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 TISHA B'AV
(Jeremiah 8:13-9:23)
For me, Tisha b'Av is a dialectical
observance. On it we mourn a
series of tragedies which have befallen the Jewish people in the past 3,500 years. These tragedies, according to the Mishnah, include
God's decree that the generation that left Egypt would die in the desert, the destruction
of both the first and the second Temples, the fall of the Betar fortress during the Bar
Kochba War, and the plowing under of Jerusalem by the Roman army. More recently, the edict expelling the Jewish
people from Spain is also traditionally linked to the ninth of Av.
In all of these instances, we recall human
suffering, communal rupture, and a profound sense of spiritual dislocation. Despite that, however, I cannot help being
comforted by this litany of suffering, even as I am pained at recalling it. For me, the comfort comes from the fact of my
people's continued existence and vitality in the face of these tragedies. Each event that we recall on Tisha
b'Av
could have marked the death of the Jewish people. Instead,
each of these events brought to the fore leaders with vision, courage, and faith who
forged ahead with the unfolding drama of the divine-human partnership which is the history
of the Jewish people.
The Haftarah which we read on Tisha
B'Av morning asks that we remember our role in that partnership. It tell us that God is the "God who does hesed
(loves creation), mishpat (justice), and tzedakah (righteousness) and
desires those things (from us) (Jer. 9:23). This Haftarah reminds us that like those
who sought solutions to the crises which our people has confronted in the past, we too can
do those things which will foster religious growth, bind our community together, and heal
the world.
(Brad Hirschfield)
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