The Haftarah of Behar is from Yirmeyahu, and takes place in the last few months before Jerusalem is destroyed.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Behar
The connection is obvious, as it describes Yirmeyahu fulfilling a commandment listed in Parshat Behar. But the basis for that commandment and the basis for the prophecy of comfort wind up being the same.
Filed under Behar, Sefer Vayikra
In Parshat Behar, the Torah severely limits certain types of real estate transactions. A person may only sell his ancestral lands if he really cannot support himself and has no other option. If this does happen, the person who buys the land cannot have too much invested in it; he might be asked to sell it back to the owner or to the family; if that happens, he may not refuse. Even if nobody from the family is able to come up with the money to redeem the land, the seller will anyway have to give it up at the next Yovel, 50th Jubilee, when all lands revert to their original families.
The Torah explains why G-d limits the rights to buy and sell land freely:
וְהָאָרֶץ לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי:
The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is Mine, for you are tenants and residents with Me. (VaYikra 35:23)
The land belongs to G-d, and He can legislate and regulate the market however He pleases.
In the Haftarah, Yirmeyahu is asked to redeem land about to be sold by his cousin. Yirmeyahu does so, and makes sure that the sale is performed in accordance with every detail of Torah law, and is fully documented. This would not be in any way remarkable or worth recording in the Tanach, except for the fact that it took place only months before the capture of Yehudah by the Babylonians and the destruction of the Temple, while Yirmeyahu was himself in jail for the treason of prophesying about this destruction. This sale is a prophetic act and comes with an explicit message:
כִּי כֹה אָמַר ה’ צְבָא-וֹת אֱ-לֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל עוֹד יִקָּנוּ בָתִּים וְשָׂדוֹת וּכְרָמִים בָּאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת:
For so said Hashem Tzva-ot the G-d of Israel: “Houses, fields, and vineyards will yet be bought in this land.” (Yirmeyahu 32:15)
This is a beautiful message, full of hope. Yes, the destruction is imminent and in the short term, the deed to this land that Yirmeyahu just purchased is entirely worthless. But one day, there will again be people buying and selling land, and life will go back to normal.
While this is clearly meant to bring comfort and hope, Yirmeyahu gets upset. He turns to G-d and says, roughly, “G-d. You run the world. You took the Jewish People out of Egypt and chose them to be Your people. You gave them this land, and now, because they have been an utter failure at Your mission, You are about to throw them off this land. They are already dying of starvation under siege, more will die in the sacking of the city, and the survivors will be taken into slavery and exile. And you want me to get excited about a real estate deal?!”
It would be as if someone were to go into the Warsaw Ghetto, as people are dying in the streets and the transports to the concentration camps have begun, and tell them, “Don’t worry, I bought land in Tel Aviv, one day it will be worth a lot of money.”
Yirmeyahu does not feel that this is comforting. Yirmeyahu also does not feel that the current situation reflects well on G-d’s influence on history. If He is the owner of the land, and the land is about to be conquered, how will He remain the owner? And of what? A desert? Malaria swamps? So when Yirmeyahu addresses G-d, he says:
הָאֵל הַגָּדוֹל הַגִּבּוֹר G-d who is great, and mighty; (Yirmeyahu 32:18)
He does not say, as Moshe did, “G-d who is great and mighty and awe-inspiring”. The Midrash (Yoma 69b) comments on this omission:
אתא ירמיה ואמר: נכרים מקרקרין בהיכלו, איה נוראותיו? לא אמר נורא.
Yirmeyahu came and said, “Foreigners are about to be prancing about in His palace, where is His awe?” He would not say “awe-inspiring”.
Sitting in jail in Jerusalem under siege, Yirmeyahu could not bring himself to say that G-d is all that awe-inspiring. The Babylonians surely are not showing any awe.
It wasn’t only Yirmeyahu who couldn’t bring himself to say that full sentence. A generation later, Daniel says:
אָנָּא אֲ-דֹנָי הָאֵל הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא –
Oh, Hashem, G-d who is great and awe-inspiring (Daniel 9:4)
The Midrash explains Daniel’s phrasing:
אתא דניאל, אמר: נכרים משתעבדים בבניו, איה גבורותיו? לא אמר גבור.
Daniel came and said, “Foreigners have enslaved His children, where is His might?” He did not say “mighty”.
