Haftorah Pinchas Commentary
Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
First, let’s look at the text
with commentary from Rashi & Me
Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) Chapter 1
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1The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. |
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The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah: Let the son of the corrupt woman, whose deeds are proper Jeremiah was descended from Rahab the harlot and let him reprove the son of the righteous woman whose deeds are corrupt these are Israel who corrupted their deeds who are descended from legitimate seed. |
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2To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. |
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To whom the word of the Lord came: Upon whom the Shechinah commenced to rest at that time. |
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3And he was in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of eleven years of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month. |
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And he was in the days of Jehoiakim: And he was a prophet all the remaining days of Josiah, the days of his son Jehoiakim, and the days of his son Zedekiah, until the end of the eleventh year that is the year until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month. |
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4And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: |
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5When I had not yet formed you in the womb, I knew you, and when you had not yet emerged from the womb, I had appointed you; a prophet to the nations I made you. You know, this is so true of each and every one of us. HaShem knows us better than we will ever know ourselves; whether or not we are prophets, or salespeople, or doctors, lawyers, or whatever He created us to be. He made us uniquely qualified to be the one that no one else can possibly do… |
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When I had not yet formed you in the womb, etc.: Since the days of the first man. The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Adam each generation and its prophets. |
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I… formed you: Heb. אצרך, an expression of צורה, a form. |
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I knew you: connois toi in O.F. Comp. (Exodus 6:3), “I was not known (נודעתּי) to them.” |
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I appointed you: I appointed you for this. |
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a prophet to the nations: To Israel, who behave like the nations. In this manner it is expounded in Sifrei on the verse: “A prophet from your midst, etc.” (Deut. 18:15), will set up for you and not for those who deny the Torah. How then do I fulfill “A prophet to the nations I made you” ? To the children of Israel who deport themselves with the customs of the nations. It can further be interpreted: “A prophet for the nations,” like “About the nations,” to give them to drink the cup of poison, to prophesy retribution upon them, as it is said: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand, you shall give all the nations to drink of it” (infra 25:15). Another explanation of “When you had not yet emerged from the womb I appointed you” is: Concerning you I said to Moses: “I will set up a prophet… like you” (Deut. 18:18). This one reproved them, and this one reproved them. This one prophesied for forty years and this one prophesied for forty years. |
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6And I said, "Alas, O Lord God! Behold, I know not to speak for I am a youth. |
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Alas: This is an expression of wailing (konpljjnt in 0.F.). |
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for I am a youth: I am not worthy to reprove them. Moses reproved them shortly before his death, when he was already esteemed in their eyes through the many miracles that he had performed for them. He had taken them out of Egypt, split the Reed Sea for them, brought down the manna, caused the quails to fly, given them the Torah, brought up the well. I come to reprove them at the beginning of my mission. |
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7And the Lord said to me; Say not, "I am a youth," for wherever I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. |
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wherever I send you: to the heathens. |
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and whatever I command you: to Israel, you shall speak. |
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8Fear them not, for I am with you to save you, says the Lord. |
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9And the Lord stretched out His hand and reached my mouth, and the Lord said to me; Behold, I have placed My words in your mouth. |
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And the Lord stretched forth His hand: Every sending mentioned concerning a hand is an expression of stretching forth. Another explanation is like the Targum: And the Lord sent the words of His prophecy. |
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10Behold, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to crush, and to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant. |
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I have appointed you: I have appointed you over the heathens. |
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to uproot and to crush: (depayser in French, to uproot) and over Israel to build and to plant if they heed. So did Jonathan paraphrase it. |
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11And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree." |
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a rod of an almond tree: (amendleer in O.F.) Jonathan, however, renders: A King who hastens to do evil. |
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12And the Lord said to me; You have seen well, for I hasten My word to accomplish it. |
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You have seen well: This almond tree hastens to blossom before all other trees. I, too, hasten to perform My word. And the Midrash Aggadah (Ecc. Rabbah 12:8) explains: An almond tree takes twenty-one days from its blossoming until it is completely ripe, as the number of days between the seventeenth of Tammuz, when the city was broken into, until the ninth of Av, when the Temple was burnt. |
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13And the word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying: What do you see? And I said, "I see a bubbling pot, whose foam is toward the north." |
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a bubbling pot: [lit. blown up,] seething (boillant in French). |
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whose foam: [lit. and its face,] its seething (et ses ondes in O.F.) [and its waves]. |
