Scott Shay is a co-founder and Chairman of Signature Bank. He is the author of Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry, In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism, and his latest book Conspiracy U: A Case Study (Wicked Son, forthcoming October, 2021).\r\n","short_description":"Scott Shay is a co-founder and Chairman of Signature Bank. He is the author of Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry, In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism, ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":94405,"alt":"","title":"scott shay","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","width":542,"height":517,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay-300x286.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":286,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","medium_large-width":542,"medium_large-height":517,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","large-width":542,"large-height":517,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","1536x1536-width":542,"1536x1536-height":517,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","2048x2048-width":542,"2048x2048-height":517,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","post_full_size-width":542,"post_full_size-height":517,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay-440x420.jpg","home_baner-width":440,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Reading Job through the lens of social media\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Part 1 of 2<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After over a year of disease, death and economic devastation caused by Covid, the story of Job is as poignant as ever. Job is the classic tale of the human condition, asking: why does God make innocent people suffer? But Job also raises another question: why do people make innocent people suffer? The social dimension of the story is not immediately apparent since God is the one making Job truly miserable, whereas his friends are merely speaking to him. But upon closer examination, the story of Job is a parable of the social violence of shaming in our age of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let\u2019s look at Job with this social media consciousness.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Job is a righteous person; he does the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Then arrives a voyeur of Job\u2019s life called <\/span>hasatan<\/span><\/em>, \u201cthe Satan\u201d or \u201cthe Adversary,\u201d depending on your translation preference. The Adversary uses a tactic -- familiar to followers of Twitter -- of distorting an individual\u2019s presumed motives. The Adversary tells God that Job is only doing good because he is well off. Despite the Adversary\u2019s accusation being mere conjecture, like so many maligning tweets, it gets a response. God gives the Adversary discretion to test his theory and harm Job, except for Job\u2019s body.\u00a0 A succession of messengers then come to Job to tell him and his community that all of his oxen, sheep, camels, and other flocks had been carried off or destroyed and that his sons and daughters had been killed when a house collapsed on them. Yet even after this onslaught of tragic news, Job maintains his righteousness. He does not curse God. The Adversary, frustrated, asks God to let him harm Job\u2019s body and he gets permission. Now, Job, covered with boils, exits his house and sits in a heap covered with dust. But he is still loyal to God, \u2018\u2019for all that, Job said nothing sinful\u201d (2:10). At this point Job describes (in other words posts on social media) his situation. And with this revelation, the book could have ended.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Instead, three friends Elipahaz, Bildad and Zophar, comment on his post. In fact, they start a cycle of comments and replies in which they seek out the \u201creal\u201d reason for Job\u2019s calamities.\u00a0 They use pointed words to keep goading him to find some sin to account for his punishment.\u00a0 Job will have none of this. But his friends don\u2019t stop what amounts to trolling his post. There are three cycles of these exchanges. In each case Job is forced to reply to defend himself.\u00a0 And as he does so, he falls deeper into frustration and despair.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

As a result of this ever so genteel shaming and harassment, Job\u2019s Facebook friends succeed in undermining the whole way that Job looks at himself. At the start of the book, Job speaks of doing the right thing because it is right. By chapter 29, he reframes his actions as though he was his own social media brand manager\u2026\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

(stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94471,"alt":"","title":"job19-social media","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","width":1920,"height":1393,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-768x557.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":557,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1024x743.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":743,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1114,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1393,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1200x871.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":871,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-579x420.jpg","home_baner-width":579,"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":"Part 1 of 2","tile_main_caption":"Friending Job","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Reading Job through the lens of social media","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94471,"alt":"","title":"job19-social media","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","width":1920,"height":1393,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-768x557.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":557,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1024x743.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":743,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1114,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1393,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1200x871.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":871,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-579x420.jpg","home_baner-width":579,"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":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":8,"id":"94551","color":"#faeed8","size":"1","name":"Friending Job - II ","post_title":"Friending Job - II","slug":"friending-job-ii","old_id":"94551","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":94404,"post_title":"Scott Shay","slug":"scott-shay","old_id":"94404","first_name":"Scott ","last_name":"Shay ","description":"Scott Shay is a co-founder and Chairman of Signature Bank. He is the author of Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry, In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism, and his latest book Conspiracy U: A Case Study (Wicked Son, forthcoming October, 2021).\r\n","short_description":"Scott Shay is a co-founder and Chairman of Signature Bank. He is the author of Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry, In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism, ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":94405,"alt":"","title":"scott shay","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","width":542,"height":517,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay-300x286.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":286,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","medium_large-width":542,"medium_large-height":517,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","large-width":542,"large-height":517,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","1536x1536-width":542,"1536x1536-height":517,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","2048x2048-width":542,"2048x2048-height":517,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay.jpg","post_full_size-width":542,"post_full_size-height":517,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/scott-shay-440x420.jpg","home_baner-width":440,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"768","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Reading Job through the lens of social media\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

(<\/span>for part 1 of this essay, see Chapter 19<\/span><\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

No longer does he speak of giving good advice, but rather tells that princes and nobles became silent as he spoke pearls of wisdom and blessed what he had to say (29:9-11). No longer does he recount helping the poor, widows and orphans because it is right, but rather speaks of how the recipients blessed him and how his sight caused the widows\u2019 hearts to sing with joy (29:12-14). Job continues by citing how the good things he did looked to third party viewers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

