HaRav Shmuel Eliyahu is Chief Rabbi of Tzfat.
The Haftarah read on this Shabbat begins with the words of the Congregation of Israel:
"Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me.'"
It is important to read the verses in which God speaks to Israel, because the purpose of the Redemption is to perfect the world:
"I will also make you a light to the nations, that My salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
Therefore, I free you from the bondage of foreign kingdoms:
"Saying to the prisoners, 'Go forth.'"
Therefore, I give you the Land:
"To restore the Land and apportion the desolate inheritances."
I gather the exiles:
"Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim."
I help them on their journey:
"They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them, for He who has mercy on them will lead them, and He will guide them beside springs of water" (Isaiah 49).
He Loves You More Than Parents Love Their Children
Despite all this, the Congregation of Israel does not see all this goodness and says, "He has forsaken me" and "He has forgotten me."
It is worthwhile to study this Haftarah because it describes what is destined to take place amongst the People of Israel, and indeed we are witnessing it with our own eyes. If one studies this Haftarah carefully, one understands that we should feel that God loves us even more than a mother loves her child:
"Can a woman forget her nursing child, or cease to have compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you."
Hashem says that He remembers us always, as though we are engraved upon His hands:
"Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me."
"Your Children Shall Hasten; Your Destroyers and Those Who Laid You Waste Shall Depart from You"
The more quickly your children hasten to return to the Land of Israel, the more quickly the enemies will leave it.
"Your destroyers and those who laid you waste shall depart from you."
These are the inhabitants who dwelt in the Land before you, who left it desolate, ruined it, and destroyed every good portion of it. They uprooted every tree, destroyed every house, and filled every place with filth and defilement.
They will depart in accordance with the pace at which the children return to the home of their forefathers.
We can clearly see this phenomenon today in Judea and Samaria: the more Jews who come and settle there, the more the destroyers and despoilers leave their places and move elsewhere, or to other countries.
"You Shall Wear Them All as an Ornament and Bind Them on Like a Bride"
The prophet continues and teaches us to look favorably upon all those who immigrate to the Land. We should not say, as Ehud Barak once said, that there are Jews who came to Israel and contributed to it, and Jews who came and did not contribute.
By saying this, he contradicts the word of God spoken through the Prophet Isaiah, who declared that the Jews who come to the Land are like its precious jewels:
"Lift up your eyes all around and see: they all gather together and come to you. As I live, declares the Lord, you shall surely wear them all as an ornament and bind them on like a bride."
These are not ordinary ornaments, but the bridal jewelry worn by a bride.
Isaiah Prophesies about Professor Roberto Bachi.
The prophet says that places which were once desolate and ruined will become highly sought after:
"For your ruins, your desolate places, and your devastated land will now be too crowded for inhabitants, while those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children born after your bereavement will yet say in your hearing: 'The place is too crowded for me; make room for me that I may dwell here.'"
We ourselves never believed that so many people would come.
Before the establishment of the State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion consulted Professor Roberto Bachi, who was considered a world-renowned expert in demography. In 1944, he asked him whether the establishment of a Jewish state was feasible.
Professor Roberto Bachi estimated that a Jewish State was not viable, because the Jews would eventually become a negligible minority among the Arabs. He predicted that by the year 2001, the total Jewish population in the Land of Israel would not exceed 2.3 million people - only about 50% of the population compared to approximately 4.4 million Arabs.
In reality, by the year 2001 there were about 5 million Jews living in Israel, more than double Bachi's prediction. He did not anticipate the scope and strength of the immigration of the Jews. He did not foresee the great victory of the War of Independence. He did not anticipate the flight of many Arabs during the war. Nor did he foresee the decline in the Arab birthrate from 9.6 children per woman to approximately 3 children per woman. He also failed to anticipate the remarkable surprise of the Hebrew woman, whose birthrate, in comparison with the rest of the Western world, is nearly twice that of comparable countries in Europe.
About this, the prophet says:
"Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has borne these for me? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and cast away. Who raised these? Behold, I was left alone; where then did these come from?'"
Even the Jews Who Were in Captivity Will be Freed from Foreign Rule.
