Summary:
In our portion this week, God creates the world and everything in it in six days and rests on the seventh. Then, Adam and Eve are placed in the Garden of Eden, where they eat the forbidden fruit and are subsequently exiled. We read that Adam and Eve have two sons, Cain and Abel. Cain later kills his brother, Abel. Adam and Eve have another child named Seth. The Torah lists the ten generations from Adam to Noah. Because they’ve become evil God regrets having created human beings and decides to destroy everything on earth, but Noah finds favor with God.
Note: Each Torah portion of the week has a Haftarah, a section from the prophets, attached to it. Unlike the Torah, which is read in its entirety over the year, only selected sections of the prophets are read each week. These portions are read publicly after the Torah portion is read. Often the connection between the Torah portion and the Haftarah is quite clear. Sometimes the only connection is a single shared word. However, the Haftarah portion have much to say to us today. As Professor Michael Fishbane teaches, “this public reading reflected three sources of authority: the Torah, which is the ultimate source of law; the haftarah, which presents the words of the Prophets, who provided moral instruction and uplift; and the sermon or homily, which drew on the authority of the Rabbis to interpret and legislate.”
In order to expose us to new texts, I’ve chosen to focus on the Haftarah this week.
Lesson from our Haftarah Portion
Our Haftarah this week is taken from the book of Isaiah, 42:5-43:11 and shares the theme of creation with our Torah portion. However, Isaiah adds a new message to the ancient creation story. He teaches that the same God who created heaven and earth is also the One who created the people of Israel. Connecting the story of creation with the covenant between God and the people of Israel teaches us an important and transformative lesson.
In our Haftarah is an important verse that has been the subject of much commentary over the generations. In the beginning of the Haftarah, the people of Israel are called to be a “light unto the nations.” In the early centuries of the Common Era, this was understood to challenge Jews to bring our religion to the pagan nations. During this period Jews proselytized with the goal of converting non-Jews to Judaism. Eventually, as the Romans took on Christianity, they forbade Jews from conducting any missionary activities. Only in modern days, and especially in Reform Judaism, without actively pursuing missionary goals, have we again opened the doors to Judaism and encouraged non-Jews to convert.
Once the phrase “a light unto the nations” no longer referred to converting non-Jews, it began to be reinterpreted and understood in new ways. Reform Judaism, beginning in the 19th century, elevated the message to one of its central teachings. We began to understand the phrase to mean that we Jews have been chosen by God to bring the divine light into the world, and to have this light shine upon all the nations. Reform Judaism based this understanding on earlier rabbinic texts and especially on the challenges that Isaiah sets forth to bring justice and righteousness into the world.
To be a “light unto the nations” is a challenge to each of us today. We, the people of Israel, were created to be a light to humanity, a messenger to lead the world to acknowledge the one God, and to act upon God’s challenge to us to bring unity, peace and justice to the world.
In our Haftarah the universal story of creation becomes a particular story of the Jewish people. When the people live up to the covenant between them and God, acting for justice and peace, they are promised a future liberation in which their light will radiate to all the nations. In our Torah portion God says, “let there be light.” In our Haftarah portion we are commanded to bring that light to the world.