The Voice of the Prophet – Jewish Theological Seminary

Seventh haftarah of consolation

Stacy Firestone — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 14:58:04 +0000

We might expect that for the seventh and final haftarah of comfort, the Sages would have chosen a passage recounting complete redemption. Instead, we are given a vision of the removing of obstacles, and the building of a solid foundation, to permit a path forward. Two such obstacles—“rocks” to be removed—are highlighted.

One is silence—whether refusing to speak out or act in the face of injustice, or more generally, engaging in denial and self-deception about one’s inner and outer reality. Therefore, central to “building up the highway” is the commitment to speak truth (“For the sake of Zion I will not be silent, for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be still . . . I have set watchmen who shall never be silent”).

The other roadblock is destructive anger. Indeed, the prophet imagines God reflecting on God’s own anger and the damage it caused, serving as a role model for human beings in doing the same. This combination of emotional maturity (regulating anger appropriately) with a commitment to speak truth and act on it, coupled with reclaiming a sense of joy and delight, seems to constitute the “royal highway” to a renewed self and society.

Food for thought:

When have you been angry in a destructive way, in a way you now regret?
How can you make amends and repair what you damaged?
When have you remained silent when you should have spoken or acted?
Are there things you need to say or do now?
Is it possible to speak truth and address injustice without indulging in anger that is destructive?
What role do joy and delight have in finding that balance?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

Sixth haftarah of consolation

Stacy Firestone — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 19:03:09 +0000

In the sixth haftarah of consolation, Isaiah draws heavily on the metaphor of light and darkness, and the repair and redemption is imagined as individuals’ and society’s embodiment of divine light. When God’s presence truly shines upon a person or nation, that person or nation is in turn able to bring light to others. This light—which may be understood as moral guidance and instruction, truth, compassion, justice, unification, love—is the true source of power and honor, the “wealth” of which the prophet speaks.

By implication, when the path to power, honor, or wealth brings darkness to the world—resting on oppression or degradation of others, engendering division, hatred, or violence—one can be sure that one is not walking with God. Moreover, such “wealth” is temporary, and pales in comparison to the “riches and royalty” that a life in God’s presence offers; it is copper to divine gold, and iron to divine silver.

Food for thought:

Have you ever felt a sense of God’s presence, or felt you were able to bring God’s presence to others? How would you describe the experience?
What marked it for you as “true”?
In contrast, when have you thought you were acting from pure motives or even religious conviction, but in retrospect you now see the impact of your “dark side” (the yetzer hara, or negative impulse)?
Are the things you can do to recognize the influence of the yetzer hara sooner?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

Fifth Haftarah of Consolation

onlinelearning@jtsa.edu — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 16:09:57 +0000

Note: in some years, including 5778, when Rosh Hodesh Ellul falls on Shabbat Re’eh, many Ashkenazi congregations read the haftarah for Re’eh (the thrd haftarah of consolation) together with this week’s haftarah.

This fifth haftarah of comfort describes a process of reconciliation. Now on the other side of the abyss, God’s anger and “hiding of the face” can be seen in retrospect as temporary, even momentary, and confidence on the reliability of love and kindness can be restored. Central to this healing is the assurance that the people will no longer feel shame or disgrace. Meaningful reconciliation and healing cannot happen while deep feelings of humiliation remain unaddressed; trust cannot be rebuilt on a foundation of shame.

Food for thought:

How have shame and humiliation hurt your relationships with people you care about?
What would it take to address that shame and heal?
What roles do shame and humiliation play in national and international conflicts?
What can you do to bring more dignity and respect into public discourse?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

Fourth haftarah of consolation

Stacy Firestone — Thu, 09 Aug 2018 17:39:18 +0000

This fourth and middle haftarah of consolation and comfort begins with a challenge to the people: why do you allow a mere mortal, however seemingly powerful, to send you into a tailspin of fear and anxiety? Isaiah points out that the people are suffering not only from externally imposed oppression, but from their own internal response—dread, reeling like a drunkard, despair. This hopelessness that denies or ignores unforeseen possibility and unexpected redemption is called “forgetting God.”

To find hope in such circumstances requires a purposeful act of imagination, envisioning and calling into being new possibilities and paths which once seemed impossible or unimaginable, a process which might be called “finding God.” The prophet therefore calls the people to rouse themselves, rise up, and awaken—to re-engage their imaginations and participate in crafting a vision of a new reality.

