Hatorah Parashat Beshalah
Judges 4;4-5;31
Why is This the Haftarah for Parshat Beshalah?
The tempting answer to this question is that it contains a song of praise to God, like in the parsha itself. Indeed, Sefardi custom limits the haftarah to the Shirah, the Song. Ashkenazic custom, which reads the story leading up to the Song, seems to add another element to the reading; along these lines the Mechilta says that the salvation of Devorah’s time, not just the Song, is parallel to that of the Splitting of the Sea.
We can see how Devorah’s events somewhat replay those at Yam Suf by focusing on three aspects of the haftarah—the scorn Devorah displays for Barak when he insists on her coming with him, the interest in Yael and her killing of Sisera (as shown by her figuring prominently in the Song as well as in the story), and the Shirah’s being sure to denigrate those who had neglected to join the battle against Sisera. (We could also study Devorah herself, whose functioning as a judge and involvement with the wicks of the menorah point in the same direction, but we will not have space).
The Call to War
After introducing Devorah, the navi tells us that she sent a message to Barak ordering him to take ten thousand men from Naftali and Zevulun to Mount Tabor, where God would cause Sisera—whom we were earlier told was the general for Yavin, the king of Canaan who had been troubling the Jews—to come fight.
Barak agrees to go only on condition that Devorah come with him. While she accepts, she makes her displeasure clear by noting that his unwillingness to act on his own means that he will not get any glory for the victory he is about to produce. Barak’s hesitation about listening to Devorah, apparently, is both bothersome to her and worth our while to know.
Yael’s Prominence
In telling the story of the victory, the navi takes ten verses to tell us of Sisera coming, being defeated, running away, and being killed by Yael; seven of them are devoted to the incident with Yael. Devorah gives four verses of the Shirah to Yael’s role in the death of Sisera. Despite recognizing how impressive it is that a woman took upon herself to lure an Assyrian general to sleep and then killed him with a tent-peg and a hammer, I still also suspect that the navi is celebrating more than just the fact of her killing Sisera.
Denigrating Those Who Failed to Join
The key to understanding our focus on those two parts of the incident lies in the Shirah’s also taking time to curse those who did not come to help Barak fight against Sisera. In today’s world, I can easily imagine that appearing to be poor sportsmanship; a winner should thank those who helped him/her, but not speak against those who did not. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and respect for others involves not looking down on them for holding to their views.
That may be true for ordinary human interactions, but not when a prophetess of God issues a declaration. At that point, it becomes incumbent upon all—Jew or non-Jew—to contribute to the success of the prophet’s endeavor. The tribes that failed to heed this call—and, in the gemara’s reading, the stars that did the same—deserve to be called out for failing to further God’s cause in the world.
Phrasing it that way also explains Barak and Yael’s role. Barak should have accepted Devorah’s directions, since she speaks in God’s Name. Had he done so, he’d have been the vehicle of God’s saving the Jewish people and celebrated as such; that he needs continuing support from the prophet is itself a mark against his character.
Yael, on the other hand, had no obvious obligation to join in the defeat of Sisera, so her decision to intervene, in ways not at all characteristic of women of her time, was all the more impressive. It was not so much that we needed Sisera dead, since he’d been defeated already, as that we revel in someone else’s recognizing the truth of our God and our prophets.
Taking all three of these together, we see the subtext of the haftarah is the question of joining, of when and how people in the world, Jew or non-Jew, are willing to cast their lot with God, Creator of Heaven and Earth; at Yam Suf, no one had a choice because of how clear the Hand was. In the rest of human history, the challenge is more complicated, and thus what Devorah sings about in her Song.
The Return of Famous Verses
1) Pesachim 66b uses Devorah’s call to herself (verse 12: “uri uri Devorah”) to prove that if a navi acts arrogantly, his/her prophecy will be removed. Devorah had previously (verse 7) said that Jews were afraid to live in border cities, until she came and made it safe. That arrogance deprived her momentarily of prophecy, so she had to revive it by saying “uri, uri.”
2) Verse 23 starts with the words “Oru Meroz,” which means to curse Meroz (Rashi says it’s either a star or an important person), from which the Gemara derives the right to excommunicate a person who refuses a summons from a Beit Din. Devorah’s call to war, in other words, was binding on all Jews; refusing it lay one open to communal sanctions. That verse ends by saying that they did not come to the aid of God, from which the Sifrei understands that helping the Jewish people is the same as helping God.
3) Hazal understand Yael to have helped Sisera fall asleep by more than just giving him milk rather that water. Based on Devorah’s praise of her (verse 24), the gemara famously declares an “averah lishmah,” a sin undertaken with perfectly pure purposes in mind, to be as valuable as a “mitzvah she-lo lishmah,” a mitzvah performed with lesser motivations than just serving God.
4) Sisera’s mother’s cries teach the Gemara that the blasts of the shofar should sound like crying, since Onkelos translates Yom Teruah as “yom yevava,” and Sisera’s mother is described as “te-yabev,” will cry.
5) The last verse in the haftarah serves as the crux of a famous Talmudic declaration, that those who “are insulted and do not insult, hear themselves reviled without replying, act out of love and are pleased with the travails [God sends them]” are the definition of the lovers of God whom our verse describes as “the going out of the sun at its full strength.” Shabbat Shalom.
JUDGES 4;4-5;31
[4] And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.
[5] And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.
[6] And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
[7] And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thine hand.
[8] And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go.
[9] And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.
[10] And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet: and Deborah went up with him.
[11] Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.
[12] And they shewed Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor.
[13] And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon.
[14] And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
[15] And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.
[16] But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
[17] Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.
[18] And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.
[19] And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.
[20] Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.
[21] Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
[22] And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
[23] So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.
[24] And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
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Judg.5
[1] Then sang Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam on that day, saying,
[2] Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel, when the people willingly offered themselves.
[3] Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes; I, even I, will sing unto the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel.
[4] LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir, when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, and the heavens dropped, the clouds also dropped water.
[5] The mountains melted from before the LORD, even that Sinai from before the LORD God of Israel.
[6] In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travellers walked through byways.
[7] The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.
[8] They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
[9] My heart is toward the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye the LORD.
[10] Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.
[11] They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.
[12] Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song: arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.
[13] Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people: the LORD made me have dominion over the mighty.
[14] Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek; after thee, Benjamin, among thy people; out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebulun they that handle the pen of the writer.
[15] And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak: he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart.
[16] Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? For the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
[17] Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the sea shore, and abode in his breaches.
[18] Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field.
[19] The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.
[20] They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
[21] The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.
[22] Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.
[23] Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.
[24] Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
[25] He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
[26] She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.
[27] At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.
[28] The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?
[29] Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,
[30] Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?
[31] So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.