Thursday, October 24, 2013
Reflections on Sefer Ezra Perakim 1-2
In reflecting on Sefer Ezra, Perakim 1-2, how would you tell the story of Coresh's Declaration and its early implementation? Imagine that you are telling the story to an audience that knows nothing about this time period. How would you frame the story? How would you describe the achievements and the failures? Please write a paragraph that sums up Perakim 1-2. Include objective facts and your subjective interpretation of the whole endeavor.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In Perakim 1-2 of sefer Ezra, Coresh (cyrus) king of Persia made a declaration that let the Jews go back to Israel and build the second Beit HaMikdash. During this time, the Jews were in galut in Persia from the destruction of the First Beit HaMikdash. In Perek 1 of Ezra, it clearly states Coresh's physical declaration to let the Jews go back to build the Beit HaMikdash. It also mentions all of the Kelim that were taken out of the first Beit HaMikdash and were being returned for the building of the second. In Perek 2, there is a lineage mention to have a list of people who went back to compare to the list of people that were exiled. I think that Coresh was one of the nicest kings to the Jews in history because he let them do what was most important to them. If he hadn't made this declaration, I think that we would not have the state of Israel today.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn ספר עזרא, פרקים א-ב, King Koresh of Persia makes a decree allowing the Jews to go back to Israel (where they had lived previously before being exiled by the Babylonian king נבוכדנצר from about 597 BCE to about 582 BCE according to modern historians) and rebuild the בית המקדש, taking with them many small vessels that had been in the בית המקדש before נבוכדנצר removed them when he conquered it. It also talks about the people in the returning group.
ReplyDeleteThe mission to return and get other Jews to return was a failure in that only a few people went back and there was a lot of tension between the returnees and those who had remained in the land, but in my opinion, it was also a success, because people did go back, and the בית המקדש was eventually rebuilt, and though we've been kicked out and allowed back in many times throughout history, we can and do live in Israel now and flourish and thrive there.
Perakim 1 and 2 are very interesting and informative. The Jews where in bavel for a while already. Here they are finally starting to return to Israel. It starts of with the Koresh declaration who was a the king of Persia. He decreed that the Jews are allowed to go back to Israel and build the temple. He did not give them rights. He just allowed them to return and to build up the land. This was the first step of returning to Israel. They took the small kalim with them so they can place and use them in the new temple.
ReplyDeleteThey then went on to count and list the linage of everyone who was returning to Israel. 42,360 Jews returned. But they needed to be listed for multiple reasons. Like to make sure that a person was Jewish. To make them feel important and honor them for going back. To make sure that people have a place to live and what cities they should go to. It was a very important thing to do.
Yay! The Jews are returning to Israel.
In Sefer Ezra, King Coresh/Cyrus, makes a declaration allowing the Jews, who were in exile since the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, to return to Jerusalem in order to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash. Coresh claims that G-d chose him to help rebuild the Beit Hamikdash and allow the Jews to return in order to build their holy temple. Believe it or not, Coresh wasn't even Jewish. He was a powerful Persian king. According to the Cyrus Cylinder, an ancient clay cylinder from the beginning of Cyrus the Great’s reign found in 1878 in Southern Iraq, Cyrus/Coresh made the declaration to appease Marduk (idol) and does not even specifically mention the Jews.
ReplyDeleteAfter this declaration, about 42 thousand Jews returned from exile. The ones who did not return, remained in the Persian Empire and helped gather materials for the Beit Hamikdash. You'd think after all those years in exile and not being allowed to return to Israel or rebuild their Temple, they'd all want to return, but the first wave was only 42,360, led by Zerubavel. Every returnee is written out in the pesukim though, along with their genealogy. There are many reasons why this might be the case, but I think that the pesukim do this to recognize the heroics of these returnees who were pioneers and took advantage of the declaration. The returning group also brought back minor vessels that had been taken out by the Babylonians.
Was this a success or failure? Yes, it would have been nice if all of the Jews would have returned right when they were allowed to. And yes, it would have been better if they had had more vessels to return with, but in the end, the outcome was successful. Jews were able to return to the land, and although the Persians were still in control and the Jews did not have sovereignty, we eventually did take back the land and we did get to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash. I consider that a pretty good outcome.
In Perakim 1-2 of Sefer Ezra, Coresh the king of Persia made a benevolent declaration that allowed the Jews to go back to Israel in order to rebuild the 2nd Beit Hamikdash. During this time the Jews are located in Bavel, they have been here since the destruction of the First Temple. Now, Cyrus decides to make a declaration because he thinks the prophecy from Jeremiah (that the Jews will return to Israel after 70 years) has come true and he kindly allows them to return to Israel in order to rebuild the Temple and he allows them to take vessels back with them. We see all this in Perek Alef. Perek Alef also tells us that only the leaders went back and this shows us that many people were comfortable staying in Bavel. Non-Jews also helped in the return by carrying vessels. Sheshbazzar, the leader of the first return, was given many vessels to return - but none of them were major vessels. In Perek 2 it shows how many people went back: 42,360; and lists genealogy of those who returned.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this was a very kind gesture from King Cyrus, it was pretty disappointing, for many reasons. First of all, even if people were comfortable in Bavel, shouldn't they have wanted to go back to Israel and rebuild the temple more than anything else? Also, they didn't really get any major vessels back - just minor ones. It's pretty disappointing to look at nowadays when we see that in a time that they were allowed to go back and rebuild the temple they didn't.. nowadays what would our motivation be?
