Haftorah Chazon - Nahamu

Whenever I leave Dr. Shkop’s class, I have a heart-gripping feeling that what I have just learned were likely the most important things I ever learned in my life.  This is a place to check my usual sense of humor at the door, because this is what truly matters. 

This session contains commentaries on the ending of Haftorah for Shabbat Hazon and beginning of Shabbat Nahamu.  The latter has some important points on the nature of suffering, punishment, possibility of consolation after catastrophe, aftermath of the Holocaust, return and redemption. 

Dr. Esther Shkop

Session #4 10/30/2012

Haftorah Devarim, Shabbat Hazon, Isaiah chapter 1 - continued

 

Isaiah 1:21 How the faithful city has become a harlot! She had been full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers! - eicha  haita l’zona kiriya neemana meleyati mishpat tzedek yalin ba v’ata m’ratzhim

 

We continue the theme of the last session on Haftorah Devarim, Shabbat Hazon, finishing Isaiah chapter 1.  The key word in Lamentations and in the Haftorah is eichah, like a deep sigh.  In English most question words begin with ‘W’ – what, where, when.  In the questions it make no difference what language you speak – it is where you raise your voice – all western languages have a sigh like sound that starts the question word.  It is universal that we express dismay and happiness with a deep breath.  The opening words with the sound ‘ei’  - aiey in ‘where is Avel your brother?’, same calling Adam aiechah ‘where are you?’

Po means here, Eifo means where, adding ‘ei’ turns a noun into a question.

If ‘ei’ stands alone it is a universal question, with no end, could be any question.

eichah – how could it happen, who let this happen, why did it happen – all these questions together.  This means that when the life experience was so baffling, so unexpected, that’s when you ask this question.  Ko means happening.  What was the purpose of all this, how can I make sense out of life after this happened? 

How did she become a harlot?  A devoted, dedicated city, filled with justice, righteousness slept there, and now murderers.  This did not happen in Isaiah’s life time, it happened 150 years later as he predicted.

Dr. Shkop saw a series of photos of Jewish Warsaw before the war, vibrant city, many Jews, in traditional attire, black hats.  And then they show the bombed city.  In between they show the words on the screen eicha  haita l’zona  then picture of a woman in her underwear besieging a Nazi solder, the women was Jewish from the Ghetto, selling herself for bread. Nazis also staged photos of well-dressed Jews walking by the dead on the street.  People lost their humanity, lost themselves to survive.

 

There is an artful juxtaposition of key words in 1:21 - 23, after eichah:

1:21 zona – kiriah neemana; mishpat, tzedek – meratzhim

Next line 1:22: kaspeh (silver) – sigim (dross), saveh (heady wine) – mayim (water);

Then 1:23 soririm (rebels) v’ganavim (and thieves);

nothing for yatom (orphans) and almanah (widows).

 

1:24 Lachen (therefore) – neum Hashem – avir Israel (the knight of Israel)

I shall will find comfort in My adversaries, take vengeance from My enemies. 

1:25 ashiva yadi – I will return my hand on you, ironic term to mean return my hand on you and will clean like borax sigayich (dross), and remove all tin (mixed in silver).  Here he speaks of punishment not for vengeance but for cleansing, to remove the dross and uncover the truth, the real personality without sarcasm and frivolity, the pure soul.

1:26 v’ashiva  - and I will return shoftayich – your judges, who did not do what they were supposed to, then after you shall again be called the city of justice, kiriya neemanah.

1:27 Zion b’mishpat tifadeh – will be redeemed by following law – and her captives will be brought back by virtue of tzedakah, righteousness. 

The words in 1:24-26 are going in the opposite order from 1:21-23: what was written first, now comes last – and in between is the word lachen, mirror image, repeated work return, what was supposed to be. 

In many places there are structures of this kind, if you hold the mirror – the future will be flipping to what is currently, it will completely flip around – the form enhances lyrics. 

