Category: Mattot-Massei
A Faith of Hope
Bamidbar (Numbers) 30:2–32:42; 33:1–36:13 | Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 2:4-28, 3:4, 4:1-2
Matot and Massei are usually coupled together to make a double Torah portion; thus, the haftarah reading for this week will also be a double portion. Herein we are introduced to the ministry and the first messages of the prophet Jeremiah. After a few introductory words about his call, the Holy One speaks to the prophet three words of rebuke to Israel. The first two are brief word-images, those of an almond tree and a boiling pot. The third and last word of this haftarah is a longer sermon consisting primarily of stern rebuke for Israel’s spiritual adultery. The haftarah concludes with portions of other sermons that Jeremiah preached. The one in chapter three is another section of rebuke and in chapter four there is an appeal for Israel to come back to the Lord.
According to the ArtScroll Stone Chumash, this portion was not chosen for its connection to the weekly parasha. Rather it was chosen that “the Sages ordained that the Haftorot read on the three Sabbaths between the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av be drawn from the prophecies that forewarned the nation of the First Temple’s Destruction. For it was on the Seventeenth of Tammuz that the enemies of Israel breached Jerusalem’s walls and on the Ninth of Av that each of the two Temples was burnt to the ground.”[1] In these passages of Jeremiah, the Lord warns of this impending disaster. Two visions regarding the eminent destruction of Judea are particularly vivid.
The Almond Tree
Beginning in Jeremiah 1:11 the Holy One shows Jeremiah the rod of an almond tree followed by the explanation of the vision,
And the word of the Lord came to me saying, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:12)
Jeremiah surely understood God’s explanation clearly. But we may need some help in understanding it. There are two el...
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