Shake Off the Dust and Dance

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Welcome to Madlik. My name is Geoffrey
Stern,

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and at Madlik, we light a spark or shed
some light on a Jewish text or tradition.

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Along with Rabbi Adam Mintz, we host
Madlik Disruptive Torah

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on your favorite podcast platform and now
on YouTube and Substack.

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We also publish a source sheet on Sefaria,

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and a link is included in the show notes.

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This week we read Parshat Shoftim and we
read the fourth haftarah

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of Consolation leading up to the high
holidays.

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So join us for Wake Up and Rejoice as we
discover a Jewish wake up call that
invites

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us not simply to rise up, but to dance.

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Rabbi, it's gonna be Rosh Chodesh Elul by
the time this podcast airs,

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so I guess we're getting into the spirit
of the holidays.

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That's exciting. There's nothing better
than getting into the spirit

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of the High Holidays. So let's take this
haftarah and let's see how

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it connects to the upcoming High Holidays.

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And it's also a little bit of new
territory for us because normally we focus

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on the parsha itself in the five books of
Moses.

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And today we're going to look at the
haftorot,

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which were sections from the prophets that
were linked thematically

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or calendar-wise with the parsha.

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So this week's haftarah is by Isaiah.

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It's the fifth book of the prophets,

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and it's known for its visions of
universal peace and renewal.

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It was written during the period of the
first temple,

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so this is BC, against the backdrop of
rising Assyrian Empire and Israel

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on the decline. Of course, the temple had
been destroyed.

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Isaiah rebukes Israel for abandoning God
and pursuing corruption.

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He calls for change and warns the nations of
their ultimate downfall.

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But more importantly to us, the third of
the book contains comforting prophecies

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about returning to Jerusalem and
redemption.

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And that's why it's used a lot in these
haftarot of consolation,

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which starts with Nachamu Nachamu,

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which comes from Isaiah itself.

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So these haftarot.

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are linked less to the parsha, but more to
the time of year that we're in.

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Is that correct?

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That is absolutely right. Right.

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So you know, since the last ten weeks of
the year have haftarot that

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are linked to the calendar.

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The three weeks before Tisha B'Av,

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we have three Haftarot of destruction.

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And then the seven weeks after Tisha B'Av,

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we have seven Haftarot of consolation.

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So even though usually the haftarah is
linked to the weekly portion,

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but these last ten weeks of the year,

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they're linked to the calendar.

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Okay, so it is just poetic and lyrical.

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We are in Isaiah 51, twelve,

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and this is how the haftarah begins.

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We're gonna see there's a lot of
repetition of two words.

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We've already focused on a few in the
intro.

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It says, Anochi, Anochi,

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hu menachemchem. I am the one emphatically
who comforts you.

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What ails you that you fear man who must
die?

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Mortals who fare like grass.

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so just as grass is fleeting,

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it grows and it disappears.

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it already is talking about the
mortality,

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but it's also talking about Menachem.

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It says in the fourth word that he's come
to comfort us,

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to console us. and it has this emphasis of
saying,

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I, I, this relationship.

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with God then we go to Isaiah 51 the
same chapter

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16 through seventeen and there it says the famous words that I quoted

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it says I have said to Zion you are my
people rouse rouse yourself

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it says rouse yourselves rouse Jerusalem

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"Tzion, ami atah. Hit'oreri, hit'oreri,
kumi Yerushalayim."

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You who from God's hand have drunk God's
wrath filled cup,

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you who have drained to the dregs the
bowl,

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the cup of reeling. So it's not ignoring
the past,

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it's not ignoring the tough times that
preceded,

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but it is emphatically saying that number one,

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God has a relationship with this people,

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and two, you are my people, and this is
a moment to get up.

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And to arise. But hit'oreri,

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hit'oreri is is just beautiful.

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We'll see for those of you who don't know
it from the Kabbalat Shabbat

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how this should resonate with so
many of us.

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Let's just continue a little bit more.

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then it goes to Isaiah 52 1 through 2,

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and it says, awake, awake, O Zion.

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Clothe yourself in splendor.

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In Hebrew, that is uri uri livshi
uzechotzon.

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And then it goes on with other words
that will be familiar

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to us hitna'ari me'afar kumi.

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So it says, Awake, awake,

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O Zion, clothe yourself in splendor.

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Put on your robes of majesty, Jerusalem,

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holy city.

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For the uncircumcised and the impure shall
never enter you again.

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This was a moment where they had been
conquered.