The Midrash continues by asking an important question about Yirmeyahu and Daniel:
ורבנן היכי עבדי הכי ועקרי תקנתא דתקין משה!?
But how could they have come and uprooted Moshe’s formulation ?!
If Moshe said, “G-d who is great and mighty and awe-inspiring”, then that must be the way to address G-d. How could Yirmeyahu and Daniel have changed that formula?
אמר רבי אלעזר: מתוך שיודעין בהקדוש ברוך הוא שאמתי הוא, לפיכך לא כיזבו בו.
R’ Elazar said, because they knew about Hashem that He is truthful, and therefore, they did not lie about Him.
Yirmeyahu and Daniel could not use Moshe’s formulation because it contradicted their experience of G-d in this world, and you don’t lie about G-d.
Yirmeyahu did not have personal experience of Geulah, of redemption. He knew, as a prophet, that G-d said that this exile would last only seventy years. He knew, as a prophet, that G-d said that one day life would go back to normal and mundane things such as real estate transactions would take place again. But it is one thing to know it in theory, and a completely other thing to know it from experience. Yirmeyahu’s experience in this Haftarah is of deepening darkness and impending destruction. He could not see the light of redemption, even though he was told that it would come. He did not find it comforting to hear, “Fields will yet be bought in this land”, when he would not live to see the field he just bought.
So how is it that we now say in our prayers, “G-d who is great, and mighty, and awe-inspiring”? Are we lying about G-d?
The Men of the Great Assembly, the rabbis who gathered together during the time of the Second Temple, after prophecy ended, found a way to have this phrase reflect their experience of G-d:
אתו אינהו ואמרו: אדרבה, זו היא גבורת גבורתו שכובש את יצרו, שנותן ארך אפים לרשעים. ואלו הן נוראותיו שאלמלא מוראו של הקדוש ברוך הוא היאך אומה אחת יכולה להתקיים בין האומות?
They came and said, “On the contrary! This is His might, that He overcomes His own wishes, by having patience for the evildoers. This is His awe, for if not for the fear of G-d, how could one nation survive among all the nations?”
The Men of the Great Assembly, having lived through the exile and the redemption, and having been a part of the first Return to Zion, saw things differently than Yirmeyahu and Daniel. They redefined G-d’s power to include situations whose effects are not immediately visible. G-d has power over all the nations, even if you can’t see it just yet. He protects the Jewish People, even if it looks like He has forgotten us completely. He is still the owner of the land, and He will not let it be given over to strangers indefinitely.
The Haftarah of Behar has indeed brought comfort for the Jewish People throughout the centuries.
We have waited for a long time to see these words come to pass, and now that they have, we must not forget how incredible it is that there is a vibrant and flourishing real estate market in the Land of Israel.
הִנֵּה אֲנִי ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵי כָּל בָּשָׂר הֲמִמֶּנִּי יִפָּלֵא כָּל דָּבָר
I am Hashem, the G-d of all mankind.
Is anything too incredible for Me? (Yirmeyahu 32:27)
Real Estate prices in Petach Tikvah – a town whose name means: “The beginning of hope”
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Behar, Connections, Sefer Vayikra
The Haftarah of Emor, from Yechezkel, describes the role of the Cohanim and the additional commandments that apply only to them.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Emor
The source in the Torah for those commandments is the Parsha, Parshat Emor.
It is so obvious what the connection between the Haftarah and the Parsha must be that it actually makes it difficult to say anything meaningful about it. True, one could discuss the differences in the details of the commandments in the Torah vs. those presented by the prophet Yechezkel, but interesting though that may be, it does not in fact shed any light on the Parsha itself.
But this does: Sanctity and Continuity
Filed under Emor, Sefer Vayikra
Parshat Emor and the Haftarah of Emor both discuss the commandments and restrictions that apply to Cohanim, the hereditary priesthood of the Jewish People.
The Haftarah of Emor describes in detail the role that the Cohanim will have at the time of the Final Redemption. It reviews their service in the Temple and the additional restrictions that the Torah places on them both during their service and in their personal life. It describes their responsibilities to the Jewish People outside the Temple, such as teaching Torah and adjudicating Halachic issues, and it lists some of the responsibilities of the Jewish People to them, such as the gifts of Challah (first bread) and Bikurim (first fruit).