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14And the Lord said to me; From the north the misfortune will break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. And it has ever been thus. Most of the enemies of Israel have some from the north. |
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From the north the misfortune will break forth: Babylon is on the north of Eretz Israel. |
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15For, behold I am summoning all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord, and they will come and place, each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls around and against all the cities of Judah. It was on Tisha B’Av that the 1st & 2nd Temples in Jerusalen was completely destroyed. First, by the Babylonians in 586 bce and mush later the Romans. |
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16And I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their evil, that they left Me and offered up burnt-offerings to other gods and they prostrated themselves to the work of their hands. |
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And I will utter My judgments against them: I will debate with them, with Judah and Jerusalem. |
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17And you shall gird your loins and arise and speak to them all that I command you; be not dismayed by them, lest I break you before them. |
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And you shall gird your loins: This is an expression of quickening like a man of valor. |
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18And I, behold I have made you today into a fortified city and into an iron pillar, and into copper walls against the entire land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land. |
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against the Kings of Judah: lit. to the Kings of Judah. |
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19And they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you says the Lord, to save you. |
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And they shall fight against you: They shall quarrel and fight against you to refute the words of your prophecy. |
Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) Chapter 2
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1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: |
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2Go and call out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: so said the Lord: I remember to you the lovingkindness of your youth, the love of your nuptials, your following Me in the desert, in a land not sown. |
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I remember to you: Were you to return to Me, I would desire to have mercy on you for I remember the loving kindness of your youth and the love of the nuptials of your wedding canopy, when I brought you into the wedding canopy, and this (כלולתיך) is an expression of bringing in. Your nuptials (Noces in O.F.). Now what was the loving kindness of your youth? Your following My messengers, Moses and Aaron, from an inhabited land to the desert without provisions for the way since you believed in Me. |
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3Israel is holy to the Lord, the first of His grain; all who eat him shall be guilty, evil shall befall them, says the Lord. |
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Israel is holy: like terumah. |
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the first of His grain: Like the first of the harvest before the Omer, which it is forbidden to eat, and whoever eats it is liable, so will all those who eat him be guilty. So did Jonathan render it. |
This one basic truth has been cast aside and forgotten by the nations who still curse us. The land of Israel is holy, because Adonai settled a particular people in it.
The people whom He made holy…
Now, let’s see what insights are available from Torah.org
Haftorah Commentary Parshas Pinchas
Parshas Pinchas
By Rabbi Dovid Siegel | Series: Haftorah Commentary
Yirmiyahu 1:1
This week begins a series of haftorah readings which reflect the inner feelings of the Jewish people during their final months of the year. The series consists of moving visions of the prophets depicting the pending Jewish exile and destruction of the Bais Hamikdash and concludes with an ongoing exchange between Hashem and the Jewish people expressing a strong desire for reunification. Our haftorah speaks about the introduction of Yirmiyahu into prophecy and shows him somewhat reluctant to serve as the leading prophet of Israel. Yirmiyahu’s concern centered around his young age coupled with his lack of experience in speaking to an entire nation. He recognized the painful nature of his catastrophic predictions and feared that his prophetic words would actually endanger his own life. Hashem responded that He would personally direct Yirmiyahu and protect him from all opposing forces. Yirmiyahu consented and received his first prophecy which he described in the following words. “And Hashem sent His hand which touched my mouth and He said to me, ‘Behold I’ve placed my words in your mouth.” This unique description of prophecy as “words placed in the mouth”, rather than words spoken to the prophet, suggests a strong dimension of force. It seems that Yirmiyahu actually felt compelled to speak his words of prophecy at all costs.
In truth, we find special significance given to the prophetic status of Yirmiyahu. Our Chazal (our sages of blessed memory takes note of the specific expression used by the Torah when introducing prophecy. In Parshas Shoftim (Devorim 18, 18) Hashem said to Moshe, “I shall establish a prophet amongst them likened to yourself. I shall place My words in his mouth and he will convey to the Jewish people everything I command.” Our Chazal reflect upon the words, “prophet likened to yourself (Moshe)” used here which suggest a parallel between Moshe and other prophets. Chazal raise the question that the Torah unequivocally states that no one ever achieved parallel status of prophecy to that of Moshe Rabbeinu. What then is meant by these words “a prophet likened to yourself”? Chazal answers that these words allude to the unique role of the prophet Yirmiyahu. They explain that there was a clear parallel between the role of Yirmiyahu as the prophet of rebuke and the role of Moshe Rabbeinu. They even draw lines between the life of Moshe Rabbeinu and that of Yirmiyahu. They note that each served a full term of forty years and was personally responsible for the ethical conduct of the entire nation. In addition, each of them faced serious opposition from their people for the hard stand they took in defending the name of Hashem. The Mahri Kra in support of this point (see comment to Yirmiyahu 1:9) adds that even the terminology used to describe their prophecy is of exact nature. The Torah refers to the prophecy of Moshe Rabbeinu and states, “I shall place My words in his mouth.” Interestingly, this exact expression “I have placed My words in your mouth” is used when describing the prophecy of Yirmiyahu.