At this point a new character called Elihu who has been following Job\u2019s replies (another Facebook stalker of sorts) gives his opinion. The ceaseless pressure of his Facebook friends\u2019 shaming retorts and responses corrodes Job\u2019s psyche. The more they blamed him, the more he had to prove himself. In a shocking turn of events, it is not Job\u2019s suffering from God, but rather the torture by his friends that makes him lose the one thing he had left, his confidence in himself and his values.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But all is not lost. Out of the whirlwind, God steps in and makes a speech -- a gem of ancient literature, which should be shared widely. Among the many things He says, God castigates Job\u2019s friends for their words. He even requires them to seek Job\u2019s forgiveness or face punishment. God then changes Job\u2019s fortune for the better and cures him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Again, the story could have ended here. Yet, it takes another social turn. After getting the new post about Job\u2019s improved situation, some other friends and family arrive. But these friends come with bread and money rather than words. They sit down and share a meal with Job and then give him substantial sums of gold, remembering Job\u2019s generosity.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The message of the story is clear. Real friendship is about acts of kindness and of justice, not about likes and dislikes. Yet today we live in a world where people spend too much time social-praising and social-shaming and too little time being with and helping each other. Facebook is not the work of the Adversary, but words can harm our psyches as much as diseases destroy our bodies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

There is a coda to this tale that deserves a mention. The ancient rabbi Nachmanides, a medieval Jewish commentator, wrote that Job\u2019s impression of misfortune might have been primarily engineered by another now recognized malady, that of \u201cfake news.\u201d\u00a0 Nachmanides notes that the book never says that the misfortunes ever actually took place, other than Job\u2019s end-to-end boils. Rather, <\/span>messengers<\/span><\/em> said that the flocks were stolen, Job\u2019s children were killed, and so forth. This may have been a diversion from the Adversary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nachmanides bases his theory on a careful reading of the Hebrew grammar. <\/span>Eight hundred years after he wrote his commentary, Nachmanides \u200ereminds us that we need to scrutinize carefully all reports that show up on our news feed in order to judge their accuracy and our response.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94471,"alt":"","title":"job19-social media","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","width":1920,"height":1393,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-768x557.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":557,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1024x743.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":743,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1114,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1393,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1200x871.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":871,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-579x420.jpg","home_baner-width":579,"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":"Part 2 of 2","tile_main_caption":"Friending Job - II","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Reading Job through the lens of social media","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94471,"alt":"","title":"job19-social media","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","width":1920,"height":1393,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-300x218.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":218,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-768x557.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":557,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1024x743.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":743,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1114,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1393,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-1200x871.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":871,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job19-social-media-579x420.jpg","home_baner-width":579,"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":"Job","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"768","date":"20280808","wall_id":"768"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":9,"id":"94469","color":"#e6f5f3","size":"1","name":"Assaulted Both By God And His Own Friends ","post_title":"Assaulted Both By God And His Own Friends","slug":"assaulted-both-by-god-and-his-own-friends","old_id":"94469","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":93581,"post_title":"Edward L. Greenstein","slug":"edward-l-greenstein","old_id":"93581","first_name":"Edward L. ","last_name":"Greenstein ","description":"Edward L. Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University. Prior to that he was professor of Bible at Tel Aviv University and at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. An expert in ancient Semitic studies as well as Bible, Greenstein has edited the Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society since 1974. His much-acclaimed annotated English translation of the Book of Job was published in 2019 by Yale University Press. In 2020 Greenstein was awarded the EMET Prize (\u201cIsrael\u2019s Nobel\u201d) for the area of Humanities in the field of Biblical Studies.\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Edward L. Greenstein is Professor Emeritus of Bible at Bar-Ilan University. His much-acclaimed annotated English translation of the Book of Job was published in 2019 by Yale University Press and was awarded a prize by the Association for Jewish Studies. \r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":93582,"alt":"","title":"Ed Greenstein","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein.jpg","width":2400,"height":3600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein.jpg","2048x2048-width":1365,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Ed-Greenstein-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"767","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Job expresses exasperation over his companions\u2019 harangues\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Job does not yet respond directly to Bildad\u2019s brief for divine justice; he will counter his contentions in chapter 21. Here, Job expresses exasperation over his companions\u2019 harangues. They seem not to understand, as Job does, that the deity has severely wronged him. Not only does the deity seem to ignore Job\u2019s cries for justice, but he metaphorically assaults Job with a military machine. By marking Job with the stigma of God\u2019s enemy he isolates Job from family and friends. But Job conceives of two ways of vindicating himself: to make a permanent record of his claims and to present them in person before the deity.<\/p>\r\n

[19: 11-19]<\/p>\r\n

[11-12] He has inflamed his anger against me,
\r\nAnd reckoned me one of his enemies.
\r\nHis troops come at me at once,
\r\nThey clear an attack-road against me,
\r\nAnd they camp surrounding my tent.<\/p>\r\n

[13-14] My relatives he\u2019s kept distant from me,
\r\nAnd my friends have withdrawn from me.
\r\nMy close ones have stopped (coming near),
\r\nAnd my familiar ones have rejected me.<\/p>\r\n

[15-16] Men of my household and women-who-serve-me
\r\nImagine me a stranger -
\r\nIn their eyes I am a foreigner.
\r\nI call to my man-servant but he does not respond -
\r\nThough I beg-him-for-mercy with my very-own mouth!<\/p>\r\n

[17] My breath is foul to my wife,
\r\nAnd my odor to my siblings.<\/p>\r\n

[18] Even young-hooligans detest me;
\r\nWhen I arise (to speak), they speak against me.<\/p>\r\n

[19] All members of my circle abhor me;
\r\nThose I befriended have turned on me. <\/p>\r\n

