Parshat Hashavua: Re'eh

Redemption comes from times of crisis, says the prophet Jeremiah. We may need a national root canal, but the covenant between God and Israel is eternal
Benny Lau

We are going through tough times: individuals, families, the entire country.

Aside from the searing pain of young, promising lives lost, there is a terrible feeling of a lack of security. The enemy is alive and kicking and continues to taunt us. The enlightened world isn't exactly concerned about Israel and wants to end the "conflict" already because the rating is falling…

The prophet Jeremiah foresaw more-or-less our times:

"Ask now, and see whether a man does travail with child; wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but out of it shall he be saved… All your lovers have forgotten you, they seek you not…I will restore you to health, and I will heal your wounds, says the Lord; because they have called you an outcast: 'She is Zion, and no one cares about her'" (Jeremiah 30).

Destruction, redemption

This description, written at the time the first temple was destroyed, contains more than a bit of cynical pain. The prophet turns our attention to a strange picture. He asks the reader: Have you ever seen a man experience the pain of childbirth? Then why are all the men wrapped up, shaking with fear?

The prophet then answers: "It is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but out of it shall he be saved" (ibid. 30:7). It is a terrible answer that belies a lack of control, of loneliness and alienation, of non-existence. But included in the prophet's frightening warning are words of consolation: "Out of it shall he be saved" – redemption will come from within pain.

Later in the chapter as well: "For I will restore you to health, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the Lord" (ibid. 30:17). The same God that strikes us also heals, from within the despair. Blows and healing cannot be separated. They are made of the same material.

External, internal wounds

This must be understood well. There are blows whose healing is external: Cover them with a bandage and let time work its magic.

But some blows are much deeper. We are all familiar with the idea of a "root canal." An infection infiltrates so deep that the only way to treat it is to open up the body of a tooth and deal with the root of the problem.

Internal wounds (Photo: Niv Calderon)

Jeremiah sees the destruction of Jerusalem that has shaken Israeli society as such a treatment: "From within the blows I will heal you" is the literal translation of verse 17.

We must emerge from this blow better, more whole, more careful. Even before this war there was a need to inspect the foundations of our national house, the quality of the construction and the glue that binds all the parts of the nation together. In light of such a war, we are being forced to examine our house almost against our will.

Rejecting Zion

One of the results Jeremiah identifies with such a root canal is All your lovers have forgotten you, they seek you not…I have called you 'rejected'; no one wants Zion."

The external wound is the feeling of international isolation. At the beginning of the war, everyone cheered as Israel fought a most-justified war and sacrificed itself for the entire Western world, in an attempt to destroy Islamic terror. But slowly, the world got tired of the war.

With every passing day the enlightened nations of Europe began to question this simple call. All of a sudden, the reality of a fight for our existence became just another blood soaked chapter in Israel's conflict with Hizbullah, and Lebanon paid the price.

"No one will want you." This is a humiliating blow. But Jeremiah's root canal reveals something else as well: "It is Zion – no one wants her." The wound is not merely external. It turns out that the source of this abandonment and alienation is at home. Israel itself doesn't care about Zion. Internal estrangement. An entire society concerned only with itself, trying to ignore its surroundings.

Social issues

This is one of the themes of our reading, Parshat Re'eh. The selection reads like an instruction manual for life in Israel. It contains all the social principles of a welfare state: Protecting the weak, concern for the fallen, equal opportunity, equal division of responsibility (and foregoing it when need be), a progressive tax structure to avoid wide social gaps.

With this goal we enter the Promised Land. The responsibility to build and maintain such an apparatus is squarely on our shoulders. " But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, even unto His habitation shall you seek, and there you should come " (Deut: 12:5).

When Jeremiah says "It is Zion – no one cares for her" – it is this, internal flaw he is addressing, in addition to international disregard for the pains of Israeli society.

Dreaming of Zion

"Because of our sins we were exiled from our land," says the Musaf prayer for Pesach, Shavuot and Succot. From exile, the desire for Zion was renewed. The first people to sound this call were the sages of Spain in the Middle Ages such as Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (11th century) Nahmanides (13th century), both of whom realized their dream of traveling to Israel, at a time when Israel was entirely desolate.

"Desiring Zion" is also the title of a book written by Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, who dreamed of returning home decades before the sand dunes of the Negev moved the early Zionist settlers or the Dreyfuss affair stirred Herzl to push the Zionist movement.

Since then we have merited to indeed come home, and to establish an Israeli lifestyle that has turned the Land of Israel in to the center of Jewish life in the world. But we have yet to fully realize the demands of Zion. The demand to perfect our home.

Wake-up call

The earthquake we have experienced this past month came as a call for us to return to ourselves. To maintain a clear grasp on our home and to wake up from our false dreams of long-distance lovers. The responsibility for this is totally on our shoulders. Our national home will be strengthened only if we recognize this responsibility.

Later in this difficult chapter from Jeremiah, the prophet turns our attention to a divine promise, one that comes together with the painful "root canal": " For I am with you, says the Lord, to save thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; for I will correct you in measure, and will not utterly destroy you ." (Jer. 30.11)

Those facing a root canal are afraid of losing everything. They fear that uprooting will lead to destruction. The prophet knows this, and tries to calm fears: "I am with you" – God is with us in times of trouble, and will bring redemption from within sorrow.

This treatment will yield new life. The covenant between God and Israel is eternal. We may suffer troubling times, but we will never be destroyed.