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Arise, shake off the dust,

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sit on your throne, Jerusalem,

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loose the bonds from your neck,

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O captive ones, fair Zion. It's you can
almost feel the tremors of emphasis here.

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it's really coming out you. in Isaiah
52 7,

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it says, How welcome?

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On the mountains are the footsteps of the
herald,

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announcing happiness, hearing good
fortune,

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announcing victory. Tell Zion your God
reigns.

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And so here too, as it finishes,

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it's talking about come back to the
mountaintops of Judah

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and your God reigns. You almost feel as
if you have to say again or anew,

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or He's back, so to speak.

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And then finally in 52:11,

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it says, Suru, suru, again for emphasis,

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turn away, turn away, touch nothing impure as
you depart from there,

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keep pure as you go forth from there,

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you who bare the vessels of God.

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So now he's talking to those who are still
in exile in Babylonia,

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and he's asking them to come back and to
leave all of that which

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is impure.

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behind. and as I mentioned before,

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we would remiss, we'd be remiss if we
didn't have Isaiah's line of Nachamu,

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Nachamu, nachamu ami, yomar Eloheichem,

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the first of the Haftarot of
Consolation.

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There's a lot of emphasis, there's a lot
of waking up

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and shocking the people awake.

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to where they are. Just kind of
remarkable words on their own,

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but especially if you know our liturgy.

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Yeah, I mean that's amazing and obviously
we'll talk about this.

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The word nachamu, the idea of comforting,

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is a Torah word.

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in a number of contexts the
Torah uses the word Nachamu.

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So that's really that's really the you
know the powerful word

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of these seven haftarot. And actually the
Shabbat after Tisha B'Av

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has a special name and it's called Shabbat
Nachamu,

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the Shabbat of Consolation based on the
Haftarah.

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So clearly that's the word that you know
everything centers around that word.

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And it would seem that from that,

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because I think that's probably the only
haftarah that gets first billing

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throughout the year, that Shabbat is
the beginning of reading

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these haftarot of consolation.

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So I just want to quote a few of the
contemporary commentaries who are trying
to put

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These verses that I just read into
context.

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The first is the Etz Hayim Chumash,

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that's the Chumash used mostly by the
Conservative movement.

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It says each part of this haftara,

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a divine pronouncement of comfort to Zion
and the nation,

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features a pattern of double proclamation.

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After God tells the people at the outset
that I am he who comforts you,

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remember we said I, I am he who comforts
you,

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Jerusalem, also known as Zion,

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is exhorted to rouse, rouse herself from
travail of sorrow and to awake,

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awake to her new destiny of splendor.

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Finally, the exiles are called on to turn
turn away from Babylon

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and begin the journey to the homeland.

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These repetitions intensify the divine
commands and spotlight

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the haftara's three themes of divine
presence,

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national transformation, and return from Zion,

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or I should say return from exile to
Zion.

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And then in some of the other
commentaries,

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this one is from the Anchor Yale Bible by
Joseph Blenkinsopp.

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He said the repeated verb or uri, hit'oreri
can signify a call to battle.

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and he brings a reference to Deborah the
judge,

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a summons to a special mission,

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such as when God aroused the spirit of
Cyrus.

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Or to a prophetic calling, and of course
he's bringing verses for all of these,

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or finally a gathering up of spiritual and
physical energies

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for decisive action. So I think that's
kind of echoes what I was saying before

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is you can get a sense almost that this is
a moment.

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and he's trying to seize the moment.

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The repetition itself indicates a sense of
urgency and conveys the impression that

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a critical point has been reached.

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And he says again, the repetition
further along,

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urging departure, presumably from
Babylonia,

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connects structurally with the first
passage which is Nachamu Nachamu.

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another modern commentary,

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J. Alec Motyer says, awake, awake is an
example of

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reduplication for emotional intensity.

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In the rich anthropomorphism of the Bible,

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and he references Exodus.

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Suggests sudden divine recollection after
a prolonged lapse of memory.

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I'm not quite sure who's being woken up
here.

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So here to the human eye, it seems as if
the Lord has gone to sleep over

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his promises. In other words, the
anthropomorphism calls on God to act with

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the same dispatch and urgency that would
follow if,

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in our experience, we woke to the sudden
recollection of a forgotten duty.

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it's just fascinating how rich this
repetition is,

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and of course especially so because you
have it so many times one after the other.

