Monthly Archives: October 2014

Lech Lecha – The Dawn

In the Haftarah of Lech Lecha, Yeshayahu describes a historical figure who represents G-d’s involvement in the history of mankind.

מִי הֵעִיר מִמִּזְרָח ,צֶדֶק יִקְרָאֵהוּ לְרַגְלוֹ,
יִתֵּן לְפָנָיו גּוֹיִם וּמְלָכִים יַרְדְּ יִתֵּן כֶּעָפָר חַרְבּוֹ כְּקַשׁ נִדָּף קַשְׁתּוֹ:
Who arose from the East? Justice follows in his footsteps.
Nations were given over to him, and kings subdued. His sword turns all to dust, to driven straw, his bow. (Yeshayahu 41:2)

The Haftarah asks, “Who arose from the East?” According to the Midrash (Breishit Rabba 43:3), the answer is Avraham. As we read in Parshat Lech Lecha, G-d roused Avraham to leave his home in the East, and to leave his pagan heritage. Wherever he would go, he would advocate justice and truth, influencing people to leave false idols and serve the Creator.

This verse is used by many Midrashim to refer to Avraham, and by juxtaposing it with other verses, they derive different aspects of his impact on the world.

ױאמר הקדוש ברוך הוא עד מתי יהא העולם מתנהג באפילה תבא האורה, ויאמר אלהים יהי אור זה אברהם הה”ד (ישעיה מא) מי העיר ממזרח צדק וגו’ אל תקרא העיר אלא האיר
G-d said: “How long will the world be shrouded in darkness, how long till the light comes? “And G-d said, let there be light”: this is Avraham, for it says “Who arose from the East with justice”, don’t read it as “arose” (העיר), but rather as “illuminated” (האיר). (Breishit Rabba 2:3)

This Midrash claims that the world before Avraham was darkness and the light of Creation became visible only once Avraham appeared. What did Avrharam do that warrants making him the symbol of G-d’s light?

The “darkness” that the Midrash refers to is idolatry. But what makes it so terrible? Why does the Torah focus all its resources on wiping it out? What difference does it really make what people believe?

According to the Torah, it is not possible for polytheistic pagans to build a society of justice and kindness.

First of all, polytheism is a lie. There is no such thing as a “god of rain” or a “god of war” or a “goddess of fertility”, or a “goddess of lost objects”. G-d alone created the world. He alone controls it.

Nevertheless, people can believe all kinds of things that aren’t true, and that is not necessarily destructive. What happens, though, when there is a “god of life” and a “god of death”, is that you begin to see the world as a function of the struggle between them. The simplest explanation for the tension between life and death, between good and evil, is that they are governed by conflicting forces and the “god of good” and the “god of evil” are locked in battle. If there is a “god of evil”, than one needs to placate that evil in order to survive. What some these societies chose to do to placate their evil gods is the stuff of nightmares.

Placating the “god of good” is also not morally neutral. If you relate to your god by through the gifts you give it, quid pro quo, then the greater the gift, the greater the power you have over your god. This creates a society where giving is only valued for the power it earns, and kindness and mercy have no value at all. Not only did paganism fail to promote morality, but it undermined the basic morality that is innate to human beings.

Avraham is often called the father of monotheism; not only the Jewish People, but all the billions who follow Christianity and Islam trace the origin of their religion to him. However, the Torah clearly says that Avraham was not the first monotheist. Adam knew the Creator, Noach did not worship anyone other than Hashem. If we trace the arithmetic of the “begats” in Breishit, we’ll find that when Avraham was born, Noach was still alive. Moreover, in Parsha Lech Lecha itself, Avraham is granted an audience by Malkitzedek, King of Shalem, who is introduced as “the priest of the G-d Above”. There were plenty of people in Avraham’s generation who were aware that polytheism is a lie. So what made Avraham different? How was it that he brought light, while the others did not?

Not only did Avraham reject paganism, risking his life to protest it publicly, but, as we read in Parshat Lech Lecha, Avraham spent his life going from place to place “calling in the name of Hashem.” Unlike Noach, who kept his monotheistic religion to himself, Avraham told everyone willing to listen that there is a single Creator Who cannot be manipulated or placated, Who cares equally about all His creatures, Who is the source of justice and kindness and that such actions matter to Him. Avraham showed the world that worshipping G-d is a path toward greater morality and a more just society. This is the light that Avraham brought into a world of darkness.