As we have now seen, the introduction of prophecy makes direct reference to the ultimate prophet of doom, Yirmiyahu. One could question the high priority that Yirmiyahu’s prophecy occupies in the Torah. Why did Moshe Rabbeinu make reference to the prophet Yirmiyahu at the inception of prophecy and single him out from the other forty seven leading prophets? What was so significant about Yirmiyahu’s dimension of rebuke that made it the prime focus of Moshe Rabbeinu’s earliest discussion about prophecy?
In search for clarification of this point it is beneficial to study Moshe Rabbeinu’s reflections on the establishment of prophecy. In Parshas Shoftim Moshe says, “Hashem will establish a prophet in response to all that you requested of him at Sinai on the day you received the Torah. You said, ‘I can not continue hearing the direct voice of Hashem and will no longer risk perishing when seeing this great fire.'” “Hashem responded, ‘I will establish a prophet likened to you and will place My words in his mouth.'” (D’vorim 18:16) The Ramban (ad loc.) explains that the Jewish people requested that Hashem transmit His messages to them through words of prophecy. They found it too difficult to listen directly to Hashem because of the intensity of His words and opted to hear them through the prophets. With this request they agreed to hear the clear words of the prophets regardless of the severity of their nature. Hashem, in effect, consented to the Jewish people’s request for prophecy, reserving the right to address them in the strongest of terms. The Jewish people readily accepted this alternative in place of hearing Hashem’s direct and piercing words.
We now have a clear perspective regarding Moshe Rabbeinu’s hidden prediction to the Jews. In truth, during Moshe’s era the Jewish people were fully willing to listen to his piercing words of prophecy. This was of course in place of an all too familiar and highly intensified experience of listening to the words of Hashem Himself. Yet in later generations when the Jews would stray from the path of Hashem this task would become extremely difficult. Now that the dreaded alternative of hearing directly from Hashem was far out of sight the Jewish people could be prone to silencing their prophets restricting them from conveying penetrating messages. Moshe, therefore, warned them at the outset that their agreement was eternally binding and that in later years Hashem would send them a prophet whose words of rebuke would be as piercing as those of Moshe Rabbeinu himself.
We can now appreciate the opening words of Yirmiyahu in which he portrayed himself as compelled to speak the word of Hashem. It was the unpleasant role of Yirmiyahu to predict, in the most vivid form, the Jewish exile and the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash. These tidings were so penetrating and dreadful that the Jewish people would react to them as if they had heard direct words from Hashem. Yirmiyahu sensed the intensity of his prophetic mission and felt as if Hashem Himself was speaking directly to the Jewish people. He therefore expressed that Hashem placed words in the prophets mouth and delivered them directly to the Jewish people. In this regard Yirmiyahu was truly likened to Moshe Rabbeinu through whom Hashem delivered the clearest of messages to His people.
Now, let’s peruse these words from Chabad.org
For an informed reading of Jeremiah 1:1–2:3
By Mendel Dubov
Play Video
Learning the Haftorah: First Shabbat of the "Three Weeks"
Introduction
This week’s haftarah begins a series of three haftarot known in halachic literature as telata depur’anuta, “the three (haftarot) of retribution.” We read these haftarot during the three-week period between the seventeenth of Tammuz and the ninth of Av—the time when we mourn the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the Jewish people. These readings are taken from three passages where the prophets warn the Jews of the looming destruction and the terrible suffering that will follow, and implore the people to mend their ways and avoid this tragedy.
The first of these haftarot is taken from the opening chapter of Jeremiah. Jeremiah lived through the destruction, and was its primary prophet.
Meet Jeremiah
The opening verses of the reading give us some background about its major figure. Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah) the son of Chilkiah was a kohen who lived in the territory of Benjamin. On his father’s side he descended from Evyatar, the high priest who served in the days of King David. King Solomon, the son of David, had banished Evyatar to the territory of Benjamin due to his disloyalty in supporting Solomon’s brother Adoniyahu (Adonijah) in his attempt at the throne.1 The family had lived there for over three centuries since then.
