As we read the haftara of this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Balak, one cannot help but feel that it was written specifically for this moment. The words of the prophet Micha were originally spoken to an Israelite kingdom shattered and reeling in the wake of the Assyrian conquests. But they resonate in our world of twenty-first-century Jewry with an accuracy that seems providential. Verse by verse, let us explore how Micha’s divine wisdom speaks to our situation today.
The haftara begins by addressing Israel as the “remnant of Yaakov” (5:6). Today, no less than in the time of Micha, the Jewish people are but a remnant of their former self. The decimation of Am Yisrael in the Holocaust and the ravages of assimilation have left an indelible mark on both our physical numbers and our psychology as a people. The horrors of October 7 drove home as never before the sense of vulnerability that has accompanied us wherever we have lived, at home or in exile. In our bones we know and feel that we are profoundly dependent on G-d for protection, and that none of our successes and achievements can be taken for granted.
The same verse continues to describe us “as dew brought down from the L-rd, as ample rains shower upon grass.” Our very existence is predicated on the nurturing dew of divine sustenance; as a nation, we live at the sufferance and mercy of G-d’s will. And this summer, more perhaps than ever before, there is indeed no family in Israel not personally indebted to, not acutely aware of the miracles that G-d has wrought in our lives – wonders that have for the past weeks, months, and years protected us both on the battlefield and on the home front.
The people of Israel live “among nations, countless peoples, like a lion among wild beasts of the forest” (v. 7). Surrounded by so many enemies, the State of Israel has against all odds shown that it can prevail. Less than two years after rising from the ashes of October 7, we now live in a Middle East without Haniya, without Nasrallah, without Assad. And finally, through operation “Rising Lion,” with the aid of both G-d and our friends and allies, we have stymied the Iranian nuclear plan to destroy Israel. We continue to pray to G-d: “Your hand shall be raised over your foes; your enemies will be cut down” (v. 8).
Continue to give us strength through our holy army to destroy those who seek to destroy us.
Moving on, the prophet gives voice to the vision we all share for a future where such struggles, heroism, and miracles are unnecessary. He describes a reality in which G-d “will cut out the horses from among you” – i.e., where vehicles and instruments of war are unknown (v. 9). We yearn for lives in which we need not learn how to drive tanks, how to defuse bombs, and how to locate the nearest protective shelter: “I will cut down the fortified cities of your land” (v. 10).
In a safe and secure future, Israel will not be dependent for its protection on the goodwill of foreign peoples, and its fate will not hinge on their empty and aimless predictions and theories about us: “There will be no more fortune-tellers among you” (v. 11). We will no longer need to hear their representatives demanding we capitulate to our enemies in order to survive.
But to reach such a future, we have much of our own work to do.
In verse 13, Micha pivots to an exhortation against the Israelites’ idolatrous ways: “I will rip out the ashera (tree of idolatry) from your midst.” We, like them, must tirelessly combat all the types of idolatry of our time. In some such areas we can already register successes.
The State of Israel today is witnessing a spiritual revival, and many secular Jews have learned during this remarkable, providential war to find their own unique, informal relationships with G-d.
On other fronts, however, we are more challenged: There are today ostensibly G-d-fearing Jews who in fact worship their own power and strength. They insist on misusing the precious sovereignty that Israel has been given in order to prey on the innocent, sowing vigilante terror in Arab towns or destroying the property of the IDF – chayalim who wear the “priestly garments” of this generation.
In our haftara, G-d warns us: “No longer will you bow down to the craft of your hands” (v. 12): We must never privilege our own idolatrous self-aggrandizement at the expense of those unable to defend themselves. We must stand up and speak out against the cruel predations of the few. If we can preserve our humility and our morality, G-d promises, “I will lash out with my anger and wrath” against those who call for Israel’s destruction from the river to the sea.
Finally, Micha extends a hand to those who have been hurt and suffered loss in the wars and struggles they have endured. “Arise, argue your case before the mountains!” (6:1), he exhorts. You, the Jewish people, in your search for a relationship to G-d, have the right to voice complaints over all that you have lost, even to G-d. Now, as then, we are a nation tired of burying our fathers, our children, and our grandchildren.
G-d emphasizes that it is only natural to grapple with the challenges of chevlei Mashiach, the birth pangs of redemption. It is only natural that we should argue with G-d. But at the same time, we must also realize that in our complex, dynamic world, where history unfolds its convoluted thread before our eyes, and where light and darkness seem to constantly merge and blend, G-d has done and continues to work immense deeds for us, saving us from our enemies both through direct providence and through the wise counsel of our leaders.
All the numerous themes of our haftara are manifest in the events we today are witnessing: our vulnerability and dependence on G-d, the ability with His aid to prevail over countless surrounding enemies against all odds, the yearning for a future of true peace and security, the struggle against the idolatry of hubris, and the recognition of the suffering and sacrifices necessary for redemption.
But perhaps the most appropriate and timely message of the prophet is his last. Micha closes by underscoring the ultimate purpose and mission of the Jewish people – to use its G-d-given power and sovereignty to create a society that embodies the values of justice and godliness in the world. “G-d has told you what is good and what the Lord seeks from you: only to do justice, love goodness, and walk modestly with your G-d!” (6:8). It is this purpose, and no other, that gives meaning to the pain and the sacrifice, the struggles and the victories of the Jewish people. It is this purpose that has guided our steps throughout history, and it must continue to do so today.