There is another Midrash on the same verse from the Haftarah:

אמר רב: איתן האזרחי זה הוא אברהם, כתיב הכא: איתן האזרחי, וכתיב התם מי העיר ממזרח
Rav said: Eitan HaEzrachi is Avraham. Here it says “Eitan HaEzrachi”, there it says “Who arose from the East (Mizrach)” (Bava Batra 15a)

Avraham’s essential trait is that of “eitan”, fortitude, the ability to stand firm for your beliefs. In this Midrash, they derive an additional property to describe Avraham: “Zerach” (אזרחי, מזרח), dawn. Avraham was the dawn of a new era of human history, the dawn of the light of truth, justice and kindness that ultimately spread throughout the world.


PDF for printing, 2 pages A4
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל

Dedicated to my son, Yair Eitan, who is named after his great-great-grandfather Avraham, and to my nephew, Nadiv Yair, named after a different Avraham, whose Bar Mitzvah Parsha is Lech Lecha.

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Noach – Leaving the Ark

The Haftarah contains one of the more literal connections to the Parsha. When G-d assures the Jewish People that once Redemption begins, He will not let Jerusalem be destroyed again, He brings Noach as proof:

מֵי נֹחַ זֹאת לִי
אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי מֵעֲבֹר מֵי נֹחַ עוֹד עַל הָאָרֶץ
כֵּן נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי מִקְּצֹף עָלַיִךְ וּמִגְּעָר בָּךְ:
For it is like the Waters of Noach to Me,
as I swore not to let the Waters of Noach pass over the land,
so too I have sworn not to be angry at you, nor to chastise you. (Yeshayahu 54:9)

Just as G-d promised Noach not to bring another flood and kept that promise, so now He promises that Jerusalem will not make Him angry again, and He will keep this promise, too. However, G-d had made many promises, several of them about Jerusalem directly; for instance, the promise to Avraham to give the land to his descendents, and He kept those promises, too. Why does the Haftarah go all the way back to Noach? What aspect of Noach’s experience is relevant to rebuilding Jerusalem?

The Midrash explains why G-d found it necessary to make this promise to Noach in the first place:

כי מי נח זאת לי אשר נשבעתי: זה שאמר הכתוב לכל זמן ועת לכל חפץ זמן היה לנח ליכנס לתבה שנאמר בא אתה וכל ביתך אל התבה וזמן היה לו שיצא הימנה שנאמר צא מן התבה משל לפרנס שיצא מן המקום והושיב אחר במקומו כיון שבא אמר צא ממקומך כך נח צא מן התבה] ולא קבל לצאת אמר אצא ואהיה פרה ורבה למארה עד שנשבע לו שאינו מביא מבול לעולם שנאמר כי מי נח זאת לי

“For it is like the Waters of Noach to Me that I swore”: as it says, “For everything there is a time..” (Kohelet 3) There was a time to go into the Ark, as it says, “Come, you and your entire family, into the Ark,” (Breishit 7:1) and there was a time to leave it, as it says, “Leave the Ark.” (Breishit 8:16)

The allegory is of an executive who took leave of his position, and appointed another in his stead. When he came back, he said, “Get out of your place”. So too, Noach did not wish to leave.

He said, “I will go out and procreate to be cursed?” Finally, G-d swore to him that He will never bring another Flood, as it says, “It is like the Waters of Noach to Me that I swore”. (Yalkut Shimoni Yeshayahu 477)

The Midrash explains why Noach had to be commanded to leave the Ark. One would think that the moment he could get out of that filthy box, he would put on his boots and run. Yet if G-d had to command him to leave the Ark, that means that by default, he would have preferred to stay.

The Midrash offers two possible mind-sets that would cause a person to stay when it is time to go, each of which is relevant to the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the Haftarah.
The first is that of a person who is appointed to a position of responsibility that he knows is temporary. Even though he is aware that his appointment is limited, when the time comes to move on, he will not be eager to do so. Noach was responsible for the well-being of everyone in the Ark, of every being left alive in his world. It might have been a very difficult position, physically challenging and emotionally demanding, but it was also very rewarding and meaningful. Now that he has to leave – who knows what will be his role in the new world? He had grown comfortable in his position, and found reasons to stay.