Food for thought:

What inspires you to creative thinking and imaginative problem-solving?
Do the ways you think about God assist you in such redemptive re-envisioning, or get in the way?
If they get in the way, how might you move toward a healthier, more growth-oriented theology?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

Third haftarah of consolation

Stacy Firestone — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 15:41:12 +0000

Note: in some years, including 5778, when Rosh Hodesh Ellul falls on Shabbat Re’eh, many Ashkenazi congregations read the haftarah for Rosh Hodesh on Shabbat morning, and this haftarah is deferred and read together with the fifth haftarah of consolation two weeks later.

This third haftarah of consolation and comfort contains a beautiful promise of a society established on righteousness, and consequently free of oppression and fear and safe from ruin. Most strikingly, it critiques the worldview that sees the accumulation of wealth and material possessions as the highest value, offering an alternative vision, in which that which truly satisfies is available “without money.” The prophet suggests that it is actually the people’s obsession with materiality and money that leaves them empty and puts them at risk, while the alternative value system in which righteousness and justice are paramount is the foundation of true safety and security.

Food for thought:

Beyond the need for basics, to what extent does your relationship with money and material things offer comfort and security, and to what extent does it contribute to anxiety and fear?
How do our values lead to societal stability or instability, righteousness or oppression, a culture of security or a culture of fear?
What suffering results of lack of righteousness in our foundations?
How would addressing our failings lead to comfort?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

Second haftarah of consolation

Stacy Firestone — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 16:23:21 +0000

Underlying this second haftarah of comfort is a sense of near-despair: the people lament having been abandoned by God, and God responds to their unspoken fear that God is powerless to save them. As the honest grief of the heart and soul that knows what it has lost, such despair is necessary; without it, comfort and hope are false. But despair is dangerous too; it can lead to helplessness, disengagement, and resignation to injustice. It can also create an inability to embrace a redemptive message: while the people lament being abandoned by God, God is calling to them and being ignored.

The prophet sees his role—and gift—as the ability “to speak timely words to the weary.” He offers himself as a role model of resilience and courage, not denying the daunting nature of the task ahead, but reminding the people that he himself “did not run away.” Comfort and strength are to be found in unity (“Let us stand up together!”), and in returning to the foundations of the covenant with God (“Look to the rock from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were dug; look back to Abraham your father and Sarah who gave birth to you”).

Food for thought:

When in your life has weariness or despair caused you to miss signs of hope?
What solutions and opportunities for repair are we as a society missing?
What opportunities do you have to comfort and strengthen others, offering timely words or serving as a role model?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

First haftarah of consolation (Shabbat Nahamu)

Stacy Firestone — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 16:12:25 +0000

This special haftarah, which begins nahamu nahamu ami—“comfort, oh comfort, My people,” is the first of seven special haftarot of comfort (drawn from Isaiah 40–63). During these seven weeks, the relationship between the people and God—strained almost to breaking on Tishah Be’av—is slowly rebuilt, allowing us to stand before God once again on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Unlike more common understandings of what is “comforting,” here the comfort offered by the prophet depends upon a stark confrontation with our own mortality; not only every individual but every society is temporary, and human power (however seemingly impressive) is no more lasting than straw in the wind. This finitude is then contrasted with God’s eternality, immeasurable power, and unfathomable wisdom. The message seems clear: comforts grounded in denial of our mortality and our limits are false comforts indeed.

Food for thought:

Which “comforts” are temporary and shallow, and which offer lasting and deep reassurance?
Focusing on matters of transcendent and ultimate meaning can be unsettling and challenging; how can it also offer comfort?
What are the consequences of seeking false comfort by trying to deny our mortality?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .

Third Haftarah of Rebuke (Shabbat Hazon)

Elan Kane — Mon, 16 Jul 2018 18:37:01 +0000

In this third haftarah of calamity or rebuke, the opening chapter of Isaiah, the once noble society has sunk to the level of Sodom and Gomorrah. Strikingly, there is no dearth of external piety (indeed, God is over-satiated to the point of disgust with the people’s offerings and prayers), nor is there any charge of sexual impropriety or impurity. Rather, the suffering of the people is caused by injustice, indifference to the cries of the vulnerable, oppression, systemic greed, and selfish and self-serving leadership. The prophet warns that society can be healed, and his terrifying vision of complete destruction avoided, only by care and concern for the most vulnerable members of society.

Food for thought:

To what extent has religion become divorced from justice in contemporary society?
What “pieties” are being used to justify ignoring immorality, greed, and self-interest in our leaders?
Would we tolerate a message of rebuke such as this from the clergy of our own houses of worship?
How would Isaiah respond to the claim that religion should stay out of social policy and politics?

Listen to the haftarah brought to life as it is declaimed in English by renowned actor Ronald Guttman by .