Parashat Masei

This week's d'var is excerpted from a piece I wrote for The Women's Haftarah Commentary.

Parashat Masei is the second of the three Shabbatot between Shevasar b’Tammuz, the 17^th of Tammuz, and Tisha B’Av, 9^th of Av, a period referred to as Bein HaMitzarim. Bein HaMitzarim means “between the straits,” but it is also a reference to labour and childbirth.  When a woman is in full, active labour she is said to be bein hamitzarim. 

Interestingly, it is not the parshiyot that are connected to this period, but the haftarot.  The theme of Haftarot Masei is one of rejection of God’s covenant in favour of sin and idolatry.  One might therefore ask, “How is the time leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple connected to childbirth, which brings life and promise.

In any true labour, there is a point at which events turn towards the end.  In childbirth this is called transition.  This is a critical time.  If things proceed adversely, there will be dire consequences for the mother and fetus.  In the middle of the haftarah, Jeremiah, speaking for God, laments, “They left Me, the Source of Living Water, to carve for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which cannot hold water.”  Here is the transition for this period; in the middle of the middle haftarah we read of Israel’s forsaking God.  What especially stands out in this verse is the name for God, Makor Mayyim Hayyim, the Source of Living Water, a name that signifies ribirth and renewal.

Through Jeremiah, God calls out to the people.  Here is Bein HaMitzarim; here is the transition, the chance to turn towards our chosen end.  When we act as Israel did in Jeremiah, rejecting Makor Mayyim Hayyim, we reject the cycle of holiness, purification, and covenant.  We reject our opportunity for renewal in favour of decay.  We know from history that this transition takes a turn for the worse.  We are left with death and destruction, as follows in the days leading up to the Tisha B’Av. 

However, following this time is a seven-week period of nechemta, comfort, of teshuvah, repentance and returning, and rebirth, right up to the Yamim Noraim.  We're given a second chance, a chance to turn in another direction, renewing our covenant with God and with each other, with Makor Mayyim Hayyim helping us and enriching the transitions of our lives.

Shabbat shalom.