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HAFTR
DECEMBER 2020 2020 • CHANUKAH EDITION MARCH • PURIM EDITION
HIGH SCHOOL
כסלו תשפ״א
THE UNKNOWN IS A LIGHT ITSELF
By Hannah Goldenberg, HAFTR 2022
Shabbat Chanukah, Parshat Vayeshev, has an incredible haftorah that truly - the connects to our lives today. The story of Zecharia is one that represents need to have true Emunah and Bitachon in Hashem, even in times of doubt. This haftorah takes place during the time of redemption. The Jews, who had been exiled to Bavel for seventy years, were finally returning to Eretz Yisrael, the land promised to our Avot in Sefer Bereishit. As important and exciting as this time was, there was also a great sense of uncertainty -- not in their Emunah in Hashem -- but they were returning to their land that needed to be rebuilt, and Eretz Yisrael was being ruled by a foreign power. The Jews felt insecure in their lack of knowledge of what the future held. Around School...p.2
Editors Raylie Bodner Devorah Gottesman Gabriel Kurlander Daniel Singer Ezra Wallach Contributors Rabbi Yisachar Blinder Hannah Goldenberg Gabriel Kurlander Corey Listman Michal Mari Leor Oved Tani Poznanski Daniel Singer Faculty Advisors Mrs. Alexa Gelnick Rabbi Ira Wallach Artwork Nava Strobel
Please feel free to contact us at haftorah@haftr.org
This uncertainty connects to the story of Chanukah and our lives today. The land was taken over by the Greeks who wanted to indoctrinate us in their culture. Bnei Yisrael did not assimilate, and they successfully drove the Greeks out of the land. Today, we live comfortably in America, but this is not our end goal. It is very hard to imagine picking ourselves up, and our entire lives here in America, and moving to Eretz Yisrael. Yet, that is exactly what the Jews of Bavel courageously did! Even when they reached Eretz Yisrael, there was still a large unknown. Mashiach and redemption are approaching us, but are we ready? Are we ready to leave our comfortable lives here to fulfill a promise made thousands of years ago? Zecharia, who was a prophet at the time, received prophecies but struggled to interpret them. Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik discusses how Zecharia was not able to interpret the nevuah, in the form of visions. He says that this inability was a reflection of how Bnei Yisrael lived at that time. They were in a time of redemption, but they did not know what to do. By contrast, when Mashiach comes we will have this level of clarity that the generation of Zecharia did not have. Yet, even without this clarity, they did not stop; they rebuilt the country, and yes, the second Beit Hamikdash. Just like them, we daven for redemption to come in our days and to rebuild the third, and final, Beit Hamikdash. Unfortunately, we do not have it at this moment, and therefore we have to be like Bnei Yisrael during Zecharia’s time and have Emunah that Hashem will help us, and B'ezrat Hashem, Mashiach should come speedily in our days!
Happy Chanukah
HAFTR!