Foreign Wives
נמצאו 6 תוצאות חיפוש
Purim's Significance a Few Years Later: The Return to Zion
Chazal's Preambles to Megillat Esther: Part 7
Rabbi Moshe Taragin | 17 דקותThis shiur explores linguistic and thematic parallels between Megillat Esther and the Book of Ezra. The two texts share similar events, motifs, and apparatus of recovery in situations of crisis - perhaps most significantly that of fasting. Ezra's confessional prayer seems to suggest that he derives inspiration and hope from God's Hand which, while hidden, is ever-present, as in the events of Megillat Esther.
Shlomo’s Sins
Rabbi Alex IsraelThree broad approaches exist to explain the jarring discrepancy between the love and dedication that Shlomo displayed towards God and His Mikdash and his love towards foreign women that led to idolatry.
1) The approach adopted by the majority of traditional commentaries posits that Shlomo himself did not partake in idol worship but facilitated his wives’ idolatry and it is therefore attributed to him.
2) A careful read of chapters 9 and 10 points to a wide range of failures, a sense of spiritual disorientation identified by Shlomo's overconfident abrogation of the Torah's restrictions for a king. All these lead in a direct line to the more serious offenses of chapter 11.
3) Shlomo's marriage to Pharaoh's daughter at the very outset of his reign is a competing love to his love for God as is subtly described in the text and more explicitly described in the Midrash. Shlomo is caught ideologically between competing worlds. Bat Pharaoh represents Egypt, the power and trade, the skills and crafts, wealth and international control that appeal to Shlomo's imperial mind. These come along with a religious worldview that is polytheistic and pagan. On the other side is the Torah, the Mikdash, the path of David Ha-Melekh. Shlomo is committed to both. He seeks to balance the two, but he fails.
Intermarriage During Shivat Tzion
Rabbi Tzvi SinenskyThe books of Ezra and Nehemya put a new emphasis on the sin of intermarriage, including seemingly harsh responses. The leaders of Shivat Tzion seem to present the sin somewhat differently than earlier Biblical works.
According to the Torah, exogamy is prohibited so as not to lead one’s children toward idolatry. In contrast, the leaders of Shivat Tzion seem to speak with a different point of emphasis, introducing new terminology implying that the sin is not so much about the concern for idolatry or otherwise sinful lifestyle, but runs counter to the holiness of the Jew, an act of betrayal.
For arguably the first time in history, during the period of Ezra and Nehemya, the temptation of idolatry no longer looms large. Therefore, whereas Devarim and Melakhim tended to stress the lure of paganism, Ezra, Nehemya and Malakhi, no longer confronting this threat, emphasized the inherently objectionable nature of the proscription.
What does emerge with clarity from Ezra-Nehemya is that there are times, especially when the Jewish community faces an existential challenge, when an unyielding approach is necessary. Although many might take offense to such a “heavy-handed” response, sometimes proper leadership demands an approach that closely follows the firm stand taken by Ezra and Nehemya.
Separating From Foreign Wives
Rabbi Tzvi SinenskyEzra’s response to the news of intermarriage is at once severe and passive. His actions seem conflicted. The success of the initiative is similarly mixed. At first glance, it appears to be a remarkable triumph. Upon closer examination, however, the people’s commitment appears lukewarm. The fact that Nehemya was repeatedly required to confront the sin implies that Ezra had failed to truly solve the problem.
Ezra was a different type of leader than Nehemya. Whereas Nehemya was a forceful political personality deeply grounded in Torah values, Ezra was first and foremost a brilliant, dedicated scholar. Ezra was not, in essence, a man of action. Only when prodded does Ezra rise to the occasion and move mountains to profoundly shape his community.
The parallels to the Revelation at Sinai teach despite the fact that the community has sinned, repentance creates the possibility of renewed covenantal commitment. Shivat Tzion represents a time of renewed commitment to our relationship with God.
The Great Prayer and Confession
Rabbi Tzvi SinenskyAfter reading the Torah and celebrating Sukkot in spectacular fashion, the people remain behind, mourning and fasting for their sins. Those who had intermarried separate from their foreign spouses, and the community recites confession. The Levites proceed to offer a whirlwind tour of Biblical history, Notwithstanding the Jews’ unfaithful behavior, God remains compassionate and continues to provide.
Perhaps the most conspicuous aspect of the prayer of the Levites is the extent to which they draw upon earlier scriptural sources. The ideal is to anchor our prayers, as our actions, in those of the outstanding scholars of the current and previous generations. The prayer exemplifies the key role played by religious commitment born of deep understanding. As the curtain closes on the prophetic period, a new emphasis on the Torah tradition rises to the fore.
It was the leadership of the Shivat Tzion community that helped to renew the community’s commitment to Mosaic law as the touchstone for Jewish life and Jewish learning. Above all, this is the legacy of Ezra-Nechemia.
Our invocation of Nechemia during our daily prayers hints to the larger idea that the miracles of the exodus are not isolated events, but are but one piece of the compassion with which God graced His people throughout the course of history.
The End of Nehemya
Rabbi Tzvi SinenskyChapter 11 reports that a tenth of the Jewish population of Judea was selected by lottery to live in Jerusalem, with an eye toward ensuring the city’s ongoing security. The Jerusalem lottery was a random, rather than Divine, mechanism for determining who was to live in the holy city, consistent with the tenor of desacralization running throughout the period of Shivat Tzion.
The celebratory dedication of Jerusalem’s walls closely resembles the celebration in the third chapter of Ezra. Buried among the many similarities, however, is a basic difference. In Nehemya, the joy is unmitigated. In Ezra it is muted by the sobbing of those who had witnessed the First Temple’s grandeur. Thus, Nehemya is to be viewed as having brought Ezra’s work to a point of greater completion.
Nehemya’s final chapter neatly summarizes many of his major concerns throughout his tenure in Judea, and it brings his story full circle. The differences between the events of Nehemya chapter 1 and chapter 13 neatly capture the enormity of the governor’s achievements. At the book’s opening, there is an existential crisis. The walls of Jerusalem are burnt to the ground, and the community’s survival is far from assured. By the end, the wall has been completed and the community’s safety secured. Nehemya has turned his attention to matters of ethics, the Temple, and religious practice. However, for all his accomplishments and efforts, Nehemya concludes his sefer with his work incomplete. The battle for the hearts and minds of the people was destined to continue in Sefer Malakhi, a work written some years following Ezra and Nehemya’s careers.