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Right. So let's just say that,

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you know, we you pointed out at the
beginning that we're doing something

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different this week. We're looking at the
haftarah,

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and the style of the prophets is very much
different than the style of the Torah.

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You don't have this kind of repetition in
the Torah.

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So he's really making a point that the
prophet uses repetition,

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it's kind of poetry, but uses repetition
in order to emphasize,

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you know.

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to emphasize the point. And of
course,

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you know, the idea of arise, arise,

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that's good. But it starts with nachamu
nachamu.

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You think about it, the first
haftarah,

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why does it have to say nachamu twice?

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Just say comfort.

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Right, be comforted. Nachamu, Nachamu ami.

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My people be comforted. But the fact that
it says it twice,

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Nachamu, Nachamu Ami, is clearly for
emphasis and it almost sets

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up the subsequent six weeks are gonna be
repetition.

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It almost like highlights
for us.

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Look for the repetition.

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Cause that's gonna be the key of all the
haftarot.

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And I think that that's the idea of arise,

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arise. And of course, Shlomo Alkabetz in
Lecha Dodi,

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he picks that up also. He understands
that's the that's the call to action.

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And of course, what better way to begin
Shabbat than with that call to act?

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And I will say we do have some repetition.

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We have tzedek, tzedek tirdof.

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Yeah, that's just yeah. We also have,

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and this comes up in the High Holidays,

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Adonai, Adonai, El rachum v’chanun.

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So what really is striking is it's not as
if they're creating a new grammar,

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but the fact that they're using it so
much,

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you really get a sense of intensity.

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and I think

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before we start with the Lecha Dodi,

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in some of the kind of the commentaries or
treatments of Jewish liturgy that I've

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come across, they all point to the
Lecha Dodi as almost the peak,

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as almost the climax of the Friday night service.

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and there is this sense

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of great emphasis. lacha dodi likrat kala pane shabbat nekabla.

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That just means welcome your bride to
create to welcome the bride

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of shabbat the face of the shabbat
we welcome

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Let's just explain for a minute.

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Shabbat is seen as the bride.

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Shabbat is seen as a queen. Shabbat is
seen as the feminine.

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So we go out to greet the same way that
the groom goes to greet the bride.

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We go out to greet the Shabbat.

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And of course, in Tzfat, they used to go
out to the,

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you know, they used to go out on the
mountains,

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00:16:10,248 --> 00:16:11,720
they used to go out into the fields,

255
00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,922
and they used to actually bring in the
Shabbat.

256
00:16:15,042 --> 00:16:18,513
And that's what
the image is.

257
00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,091
So I'm gonna go to the English,

258
00:16:21,091 --> 00:16:25,974
but when appropriate, you or I will throw
in the Hebrew so that everybody recognizes

259
00:16:25,974 --> 00:16:28,455
it. But clearly, as you were saying,

260
00:16:28,455 --> 00:16:33,318
we have Talmudic times where Rabbi
Chanina used to robe himself

261
00:16:33,558 --> 00:16:37,221
and stood at sunset on the eve of the
Sabbath and exclaimed,

262
00:16:37,221 --> 00:16:40,242
Come let us go forth to welcome the
Shabbat Queen.

263
00:16:40,242 --> 00:16:44,655
Rabbi Yannai garbed himself in festive
attire on Shabbat and exclaimed,

264
00:16:44,655 --> 00:16:46,046
Come, bride, come, bride.

265
00:16:46,356 --> 00:16:48,967
And this is in the tractate of Shabbat.

266
00:16:48,967 --> 00:16:54,188
So this is not new. What the author of
this piyyut that was then

267
00:16:54,468 --> 00:17:00,210
put to multiple tunes did was he made it
into a liturgy and into a song.

268
00:17:00,210 --> 00:17:05,692
And what he starts by saying is Shamor
v'Zachor b'dibur achat,

269
00:17:05,692 --> 00:17:08,193
preserve and remember in a single
utterance.

270
00:17:08,193 --> 00:17:12,503
we will see, depending on how much of
the material we get to.

271
00:17:12,972 --> 00:17:16,463
That in the Isaiah text that we're
reading,

272
00:17:16,463 --> 00:17:19,615
it's not quite clear who's speaking when.

273
00:17:19,615 --> 00:17:23,597
Sometimes the verbs are in the female
singular,

274
00:17:23,597 --> 00:17:28,949
sometimes male. What I take, preserve and
remember in a single utterance based

275
00:17:28,949 --> 00:17:33,701
on the Midrash, that Zachor v'Shamor are
in the two renderings

276
00:17:33,701 --> 00:17:36,042
of the Ten Commandments, is we don't,

277
00:17:36,042 --> 00:17:39,734
there are so many people that could be
speaking here.

