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Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Vayosha
“That day God saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lyin...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-v’Charot Imo haBrit
“Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. You alon...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-VaYivarech David
“David praised God in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, God, the...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalms 146-150
Psalm 146: “Praise God, O my soul! I will praise God while I live, I will make music to my Lo...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Yehi Chivod
Rabbi Chanina bar Papa expounded: May the glory of God endure forever; let God rejoice in His...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Ha'Aderet v'ha'Emunah
The Sefer haRokeiach teaches that Psalm 136, the Hallel haGadol, the Great Hallel, is actuall...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 124
"A Song of Ascents, by David. Had not God been with us, let Israel declared it now! Had not G...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 123
"A Song of Ascents. To You I raised my eyes, O You Who dwell in the heavens (Psalms 123:1)...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 122
“A Song of Ascents, by David. I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the House of God...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 121
“A Song of Ascents. I raise my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come (to see Ps...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 98
“Call out to God, all inhabitants of the earth, open your mouths in joyous songs and play mus...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 34
“Turn from evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it (Psalms 34:15).” The theme of peace spe...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 19
“For the Conductor; a song of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse of...
Festival Prayers-Succot-Psalm 92
“My eyes have seen my vigilant foes; when those who would harm me rise up against me, my ears...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 93
“God will have reigned, He will have donned grandeur; He will have donned might and girded Hi...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 135
“Whatever God wished, He did, in heaven and on earth; in the seas and all the depths. He rais...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 136
“To Him Who alone performs great wonders, for His kindness endures forever (Psalms 136:4).” F...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 90
“May the pleasantness of My Master, our Lord, be upon us, our handiwork, May He establish for...
Festival Prayers-Succot Kavanot-Psalm 91
“He will charge His angels for you, to protect you in all your ways (Psalms 91:11).” Perhaps ...
| Haftarah: Eikev: Confrontation |
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 Isaiah 49:14 – 51:3: This Haftarah affords us an opportunity to listen to a conversation between Israel and God: “And Zion said: God has forsaken me. My Master has forgotten me.” (49:14)
God responds: “Can a woman forget her nursling, withdraw from feeling compassion for the child of her womb? Even were these to forget, I will not forget you.” There is nothing you can do to erase the connection, the umbilical cord. You are attached whether you like it or not. So do not worry. I am going to lift you up. I am going to bring you back to me. You are going to be dressed in the most beautiful clothes. (49:18) I am going to take care of all of those people who bothered you. “So says the L-rd, ‘I will lift up my hand to the nations, and I am going to take care of everything that happens.” “I am going to save you. You say this, I am in chains in a dungeon, and G-d says, “I am going to save you, everything is going to be great.” Israel speaks again: “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? Or the captives of the victorious be delivered?” How are You going to get us out the hands of the Babylonians? Excuse me, but if You had all this power, we would not be here in the first place. How are You going to get us out? G-d says, “Thus says the Lord, even the captains of the mighty shall be taken away and the terrible shall be delivered and I will contend with him that contends with you and I will save my children.” The Talmud (Sanhedrin, 105) tells the following story based on the next steps of the conversation: Ten men came and sat in front of Isaiah. The prophet said to them, “Repent!” They said to Isaiah, “If you have a woman, who was driven from her home by her husband yelling, “Get out! Get out!” How would she respond if, all of the sudden, he says, “Listen, can you do my laundry for me?” So you are telling me to do Teshuva? You just chased me out of the house like a man chases his wife out of the house. And now you are telling me of please, do the laundry? Do Teshuva? The Holy One, Blessed is He, said to the prophet, “Go and say to them. I never divorced you. Where is the divorce document? Where is it? Why did you let it happen in the first place? Why did you chase me out?” “Excuse me. I did not chase you out. Where is the divorce document?” You are sold with your own sins. It was for your transgressions that your mother was sent away. It is your fault. I did not send you away, you sent yourselves away. We are reading the Haftarot of Consolation and yet we find confrontation. Part of the true reconciliation demands that there be confrontation. Part of Nechama is to have confrontation over the things that went wrong. It is confrontation for the sake of reconciliation. Consolation is not possible without this stage of confrontation. Teshuva – Repairing our relationship with God – is a process of Consolation. This means that as we prepare to do Teshuva, we must be prepared for a certain degree of confrontation. One of the reasons that we are doing Teshuva is because there is a confrontation in which God says to us, “Many of the things that happened to you, and things that you would like to have that you do not, are results of your own actions.” We must be prepared for that confrontation. We have to be willing to say to G-d, “I do not understand. You want me to accomplish x, y, and z, so why do you not give me what I need to accomplish x, y, and z?” This Haftarah of Confrontation for the sake of Consolation teaches us that it is possible to say to God, “I understand there is a system and I understand that I cannot comprehend all the details of the system and it is beyond my comprehension I understand, but You also said that You relate to me on my level. I am doing this, I have worked on this, I am learning, I am trying to be a better person, and more sensitive. I am davening, I am doing what You want me to do, and this is what I need to do in order to fulfill my mission in life.”  |
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