Torah reading is Re’eh (Deuteronomy 11:26-16:17); Haftorah reading is Isaiah 54:11-55:5
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — These simplistic short poetic passages extracted from Isaiah II (c. 538-530 BCE) comprise the third haftorah of consolation, leading up to the Sabbath before Yom Kippur. It has no connection to the corresponding Torah parsha.
The rhetoric is of hyperbolic promises of a rich nation the people will rebuild in Judea, with God’s backing. The text brags of God’s help — if the (alleged) “uncomfortable” exiled people in Babylon, now Persia, observe Him. Their renewed land will be prosperous. They have only to return, and to hinnei (behold) faith. [1]
Here are excerpts, from the translation/interpretations of Robert Alter: [2]
Afflicted, storm-tossed woman, uncomforted,
I am about to lay your stones with turquoise.
And I will set your foundations with sapphires
and make your battlements rubies
and your gates of beryl
and all your walls of precious stones… [3]
In righteousness shall you be firm-founded.
Keep far from oppression that you need not fear
and from terror that it not draw near you.
Why, none shall strike fear if it is not from Me,
who would strike fear in you, before you shall fail.
Why, it is I Who created the smith,
who fans the charcoal fire
and makes the weapons for his deeds—
but it is I Who created the Destroyer to wreak havoc.
Any weapon fashioned against you shall fail,
any tongue that contends with you in court you shall show wrong…[4]
Go and buy food without silver
and at no cost, wine and milk…
Listen well to Me and eat goodly things,
and you shall enjoy lavish fare.
Bend your ear and come to Me,
listen and be revived,…
Now comes the necessary upbeat haftorah ending:
and I will make with you a perpetual pact…
Look, to a nation you knew not you shall call,
and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, [5]
for the sake of the Lord your God
and Israel’s Holy One, for He made you glorious.
***
The writer(s) of these passages were nowhere nearly as skilled as poets as in the earlier haftorot from Isaiah II.
The impossible promises herein are shallow exaggerations which seem intended to appeal to the listeners’ vanity. They were by then two new generations into the exile, comfortably absorbed there, and likely easily saw through the prophet’s “glorious” promises — which really translated to hardship on re-entering Judea.
It’s no wonder that many, perhaps most, stayed behind. This is fortunate since later Babylonian Jewry produced great scholarship for 2500 years, including the formidable Babylonian Talmud.
***
[1] Etz Hayim, The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 1085
[2] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 805-807
[3] Poetic hyperbole. Referring to: (a) allegedly distressed Judeans in “Babylon” (b) a restored Jerusalem.
[4] Destroyer is God’s angel of Death, in the 10th plague against Egypt, more powerful than any weapons or speech made by man.
[5] A promise of national recognition.
*
Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.