Messages of the ProPhets __________________________________________________________________________________ Haftara of Parshas Ki Savo 5780
by Jonathan Shooter
Coming soon… What’s the Haftara about? Following the Redemption, there will be a great light and the glory of Hashem will be revealed and shine outwards. There will be a great ingathering of the Jews and the wealth of the nations will come their way. The nations will serve the Jewish people and bring various gifts. There will no longer be suffering in Eretz Yisrael, but great blessing there and all her people will be righteous from then on. The Haftara concludes, ‘In its time, I will hasten it’ (60:22). This last point seems to be a contradiction: Will the geula be at its appointed time, or will it be hastened? Chazal say that there is a set time by which the Redemption has to arrive. However, if the Jews do teshuva and ready themselves suitably, then this time could come earlier, at any given moment. What’s the connection to the Parsha? This is the sixth of the Seven Haftaras of Comforting. A picture is painted of the future era, when the Jews are no longer the low, despised nation; their position as the chosen and special nation will be apparent. There are also connections to the Parsha. The curses in the Parsha mention being smitten with blindness, as well as confusion and terror. The Haftara says that by contrast, in the future, there will be a light, referring to the era of salvation for the Jews, and then all these problems will disappear. The Parsha says that children will be born, but they will become captives, while the Haftara speaks about the return of the exiles. The Parsha talks about the Jews’ possessions being plundered, but the Haftara talks about a great wealth arriving in the future. The verse says ‘And your people, they are all righteous, forever they shall inherit the Land, a branch of My planting, My handiwork for Me to glory in’ (60:21). Once Rav Chaim Brisk went to serve in the Rabbanut of Rav Eliyahu Meizels. He stayed by Rav Meizels and the whole town of Lodz turned out to greet him and wish him ‘shalom’. The city of Lodz was a chassidish town and despite this, they still wanted to greet him because the greatness of Rav Chaim was known. A certain group of chassidish avreichim stood all day watching him, observing his every action. At one point, Rav Chaim turned to them and asked what they were looking at. They answered that it says in the holy sefarim that if one looks at the appearance of a tzaddik, it’s a segula for yiras shomayim. Rav Chaim cited our verse ‘and your people they are all tzaddikim’ so they could look amongst themselves and each other and they would get yiras shomayim. He then explained that the main point isn’t to look at the face of a tzaddik, but to look at himself, at his ways and conduct, that it should all be in line with the Torah, and then he will reach yiras shomayim. Another version of the story says that Rav Chaim explained to them that looking at a tzaddik doesn’t mean just looking at them, but watching and learning from their actions. So when is it? The verse says ‘the smallest shall increase a thousand fold, and the least into a mighty nation, I am Hashem, in its time I will hasten it’ (60:22). The Gemora (Sanhedrin 98a) says that the verse seems to contradict itself, will the geula arrive in its time, in other words a pre-determined fixed time, or will it be hastened? The Gemora answers that if the Jews are worthy, it will be hastened; if they are unworthy, it will arrive at its pre-determined time. The Vilna Gaon says that when the Gemora mentions all the conditions that need to be fulfilled before Moshiach’s coming, that is only if it will be ‘in its time’. If his arrival will be hastened, then none of those conditions will need to be fulfilled, and that can happen at any moment. People ask, how can people believe that Moshiach can come any day, at any moment, when the Gemora (Pesachim 13a) says that Moshiach won’t come on Fridays or Erev Yomtov, so we see there are days when Moshiach cannot be expected? The answer is the same as above, if Moshiach were to
come at the pre-determined time, then it won’t be on Friday. If it is at the hastened time, then it could be any day. So indeed Moshiach can come at any moment. Bringing up the future The Chofetz Chaim also asks the question as to the contradiction in the verse, will the redemption be hastened, or in its time? He explains that one mustn’t despair of the geula, even if he feels the appointed time hasn’t arrived. If the people are worthy, it will be hastened, otherwise if they are lacking merit, it will arrive at the pre-determined time. The Chofetz Chaim asks, how could we possibly merit redemption now, if earlier generations, who were far greater did not merit it? He cites the passage in the Torah dealing with a slave whose relative wants to redeem him. The redeemer has to pay proportionately according to the price paid and time served. The balance of the purchase price divided by the remaining years is what is left to pay. If no-one redeems the slave, then in the jubilee year, he goes free. So too, when the Jews went into exile, it was as if they were being sold as slaves. This is seen in the verse ‘Indeed because of your sins you were sold’ (Yishaya 50:1). The purpose of exile is to remove and atone for sin, as in the verse ‘to finish off transgression and to make an end of sin’ (Daniel 9:24). Before each exile, it was decreed how long it would last. The first exile was to last 70 years, and the length for the second exile has surely been pre-determined. With this in mind, we can understand why one shouldn’t despair of the redemption. It is true that for the exile to end earlier, there would have needed to be a higher intensity of suffering. Or there would have been a need for numerous merits, equivalent to the remaining time due in exile. The Gemora (Sanhedrin 90b) asks when will Moshiach arrive? The answer given is in the verse ‘Today if you listen to His voice’ (Tehillim 95:7). From this we see that, just as a slave can be redeemed instantly by paying off the rest, so too if there is enough merit, we will be redeemed instantly. If there are enough merits then there is a reason that the exile can end early. If however there aren’t, then the redemption will come as soon as the years of the decree are over. Paying the debt Returning to the question as to how the redemption can take place in our day if earlier generations were unworthy. The answer is that indeed they were more worthy, only that there was still a debt of exile that needed to be paid. They would have needed even more merits to pay off the hundreds of years of exile, which they didn’t have. Therefore, the exile had to continue, even though earlier generations had illustrious Torah personalities. Because nowadays, the Jews are scattered to the four corners, and have been subject to numerous oppressions and persecutions, so the redemption is surely not far in coming. The Chofetz Chaim then makes the case that one shouldn’t think there are no merits and we will have to wait to the proper time for the redemption, but we should anticipate it at any moment. Chazal say ‘If you see afflictions flowing one after another like a river, that is the time to await Moshiach (Sanhedrin 98a). The Jews have kept the Torah under all circumstances, during massacres in Russia, in Auschwitz. And they were abused because of their adherence to the Torah. So of course there are merits, and indeed the redemption can come at any time. In addition, Hashem has many means to shorten the redemption. The Jews were meant to be in Egypt for 400 years, but through various calculations it was shortened. So too, because of the harshness of the exile, there is hope that it will end before the pre-determined time. Yet a person must want Moshiach and anticipate his arrival. If he feels comfortable with his lifestyle, and feels that Moshiach will be ruining his plans, that isn’t a good segula for Moshiach’s arrival. I once heard another answer to the question as to how we can merit the redemption when we are much smaller than previous generations. The answer is that in absolute terms we indeed can’t compare to earlier generations. But in terms of what the opposing forces against us are, we have a great source of merit. There was a time when the home was a safe place, and the Satan was more outside the home. Nowadays youngsters have access to all sorts of content and devices that are the antithesis of a Torah life. And indeed the challenges of materialism, secularism and the like are tremendous. If there are some around, who, despite the winds blowing, still manage to live an authentic Torah life, that is a great source of merit that can indeed assist greatly in bringing Moshiach.