Excerpts from Edward L. Greenstein, Job: A New Translation: (New Haven, Yale University Press 2019), p. 82, reprinted with permission of the author.<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":93602,"alt":"","title":"job-egreenstein book cover graphic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Job: A New Translation (excerpts)","tile_main_caption":"Assaulted Both By God And His Own Friends","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Job expresses exasperation over his companions\u2019 harangues","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":93602,"alt":"","title":"job-egreenstein book cover graphic","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/job-egreenstein-book-cover-graphic-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Job","chapter":"19","chapter_main_number":"767","date":"20280807","wall_id":"767"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":10,"id":"94560","color":"#f7e9e9","size":"1","name":"A \u201cHand\u201d for Posterity ","post_title":"A \u201cHand\u201d for Posterity","slug":"a-hand-for-posterity","old_id":"94560","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":"768","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"For they too must ingratiate themselves with the poor and make restitution\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Theologically speaking, Zophar, the third friend, advanced no new arguments to the one he made previously, but his innate sensitivity (\u201cMy thoughts urge me to answer; it is because of my feelings, When I hear reproof that insults me\u201d 2-3), offended by Job\u2019s obstinacy, prompted him, to deliver a tirade on the transitory prosperity enjoyed by the wicked (\u201cThe joy of the wicked has been brief, the happiness of the impious, fleeting...\u201d - verse\u00a0 5), and the ultimate fate to which they are doomed. In the closing words of the chapter:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Heaven will expose his iniquity; Earth will rise up against him. His household will be cast forth by a flood, spilled out on the day of His wrath. This is the wicked man\u2019s portion from God, the lot God has ordained for him. (27-29)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Not the sinner alone, but his descendants, too, will have to make restitution: \u201cHis sons ingratiate themselves (<\/span>y\u2019ratzu<\/span><\/i>) with the poor; His own hands must give back his wealth\u201d (10). <\/span>Y\u2019ratzu<\/span><\/em>, Pi`el of the verb R-Tz-H, to please, means to win favor or to appease, as in the Mishnah (Avot 4:18): \u201cDo not attempt to appease (<\/span>t\u2019ratzeh<\/span><\/em>) a companion while he is angry.\u201d While the verse states \u201chis hands\u201d (<\/span>yadav<\/span><\/em>), Gordis rendered it \u201chis offspring\u201d to parallel the first half of the verse. However, in keeping with his fealty to the Masoretic Text (as we have noted in Chapters 14 and 17), Gordis rejected the emendation of <\/span>yadav<\/span><\/em> to <\/span>y\u2019ladav<\/span><\/em> because the accompanying verb, <\/span>tashevna<\/span><\/em> (\u201cgive back\u201d) is feminine plural.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

He explained: \u201cMT [Masoretic Text] <\/span>yadav<\/em> <\/span>here has the special meaning of \u2018offspring,\u2019 the hand being a limb of the body. Thus, the proverb in B. Eruvin 70a: \u2018an heir is the knee of his father.\u2019\u201d Gordis offered a similar interpretation of 2 Samuel 18:18, in which a monument erected by Absalom is called a \u201c<\/span>yad<\/span><\/em>,<\/em>\u201d because he had \u201cno son to keep my name in remembrance,\u201d and Isaiah 56:5, in which God reassures the Sabbath observant eunuchs that He will \u201cgive them within My house and My walls offspring and a name (<\/span>yad va-shem<\/span><\/em>) better than (physical) sons and daughters...\u201d The latter verse, of course, is the source of the name of Israel\u2019s official memorial to victims of the Holocaust.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/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":"A \u201cHand\u201d for Posterity","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"For they too must ingratiate themselves with the poor and make restitution\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":"Job","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"768","date":"20280808","wall_id":"768"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":11,"id":"94553","color":"#f7f7f5","size":"1","name":"Job in Chapters 15-20 - Unstable Faith ","post_title":"Job in Chapters 15-20 - Unstable Faith","slug":"job-in-chapters-15-20-unstable-faith","old_id":"94553","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41786,"post_title":"Kayley Romick","slug":"kayley-romick","old_id":"41786","first_name":"Kayley ","last_name":"Romick ","description":"Kayley Romick is a Jewish educator living in New York. She is currently pursuing rabbinical ordination and a master\u2019s degree in Jewish Educational Leadership at The Jewish Theological Seminary. Kayley currently serves as the Rabbinic Intern and Director of Youth and Family Engagement at Woodbury Jewish Center.","short_description":"Kayley Romick is a Jewish educator living in New York, pursuing rabbinical ordination and a master\u2019s degree at JTS. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41787,"alt":"","title":"kayley romick","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758.jpg","width":442,"height":415,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758-300x282.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":282,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758.jpg","medium_large-width":442,"medium_large-height":415,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758.jpg","large-width":442,"large-height":415,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758.jpg","1536x1536-width":442,"1536x1536-height":415,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758.jpg","2048x2048-width":442,"2048x2048-height":415,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-e1539168405758.jpg","post_full_size-width":442,"post_full_size-height":415,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/kayley-romick-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"768","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"In fear of divine retribution, the friends double down","post_main_content_content":"

Job\u2019s friends exhibit unstable faith after witnessing their friend\u2019s suffering. Showing\u00a0 \u201cconscious or repressed literalism,\u201d they double down on their own beliefs (Gleason, 308). Anger\u2014like that which Job\u2019s companions express\u2014can arise if assumed truths are questioned because \u201cthe uncertainty of broken myth is too threatening\u201d (Gleason, 308). The anger and repression are depicted through images with which Job\u2019s companions threaten him.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Zophar (left) warns of terrible punishments happening to whoever vilifies God: \u201cHis food in his bowels turns into asps\u2019 venom within him. The riches he swallows he vomits; God empties it out of his stomach\u201d (20:14-15). Eliphaz (center) warns, \u201cHe will never get away from the darkness; Flames will sear his shoots; He will pass away by the breath of His mouth\u201d (15:30), while Bildad exclaims, \u201cYou who tear yourself to pieces in anger\u2014 Will earth\u2019s order be disrupted for your sake? Will rocks be dislodged from their place?\u201d (18:4).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps these harsh criticisms of Job reflect the friends\u2019 fear of divine retribution\u2014after all, if Job didn\u2019t do anything to deserve such suffering, how much more so would they incur punishment if they joined Job in his critique?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

