Tanach Thoughts

Last Shabbat I was skimming Yirmiyahu because I was looking for a particular verse and in that moment wasn't near a concordance (what would we Tanach-loving, Shabbat-observers ever do without a concordance???), and I came across something that frankly shocked me. I had studied Yirmiyahu before and I've written on that in the blog. But I was struck by the following verses ( 48:45-46 ): " בְּצֵל חֶשְׁבּוֹן עָמְדוּ מִכֹּחַ נָסִים כִּי אֵשׁ יָצָא מֵחֶשְׁבּוֹן וְלֶהָבָה מִבֵּין סִיחוֹן וַתֹּאכַל פְּאַת מוֹאָב וְקָדְקֹד בְּנֵי שָׁאוֹן.   אוֹי לְךָ מוֹאָב אָבַד עַם כְּמוֹשׁ כִּי לֻקְּחוּ בָנֶיךָ בַּשֶּׁבִי וּבְנֹתֶיךָ בַּשִּׁבְיָה." "In the shelter of Heshbon fugitives halt exhausted; for fire went forth from Heshbon, flame from the midst of Sihon, consuming the brow of Moab, the pate of the people of Shaon. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are undone, for your sons are carried off into captivity, your daughters into exile." What's surprising about thi...

May this post be in merit of our soldiers, a swift return of the hostages and a speedy recovery for Dror Yisrael ben Rut Miriam (דרור ישראל בן רות מרים). Once I read Yirmiyahu in a single sitting. It took a few hours, to be sure, but I studied it all during one seder erev (evening study period) at yeshiva. It was during the three weeks and I had tears in my eyes part of the time. I had been in the middle of writing an essay comparing Plato's writings with those of Yirmiyahu because of an old tradition that Yirmiyahu met Plato and perhaps even taught him. After going through some Platonic texts, as well as gathering as much info on their purported relationship as I could, I turned to studying Yirmiyahu. And so I read it all. And I was deeply immersed and moved. I found myself deeply relating to Yirmiyahu's difficult life. To this day I feel a deep connection to his character. Two verses in particular caught my eye that night, 9:22-23 : " כֹּה אָמַר ה' אַל יִתְהַלֵּל חָכ...

This will be a two-post series on the subject of the destruction of Shiloh. More precisely, on the destruction of the Tabernacle at Shiloh. The Tabernacle at Shiloh was constructed already in the days of Yehoshua ( idem. 18:1 ). There it remained until mysteriously disappearing circa the Israelite-Plishtite War in Shmuel 1:4:1-22 . After this war, we do not hear of people coming to the Tabernacle at Shiloh. Instead they go to places such as Nov and Giv'on. The reason was only reported centuries later, in Yirmiyahu 26:1-6  where Hashem tells Yirmiyahu to pass on a prophecy that if the people of the Kingdom of Yehudah do not fix their ways, the Temple will be destroyed just like the Tabernacle in Shiloh (similarly mentioned in ibid. 7:13-15 ). Subsequently, people get angry at Yirmiyahu for having the gall to threaten them with a destruction on par of that of Shiloh ( ibid. 8-9 ). Wait, destroyed? When did that happen?! Actually, this was hinted at already in a Tehillim chapter writt...

לעילוי נשמת אברהם בן ישראל יצחק Post in memory of Avraham ben Yisrael Yitzchak Last night, my grandmother's brother died. This comes in the wake of the passing of my grandfather less than two years ago and the passing of one of my aunts less than a year ago. All very sudden and health-related, but nothing due to corona. This post is dedicated in his memory. Some time ago, I noticed that there was a typical sort of eulogy or lament in Tanach. It is referred as "הוי אחי" - "Oh, my brother". It's only mentioned twice in Tanach - in Kings and Yirmiyahu, but there's also a sort of - offshoot, I guess? that appears later in Yirmiyahu as well, which is a eulogy that seems to have been reserved for royalty, and that's the "הוי אדון" - "Oh, [my] lord" eulogy. Here are the verses (this translation uses the variants "alas" and "ah" instead of "oh"): "He laid the corpse in his own burial place; and they lame...

Since finishing Yechezkel a few days ago, I've found myself thinking a bit about the contrast between him and Yirmiyahu. Both were priests, but boy did they live different lives.  Yirmiyahu does not want to be a prophet. In fact, prophecy is essentially forced upon him time and again. There are days in which he bows in acceptance and others in which he buckles. Yirmiyahu is described in the gemara as a prophet who is "entirely destruction". The plain meaning of the phrase is that all of his prophecies have to do with destruction. However, in a deeper sense, there is something destroyed about Yirmiyahu himself. Something fragmented. Yechezkel is different. Though there's mention of Yechezkel being appalled at some of the things Hashem commands him to do, there's not a hint that he was not interested in prophecy. He accepts it willingly. Yechezkel is really the classic prophet. He gravitates to the leadership role thrusted upon him. He is a natural teacher. He is r...