Walk Through the Parsha by Rabbi David Walk

Unappreciated
Massei - 5768
July 31, 2008
It seems that nobody likes the bearer of bad news. We sometimes actually do kill the messenger (Samuel II 1:15). In Greek mythology, Cassandra predicted the destruction of Troy and was imprisoned as insane for her trouble. There's only one thing worse than correctly predicting a miserable future, and that's telling people that they can do something to avoid it (Just ask Al Gore or your personal physician.). These annoying presences in our midst are unfairly scorned, and no one got it worse than our prophet, Jeremiah. His name has come to mean a bitter lament over the state of society (jeremiad), and has been referred to as a bull frog (now that's annoying). Let's see if we can do something about polishing this tarnished reputation.

Last week we read the first chapter of his book as the weekly Haftorah, and this week we read the second. This material is read because it is related to the series of unfortunate events surrounding the destruction of the holy Temple in Jerusalem during this three week period, which culminates with Tisha B'av. Jeremiah's long (628 BCE-586 BCE) career was based on exhorting the population to change their destructive behavior, to no avail. Early in his career he counseled the pious King Josiah not to impede the progress of the Egyptian army through Israel on their way to fight the Babylonians. That ended badly with the tragic death of Josiah and subjugation of Judea. When, twenty-two years later the Babylonians finally arrived to destroy Jerusalem, Jeremiah was in jail. Incarcerated to prevent him from spreading his message of impending doom, which wasn't so good for morale. However even from jail he didn't lose hope for the eventual success of the Jewish cause. He bought land in a suburb of Jerusalem (Annatot) anticipating the time when the Jews would return and rebuild.

Last week we read in the first chapter of his book that he was drafted into the prophecy business against his will, reminiscent of the reluctance of our greatest prophet, Moshe. The central idea in that Haftorah is the inevitability of the looming destruction, but that the devastation will not be everlasting. The Jewish nation will return and re-establish the country, the Temple and the religion. The critical verse, I believe, is this: Behold, I have appointed you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to uproot and to dismantle, and to destroy and to demolish, to build and to plant (Jeremiah 1:10). There will be total devastation, but there also will be a renewal.

This week the focus shifts from the role of Jeremiah to the shortcomings of the Jewish people, especially the failures of leadership. Jeremiah enumerates these sins in the following passage: The priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?" And those who hold onto the Torah did not know Me and the rulers rebelled against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal (Ibid 2:8). That list covers cohanim, rabbis, politicians and prophets. I guess that's pretty much everyone in positions of authority. There is an emphasis on ingratitude for all God's miracles of the past especially those performed by God in the desert. According to many authorities the central sin is expressed in verse 13: For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me, the spring of living waters, to dig for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that do not hold water. Their dual sin covers the first two of the Ten Commandments. Rejection of God and worship of idols. God is the source of life and all that is good in the world. How can we even think of looking elsewhere when the Real Thing is available?

However, I respectfully submit for your consideration that the following verse is not only the pivotal one in the Haftorah, but encapsulates the entirety of Jeremiah's ministry: So says the Lord: What wrong did your forefathers find in Me, that they distanced themselves from Me, and they went after futility and themselves became futile (Ibid. 2:5)? The Jews have failed to transmit the true loyalty to God, because we respond to adversity by saying, "How could God do that?" The Rav (Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, 1903-1994) wrote in his famous essay, Kol Dodi Dofek (The Voice of My Beloved Calls), that our response to tragedy must be, "What should I do?" rather than "Why did this happen?" Events, good or bad, must spur us to action, not paralyze us with recriminations. We must view ourselves as the masters of our destiny, not the objects of our fate. As Shakespeare has Mark Antony say it, "Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

Reb Zev Wolf of Zitomar (d. 1798) explained this verse in his classic Chassidic work Ohr Hameir. He writes: There are people of weak faith who claim that they can't involve themselves in Torah study or mitzvah performance at the present time because they are weary from worldly tasks. They are waiting for God to remove all impediments to their piety. This is not God's will…This concept is hinted at in our verse. When God asks what wrong the Jews have found in God, they are accusing God of all the roadblocks they encounter in this world which make Divine service difficult, and, therefore they are distant from God. Rather, the real conclusion should be the exact opposite. God desires that we fulfill our religious obligations under any and all circumstances.

Jeremiah informed the nation of two facts which they didn't want to hear. First he told them that bad times were coming, and then he told them that they remained responsible for their behavior no matter what. People don't like to hear either of those things, therefore Jeremiah became a pariah. However, we should learn from Jeremiah's misery, and heed the instructions of King Solomon: Rebuke a wise man and he will love you (Proverbs 9:8). Let's be wise and learn from adversity.