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</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Rescue the poor and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked</b></i></span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In this verse, the psalmist continues to call on God to deliver those who are oppressed and in need. Strong's Biblical concordance translates the root </span><span style="font-size: large;">of the first verb used פלט </span><span style="font-size: large;">as "rescue." The second verb, הציל, is translated as deliver.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Rescue is a verb that is often associated with human action. However, deliverance is usually associated with the Divine.</span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">This then</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"> points to the Divine-human partnership that enables those who are poor and needy to become free. This refers not only to the poor and needy in the world, which we must all work to free from oppression, but to the poor and needy parts of ourselves. </span><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">With the help of the Divine energy that flows through us, we can release and redeem those parts of us that feel poor and needy. We can release the negative images of ourselves and the negative messages that we have perhaps received from others and assimilated within us. But we cannot do this without the help of a Higher Power, however we choose to define that. But our Higher Power also cannot act unless we also let Her/Him/It/They into our lives. </span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">We must work to bring about the rescue and the deliverance of all those parts of ourselves that keep us from seeing who we truly are and also keep us separated from God and others.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">In the verse we also find the word מיד, literally "from the hand". And so the translation reads "from the hand of the wicked." I read this as meaning from the hand of the forces within each of us that seek to oppress and separate </span><span style="font-size: large;">us</span><span style="font-size: large;">. The forces of "evil" are not just out there, they are within us as well. And they grab a hold of our soul and try to keep us from living. This is the job of the ego, of our "evil impulses" (to use a traditional rabbinic phrase) that wants us to only worry about ourselves and to ignore the rest of the world and God.</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">So we must work together with our Higher Power to be released from the grasp of the ego. But מיד can also mean "suddenly", especially in modern Hebrew. And so we must do the work that we need to do now, suddenly, in every moment. It is an ongoing process in which we must participate whenever we feel the forces of oppression trying to take root within. That is how we can free ourselves. For only by remaining free ourselves can we work with all our heart and soul to free all the others who are needy and oppressed in our world.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;" /></span><div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />
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Posted By Rabbi Steven Nathan to <a href="http://mindfultorah.blogspot.com/2010/05/psalm-for-tuesday-psalm-82-verse-4.html">Mindful Torah</a> at 5/11/2010 05:47:00 PM