For part I of this series - <\/span>see here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Gleason, J. \u201cThe Four Worlds Of Spiritual Assessment and Care.\u201d <\/span>Journal of Religion and Health<\/span><\/i>, vol. 38, no. 4 (Winter 1999)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Courtesy of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94554,"alt":"","title":"KR-image-ch15-20","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20.jpeg","width":1788,"height":1849,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-290x300.jpeg","medium-width":290,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-768x794.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":794,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-990x1024.jpeg","large-width":990,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1485,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1788,"2048x2048-height":1849,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-1160x1200.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1160,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-406x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":406,"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":"An Artist\u2019s Rendition of Faith in Job: 4 Part Series","tile_main_caption":"Job in Chapters 15-20 - Unstable Faith","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"In fear of divine retribution, the friends double down","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94554,"alt":"","title":"KR-image-ch15-20","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20.jpeg","width":1788,"height":1849,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-290x300.jpeg","medium-width":290,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-768x794.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":794,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-990x1024.jpeg","large-width":990,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1485,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1788,"2048x2048-height":1849,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-1160x1200.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1160,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/KR-image-ch15-20-406x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":406,"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":"Job","chapter":"20","chapter_main_number":"768","date":"20280808","wall_id":"768"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":12,"id":"94641","color":"#effaea","size":"1","name":"Stop Talking, Start Listening, Don\u2019t Judge ","post_title":"Stop Talking, Start Listening, Don\u2019t Judge","slug":"stop-talking-start-listening-dont-judge","old_id":"94641","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":"769","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And don\u2019t forget the empathy\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Job\u2019s friends have now each spoken twice and it\u2019s now evident that Job is frustrated with his friends\u2019 expositions on evil. Each, in their own way, have spoken about the inevitable punishment and suffering of the wicked, and their belief that Job is likewise being punished for some unknown evil.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We have already learned that Job is a knowledge-seeker, wanting to understand the world and God\u2019s ways, with his mind, not his heart. Perhaps the arguments made by Job\u2019s friends bear out their attempt to speak to his mind, but Job is not comforted by their approach. Despite their best efforts, Job has become frustrated by the hollowness of their arguments. If you really want to comfort me, says Job, stop talking altogether and start listening, for I have every right to be losing my patience.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first thing that Job has lost patience with is his friends\u2019 rush to judgement and their apparent assumption that all Job wants is an answer to his own suffering. So, Job implores them to step back from their simplistic answers about the wicked always getting their just punishment, including Job himself, and\u00a0 really listen to what he has to say.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This is not about himself, argues Job. There is a much bigger philosophical question.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Job finds no comfort in the idea that ultimately the wicked are always punished. It is objectively evident to him that most often the wicked live very comfortable lives, growing old, powerful, wealthy, and seeing their children and grandchildren flourish. How, wonders Job, can justice be served if there are no witnesses to the punishment of evil? Where is the justice for those who have been wronged? And the fact that he can find little evidence of evil being punished and righteousness rewarded leaves Job far more than merely frustrated. It moves him to \u201cfearful trembling (21:6)\u201d. For what is particularly frightening to Job, posits Rav Shimon Schwab, is the notion that without evidence of justice in this world, \u201ceveryone\u2019s fortune is in the grip of blind happenstance, which robs him (Job) of his equanimity.\u201d And that possibility, far more than the question of his personal suffering, is what Job needs God\u2019s answer to.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What has been absent in the friends\u2019 speeches is any trace of empathy for Job. The generally accepted approach to comforting a friend in emotional and\/or physical pain with an acknowledgement of the pain and empathy for the sufferer has been lost on these friends.\u00a0 In their rush to judgement and collective need to proselytize Job, they have failed to provide comfort, so Job quite pointedly reminds them to listen first and judge later (if at all).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75935,"alt":"","title":"hos1-empathy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","width":1920,"height":1355,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-768x542.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":542,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1024x723.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":723,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1084,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1355,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1200x847.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":847,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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":"Stop Talking, Start Listening, Don\u2019t Judge","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And don\u2019t forget the empathy","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75935,"alt":"","title":"hos1-empathy","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","width":1920,"height":1355,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-300x212.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":212,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-768x542.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":542,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1024x723.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":723,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1084,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1355,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-1200x847.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":847,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/hos1-empathy-595x420.jpg","home_baner-width":595,"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":"Job","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"769","date":"20280809","wall_id":"769"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":13,"id":"94632","color":"#e8ecf6","size":"1","name":"But Good Things to Happen to Bad People ","post_title":"But Good Things to Happen to Bad People","slug":"but-good-things-to-happen-to-bad-people","old_id":"94632","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":"769","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Happy smiling dancing wicked people\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In chapter 20, Zophar tries to convince Job that the wicked do not succeed. Job does not buy it. In chapter 21, Job goes through a list of everything that seems to go right for the wicked. Their kids can run around without anything happening to them, their animals mate without issue, etc. In the end what does it matter if they are ultimately punished? Both the wicked and good end up as bones in the ground.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If the good live difficult lives and the wicked successful, why be good?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The wicked spend their days singing to \"to the music of timbrel and lute, And revel to the tune of the pipe.\"\u00a0 This is an allusion to the timbrel and lute of Psalms 149:3.\u00a0 \"Let them praise His name in dance; with timbrel and lute let them chant His praises.\"\u00a0 Job is ironically evoking this passage in Psalms. In Psalms the people are dancing and singing to praise God. The dancing and lute playing here is clearly not in service to God, but in service to the wicked. Job is showing his friends that the happy smiling dancing people are not praising God. The idealistic image in Psalms is not reality. In reality it is the wicked who sing and dance without a care in the world, while those who follow God suffer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94638,"alt":"","title":"job21-bees circle","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle.jpg","width":1280,"height":1239,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-768x743.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":743,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-1024x991.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":991,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1239,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1239,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-1200x1162.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1162,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-434x420.jpg","home_baner-width":434,"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":"But Good Things to Happen to Bad People","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Happy smiling dancing wicked people\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94638,"alt":"","title":"job21-bees circle","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle.jpg","width":1280,"height":1239,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-300x290.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":290,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-768x743.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":743,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-1024x991.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":991,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":1239,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1239,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-1200x1162.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1162,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job21-bees-circle-434x420.jpg","home_baner-width":434,"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":"Job","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"769","date":"20280809","wall_id":"769"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":14,"id":"94628","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"Time Well Spent? ","post_title":"Time Well Spent?","slug":"time-well-spent","old_id":"94628","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":"769","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Or is it the people who are spent?\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In chapter 21, Job complains about the good fortune that the wicked enjoy. As opposed to his friend Zophar, who in the previous chapter claimed, \u201cThe joy of the wicked has been brief, the happiness of the impious, fleeting\u201d (Job 20:5), Job here says of the wicked:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u201cThey spend their days in happiness, and go down to Sheol in peace\u201d (21:13).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Let\u2019s look at the phrase \u201cthey spend their days.\u201d The Hebrew verse has two variant readings. One, the kri<\/em> <\/span>(pronounced form) has the verb as <\/span>yechalu<\/span><\/em>. That means \u201ccomplete\u201d or \u201cend,\u201d so according to that reading the phrase would be translated \u201cthey will end their days in happiness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But according to the <\/span>ktiv<\/span><\/em>\u00a0(written form), it should be read <\/span>yevalu<\/span><\/em>. The root <\/span>balah<\/span><\/em>\u00a0means \u201cto be worn out\u201d or \u201cto wear out.\u201d So using that verb, Moses says of the generation that wandered the desert, \u201cthe clothes on your back did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet\u201d (Deut 29:4).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