The Jewish People have also grown comfortable in the Ark of their exile, no matter how tight and stifling it might be. Sometimes they even point to the rewarding and meaningful tasks that must be performed there. Even though they know that their position is temporary, and the time will come to move on, leaving is hard. They might need G-d to say, as He does in the Haftarah, “It is like the Waters of Noach to Me; I had to tell Noach that it is time to go, and now I’m telling you: it is time to go.”

The second reason that Noach refused to go can be inferred from the words that the Midrash puts into his mouth: “I will go out, and I will have more children, and rebuild civilization, but what would be the point? There is no guarantee that they will do any better than their ancestors. Their world will be destroyed as well, and my efforts will be for nought!”

G-d did not dismiss these fears; instead, He addressed them directly by swearing to Noach that there will never again be a Flood of this magnitude. G-d will find other ways to handle the failure of human beings to maintain an upright and decent society, without destroying the entire world. This reassurance allows Noach to move on with rebuilding the world.

The Jewish People have seen what they had built destroyed, many, many times over the centuries. It is frightening to build again, especially on the shifting sands of the Land of Israel. Therefore, in the Haftarah of Noach, G-d says to Jerusalem:

“Do not be afraid of rebuilding for fear that it will be destroyed again. Even the generation of Noach, who were so much more evil than you ever were, were able to rebuild when made My promise to them not to destroy them again. My anger at you has been less than my anger at them, but My promise is just as lasting. I swear to you as I swore to them: this time, when you build, it will last forever.

Now come on out.”


PDF for printing, 2 pages A4

Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my parents, Peter & Nella Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ואמי מורתי חנה בת זעליג ז”ל

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Filed under Connections, Noach, Sefer Breishit

Zot HaBracha

Zot HaBracha, the last Parsha of the Torah, is read on Simchat Torah, when we celebrate finishing the entire Torah, and start over at Breishit. The Haftarah of Zot HaBracha is the first chapter of Yehoshua, the Book of Joshua, which talks about the events that take place immediately after the Torah ends and Moshe dies.

Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Zot HaBracha

For what we learn from the Haftarah about Zot HaBracha, and about Torah in general, see Chazak!

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Zot HaBracha – Chazak!

Zot HaBracha is the last Parsha of the Torah. We read it on Simchat Torah, and just as soon as we finish and say, “Chazak Chazak ve’Nitchazek”, we take out a different scroll, rolled to the beginning, and start reading Parshat Breishit.

The Haftarah that we read on Zot HaBracha does not go back to the beginning. Instead, it goes forward:

וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי מוֹת מֹשֶׁה עֶבֶד ה’ וַיֹּאמֶר ה’ אֶל יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן נוּן מְשָׁרֵת מֹשֶׁה לֵאמֹר: מֹשֶׁה עַבְדִּי מֵת וְעַתָּה קוּם עֲבֹר אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן הַזֶּה אַתָּה וְכָל הָעָם הַזֶּה אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לָהֶם לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
After the death of Moshe, the servant of Hashem, Hashem said to Yehoshua bin Nun, Moshe’s assistant: “My servant Moshe is dead. Now rise and cross this Yarden, you and this entire nation, to the land which I am giving to them, to Bnei Yisrael.” (Yehoshua 1:1)

Moshe is dead and the Torah is complete, but Jewish History is only just beginning. Yehoshua now must lead the Jewish People across the Jordan River, conquer the land, settle it, and create a society founded upon the laws that G-d gave to Moshe.

Moshe failed to do this, yet Yehoshua, his student, must succeed. Not only must Yehoshua step into the shoes of his teacher, not only must he lead the uncooperative and cantankerous Jewish People into the Land of Israel, but he must take the Torah from its theoretical existence in the desert and into the real world of living as a nation. All the many commandments in Sefer Devarim that begin with, “when you enter the land”, will now need to be fulfilled.

This is far from trivial. The Torah requires the Jewish People to obey their judges, but our judges must never abuse their power. We must respect commercial enterprise, but we must never take advantage of consumers. We must fight wars against fierce enemies, but never degenerate into wanton cruelty.

