Shabbat Ki Tavo
7 weeks ago, on Tisha B’av, we mourned the anniversary of the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. On Tisha B’av, our walls were breached – what we tried to keep far away: the waves upon waves of loss, hardship, uncertainty, and chaos broke our hearts.
In the weeks that followed, we sought consolation from a special set of readings from the prophet Isaiah. Finally, in this weeks’ haftarah, Isaiah offers us, not just words of comfort, but hope for redemption.
The words he uses may be familiar to us from Lecha Dodi, the poem with which we greet the Divine presence on earth each Shabbat: ק֥וּמִי א֖וֹרִי כִּ֣י בָ֣א אוֹרֵ֑ךְ/ Arise, shine, for your light has dawned.
Even though we are still in the midst of exile, confronted with unthinkable suffering, the prophet calls on us to imagine what it could look like to live as if the world is suffused with divine light. The original verse in Isaiah tells us: וּכְב֥וֹד יְהוָ֖ה עָלַ֥יִךְ זָרָֽח, “The Presence of the Holy One has shone upon you!”
Just weeks after the breakage of Tisha B’av, Isaiah tells us to envision the world’s hidden wholeness. To recall our endless capacity to heal and find new hope, as individuals, and as a global community.
But we do not need to do it alone.
The sages teach the four letters that spell “Elul” -- the Hebrew month we are in, leading up to Rosh Hashanah -- are an acronym for a verse from Song of Songs: Ani l’dodi, v’dodi li / I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
The sages imagine God and us as loving partners. During these crisp late summer days, our sages tell us, “the King is in the field” – in other words, the Holy One gets off whatever high throne we keep placing God on, and comes down here to be with us.
During this special time, we must expand our awareness so we can meet the Divine out in the open field of our life; find the divine light hidden within seemingly ordinary moments.
As God draws close to us over the next few weeks, and we draw close to the sacred in each of our lives, Isaiah promises:
לֹא־יָב֥וֹא עוֹד֙ שִׁמְשֵׁ֔ךְ וִירֵחֵ֖ךְ לֹ֣א יֵאָסֵ֑ף/“Your sun shall set no more, Your moon no more withdraw;
כִּ֣י יְהוָ֗ה יִֽהְיֶה־לָּךְ֙ לְא֣וֹר עוֹלָ֔ם וְשָׁלְמ֖וּ יְמֵ֥י אֶבְלֵֽךְ׃/“For Adonai shall be a light to you forever, and your days of mourning shall be ended.” (18-20)
The grand light of creation; the Light that all light comes from was hidden away, after all, in the very places we least expect to find it, waiting to be drawn out, to renew and heal the brokenness of our hearts and our world.
I wonder:
Have you noticed any moments of feeling connected to something larger than you lately?
Where you are finding glimmers of hope these days?