In addition to this, Jeremiah also descended from Rahab. Rahab was the woman who hosted and saved the spies sent by Joshua to scout the city of Jericho just before its miraculous fall into Israelite hands. Our sages tell us that Rahab later converted and became the wife of none other than Joshua himself. Before the spies visited her, the verse describes Rahab as a zonah—literally translated as “a prostitute.”2 In their quest to belittle Jeremiah, the people would use this ancestor of his as a pretext for ridicule. Rashi in his commentary to this verse quotes the words of our sages, who said about this: “Jeremiah was a descendant of one who had a rotten past but later mended her ways. It was fitting for him to come and rebuke the Jews, who came from good descent but who had now gone in rotten ways.”
The hesitation
The first live encounter we have with Jeremiah is his great reluctance to assume the position he was destined to take on. The narrative begins with the Almighty letting Jeremiah in on the fact that he had been designated and sanctified for this role even before his mother conceived him.
Rashi takes this to refer to the teaching of the sages that G‑d showed Adam, the first man, all the leaders who were to lead each generation of the Jewish people. Why is this stressed especially with regard to Jeremiah? Radak, in his commentary, suggests that not only was Jeremiah destined for greatness by his creator, but that his parents also had an active role in his “sanctity before conception”: “This comes to teach us that his father and mother took care to be in a state of holiness and purity at the time of conception, so that the prophet would be sanctified.”3
Jeremiah, however, knowing well the difficulty that lay ahead of him, was extremely hesitant: "Alas . . . Behold, I know not to speak, for I am a youth.” In addition to literally being young, Jeremiah was indicating that he was still “young” in his experience with the people. He used the example of Moses, who had also rebuked the people, but had done so only at the end of his life. After doing so much for them and performing so many miracles, he was indeed in a position to rebuke his people. But here Jeremiah was called to do this right at the outset.4
G‑d reassures Jeremiah that he had nothing to fear. The places where he would need to go and the words he would speak there were not going to be of his own after all. His mission would be tough, and sometimes dangerous, but he was not acting alone: he was an agent of G‑d. His mission would not be easy, but G‑d would give him fortress-like resilience, and no harm would befall him.
Art by Sefira Lightstone
Almond branch and boiling pot
The next part of the reading records two scenes that seem to be the beginning of Jeremiah’s visions. The first was of an almond branch. The Hebrew word for an almond is shaked. The same word in Hebrew (שקד) also serves as the root for “diligence” or “haste,” and this name is given to the almond and its tree due to its “haste” in the process of producing fruit. G‑d was conveying Jeremiah that what He was soon to tell him was going to take place imminently.
Rashi, quoting a midrashic source, explains that the almond actually served as a precise point of reference. It takes three weeks from the time the almond tree buds till the almond ripens. In a similar way, it would take three weeks from the time Jerusalem succumbed to the siege (on the 17th of Tammuz) to when the Temple would be set on fire (the 9th of Av)—hence the observance of the “Three Weeks.”
The second vision was of a boiling pot whose froth was mainly on its northern side. The message was that the evil would come upon Israel from a country to its north—namely Babylon.
Abarbanel makes note of the wording in this verse, “The evil will open up from the north.” He understand this to imply that the evil will both “open” from the north and also culminate from there. Babylon is to the northeast of Israel, and Rome is northwest of it. It was Babylon who began the Jewish exile with the destruction of the first Temple, and Rome who, five hundred years later, brought the exile full circle with the destruction of the second Temple.
Final words of love
Although the haftarot of the Three Weeks can read as rather harsh and gloomy, they each finish with magnificent words of hope, strength and love to the Jewish people.
In a verse that we use in the prayers of Rosh Hashanah, the Almighty invokes the memory of the “early youth” of the Jewish people. At the time of the exodus from Egypt they were like a young bride, filled to the brim and overflowing with love and passion for G‑d. They displayed this with their unbounded faith as they ventured out into the barren desert with nothing other than their faith as a provision. Traveling into such a place with no knowledge of how they would survive defied any rational calculation. But this was no deterrent. They plunged in with hearts filled with love and joy, casting their lot entirely with their creator.
This is the true and pure nature of the Jew. For this they are a truly holy nation. The verse compares the status of the Jew to the status of terumah, the part of the crop that was given to the kohen. This portion was to be eaten exclusively by the kohen and his family, and had to be consumed in a state of purity. It is forbidden for a non-kohen to partake of terumah, and the Torah provides strong consequences for this transgression. The Jewish people are thus compared to terumah in the sense that any foreign people who would “consume” them will ultimately pay dearly for this misdeed.
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