Earthquake

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1. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 5)

   Revelation in a "Small, Silent Voice" (Part 1)

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   The verse that precedes God’s revelation to Eliyahu might be viewed as part of God’s speech, or as part of the narrative. From the description of the revelation it would seem that the wind, the earthquake and the fire are not expressions of God's revelation. God controls them but is not identified with them. These verses emphasize the distinction between the destructive natural forces and God Himself.

2. Eliyahu in Horev (Part 5)

   Revelation in a "Small, Silent Voice" (Part 2)

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   According to the metaphoric explanation of God’s revelation to Eliyahu, the way to reach the nation is not through harsh measures but rather through soft ones. According to the literal understanding of God’s revelation, there are the forces of destruction that God unleashes in order to punish His creations but those are not expressions of God. Therefore, Eliyahu should be praying not for punishment but for mercy.

3. Prophet in Distress

   Rabbi Alex Israel

   Eliyahu had orchestrated a three-year drought that had brought the nation to its knees. This had culminated in the decisive religious contest at Mt. Carmel that had exposed the falsity of the Baal, bringing king and country to proclaim faith in God alone. It had been an excruciating process, with Eliyahu living in exile for three years. Indeed, he had succeeding in turning the king around. But now the entire project, this huge educational endeavor, lay shattered, in ruins. It was not Izevel's death threat alone. Izevel's confidence highlighted the understanding that she was in control, and that the transformation of national priorities would be a more arduous, complex, and protracted process. All of this leads to Eliyahu's feeling of dejection and his rejection of his role as a prophet. Unlike Moshe, he is unable to be zealous towards the sinner but to invoke God's mercy on the nation as a whole. 

4. The Best of Times: The Reigns of Yerovam ben Yoash and Uziya

   Rabbi Alex Israel

   The long and impressive reign of Yerovam ben Yoash sees the Northern Kingdom reaching the summit of its regional power and material prosperity. The prophet Amos who prophesies during this period, reveals a society of enormous wealth, complacency, and security and yet bearing startling inequalities of income, and outrageous exploitation of the poor by the rich.

   Uziya's long reign is filled with a long list of impressive accomplishments: Military conquests, extensive fortification of Jerusalem, development of agriculture and a cutting-edge military. However, his successes lead to arrogance and his eventual downfall, plagued till his death with Tzaraat. Yishayahu describes a society in Yehuda similar to what Amos described in the North.

   While Sefer Melakhim dwells almost exclusively on the issue of idolatry, Amos and Yishayahu highlight the sins of arrogance and social injustice. Amos warns of an earthquake which shakes the kingdom a mere two years after Amos begins his prophecy. And yet, even with a national disaster of this proportion, Israel and Yehuda fails to harness its peace and wealth towards kindness, justice, and communal support.

5. Amos 1-2 - Matan Al HaPerek

   Rabbi David Sabato

      Amos's prophecies emphasize the moral wrongs of the corrupt society in the Kingdom of Israel. He warns that the punishment for this terrible societal behavior will be the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel.  The first two chapters of Amos contain a structured list of prophecies of rebuke directed at various other nations: Damascus, Gaza, Edom, Ammon, Moav and Yehuda. Each "stanza" has a similar opening and refrain: "For three sins...and for four, I will not reverse it..." which then describes the fourth, most egregious sin, which God will not forgive. This litany of sins of the nations comes to a final crescendo with a prophecy of rebuke for the sins of the Kingdom of Israel. This prophetic rebuke, the longest and most detailed, is revealed to be the purpose and "punch-line" of the prophetic section beginning in Chapter 1.

   In the study guide you will find guided questions as well as a discussion of the text as well as an appendix about the earthquake.

6. Haftarat Sukkot - Earthquakes

   Rabbi David Silverberg