278
00:17:39,734 --> 00:17:40,734
It could be very

279
00:17:40,814 --> 00:17:42,636
personal welcoming the Shabbat.

280
00:17:42,636 --> 00:17:45,719
It could be welcoming the Shabbat as a
nation,

281
00:17:45,719 --> 00:17:50,324
as a world. I think that kind of greets
into it.

282
00:17:50,324 --> 00:17:54,889
Then it goes Mikdash melech, ir meluchah.

283
00:17:54,889 --> 00:17:58,954
all of a sudden it goes from something
very personal

284
00:17:59,214 --> 00:18:02,515
To the sanctuary of the king royal city
arise.

285
00:18:02,515 --> 00:18:07,078
And this clearly comes right out of the
verses in Isaiah that we've just been

286
00:18:07,078 --> 00:18:11,580
talking about. too long have you dwelt
in the valley of weeping.

287
00:18:11,580 --> 00:18:14,831
You are going to be will show you,

288
00:18:14,831 --> 00:18:17,142
he's going to be good to you.

289
00:18:17,142 --> 00:18:20,123
And then in the next stanza it says,

290
00:18:20,123 --> 00:18:25,656
Hit'oreri take the dust off
of yourself.

291
00:18:25,918 --> 00:18:28,620
Arise, dress up in your garments of glory,

292
00:18:28,620 --> 00:18:32,032
literally quotes from Isaiah here.

293
00:18:32,032 --> 00:18:37,246
And it says, My people, though the sons of
Yeshai the Bethlehemeth draw near

294
00:18:37,246 --> 00:18:42,128
my soul and redeem it. So it's talking now
the national story.

295
00:18:42,128 --> 00:18:45,972
And then it says, Hit'oreri, Hit'oreri,

296
00:18:45,972 --> 00:18:48,433
wake up, wake up, for your light has come.

297
00:18:48,433 --> 00:18:49,433
Kumi

298
00:18:49,556 --> 00:18:54,269
Or get up and shine. I realized reading
this that rise and shine,

299
00:18:54,269 --> 00:18:58,172
that that that song that we sing to our
kids to wake them up in

300
00:18:58,172 --> 00:19:01,775
the morning probably comes from this in
Isaiah:

301
00:19:01,775 --> 00:19:06,858
awaken, awaken, utter a song, the glory of
God is revealed upon you.

302
00:19:06,858 --> 00:19:12,742
So, in a song, the paytan is saying that
we need

303
00:19:12,742 --> 00:19:17,726
to break into song. That is how wonderful.

304
00:19:18,086 --> 00:19:23,730
this moment is getting back to this
consolation it says feel

305
00:19:23,730 --> 00:19:29,525
not ashamed or humiliated why are you
bowed down why do you moan in

306
00:19:29,525 --> 00:19:33,498
you will take refuge the poor of my people
the city will be rebuilt

307
00:19:33,750 --> 00:19:40,134
As in ancient times, they will be ravaged
those

308
00:19:40,134 --> 00:19:44,096
who ravaged you. They will be cast off
while you devour.

309
00:19:44,096 --> 00:19:49,979
Your God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom
rejoices in the bride.

310
00:19:49,979 --> 00:19:56,203
And then it goes to the final climax
where

311
00:19:56,203 --> 00:20:02,036
we all stand up and we turn around as if
physically welcoming the Shabbat.

312
00:20:02,146 --> 00:20:07,430
bride. And this is where I saw in the
Sephardic siddur that I

313
00:20:07,430 --> 00:20:10,592
took the Sefaria translation.

314
00:20:10,592 --> 00:20:16,416
It says, "Bo'i V'shalom ye'amar adam
b'simcha atzumah ad me'od."

315
00:20:16,736 --> 00:20:21,139
That "Bo'i V'shalom" has to be said in
exceedingly great joy.

316
00:20:21,339 --> 00:20:24,822
Even more.

317
00:20:24,822 --> 00:20:30,986
he can't find the adjectives
to describe the joy.

318
00:20:31,266 --> 00:20:36,809
That is the uplifting sense of how
this is said.

