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HOLIDAY READING

Rabbi David Katz

Desperate Times Call for

Desperate Measures

oincidence? I think not! The did at the Yam Suf. Rashi and the Radak wasn’t that we deserved it; the opposite!
Haftarah chosen by the Rab- explain the word ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ used in this con- We celebrate our miraculous salvation,
Cbanut HaRashit for Yom text to mean the dry riverbed and thus despite not being worthy. As mentioned
HaAtzmaut is the same as the Haftarah the clear path to return. above, Yom Kippur and its ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ repre-
for the last day of Pesach (Yom Tov The term ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ is used several other sent the same concept. So too, perhaps,
Sheni shel Galuyot). times, in one form or another, in Sefer Yom HaAtzmaut. We were given the
It is from Yeshayahu (10:32–12:6) and Yeshayahu. For example, we see it used miraculous present of a Jewish State,
speaks of the salvation that will come in the prophecy of Nachamu (Yesha- not because we were any more deserv-
to the remnant of Israel that survive yahu 40:3), where we are told to clear a ing than earlier, more pious genera-
the destruction at the hands of Ashur/ path for G-d to return to us and begin tions. We were given this gift because,
Sancheirev and how they will return to the healing process after the churban. certainly in the generation post Aus-
Eretz Yisrael. The prophecy contains We also find it in the Haftarah for Yom chwitz and Treblinka, ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ. Desperate
the imagery of the lamb and the wolf Kippur (ibid. 57:14), where the Navi times call for desperate measures.
ְ
being able to live with each other; how tells us ך ֶ ר ָ ד ּוּנ ַּ פ ּו ּ לֹס ּו ּ לֹס. In that context, “Behold the G-d who gives me triumph!
apropos for Yom HaAtzmaut following ּו ּ לֹס means to clear a path for us to be I am confident, unafraid; For Hashem
the commemorations of Yom HaShoah able to easily return to G-d. the L-rd is my strength and might, And
and Yom HaZikaron. Given that ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ appears in several He has been my deliverance” (Yesha-

But we know there is no such thing places in the context of our return to yahu 12:2).
as coincidence. So perhaps, if we can G-d and His return to us, I would like to !ה ָ מ ֵ ל ְ ׁש ה ָּ ל ֻ א ְ ג ִ ל ה ָ ח ְ מ ִ ׂש ְ ל םי ִ ד ֲ עֹומ
understand the connection of this connect Yom HaAtzmaut, and thus the
Haftarah to the last day of Pesach we choice of this particular Haftarah, to
can uncover a deeper significance to its the Haftarah choice for Yom Kippur. In 1 The eighth day is the Yom Tov Sheni of the
seventh day and it is from there that it draws
relevance to Yom HaAtzmaut. Finding theory, the Yom Kippur Haftarah could its significance.
the connection to Pesach is a bit more have remained the same as the Haftarah
challenging. of a regular fast day, which also comes 2 Yemei Zikaron p. 243.
from Yeshayahu and also speaks of our
Rashi (Megillah 31a) suggests that the return to G-d (ibid. 55:6–7).
fall of Sancheirev takes place on Pesach,
and thus the connection. This is more Rav Soloveitchik points out that what is
familiar to us from the Pesach Hagga- unique about Yom Kippur is that unlike
dah, when we mention in a piyut that a regular fast day, when it is up to us to
ח ַ ס ֶ פ ְּ ב …דֹמ ֲ ע ַ ל בֹנ ְּ ב םֹוּי ַ ה דֹוע. The difficulty do all/most of the work, on Yom Kippur
with Rashi’s explanation is that this all we have to do is clear a simple path,
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takes place on the first day of Pesach ּו ּ לֹס, and G-d does the rest. We are
and not the last! Others suggest that downtrodden and weary and otherwise
the connection comes at the end of the hopeless, and we turn to G-d not with
Haftarah, where the pesukim seem very that we deserve His benevolence, but
similar to those we find in Az Yashir, simply because we are not worthy, and
which is the Torah reading on the sev- only have Him to rely on. ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ.
enth day of Pesach. In fact, the compar- Perhaps that is the message of Yom
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ison of Bnei Yisrael’s return to Yetziat HaAtzmaut. On Pesach, we were on Rabbi David Katz is the Director of Michlelet
Mevaseret Yerushalayim (MMY).
Mitzrayim is explicit a few pesukim ear- the 49th rung of tumah and needed
lier (11:15-16), where the Navi speaks an emergency miracle to take us out A member of the Mizrachi Speakers Bureau
of G-d drying up the river just like He of Egypt before it was too late. ה ָּ ל ִ ס ְ מ. It mizrachi.org/speakers

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