Yad Va’Shem is Israel’s main museum and memorial for the Holocaust, the must-have official first site for every state visit in Jerusalem. But what’s the origin and the meaning of the name? I remember one of my visits there, in my teens, old enough to ask questions, perplexed by the verse from today’s chapter in Isaiah which is inscribed on the museum’s wall and includes the name. But even that verse required context and I doubt most visitors ever get the radical inclusion message that was Isaiah’s original intent and that adds a touch of irony to this tragic place.
The prophet imagines the future in which Jerusalem is populated and popular once more, post exile, with its temple on the mount open for business - and open for all.
Who will be welcome in the future temple of Jerusalem, designated by Isaiah as ‘The House of Prayer for All People’? According to this powerful prophetic version of Isaiah, challenging prior protocols -- everybody.
Trito-Isaiah, or Isaiah the Third, is how some scholars differentiate between the tone and temperament of the prophetic attitude found in this and the next ten chapters - and the other two ‘voices’ of the Book of Isaiah. It’s assumed that this is a group of prophets, likely disciples of the original Isaiah, who are living in post-exile Jerusalem and addressing the complex social situation that is their reality. Although living in a much more pluralistic Persian political climate than the original Isaiah in pre-exile Jerusalem there are growing tensions between those deemed the original people of Judah - and those who are newly returned. The concept of ‘foreigner’ gains extra weight and meaning in Jerusalem at this time. Whoever these Isaiah-like voices are, they go out of their way to name two examples of people who are welcomed in the temple - people who otherwise are seen as outliers or outsiders: A foreigner, not born into this national and religious entity; and a eunuch, a castrated man, who for whatever reason has no way of giving birth to the next generation.
They represent two types of outcasts now invited in despite social stigmas, and in spite of their fears of not fitting in:
וְאַל־יֹאמַ֣ר בֶּן־הַנֵּכָ֗ר הַנִּלְוָ֤ה אֶל־יְהֹוָה֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר הַבְדֵּ֧ל יַבְדִּילַ֛נִי יְהֹוָ֖ה מֵעַ֣ל עַמּ֑וֹ וְאַל־יֹאמַר֙ הַסָּרִ֔יס הֵ֥ן אֲנִ֖י עֵ֥ץ יָבֵֽשׁ׃
Let not the foreigner say, the one who has joined YHWH, ‘“Surely YHWH will keep me apart from the people of the covenant’, and let not the eunuch say,“but I am a withered tree.”
Isaiah 56:3
The fears of the foreigner who decided to join the Jewish nation - perhaps an early version of conversion before that status was established - are familiar, painful and understood. Isaiah welcomes in the joiners in what is likely an echo of a political position. He says yes to inclusion while others at this time were more suspicious but those ‘not like us.’
What’s the story of the eunuch? Popular in Persian culture, and familiar to other cultures since, these were often slaves, castrated at a young age, and often performing prominent or sensitive positions in royal courts and places of power. Jewish norms developed around family structures. Yet even for these people, childless not by choice - there is a seat at the table and room in the temple, says Isaiah.
The welcome gestures, however, come on conditions of participation in the core and central values of the people, with a fascinating focus on the observance of the Sabbath.
The next two verses explain the deal - and include the famous verse that gave the Holocaust museum its name:
כִּי־כֹ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֗ה לַסָּֽרִיסִים֙ אֲשֶׁ֤ר יִשְׁמְרוּ֙ אֶת־שַׁבְּתוֹתַ֔י וּבָחֲר֖וּ בַּאֲשֶׁ֣ר חָפָ֑צְתִּי וּמַחֲזִיקִ֖ים בִּבְרִיתִֽי׃ וְנָתַתִּ֨י לָהֶ֜ם בְּבֵיתִ֤י וּבְחֽוֹמֹתַי֙ יָ֣ד וָשֵׁ֔ם ט֖וֹב מִבָּנִ֣ים וּמִבָּנ֑וֹת שֵׁ֤ם עוֹלָם֙ אֶתֶּן־ל֔וֹ אֲשֶׁ֖ר לֹ֥א יִכָּרֵֽת׃
For thus said YHWH: “As for the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, Who have chosen what I desire and hold fast to My covenant—I will give them, in My House And within My walls: A monument and a name - better than sons or daughters.I will give them an everlasting name that shall not perish.”
