Tomorrow morning’s extraordinary prophetic reading from the 58th chapter of Isaiah is as bold and brave as they come! The ancient seer takes up the righteous cause of solidarity with the downtrodden, the destitute, the disenfranchised.
In but fourteen verses, the prophet preaches holy terror! No armchair critic, this Isaiah. Unlike us mere mortals who crouch behind thick curtains of division and seclusion, he thunders onto the world stage breaking down the doors of callousness and complacency, the iron bars of degeneracy and degradation which he sees all about him. He'll have none of it. He mocks us for our skewed priorities, our boastful obscenities. He chides, he ridicules us for getting it all wrong.
Instead, he pierces the holiest day of the year with our ultimate, moral challenge: to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to free those imprisoned, to undo the chains of injustice. Some lofty agenda for an ancient seer whose pronouncements have clearly withstood the test of time!
Where, then, is the repairer of the breach?
“In my hands as they repair. In my words which speak comfort to the depressed. In my heart that is determined to right every wrong. In my eyes that can’t look way from the suffering. In my soul that is broken and in pain. Just when it seems so dark, I hear this call and know I must answer his challenge.” (Rabbi Mark Greenspan)
When we gather tomorrow morning, let’s all read pages 267-8 very carefully.
Are you ready for the Prophet?
I wish each of you a “Tzom Kal,” an easy but meaningful Fast.
Robert
Old York Road Temple-Beth Am 971 Old York Road Abington, PA 19001