319
00:20:36,809 --> 00:20:42,201
And what I'm trying to do in emphasizing
this feeling of Lecha Dodi is

320
00:20:42,201 --> 00:20:44,182
I'm going to make an argument today,

321
00:20:44,182 --> 00:20:49,235
as I said in the intro, that you can
easily transfer the same message

322
00:20:49,355 --> 00:20:54,147
to the High Holidays. And while many
people would totally agree with

323
00:20:54,147 --> 00:20:55,878
me and understand that the

324
00:20:56,622 --> 00:21:03,236
Overwhelming emotion on a Friday night
when you welcome in the Shabbat is this
joy,

325
00:21:03,236 --> 00:21:06,538
this uplifting, casting off your garments,

326
00:21:06,538 --> 00:21:08,410
the old garments, putting on the new.

327
00:21:08,410 --> 00:21:11,712
I am gonna make an argument that this
parsha,

328
00:21:11,712 --> 00:21:16,755
this haftarah, and using Isaiah is going in
the same direction for the High Holidays.

329
00:21:16,755 --> 00:21:19,717
I have to work on proving my
case,

330
00:21:19,717 --> 00:21:21,278
but that's the direction.

331
00:21:21,570 --> 00:21:27,815
that I'm going and that's why I really
want to focus on simcha atzumah ad me'od.

332
00:21:27,815 --> 00:21:31,308
This has to be just unbounded joy.

333
00:21:33,824 --> 00:21:36,876
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Thanks. And now back to our podcast.

349
00:22:37,737 --> 00:22:43,078
Let's talk about some of the elements that
we find in

350
00:22:43,078 --> 00:22:48,881
Lecha Dodi that maybe didn't come up in
our specific haftarah.

351
00:22:48,881 --> 00:22:52,642
So in Isaiah sixty two it says

352
00:22:53,082 --> 00:22:56,605
that you never shall be called forsaken,

353
00:22:56,605 --> 00:22:59,187
nor shall your land be called desolate,

354
00:22:59,187 --> 00:23:04,752
but you shall be called a delight in her
and your land espoused.

355
00:23:04,752 --> 00:23:09,796
in Isaiah 62, it literally uses the
language

356
00:23:10,197 --> 00:23:14,060
of a deserted woman, of a woman who is
cast off.

357
00:23:14,060 --> 00:23:18,543
Lo ye'amer lach, it will no longer be said to
you in the feminine,

358
00:23:18,543 --> 00:23:21,586
od azuvah, that you are a

359
00:23:22,116 --> 00:23:27,093
a rejected woman, lo od shemamah, ki lach yikarei
Cheftzi-Vah,

360
00:23:27,093 --> 00:23:30,338
my desire will be you,

361
00:23:30,338 --> 00:23:37,067
ul'artzeich be'ulah and the land will be
your engagement,

362
00:23:37,067 --> 00:23:38,770
will be our marriage.

363
00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:40,811
And then it goes on to finish,

364
00:23:40,811 --> 00:23:45,012
your land shall be espoused, using the
language of marriage.

365
00:23:45,012 --> 00:23:50,093
As a youth espouses a maiden, your son
shall espouse you.

366
00:23:50,093 --> 00:23:54,695
So now we're talking about both God and
Zion and the homeland.

367
00:23:54,695 --> 00:23:58,076
And as a bridegroom rejoices over his
bride,

368
00:23:58,076 --> 00:24:02,367
so will God rejoice over you. So it
says,

369
00:24:02,367 --> 00:24:04,577
u'mesos chatan al kallah, yasis alayich Elohayich.

370
00:24:06,950 --> 00:24:09,063
again, I was at a wedding last night,

371
00:24:09,063 --> 00:24:12,468
they sang Lecha Dodi. it's all
connected,

372
00:24:12,468 --> 00:24:18,477
but you can see again how the paytan took
inspiration to merge

373
00:24:18,477 --> 00:24:21,641
all of this imagery and this sense of
Lecha Dodi.

374
00:24:21,641 --> 00:24:23,444
It's quite wonderful, is it not?

375
00:24:23,980 --> 00:24:29,012
Well, so let me just say that you quoted
from the Sephardic siddur that this needs

376
00:24:29,012 --> 00:24:34,314
to be said bit b'simcha atzumah ad me'od
with total happiness.

377
00:24:34,314 --> 00:24:38,196
And of course that's the image
of the bride and the groom.

378
00:24:38,196 --> 00:24:42,058
Because when you want to think of what's
the ultimate happiness.

379
00:24:42,410 --> 00:24:46,453
It's a bride and a groom. So it's all it's
all connected.