Our story begins 70 years after the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash by the Babylonians. After the fall of the Babylonian Empire to the rising Persian Empire, Cyrus/Coresh issued a revolutionary declaration. In Ezra 1, Ezra writes that Coresh, the leader of the Persian empire, granted the Jews permission to return to the land of Israel, rebuild the Beit Hamikdash, and take the holy vessels (Kelim) with them. Immediately following this declaration, 42,360 Jews began returning to Israel in waves. These people included the leadership class of the Jewish people (descendants of David, Levites, Kohanim); they were among the first to return to Israel because they wanted to reestablish a Jewish society in their homeland. Ezra puts a special emphasis on the lineage of these people to ensure that the world (and future generations of Jews) knows that all of the returnees were Jewish so that there would be no confusion about who exactly returned to where. This incredible declaration came as a huge relief to many Jews in exile but was ignored by others. We don’t know exactly how many Jews there were at the time or what percentage of Jews returned to the land, but it seems like many Jews stayed in Persia. Even so, both Jewish leaders and commoners returned to the land! These people are the heroes of this story: they left their comfortable lives in Persia to rebuild their ancestral homeland in Israel. This opportunity, given to the Jews by Cyrus, began a tradition of return that has continued throughout the ages. Today’s State of Israel is a direct result of this tradition of return and the unbreakable bond between the Jews and the land that G-d gave our forefathers.
ReplyDeleteIn the first 2 chapters of the book of Ezra, King Koresh allows the Jews to return to their land, rebuild the Beit Hamikdash, and take the holy vessels with them. In order to understand this decree, first we must backtrack in time. The Jews had been exiled after the destruction of the first Beit Hamikdash by the Babylonians, and most Jews had been taken to Babylon. The holy vessels, the Kelim, also mysteriously dissapeared. Certain ones somehow made it to Babylon, and were possibly used for various things by the leaders there. Now, skip ahead many years. King Koresh, who is now in charge of the Babylonian empire, decides to do something none of his predecessors even thought of- he decided to allow the Jews to return to their holy land, rebuild their Beit Hamikdash, and take the Kelim with them. Now, this magnificent decree was not met with as much enthusiasm as expected; only a relatively small amount of Jews left to return back to their holy land.This could be seen as a failure on the part of the Jews- why didn't more of them take advantage of this opportunity and return? Why couldn't they get others to come with them? However, this can also be seen as successful because the Jews were still allowed to go back, and they did slowly start the rebuilding process. I think that this meager return effort is indeed a small victory and shouldn't be viewed as a failure because the Jews did, in fact go back to their land with the Kelim and were able to start rebuilding their lives there.
ReplyDeleteDear Person,
ReplyDeleteSomebody told me you wanted to know about the Coresh Declaration. Let me try to explain.
Cyrus, or Coresh, was King of Persia beginning around 530BCE. He was conqueror of the mighty Babylonian Empire. What is the first thing this guy does when he 'comes into office'? According to Ezra Perek 1:1, in the first year of Cyrus' reign he issued the Coresh Declaration. He was compelled by a spirit of God (Ezra says it was Hashem, our Jewish God, but the Cyrus cylinder says it was Marduk) to write this generous declaration. This declaration made for the accomplishment of the Jeremiah's prophecy that said the Jews would return in 70 years.
Some context: the Jews have been living in exile for quite some time. They were doing pretty well, actually: making money and getting integrated into society. But they were not without their troubles. Living in exile meant making a lot of sacrifices for the Jews religiously and spiritually. Whether it was changing their names or living without a constant presence of Holiness, living in exile was not great for Jews spiritually.
This is why the Cyrus Declaration was everything the Jews could have wanted. Not only did he give the Jews permission to return to the land and rebuild the Temple, but he also gave the Jewish leaders old vessels from the First Temple to be brought for the new one. This sounds awesome, right? The Jews were in exile for so long! They need to get back to Israel at the first possible chance so they can rebuild the Temple!
Ezra 1:5-11 says that only the leaders went back. Isn't this shocking? Or is it? It appears as though the Jews were generally comfortable in Babylon. The next perek lists the genealogy of the Joe Jews who took the call of Cyrus and decided to return to build the Second Temple. There were 42,360 Jews who went.
You tell me- is 42,360 a significant number of people? I don't think so. I am a little disappointed in the numbers. Cyrus was spoon-feeding them freedom and redemption, and more Jews were not taking the call. This isn't even the 'man initiated' vs 'god initiated' argument- the Jews were just comfortable in Persia and didn't want to leave. This was only 70 years into exile. This does not prove to be promising for the Jews these days..
This story begins with Coresh declaring that Jews can return back to their land, Israel, and rebuild the Beit Hamikdash from the request of G-d. The Jews, in Perek 1, were stuck in Galut in Persia. They had no where to go. They had been in Galut for a while, switching cities. Finally, here comes a king to let them go back to Israel to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash. They bring back the Kelim from the Beit. In Perek 2, it begins to track the return to Israel. It lists all the people that are going into the land.
ReplyDeleteI think that what Coresh allowed the Jews to do was something that showed what a truly good leader really is. You have boundaries, but you give freedom. I think we, as Jews, can all look back on Coresh and learn something from him and really respect him for what he did for our nation.