Haftarat Ki Tavo
IN LIEU OF AN INTRODUCTION, I want to mention an experience I had several years ago on this Shabbat. I was speaking, and asked my listeners to imagine a time when Yerushalayim would be so central to the world’s economy that non-Jews would volunteer gifts to the city. To accommodate the flow of traffic in its midst, the city would be open day and night. Its citizens, meanwhile, would all be righteous and God-fearing (all of them), and the world would be visibly nearing a time when all admitted the rule of the One God.
After several minutes of that description, I noted my suspicion (later confirmed) that such ideas would be taken as pure fantasy, wildly impossible, not even realistic enough to qualify as utopian. Since this week’s haftarah promises all of those things, I wondered, then and now, what it means when Orthodox Jews, who claim to believe that God speaks through the prophets, do not believe that those prophecies will or can ever come true.
The Light of the Future and Joining with the Non-Jews: Two Important Themes
As is so often true with a prophet rich in ideas as Yeshayahu, there are too many points of interest to cover them all or even a representative sampling. I am instead going to focus on two of the central themes, the role of light in this week’s reading, and the importance the navi attaches to the participation of non-Jews in our future redemption.
Verses 1-3: Why Does Our Light Require Their Dark?
The haftarah opens with Yeshayahu telling Yerushalayim to arise and shine (literally, and not the literally where we mean figuratively, the literally where we mean literally), for the Glory of God will shine upon her. Verses 2 and 3 announce that our light will come at the same time as the non-Jewish nations’ light disappears, leading them and their kings to follow us and our light.
I suspect many people read such statements as the triumphalism of a downtrodden people; they oppressed us all those years, part of our redemption is givng back as good as we got. Reading the verses carefully should show us that there is much more at stake her.
First, the verses link our getting light to the non-Jews losing it. The Midrash thinks that verse 1 implies that in the future, the non-Jews will be plunged in darkness. Another Midrash compares the future situation to Sinai, where we had light and they had dark. Even more explicitly, several source, including Bereshit Rabbah 6;3, Sanhedrin 99a, and the Ritva in his Haggada read verses 1-2 as telling us that the light of Yaacov cannot shine when that of Esav is still around.
Those sources tell us of a connection, but give us no guidance as to why our light and theirs are inversely related to each other. Baba Batra 75a gives us a clue in its claim that in the future the remainder of the hide of the Leviathan will provide the light for the nations. However it does so, it apparently is sensitive to the righteousness of the person using it, since the righteous get more of it than others.
Verses 19-20: Physical Light Can Also Come From the Spiritual
Skipping to the next verses that discuss light, verses 19-20 tell us that the Jews as well will no longer use the sun and moon for light, that Hashem will be our light, and that our sun will therefore never again set. The cited material, and more, leads me to believe that the navi means that following God can produce a physical light, not just a spiritual one. Leviathan is a beast that in Midrash tried to compete with God; his hide signifies his death, and the defeat of ideologies that distract from God. Seeing Leviathan that way explains why the righteous will get a whole sukkah, a whole domicile, from his hide, while others get less.
It also explains why the light of Yaakov cannot shine while Esav’s does—these are not alternate sources of light, they are competing ones. While Esav’s worldview and ideology are still around and attractive, there is little chance that people will find their way to Yaakov’s, and thus little chance that our worldview will shine forth.
In the future, we are being promised, those other nations’ light, the attractiveness of the erroneous parts of their ideologies, will wane, and the Truth (remember that in our prayers, we speak of God giving truth to Yaakov) will provide spiritual and physical light to the world, as it did at Sinai and the entire time in the desert.
Verses 4-14: The Nations Play an Active Role
Yeshayahu also predicts that the nations will actively participate in recognizing that truth of God’s rule. That participation has an element of subservience, since the nations are envisioned as bringing us money, gold, livestock, and more. They will also help the Jews fully return to Yerushalayim, bringing our exiles back with their belongings.
This suggests, by the way, that those Jewish communities whose countries allow them to leave without any of their possessions cannot be seen as a fulfillment of this prophecy; even those nations that allow Jews to take all their possessions are still not yet helping, a crucial aspect of this text’s prediction).
That the non-Jews’ interest in physically rebuilding our city is connected to their recognizing the constant hand of God also explains verse 14’s belief that the descendants of our oppressors will come to us with bowed heads, seeking our forgiveness. The fathers are gone, but their having oppressed us was a physical _expression of their denial of God. The atonement for that lies in their returning to these Jews, hat in metaphorical hand, to admit to the Jewish version of truth. That admission also helps the rest of the world coming to embrace God.
The Last Two Words: On Time Or Early?
Sanhedrin 98a cites R. Yehoshua b. Levi’s famous inference based on the oxymoron of the last verse of the haftarah, where Hashem promises to hasten the redemption at its proper time. He sees the verse as offering two possibilities for how the redemption will come: if we merit it, it will come early; if not, at its time. That Yeshayahu first refers to “be-itah, in its time,” suggests that it is unlikely that we will merit the early Arrival. Let us hope that either I am wrong in reading it that way, or that we will beat the odds, and see the full Redemption speedily. Shabbat Shalom.
Isa.60
[1] Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
[2] For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
[3] And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
[4] Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
[5] Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
[6] The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.
[7] All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
[8] Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
[9] Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
[10] And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
[11] Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
[12] For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
[13] The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
[14] The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
[15] Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
[16] Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
[17] For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
[18] Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
[19] The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
[20] Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
[21] Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
[22] A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.