Parashat R'eih - Haftarah Study

Torah - Deuteronomy 11:26-16:12

• God places both blessing and curse before the Israelites. They are taught that blessing will come through the observance of God’s laws. (11:26–32)
• Moses’ third discourse includes laws about:

Worship in a central place (12:1–28);

Injunctions against idolatry (12:29–13:19) and self-mutilation (14:1–2);

Dietary rules (14:3–21);

Laws about tithes (14:22–25),

Debt remission (15:1–11),

The release and treatment of Hebrew slaves (15:12–18)

Firstlings (15:19–23).

• Moses reviews the correct sacrifices to be offered during the Pilgrim Festivals—Pesach, Sukkot, and Shavuot. (16:1-17) -URJ Website

The Fall of the Temple and Redemption

1. 17th of Tammuz
2. 9th of Av
3. Breaking a Glass at a Wedding
4. Mizrach on the Eastern Wall
5. Blessings of the Weekday Tefillah
6. Sound the great shofar for our freedom; raise a banner to gather our exiles, and bring us together from the four corners of the earth into our land. Blessed are You ETERNAL, who gathers the dispersed of His people Israel.

• Restore our judges as in former times, and our counsellors as of yore; remove from us sorrow and sighing, and reign over us, You alone, O ETERNAL with kindness and compassion, with righteousness and justice. Blessed are You ETERNAL, King who loves righteousness and justice.

• Return in mercy to Jerusalem Your city and dwell therein as You have promised; speedily establish therein the throne of David Your servant, and rebuild it, soon in our days, as an everlasting edifice. Blessed are You ETERNAL, who rebuilds Jerusalem. Speedily cause the scion of David Your servant to flourish, and increase his power by Your salvation, for we hope for Your salvation all day. Blessed are You ETERNAL, who causes the power of salvation to flourish.

• Look with favor, ETERNAL our G‑d, on Your people Israel and pay heed to their prayer; restore the service to Your Sanctuary and accept with love and favor Israel's fire-offerings and prayer; and may the service of Your people Israel always find favor....May our eyes behold Your return to Zion in mercy. Blessed are You ETERNAL, who restores His Divine Presence to Zion.

Haftarah - Isaiah 54:11-55:5 - Third Haftarah of Consolation

Bold promise of physical and spiritual transformation introduce this passage from Isaiah. They are presented in unilateral terms. Nothing is demanded of the people. God promises a spectacular rebuilding of Zion, a thorough restoration to raise it out of a depressing situation (54:11-12). And Zion's children will be transformed into disciples of the Eternal who will protect them (vv. 13-17).

The second part of the haftarah (55:1-5) bespeaks a more bilateral relationship. Repeatedly God calls on the nation to turn to Him: "Give heed to Me"; "Incline your ear and come to Me." Spiritual transformation, a condition for renewal, promises true sustenance: "Hearken, and you shall be revived" (v. 3). Then Israel will lead other nations (vv. 4-5). -Fishbane, The JPS Bible Commentary

11. I am about to lay your stones with turquoise. Although this new prophecy begins with “Afflicted, storm-tossed woman,” the focus of the vision of national restoration now shifts from the widowed and/or childless wife to the buildings of the city. The resplendent restored Jerusalem is to be built not out of stones but with precious jewels. The reader should be alerted that the precise identification of most of these precious stones, as elsewhere in the Bible, is uncertain. The dazzling bejeweled Jerusalem is obviously a poetic hyperbole, but it lays the ground for eschatological imaginings of Jerusalem as the glorious City of God. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 1942).

¹⁶Why, 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.

the Destroyer to wreak havoc. The “Destroyer” would be the mythological agent who stalks through the land of Egypt in the terrible tenth plague, killing the firstborn. The intended relation of this verset to the preceding one is oppositional: man—himself created by God—forges his weapons in the workshop of the metalsmith, but God has the power to create a Destroyer who has an incomparably more devastating instrument of destruction. The image of God defending Israel with insuperable force complements the image of the jewel-studded Zion that precedes it: God promises to rebuild Jerusalem as a city of supernal splendor, and He then guarantees that no enemy will be able to assail the city. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 1942).

In chapter 55, the reading changes tone. The words are no longer directed to Israel collectively, but rather to individuals. In the Hebrew we see a switch to the masculine in addressing the people. This signals a switch in attention to the individual as part of the whole.

The prophet declares, "Ho! All the thirsty, come for water, and the one without money; Come! Buy and eat! Buy without money, Free! Wine and milk! Why do you spend money for what is not bread, your profits for what does not satisfy?" (55:1)

The prophet warns us not to waste our resources on objects of illusory worth. In contrast to the apparently physical riches of the first part of the haftarah, the riches of the second part are spiritual.

These are true delicacies, not distracting material enticements. True food, true knowledge, and true spirituality are not material. They are not "empty calories." God's spiritual bounty here is metaphorically called water, milk, and wine.

Water is the primary life-sustaining substance, the drink that literally flows from the heavens of God. It is essential to all, and it is life's most basic requirement. In our tradition, water is understood to be metaphor for Torah. "The waters means nothing else than words of Torah, as it is said, 'Ho, all the thirsty, come for water. "'l Torah is essential for life, and God freely gives this life-sustaining Torah to all who want it.

Milk is also a gift from God, but it comes only through the physical body of the female. It is a gift in that no conscious action is required from the woman to produce it. The Torah and Midrash recognize that mother's milk is a Divine blessing. For example, in Genesis 21:7, upon the birth of Isaac, Sarah exclaims, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would give children suck?" The midrash notes that Sarah was exceedingly modest. "Abraham said to her: 'This is not a time for modesty, but uncover your breasts so that all may know that the Holy One, blessed be God, has begun to perform miracles.' She uncovered her breasts and the milk gushed forth as from two fountains . . .

