Commentaire de citation sur Joël 2:13

The elder among them says in front of them words of admonition, “Brothers, it does not say of the people of Nineveh, ‘And God saw their sackcloth and their fasting,’ but, ‘And God saw their deeds, for they turned from their evil way. (Jonah 3:10)’ And in the prophets it says, ‘And rend your heart and not your garments” (Joel 2:13). The elder among the people now reminds them that the external motions are meant to invoke inner teshuvah, repentance. When God sees that Nineveh has repented, He says that He has seen their deeds and not that He has seen their external signs. Similarly, Joel tells the people that they should rend their hearts, meaning tear their hearts so that they repent, and not merely their external garments. Note that the mishnah emphasizes this message at the very point at which they are describing the intricate ritual of the Taanit. It is as if they wish to warn us of the danger of slipping into “ritualism” a fixation on the external at the expense of the more important internal.

und in einer Strafrede heisst es. Joël 2, 13. Das Wort קבל bat in der Mischna (z. B. Jadajim IV 6—8) ebenso wie im Aramäischen die Bedeutung des Vorwurfs, der Anklage. Daher werden die Strafreden der Propheten und in erweiterter Anwendung ihre Schriften überhaupt als דברי קבלה (Worte der Anklage) bezeichnet. Das Buch Jona, dem der zuerst angeführte Satz entnommen ist, gehört zwar ebenfalls zu den Prophetenschriften, scheint aber nicht in dem Begriff der דברי קבלה eingeschlossen zu sein, vermutlich weil seine Strafrede nicht gegen Israel gerichtet war.

But, hearken now... The prophet who would prophesy for peace. He said: I prophesy retribution. If it does not come, I am not a liar, for the Holy One, blessed be He, renounces the evil, but the prophet who prophesies for peace, etc., when the word of the prophet comes, etc., but if his word does not come, he is a liar, as it is said, “God is not a man that He should lie, etc.” (Num. 23:19). In this manner Rabbi Tanhuma (Vayera 13) expounded.