According to Parshat Emor, the additional commandments are what imparts upon the Cohanim the additional level of sanctity required for service in the Mikdash (Sanctuary). Among the verses that are addressed to them, we find the following commandment addressed to the Jewish People as a whole:
וְקִדַּשְׁתּוֹ כִּי אֶת לֶחֶם אֱלֹהֶיךָ הוּא מַקְרִיב קָדֹשׁ יִהְיֶה לָּךְ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי ה’ מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם:
You will make him sacred, because he offers up the bread of your G-d; he shall be sacred to you, for sacred am I, Hashem, who makes you sacred. (VaYikra 21:8)
As we have learned in previous Parshot, such as Kedoshim, what makes someone sacred is that they act differently than the people around them. The Jewish People have a very long list of commandments; consequently, there is an expectation that the Jewish People will have a higher level of sanctity relative to other nations. Likewise, G-d gave the Cohanim additional commandments to differentiate them from the rest of Israel, with an even higher level of sanctity. But if it is G-d who makes them sacred, as per the end of the verse, what does it mean when the very same verse says, “you will make them sacred”? In what way are we, the Jewish People, able to make the Cohanim sacred?
Rashi, distilling several Midrashim into a handful of words, explains:
וקדשתו – על כרחו, שאם לא רצה לגרש, הלקהו ויסרהו עד שיגרש:
You make him sacred: by force. If he does not wish to divorce his (illegal) wife, punish him until he does so. (Rashi Vayikra 21:8)
One might think that if a Cohen married a divorcee, which is explicitly forbidden in the Torah, then he made a personal choice, and while he may have done something wrong, it does not affect Jewish society as a whole. However, the Torah says: “You must make him sacred”: the responsibility to observe the laws that are unique to Cohanim is theirs, but the responsibility to enforce them is ours.
The verse continues and says: “he shall be sacred to you”. That, too, is not a mere platitude, but is expressed through action. Rashi explains:
קדש יהיה לך – נהוג בו קדושה לפתוח ראשון בכל דבר ולברך ראשון בסעודה:
He shall be sacred to you: treat him as sacred, to speak first in every situation, and to be first to make the blessings at meals. (Rashi Vayikra 21:8)
Our responsibility to keep the Cohanim sacred is expressed through the preferred treatment that we show them. Therefore, the Cohen gets the first Aliya to the Torah, and he is the first to be asked to lead Birkat HaMazon after meals. This is not much to ask; we are not obligated to defer to them in politics or business or even Torah. But this little bit is enough to embed their special status in the culture and consciousness of the Jewish People.
One might have thought that once the Temple was destroyed and the primary role of the Cohanim, to bring the offerings to Hashem, was no longer a part of Jewish life, that the sanctity of the Cohanim would disappear as well. But this has not been the case. More than three thousand years after this commandment was given, the Cohanim are still distinct among the Jewish People. This remarkable persistence is due to the sanctity of the additional commandments that the Cohanim were given, and due to the deference that the Jewish People have continued to show them. As commanded, we have made them sacred.
Ultimately, we will reach the stage of redemption described in the Haftarah, where we once again have a Temple, and need Cohanim to serve there:
הֵמָּה יָבֹאוּ אֶל מִקְדָּשִׁי וְהֵמָּה יִקְרְבוּ אֶל שֻׁלְחָנִי לְשָׁרְתֵנִי וְשָׁמְרוּ אֶת מִשְׁמַרְתִּי:
They will enter into My sanctuary, and they will come near My table to serve Me, and they will keep My charge. (Yechezkel 44:116)
At that time, there will still be Cohanim, distinct and sacred among the Jewish People.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Connections, Emor, Sefer Vayikra
The custom is to read the Haftarah of Acharei-Mot whenever Acharei-Mot and Kedoshim are read together, and whenever Acharei-Mot was pre-empted by another Haftarah, such as Machar Chodesh or Shabbat HaGadol. Since it is very rare for this not to happen, (2024 is the next time), it is read almost invariably on the same Shabbat as Kedoshim. It is even listed in Chumashim as the Haftarah of Kedoshim.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Kedoshim
But to understand the connection, you really need to look at both Acharei-Mot and Kedoshim, like so:
Filed under Kedoshim
The Haftarah begins with the following question:
`הֲלוֹא כִבְנֵי כֻשִׁיִּים אַתֶּם לִי בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְאֻם ה’
“Aren’t you like the sons of the Nubians to me, sons of Israel?” says Hashem. (Amos 9:7)
It appears that G-d is implying that the Jewish People are just like anyone else, and that exotic foreign nations at the edge of civilization have as much claim on Him as we do. The Haftarah then goes on to say how Israel will be destroyed for its sins, and the Jewish People exiled and dispersed throughout the world.