Milk is a life-bringing gift of God through the mother. It is created in passive partnership of God with the feminine. It is essential to the newborn, but not to the weaned. For the adult, milk is a nourishing food that is a luxury in the sense that one can live without it. Milk is a sign of blessing and abundance; as we are told, the Promised Land flows with milk and honey.

Wine is less essential to life than milk. It is the active creation of humans, male or female, by processing an already edible fruit. Its transformation happens in human hands. Wine is not necessary for life, but it is a powerful symbol of joy in Jewish tradition as it sanctifies the festivals. It gladdens the heart and, properly used, helps us attain an altered consciousness on Shabbat and festivals. God gives us Shabbat and festivals to enhance our spirits. Wine is our gift back to God. When we use it for sacred purposes, we take what God has offered, add our conscious labor to it, and present it back to God as the only drink with its own special blessing. As we need water for life and milk for sustenance, we need wine for pleasure, joy, and gladness.

In the physical world, man, woman, and God are all partners in bringing forth nourishment. In the symbolism of our text, water, milk, and wine are seen as the products of this partnership. Looking again at the haftarah, we see that God is telling us that the best things in life are free. They are not the illusory treasures and toys of materialism. The best that life has to offer is spiritual.

In our own lives, we must mesh these three essential elements— water: the physical; milk: the nourishment of love; and wine: the essence of spiritual joy. In a well-balanced life, our material needs are met, our relationships sustain us, and our spirits soar with joy. Isaiah promises us, as both a people and as individuals, as men and as women, that such balance is possible. If we keep focused on spiritual goals and refuse to be sidetracked by material excess, it is a balance that we can indeed attain, and one in which we may find God. -The Women's Haftarah Commentary

1. Go and buy food without silver. The water, food, milk, and wine are all metaphorical. What the metaphors suggest is that God’s beneficence to His people will be unstinting and freely given with no price exacted for it. The Hebrew kesef is translated as “silver,” not “money” as in other versions, because coins were not yet in general usage, and the use of the verb “weigh out” for “silver” in the next verse clearly indicates that what is imagined is silver weights. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 1944).

3. the faithful kindness shown to David. The Hebrew says merely “the faithful kindness of David,” but the clear sense is the faithful kindness, or staunch commitment to the divine promise, that God has shown to David. The poet is not necessarily speaking of a revival of the Davidic dynasty but is invoking God’s commitment to David and his descendants as a model for how He remains committed to His exiled people. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (p. 1944).

4. witness to the peoples, / prince and commander of the peoples. This would have to be a reference to David’s military dominance, his success in establishing a mini-empire (which biblical writers tend to exaggerate). As David was once a triumphant leader of the nation, Israel will again be triumphant. That notion is perfectly in keeping with the previous prophecies of a restored Israel to which kings and princes will be subservient. This idea is continued in the next verse, where nations from afar run to do Israel’s bidding. -Alter, Robert. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary (pp. 1944-1945).

Tisha B’Av: The Haftarot of Consolation

On the Shabbos immediately after Tisha B’Av, we read the haftarah of “Nachamu, Nachamu” from Yeshayahu. Each consecutive Shabbos, until Rosh Hashanah, we read another selection from Yeshayahu, in which the prophet continues to comfort the Jewish People, following the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of our people from our land. Each selection elaborates upon the future restoration of Bnei Yisroel and the renewed glory of Hashem’s glory as perceived in this world. This string of haftarot is termed “Shev D’Nechemta” – the Seven (Haftarot) of Consolation.

It is understandable why we read one haftarah of consolation after Tisha B’Av, for the haftarah normally mirrors events in the Jewish calendar (although it regularly coincides with such events, and – in this case – there is no formal period of consolation following Tisha B’Av). Why, however, do we read haftarot of consolation for seven straight weeks, all the way to the month of Tishrei?

I think that the answer is rooted in the basics of Rosh Hashanah. Unlike any other time, Rosh Hashanah is marked as the day when we proclaim God’s ultimate malchus – His kingship. On Rosh Hashanah, we not only affirm our belief in God’s malchus; rather, we coronate Hashem as our king and reconnect to Him as His loyal subjects.

Contrasted with this state of affairs is Tisha B’Av, when human perception of God’s glory in this world is stifled, as His House (the Beis Ha-Mikdash) is utterly destroyed, His people is exiled, and His land is forsaken. Kabbalistically, the present situation is termed “Galusa De’Shechinta” – “the exile of God’s Presence”.

In order to progress from the depths of Tisha B’Av to full realization of Hashem’s manifest malchus on Rosh Hashanah, we read the Shev D’Nechemta, as we reconnect to God’s kingship in this world and attain the greatest appreciation of it in preparation for the ultimate day of malchus. It is not simple to go from the Galusa De-Shechinta of Tisha B’Av to Chodesh Elul and Rosh Hashanah; we need to gradually progress from one to the other. The Haftaros of Consolation enable us to approach Rosh Hashanah and relate to manifest malchus as we should. In this vein, Haftarat Nachamu is not read to coincide with Tisha B’Av. Rather, it begins the period of reawakening to God’s kingship, culminating with Rosh Hashanah.

The Haftaros of OU Staff July 19, 2011 8/2/2021 Tisha B'Av and The 7 Haftarot of Consolation - Jewish Holidays https://www.ou.org/holidays/tisha_bav_-_the_haftarot_of_consolation/ 2/2 © 2021 Orthodox Union | All Rights Reserved