Verses 14-21: Repopulation, A First Comfort
This week’s haftarah, the second of the seven of comfort, spends its first section stressing the repopulation of Yerushalayim as a vital part of her rejuvenation. Zion thinks of herself as abandoned, which the Prophet vigorously disputes by telling us that our connection to Hashem is stronger than a mother’s to her child or nursing infant, that Zion is inscribed on God’s “palms”, her walls before Him constantly.

That connection will show itself in the return of Zion’s children from all over, turning a desolate city into one where people complain of a lack of room to live, astonishing the city itself. Repopulation’s centrality to assuaging the wounds of destruction suggests that a significant aspect of Yerushalayim’s role in the world—its status as a city of God—can be fulfilled even before we have a return of a Mikdash, king, or Sanhedrin, but not without a bustling successful city. Her mourning is not just sadness at her decreased state, but at her ineffectiveness; the return of citizens will allow her to serve at least some of her functions.

The Exodus as the Unbreakable Bond
When the verses refer to Hashem not forgetting us, various Midrashim read God as “remembering” aspects of the time of the Exodus. That time, including the Giving of the Torah at Sinai and the construction and utilization of the Mishkan, are what the Midrash looks back towards as the source of God’s indissoluble bond with us. The Exodus and all that came after—up to and including the Conquest of Israel—were signs of our having been chosen by God as agents of His Presence in the world, a choice and connection that will never be broken or forgotten.

Verses 22-23 record Hashem’s promise that non-Jews will bring us back to Israel on their arms (does paying for our flights count?), that their kings will raise us, will bow down to us, and lick our dirt. Seeing their obeisance will fully convince us that those who follow Hashem will never be lost or wither away.

We might mistake these verses for joy in giving back to the non-Jews some of the abuse we’ve taken from them over the years. Sifrei Devarim 314, notes that what the non-Jews will do for us in the future is similar to what Hashem did for us during the Exodus, at least in terms of helping us get to Israel. The point is not so much their subservience, as their agreeing on the importance of enhancing God’s Presence in the world.

Rather than envisioning non-Jews as slaves to us, Yeshayahu was prophesying that significant numbers of non-Jews, especially their leaders, will come to appreciate our unique role in the world, and will want to assist us, not out of fear, but out of respect for our status, for our position as representatives of God.

Chapter Fifty, Verses 1-3: Hope is Vital to Sustaining Religious Engagement
The opening verses of chapter fifty go back to the theme of abandonment, with Hashem questioning what bill of divorce He ever offered, since the Jews act as if they have been written out of God’s picture. The verses point out that disillusionment is itself dangerous, since it may lead people to cease even trying to secure a better future. Disengagement (not that kind) starts with a lack of hope, a sense of being shut out of Hashem’s concerns.

Verses 4-11: Sustaining Hope
The next eight verses might seem to move on to a different topic, Yeshayahu’s boasting about his prophetic prowess. He tells of his confidence that Hashem will protect him, notes that Hashem gave him the power to speak in a way that shores up people’s energy, to hear and understand Hashem’s messages, and says that Hashem gives him new messages every morning. He closes by predicting that his attackers will dry up like moths, so that those sensitive to God’s Word should believe in him, join him, and listen to Hashem.

Radak thinks Yeshayahu was telling us that he was born with the power to accomplish the difficult tasks set for him. That explains how Yeshayahu was not telling us this for his own prestige, but to rouse a discouraged people to recognize that they could seek God and find God’s Word from this prophet. That Yeshayahu has daily updates, that he is naturally endowed both with the ability to hear God’s messages and to transmit them in an encouraging and invigorating way, would ideally have led the people to refocus their energies on listening to him and adjusting their lives according to what he says they should do.

Incidentally, if Yeshayahu had prophecies every night, but recorded only 66 chapters of navi, what we have before us are his “greatest hits,” the highpoints of forty years of daily prophecy.

Chapter 51, Verses 1-2: Avraham and Sarah as Our Sources
The next verses—and maybe its worth noting that this haftarah spans parts of three chapters in the non-Jewish division of Tanach, meaning that we are putting together into one reading what the Christians took to be separate units—urge us to look back to the rock and pit from which we were taken, traditionally read as a reference to Avraham and Sarah.

Part of the comfort in remembering Avraham and Sarah, I believe, is Avraham’s legacy as one of the few humans with whom God chose to consult about how to run the world. Avraham became an active partner in running God’s world, a legacy we are supposed to find comforting and inspiring, suggesting we could do the same if only we adopted the right motives and strategies.

Summary
This week’s comfort—better than last week’s, for sure—comes from a return to the Land not just in population but in status as the source of Hashem’s Presence. Non-Jews will recognize that and eagerly assist us in accomplishing it (talk about Utopian!!!).

In that time, Yeshayahu’s presence could have eased the way for the Jews to accomplish what they needed; with his passing, we need to look to our roots, particularly Avraham and our time in the desert. Remembering all three of them—prophet, Patriarch, and passage—should help us remember the bright future that is available to us whenever we get serious about reaching for it. Shabbat Shalom.

ISAIAH 49
[14] But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.
[15] Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
[16] Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
[17] Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
[18] Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.
[19] For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
[20] The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
[21] Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
[22] Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
[23] And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
[24] Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
[25] But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children.
[26] And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
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Isa.50

[1] Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
[2] Wherfore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst.
[3] I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.
[4] The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
[5] The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
[6] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
[7] For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
[8] He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.
[9] Behold, the Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.
[10] Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
[11] Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
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Isa.51

[1] Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
[2] Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
[3] For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.