DEVARIM — CHAZON
Yeshaya 1:1–27
Corrective Reprimand
This week’s Haftarah completes the three-week series regarding the Jewish people’s exile and the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash. This final reading contains the severest words of reprimand that any prophet ever delivered to the Jewish people. Yet, through the Jewish nation’s reflection on these words in Shir Hashirim as “My beloved is knocking, please open,” (Shir Hashirim 5:2) we can refer even to this harsh reading as my beloved calling to me.
Admonished on Every Account
Yeshaya Hanavi compared the Jewish people’s immoral conduct to that of the infamously inhabitants of Sedom and Amorah! He continued and declared their behavior worse than that of domesticated animals that at least show appreciation for their provider. Yeshaya summed up the Jewish people’s ethical state in the following terms, “Ho sinful nation, a people heavy in iniquity…corrupt children [who] forsook Hashem [and] angered Israel’s Holy One… Why should you continue to be beaten [if you only] increase straying?” (1:4-5) Yeshaya indicated with those words that after all the Jewish people’s punishment and hardship they did not even attempt to rectify their faults! He then concentrated on their Bais Hamikdash service and attacked them on that account, as well. He expressed Hashem’s displeasure with their service and said, “When you come to see Me, who asked you to trample My courtyard? Do not continue bringing useless meal offerings; [your] incense abhors Me. [As for your] Rosh Chodesh and Shabbos gatherings, I cannot tolerate the falsehood [in your minds that accompanies you] while you gather [before Me]. I despise your festival and Rosh Chodesh [offerings]…” (1:12-14) The Jewish people practiced Judaism, but, apparently, lacked any level of sincerity when doing so. They assembled in the Bais Hamikdash during holiday seasons, but they did not devote themselves to Hashem. Hashem considered their pilgrimages purposeless and refused to tolerate their standing in His Presence. Yeshaya concluded his first segment and stated, “When you stretch out your hands [in supplication], I will ignore you; even when you increase prayer I do not listen [because] your hands are full of blood.” (1:15) Those final words expressed Hashem’s total rejection of His people. He, seemingly, closed the doors on them and lost all interest in relating to them.
A Sudden Reversal
Suddenly, Hashem changed His tone in the fullest way and beckoned the Jewish People to repent. He said, “Cleanse yourselves; purify yourselves; remove your wrongdoings from before My eyes…judge the orphans; defend the widows.” Hashem then extended the Jewish people a warm, open invitation and said, “Let us go now and debate… if your sins are likened to scarlet, they will be whitened like snow; if they are red like deep crimson, they will be like white wool. If you consent and listen, you will eat the goodness of the land.” (1:18-20)
These verses reflect a sharp reversal in Hashem’s approach to His people. Moments earlier, He expressed total disinterest in them, refused to tolerate their insincerity, and pledged to sever all lines of communication with them. Yet, He followed and beckoned them to return and even offered to cleanse them from sin and brighten their actions like glistening snowflakes?! Why did Hashem suddenly deviate from His sharp tone of reprimand? After expressing words of total rejection to His people, what outstanding merit did He find in them that warranted His sudden warm invitation?
Hashem’s Rebuke: Voice of My Beloved
We can attempt to understand this perplexing issue through Rashi’s insightful comment on the Jewish nation’s recollection of their final years. Shlomo Hamelech in Shir Hashirim captured the Jewish people’s sense of their final days before their traumatic exile from their homeland. They recalled their supreme privilege of hearing words of prophecy during those last years and exclaimed, “I am asleep, but my heart is awake.” (Shir Hashirim 5:2)
Their first word “asleep” reflected their shameful indifference towards Hashem, but what did their concluding words that their “heart is awake” mean? Rashi explains them in the following manner. The Jewish people admitted that they had fallen into a deep slumber and lost interest in serving Hashem. “But”, they proclaimed, “our heart, namely Hashem, was always full of interest to guard them and bestow His goodness on them.” (Rashi on Shir Hashirim, 5:2)
They continued and said accordingly, “The voice of my beloved is knocking, ‘Open for me My dearest spouse’”. (Shir Hashirim 5:2) As we learned from last week’s Haftarah, even during their final years, Hashem continued sending prophets to His children every day to awaken them. In effect, Hashem pleaded with His beloved children during their last years, not to force Him to part with them. When reflecting on those messages the Jewish nation compare Hashem to one who went during the night and knocked on his beloved’s door and said, “Because of your endearment to me I came in the rain to be with you!” (Rashi ad loc)
Those heartwarming words reveal a shocking perspective on the Jewish people’s appreciation of Hashem. When reflecting on their previous relationship with Him, they fondly remember His desperate attempts to awaken them. Although at that point, He sent them the sharpest words of rebuke, in retrospect they refer to them as the voice of their beloved calling out to his dearest spouse and saying, please don’t force me to leave you!
