Shoftim: Heaven on Earth - A Spiritual Home for a Unified People

This week, we continue the series of ten Haftorot that are connected to the time of year rather than a haftorah thematically related to the weekly Parsha. This week’s Haftorah is the fourth of the seven Haftorot of consolation. 

Yeshayahu 51:12-52:12

In this week's Haftorah, Yeshayahu consoles the Jewish people with Hashem’s technicolor message, וָאָשִׂ֤ם דְּבָרַי֙ בְּפִ֔יךָ וּבְצֵ֥ל יָדִ֖י כִּסִּיתִ֑יךָ לִנְטֹ֤עַ שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ וּלִיסֹ֣ד אָ֔רֶץ וְלֵאמֹ֥ר לְצִיּ֖וֹן עַמִּי־אָֽתָּה׃, And I will put My words in your mouth and shelter you with My hand; To plant the skies and make firm the earth, to say to Zion: You are My people! The phrase וְלֵאמֹ֥ר לְצִיּ֖וֹן עַמִּי־אָֽתָּה, to say to Zion: You are My people, is understood by the Pesikta d’Rav Kahana, Piska 19 to be the only place in Tanach where Tzion refers to the Jewish people. The obvious question is why?

In this same posuk, we find unusual imagery, לִנְטֹ֤עַ שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ וְלִיסֹ֣ד אָ֔רֶץ, to plant the skies and make firm the earth. The words evoke a picture in which heaven is planted on earth. What is the meaning of this expression?

We know that heaven and earth are distinct, the heavens are on high while the earth is down low. Normally, when we speak of heaven and earth, we envision a great distance, an unbridgeable chasm between them. What the Navi Yeshayahu seems to be suggesting is that heaven and earth can be brought together. The Navi speaks of a time when the fractured universe will be unified, a time where there will be no divisions and no disputes.

This consolation is most manifest when the Jewish people achieves oneness with the Torah, the essence of which is expressed by the word Tzion. Tzion is the spiritual epicenter of the Jewish people. Ordinarily, it means a place, such as in the phrase, כִּ֤י מִצִּיּוֹן֙ תֵּצֵ֣א תוֹרָ֔ה וּדְבַר־ה’ מִירוּשָׁלָֽ͏ִם, For Torah shall come forth from Zion, The word of the L-RD from Jerusalem (Yeshayahu 2:3). Here in our Haftorah the Navi foretells of a time when the observance of and commitment to the Torah by the Jewish people will be so strong and so obvious, that they themselves will be called Tzion.

May we merit this day of spiritual unification speedily in our days.