Last week, we spoke about lessons from the prophet Yirmiyah, in the preface to his actual prophecy- the different lessons we learn from what Hashem told him, in order to motivate him before Yirmiyah gave his first prophecy.
Today we will discuss the actual prophecies that Yirmiyah had. In perek א, pasuk יא, Hashem tells Yirmiyah,
מָה־אַתָּ֥ה רֹאֶ֖ה
What do you see?
And Yirmiyah answers,
מַקֵּ֥ל שָׁקֵ֖ד אֲנִ֥י רֹאֶֽה
I see a stick with almonds on it.
And Yirmiyah continues,
הֵיטַ֣בְתָּ לִרְא֑וֹת כִּֽי־שֹׁקֵ֥ד אֲנִ֛י עַל־דְּבָרִ֖י לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ׃
Hashem said to me: You have seen well, For I am diligent to do what I want to do.
The word שקד- shaked means almond tree -And שקד-shoked means to do things fast.
This is seemingly a play on words. But the Midrash tells us that the almond tree is called Shekedim tree because it grows quickly. {It’s interesting to note that it grows in 21 days, which is the amount of time of the three weeks.}
So Yirmiyah’s first vision is an almond tree.
As an aside, Rav Wolbe has said that we see from this that a prophecy is not just a simple clear-cut vision, because Hashem told him he saw well. If you see a chair and someone asks what you saw, and you say a chair, it’s obvious that you saw well. But in a prophecy, it’s like an ink blot of sorts- the vision wasn’t so clear and easy to see- kind of like those pictures, where one person sees an old lady and another person sees a young lady.
This obviously wasn’t just an optical illusion, rather, it took insight, depth and an understanding of the topic of the vision in order to say what they actually saw.
He saw well. Then Hashem asked him what he saw, a second time. Yirmiyah answered that he saw a bubbling pot. Hashem said that the bubbling pot referred to the impending doom.
What exactly is the message of these two visions- the almond tree and the bubbling pot?
I heard a beautiful explanation by a Rabbi Stein, the rabbi of the Somerset Walk community in Lakewood. He said that the Gemarah tells us something interesting about the almond. The almond is a strange phenomena: The shell of the unripe almond is green, but the almond is actually sweet when it’s not yet fully ripe. Once they are fully ripe, they become bitter. That’s strange. Normally, when we make a beracha on a fruit, it’s ripe, and we make the correct beracha. For example, a ripe tomato is HaAdamah, but an unripe tomato is Shehakol. On the other hand, there is probably no beracha for a ripe almond, because it’s damaging, but an unripe almond, called מתק- sweet, is Haetz, because the right way to eat it is before it’s ripe. When it’s ripe it’s מר-bitter.
This is a lesson for us: Hashem is telling Yirmiyah that the prophecy is like an almond. If you take the lesson and the mussar and do Teshuva, it’s sweet; it’s edible. But if you wait too long it’s bitter and not edible.
What happens with a bitter almond? The Gemarah says that in order to make it sweet again you must cook it. Put in a pot, and that’s when the actual suffering comes.
This is the opening message of Yirmiyah.
Hashem is saying, “I don’t want to bring suffering and problems. I want to bring a warning. I want you to change, and then everything will go away.”
Hashem gives us warnings, because He loves us. He gives us indicators from afar. As we’ve said in the past, when G-d brings leprosy, He doesn’t bring it on the person’s skin right away, first it starts on the house, then on the clothing, and only then does it go to the person.
Then Ben Ish Chai says that
הרואה יסורים באים עליו
someone who sees his suffering come upon him can see it before it’s there on him, because it doesn’t start immediately on the person. He can see the scare from afar, like clouds of doom.
If Hashem wanted to hit the person, He wouldn’t have to warm him, He could just give a whack. But Hashem gives warnings, because He doesn’t want it to happen. He wants us to wake up and do Teshuva. That’s a lesson for always- not just the three weeks: Don’t wait until something happens. Use the scare. Fulfill the suffering with the scare.
There’s a Gemarah in Masechet Berachot that says bad dreams are good. Rashi says it’s because the scare can get rid of what might have happened.
As we have quoted from the Steipler,
That’s why people sometimes go to the doctor, and the doctor says he’s not sure about something, he wants to check it out. The person gets all scared, and then it turns out to be nothing. But it really was something It just went away because the person did what he was supposed to do.
So, a scare is a good sign. Hashem is saying He doesn’t want it to happen yet, and He wants to give us a chance to change.
We are in uncertain times, with a lot of scares. There is uncertainty and worry about the future. The proper reaction is to say, “Okay Hashem, I understand what You want me to do. You want me to come closer to You.”
Everyone knows what they have to do.
To prove this point, right after the prophecies of doom, the next thing Hashem tells Yirmiyah, after the almond tree and the bubbling pot, is:
Go announce to the people of Yerushalayim,
זָכַ֤רְתִּי לָךְ֙ חֶ֣סֶד נְעוּרַ֔יִךְ אַהֲבַ֖ת כְּלוּלֹתָ֑יִךְ לֶכְתֵּ֤ךְ אַחֲרַי֙ בַּמִּדְבָּ֔ר בְּאֶ֖רֶץ לֹ֥א זְרוּעָֽה׃
I remember the kindness of your youth, the love of your Sheva berachot, and when you followed Me into the desert, the land that wasn’t planted.
קֹ֤דֶשׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לה'
The Jewish people are G-d’s holy one
רֵאשִׁ֖ית תְּבוּאָתֹ֑ה
Like the Terumah- the first choice item given to the Kohen, that,
כָּל־אֹכְלָ֣יו יֶאְשָׁ֔מוּ רָעָ֛ה תָּבֹ֥א אֲלֵיהֶ֖ם נְאֻם־ה׳
Whoever eats from it will be guilty, and evil will come upon him. -
This is the word of
G-d
G-d is saying, These are my beloved children, I love them. I have to punish them because I have to make them better, but don’t think anything is coming from a G-d that isn’t loving.
We are in the three weeks. We have to understand that have gone through Crusades, Inquisitions, pogroms, the Holocaust. And we are still here. That’s the biggest miracle.
It’s the bigger indicator.
Which nation can read from a prophecy of 2,000 years ago, in the language that the prophet gave it in, understand it, and still be connected to the same ideals and values of then?
We are a wonder.
That’s one of the things to contemplate during the three weeks. There’s a plan here. Hashem wants to get us to the finish line. He wants to bring Mashiach. But we are stuck at this point of realizing that it’s ultimately up to us.
Like the Rambam says, the Jewish people will only be redeemed if they do Teshuva.
So it’s up to us- Not anybody else.
Bezrat Hashem, this will be the last year of the three weeks being negative, and will be turned into times of Sasson V’Simcha.