Parashas Devarim - Shabbos Chazon

This week’s haftorah, which is read in the mournful chant of Eichah, is, with the possible exception of that of Tishah B’Av, the haftorah I find most terrifying.

Yeshayahu vividly describes Hashem’s utter rejection of klal Yisroel, His revulsion at their attempts at avodah. They seem to be doing mitzvos, but they are doing them all wrong.

Suddenly, in middle, the navi changes his tone – as reflected in our own change of tune to that of the standard haftorah:  רַחֲצוּ הִזַּכּוּ...אִם יִהְיוּ חֲטָאֵיכֶם כַּשָּׁנִים כַּשֶּׁלֶג יַלְבִּינוּ..., Wash yourselves, become purified…if your sins will be as red strings, they will become as white as snow….

But it lasts for only several verses before it once again turns mournful – If you refuse... – and the litany of woe resumes.

Then, the tone changes again, this time with no apparent reason. The navi describes the corruption of the self-appointed leaders and judges, and suddenly turns around, ending with a message of hope and redemption: לָכֵן נְאֻם הָאָדוֹן ד' צְבָקוֹת אֲבִיר יִשְׂרָאֵל הוֹי אֶנָּחֵם מִצָּרַי וְאִנָּקְמָה מֵאוֹיְבָי. וְאָשִׁיבָה יָדִי עָלַיִךְ...צִיּוֹן בְּמִשְׁפָּט תִּפָּדֶה וְשָׁבֶיהָ בִּצְדָקָה., Therefore – the Word of the Lord, Hashem, Master of Legions, Might of Israel – O! I will be relieved of My oppressors and be avenged of My enemies. I will return My Hand over you …  Zion will be redeemed through justice, and its captives through charity.

What “therefore” precipitates this turnaround – the corruption and vice?

The Gemara (Berachos 17a) cites R’ Alexandri who would beseech Hashem: “It is known to You that we want to do Your Will. What holds us back? ‘The leaven in the dough’ (the Yetzer Hara) and the oppression of the nations, May it be Your Will that you save us from them and will return to perform Your Service wholeheartedly.”

Perhaps the message is that, at the very end, there will come times when everything will have run completely amok; when the situation seems beyond repair.

Therefore, says Hashem, this is the point at which I have to intervene. I will relieve Myself of My oppressors (the nations that oppress Klal Yisrael) and avenge myself of My enemies (the Yetzer Hara who dissuades people from serving Hashem).

When He does that, we will all begin to serve Him wholeheartedly, so that He returns His hand over us, and that Yerushalayim is once again called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful Village.

May we merit His Kindness, so that we can spend this Tuesday celebrating together in the streets of Yerushalayim.

Gut Shabbos.