Torah portion is Va-Yera, (Genesis 18:1-22:24); Haftorah is 2 Kings 4:1-37
By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — This fairly short prose passage from the “Early Prophets” is really a couple of folktales fused together, arguably from ‘annals’ of the early Northern Kingdom of Israel. In those days, storytellers were welcome to insert fantasy miracles into their stories.
Later, rabbis who chose these words for a haftorah found a connection to the Torah parsha Va-Yera.
I have chosen the haftorah translation and commentaries of Emeritus Professor Dr. Robert Alter of the University of California Berkeley. [1]
The connection is over hospitality. In Va-Yera, Abraham extends hospitality to three unexpected visitors, following which he receives a divine promise that a year later his elderly wife Sarah will give birth to a son. In this haftorah text, a wealthy elderly woman hospitable to the traveling prophet Elisha is similarly promised—and received a child. [2]
Unfortunately, while the child grew up, he had a severe headache and died.
The woman quickly sought ‘holy man’ Elisha, who ordered his attendant Gehazi to hastily get to the body, and place Elisha’s staff on the lad’s face. This failed to revive the boy.
Here comes the necessary upbeat ending!
Elisha arrived, prayed, placed himself over the boy, mouth to mouth, his eyes opposite the boy’s eyes, his palms over the palms of the boy. The body grew warm. He repeated this process, and voila! The boy sneezed seven times, awakened, and returned home with his mother.
There are more miracles in this complex tale. The first one involves a new widow, who is threatened to give up her two children to a creditor, for a debt. Elisha, to the rescue, causes the woman’s sole cruse of valuable (olive) oil to be multiplied simply through her providing an accumulation of a large number of empty vessels. [3]
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It is clear that Israel’s early heroic ‘figures’ are attributed to have miraculous powers in these folk tales. In the ‘Wild West days’ of the early Northern Kingdom, people told such tales, weaving fantasy into what might have been threads of true events.
In later years, of the ‘true prophets,’ there is better attention to factual situations, e.g. in Isaiah and Jeremiah. Elisha is the protégé of Elijah, who fantastically entered heaven. Thereby Elisha was left to carry out the earthly ‘holy man’ duties!
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[1] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 538-542
[2] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 123
[3] Ibid. Alter: This story, among others, provided material borrowed by Gospel and other Christian writers, e.g. the cruse of oil that was constantly full, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and the multiplication of the fish and loaves.
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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.