It is not unusual for the Tanach criticize the Jewish People. But after reading the Parsha of Kedoshim, which lists dozens and dozens of commandments of morality unique to the Jewish People, and sets very high standards for our actions, to then read, “Eh, you might as well be Nubian for all I care,” is a little harsh.
However, this Haftarah is technically not the Haftarah of Kedoshim. It is actually the Haftarah read for the combined Parsha of Acharei-Mot/Kedoshim . The Haftarah tells us to look at the two Parshot as a single unit. Doing so creates a different picture, one that correlates much better with the Haftarah.
Chapter 18 in Acharei-Mot and Chapter 20 in Kedoshim have very similar structure and content. They each contain a list of forbidden incestuous relations, and each ends with a warning that it was this type of immorality that caused the previous inhabitants of the Land of Israel to lose their right to live there. Acharei Mot and Kedoshim use similar phrases to refer to the nations that had lived in the land, and the reaction of the land to their behavior:
Acharei-Mot:
(כד) אַל תִּטַּמְּאוּ בְּכָל אֵלֶּה כִּי בְכָל אֵלֶּה נִטְמְאוּ הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ מִפְּנֵיכֶם:
(כה) וַתִּטְמָא הָאָרֶץ וָאֶפְקֹד עֲוֹנָהּ עָלֶיהָ
וַתָּקִא הָאָרֶץ אֶת יֹשְׁבֶיהָ
(כו) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אַתֶּם אֶת חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת מִשְׁפָּטַי וְלֹא תַעֲשׂוּ מִכֹּל הַתּוֹעֵבֹת הָאֵלֶּה הָאֶזְרָח וְהַגֵּר הַגָּר בְּתוֹכְכֶם:
24) Do not defile through all of these, since the nations that I am throwing out before you defiled themselves through these.
25) The land became defiled, and I commanded that its sin be paid; thus the land spewed out its inhabitants.
26) You must keep My laws and My commandments, and not do any of these disgusting things; citizen and resident among you. (VaYikra 18)
Kedoshim:
(כב) וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת כָּל חֻקֹּתַי וְאֶת כָּל מִשְׁפָּטַי וַעֲשִׂיתֶם אֹתָם וְלֹא תָקִיא אֶתְכֶם הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לָשֶׁבֶת בָּהּ:
(כג) וְלֹא תֵלְכוּ בְּחֻקֹּת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מְשַׁלֵּחַ מִפְּנֵיכֶם כִּי אֶת כָּל אֵלֶּה עָשׂוּ וָאָקֻץ בָּם:
(כד) וָאֹמַר לָכֶם אַתֶּם תִּירְשׁוּ אֶת אַדְמָתָם וַאֲנִי אֶתְּנֶנָּה לָכֶם לָרֶשֶׁת אֹתָהּ אֶרֶץ זָבַת חָלָב וּדְבָשׁ אֲנִי ה’ אֱ-לֹהֵיכֶם אֲשֶׁר הִבְדַּלְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הָעַמִּים:
22) You must keep all My laws and all My commandments, and do them; then the land that I am bringing you to live there will not spew you out.
23) And you will not follow the laws of the nation which I am throwing out before you; for they did all of these things and I rejected them.
24) I said do you, you will inherit their land, and I will give it to you to inherit, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Hashem your G-d, who separated you from all other nations. (Vayikra 20)
Based on these verses which appear both Parshot, we have the following information:
• The nations that lived in the Land of Israel before us behaved in a way that G-d found unacceptable. In particular, their concept of incest was not consistent with G-d’s intentions for His world.
• The Land of Israel, as an almost sentient entity, cannot tolerate this particular behavior. It cannot allow a society that acts in this manner to exist within its borders, and must “spew them out”.
• G-d has set apart the Jewish People and given us a set of laws that is different from those of the previous inhabitants in the Land. Our continued presence in the land is contingent upon us following these laws.
The message of Acharei-Mot/Kedoshim is that our uniqueness has a purpose.G-d chose us and gave us His Torah so that our actions would be different from those of other nations. Therefore, if we repeat what they have done, then we have no claim on a special relationship with G-d, and no claim on the Land of Israel. As the Haftarah puts it, “you might as well be Nubians.”
