Elisha's Miracles
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Tazria - Metzora
Haftarot: Tazria - Metzora
Rabbi Mosheh LichtensteinFour stories about lepers appear in the books of the prophets. Three of the stories relate to Elisha (Na'aman, Gehazi, the Four Lepers). Why is Elisha the only prophet who meets with lepers and is involved with leprosy? What is the connections between leprosy and the war with Aram?
Healing, Death and Immortality
Rabbi Alex IsraelElisha heals the water of Jericho after crossing the Jordan, reminscent of the healing of the waters of Mara after the splitting of the Red Sea. Elisha's first act - healing the water - sharply contrasts Eliyahu's first act of decreeing a draught. Elisha's harsh reaction to the youth who taunted him reflects the message that was said to Elisha regarding his master Eliyahu. The question of Eliyahu's immortatlity is evaluated within the corpus of Tanakh and in the sources of the Sages.
Elisha – Prophet of Miracles
Rabbi Alex IsraelElisha is constantly performing miracles. His miracles span from practical assistance to individuals or small groups, to operating at the national level, alongside kings and armies. The miracle with the widow and the oil - whose children are on the verge of being sold into slavery - is reminiscent of and sharply contrasted to Eliyahu's miracle with the widow in Zarfat. Eliyahu and Elisha may differ in educational philosophy: What is the more effective educational method: the stick or the carrot, confrontation or encouragement? The difference between the two might be a function of the times in which they live and serve. In Eliyahu's period, under the reign of Ahav, Israel enjoy economic prosperity, wielding international power. Elisha's era, in contrast, is characterized by Aram's devastating oppression of the Northern kingdom. When the nation is under siege, what is required is support, inspiration and encouragement.
Curing Na’aman
Rabbi Alex IsraelThe themes of the story of Naaman are: power and subservience, pride and humility, authority and submission. Ironically it is from the character of the lowest rank, the Israelite maid, that Na’aman's salvation shall emerge. At the outset we are struck by the enormous contrast between the "young girl – na’ara ketana" and Na’aman, the "great man – ish gadol"; the simple powerless slave child shall save the powerful general. This inversion of the power structure, whereby the lowest figure provides the key to salvation for her superior, undercuts the aforementioned hierarchy. It is not the grand ceremonies and gestures, but the contrite heart that God sees; not opportunistic manipulation, but pure straightforward honesty and humility that stand before God.
A Floating Axe Head and a Blind Army
Rabbi Alex IsraelWhy do the Bnei Ha'Nevi'im seak a new place to live? Could it be that the departure of Geihazi with the problems associated with him open the doors to new students to join Elisha?
Wars are characterized by aggression and domination. The king of Aram sought to use his superior firepower to bludgeon Elisha into submission. In contrast, Elisha's way is not the path of confrontation, but rather the provision of food and drink, hospitality, kindness, and humanity. Ultimately, this makes a deeper impression than war.
Chronology, Structure, and Two Judean Kings
Rabbi Alex IsraelIn many of the Elisha stories the king in the story is not identified. While many assume that the anonymous king is Yehoram, Ahav's son, because of the sequence of the chapters, the good relationship between Elisha and the king in some of the stories and the ease in which Aram lays seige to Shomron indicate that the kings in the story belong to Yehu's dynasty. Two possible explanations are offered as to the non-chronological order of the Elisha's stories.
Yehoram, King of Yehuda, strays from the path of Yehoshafat his father and adopts the path of the House of Ahav, of which his wife Atalya is a daughter. Besides the spiritual turmoil that his rule brings, Yehoram murders all of his brothers who he views as a threat to his rule and loses control over areas that have been under the rule of Yehuda since David's reign. How does Eliyahu send Yehoram a castigating letter long after his disappearance?
The Fall and Rise of Yisrael
Rabbi Alex IsraelDuring Yehu's reign Aram, headed by Hazael occupy the Eastern bank of the Jordan. In Yehoahaz's time the situation becomes direr as Aram imposes a full demilitarization of Israel. The turnaround begins in the days of Yoash who receives a deathbed prophecy from Elisha of a victory over Aram and peaks in the time of Yerovam ben Yoash who receives a prophecy from Yona ben Amitai and restores the Northern border to a magnitude previously witnessed only during the days of David and Shlomo. While historians describe the decline of Aram due to the rise of Assyria, the book of Kings describes a divine process which is surprisingly almost entirely devoid of any repentance.
Does the outcome of the prophetic action that Elisha preforms with Yoash on his deathbed actually have an impact on the outcome in reality?
Is the resurrection from death of the man who came in contact with Elisha's buried bones just another miracle of Elisha or does it symbolize a national resurrection?
Naaman: Humility and Hubris
A Close Reading of II Kings Chapter 5
Rabbi Alex Israelתאריך פרסום: תשע"ד | |
This shiur focuses on the story of Naaman, the army general of the king of Aram during the days of the prophet Elisha. Our analysis of the long narrative about Naaman brings us to a new understanding of the story. As well as a message about the power of Kiddush HaShem (Sanctifying the name of God) which jumps out after a first glance, we find a study of hierarchy, social ranking, and the layers and levels of authority. How do we negotiate the architecture of society within the limitations of our position within it?
Espionage in the House of Ahab
Rabbi Dr. Aharon Adlerתאריך פרסום: תשע"ד | |
Beginning with the “oil miracle” for the wife of one of the “Bnei ha-Neviim” in the stories of Elisha the prophet, we ask a number of questions that lead us to the individual Ovadya mentioned in the stories of Eliyahu. Who is Ovadya? Ovadya is a senior official of Ahab, but he also secretly hides and sustains hundreds of prophets-in-training. How did he come to be so trusted by King Ahab, whose fault it was that the prophets feared for their lives? Classic commentators assist us in painting a portrait of Ovadya, who becomes the insider agent who connects the dots between seemingly unrelated stories, personalities and events.
Menorah and Oil Miracles in Tanakh
Elisheva BraunerIzebel, Israel, and Jezre'el: What's Going On?
Rabbi Menachem Leibtag | Hour and 10 minutesThis shiur examines the state of the nation of Israel under several kings, taking into account superpowers and prophets at each stage. Through a close reading of the text, we explore the causes for success of such kings as Ahab, who doesn't follow the word of God and yet is immensely successful economically and militarily. Furthermore, we examine the three missions Eliyahu is charged with before his retirement, and understand that only after the fulfillment of these three missions would the nation rid themselves of Izebel.
Eliyahu's Journey and Elisha's Plowing
Rabbi David SilverbergA Miracle Within a Miracle
Rabbanit Dr. Michal Tikochinsky