We are bewildered. We are confused. We struggle to make sense of the evil we are being forced to confront. Starting with the verse prior to the beginning of the Haftorah for this week, we read:

הושע יא

(ו) וְחָלָ֥ה חֶ֙רֶב֙ בְּעָרָ֔יו וְכִלְּתָ֥ה בַדָּ֖יו וְאָכָ֑לָה מִֽמֹּעֲצ֖וֹתֵיהֶֽם׃ (ז) וְעַמִּ֥י תְלוּאִ֖ים לִמְשׁוּבָתִ֑י וְאֶל־עַל֙ יִקְרָאֻ֔הוּ יַ֖חַד לֹ֥א יְרוֹמֵֽם׃

Isaiah 11

And war will devolve upon their cities, destroying their branches and consuming, as a result of their own plans. And my nation wavers whether to return to me, and to above they call, together they are not uplifted.

War and violence ravage the cities. Their branches, either referring to the bars of the gates, their mighty warriors (Metzudot), or their villages (Radak) are destroyed. The prophet prompts them to connect the destruction to their own failings in strategy. Some suggest this refers to the failure of their political strategies in conjunction with their moral failings of serving other gods and abandoning the worship of God (Metzudot/Abarbanel). It is a tough message to hear, difficult to internalize. The people are baffled, disoriented, wavering on where to turn. Rav Hirsch translates the second half of verse 7, “and they call out to the ‘heights’, but there is no union in what are ‘the heights’”.

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch - Commentary on the Haftoroth 11:7

What the prophets of God designate as a return to God and thereby to Truth and salvation, the leaders and the priests of Baal call a "backsliding" into the old slavery in the chains of the Torah. "Back, ye stand at the edge of the abyss”, cry the prophets of God. "Boldly forward, only that way leads to the heights" resounds from the mouths of the others, and "My People" who had systematically been kept in ignorance of the Torah throughout generations, they stand in doubt in the middle, do not know whom to believe, do not know where in truth the direction to the heights lies. In plural, "they call, all of them, to the heights", but they by no means agree what the lofty goal which is to be striven for really is, whether the return to the Torah, or progressing in the defection from it.

The people are committed to picking themselves off the ground, moving boldly forward, and reaching new heights. But there is no unity or consensus on where to go. There are differing views regarding the ultimate objective. And thus the people are paralyzed. A few chapters later, which according to some customs is read as the Haftorah for Veyeitze, we read:

הושע יד

(א) תֶּאְשַׁם֙ שֹׁמְר֔וֹן כִּ֥י מָרְתָ֖ה בֵּאלֹהֶ֑יהָ בַּחֶ֣רֶב יִפֹּ֔לוּ עֹלְלֵיהֶ֣ם יְרֻטָּ֔שׁוּ וְהָרִיּוֹתָ֖יו יְבֻקָּֽעוּ׃ (ב) שׁ֚וּבָה יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַ֖ד יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ כִּ֥י כָשַׁ֖לְתָּ בַּעֲוֺנֶֽךָ׃

(1) Samaria shall be accounted guilty, for she has rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword, their infants shall be dashed, and their pregnant women shall be ripped up. (2) Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled in your iniquity.

Again a picture of violence and terror. The weak are targeted. Atrocities committed. But the prophet sees this as an opportunity for renewal and return. It is optimism in the face of terrible adversity.

Rav Samson Raphael Hirsch - Commentary on the Haftoroth 14:2

In spite of all the degeneration depicted in the foregoing, and in spite of the terrible doom that was decreed in consequence thereof, the Prophet speaks words of the return to God with such tenderness and fervor that none other have spoken. For to him the fate of suffering did not mean the road to death but the way to life. Not for nothing were they called above, the pangs of birth. Through them fallen Israel is to arise to new life. The "barricades of your hearts" are they to break down, to open the way for the Words of God to enter to your true better self. Then through all the thunder of the fateful events that rage around you the call of your God and Father sounds, and reaches your ear, and reaches your heart no longer grown torpid in inordinate desire for pleasure and worship of property, the call to come back, return O Israel! And indeed “until” not “toward”, right unto your God, do not remain standing half-way there! One who, as you did, broke entirely away from your God, to come back must have the courage to break entirely with the whole of his past, and must not rest until he has fought his way up to the stage where His God awaits him…for now you have indeed realized that, not as you believed, you had progressed, risen through your sin, but you had stumbled, slipped, fallen, through it; your error has proved after all to be a mistake.

There are noteworthy parallels between ancient and modern times. We are confronted once again with war and violence. We know we cannot remain paralyzed, but move boldly forward. But there are competing visions of the ultimate goal, ambiguity about “the heights” to which we aspire. The prophet sees this as an opportunity for clarity. Impediments can be dissolved, commitments undertaken with complete determination, and unity of purpose achieved. Mistakes can be corrected and a new future forged.

הושע יד

(ג) קְח֤וּ עִמָּכֶם֙ דְּבָרִ֔ים וְשׁ֖וּבוּ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֑ה אִמְר֣וּ אֵלָ֗יו כׇּל־תִּשָּׂ֤א עָוֺן֙ וְקַח־ט֔וֹב וּֽנְשַׁלְּמָ֥ה פָרִ֖ים שְׂפָתֵֽינוּ׃ (ד) אַשּׁ֣וּר׀ לֹ֣א יוֹשִׁיעֵ֗נוּ עַל־סוּס֙ לֹ֣א נִרְכָּ֔ב וְלֹא־נֹ֥אמַר ע֛וֹד אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ לְמַעֲשֵׂ֣ה יָדֵ֑ינוּ אֲשֶׁר־בְּךָ֖ יְרֻחַ֥ם יָתֽוֹם׃

Isaiah 11 (3) Take with you words, and return to God, say to him, remove all our error and take the good [instead], and consider the offerings of our lips like [the offering of] bulls. Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses. And we will no longer say the work of our hands is our god, for [only] in You is the orphan granted mercy.

References

Hirsch S. R. Levy I. & Hirsch M. (2005/1966). Hirsch commentary on the torah ([2nd ed. (completely rev.)]). Judaica Press.

Rosenberg, A. (1980). A new English translation of the Hebrew Bible text and Rashi, with a commentary digest. New York: Judaica Press. Retrieved from: https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/

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