{"id":22109,"date":"2016-07-06T13:05:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-06T20:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/?p=22109"},"modified":"2016-07-02T18:33:30","modified_gmt":"2016-07-03T01:33:30","slug":"torah-god-deal-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/2016\/07\/06\/torah-god-deal-maker\/","title":{"rendered":"God the Deal Maker"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CoreyThe Talmud tells a story: the reason God covenanted with the Jews was that they were the only ones who were willing to take the deal.<\/p>\n

According to a commentary on Deuteronomy, “When God revealed Himself to give the Torah to Israel, He revealed Himself not only to Israel but to all the nations.” First God goes to the children of Esau, asking them if they will accept the Torah. They ask him what it contains, God says, “Though shalt not murder,” they say, no thanks.<\/p>\n

God goes to the Ammonites and Moabites. Same response, only for them the prohibition against adultery is the deal-breaker. He goes to the Ishmaelites, to all the peoples of the earth. Each time, they turn him down. They can’t accept some portion of the Torah’s instructions and injunctions.<\/p>\n

Then God comes to the Jews. They don’t ask questions. They simply “accepted the Torah, with all of its explanations and details.” So God “surrendered them [the Torah and all of its details] to Israel.”<\/p>\n

You almost get a sense, reading the midrash, of God’s weariness. The Jews aren’t his first choice, but they’ll take the deal. God’s exhausted, history is made.<\/em><\/p>\n

—Corey Robin
\nFrom the Talmud to Judith Butler<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m not quite sure where I got this image of Corey Robin. I do know it comes from a much larger image<\/a>. I’m licensing it under Fair Use.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Talmud tells a story: the reason God covenanted with the Jews was that they were the only ones who were willing to take the deal. According to a commentary on Deuteronomy, “When God revealed Himself to give the Torah … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fun","category-quotations","category-spiritual"],"yoast_head":"\nTorah Shows: God the Deal Maker - Jews Weren't His First Choice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An amusing quote from Corey Robin about how God in the Torah makes a covenant with the Jews, only after many other people turn him down.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/2016\/07\/06\/torah-god-deal-maker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Torah Shows: God the Deal Maker - Jews Weren't His First Choice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An amusing quote from Corey Robin about how God in the Torah makes a covenant with the Jews, only after many other people turn him down.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/franklycurious.com\/wp\/2016\/07\/06\/torah-god-deal-maker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frankly Curious\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-06T20:05:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/franklycurious.com\/media\/1\/20131212-coreyrobin.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frank Moraes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CuriousFrankly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CuriousFrankly\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frank Moraes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/wp\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/torah-god-deal-maker\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/wp\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/torah-god-deal-maker\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Frank Moraes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/wp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83eb03e32b580db461fb15e1ba4bc026\"},\"headline\":\"God the Deal Maker\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-06T20:05:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/wp\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/torah-god-deal-maker\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":246,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/wp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83eb03e32b580db461fb15e1ba4bc026\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/wp\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/06\\\/torah-god-deal-maker\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/franklycurious.com\\\/media\\\/1\\\/20131212-coreyrobin.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Fun? 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