Time is running out for our navi class and for the people of Yehuda in Yirmiyahu, the sefer we are racing to cover before the school year ends.
Starting in Perek Yud Gimel of Sefer Yirmiyahu, Yirmiyahu starts doing symbolic acts to get the peoples attention.
1. Dressing in linen clothes and not washing --> the people get worse and worse until they are dirty with sin.
2. Throwing jars of wine down on the ground, smashing and spilling everywhere --> their sins pour out and they will be completely destroyed.
Perek Tet Zein, Yirmiyahu cannot have children because the nation is so bad and will be destroyed.
The story of a potter. There is a man with clay that he shapes into beautiful pottery. Without him, the clay would have been nothing. And if the man so chooses, he can break the pottery and still the clay will be nothing. This is really talking about the Jews and how G-d took them and made them into a great nation and without G-d they would be nowhere, so they should repent and realize this.
QUESTIONS-
Which do you think is more effective? Yirmiyahu's story of the potter, or Yishayahu's story about the man who planted a vineyard, but the grapes were sour and the vineyard was overrun with weeds?
Why do you think it is better?
Starting in Perek Yud Gimel of Sefer Yirmiyahu, Yirmiyahu starts doing symbolic acts to get the peoples attention.
1. Dressing in linen clothes and not washing --> the people get worse and worse until they are dirty with sin.
2. Throwing jars of wine down on the ground, smashing and spilling everywhere --> their sins pour out and they will be completely destroyed.
Perek Tet Zein, Yirmiyahu cannot have children because the nation is so bad and will be destroyed.
The story of a potter. There is a man with clay that he shapes into beautiful pottery. Without him, the clay would have been nothing. And if the man so chooses, he can break the pottery and still the clay will be nothing. This is really talking about the Jews and how G-d took them and made them into a great nation and without G-d they would be nowhere, so they should repent and realize this.
QUESTIONS-
Which do you think is more effective? Yirmiyahu's story of the potter, or Yishayahu's story about the man who planted a vineyard, but the grapes were sour and the vineyard was overrun with weeds?
Why do you think it is better?
I personally think the story about the potter is better, because people can more easily relate to it. If you just tell me a story about a vineyard whose grapes are rotten, my thought process will be somewhere along the lines of "ok thats nice, who cares?" However if you tell me a whole story about a potter shaping his clay and compare it to Hashem, I can actually see where that is coming from, because it is more obvious and thought provoking.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Alex. I would just like to add that one of the reasons I find the pottery story to be better because it shows how delicate the Jewish people are. Hashem can come in and exile us and punish us; G-d made us and we really are under universal His control.
ReplyDeleteI think the symbolic acts are more effective since when someone actually does something, he gets people's attention. Sometimes to get a point across you act it out,and then people will see, and pay attention, but only saying it will most likely go in, in one ear and out the other. A speech also won't bring the point across as much since you don't actually see a scenario which you can relate to.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think the story of the potter is more effective becuaes you're not just saying that HaShem wanted them to grow out beautifully, but that they will have to be destroyed in order to be put right.
ReplyDelete