22 Tammuz 5768 – Parshas Mattos 24 July 2008

Trei Asar Series - Hoshea

As consistent with other parts of Navi, the Book of Hoshea opens by telling us the time period in which the prophet lived. In our case we are told, that Hoshea prophesised during the reigns of Uzzia, Yosam, Achaz and Yechizkiya who were all Kings of Yehuda which was during the period when Yerovom ben Yoash was King over the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Hence, we know that Hoshea was a contemporary of the prophets Amos, Yeshaya and Michah, who all prophesised at some point during these Kings’ reigns. Like his fellow Nevi’im, Hoshea’s message is one of rebuke and condemnation for the way the Jewish people have strayed from the path of Hashem However, he is not a social reformer like Amos, nor is his prophecies laced with comforting images about The Time To Come as are Yeshaya’s. Rather his fourteen short, jammed packed chapters of nevous deal heavily with the unstinting love Hashem has for us, His people, despite our betrayal. and put their faith and energy into other gods.

As we race quickly through large chunks on Nach, we are not afforded the chance to delve deeply into the richness of each chapter and verse, to enjoy the linguistic beauty and individuality of each prophet but what we must strive to do, is to glean the overarching message and theme of the Book. I cannot boast to have a deep understanding of the Book that we have just been learning, but what shouted out to me in nearly every perek is this one underlying theme. It is the message that even though we strayed far away from G-d and sinned terribly, specifically by the worship of idolatry, Hashem could not bring Himself to detach us from Him but rather brings us back to Him, even closer than before. Many of the chapters take on the form where the chapter begins by Hashem detailing our betrayal to Him and just as it seems like we could be no more distant and unwanted to Him, the chapter invariably ends with Hashem’s unwavering commitment to us.

Hoshea’s portrayal of this relationship between G-d and Jew takes on a more intimate and loving form than many of the other prophets. We have already learnt in Yechezkel the long, beautiful and poetic chapters which describe the love and affection Hashem has for us and how in our redemption from Egypt He took us as His young wife. The intensity of this relationship is again revealed here in Hoshea, exemplified by the famous possuk at the end of chapter 2 which says, “And I have betrothed you to me forever.” Here Hashem is telling us how personally and seriously He is affected by our sin and depravity. But at the same time, His unstinting love which causes Him to ‘feel’ this way, is what also drives Him to “overcome this bitter disappointment” and still bring us back to Him, closer than before. Whereas before, as Yechezkel describes to us, we are His betrothed, now we are His ETERNAL betrothed, never to be forsaken again.

These words from the possuk 21 of chapter 2, ”וארשתיך לי לעולם” are the words we say every weekday morning as we wrap the teffilin straps around our finger. The strap of the teffilin is the like the engagement ring and every day we in affect rekindle the eternal bond between us and Hashem as we show that we are His betrothed. Just like the incredible love and deep affection a groom has for his bride on the day of marriage, so too is the love and commitment Hashem has for us, His people, every day and forever.

Moving on to the main part of this piece on Hoshea and what I really wanted to share with you. In perek 10 which we learnt on Sunday, there is a very interesting possuk which I feel has much to be elaborated on. As discussed before, this possuk 12 is already nearing the end of chapter 10 and therefore deals with the more positive aspect of the prophecy in which Hashem is expressing, through the Navi, His favouritism for us. The possuk reads as follows, “זרעו לכם לצדקה קצרו לפי חסד נירו לכם ניר ועת לדרוש את ה' עד יבוא ויורה צדק לכם” literally translated as, “Plant for yourselves in righteousness, harvest in accordance of kindness, plough for yourselves. And it is a time to seek Hashem until He comes and sends charity for you.”

Rashi explains on the words “נירו לכם ניר” that what the possuk is telling us is that first and fore mostly in our lives we need to ‘plough out the weeds’ i.e. overcome our יצר הרע, and the way to achieve this is by learning Torah, as the possuk carries on by saying “ ועת לדרוש את ה'”. This is the same idea as we say in Tehillim 34, “סור מרע ועשה טוב” that in order to live on that higher spiritual plane and to do what’s good in the world we must firstly remove the evil and badness that dwells inside of us. But this is something easier said than done. We all know too well how potent and convincing the evil is, so therefore Hashem granted us the tool with which to combat it. This is as the Gemoro in Kiddushin tells us that every single day our יצר הרע strengthens itself and if it were not for Hashem’s help we could never overcome it. This tool He granted us is Torah, as the Gemoro there quotes, “I created the הרע יצר” says Hashem “and I created Torah as the antidote to it!”

Rashi gives an alternate explanation to this possuk which is similar to his interpretation of a possuk in Yirimiya 4 which also uses this expression of “נירו לכם ניר”. Rashi explains here that the possuk is telling us to do kind deeds, as it says “זרעו לכם לצדקה”, before the trouble comes, just like one ploughs the field before he does anything else to it - “נירו לכם ניר”. Then using this merit, it is legitimate for him to beseech Hashem, “לדרוש את ה'”, and hopefully He will hear the cry and bring the salvation, as the possuk ends “ויורה צדק לכם” – “and He will bring charity upon you”. I think the idea being brought out here is that Hashem is not simply a panic button that only when tragedy strikes do we turn to Him, but rather we can only expect His help when we’re in a long term relationship with Him. Only when our track record is one where we are ‘sowing the seeds of kindness’ can we then expect Hashem to jump in to save us from our troubles.

