Torah Portion is Noah (Genesis 6:9-11:32); Haftorah is Isaiah 54:1-55:5
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — This entirely poetic ancient Hebrew passage is, largely, literally a repeat of Isaiah II speaking previously in the Haftorah of RE’EH a few weeks ago. The text back then was used as a haftorah of consolation.
So here, in refrain, we hear the prophet c. 538-530 BCE with promises of God’s forgiveness. Likely he is addressing already returned returnees to Judea. The imagery, I remind you, is Isaiah II as the voice of God to forgive the past sins of the wayward Hebrews. The scenario is the end of the forced Babylon exile period, with early reoccupation of Judea.
As a reminder, large numbers, now a third generation in exile, were comfortably adapted to Babylon. Many and their progeny remained some 2500-plus years until our time. In 1948 Middle East Muslim countries chased them out, at the formation of the independent nation of Israel.
The verses this week have a connection to the Torah reading on Noah, i.e. via a common reference to the legendary flood, the result of divine wrath. [1]
I shall proceed with excerpts from this haftorah, using the translation and commentaries of UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus Robert Alter in his opus work ‘Prophets.’ [2]
“Sing gladly, O barren one who has not given birth,
burst out in glad song, exult, who has not been in labor,
for the desolate one’s children number more
than the children of the one with a husband…[3]
For to the north and the south you shall burst forth,
and your seed shall take hold of nations
and shall settle desolate towns.
Do not fear, for you shall not be shamed…
For the shame of your youth you shall forget,
and the dishonor of your widowhood you shall no longer recall. [4]
For he who takes you to bed is your Maker,
the LORD of Armies is His name,
and your redeemer is Israel’s Holy One…[5]
‘…In surge of fury I hid My face from you, [6]
but with everlasting kindness I have compassion for you,’
said your redeemer the LORD.
“For as Noah’s waters is this to Me,
as I vowed not to let Noah’s waters go over the earth again,
so have I vowed
not to be furious with you nor to rebuke you…[7]
Afflicted, storm-tossed woman, uncomforted,
I am about to lay your stones with turquoise…[8]
Why, none shall strike fear if it is not from Me,…
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. [9]
Any weapon fashioned against you shall fail,
any tongue that contends with you in court you shall show wrong
Now comes the mandatory upbeat ending:
Oh, everyone who thirsts go to the water,
and who has no silver,
buy food to eat.
Go and buy food without silver
and at no cost, wine and milk…[10]
Bend your ear and come to Me,
listen and be revived,
and I will make with you a perpetual pact,
the faithful kindness shown to David…[11]
for the sake of the LORD your God
and Israel’s Holy One, for he made you glorious.
The rabbis, in choosing many of the above words for use in this second haftorah, cleverly found a second use of the verses.
I can’t but note at the same time that they and Isaiah II both manifest a fetish on sex, even attributing such appetite and potency to God himself, i.e. not unlike Greek gods.. This strikes me as unbecoming.
We are expected to be moral Jews, with no such sexual braggadocio and action. After all, these words represent a forgiveness for past corruptions, which incidentally included sexual promiscuity.
NOTES
[1] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 64
[2] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 804-807
[3] Ibid. Alter: an exuberant metaphor of Judea as a restored bride of God, now to be again fertile in her own land.
[4] a metaphor: You symbolically betrayed your husband, God, therefore symbolically dead, and thus you were afflicted with ‘widowhood’.
[5] The Prophet seems fixed on a fetish of God being Judea’s sexual partner.
[6] A familiar expression in the Tanach
[7] Here’s the analogy to the promise in Noah to not again do such a great destruction.
[8] The formerly childless wife, now is promised metaphorically to be a dazzling bejeweled city of Jerusalem-City of God.
[9] A flashback reference to the mythological agent who stalked Egypt in the Tenth Plague in Moses’ time, i.e. the slaying of all first-borns..
[10] A metaphor—God’s beneficence will be unstinting, and freely given.
[11] A model for how God will henceforth treat the restored nation of Judea. This is not quite true. David suffered deserved hardships.
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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.