Haftorah This Week
Welcome to Haftorah This Week, the place where you will find thoughts and reflections by CLAL faculty and associates on this week's Haftorah.
HAFTARAT BEHAR
(Jeremiah 32:6-27)
The Babylonian army is swarming down on Jerusalem; the marks of ruin and destruction are everywhere. The people face exile, the land faces abandonment. At this moment, Jeremiah's cousin, Hanamel, asks the prophet to redeem his portion of land in the Jerusalem suburb of Anatot.
Land is the basic source of income for self-support, so it is the basis of personal dignity in biblical times. Therefore, if a family member has lost his land due to economic reverses, Jewish law asks that the immediate relatives step in, buy back the land and put the person back on his feet.
But the value of real estate is plunging. Facing disaster, who would want to risk money on buying land? Besides, when catastrophe looms, isn't it every man for himself?
The prophet believes that the future belongs to redemption, to the triumph of life. To be a Jew is to be future oriented. The present moment of defeat shall pass. When all appears lost, it is time to increase hope. Those who despair have absolutized the present. But Jeremiah sees the future return of Jewry in his mind's eye. The day will come, he says, when land and homes and vineyards will be in great demand in this very place (Jeremiah 32:15). Jeremiah counts out the precious silver and buys the land.
Jeremiah is no fool. He sees the hopeless situation realistically. The purchase deed is to be put in a special earthen jar because it will need to last for many years before the people are restored to Israel. Indeed, now having done the deed, even Jeremiah falters for a moment. He cries out. The city is given over to the Babylonians. Why this useless gesture of buying land? The answer comes in the darkness of the night which surrounds him. "Nothing is beyond God..." (Jeremiah 32:27).
Thus the Haftarah dramatizes three central values of Judaism which have sustained Jewry through the long march of Jewish history. These are:
1.Family solidarity and mutual responsibility
2.Orientation to the future, not just to this moment
3.Hope and trust in God
Today, Jews are back in Israel and facing the prospect of peace and prosperity in the land. This miraculous achievement was made possible by loyalty and love even under fire, by buying and building even in the face of defeat, through hope and trust in God even when it appeared to be hopeless. Thus Jewish history proves that life, love and hope are stronger than death, selfishness and despair.
(Yitz Greenberg)
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