This was clearly written – does the ear do the same as eye – yes, when you use the same term, return and coming again.  Isaiah is the ultimate preacher.  Also Shakespeare, uses the same technique, Mark Antony’s speech.  The theme begins, then wraps up at the end.  Also used in good music, same features – called rhetorical device.

 

Shabbat Nachamu - Isaiah chapter 40

40:1 Comfort, comfort my nation – so will say your God. 

This is a message in a bottle for the future.  To whom will he say this – the future tense indicates a Prophesy for the future, something that won’t happen in Isaiah’s lifetime or near future, only much later.  Who should comfort His people?  Does this mean that in future there will be prophets? Will there be a renewal of prophesy?  The prophesy ended at the time of the Bible.  This could be addressed to the leaders of Jewish people – comfort them, don’t admonish, tell them that things will get better, that you’ve been through the worst.  An author of the ancient books Shlomo ben Yitzchak Marini, much quoted by Radak, wrote that the words of Nahamu are a message in the bottle for all the goyim – you raised all hell, you allowed all kinds of horrible things to happen to My people, now you have to comfort them.  Rishonim say it is repeated twice because two Temples were destroyed.

Mothers repeat things many times for young children to get it, leziruth, come on, come on, get it moving.

The same Isaiah tells us in the previous chapter - the good things will come in its time, and I’ll rush it.  It will come sooner if we deserve it.  But if it won’t come because we deserve it, it will come anyway, in the year 6000.  It will come.  Comfort them if it comes sooner, and if it comes later.  The word nahamu, comfort, is repeated twice - the first comfort is not ‘my people’, it is Israel in galus, we know that we are not safe, the world is starting to percolate like in the 1930’s.  It is not merely Israel that is exiled – it is G-d, the shechinah, who is also in exile, who does not have a place in this world – G-d is suffering to see what we do, to see humanity living by its worst instincts.  These are G-d’s children, how does He feel to see all this done in His name.

This is the Prophesy:

40:2 dabru al lev Yerushalayim – speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her period of exile has been completed, that her iniquity has been forgiven; for she had received double for all her sins from the hand of Hashem.

What does it mean – ledaber lalev, speak to the heart?  Do you know how much this means?

Megilat Ruth, Chapter 2. 

Ruth the Moabite, came to Israel with her mother-in-law Naomi, widowed and impoverished.  She was gleaning all day in the heat in the field of Boaz, relative of Naomi, ‘a man of substance’.  Boaz came upon seeing her, asked who she was, and heard that she was with Naomi, so poor that she came to ‘glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ 

Ruth 2:8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, “Hear me well, my daughter.  Do not go to glean in another field and don’t leave here, but stay close to my maidens. 2:9… I have ordered the servants not to molest you.  Should you become thirsty, go to the jugs and drink from that which the servants have drawn

Ruth 2:10 Then she fell on her face, bowing down to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes that you should take special note of me though I am a foreigner?

2:11 Boaz replied and said to her, “I have been fully informed of all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband – how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and went to a people you had not known yesterday or earlier.  2:12 May Hashem reward your deed, and may your payment be full from Hashem, the God of Israel, under Whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”

2:12 “… nichamtani you have comforted me v’dibarta al lev shiftateha you have spoken to the heart of your maidservant– as if you were reading my heart.

How to comfort:

If you touch the mourner, and say ‘I imagine how lonely you feel’, how do you know that you have really hit the nerve. You say to a patient ‘it must be so uncomfortable’, ‘it must hurt so much’ – as if you were reading their heart – you comfort by affirming their feelings, not denying them.  Announce that she has paid up her time, she has paid back, atoned for her sin. She took from the hand of God double for all of her sins.

There is a theological problem with the phrase ‘when you comfort the people of Israel’.  There is a challenge to comfort those who lived during the time period between 1939 and 1945.  You have to speak for their feelings, even if they can’t say it.  Tell her that she paid up, that she paid double for what she deserved.

Its double for galut Bavel and for galut romi – roman exile that we are in now.  We suffered double more than other nations.  Abarbanel wrote that we got double suffering for what we deserved – eichah – how could this happen – how did 2 million children deserve to die in the gas chambers.  Some say that we suffered double – for our sins and for our forefathers. 