The prophet also speaks about the Jews who were held captive by nations that would not allow them to leave their countries. Before the establishment of the State, we wondered whether the Jews of Russia and Syria would ever be able to leave. Would all the Jews in the Arab countries that hated Israel be allowed to depart? Would the Jews of South America be able to escape governments controlled by corrupt military officers?
"Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or shall the captives of the righteous be delivered? Indeed, thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the tyrant shall be rescued; for I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children."
In practice, the great miracle occurred. The Arab nations, believing in their own brilliance that they would destroy the Jewish State, expelled all the Jews from their countries on the condition that they immigrate to the Land of Israel without their property.
In reality, this proved to be the most foolish decision they could have made, but it perfectly fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy. Syria and Russia also allowed their Jews to leave. So did the countries of South America. It happened exactly as the prophet foretold.
The Nations That Persecuted Israel Will Destroy Themselves.
The prophet says:
"I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they shall become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."
All your enemies will destroy themselves.
This is what happened in the wars fought among the Arab nations themselves, in which they exhausted their own strength. They "ate their own flesh and drank their own blood."
It is enough to recall that before the establishment of the State, the al-Husseini family and the Nashashibi family fought one another over who would inherit the entire Jewish community, which they were certain would soon fall before them. They slaughtered one another and killed one another, according to their tradition, thereby weakening their own ability to fight the Jewish People, exactly as the Lord had spoken through the Prophet Isaiah.
Why Are You Not Coming?
After all this, the prophet asks:
"Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there no one to answer? Is My hand too short to redeem? Or do I have no power to deliver? Behold, with My rebuke I dry up the sea; I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst."
After all, I am weakening the nations in which you have been living:
"I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth their covering" (Radak ad loc.).
This is exactly what we are seeing today in Europe.
This question must be directed to all our brothers and sisters who are still living in the Diaspora. Why are you not coming?
People Humiliate Us but We Do Not Grow Weak.
The prophet relates that he calls the people toward Redemption, yet people humiliate him:
"The Lord God has opened My ear, and I was not rebellious; neither did I turn back. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who pulled out My beard. I did not hide My face from shame and spitting."
Sadly, many people initially mocked those who immigrated to the Land of Israel and scorned its settlers. Later, they mocked the pioneers of Judea and Samaria, and even today there are those who insult them, pull at their peyes and strike them.
But the heroic settlers do not lose heart:
"The Lord God helps Me; therefore I have not been disgraced. Therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame."
The Opponents Will Be Like a Garment Consumed by Moths
"Behold, the Lord God will help Me; who is he that shall condemn Me? Behold, they shall all wear out like a garment; the moth shall consume them."
Isaiah compares those who oppose aliyah and Jewish settlement to a garment that may appear large, impressive, and strong, but is not a living thing.
So too, all the opponents may appear threatening on the outside, but they are only a temporary outer covering of reality, whereas the Redemption is something living and eternal.
Moreover, they are already disintegrating from within. A moth does not tear a garment apart suddenly and noisily. It eats away at it slowly, from the inside, until the garment falls apart on its own.
This teaches us that the enemies will not necessarily disappear only through a great war. Rather, the foundations of their power will decay. Their morality will weaken, their unity will crumble, and the system that once appeared so mighty will collapse into itself.
At times, the opponents are convinced that they are still strong, but in reality the "moth" is already at work within them.
This is what Isaiah continues to say:
"The earth shall wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants shall die in like manner; but My salvation shall be forever, and My righteousness shall never be abolished."
One Who Fears God Yet Walks in Darkness
The prophet also speaks about those who fear God but have become discouraged:
"Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the voice of His servant, yet walks in darkness and has no light?"
Such a person, too, must strengthen his trust:
"Let him trust in the name of the Lord and rely upon his God." (See Berachot 6b.)
Look to our fathers and mothers:
"Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who gave birth to you; for I called him when he was but one, and I blessed him and multiplied him."
So shall you be in the time of Redemption:
"For the Lord has comforted Zion; He has comforted all her waste places. He has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the Garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song."
Amen and Amen.