How does \u201cto wear out\u201d fit Job\u2019s phrase? Perhaps a better translation would be \u201cto grow old,\u201d which is in a way, to wear out the body. That is how Sarah uses the verb when she is told she will have a child at 90. She says \u201cNow that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment?\u201d (Genesis 18:12). She is saying that she is withered and worn out, or as another translation has it, \u201cAfter I am grown old shall I have pleasure?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So Job is saying of the wicked, that they will grow old in happiness, and they will even descend to Sheol in peace.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, any speaker of modern Hebrew will recognize the verb <\/span>balah<\/span><\/em>, or in the noun form <\/span>bilui<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as having a very different meaning \u2013 \u201crecreation\u201d. According to some scholars, the use of <\/span>bilui<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as recreation began with a misunderstanding of this verse. People thought that <\/span>balah<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>meant literally to \u201cspend time in happiness.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But beyond the linguistic confusion, there has also been a change in how we view free time. In the preindustrial world, there was always work to do. If time wasn\u2019t spent efficiently, it would be wasted, \u201cworn away.\u201d But today, machines do a lot of the manual work that took up so much of our ancestors' time, allowing us to \u201cspend\u201d time on recreational activities like entertainment and just relaxing.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Unlike Job, who thought that <\/span>bilui<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was associated with the wicked, today we benefit from a world where everyone can afford to waste some time.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":48596,"alt":"","title":"Spiraltime","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","width":300,"height":299,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time-300x299.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":299,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":299,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":299,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":299,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":299,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":299,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":299}},"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":"Time Well Spent?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Or is it the people who are spent?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":48596,"alt":"","title":"Spiraltime","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","width":300,"height":299,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time-300x299.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":299,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":299,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":299,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":299,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":299,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":299,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Spiral20time.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":299}},"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":"Job","chapter":"21","chapter_main_number":"769","date":"20280809","wall_id":"769"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":15,"id":"94652","color":"#f2e9df","size":"2","name":"Faith in Friends ","post_title":"Faith in Friends","slug":"faith-in-friends","old_id":"94652","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":93055,"post_title":"J.J. Kimche","slug":"j-j-kimche","old_id":"93055","first_name":"J.J. ","last_name":"Kimche ","description":"J.J. Kimche is a student, teacher, translator, archiver, and writer of Jewish texts. He is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University, specialising in Jewish intellectual history. ","short_description":"J.J. Kimche is a student, teacher, translator, archiver, and writer of Jewish texts, and a PhD candidate at Harvard University in Jewish intellectual history. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":93056,"alt":"","title":"JJ Kimche","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche.jpeg","width":1080,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche-300x200.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche-768x512.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche-1024x683.jpeg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche.jpeg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche.jpeg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche.jpeg","post_full_size-width":1080,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/JJ-Kimche-630x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"770","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The very clear message here is that God would prefer humans to display moral virtue towards each other rather than loyalty towards Him\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

\u201c<\/span>Is it because of your piety that He arraigns you, And enters into judgment with you? You know that your wickedness is great, And that your iniquities have no limit<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i>\u201d (22:4-5)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This chapter is perhaps the most revealing in the book of Job. As we begin the third round of poetic-theological discussion between the Job and his friends, the rhetoric assumes a decidedly nastier and harsher tone. Eliphaz, the foremost of the friends, apparently frustrated with Job\u2019s stubbornness and insubordination, concocts an entire litany of grievous sins that Job has purportedly committed. If instead of shaking your fist at the heavens, Job is told, you were to conduct some sober self-evaluation, you might just discover that your own moral flaws actually warranted these grievous divine punishments.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

