THE THREE HAFTAROT
The mourning customs observed during the three weeks between the 17th of Tamuz and the 9th of Ab vary from community to community. But there is one tradition that is the same for Sepharadim, Ashkenazim and all the Jewish communities of the world: the Haftara’s reading of those three weeks . What is the Haftara? In the synagogue, after concluding the reading of the weekly section of the Tora we read a text from the Prophets that relates in its content to the biblical section that was just concluded. The Haftarot were established by our Sages some 2,000 years ago – when the Romans forbade the Jews to read the Tora – for the purpose of remembering the weekly biblical section. The Haftarot that we read these three Shabbatot, however, are not thematically related to the weekly portion, but rather to the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash and the exile. To be more precise: these Haftarot, called in Hebrew The Three [texts predicting] Of Tragedy describe the historical events related to these tragedies, with the words of two prophets: Jeremiah and Isaiah, who warned the people of Israel about the consequences of abandoning the covenant with God The message is very simple: when the Jewish people abandons God, they are abandoning the source of their life and blessing.
TRADING NATURAL SPRINGS FOR POROUS WELLS
The first of the three Haftarot, the one we read last week, is the first chapter of the book of Jeremiah (Dibre Yirmiyahu) and deals with the prophet’s initiation at the age of 17. The Haftara corresponding to this week’s Perasha, Mattot-Mas’e, is the second of the three special Haftarot. In this text, the prophet Jeremiah criticizes Israel for abandoning God and being ungrateful to Him. For deliberately ignoring that HaShem brought them out of slavery, protected them from the dangers of the desert and led them into a land of blessing and abundance. Yirmiyahu expressed shock and outrage at Israel’s behavior and says with pain that if one would search every corner of the planet, it would be difficult to find such a foolish nation. To exemplify the behavior of our people, Jeremiah uses a beautiful metaphor: a town has a spring of fresh and abundant water. This natural spring produces water permanently, incessantly, and does not even need maintenance. The people of this town are really privileged: unlike all other people, they do not depend on collecting rainwater for their survival: the spring provides all what they need. Yirmiyahu says that HaShem, God, is for Israel what the spring of water is for that town: a generous and permanent source of life, safety and blessing. But inexplicably, the people of that town abandon the spring and ignore it! Moreover, they dig cisterns with their own hands to collect rain water! Man-made wells are completely dry, don’t have their own water and when it does not rain, they cannot even preserve the water absorbed from the rain, because they are full of cracks and pores! Who would conceive, says Yirmiyahu, abandoning a privileged natural spring of water and seeking to drink from these broken man-made cisterns?
The powerful message of this metaphor is that abandoning God, Israel’s source of physical and spiritual life, it is not only an “offensive” and “humiliating” betrayal to God (Chilul HaShem), who has been “displaced” by His own nation! It is also shameful for the Jews! Since we are supposed to be an intelligent people, smart for business! Instead, we have made the worst deal you can ever do in your life!!!
WHO WILL COME TO MY HELP NOW?
Although the Rabbis added some extra verses to conclude the Haftara with a positive and hopeful message, towards the end of this text we find a verse with a tough but very relevant lesson that we, unfortunately, still need to learn: the people of Israel abandoned God, turned their backs to Him and sought false gods. However, when they face difficult times or impending tragedies, they realize that Egyptian or Assyrian gods are not going to come to the rescue. And then, suddenly, when no one else can help, they remember God, pray to Him and beg Him. “Please rescue us!” (Jeremiah 2:27 כִּֽי־פָנ֥וּ אֵלַ֛י עֹ֖רֶף וְלֹ֣א פָנִ֑ים וּבְעֵ֤ת רָעָתָם֙ יֹֽאמְר֔וּ ק֖וּמָה וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ). If we are looking for a relevant lesson for the present, perhaps this is the most appropriate one. Very often we fall into this trap: we forget Bore Olam, we abandon His commandments, and we do not even thank Him for His continuous and constant abundant blessings. But then, in challenging times, when we are desperate because no one else can help us, we remember HaShem, we pray to Him and say: “Please, come to my rescue”.
This powerful Haftara teaches us that we have to act better: remembering HaShem not only to ask for help but also (or mainly) to thank Him for all His blessings.