The converse is also true:
וכי כושיים שמן? והלא ישראל שמן! אלא: מה כושי משונה בעורו – אף ישראל משונין במעשיהן מכל האומות.
“You are Nubians to Me” – What, their name is “Nubian”? No, their name is “Israel”. So why are they called “Nubian”? Just as an Nubian has distinctive skin, so too, Israel’s actions are distinctive from all other nations. (Talmud Mo’ed Katan 16b)
This Midrash does not read the verse, “You are Nubians to Me,” as a sarcastic dismissal of the Jewish People. Instead, it sees it as an affirmation of the source of our uniqueness. The distinctiveness of the Jewish People is found in our actions, in the way we structure our society. Our values are not based on the mores of the corrupt cultures that surround us, they are based on G-d’s Torah.
The Haftarah, too, ends on a positive note, describing our land overflowing with abundance:
הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים נְאֻם ה’ … וְהִטִּיפוּ הֶהָרִים עָסִיס וְכָל הַגְּבָעוֹת תִּתְמוֹגַגְנָה:וְשַׁבְתִּי אֶת שְׁבוּת עַמִּי יִשְׂרָאֵל וּבָנוּ עָרִים נְשַׁמּוֹת וְיָשָׁבוּ ….וּנְטַעְתִּים עַל אַדְמָתָם וְלֹא יִנָּתְשׁוּ עוֹד מֵעַל אַדְמָתָם אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם אָמַר ה’ אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ:
Now the days are coming, says Hashem… the mountains will drip with juice,
and all the hills will be lush…. I will return the remnant of My people, Israel, and they will build desolate cities and live in them… I will plant them in their land, and they will never again be uprooted from their land that I have given them, says Hashem …” (Amos 9:13-15)
The Haftarah tells us that the Jewish People are capable of living up to the standards set in Acharei-Mot/Kedoshim. Ultimately, we will be worthy of living in the “land flowing with milk and honey.”
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Connections, Kedoshim
Shabbat HaGadol is the Shabbat before Pesach, and it has a special Haftarah, the last chapter of Malachi.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat HaGadol.
There are many connections to explore between Pesach and the Haftarah – the role of Eliyahu, the meaning of G-d’s protection, the importance of Ma’aser. But the one I chose is my favorite Midrash of all time, which is based on a verse in the Haftarah.
Shabbat HaGadol – “Who will write for us?”
Happy Pesach!
Filed under Shabbat HaGadol, Special Shabbatot
One of the reasons that the Shabbat before Pesach is known as Shabbat HaGadol, “the Great Shabbat”, is that this is the day that the Jewish People performed the very first commandment that was given to them as a nation. It was on that day, Shabbat, 10th of Nissan, that they took the lambs for the Pesach sacrifice into their homes. It marked the transition between the era of the Avot, forefathers, of individuals who do G-d’s will, to the era of the Jewish Nation, an entire people who do G-d’s will.
The Haftarah of Shabbat HaGadol is taken from the last chapter in the section of the Tanach known as “Ne’vi’im”, Prophets. It also marks a transition, the transition from the era of prophets to the era of Torah. The last time that G-d addresses the Jewish People through a prophet, He says:
זִכְרוּ תּוֹרַת מֹשֶׁה עַבְדִּי אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִי אוֹתוֹ בְחֹרֵב עַל כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל חֻקִּים וּמִשְׁפָּטִים:
Remember the Torah of My servant Moshe, that I commanded to him in Chorev for all of Israel, the laws and the statutes. (Malachi 3:22)
We no longer have prophecy, but the Torah that G-d gave Moshe, with all its laws and statutes, is enough for us to know what G-d wants us to do.
Still, the lack of prophecy is a great loss to the Jewish People. When we had prophets, our leaders could ask God for direction in handling political and military events. When we had prophets, we didn’t have to wonder if something was “good for the Jews” or “bad for the Jews,” and if the answer was “no,” we would know why. When we had prophets, they would identify the individuals whose lives had an impact on the Jewish People, and record their deeds in the Tanach. Now that prophecy is gone, and the Tanach is sealed, perhaps it is no longer possible for individuals to affect the course of Jewish history and for our actions to matter on a prophetic level.