380
00:24:46,453 --> 00:24:51,076
And that's so they take the image of
the bride and groom from Isaiah,

381
00:24:51,076 --> 00:24:56,090
they apply it to Shabbat, and they take
the image of the happiness of

382
00:24:56,090 --> 00:24:59,422
the bride and the groom, and they apply
that to Shabbat as well.

383
00:25:00,408 --> 00:25:05,981
So I think that is a pretty good anchor
for where Lecha Dodi takes this sense

384
00:25:06,221 --> 00:25:09,213
of a bride and groom as a metaphor,

385
00:25:09,213 --> 00:25:13,245
motif. The other one that I want to focus
on a little bit is this idea

386
00:25:13,245 --> 00:25:17,507
of taking off the old clothing and putting
on the new clothing.

387
00:25:17,507 --> 00:25:20,139
In Isaiah 51, six through eight.

388
00:25:20,139 --> 00:25:25,812
So that is a few lines before I believe
our haftorah actually begins.

389
00:25:25,812 --> 00:25:29,094
It says, Raise your eyes to the heavens
and look upon the earth beneath.

390
00:25:29,304 --> 00:25:31,285
Though the heaven should melt away like
smoke,

391
00:25:31,285 --> 00:25:34,298
and the earth wear out like a garment,

392
00:25:34,298 --> 00:25:36,781
and its inhabitants die out as well.

393
00:25:36,781 --> 00:25:39,013
My victory shall stand forever,

394
00:25:39,013 --> 00:25:41,215
my triumph shall remain unbroken.

395
00:25:41,215 --> 00:25:45,588
he says, Listen to me, for you who care
for the right,

396
00:25:45,588 --> 00:25:47,990
or people who lay my instructions to
heart.

397
00:25:47,990 --> 00:25:50,453
Isaiah is talking to the believers,

398
00:25:50,453 --> 00:25:52,955
the followers, the people that follow him,

399
00:25:52,955 --> 00:25:56,498
and he's talking about taking away the

400
00:25:56,770 --> 00:26:03,072
Old clothing, which kind of it strikes
us of the dead,

401
00:26:03,072 --> 00:26:05,673
the worn out, the moth-eaten.

402
00:26:05,673 --> 00:26:09,274
In verse eight, he says, for the moth shall
eat them up like a garment,

403
00:26:09,274 --> 00:26:11,555
the worm shall eat them up like wool,

404
00:26:11,555 --> 00:26:14,235
but my triumph shall endure forever.

405
00:26:14,235 --> 00:26:17,846
So again, this sense of taking off the
garment and putting on a

406
00:26:17,846 --> 00:26:22,638
new garment for Shabbat or for the
redemption is very strong.

407
00:26:23,050 --> 00:26:28,474
And then the way he ends this whole
thing is

408
00:26:28,474 --> 00:26:33,759
to say sason v'simcha yimatzei vah, todah v'kol zimrah

409
00:26:33,759 --> 00:26:38,673
he says God has comforted Zion,

410
00:26:38,673 --> 00:26:40,564
gladness and joy shall abide there,

411
00:26:40,564 --> 00:26:43,647
the thanksgiving and the sound of music.

412
00:26:43,647 --> 00:26:49,612
So you can clearly see how this was an
inspiration for the paytan.

413
00:26:49,612 --> 00:26:52,134
and we see

414
00:26:52,544 --> 00:26:58,677
I'm gonna quote a little bit from a
commentary on Lecha Dodi written

415
00:26:58,677 --> 00:27:04,269
by Reuven Hammer, who I believe became the Minister of Education for a while

416
00:27:04,269 --> 00:27:09,021
in Israel. and he talks about how even
in Lecha Dodi,

417
00:27:09,021 --> 00:27:12,603
we go from the individual in the beginning
and the end,

418
00:27:12,603 --> 00:27:17,125
and then we go to the national.

419
00:27:17,125 --> 00:27:18,826
but he says

420
00:27:19,138 --> 00:27:21,780
The prophets utilize the language of
marriage,

421
00:27:21,780 --> 00:27:25,952
love, and faithfulness to describe
exclusive relationship God's demands

422
00:27:25,952 --> 00:27:29,624
of the people. and it as shown in the
Shema,

423
00:27:29,624 --> 00:27:33,066
love the Lord your God v'ahafta et
hashem elohecha.

424
00:27:33,066 --> 00:27:39,250
And he talks about how this merging of
the national

425
00:27:39,370 --> 00:27:43,492
and the personal became so important.

