{"id":6989,"date":"2019-08-27T00:51:59","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T00:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=6989"},"modified":"2019-08-27T00:56:25","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T00:56:25","slug":"drash-cards-for-eikev-5779","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/?page_id=6989","title":{"rendered":"Eikev (5779)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Drash Cards for Eikev (5779)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Marc Mangel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 By my count, 7 weeks to\nShabbat Shuvah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 It is not too early (it\nis never too early) to start your Teshuvah \u2013 returning to discover the\nGodliness that everywhere surrounds us and that is in everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 A guide to doing this is\nin the part of the parsha that we read today. \nIt began: \u201cWhat does God demand of you? Only that you revere God\u2026walk in\nall God\u2019s ways, love God, and serve God\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 There  is a lot about what to do<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            – revere God<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            – walk in God\u2019s ways<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            – serve God<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            – know that God do not play favorites or take bribes <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            – take care of the orphan and the widow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            – take care of the resident alien in our midst<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 But there is little\nadvice on how to do it. The only hint is in 10:16 .  READ HEBREW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 From the Rebbe\u2019s\nChumash:  \u201cYou must therefore circumcise\nthe foreskin of  your heart and cease\nbeing stiff-necked\u201d. From the JPS Chumash \u201cCut away the thickening of your\nheart and cease being stiff-necked\u201d.  ASK:\nhow is it translated in  Stone, Hirsch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Even after a considerable\nstudy, I could not figure out the real meaning of \u201ccut way the thickening of\nyour heart\u201d, but I could figure out \u201cstop being stiff-necked\u201d so I approached\nit that way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 I decided that\nstiff-necked meant arrogant, and then looked up synonyms and antonyms of\narrogant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 From the Merriam-Webster online\ndictionary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Synonyms of arrogant <\/p>\n\n\n\n

assumptive<\/a>, bumptious<\/a>, cavalier<\/a>, chesty<\/a>, haughty<\/a>, highfalutin<\/a> (also hifalutin<\/a>), high-and-mighty<\/a>, high-handed<\/a>, high-hat<\/a>, huffish<\/a>, huffy<\/a>, imperious<\/a>, important<\/a>, lofty<\/a>, lordly<\/a>, masterful<\/a>, overweening<\/a>, peremptory<\/a>, pompous<\/a>, presuming<\/a>, presumptuous<\/a>, pretentious<\/a>, self-asserting<\/a>, self-assertive<\/a>, sniffy<\/a>, stiff-necked<\/em><\/a> !!! supercilious<\/a>, superior<\/a>, toplofty<\/a> (also toploftical<\/a>), uppish<\/a>, uppity<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Antonyms of arrogant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

humble<\/a>, lowly<\/a>, modest<\/a>, unarrogant<\/a>, unpretentious<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The ratio of synonyms to antonyms 30:5. \nWhat do we conclude from these data? \nFirst, that it is 6 times easier to be stiff-necked than it is to have a\nheart where the thickening is cut away. It is 6 times easier to fall into\npatterns of arrogance than humility.  The\nTorah is telling us that this is human nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Second, you can get a jump start on your Teshuvah by working on those\nthoughts and actions that would be synonyms of stiff-necked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Finally, this is important to do. \nIn commentary on Proverbs, 10:12, Tzanat Panea\u2019ch says that love is the\nfoundation of human society; without love society crumbles.   The Ba\u2019al Shem Tov taught that only modest\npeople can feel true love for others, because arrogant people only love\nthemselves. Thus, in working to eliminate the thickening around your heart you\nare preventing society from crumbling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Shabbat shalom<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[And from the Kiddush discussion: \nRobin Kopit said to me \u201cWhen you said thickening around your heart, I\nimmediately thought about how we have to fight off cynicism as we get older; it\ncomes like wave\u201d.  That would be another\ndrash.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drash Cards for Eikev (5779) by Marc Mangel \u2022 By my count, 7 weeks to Shabbat Shuvah. \u2022 It is not too early (it is never too early) to start your Teshuvah \u2013 returning to discover the Godliness that everywhere surrounds us and that is in everyone. \u2022 A guide to doing this is in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":51,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6989","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6989"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6992,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6989\/revisions\/6992"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/51"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcmangel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}