[Avodah] Fables and Lies

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Chana Luntz wrote many deep and wise ideas, such as:
> I think it is more than poeticising.  Ten is a minyan.
> ...
> By having the ten martyrs be in the presence of the others, the
> author is turning this from a statement about some very virtuous
> individuals, to a statement about the actions of the best of the
> Jewish community. With the linkage made explicitly to that other
> minyan of the 10 brothers, via the shoe reference.
> ...
> Ayleh Ezkra is an answer to this.  An argument for the nobility
> of the suffering of the Jewish community; the divine involvement
> in that suffering; the acceptance of the divine will that is
> indeed manifest (the antithesis of rejection); the linkage back,
> not to any of the timescales of Xtianity, but to the original
> first community of Jews (the sons of Ya'akov) and errors that
> they may perhaps have made, with the divine commitment and
> involvement continuous since then on a unprecedented level,
> despite such errors. That this is a discussion about community,
> not about individuals.

I wish to publicly thank R"n CL, and several other posters, for opening my eyes to many sides of this piyut which had previously escaped me. I hope to learn more, and become more aware of them, in the future.

Akiva Miller