Piercing Words: Hashem’s Wake-Up Call
These astonishing words show that even Hashem’s horrific words of reprimand reflected His unconditional love and concern for His people. Although they had become indifferent with Him, He did not reduce His feelings for them. True, they lost interest in being with their Heavenly Father, but their Father always cherished His relationship with His children! In fact, He cared so deeply about them that He was willing to reprimand them with His most piercing, painful words. Even if all previous words, whether kind or harsh, failed to awaken His children, maybe the unadulterated truth would! Hashem, therefore, resolved to share His complete disturbance with His precious children in order to shake them into reality.
He, therefore, informed them that from the standard of strict judgment, they were the most corrupt and immoral society in all Jewish history. From that perspective, they truly deserved total rejection without any tolerance or recourse. But Hashem’s compassionate ways demand a very different approach to the matter.
We can suggest that Hashem interjected His comforting invitation amidst His sharp words of reprimand, to define the purpose of His message. His unexpected tone-change declared that His strong piercing words stemmed from His deep concern and appreciation for His people. Although He described their pending future as horrific and totally devastating, He was sending His cherished people their final wake-up call. Instead of announcing their rejection, Hashem was pleading with them to cherish their relationship with Him and change their course of action. Hashem reminded them, that their future was bleak only because they had not yet awoken from their slumber. He, therefore, fondly expressed to them that if they would only change their course, all the blessing in the world would come their way.
Reprimand in Retrospect
We always read this Haftarah together with Parshas Devarim, the first Parsha of Moshe Rabbeinu’s prophetic review of the mitzvos and of the Jewish people’s trials throughout their travels in the desert. He began his five-week discourse with a list of short soft references to the Jewish people’s serious faults but then followed with an elaborate recount of the major ones.
Chazal comment on Moshe’s lengthy, detailed words of reprimand to his beloved people and they quote the passage in Mishlei (28:23) that states, “One who rebukes someone to follow Me, will find favor.” They explain this verse to refer to Moshe Rabbeinu who found favor in the eyes of Hashem and the people. In support of this they cite Hashem’s words to Moshe, “And, you also found favor in my eyes.” (Shemos 33:12, Yalkut Shimoni, Devarim 795) Chazal apparently understand that Moshe’s favor in Hashem’s eyes was a product of his reprimanding his people.
The Gaon of Vilna in his commentary to Mishlei explains that although one who rebukes someone to lead him to a proper path is initially perceived as quarreling with his listener, eventually he will come to love the person for speaking the truth that is in his heart. How apropos are these words when applied to Yeshaya’s final messages from Hashem. Indeed, when the Jewish people reflect on those last piercing words of unadulterated truth, they refer to them as their beloved’s plea to remain amongst them, in the same manner that Moshe’s sharp words effectively secured Hashem’s remaining with His beloved children until that point.
Forever Awaiting Their Return
The above lesson reinforces the unequivocal fact that Hashem is always concerned about His people, irrespective of their conduct and interest in Him. Hashem forever awaits the coveted moment when His beloved children will fully recognize Him and proclaim, “We are your sons and You are our father!” (from Yom Kippur penitence liturgy) May this day come speedily in our times!