Parashat Tzav: Telling It Like It Is: A Haftarah Study on Jeremiah 7-8
(led by Student Rabbi Maayan Lev on March 19, 2022)
This week’s Haftarah selection comes from the Prophet Jeremiah (7:21-8:3, and 9:22-23). It is a lecture that he gives to the Israelites shortly before the destruction of the First Temple. The people have turned away from the commandments, and although Jeremiah had warned them in the past that they needed to change their ways, they again didn’t listen.
Jeremiah had already given up. G!d had already told him that the Israelites still wouldn’t listen. So instead of giving the Israelites a chance to shape up, he simply told them that their fate was doomed. He basically states, “This is the mess you made, and now you are going to suffer for it.”
This is a very fascinating selection, and as we shall see, Jeremiah makes some very interesting rhetorical choices. But because the rabbis of old did not want to end the haftarah on a negative note, the final two verses (9:22-23) skip ahead to feature some words of wisdom from Jeremiah that were a little less doom and gloom.
Unlike with some other haftarah readings, the connection between this reading and its corresponding Torah portion (Tzav) is apparent from the start, and does not require much context for us to connect the dots:
“Thus said the G!d of Hosts, the G!d of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat! For when I freed your ancestors from the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifice.”[1]
These opening verses immediately mention burnt offerings, one of the categories of offerings mentioned in Tzav. However, upon closer examination of the regulations listed in Tzav, something does not add up. According to the Torah, burnt offerings were not meant to be eaten; they were meant to be burnt. Moreover, we know for a fact that G!d did indeed give instructions regarding burnt offerings and sacrifices. Both of these verses seem like contradictions.
Why does Jeremiah say this? Is he simply wrong, or is there more to it than meets the eye?
It would be wrong to assume that Jeremiah is ignorant of these contradictions. There must be a reason for his words. Oftentimes in apparent cases of contradiction in the Tanach, there are nuances that resolve the issue. In this case though, the answer becomes clear with context. It is important to remember that Jeremiah is often upset with or mad at the Israelites. But if you don’t have that knowledge, the next two verses may be helpful:
“But this is what I commanded them: Do My bidding, that I may be your G!d and you may be My people; walk only in the way that I enjoin upon you, that it may go well with you. Yet they did not listen or give ear; they followed their own counsels, the willfulness of their evil hearts. They have gone backward, not forward.”[2]
Jeremiah is scolding the people. This is not advice! This is a lecture! And now the meaning of the first two verses is more apparent. Jeremiah is being sarcastic, and mocking them for their blatant disregard for the rules.
However well-meaning Jeremiah may be, his rhetorical strategy, if taken literally, incorrectly attributes words to G!d that would violate the commandments.
Is this a violation of the Third Commandment? Is this taking HaShem’s name in vain, or is this ultimately okay?
There is no clear answer here. There is certainly an argument that this was a violation on Jeremiah’s part, just as much as it was on the people’s part. Did G!d tell Jeremiah to speak this way, or is Jeremiah doing it on his own accord? If this is Jeremiah’s way of advancing the mission of HaShem, does that make it ok.
Again, we can only guess. But rather than settle this question, it is important to know some of what has made Jeremiah so angry with the Israelites to begin with. How exactly have the Israelites “Gone backward, not forward?”
“For the people of Judah have done what displeases Me—declares HaShem. They have set up their abominations in the House which is called by My name, and they have defiled it. And they have built the shrines of Tophet in the Valley of Ben-Chinom to burn their sons and daughters in fire—which I never commanded, which never came to My mind.”[3]
What are these shrines of Tophet?
They are shrines to the Canaanite deity Molech. By worshiping Molech, the Israelites are clearly going astray. But it gets worse. As the verses inform us, Molech is traditionally worshiped through child-sacrifice. Jews do not believe in human sacrifices, much less child sacrifices. As the above quote concludes, this is completely off track from what G!d told us to do.
We spent 40 years in the desert establishing a culture and readying ourselves to enter Israel. How does it feel to know that some of the people soon sunk as low as to offer child sacrifices?
There were consequences to these actions. The Israelites were exiled to Babylon. But Jeremiah’s next words paint a much harsher picture:
“Assuredly, a time is coming—declares HaShem—when people shall no longer speak of Tophet or the Valley of Ben-Chinom, but of the Valley of Slaughter; and they shall bury in Tophet until no room is left. The carcasses of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, with none to frighten them off. And I will silence in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride. For the whole land shall fall to ruin. At that time—declares HaShem—the bones of the kings of Judah, of its officers, of the priests, of the prophets, and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be taken out of their graves and exposed to the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven which they loved and served and followed, to which they turned and bowed down. They shall not be gathered for reburial; they shall become dung upon the face of the earth. And death shall be preferable to life for all that are left of this wicked folk, in all the other places to which I shall banish them—declares the G!d of Hosts.”[4]
This quote contains the phrase:
“קוֹל שָׂשוֹן וְקוֹל שִׁמְחָה קוֹל חָתָן וְקוֹל כַּלָה’’
“Kol sason v’kol simchah, kol katan v’kol kalah”
(“The sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of bridegroom and bride”)
These words are often sung at Jewish weddings. They are joyous. But in this context, Jeremiah has flipped them on their head to mean something quite negative. It is a rude awakening, like someone unexpectedly pouring cold water over your head to alert you to a marriage gone wrong.
It is important to emphasize that this is not a warning. It is a given. Jeremiah is saying that the fate of the Israelites has already been sealed. These are very harsh truths that Jeremiah is telling them.
How do we feel about a leader who is unafraid to be harsh and tell it like it is?
I for one appreciate a leader who can tell it like it is. Sometimes a leader must polish their message a bit, for if they are too rude to their constituents, they will be disliked. It’s a bit simpler when you are chosen by G!d, and you are not up for re-election. But even then, when you are disliked, people may not want to follow you. Nevertheless, if you refuse to acknowledge harsh truths, things will probably not improve.
It is important to acknowledge Jeremiah’s pain and exasperation. Like Moses when he saw the Golden Calf,[5] Jeremiah is fed up with the people right now. But regardless of that, there is still something commendable about a leader who is willing to tell the truth, even when it is ugly.
There is a leader out there right now, Vladimir Putin, who is unwilling to tell a harsh truth. In a way, he has even been establishing shrines of Tophet, for he is willing to sacrifice the innocent lives of many children (and adults) for the purposes of his personal crusade for glory. Many of the people dying in Ukraine are not willing combatants.
Moreover, lots of Russian soldiers had no idea why they were sent to Ukraine in the first place. They were told it was a special military training exercise, and when they got the orders to start targeting civilian areas, they were shocked. On Russian state TV, this war is being framed through the lens of de-Nazifying Ukraine. These are all shameful lies by Putin.
His soldiers and his citizens deserve to know the truth. Putin must stop this awful war, but he does not seem willing to do that. And though he does not seem to care, I truly believe he knows how wrong his actions are.
Make no mistake: it is precisely because Putin knows he is committing acts of evil that he is not trusting his people with the truth.
If people knew the truth, that would not necessarily stop the soldiers from following orders, but at least there would be no deception.
Sometimes, harsh truths are needed to truly understand the reality that we are living in. And for that, I thank Jeremiah.
[1] Jeremiah 7:21-22.
[2] Jeremiah 7:23-24.
[3] Jeremiah 7:30-31
[4] Jeremiah 7:32-8:3.
[5] See Exodus 32.