But Ezekiel says otherwise.  Malbim interprets that it is what you are supposed to say to those who suffer - people tend to think that they got double than what they deserved, and you should say it to affirm their sufferings, to bespeak their feelings.  It’s not the truth, but this is how they feel – acknowledge this instead of arguing, so they can start to rebuild.

This is not what we write in books.  Dr. Shkop heard from Rudolf Tessler what he saw in Bergen Belzen – this was removed from the Klausenberger Rebbe's biography.  They were on the death march to Bergen Belzen – this was summer 1945 the war was already over but the Nazi were still in control of the camps.  Throughout the war the Klausenberger Rebbe always encouraged people to keep their humanity.  At the risk of his life he kept a kittel, it was his legacy, somehow by miracle he preserve it from all the searches, he felt that it protected him, always kept it around him.

On the first Yom Kippur after the camp was liberated, on the Kol Nidre night, people were waited for the rebbe, the Kol Nidre should have started before sunset, and they were still waiting.  Finally he came shaking, dressed in kittel, and with the thousands of survivors behind him, he tore his kittel, that he kept at such danger all this time. 

He took it off and threw it down, saying – I cannot daven, we need no atonement, we atoned for everything – and he walked out.  That is critical in the mentality of survivors – 'we need no atonement'.  When you acknowledge this, when you say ‘you received double more than you deserved’ – that’s how you speak to her heart. 

 

The anger itself needs to be acknowledged.  Dr. Shkop’s daughter is a Holocaust educator, her husband’s grandmother survived Aushwitz.  She was a Beis Yakov girl, stayed very strong, did not eat on Yom Kippur, did not eat bread on Passover, refused to eat any treif meat. She was convinced that if did all that they and family will survive.  When they came out and saw that everyone was dead, Sonya was so furious, that she grabbed her sister, went to a fancy restaurant and ordered and stuffed herself with every treyf thing that was there.

Then one of the townspeople walked by and recognized them, asked are not you so-and-so, she replied so what, is that what your grandparents died for, she felt sick to her stomach, that means that Nazis won, and that was the last time they trespassed.

 

Abarbanel – tell her that she had double, that her suffering was intentional and from the hand of God, and His love is great – say this to appease her.  There is nothing worse than making light of their pain, on the contrary tell them they got double.

Book of Job – his friends say that he deserved it.  Affirm the reality, later on they’ll see the bigger picture.  At the end of Job’s life he gets everything back. 

Isaiah 40:3 Kol koreh bamidbar – voice cries out, in the wilderness, clear the way of Hashem, yashru bearavah mesilah - make a straight path in the desert, a road for our God.

Famous line, often misunderstood.  A voice cries out: in the desert pave a road for G-d, in the desert clear the road.  aravah is also a desert, but a different kind of desert, a plain – straighten, pave out a pathway for our G-d.

In the desert there are winds and sand that cover the old pathways, we only need to clear debris to find them.  In the wilderness, aravah, there are no pathways – dry areas of galut, places without Torah, without knowledge of God.  In some places people forgot Torah, there was some knowledge before, other places had nothing to begin with.

40:4 Every valley will be raised, and every mountain and hill will be lowered; the crooked will become straight, and heights will become valley.  40:5 v’nigla k’vod Hashem - The glory of Hashem will be revealed, and all flesh together will see that the mouth of Hashem has spoken.

Places that are crooked and twisted will be straighten. In places that have no God the humanity will become equal in the eyes of God – then the glory of God will be revealed, His essence will be revealed to all – all flesh will see what we saw on mount Sinai, everyone will be a prophet, Jew and gentile, old and young, and they will all know that the mouth of God has spoken. 

 

40:6 kol omer kra v’amar ma ekra? A voice says, ‘Proclaim!’ and [the prophet] asks, ‘What shall I proclaim?’ – All flesh is like grass, and all its chesed (loving-kindness) like a blossom in the field. 40:7 Grass withers and blossom fades when the breath of Hashem blows upon it; indeed the people are grass. 40:8 Grass withers and blossom fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever.

