Israel as One Bundle of Reeds and the Eternal Light

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Nitzavim 4:1

Curated by Arthur·Translated by Maggid (Beta)·

Another interpretation (of Deuteronomy 29:9 [10]): "You are standing today." Just as the day sometimes darkens and sometimes grows light, so too with you: even though there is darkness for you, the Holy One is destined to shine upon you with eternal light, as it is said (Isaiah 60:19), "And the LORD shall be for you an everlasting light." When? When you all become one bond, as it is said (Deuteronomy 4:4), "[But you who cling to the LORD your God] are all alive today." In the way of the world, if a person takes a bundle of reeds, can he break them all at once? But if he takes them one by one, even an infant can break them. And so you find that Israel is not redeemed until they become one bond, as it is said (Jeremiah 50:4), "In those days and at that time, says the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together." And it says (Jeremiah 3:18), "In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the north." When they are bound together, they receive the face of the Shekhinah.

Themes

RedemptionShekhinah

Biblical References

Continue Reading

Tikkunei ZoharDivine Presence of RuthThe Tikkunei (spiritual repair) Zohar, a collection of commentaries on the Torah, unveils some of the deepest mystical secrets of Judaism. And in the hundredth Pesikta de-Rav KahanaGod Leaping Like a Gazelle From Egypt to the Sea to SinaiRabbi Yitzhak watched a gazelle and saw God in its motion. The animal does not walk a steady path; it springs from tree to tree, from fence to fence, appearing Pesikta RabbatiSing and Rejoice as the Shekhinah Returns to Dwell in ZionZion is told to sing because God is coming back to dwell in her midst, and the midrash immediately raises the wound that makes the promise necessary. When the SMidrash Tanchuma Buber, BeshalachThe Shekhinah Comes from Lebanon to Gather Exiled IsraelWhen Moses raised his voice in song at the sea, the Maggid teaches, his song reached far beyond that one morning of deliverance. Listen, and hear how the sages Midrash Tanchuma Buber, DevarimWhy God Reveals His Glory to Israel Little by LittleWhy does the verse cry out, "The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad"? To teach a secret about how the Holy One, blessed be He, comes near to Israel. Book of JudithJudith Slips Out of Camp to Pray at DawnBook of Judith turns to Judith Slips Out of Camp to Pray at Dawn. Holofernes, probably thinking this was just a harmless act of piety, instructs his guards not