绿帽社

We are now in the period known as the Three Weeks: the weeks between the fast of 17 Tammuz, which marks the day the outer walls of Jerusalem were breached by 鈥巘he Babylonians, and 9 Av, when the Babylonians destroyed the Temple. These weeks 鈥巃re the low point of the year. In a dramatic reversal of the ordinary mourning process, 鈥巜hich begins in its starkest intensity and lifts over time as the mourners are comforted, 鈥巘hese are weeks of increasing mourning that move, inevitably, to the destruction of 鈥嶨od’s house and the banishment of the People into exile. The prophetic readings drive 鈥巋ome that we have brought this horrible tragedy on ourselves. This week’s haftarah, 鈥巉rom chapter 2 of Jeremiah, is the second of three haftarot of affliction. Jeremiah 鈥巆hastises the People for having strayed from God and God’s Torah. The haftarah 鈥巄egins:鈥�

Hear the word of the Eternal, O House of Jacob and all the clans of the House 鈥巓f Israel.鈥�

Thus says the Eternal One: What wrong did your ancestors find in Me, that they 鈥巑oved away from Me, and went after empty things (hahevel) and themselves 鈥巄ecame empty (va’yehbalu)? (Jer. 2:4鈥�5)鈥�

The destruction is framed as Israel’s betrayal of God. Though Israel had once been as 鈥巐oving as a bride, she has now turned on God. These verses convey God’s pain at 鈥巋aving been rejected. In asking the question “Why?” it sounds as if God is trying to 鈥巑ake sense of the rupture. How could the Holy One not have been enough for Israel? 鈥嶵here can be no good answer.鈥�

So it is curious to pause over God’s competition. Israel betrayed God and “went after 鈥巈mpty things (hahevel).” The word hevel famously opens the book of Ecclesiastes:鈥�

Havel havalim amar kohelet (Utter futility! said Kohelet)
Havel havalim hakol havel (Utter futility! All is futile!)鈥�

When we look at God’s complaint in this way, we wonder what it was that made the 鈥嶪sraelites give up. In going after empty things, they gave into the fear that this life is 鈥巉utile. Even with God promising them that God would be with them, the Israelites could 鈥巒ot hold on to hope. In the context of Ecclesiastes, we can understand the challenge 鈥巓f holding on to hope in the face of the realities of the world around us. But in the 鈥巆ontext of Jeremiah, this turning toward hahevel is cause for severest punishment.鈥�

Further along in our haftarah, God says:鈥�

For My people have done a double wrong:
they have forsaken Me,
the Fountain of Living Waters,
and have hewn for themselves cisterns,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water. (Jer. 2:13)鈥�

If only they could have stayed true to God, they would have had access to mekor 鈥巑ayim hayyim (the Fountain of Living Waters). I hear the echoes of the Garden of 鈥嶦den and its Tree of Life. Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden, because it 鈥巜ould be too dangerous to let them remain after they had eaten from the fruit of the 鈥嶵ree of Knowledge of Good and Bad.鈥�

And the Lord God said, 鈥�

Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and bad, what if he 鈥巗hould stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live 鈥巉orever! (Gen. 3:22)鈥�

In Genesis, God is the one who banishes Adam and Eve in order to keep a separation 鈥巄etween the source of life and humanity. The separation, though painful, is necessary. 鈥嶪n Jeremiah, it is the People who keep themselves away. Instead of accessing mekor 鈥巑ayim hayyim, they hew themselves cracked cisterns symbols of the broken world in 鈥巜hich we live.鈥�

God asks, what fault did the People find with me? Perhaps they did not find any fault. 鈥嶱erhaps the moving away was not a willful act. Perhaps it was merely the gravitational 鈥巔ull of the brokenness of this world that made it impossible to stay connected to God’s 鈥巔romise of redemption.鈥�

A midrash in Eichah Rabbati opens the door to this reenvisioning of the drama 鈥巄etween God and Israel. When God sees that the Temple has been destroyed, God 鈥巜eeps, saying to the ministering angels and Jeremiah:鈥�

鈥�”Woe is Me for My house! My children, where are you? My priests, where are 鈥巠ou? My lovers, where are you? What shall I do with you, seeing that I warned 鈥巠ou but you did not repent?” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jeremiah, “I 鈥巃m now like a man who had an only son, for whom he prepared a marriage-鈥巆anopy, but he died under it. Feelest thou no anguish for Me and My children? 鈥嶨o, summon Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and Moses from their sepulchres, for 鈥巘hey know how to weep.”鈥�

The power of this moment is that God is overwhelmed by the reality of the People’s 鈥巄anishment. Although the theology of reward and punishment is referenced here, the 鈥巑idrash compels us to recognize that God is bereft. God is angry with Jeremiah for not 鈥巜eeping, for not fully grasping the horror God feels in the wake of the destruction. God 鈥巇oes not feel consoled by the idea that they brought this upon themselves. All God 鈥巜ants is for someone to heighten God’s compassion, which is why God sends 鈥嶫eremiah to bring Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses鈥攖he great ancestors who know 鈥巋ow to weep. So Jeremiah brings the ancestors and each, in turn, argues with God 鈥巃bout why Israel deserves God’s mercy (rahamim). Each one makes persuasive 鈥巃rguments, but God does not seem moved. Suddenly, Rachel jumps before God and 鈥巑akes her case. Rachel describes her wedding night, on which she and Jacob had 鈥巃rranged a special sign between them, to make certain that Laban, her father, would 鈥巒ot trick them by substituting Leah as Jacob’s bride. But Rachel has compassion for 鈥嶭eah and tells her the sign鈥攁nd even lies under the bed so that Jacob will hear her 鈥巚oice speaking with him and be tricked into thinking that he is lying with Rachel. 鈥嶳achel says:鈥�

And if I, a creature of flesh and blood, formed of dust and ashes, was not 鈥巈nvious of my rival and did not expose her to shame and contempt, why 鈥巗houldest Thou, a King Who liveth eternally and art merciful, be jealous of 鈥巌dolatry in which there is no reality (she’eyn ba mamash), and exile my children 鈥巃nd let them be slain by the sword, and their enemies have done with them as 鈥巘hey wished? (Eichah Rabbati 24)鈥�

God hears Rachel’s words and flows with compassion for the People, which prompts 鈥嶨od to promise that they will be allowed to return.鈥�

What is it about Rachel’s argument that allows God’s mercy to flow? Rachel 鈥巆hallenges God by saying that it is more important to protect Israel from shame, just as 鈥巗he protected Leah, than to act out of jealousy. Rachel is bold in her language as she 鈥巗peaks about Israel having gone astray. In referring to Israel’s sin of idolatry, Rachel 鈥巗ays, “She’eyn ba mamash,” which doesn’t have any real substance. Perhaps there is 鈥巃n echo here of the hevel (emptiness) referred to in our haftarah. I choose to 鈥巙nderstand this as Rachel saying that when the People fall into despair, when they do 鈥巒ot have the strength to hold onto hope, God should have compassion. Do not shame 鈥巘hem further, but pick them up and help them to draw near to You, the Source of Hope, 鈥巘he Fountain of the Living Waters.鈥�

This is a world in which we recognize our separation from God, and we encounter the 鈥巄rokenness symbolized in the cisterns. But as we go through this period of mourning, 鈥巜e can be consoled with the knowledge that God weeps over our separation, and has 鈥巔romised that “there is hope for your future” (Jer. 31:17).鈥