The following Midrash suggests otherwise:
א”ר יצחק בר מריון בא הכתוב ללמדך שאם אדם עושה מצוה יעשנה בלבב שלם. שאלו היה ראובן יודע שהקב”ה מכתיב עליו (בראשית ל”ז) וישמע ראובן ויצילהו מידם בכתפו היה מוליכו אצל אביו. ואילו היה יודע אהרן שהקב”ה מכתיב עליו (שמות ד’) הנה הוא יוצא לקראת, תופים ובמחולות היה יוצא לקראתו. ואלו היה יודע בעז שהקב”ה מכתיב עליו ויצבט לה קלי ותאכל ותשבע ותותר,עגלות מפוטמות היה מאכילה. ר’ כהן ור’ יהושע דסכנין בשם ר’ לוי לשעבר היה אדם עושה מצוה והנביא כותבה ועכשיו כשאדם עושה מצוה מי כותבה אליהו כותבה ומלך המשיח והקדוש ב”ה חותם על ידיהם הה”ד (מלאכי ג’) אז נדברו יראי ה’ איש אל רעהו וגו’. (רות רבה ה’)
An expanded translation of the Midrash:
R’ Yitzchak bar Meryon said: The text comes to teach you that if a person does a Mitzvah, he should do it with his whole heart.
When Yosef went to meet his brothers and they decided to kill him, Reuven managed to protect Yosef from being murdered. He did not do enough to prevent him being sold into slavery, yet the Torah records: “Reuven saved his life”. If Reuven had known that G-d would dictate this to be written, he would have picked up Yosef and carried him on his shoulders back to his father.
When Moshe was negotiating with G-d about his role in the Exodus, one of the obstacles to his accepting the position of the leader of the Jewish People was his fear of displacing his brother Aharon. G-d tells him, “He is coming, and when he sees you, he will be happy in his heart.” If Aharon had known that G-d would dictate this to be written, he would have come out with a marching band to show how truly happy he is to have Moshe back, and to have him lead the Jewish People out of slavery.
When Boaz met Ruth for the first time, and was impressed with her character and loyalty, he made sure that she did not go hungry, and it says: “he gave her toasted wheat.” If he had know that G-d would dictate this to be written, he would have fed her stuffed veal.
They did not know at the time that what they were doing was anything out of the ordinary, but from the point of view of prophecy, their deeds were valuable enough to be recorded in the Tanach. Thus, concludes R’ Yitzchak b’ Meryon, one should always do all good deeds to the utmost, because one never knows what is being recorded, what has eternal meaning.
But then, the Midrash presents a challenge in the name of R’ Levi: “In the past, a person would do a Mitzvah, and the prophet would write it. Now, a person does a Mitzvah, who writes it?” If prophecy is over, then our deeds are not recorded at all. Perhaps they have less meaning than the deeds of those who lived at the time of prophecy.
He answers by referencing the Haftarah:
אָז נִדְבְּרוּ יִרְאֵי ה’ אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ וַיַּקְשֵׁב ה’ וַיִּשְׁמָע וַיִּכָּתֵב סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן לְפָנָיו לְיִרְאֵי ה’ וּלְחֹשְׁבֵי שְׁמוֹ:
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם ה’ הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא:
“Then those who fear Hashem speak to each other; Hashem pays attention, and hears. He writes a book of remembrance before Him, for those who fear Hashem, and care about His name…. I am sending to you the prophet Eliyahu, in advance of the coming of the Day of Hashem, the great and dreadful.” (Malachi 3:16, 23)
R’ Levi says: “If a person does a Mitzvah, who writes it? Eliyahu and the King Moshiach, and G-d signs it.”
Jewish history is not over just because prophecy is over. Our actions still matter, they are still being written. Eliyahu, the prophet who never quite died, represents the eternity of the connection between G-d and the Jewish People, regardless of historical circumstances and eras. The Midrash asserts that throughout the generations, our deeds have mattered. Eliyahu has been writing them down, as the eternal historian of the eternal people. One day, there will be another transition to another era, where we will have an even greater level of prophecy than ever before. Eliyahu will lead us to it, and he will also show us what he has been writing down all these centuries.
And then, we too will see which of our ordinary everyday actions had eternal meaning.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Connections, Shabbat HaGadol, Special Shabbatot
This Shabbat is the last of the four special Shabbatot. We read Parshat HaChodesh that relates the commandment of Rosh Chodesh and of the first Pesach, and the Haftarah is of from Yechezkel, describing the dedication of the final Temple.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat HaChodesh
There are so many interesting ideas that the Haftarah brings up in connection with Rosh Chodesh Nissan, and Rosh Chodesh Nissan itself is such an interesting date, it was hard to find just one thing to focus on. So perhaps some day in the future I will write about whether the world was created in Nissan or Tishrei and what difference it makes, and about the Gates of the East and the return to Gan Eden. This time I wrote about the 1st of Tishrei as the New Year for kings.
