Israel: the middle of the mess

This week in navi we learned about the empires that surrounded Israel in the 5th to 8th centuries B.C.E. The main empires were the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian. (Egypt joined the mix later) I want to talk about whether Israel was in a good location or bad during the rule of all these empires. Economically it mught have been good, but politically and safty wise it was very
bad.

Israel is right alOng the mediterranean sea which make then a main trading port in the middle east. Anyone who wanted to trade to Europe had to go through Israel. The land of Israel is very fertile which makes farming great. They had all the resources and the place. To trade but their position is bad politically.

For egypt to get through to Persia they had to go right through Israel. This put Israel in a very unsafe place. They were very vulnerable because of the position hashem put them in.y question is then, why would hashem put them in that land of it was going to cause safety issues? Doesn't he want his his people to be safe. Perhaps he wanted then to work for their independence. Wasn't a punishment for Salome of the sins they committed in conquering the land or maybe farther back in the desert? These are all question I would lik to explore further.

Navi- The Effect of Distraction

In this week's Navi class, we discussed the corruption of the kings throughout history. As we delved deeper into the topic, we realized that all the kings' fates were not in their favor. Shlomo received the harshest punishment and his kingdom was split after his death. I would like to ask the following question. "Why did Shlomo not realize when he had reached the limit of corruption, for he was such a wise man?" I would like to suggest the following answer. Shlomo was distracted. He was distracted by his many wives, by his splendor and great wealth. I don't believe that Shlomo was haughty, but when we get distracted, unfortunately we do not always resume our place on the right path. Maybe Shlomo took advantage of his everlasting kingdom and assumed he would have it forever. This is an important message for us. In today's world, we get very distracted by our surroundings. We need to learn to place these distractions aside and focus on our top priority, becoming closer and more Kadosh to Hashem.

Intro to Navi/Purpose of Nevuah

          This week we started off by discussing the purpose of a Navi. A Navi is a messenger from Hashem. The Navi will warn the people about sins, he will communicate with both G-d and the people, and he will tell Bnei Yisrael about reward and punishment. The navi was also a fortune teller; he would tell the future. Not everyone of Bnei Yisrael had the ability to withstand the power of G-d's speech. Therefore, a Navi was put it place as the representative to communicate with G-d for the people. Moshe explained that just like he was there to serve as the "middle man" between the Jews and Hashem, the Navi would be put there as that "middle man." The Navi needs to be wise, excellent character, he would need to be unable to be led astray by outside influences, and he must have a broad knowledge. A person recieves Nevuah for himself, for other people-tell them what to do or stop them from doing something bad. The Neviim were not there to give laws to the people.
          Then we started to learn about the laws of the kings. A king must be a Jewish person. They are not allowed to have too many horses or follow in the ways of the Mitzrim. They are not allowed to ave too many wives that might lead him astray from the laws to Hashem. He must also not have too much money. The reason the king has these restrictions is to keep him grounded-having all these things might cause the king to forget Hashem and forget their role instead of recognizing that Hashem is the one being their success. The King should write a Sefer Torah and he must carry it with him dn read from it everyday. They must realize that Hashem is in control. They have to realize that they have a mission-they must fear G-d and they must do the Mitzvot.
         

G-d's Control of the World

This week in class, we learned about Israel's neighbors from the 8th to 5th centuries B.C.E.  Although Bnei Yisrael was not a major world power at the time, they were surrounded by the empires of Persia, Babylon, and Assyria who were all vying for control of the Fertile Crescent and the surrounding areas.  Power was constantly shifting between these three powers and occasionally Egypt joined the mix.  If that was the case, what would the tiny country of Israel have to do with power and land-hungry empires?

Israel is located in perhaps the best "spot" in the Middle East.  It has fertile land and is rich in resources.  It is the direct land route between Africa and Asia, making it essential for trade routes.  It also shares a border with the Mediterranean Sea.  The surrounding countries were almost completely reliant on Israel for their trade routes.  In addition, if an African country wanted to invade and conquer an Asian country, they had to march their entire army through Israel.  In other words, Israel was a small but huge damper on the three major empire's plans for world domination.

During the 8th to 5th centuries B.C.E., Bnei Yisrael was entering the land, conquering it, and establishing a monarchy in the name of Hashem.  If you were a person living at that time, you might think that the constant power shifts were occurring because of the political situation (treaties with the other countries, a king's bad decision, etc.).  This was not the case for the Jewish people.  One of the major principles of Jewish theology is that everything comes from G-d; man has a certain role on Earth and to help us fulfill it, G-d has given us a code of ethics and a system of governing ourselves with Tzedek Umishpat.  At the time of the kings of Israel, various wars, victories and defeats occurred because the people's spiritual level fell in some way.  If they repented, they would win the battle and if they didn't, they would lose.