It is no wonder that the most repeated phrase in the Haftarah is חֲזַק וֶאֱמַץ – be strong and brave. What Yehoshua is asked to do – what the Jewish People are asked to do – is truly daunting.

The Haftarah tells us how it can be accomplished:

לֹא יָמוּשׁ סֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֶּה מִפִּיךָ וְהָגִיתָ בּוֹ יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה לְמַעַן תִּשְׁמֹר לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּכָל הַכָּתוּב בּוֹ כִּי אָז תַּצְלִיחַ אֶת דְּרָכֶךָ וְאָז תַּשְׂכִּיל: הֲלוֹא צִוִּיתִיךָ חֲזַק וֶאֱמָץ
The book of this Torah must not leave your mouth, you must dwell upon it day and night, so that you make sure to do all that is written in it. For only thus will your paths succeed, thus will you prevail. As I have commanded you, be strong and brave… (Yehoshua 1:8,9)

It is possible to turn the theory of the Torah into reality, but, in addition to the strength of character required by its execution, it demands continuous dedication to its study.

But is this continuous dedication, described as “the Torah must not leave your mouth, you must dwell upon it day and night”, meant to exclude all other endeavor? How will the land be conquered and settled if all Yehoshua does is study Torah day and night?

According to R’ Yishmael, that is not in fact what the Torah expects:

דבר אחר ואספת דגנך, למה נאמר לפי שנאמר +יהושע א ח+ לא ימוש ספר התורה הזה מפיך שומע אני כמשמעו תלמוד לומר ואספת וגו’ דרך ארץ דברה תורה דברי רבי ישמעאל
Why does it say, “you shall gather your grain”? Because it says, “The Torah must not leave your mouth,” and I might interpret it literally. Therefore, it says, “you shall gather your grain.” The Torah speaks in terms of the way of the world – according to R’ Yishmael. (Midrash Sifri Devarim Eikev 42)

The Torah does not ask of us to do the impossible, only the very difficult. It is impossible to learn Torah all day and never grow anything, or there will be no food to eat. Therefore, the Torah reassures us, “you shall gather your grain.” At the same time, if all we do is grow grain, and not learn any Torah, and try to observe it on auto-pilot, based on what we think we already know, then we will fail to live up to its challenging and subtle expectations.

The Midrash suggests how a balance might be achieved:

רבי יהושע אומר שונה אדם שתי הלכות בשחרית ושתי הלכות בערבית ועוסק במלאכתו כל היום מעלין עליו כאלו קיים את כל התורה כולה וקיים והגית בו יומם ולילה (יהושע א)
R’ Yehoshua says: If a person studies two laws in the morning and two laws in the evening, and is busy with his work all day, that counts as if he fulfilled the entire Torah and fulfilled “You will dwell upon it day and night” (Midrash Tanchuma BeShalach 20)

Studying a little bit, but consistently, is sufficient to place the Torah at the forefront of one’s priorities. It is sufficient to make it the arbiter of one’s values and the guide for one’s actions. And this level of dedication also requires great strength of character and strength of purpose.

In order to succeed at the building of a society based on Torah, the Haftarah urges Yehoshua: חֲזַק וֶאֱמַץ, be strong and firm,. As we finish reading the entire Torah, and the new year begins for us to implement all that we have learned, we all say together:

חזק חזק ונתחזק!
Be strong, be strong, and let us be strengthened!


Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל

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Yom Kippur

On Yom Kippur, we read two Haftarot. After Shacharit, we read a chapter from Yeshayahu, talking about what is and is not a meaningful fast.

Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Yom Kippur

At Mincha, we read Sefer Yonah in its entirety. Its translation will have to wait for another time.

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Shabbat Shuva

Shabbat Shuva (not “Shabbat Teshuva”) is named after the Haftarah from Hoshea that begins with the words, “Shuva Yisrael”. It comes out on either VaYelech or He’ezinu. In addition to Hoshea, we also read a few verses from Michah, and half a chapter of Yoel.

Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat Shuva

It connects to He’ezinu through the theme of dew. G-d’s love for the Jewish People is compared to dew, which unlike rain, never fails, and nurtures the land every day regardless of circumstances. The difference between Tal (dew) and Matar (rain), unconditional and conditional love, can tell us a great deal about our relationship with G-d.

The connection to VaYelech is similar, but with a twist: The Illogic of Teshuva

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