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Who cursed the day he was born?

We all know that in the Bible, there is a law that forbids the man to curse his parents or worst, his God, as written in Exodus 22:27-

“אֱלֹהִים, לֹא תְקַלֵּל; וְנָשִׂיא בְעַמְּךָ, לֹא תָאֹר.”

“Thou shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of, thy people”

You can see also what is written in Exodus 21:17-
“וּמְקַלֵּל אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ, מוֹת יוּמָת”
“And he that cursed his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.”

Cursing the most important relatives in your life, whether they are close to you, whether you believe in them is a wish of death according to the law.
Therefore, Jeremiah the prophet and Job the ultimate righteous have a problem to curse God, so they are doing something else- both are cursing the day that they were born as written in Jeremiah 20:14-
“אָרוּר הַיּוֹם, אֲשֶׁר יֻלַּדְתִּי בּוֹ: יוֹם אֲשֶׁר-יְלָדַתְנִי אִמִּי, אַל-יְהִי בָרוּךְ.”
“Cursed be the day wherein I was born; the day wherein my mother bore me, let it not be blessed”

Next time we will speak about Job- why did he curse the day the day that he was born? Who job wanted to curse, and he couldn’t?

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew	Transcription	Translation
קָרוֹב	ôb qār	Relative
הוֹרֶה	hôreh	Parent
קְלָלָה	qwhwhelālāh	Curse
קִלֵּל	qillēl	Cursed
אִסּוּר	‘ssûr	Prohibition
אָסוּר	‘āsûr	Forbidden

Eli@eteachergroup.com

Posted in Biblical Hebrew, Literature, Old testament | Tagged curse, day, Jeremiah, Job | Leave a comment

It is important to save the planet!!!

Whenever I need to remember the function that we, as the people of planet earth, need to do, I am reading one of the best midrashim, that is written on the first man.

In this midrash, that appears in Koheleth Rabbah it’s been told to us which The Lord took the first man whom he just created and made him a tour in all the trees of the Garden of Eden saying to him:

Dear friends, can you see it? How beautiful is the world that I created to you? All the creation is for you! Pay attention not to destroy, ruin or banish this world, because if you will destroy, there won’t be a man who will repair it after you!

This is the message that we should tell our children all the time! Think about yourself as the only person in the world, as the one who keeps it alive, as the one who is responsible of this entire planet!

One of my favorites verses in The Bible is in Genesis 1:29-

“וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ פְרִי-עֵץ, זֹרֵעַ זָרַע: לָכֶם יִהְיֶה, לְאָכְלָה.”

“And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed–to you it shall be for food;”

For sure we should try to go back to save and keep what The Almighty gave us!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew	Transcription	Translation
כַּדּוּר הָאָרֶץ	Kaddûr hā’ārets	Earth
גַּן עֵדֶן עֲלֵי אֲדָמוֹת	Gan ‘ēden ‘ăley ‘ădāmôt	Heaven on earth
שְׁמִירָה	šemîrāh	Keeping , saveing

Eli@eteachergroup.com

Posted in Biblical Hebrew, Old testament | Tagged birth of the world, creation, genesis 1:29 | Leave a comment

The plague of locusts – not only in Egypt- part 2

One of the prophets that are less familiar to the bible lovers is Joel. Only 4 chapters there are in his book and his time of prophecy is an argument between the scholars until today, from the 900 B.C.E to 450 B.C.E. For me it is less important the time of the prophecies, it is more important the ideas and the contents there.

Last time we spoke about the plague of locust in Egypt, but it turns out that in the book of Joel we can find another reference for this plague, this time in the promise land, as written in Joel 1:2-4

“שִׁמְעוּ-זֹאת, הַזְּקֵנִים, וְהַאֲזִינוּ, כֹּל יוֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ; הֶהָיְתָה זֹּאת בִּימֵיכֶם, וְאִם בִּימֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם. עָלֶיהָ, לִבְנֵיכֶם סַפֵּרוּ; וּבְנֵיכֶם, לִבְנֵיהֶם, וּבְנֵיהֶם, לְדוֹר אַחֵר. יֶתֶר הַגָּזָם אָכַל הָאַרְבֶּה, וְיֶתֶר הָאַרְבֶּה אָכַל הַיָּלֶק; וְיֶתֶר הַיֶּלֶק, אָכַל הֶחָסִיל.”

“Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the canker-worm eaten; and that which the canker-worm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten”

The plague here was so severe that the farmers and the drunken ones need to pray for The Lord because there is no crop anymore. The description in this chapter is so beautiful when the author tells us that the even the ground is mourning and the fruit felt miserable!

But, don’t feel so miserable my friend, after every plague there is a growth to the world- let us pray that our world also will feel the growth and the development!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew	Transcription	Translation
מֻכָּר	mukkār	Familiar
תֹּכֶן	tōken	Contents
מִסְתַּבֵּר	mistabbēr	It turns out that
אִזְכּוּר	‘izkûr	Reference
זַן	zan	Species
קָשֶׁה	qāšeh	Hard, severe
צְמִיחָה	tsmîhāh	Growth

Eli@eteachergroup.com

Posted in Biblical Hebrew, Old testament | Tagged Egypt, joel, locust | Leave a comment

The plague of locusts – not only in Egypt

One of the ten plagues God imposed upon the Egyptians was the plague of locusts. The locust is a general name for all of grasshoppers collected in groups, they multiply rapidly, spreading on crop fields rapidly and eating almost everything, except for palm or olive. Surprisingly, the locust is kosher animal to eat.

In the book of Exodus we can find the plague of the locust as number eight in the order of the plagues as written in Ex. 10:13-15

“וַיֵּט מֹשֶׁה אֶת-מַטֵּהוּ, עַל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, וַיהוָה נִהַג רוּחַ-קָדִים בָּאָרֶץ, כָּל-הַיּוֹם הַהוּא וְכָל-הַלָּיְלָה; הַבֹּקֶר הָיָה–וְרוּחַ הַקָּדִים, נָשָׂא אֶת-הָאַרְבֶּה. וַיַּעַל הָאַרְבֶּה, עַל כָּל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, וַיָּנַח, בְּכֹל גְּבוּל מִצְרָיִם: כָּבֵד מְאֹד–לְפָנָיו לֹא-הָיָה כֵן אַרְבֶּה כָּמֹהוּ, וְאַחֲרָיו לֹא יִהְיֶה-כֵּן. וַיְכַס אֶת-עֵין כָּל-הָאָרֶץ, וַתֶּחְשַׁךְ הָאָרֶץ, וַיֹּאכַל אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב הָאָרֶץ וְאֵת כָּל-פְּרִי הָעֵץ, אֲשֶׁר הוֹתִיר הַבָּרָד; וְלֹא-נוֹתַר כָּל-יֶרֶק בָּעֵץ וּבְעֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה, בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם”

“And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left; and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt”

Only after begging of the Egyptian king The Lord is taking the locust into the red sea, with the power of the wind and there was no locust in Egypt anymore.

If the locust wasn’t with the Egyptians, where was he afterward in The Scriptures?

Next time we will meet him in the land of Judah!

Main phrases of the post + transcription + translation

Hebrew	Transcription	Translation
הִתְחַנְּנוּת	Hithannenût	Begging
מִלְּבַד	milbad	Except
יְבוּל	yebûl	Crop
לַהֲקָה	lahăqāh	Group, band
אַרְבֶּה	‘arbê	Locust
חָגָב	hāgāb	Grasshopper