Some general background on the "Haftarot"

This Shabbat, on which both parshiot Behar and Bechukotai are read from the Torah, the Haftarah is taken from Yirmiyahu (16:19-17:14), according to both the Ashkenazic and the Sefardic traditions.

Yirmiyahu, still before the Destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C.E., is trying desperately to avert the Tragedy, to shake the Jewish People out of its sinful ways.  They are extremely resistant to all of his calls for "Teshuvah," Repentance, and the Destruction seems more and more imminent.

In the Haftarah, Yirmiyahu mentions specifically the following three sins:

1.      Idol Worship

2.      Neglect of the Shemittah Command

3.      Abandonment of Faith in HaShem

"Hashem is My Strength"

The Haftarah begins with the declaration by Yirmiyahu, "Hashem is my strength and my fortress and my refuge." (Yirmiyahu 16:19)  The commentators understand this to mean that, with the help of HaShem, the Prophet will stand strong against the sometimes violent opposition that has arisen against him and his message among the People and in the Palace.

Return of the Nations

Yirmiyahu contrasts the future behavior of the nations of the world in Messianic Times with the behavior of the Jewish People.  "To You the nations will come from the distant parts of the land" and they will confess the worthlessness of their fathers' gods.  "Can a man make a god? The man not being a god?"

Whereas the Jewish People will continue to present an obstinate refusal to give up their idolatry, even in the face of the "Teshuvah" of the nations!

The Jews Cleave to their Idols

The Jews cling to their false gods, perhaps re-defined as their music, their immodest styles of clothing and their improper language with an intensity such that "The sin of the Kingdom of Yehudah is written with an iron pen and with a stylus made from 'Shamir.' "(Yirmiyahu, 17:1)  The word "shamir" means "hard rock," but it also means the miraculous creature used by King Solomon to cut the stones for the First Temple, without the aid of iron implements, that Temple which is soon to be destroyed,  because of the refusal of the People of Yehudah to give up their idolatry.

It is an abnormal relationship, that the Jews have with the objects of their idolatry; "With as much pride and joy as parents usually discuss their children, the Judeans talk about their altars…" (Yirmiyahu 17:2)  Perhaps this is an allusion to the possible fact that the Jewish People were refraining from having children at that time as at the current time.

The Commandment of Shemittah is Abandoned

Another reason for the punishment-to-come is the fact that the Jewish People have abandoned the Commandment of Shemittah, that calls for the refraining of the Jewish farmer from working his land during the seventh year.

"You will be forced to observe the Shemittah in the Land of your inheritance because you will no longer be there…" (Yirmiyahu 17:4)

"…And I will cause you to labor for your enemy in a land that is strange to you…" (Yirmiyahu 17:4)

"…For you have kindled a fire in my nostrils, so-to-speak, that will last 'forever.' " (Yirmiyahu 17:4)

We must interpret "forever" in the above verse non-literally, because the "Galut," the  Exile that occurred after the destruction of the First Temple was "only" seventy years, a relatively short period of time historically, and especially when compared to our current Exile, but nevertheless, a "lifetime" from the perspective of a man.

"Cursed be the Man …"

"…Cursed be the man who trusts in man, and considers 'human flesh' his strength - and from HaShem, he turns away his heart."

This curse falls upon someone who commits two sins:  He trusts man, mere flesh-and-blood, too much, and trusts G-d too little.

He trusts man too much, despite the fact that David says in Tehilim "every man is untruthful" ("Tehilim"/Psalms 116:11), or, perhaps more accurately, when one looks at a whole person, there is inevitably some falsehood in the total picture.

Whereas, with regard to HaShem, His Seal is Truth. 

This sin of trusting HaShem too little is not unrelated to the sin of abandoning the commandment of Shemittah.  Because over and above the fact that letting the earth lie uncultivated for one year in seven may be good for the land from an agricultural point of view, HaShem has made a greater promise to the Jewish People; in particular, to the Jewish farmer.