The idea that G-d is in control of everything is a difficult one to come to terms with.  As a young child, you believe pretty much anything and don't question the facts.  Now that I am a teenager, I have started to see the stories in the Torah and Navi in a different light.  Also, I really enjoy learning history and in hindsight, we (people) can see the chain of events that caused something.  Sometimes the buildup to something is so elaborate that we forget where it started.  The Torah and Navi both suggest that the original source of the problem that led to an event (ex. a war) was a sin of Bnei Yisrael and G-d sent the other nation to punish them.  This idea can also be applied in the modern day: Jews are intermarrying and becoming less and less religious while Iran is building nuclear bombs that could destroy Israel.  Maybe the Navi is trying to teach us that in order to fix the problem and avoid an extremely harsh outcome (G-d's punishment for us), we have to return to faith and remember that everything in life comes from G-d.

The Purpose of Nevuah

        This week in Navi we started out by learning the purpose of Nevuah. Hashem "created"Naviiim because Bnei Yisrael were afraid of speaking to Hashem, as we see at Matan Torah, and most weren't comfortable with the idea of receiving direct instructions from G-d. A Navi's purpose is to speak the words of Hashem to Bnei Yisrael. A person could receive Nevuah meant for himself, to warn Bnei Yisrael of coming troubles, to tell them what to do, or to stop them from doing something wrong. No Naviim will give laws, because Hashem said that after Moshe, He will not give laws at all anymore. The messages themselves could be received in a variety of ways. They could be within a dream, containing an explanation, or without any explanation at all, just a riddle or puzzle that the Navi will have to figure out. These are the main purposes of a Navi.
         We also began to learn about the purposes and laws of a king. We discussed the different ways a king of Israel could lead: politically and religiously. A king of Israel must use his power to instruct Bnei Yisrael to follow the mitzvos and in the ways of Hashem. He must also act as a role model so the people will learn to emulate the king. It seems as if there are more restrictions then what a king may actually and should do. He may not have too many horses, or wives, or gold and silver, so it doesn't all go to his head and he becomes pompous and foolish. It is also to prevent corruption in a way, because if the king were a pompous fool it would cause him to forget the ways of Hashem and think only of himself. The things that a king is required to do is also for this reason. He must write two Sefer Torahs and read every single day so he will recognize the power and will of Hashem; that he must fear Hashem and actively do the mitzvos. If this does not occur, then Hashem will not uphold his promise to protect and preserve Bnei Yisrael and the land of Israel.
           I mostly agree with this, because if the king cannot even keep up with the mitzvos, then why is he king? However I also believe that people are not perfect and they make mistakes, so why is this punishment so harsh? Hashem knows that most of the kings are going to stray away from the mitzvos and cause terrible things to happen to Bnei Yisrael, so why does He appoint them as king? And even if they have the chance to be a good and successful king, the punishment is still very harsh. Why should Bnei Yisrael be punished for something their king did????

Laws for Kings/Leaders: Then and Now

Today in class we discussed the difference between the laws in the Torah and the constitution. This idea made me think of the general differences and similarities between the secular and Jewish world. This week in class we also talked about what the king had to do and could not do back in the times of the Naviim. The King was not allowed to have too many horses, wives, or money. The wives might lead him astray, the horses might bring them back to Egypt (where G-d did not want them to go), and the money might make haughty (as would the other two). These restrictions were mainly for the purpose of keeping the king grounded. The King cannot forget that G-d is the one in control; the one he must follow. He must understand that his mission as king is to direct the people to follow the ways of G-d and to act as a role model for the people. To help make sure the king does not forget this, he is obligated to write a Sefer Torah (must have two) and he must read from it everyday. If he follows these rules then corruption can be prevented and all will be well.

Shlomo did not follow these rules. He broke them all. He had tons of money and horses and way too many wives. These wives even influenced him to worship their gods. His punishment caused a great amount of corruption; what G-d's rules for the king were meant to avoid. Shlomo's precious kingdom was split into two and the stories of sins and corrupted kings begin from there.

If Shlomo had followed these simple rules then all of this could have been avoided. Even in the secular world today, these rules could have come in handy. This very week Prince Harry (yes, he's not a king but he's still royal) was caught partying and inappropriate pictures of him from that night ended up on the Internet for all to see. This was a great embarrassment for not only Prince Harry, but for the entire royal family. Many English citizens and people from all over were appalled to see P. Harry acting in this reckless manner. It's hard to view Harry as a role model now that he is known as a partying playboy. So too, when the people of Bnei Yisrael saw Shlomo doing whatever he wanted with numerous different women, it was probably hard for them to view him as a role model who was supposed to be helping them get closer to G-d. Dictators all over the world have been recently fighting wars against their people because the people are displeased with them. They have taken too much money from their people causing not only angry citizens but the existence of corruption in their country as well.

I would have liked to find an example where a leader having too many horses these days would cause problems but that is proving to be a little difficult…

Basically, the rules G-d gave the kings make sense. They would even help out nowadays. It's a shame that Shlomo could not follow them because it would have made the book of Malachim a lot more pleasant.