One can hardly blame Eliphaz for this conclusion. Presented with the spectacle of Job\u2019s gruesome afflictions, he can either reach one of two conclusions. Either Job is correct in saying that God has visited terrible punishment upon an innocent man or Job is wrong in his own self-estimation and thus God remains entirely justified. Put otherwise, Eliphaz is put in a position where he must choose between his friendship and his theological convictions. He emphatically chooses the latter, reasoning that if Job had received grievous punishments from God then his behaviour must have been commensurately wicked. Of course, Eliphaz does not know what the reader is told in the very first verses of the book: that Job is unimpeachably devoted and righteous, and in no way deserved his fate. From Eliphaz\u2019s own perspective, he seems to have made a reasonable judgement call \u2013 yet the reader knows that he has, in truth, committed a profound miscarriage of justice towards his friend.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Intriguingly, God himself is furious with Eliphaz. In the final chapter, God vindicates Job and repudiates Eliphaz, threatening the latter with dire punishment if he does not repent for his errors of judgement. It follows from this that, in God\u2019s eyes, Eliphaz should have chosen his friendship over his theological convictions and affirmed Job\u2019s righteousness in the face of Divine punishment. This radical thesis, that God would prefer humans to display moral virtue towards each other rather than loyalty towards Him, is underscored throughout biblical and rabbinic literature. For instance, rabbinic commentators explain that in the early chapters of Genesis, one generation of humanity (who committed violence against their fellow humans) was wiped out in a flood, while the next generation (who rebelled against God) was merely scattered across the earth. This theme has also played a prominent role in writings of modern ecumenical Jewish thinkers, most notably in A.J. Heschel\u2019s <\/span>God in Search of Man<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Although heartfelt and well-intentioned, the reader knows that Eliphaz\u2019s approach is comprehensively flawed, and is deservedly resisted by Job. Yet this adding of insult to injury is an important development in the discourse between Job and his friends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":93512,"alt":"","title":"Job-jj kimche series.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Hope and Suffering: A Chapter by Chapter Analysis","tile_main_caption":"Faith in Friends","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The very clear message here is that God would prefer humans to display moral virtue towards each other rather than loyalty towards Him","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":93512,"alt":"","title":"Job-jj kimche series.png","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Job-jj-kimche-series.png-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Job","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"770","date":"20280810","wall_id":"770"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":16,"id":"94684","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Job's Tragic Flaw ","post_title":"Job's Tragic Flaw","slug":"jobs-tragic-flaw","old_id":"94684","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":92270,"post_title":"Shimon Lerner","slug":"shimon-lerner","old_id":"92270","first_name":"Shimon ","last_name":"Lerner ","description":"Shimon Lerner teaches physics at the JCT Lev Academic Center in Jerusalem. He received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the field of condensed matter physics.","short_description":"Shimon Lerner teaches physics at the JCT Lev Academic Center in Jerusalem. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":92271,"alt":"","title":"shimon lerner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner.jpg","width":692,"height":852,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner-244x300.jpg","medium-width":244,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner.jpg","medium_large-width":692,"medium_large-height":852,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner.jpg","large-width":692,"large-height":852,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner.jpg","1536x1536-width":692,"1536x1536-height":852,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner.jpg","2048x2048-width":692,"2048x2048-height":852,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner.jpg","post_full_size-width":692,"post_full_size-height":852,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/shimon-lerner-341x420.jpg","home_baner-width":341,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"770","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He can\u2019t understand true altruism\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Throughout his tirades even when cursing the day he was born, Job never curses God. Why, then, are his friends so adamant to correct him?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Also, considering that ultimately (spoiler alert) God gives Job his stamp of approval, why don't some of the Rabbis (in various places in the Talmud) seem to think very highly of Job?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The key is in one word.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

This word, which appears sporadically throughout the Bible, shows up four times at key junctures in Job.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The word is <\/span>chinam<\/span><\/em>. It is translated \"for no good reason\" \"for no cause\" or \"without payment\" and basically means doing something without expecting anything in return.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The first one to use it here is Satan when he accuses Job of not having the proper intentions and not being willing to serve God <\/span>chinam<\/span><\/em>: \"The Adversary answered the LORD, \u201cDoes Job not have good reason to fear God?\" (Job 1, 9)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

After Job passes the first test, it is God who rejoins and says that Job's suffering was indeed <\/span>chinam<\/span><\/em>: \"so you have incited Me against him to destroy him for no good reason\" (Job 2, 3)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Later Job himself accuses God of exactly that: \"He wounds me much for no cause\" (Job 9, 17)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Finally, here in chapter 22, Eliphaz turns the word back against Job: \"You exact pledges from your fellows without reason\" (Job 22, 6)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

He seems to be accusing Job of committing the very same travesty which Job has accused God.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

What emerges is a very fundamental argument between Job and his friends. Bildad suggested that Job envision himself as a tree (Chapter 8). You yourself do not matter; the tree can still grow. Serve God altruistically and not for personal benefit.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Job cannot fathom this type of altruism. He only sees himself as a branch that dies if it is cut off (Chapter 14). If he cannot benefit from his own deeds then what good is it? True, he does not abandon God, but by cursing the day he was born he is saying that if he indeed does not matter, he wants no part in the larger picture.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Eliphaz redirects the accusation back at Job, he is trying to say to him: Do you yourself not see value in blind allegiance sometimes? The argument between Job and his friends is thus two-fold and we must read carefully what God concedes.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Regarding the question whether God punished Job without sin - the friends in God\u2019s words \u201cdid not speak the truth <\/span>about God<\/span><\/em>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Did God bring suffering on Job <\/span>chinam<\/span><\/em>\u2013 for no reason? Yes! However, regarding the proper response - the friends were not wrong <\/span>about Job himself<\/em> <\/span>and how he should conduct himself.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Should Job continue to serve God <\/span>chinam<\/span><\/em>, not expecting anything whatsoever in return? As hard as this is, the answer here too is \u2013 Yes!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Job was unable. Satan was ultimately right. The word <\/span>chinam<\/em> <\/span>exposes Job's hamartia, his tragic flaw.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":94685,"alt":"","title":"job22-tragic flaw-Achilles Heel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","width":699,"height":326,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel-300x140.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":140,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","medium_large-width":699,"medium_large-height":326,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","large-width":699,"large-height":326,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","1536x1536-width":699,"1536x1536-height":326,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","2048x2048-width":699,"2048x2048-height":326,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","post_full_size-width":699,"post_full_size-height":326,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","home_baner-width":699,"home_baner-height":326}},"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":"Job's Tragic Flaw","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He can\u2019t understand true altruism","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":94685,"alt":"","title":"job22-tragic flaw-Achilles Heel","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","width":699,"height":326,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel-300x140.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":140,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","medium_large-width":699,"medium_large-height":326,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","large-width":699,"large-height":326,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","1536x1536-width":699,"1536x1536-height":326,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","2048x2048-width":699,"2048x2048-height":326,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","post_full_size-width":699,"post_full_size-height":326,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/job22-tragic-flaw-Achilles-Heel.jpg","home_baner-width":699,"home_baner-height":326}},"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":"Job","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"770","date":"20280810","wall_id":"770"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":17,"id":"94682","color":"#f6f5de","size":"1","name":"What You Will Decree Will Be Established ","post_title":"What You Will Decree Will Be Established","slug":"what-you-will-decree-will-be-established","old_id":"94682","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":"770","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Job, Moses, Honi the Circle-Drawer\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Our<\/span> chapter<\/span><\/a> records the third answer to Job by Eliphaz, the first of Job\u2019s three \u201ccompanions\u201d (see<\/span> chapters 4<\/span><\/a>, and<\/span> 15<\/span><\/a>, compare<\/span> 42:7-9<\/span><\/a>). In general, Eliphaz exhorts Job to confess any concealed iniquities to alleviate his punishment. In our Chapter, Eliphaz even accuses Job of oppressing widows and orphans (see verse 9), in stark contrast to what Eliphaz himself had said to Job in<\/span> 4:3-4<\/span><\/a>. Nevertheless, in our chapter verse 28, Eliphaz says to Job: \u201cYou will decree and it will be established and light will shine on your ways\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The minor Talmudic Tractate<\/span> Derekh Eretz Rabbah<\/span><\/a> states that the above verse refers to \u201cthe poor, the bashful, the lowly of spirit, those who are gentle with the young and those who are trustworthy\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Midrash Tanhuma Buber Vayishlach 10<\/span><\/a> teaches, based on the same verse, that God says to the righteous person (t<\/em><\/span>zaddiq<\/span><\/em>), \u2018If you do My will, I will put your will before Mine.\u2019 For example, after the Sin of the Golden Calf, God intended to utterly destroy the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai (see<\/span> Exodus 32:10<\/span><\/a>). But Moses implored the Lord to relent (<\/span>32:11-13<\/span><\/a>). \u201cAnd the Lord renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon His people\u201d (<\/span>32:14<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Midrash Exodus Rabah 21:2<\/span><\/a> preserves another example of how Moses decreed and it was established. When Israel stood at the shore of the Red Sea, pursued by Pharaoh and his charioteers, Moses cried out to Israel that the Lord would do battle for them, so \u201cHold your peace\u201d (<\/span>Exodus 14:14<\/span><\/a>). God called out to Moses: \u201cWhy do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward\u201d (<\/span>Exodus 14:15<\/span><\/a>) \u2013 You have only to decree and I will perform it. Speak and I will do what you say!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Mishnah Ta'anit 3:8<\/span><\/a> as expanded in<\/span> Talmud Yerushalmi 16b-17a<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> Talmud Bavli Ta'anit 23a<\/span><\/a> preserve the famous story of Honi \u201cThe Circle Drawer\u201d, who lived in the Land of Israel in the early 1<\/span>st<\/span> century BCE. In a time of extreme drought, Honi drew a circle in the dust, stood inside it, and told God that he would not leave until it rained. Indeed, rain fell. But Shimon ben Shetah, the current head of the Sanhedrin, threatened to excommunicate Honi for what seemed to him trying to force God.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the other members of the Sanhedrin sent a message, applying to Honi<\/span> Job 22:28-30<\/span><\/a>: \u201cYou will decree and it will be established\u201d \u2013 You, Honi, decree from below and the Holy One, blessed be He, establishes what you decree from above. \u201cAnd light will shine on your ways\u201d \u2013 a generation that was in darkness (because of the drought), you have illuminated with your forceful prayer. \u201cWhen others sink low, you will say they are lifted up\u201d \u2013 a generation that sank low, you lifted up with your prayer, \u201cFor He saves those who sank low. He will deliver the guilty, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":53697,"alt":"","title":"jo10-honi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"What You Will Decree Will Be Established","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Job, Moses, Honi the Circle-Drawer\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":53697,"alt":"","title":"jo10-honi","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","width":960,"height":720,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","large-width":960,"large-height":720,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","1536x1536-width":960,"1536x1536-height":720,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","2048x2048-width":960,"2048x2048-height":720,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi.jpg","post_full_size-width":960,"post_full_size-height":720,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/jo10-honi-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_link_for_pay":"0","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Writings","book":"Job","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"770","date":"20280810","wall_id":"770"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":18,"id":"94661","color":"#efefef","size":"1","name":"Eliphaz Belongs To A Long Line Of Brotherly Enmity ","post_title":"Eliphaz Belongs To A Long Line Of Brotherly Enmity","slug":"eliphaz-belongs-to-a-long-line-of-brotherly-enmity","old_id":"94661","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":94659,"post_title":"Shmuel Klitsner","slug":"shmuel-klitsner","old_id":"94659","first_name":"Shmuel ","last_name":"Klitsner ","description":"Shmuel Klitsner is the author of Wrestling Jacob, the chairman of the Women\u2019s Institute for Halakhic Leadership of Ohr Torah Stone and a senior faculty member of Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem.\r\n","short_description":"Shmuel Klitsner is the author of Wrestling Jacob, the chairman of the Women\u2019s Institute for Halakhic Leadership of Ohr Torah Stone.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":94660,"alt":"","title":"shmuel klitsner","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner.jpg","width":417,"height":434,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner-288x300.jpg","medium-width":288,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner.jpg","medium_large-width":417,"medium_large-height":434,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner.jpg","large-width":417,"large-height":434,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner.jpg","1536x1536-width":417,"1536x1536-height":434,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner.jpg","2048x2048-width":417,"2048x2048-height":434,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner.jpg","post_full_size-width":417,"post_full_size-height":434,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/shmuel-klitsner-404x420.jpg","home_baner-width":404,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"770","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"A web of literary allusions connect Job with Genesis\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