In the "Yovel," the Jubilee, or Fiftieth Year, the Land is also supposed to be treated as it is in the Shemittah Year.  Thus, in the sixth year of that final seven years, there would have to be a truly phenomenal harvest, able to provide the needs of the People for three years - the sixth, seventh and eighth!

But that is exactly what HaShem promises in Parshat Behar (Vayikra 25:21), "I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will yield produce sufficient for three years!"  To farm in that manner is quite a bit beyond normal practice and requires a high level of trust in the "One Who makes the wind blow and the rain fall" (Daily Shemoneh Esray; introduction to the Second Blessing).

"Blessed is the Man …"

If a person chooses to be faithful to HaShem, the "Navi," borrows an image from King David in Tehilim (1:3) "And he shall be like a tree planted by streams of water, that bring forth fruit in its season, and whose leaf does not wither …," except that he replaces "whose leaf does not wither" with the word "raanan," luxuriant, in parallel and contra-point  to its use in Yirmiyahu (17:2) in reference to the Ashtarot, the luxuriant tree used prominently in idolatry.

I am HaShem Who Examines the Heart

You say, "The human heart is complicated; no one can understand it!" (Yirmiyahu 17:9)

HaShem answers, "I am HaShem, Who examines the heart, and the kidneys (thought to be associated in some way with feelings or plans), and I pay each person according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his deeds." (Yirmiyahu 17:10)  "Reward and Punishment" is a concept in "Yahadut" both on the national level and on the level of the individual.

"And this is because the Throne of HaShem in Heaven is exactly opposite the Holy Temple, and therefore He is, as it were, with us and within us, and able to know all our thoughts and deeds." (RADAK in the name of Shmuel Ibn Tibbon on Yirmiyahu 17:12)

"Hashem is the Hope of Israel," and those who leave him deserve to perish, because they have abandoned the "source of living waters, HaShem."

But "Heal me, Hashem, and I will be healed; Save me, and I will be saved, because You are the Only One worthy of praise" (Yirmiyahu 17:14); therefore, perhaps, Heal and  save all of my People - let me represent and embody them (though they don't deserve it), for You are the Only One Who is called the "One Who dwells in Praise," the One  Who can do impossible things.

Connections to the Parshah

• In the Haftarah, Yirmiyahu accuses the People of abandoning the Commandment of Shemittah, that is mentioned in Bechukotai as one of the major sins of the Jewish  People that caused them to be ejected from the Land and cause them to deserve the   punishments detailed in the "Tochachah," the Warning and Promise of Punishment if the warning is ignored.

• Both the Haftarah and the Parshah mention the idea that Shemittah will be observed "by default" in the Land of Israel because of the Exile of its People: Vayikra (26:43) and Yirmiyahu (17:4)

• The Haftarah speaks of the People of Israel being sent again into Slavery; the Parshah discusses the topic of a person making a pledge of his or her "value" to the Beit HaMikdash, and the method of estimating their value, is their value as "slaves."

• The Haftarah apeaks of Hashem's fury being kindled "forever" against the Jewish People, but we know that here "forever" means only 70 years.  Similarly, the Parshah discusses the Laws of the Yovel, the Jubilee Year, where in another context, someone who says that he wishes to remain as an "Eved Ivri," a Hebrew Indentured Servant, to a particular master "forever," that too is interpreted as only till the Yovel.

• The "Navi" uses the term in the blessing of the one who has faith in Hashem "Yuval," meaning a spring of water.  The language of this blessing is very similar to a blessing by King David with some differences; this is one of the differences.  It may correspond to the discussion of the "Yovel," spelled the same, in the Parshah.

• In the Haftarah, the expression "Cursed be the man" precedes that of "Blessed be the man."  In the Parshah, the blessings are mentioned before the curses.  This may be because the curses in the Haftarah were to occur so soon.

Having endured the curse of Exile for some 2,000 years, and seen perhaps the beginning of the lifting of the curse in our time, may we hope now for the full implementation of the blessing?

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel