This class has been dedicated Le’ilui Nishmat Adel bat Bahia, Mrs Adele Setton ah, on her 4th yarzheit כג׳ אלול, by her children
This is the final haftara of the Seven Weeks of Comfort. We kept our commitment to speak about each one, and this week is the last of the seven, Netzavim.
It starts with the words of Yeshayah HaNavi- שׂ֧וֹשׂ אָשִׂ֣ישׂ בּה׳ תָּגֵ֤ל נַפְשִׁי֙ בֵּֽאלֹקי-I am happy, I am elated...And he goes on to describe the wonderful things that will happen in the future; how the world will turn around, the Jewish people will longer be forsaken....
Then, in the next chapter, he continues and says, כי יום נקם בלבי
There is a day of vengeance in my heart,
ושנת גאולי באה
And the year of my redemption has come.
It makes sense to read this at the last haftara, when the new year is beginning. We are announcing ---ושנת גאולי באהAnd the year of my redemption has come
Beautiful. The Geula/ Redemption is coming. People like to look for signs and simanim of the coming Geula. They find hints that תשפ (5780) was not a good year, and תשפא(5781) will be a good year.
Rav Shach did not like those kinds of indicators, because at the end of the day, the coming of the Geula is up to us. No year is any different from any other year.
ושנת גאולי באה-And the year of my redemption has come.
It is ready. So why hasn’t it come yet?
G-d continues:
וְאַבִּיט֙ וְאֵ֣ין עֹזֵ֔ר
I look around, and there is no one there to help Me
וְאֶשְׁתּוֹמֵ֖ם וְאֵ֣ין סוֹמֵ֑ךְ
I am astounded that there is no one to lean on
What does this mean- that there is no one there to help Hashem?
Both the Bet HaLevi and Mesilat Yesharim talk about this pasuk:
The Bet HaLevi says,
(in Shemot perek י״ז,pasuk ח)that Hashem means that He needs the help of the Jewish people; He needs their deeds. The Geula will come, and there is an ultimate time when it will come regardless, but we need to be involved in the process.
ובא לציון גואלולשבי פשע ביעקב
We need to do Teshuva.
Mesilat Yesharim says (chapter 19), that a person says to himself, “I important enough my prayers are going to bring Mashiach? How could that be?”The answer he gives is that- לפיכך נברא אדם יחידי -Man was created alone.
Everyone has to say, “The world was created for me. ”Everyone has to say, “It’s up to me.”He says that Hashem gets a good feeling when we ask for this, even if it doesn’t happen, for whatever reason. At least you did what you have to do.
Furthermore, he says, “On this the Navi complained.. וירא כי אין איש וישתומם כי אין מפגיע
He saw that there was no man to intervene
(from Yashaya perek 59)
And...
ואביט ואין עוזר ואשתומם ואין סומך
I look around, and there is no one there to help Me
(as we quoted above, from this week’s haftara)
This is a complaint.
We need to ask Hashem for the Geula. We have to really want it. He says that we are obligated to do this. The rule is that even if you don’t necessarily get to finish, that doesn’t mean that you’re off the hook.
He ends off with a quote from the Zohar, that says that the Jewish people are doing kindness, but they are concerned with themselves, and don’t realize that they have to ask:
על עילוי הכבוד וגאולתן של ישראל, שהרי אי אפשר לכבוד העליון להתרבות אלא בגאולתן של ישראל
That the Jewish people at large should be redeemed and respected, because there is no way that G-d’s honor will become increased until the Jewish people’s honor becomes increased.
That’s what we have to do, and that is really what all our Rosh Hashana prayers are about. We are praying about
ובכן יתקדש שמך
And then we talk about the Jewish people getting respect.
That’s what we have to do, and that what this final haftara is telling us.
It’s up to us.
We have believe in our powers. We spoke of this at the beginning of the three weeks, ten weeks ago, when Yermiyah HaNavi said,
נער אנכי
I am only a lad..I can’t do anything.
Now hopefully, we got the message.
It seems that we need that same message again and again. Hashem is saying that we are still stuck in that mode.
Hashem ends off with another beautiful lesson to show us how much He cares for us, and how much He is suffering with us.
בְּֽכָל־צָרָתָ֣ם ׀ לא [ל֣וֹ] צָ֗ר
In all of their suffering, G-d is suffering as well
וּמַלְאַ֤ךְ פָּנָיו֙ הֽוֹשִׁיעָ֔ם
An angel of G-d will come and save us
בְּאַהֲבָת֥וֹ וּבְחֶמְלָת֖וֹ ה֣וּא גְאָלָ֑ם וַֽיְנַטְּלֵ֥ם וַֽיְנַשְּׂאֵ֖ם כָּל־יְמֵ֥י עוֹלָֽם׃
With G-d’s love and G-d’s mercy, He will lift us up forever.
That’s what we are waiting for. That’s what we have to believe in.
We have to believe in the power of our deeds, and that this Rosh Hashana can bring Mashiach.
We have to believe that all the difficulties we are having this year, and all of the challenges we are going through, are for the end goal - for us to pray and count on Hashem and realize how much we need Him.
That’s why G-d is doing all of this. He wants us to realize that there is nothing else but Him.
It’s up to us.
That’s what Hashem teaches us.
That’s why at Keryat Yam Suf, they were put into such a tight situation.
As Rabbenu Bachya says, at Keryat Yam Suf, they were moments away from the Geula, but they had no idea. They needed one last prayer to get there. That’s were we are.
We are moments away from the Geula.
שנת גאולי באה
The year of my redemption had come.
So what are we waiting for??
We are waiting for us..
For us to give that extra push.
Bezrat Hashem, this will be the year.
We have to believe that Mashiach will come today. And if not this year, next year.
Why? Not because of some magical year, but because we are going to make it happen.
Have a Shabbat shalom