In this round of the symposium, Eliphaz, the senior member of Job\u2019s so-called friends, continues his egregious response to Job\u2019s complaint, further pouring salt on his wounds. The pious logic of Eliphaz is that if God never punishes the righteous, Job must have committed unspeakable crimes to have deserved his suffering.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In verses 6 and 7, the invented crimes describe Job as having taken exorbitant collateral for a loan or barter, of withholding water from the famished ('<\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>) and holding back (<\/span>timna\u2019<\/span><\/em>) bread from the hungry.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Sometimes a subtle literary allusion to a parallel Biblical text is hinted at through the use of an unusual word. In this case, the unusual word is the Hebrew \u2013\u201c'<\/em><\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>\u201d.\u00a0 In Biblical Hebrew the word is best translated as famished or depleted. In modern Hebrew, it means \u201cweary\u201d or \u201ctired.\u201d You might be surprised to learn that this word appears only 6 times in Tanakh in that specific form. This is indeed surprising given the typical response in Israel to the question \u201chow are you\u201d usually includes the word \u201c'<\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Two of the 6 times the word \u201c'<\/em><\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>\u201d appears are in the brief episode of Genesis 25, where Jacob exacts an exorbitant price (the birthright) for the lentil stew for the famished Esau. We are thus tempted to connect the accused crime as drawing from Jacob\u2019s nasty treatment of Esau in Genesis, similar to the choice of symbolic crime that Jeremiah imputes to his comrades, where he says that \u201cevery brother cheats, cheats\u201d (Jer. 9:3 \u201c'<\/em><\/span>akob yaa\u2019kob<\/span><\/em>\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Confirming this subtle use of the rare word is that the only other verse in the five books of the Torah in which \u201c'<\/em><\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>\u201d is deployed (Deut. 25:18), describes the attack of Amalek on the weak and famished of the Israelites coming out of Egypt. As the progenitor of Amalek is the grandson of Esau taking advantage of the children of Jacob\u2019s state of weariness ('<\/em><\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>), there would seem to be a clear case of biblical karma or what the rabbis call \u201c<\/span>mida k\u2019neged mida<\/span><\/em>\u201d (\u201ctit for tat\u201d).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Further confirming that our verses in Job 22:6-7 are using the word \u201c'<\/em><\/span>ayef<\/span><\/em>\u201d and the other literary indicators to refer the readers back to Genesis 25, is the following remarkable literary \u201ccoincidence\u201d. Esau is the grandfather, the grandson is Amalek. And the middle generation is named <\/span>Eliphaz<\/span><\/em>!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n

Now, no one suggests that this Eliphaz is the same Eliphaz mentioned as son of Esau in Genesis 36, but the use of the same name is no coincidence.\u00a0 Moreover, the verb in Job 22:7 for withholding (bread) is the Hebrew word<\/span> Timna<\/span><\/em>, <\/b>which just happens to be the name of the wife of Eliphaz of Genesis, also the mother of Amalek!<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So you just don\u2019t know what you may find when you go in search of the various texts that use an uncommon word or phrase. In our instance, Eliphaz belongs to a long line of brotherly enmity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":75124,"alt":"","title":"ez35-jacob esau tissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","width":756,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot-300x238.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":238,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","medium_large-width":756,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","large-width":756,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":756,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":756,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":756,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot-529x420.jpg","home_baner-width":529,"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":"Eliphaz Belongs To A Long Line Of Brotherly Enmity","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"A web of literary allusions connect Job with Genesis\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":75124,"alt":"","title":"ez35-jacob esau tissot","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","width":756,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot-300x238.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":238,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","medium_large-width":756,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","large-width":756,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","1536x1536-width":756,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","2048x2048-width":756,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot.jpg","post_full_size-width":756,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ez35-jacob-esau-tissot-529x420.jpg","home_baner-width":529,"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":"Job","chapter":"22","chapter_main_number":"770","date":"20280810","wall_id":"770"},"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\/94446"}],"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=94446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}