Isaiah 56:4-5
In the original Hebrew ‘ a monument and a name’ - Yad va’Shem - literally means ‘ a hand’ and ‘ a name.’ The word ‘Yad’ which means both hand and monument, is already used several times in the Bible to indicate a type of structure that is meant to make memory last beyond the life of whoever built it. For people without progeny this is one way of leaving a legacy behind, stretching their hand beyond death, into the future. The word ‘name’ - Shem - also echoes what will become the ancestral mark of the semitic people, descendants from Shem, son of Noah.
So what’s Isaiah promising? People on the periphery of society lose hope for two reasons - either they feel that they have no common ground with the rest of society, no history or sense of belonging or else that there’s no shared future. Isaiah brings these two voices from the so-called social periphery to make the claim that in the ideal society, the reborn Jerusalem - nobody is left behind, all are valued, and all are welcome. That’s a big deal.
Robert Alter sheds some more light on just how radical this notion was then, and still is now:
“This declaration extends the prophet’s program of inclusion. Eunuchs and men otherwise sexually maimed were previously prohibited from participation in the Temple cult. One therefore may infer that the “joining” YHWH envisaged here is not limited to the cultic (although sacrifices are mentioned in verse 7) but involves entering a community of observance--in particular, observance of the sabbath. The eunuch can produce no biological offspring, but in adhering to the covenant, he becomes part of a community that vouchsafed the covenantal promise of a destiny to be as multitudinous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the shore. “
In present day Jerusalem and its problematic political climate Isaiah’s message of radical inclusion is heard loud and clear. It’s a stretch to identify LGBTQ people as eunuches - but as holders of non-heteronormative ideals some links have been suggested. The definition of ‘foreigner’ extends beyond Jewish nationalism to demand democratic rights and dignity of all citizens.
This epic chapter raises the flag that refutes the convictions of tribal, racist, supremcist, homophobic and exclusionist ideologies then and now. Isaiah’s vision here is one of acceptance and dignity, open door policy and pride - for all.
What’s also radical is that it’s not a physical temple or tent that will be open to all the people - but a sense of belonging. Isaiah introduces the notion that the real connector transcends the spatial - in the holy land or beyond it -- to include the temporal sacred. This Isaiah introduces a unifying theme for how to keep the Jewish tent open and meaningful to more types of people, with less focus on sacred space and much more on sacred time: The Sabbath.
The importance of Sabbath is mentioned three times in this chapter, making it a priority even for those in exile, away from the newly rebuilt temple. Sabbath becomes the new temple of time - and it will, over time, become the central feature that defines what Jews do and what brings us, and those who live and love with us - back to the table.
Perhaps that’s the true meaning of his final message to the foreigner and others who may still feel as fringe?
וַהֲבִיאוֹתִ֞ים אֶל־הַ֣ר קׇדְשִׁ֗י וְשִׂמַּחְתִּים֙ בְּבֵ֣ית תְּפִלָּתִ֔י עוֹלֹתֵיהֶ֧ם וְזִבְחֵיהֶ֛ם לְרָצ֖וֹן עַֽל־מִזְבְּחִ֑י כִּ֣י בֵיתִ֔י בֵּית־תְּפִלָּ֥ה יִקָּרֵ֖א לְכׇל־הָעַמִּֽים׃
I will bring them to My sacred mountain,
And let them rejoice in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
Shall be welcome on My altar;
For My House shall be called
A house of prayer for all peoples.”
Isaiah 56:7
Yes, there’s clear mention of geography here, indicating the temple on the mount in Jerusalem. But perhaps the image goes on to grow and become the ‘house of prayer for all people’ in every single house where the holy is celebrated and the Sabbath feels at home?
On another mountaintop in Jerusalem, Yad Va’Shem continues to remind the world that Shem’s descendants, as well as others deemed unwanted and a threat - were persecuted and massacred in Hitler’s Europe, turned into outcasts and victims simply because of who they were. And maybe that hallowed hall’s responsibility should be to remind each one of us, and the people in power now in Jerusalem - that none of us are free until all are us, and that all are truly welcome in each other’s hearts and homes, hands and names?
Isaiah’s words, written on that wall, keep challenging us not just to remember the hurting, but also to work for this radical vision of inclusion and love, healing and hope.
NEXT BELOW THE BIBLE BELT ZOOM TALK:
Goodbye Isaiah, Hello Jeremiah
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