426
00:27:43,492 --> 00:27:46,714
So I wanna end by going.

427
00:27:46,934 --> 00:27:49,555
To Unetaneh Tokef of all things.

428
00:27:49,555 --> 00:27:54,246
Unetaneh Tokef is the famous kind

429
00:27:54,246 --> 00:28:00,978
of emotion-laden moment where the chazan
talks about we're

430
00:28:00,978 --> 00:28:05,119
all passing in front of God to be judged
like sheep.

431
00:28:05,119 --> 00:28:09,800
And in it he talks about we come from dust
and return to dust.

432
00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:14,942
Remember the dust in the vision of Isaiah
that was being

433
00:28:15,352 --> 00:28:18,785
thrown off from us. I see that here.

434
00:28:18,785 --> 00:28:21,067
We labor by our lives for bread.

435
00:28:21,067 --> 00:28:24,691
We are like broken shards, like dry grass.

436
00:28:24,691 --> 00:28:30,156
That same sense that what in the world is
passing passes like grass

437
00:28:30,156 --> 00:28:35,481
or a withered flower, or beautifully like
a passing shadow and a vanishing cloud.

438
00:28:35,481 --> 00:28:40,146
He's not saying that to talk to us
about

439
00:28:40,426 --> 00:28:43,648
The the finitude of mortality,

440
00:28:43,648 --> 00:28:48,090
I think what he's trying to do is lift us
up to cast off that stuff,

441
00:28:48,090 --> 00:28:52,252
as Isaiah was saying, about cast off the
withered grass.

442
00:28:52,252 --> 00:28:54,253
That's what will happen to your enemies.

443
00:28:54,253 --> 00:28:58,485
but you will have your eternal king.

444
00:28:58,485 --> 00:29:04,118
the idea of taking on God and the
eternity of our history.

445
00:29:04,448 --> 00:29:09,862
And of our narrative and of our journey as
something that uplifts you

446
00:29:10,183 --> 00:29:13,385
and makes you want to shout and dance,

447
00:29:13,385 --> 00:29:16,968
I think, is what clearly comes here.

448
00:29:16,968 --> 00:29:19,871
And as we know, in Nehemiah,

449
00:29:19,871 --> 00:29:24,494
the people are very sad on the beginning
of Tishrei.

450
00:29:24,494 --> 00:29:27,627
And he tells them not to mourn or weep.

451
00:29:27,627 --> 00:29:30,679
He says, 'Go eat choice foods and drink
sweet drinks,

452
00:29:30,679 --> 00:29:33,742
and send portions to whoever has nothing
prepared.'

453
00:29:33,954 --> 00:29:36,009
For the day is holy to our sovereign.

454
00:29:36,009 --> 00:29:40,610
Do not be sad, for your rejoicing in God
is the source of your strength.

455
00:29:41,042 --> 00:29:44,315
And then all the people went and ate and
drank and sent portions

456
00:29:44,315 --> 00:29:48,848
and made great merriment. You would never
think this is a description of Rosh Hashanah.

457
00:29:48,848 --> 00:29:53,091
You'd think it was Purim, for they
understood the things that they were told.

458
00:29:53,091 --> 00:29:57,775
You know, we quote the Mishnah in Ta'anit
about the fifteenth of Av to show

459
00:29:57,835 --> 00:30:01,387
how the daughters got back. But what the
Mishnah really says is there

460
00:30:01,387 --> 00:30:04,059
are two times of the year that are the
happiest.

461
00:30:04,059 --> 00:30:07,542
One is the fifteenth of Av, but Yom Kippur
is the other.

462
00:30:07,786 --> 00:30:10,689
Again, most people would not associate
that.

463
00:30:10,689 --> 00:30:14,812
And I think what I'd like to finish on is
how does that resonate with

464
00:30:14,812 --> 00:30:17,665
you and your experience with your
congregation?

465
00:30:17,665 --> 00:30:23,320
you know, many congregations finish Yom
Kippur and they're dancing the hora,

466
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,542
and there's this sense, I think,

467
00:30:25,542 --> 00:30:29,285
of we survive judgment. But I think this
is more than that.

468
00:30:29,285 --> 00:30:34,290
This is really about the fact that
Hit'oreri Hit'oreri.

469
00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:38,112
It's God who's asking us to rise up and in
rejoice.