This is also a chance to summarize the 4 special Shabbatot that prepare us for the season of national independence and achievement:
May this season bring only good news and joy to the entire Jewish People, wherever they may be.
Filed under Shabbat HaChodesh, Special Shabbatot
Shabbat HaChodesh is the fourth and last of the special Shabbatot, the Shabbat immediately preceding Rosh Chodesh Nissan.
On Shabbat HaChodesh we read Parshat HaChodesh, the very first commandment that G-d gave to all of Israel as a nation[1]:
(א) וַיֹּאמֶר ה’ אֶל מֹשֶׁה וְאֶל אַהֲרֹן בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם לֵאמֹר:
(ב) הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם רֹאשׁ חֳדָשִׁים רִאשׁוֹן הוּא לָכֶם לְחָדְשֵׁי הַשָּׁנָה:
1) Hashem said to Moshe and to Aharon, in the Land of Egypt, as follows:
2) This month will be for you the first of months, it will be the first for you among the months of the year. (Shemot 12)
Not only was this the first commandment that Israel was given as a nation, it is this commandment that made Israel a nation in the first place. In the ancient world, what distinguished a nation from a bunch of tribes was that nations had kings. The Jewish People in exile were still just a large family, a dozen tribes. By giving us commandments, G-d made Himself our king, and made us a nation.
The 1st of Nissan is associated with kings in Halacha. When listing the various new years in our calendar, the Mishna states:
ארבעה ראשי שנים הם באחד בניסן ראש השנה למלכים ולרגלים :
There are four new years: 1st of Nissan is the new year for kings and for holidays (Mishna, Rosh Hashana 1:1)
What is a “new year for kings?” In the times of the Tanach, people would date their documents based on the reign of the current king, eg: “in the 2nd year of the King Yehoshafat.” The year was incremented not on the date of the coronation of that king, but rather on the 1st of Nissan. Let’s say King Yehoshafat had been crowned during Adar; starting with the 1st of Nissan of that year, we would start dating our documents as the 2nd year to his reign, even though he had only been king for a month.
The “coronation date” of the Jewish People is not the coronation date of a particular human king, like all other nations. Instead, it is the date that we accepted G-d as our king and became a nation, the date when G-d gave us our first commandment: the 1st of Nissan.
The Haftarah of HaChodesh describes the dedication ceremony of the final Temple, which begins on the 1st of Nissan[2]. It talks about the offerings that will be made on that day, in particular, by the leader of the Jewish People, whom Yechezkel calls “nassi.”[3] Surprisingly, the Haftarah begins a few verses before the description of the dedication ceremony, and ends a few verses later. Those extra verses refer to a seemingly unrelated topic: the laws that limit the power of the leader of the Jewish People.
This “nassi” has an important role, especially in the dedication of the final Temple: he must collect the taxes, and he must represent the people in bringing their offerings. He is shown respect: certain gates are opened especially for him, and he is allowed to use certain passages that others are not. But the Haftarah states explicitly that these privileges are only given to him when he is actively representing the nation. When he comes to the Temple as a private person, as an individual, he does not get any special treatment.
The Haftarah goes out of its way to point out that the leader of Israel, whether he be called “king”, or “nassi”, is given power only to the extent that he serves the nation. He represents them, he organizes them, he leads them, but he does not truly rule them. It is not his authority that defines them as a nation. Their years are not dated from the beginning of his reign, but from the beginning of G-d’s reign – the date of the first commandment given to Israel.
The nation of Israel may have many new years, but we have only One King.
PDF for printing, 2 pages
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
[1] Avraham’s commandment of Brit Milah was given to him as an individual and the head of a family.
[2] The Mishkan’s dedication ceremony was also on the 1st of the 1st.
[3] “Nassi”, which is used in modern Hebrew to mean president. It is sometimes translated as “prince”, but a prince in English connotes the child of a king. It literally means, “one who is raised”, as in “his highness”, or in the case of the Jewish People, “first among equals”. Which is why I went with “president”.
Filed under Connections, Shabbat HaChodesh, Special Shabbatot