Metzudos Dovid makes a couple of powerful remarks on this possuk where he explains that the first half of possuk is telling us what we must do so that we merit to receive the reward that the end of the possuk tells us of when it says, “ויורה צדק לכם” – “and He will bring charity upon you”. Metzudos Dovid explains that the non literal phrase “נירו לכם ניר” is telling us that we must uproot all foreign ideologies and philosophies from our mindset, in a similar way that the farmer uproots the weeds in the field when he does the ploughing. If the farmer would leave the weeds in the field they would harm the crops, similarly if we let non-Torah ideologies and philosophies occupy our minds we are harming our capability for true greatness. Another pre-requisite for the blessings that the possuk ends with, says the Metzudos Dovid, is the “ ועת לדרוש את ה'” that the possuk mentions. The Metzudos Dovid picks up on the word עת – time, and stresses the point that our learning and davening, i.e. the times we “seek out Hashem”, have to be something fixed and concrete and not be a case of when we can fit it in or get round to it. It’s the idea of being קובעה עתים לתורה and of fixing a time and place where we daven each day as the Gemoro in Berochos which extols the virtue of having a fixed מקום for Tefilla.

As said before, this possuk is a fully loaded one and the Radak adds another dimension to these same words which we have been discussing. By focusing on the choice of words the Navi uses, the Radak in his typical style brings out a beautiful idea. In the first phrase of the possuk, when it describes us sowing the seeds, it uses the word צדקה however when it talks about harvesting which Hashem gives us, it uses the word חסד. The Radak quotes the Chazal which tells us that “גדולה גמילות חסדים יותר מן צדקה” that acts of Kindness i.e. חסד are greater than צדקה. What the possuk is telling us is that when we do good, the reward we will receive will far surpass that which we strictly deserve. Interestingly the Rabbeinu Yona in Avos 1:2 explains this teaching of Chazal of why חסד is greater than צדקה. Furthermore the Radak brings out the idea of not resting on ones laurels from the continuation of the verse. After telling us that if we sow in righteousness we will reap in kindness the possuk then says, “plough for yourselves a ploughing”. Surly if we have just harvested what is the need to plough again? Says the Radak that the message is, that even though we have done well we cannot afford to stop, but rather need to continue to sow the seeds of righteousness.

We have discussed many ideas already and there is much here to keep our minds busy but I would still like to share with you one more thing. As you all know, but unfortunately weren’t all able to attend, we had a siyyum a few weeks ago to celebrate completing Nevi’im and nearly a year of this awesome learning programme. At the siyyum I told over a story that I had heard only a week earlier when standing in Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. For me, as someone learning my way through Nach, this story took on particular potency and I am sure that it will also add a certain emotional level to your future learning of Nach, as it has done for me. If you don’t mind, I am going to quote you basically what I said.

“I spent last week on a whirlwind trip around Poland and my mind is totally occupied by thoughts on these experiences at the moment. Last Thursday afternoon we were at Majdanek concentration camp in Poland. In truth it is insulting to call it a concentration camp or even a death camp because Majdanek was affectively a torture camp in which thousands of Jews were treated in the most brutal and cruel ways of which our innocent imaginations can hardly comprehend. As we stood in a barracks which is now filled with over 80,000 shoes of men, women and children, young and old, rich and poor; our guide Reb Tzvi Sperber recounted a story from that camp which really hit home with me specially because of our Daily Nach programme. There were two young men, boys really, who managed to smuggle into the camp a Tanach. Smuggling was a crime punishable by death of course however the Cappo /Sondercommando of these two boys’ barracks saw their devotion to the Tanach and let them keep it. In most cases, if you were going to have the dare to smuggle something into the camps you would at least try to bring in something that might save your life. Perhaps a piece of bread so you wouldn’t die of starvation, maybe a warm coat so you wouldn’t freeze to death in winter or even simply some water to save you from dehydration. But for these two kedoshim it was the words of Nach that would keep them alive. After an exhausting day of work with beatings and the like, these two boys would come back at night to their bed of wooden planks and start to learn from their Tanach by the light of the moon. You know what, they were there doing Daily Nach before us. There in the depths of hell, they learnt the same perokim of Nach as we do and hoped to find within it the hope end encouragement that would keep them going to live another day. I can’t stop thinking and wondering, what pesukim would they have learn to give them strength? What perokim did they find interesting and exciting? Maybe it was the possuk we learnt in Yeshaya, “ובאו האובדים מארץ אשור והנדחים מארץ מצרים והשתחוו לה' בהדרת קודש מירושלם....” They hoped and longed that they would be the remnant and remainder that the Navi is talking about here, who would return to Yerushalayim. It doesn’t really matter what exactly they were learning but it is the fact that in the throws of death these two holy boys were determined to show the Nazis that ‘you may be able to crush our bodies but you will never ever be able to crush our souls.’ This surely must give us the strength and the merit to be able to learn the same pages of Torah in more peaceful and comfortable conditions.”

As I expected, writing this piece has been of greater benefit to me than it will be to you the reader but either way I hoped that you have enjoyed it and if you have any thoughts or comments I would be very interested to hear them.

Wishing you Mazel Tov on completing this mini sefer and a good shabbos!

Shmuli

shmulisagal@gmail.com