470
00:30:38,112 --> 00:30:42,424
The way I'm gonna focus this year is when
I say my Rosh Hashanah prayers,

471
00:30:42,424 --> 00:30:45,916
I'm gonna say, How would it sound if it
was Friday night and

472
00:30:45,916 --> 00:30:48,517
I was standing welcoming the Shabbat
bride?

473
00:30:48,517 --> 00:30:50,738
That's my takeaway this year.

474
00:30:50,744 --> 00:30:52,855
That's fantastic. I add one word,

475
00:30:52,855 --> 00:30:56,216
and that is happiness and the sense of
confidence.

476
00:30:56,216 --> 00:30:58,507
You know, you stand up to judgment.

477
00:30:58,507 --> 00:31:00,978
Someone who goes before a judge,

478
00:31:00,978 --> 00:31:05,400
you could either be insecure or you could
be confident that you're gonna win.

479
00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:07,140
And we all know that, you know,

480
00:31:07,140 --> 00:31:11,803
the judge can read you. And sometimes when
he sees insecurity,

481
00:31:11,803 --> 00:31:15,584
he or she sees insecurity, so they play on
that insecurity.

482
00:31:15,584 --> 00:31:18,649
But if they see confidence, if you're
confident,

483
00:31:18,649 --> 00:31:20,096
then they believe that you're right.

484
00:31:20,406 --> 00:31:25,289
And that's the way I always understood the
the verses in Nehemiah.

485
00:31:25,289 --> 00:31:30,033
Be confident means you know you may have
sinned when nobody's perfect,

486
00:31:30,033 --> 00:31:33,235
but be confident that God is gonna be good
to us.

487
00:31:33,235 --> 00:31:35,496
And if we're confident, then we're happy.

488
00:31:35,496 --> 00:31:39,599
Because the confidence leads to a
confidence that God is gonna forgive us.

489
00:31:39,599 --> 00:31:42,561
So I agree with you that idea Friday
night.

490
00:31:42,561 --> 00:31:45,814
I'm not sure that on Shabbat it's so much
confidence.

491
00:31:45,814 --> 00:31:49,056
I think on Shabbat it's more in a sense of
bride and groom.

492
00:31:49,398 --> 00:31:52,483
I think on Rosh Hashanah, in addition
to that,

493
00:31:52,483 --> 00:31:57,883
we have a feeling or we kind of a
charge that we should be confident that
things

494
00:31:57,883 --> 00:31:58,883
are going to work out.

495
00:31:59,402 --> 00:32:04,617
I, I love it. the only tweak that I would
make is I think you wanna have GIVE

496
00:32:04,617 --> 00:32:08,480
confidence, meaning to say that on Friday
night after a tough week

497
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:10,171
of being battered and bruised,

498
00:32:10,171 --> 00:32:14,035
you have confidence like a bride does that
her husband loves her.

499
00:32:14,035 --> 00:32:17,738
And I think that's the idea here that you
get

500
00:32:17,902 --> 00:32:23,762
confidence from the very exercise and
liturgy and

501
00:32:23,885 --> 00:32:25,925
the holiness and happiness of the day.

502
00:32:25,925 --> 00:32:30,227
But either way, it's a very refreshing
message,

503
00:32:30,227 --> 00:32:33,229
which it should be because it starts with
Hit'oreri,

504
00:32:33,229 --> 00:32:36,300
Hit'oreri, wake up, wake up and be refreshed.

505
00:32:36,738 --> 00:32:41,560
Fantastic. Okay, great. So the haftarah
plays on the images,

506
00:32:41,560 --> 00:32:45,562
is borrowed by Shlomo Alkabetz for
Shabbat,

507
00:32:45,562 --> 00:32:50,765
and now we take it one step further that
it really is a lead-in

508
00:32:50,865 --> 00:32:52,896
to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I love

509
00:32:54,070 --> 00:32:56,044
Amen. Well, we'll see you all next week,

510
00:32:56,044 --> 00:32:57,938
Rabbi. Have a safe trip back from Israel.

511
00:32:57,944 --> 00:33:01,182
See you back in North
America looking forward.

512
00:33:02,132 --> 00:33:03,827
Okay, Shabbat shalom. Bye-bye.

513
00:33:07,714 --> 00:33:13,349
And now a question for you. What if we
modeled the high holiday services

514
00:33:13,349 --> 00:33:16,341
on Kabbalat Shabbat? Not only in joy,

515
00:33:16,341 --> 00:33:20,344
song, and celebration, but also in length!

516
00:33:20,344 --> 00:33:22,036
Something to think about.

517
00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:28,960
Yeah.