Hmmm...it's getting sticky.
All kinds of questions are popping up in my head colliding with previous
notions. For example, the pull and tug of
isolation versus integration found within chapter 5. Karen writes of Jerusalem being the 'city of
peace' and the concern about “the new exclusive attitude of the Golah: should
not the City of God be open to everybody, as Zechariah had suggested. Perhaps Jerusalem should open its doors to
foreigners, outcasts, and eunuchs....Yahweh had proclaimed, ‘My house will be a
house of prayer for all the peoples’: one day he would bring these outsiders
into the city and let them sacrifice to him on Mount Zion” (p96). Yet Nehemiah’s legislation prevented the
members of the Golah from “marrying the local people.” And it wasn’t an attempt to maintain purity of
the race but rather a segregation of Golah versus Goyim to “express the new
sacred geography developed in exile by such prophets as Ezekiel” (p99). I
understand the importance of maintaining one’s own identity but I struggle with
the seeming original attempt versus the path taken…..
Also, it surprised me when she wrote “…This was especially
apparent in the new festival of Yom Kippur…” (p96). New festival?
I thought it always was, really.
It kind of made the math click, thinking about when the words may
have been penned…my goodness…maybe Yom Kippur was ‘invented’ and penned
immediately? New festival? That is hard to digest.
A side note: I found it interesting that, probably like a ‘new
festival,’ Nehemiah “forced the nobles and officials to take a solemn oath to
stop charging interest (p99). Guess I
also thought this always was. Here I
read Jewish men were actually taking the sons and daughters of the poor (in
addition to their fields and crops) when their loans couldn’t be repaid with
interest? I suppose there was just a lot
in chapter 5 for me to ponder….I am still pondering…..
Barb,
ReplyDeleteAs we discussed in class, I think that the point of Yom Kippur being brought up as a 'new festival' is very interesting. I agree with the fact that we just don't realize that there was an actual start to these holy days and when they happened. It is odd to think how she throws it in there as a new festival and how it has come to be over the years. It is the holiest day of the year to Jews and the amount of emphasis is somewhat embarrassing.
Hey Barb,
ReplyDeleteHope you've had a good weekend thus far.
Ok, this might sound a little conspiracy-theory-like, but what if the imposed requirement of "pure" Jewish heritage, in order to have access to the temple, was intentionally implemented to force polytheists to publicly present themselves (perhaps falsely) as monotheistic Yahweyists. Why would some prophets, sects, and priests want to force people to believe as they themselves believe? Well, let us look forward to today. Religious exclusion is commonplace, as are notions of strictly retaining ethnic and religious purity.
Purity-focused Jews today, feel constantly under threat. Surrounded on all sides by hostile neighbors, the victims of millennia of atrocities, and at war with assimilation, being a pure Jew is a constant battle. Why do observant Jewish families have so many children? More soldiers. Scratch that. Religious Jews are exempt fro serving in the Israeli military... Ok, so why then? May be growing the tribe, growing gods nation here on earth? May be lack of education is really the root?
I know many young American Jews whose families' would literally disown them if they married non-Jewish person. So this issue of purity is beyond Israel, it's in the Diaspora too. These families are "educated." For them, it's about keeping the tradition alive. Tradition. Forget love. Tradition.
Ok let's be real. Forbidding one's Jewish child from marrying a non-Jew is the same as opposing inter-racial marriage.