A voice says – call out – what should I call out? 

Rashi: the voice of God calls out – “all flesh is grass, and all man’s love is like a blossom in the field” – the grass dries up, the blossom wilts, because the spirit of God blew on it.  Indeed the nation is mere grass, the grass dries up, the blossom wilts, and the word of God remains forever.”  What is the difference between grass and blossom – blossom has a seed – when the rain comes the blossom will grow again, but the grass will be gone forever.  hatzir is really hay, means the top part that has seeds has been taken away.  What part of us survives – the chesed - the good we do, the loving-kindness.  

Rosh Hashanah liturgy – what is man, what is our kindness…

If God made you a promise, if you don’t see it, your children will.

40:9 Ascend upon a high mountain, O herald of Zion; raise your voice with strength, O herald of Jerusalem! Raise it, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold, your God!’ Go up to the tall mountain, messengers of Zion, there is a place called Mevatzeret

Jerusalem is surrounded by hills – women would go up to the hill and holler messages between the hills.  Raise your voice, don’t be afraid, tell the cities of Judah – here comes your G-d, behold Him, in full strength, his arm reigns. 

40:10 Behold, my Lord, Hashem / Elohim, will come with a strong [arm], and His arm will dominate for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His wage is before Him.  40:11 He is like a shepherd who grazes his flock, who gathers the lambs in his arm, who carries them in his bosom, who guides the nursing ewes.

As He approaches closer, the image of the Man of war, His reward is with Him, and recompense is walking before Him.  God is described here as bringing reward – for what – for his loyal servants, solders?  - for all the suffering, for all they went through.  Suddenly the powerful image shifts – it seems like a shepherd herding his flock, he gathers the little lambs that are too week to walk, he leads the newborn sheep.  Is God a man of war, or is he a nurturer, a shepherd?

What’s the reward for all the years of exile, persecution – he is bringing little babies, to the cities of Judeah, Zion, Yerushalayim – the babies were the first to die in the cities besieged – and now the children are coming back from galut, that were dispersed all over the world – the image comes closer, the reward that he is carrying are the babies – like a shepherd that counts his sheep, each one is accounted for, none is lost. 

It is an epic poem, the image of comfort are the children.  Which voice called out ‘and what shall I call’ is for all of us.  What do we tell to Zion – men are mortal, but the word of God is eternal. 

40:12 mi madad be’shaalo - Who measured the waters in His palm, gauged the Heavens with a span, measured in a huge vessel the dust of the earth, and weighted mountains with a scale and hills with a balance?

Afshal – footstep – we don’t give back even a footstep of land – right wing movement in Israel.  Measurement – 12” is a measure of a man’s foot.  The most primitive means of measurement – to measure the dust of the earth – weighed the mountains by the level.  A piece of glass inside and a level inside the glass. 

40:13 Who can appraise the spirit of Hashem, His man of counsel who informs Him?  40:14 From whom did He seek counsel? Who gave Him insight? Who taught Him about the paths of justice? Who taught Him wisdom? Who explained the way of knowledge to Him? 40:15 Behold, all the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are reckoned like the dust rubbing of a scale; behold, He will cast away the islands like dust. 40:16 The Lebanon is insufficient kindling, and its beasts are insufficient elevation-offerings. 

40:17 All the nations are like nothing before Him; as nothingness and emptiness are they reckoned by Him.

Who can hold the wind of God and that force, and who is the man who can give him advice and tell him what to do.  And who taught Him the knowledge…?  Rhetorical questions – no one – all nations are like the bitterness at the bottom of the bucket.  Those drops leach the metal – the goyim are just like that bitter water – and like that bit of dust left on the scale.  The islands are like nothing that can be blown away.  And Lebanon is not enough kindle wood, and all animals in forest are not enough for burnt offering.

 

What is the point of all these questions?  Why is this an important message for the future? 

Discussion for the next session - the Haftorah goes through 40:26