Haftorah of Noach – Learning our Lesson
Last week’s Haftorah had some beautiful words of comfort and encouragement. The Haftorah of Noach also comes from Yeshayahu’s Pirkei Nechama, chapters of hope and comfort, offering very specific comfort for very specific fears, fears that we identify with all too well.
The comfort that Yeshayahu offers refers to Noach:
“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 )
What kind of comfort is this? It appears to be giving an answer without stating the question, so the Midrash fills it in, Jeopardy-like:
Israel said to G-d, “Master of the Universe! Hasn’t Jerusalem been rebuilt and destroyed again?” G-d said, “Because of your sins it was destroyed and you were exiled, but in the future, I will build her and I will not destroy her, ever!” (Midrash Tanchuma Noach 11)
The Midrash describes the Jewish People worrying that history will repeat itself, perhaps like this:
“How do we know that it won’t happen again? We’ve never lasted more than 75 years without some terrible conflict that led to our destruction, maybe we can’t help ourselves, maybe there is no hope for us, and we’re not meant to live together…”
G-d answers by referring to the promise He made to Noach. Just as G-d swore to Noach that no matter how badly humankind disappoints Him, He will not destroy the entire world, but will rather find other ways to deal with them, so too, He swears to the Jewish People not to destroy us, no matter how badly we disappoint Him.
I am not a prophet, but I teach what our prophets have said. Earlier this year, I taught a different Haftorah, the Haftorah of Shabbat Parah, which says, “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” (Yechezkel 36:26). I taught this class after I came back from the funeral of Ilan Ganeles, hy”d, the nephew of our good friends, who was shot in cold blood by terrorists. Wiping away tears, I told those who had joined from halfway across the world, that this is what it feels like for G-d to teach us not to harden our hearts towards each other. If He wants us to have a “heart of flesh”, then we will indeed have a heart of flesh, whatever it takes.
I am not a prophet. But I learned that a prophet’s job is to defend the Jewish People before G-d. I am not a prophet, but this Rosh Hashana, when I knelt before G-d, I asked that the cost of “whatever it takes” not be too high. I am not a prophet, so I was not answered.
But now a month has passed, and the Haftorah has more to tell us, so I will try again.
“In a foam of fury, I hid My face but for a moment from you,
but with eternal commitment I will show mercy to you” (Yeshayahu 54: 8 )
Living here in Israel for the past 26 years, I have gotten used to miracles. (My children serve in the army, I saw how the sausage is made: outright miracles, no question.) For one day, for just a moment, the miracles were taken away, and the monsters came through our gates. Just one day.
But with eternal commitment I will show mercy to you –
Is it time for mercy now?
We said on Rosh Hashana, and on Yom Kippur, “Teshuva, Tefilla, and Tzedaka avert an evil decree.” The decree of that one day was not averted, but what about what happens next? We’ve already imagined the kind of holiday we will make out of this one (will we all make Rachel’s cookies?) when it is over. But it is not yet over.
One doesn’t have to be a prophet to defend the Jewish People. So let’s see how we are doing:
Teshuva: a meme went around saying, “To our enemies, I just want you to know, whatever you thought you were trying to accomplish, all you’ve done is make the Jewish people love each other more than they ever have in their entire lives” @HeimishHumor
All the horrible things we said about each other have proven wrong, are gone, meaningless, never happened, how could we even have thought them. The same groups of people who made each other feel that they have no share in this land, no share in its flag, no share in its future, the very same ones shared everything, their very lives, for each other, for all of us. We said those things? No, that couldn’t have been us, we would never make our brothers feel like that – we feed them and clothe them and play with their children, we cry at their funerals and dance at their weddings.
Tefilla: people reaching out from abroad, singing Acheinu Kol Beit Yisrael all over the world, people who dust off their Tefillin to bind themselves to us… Chanan ben Ari and Yishai Ribo and Idan Reichels, in hospitals and weddings and among the survivors, singing their songs which become our prayers.
Tzedaka: a million shekels raised in one day to rebuild Kibbutz Nir Oz, 2 million dollars raised in one day for supplies, sponsorships of hundreds of flights for reservists to get back home to serve. That’s just a sample, things I happened to have seen with my own eyes. A drop of what is being done, by the entire Jewish People, all over the world, all at once.
Perhaps we’re not such a disappointment after all.
And here is the part that I didn’t expect. Many people have been telling these stories, of courage and sacrifice, of unbounded giving, of creativity and laughter harnessed with love, and they point out that there is no leadership. Not from the right, not from the left, not from religious leaders, not from political leaders. We are doing this ourselves, and please, they say, just stay out of our way!
I ask myself, has that ever happened before? Have we ever bypassed our leaders and made them follow us, sheepishly, serving us knowing that they do not deserve us? Nothing in our history – ancient, medieval, or modern – has quite the same tone.
It is as if we have a direct line to what He wants us to do, that our hearts of flesh hear His voice and we do it because it is crystal clear.
The Haftorah hints at that, too:
“All your children will be taught by Hashem;
great will be the peace of your children” (Yeshayahu 54: 13)
All of us, every one, are being taught by Hashem Himself, so that we can bring ultimate peace – peace from our enemies, peace within ourselves, as we see in each other the values that we need to build this beautiful nation. And our hopes and dreams for ourselves are there, too, in the Haftorah:
“You will be established in righteousness,
you will be distanced from oppression,
as you will have no reason to fear;
and from terror,
as it will not come near you. “ (Yeshayahu 54: 14)
I am not a prophet, but Yeshayahu is.
Amen, ken yehi ratzon….