Like One Consoled by Mother

Isaiah 66:12-13

The new moon rising in the sky tonight ushers in Elul, the last month of the Jewish year and the beginning of the season of atonement. Elul is the month of compassion and forgiveness. The Hebrew word these tender qualities is Rachamim, which is also the plural for the word ‘womb’.

And once again the Jewish calendar meets our @Belowthe BibleBelt929 journey with stunning symmetry. Isaiah ends this chapter with another spotlight on the metaphor of mothering, and the maternal power to console, with compassion - and his book with a vision that honors each new moon and each sabbath, imagining the pilgrimage of the future in which atonement and repentance will replace the wayward resistance to walk the talk of justice and love.

But don’t expect a soppy happy end from this prophet of consolation and criticism.

Isaiah’s first word, 66 chapters ago, was ‘Hazon’ - Vision. His final word in today’s chapter is ‘Basar’ - Flesh.

These two bookends seem to contain the gap that he keeps pointing at again and again - the gap between spirit and flesh, between our soaring celestial visions and our mortal, body-bound realities. Isaiah and his disciples provided poetic inspiration, political condemnation, social commentary and critique for a few hundred critical years in Judean history.  But their messaging transcends the time and place of their deliveries - echoing still today, so meaningful to those who care, or dare, to pause, and pay attention.

Perhaps we too can reimagine what it’s like to negotiate and better handle the gap between our visioning spirit and our feeding flesh, between our highest hopes and lowest longings? 

Isaiah leaves us with a powerful and haunting image that portrays the harsh truth of our existence and leaves out the happy end. This is no Hollywood - but there is hope. 

The final chapter begins with the image of the Divine Throne - earth being YHWH’s footstool, all of existence serving as the seat of the divine. Why bother focusing on a single building that contains the sacred when the entire planet is the temple, Isaiah asks on God’s behalf. He seems to mock those who cling to holy houses, lands and relics as if that is what matters - and not the actual sacred that can be found in everything and everyone that is alive. 

And yet, Jerusalem the sacred center is at the center of Isaiah’s idea of a perfect union and the model of a just society that will one day, he promises, live up to its ideals. 

It is a city - but also an idea, and Isaiah imagines the future in which this city that he sees struggling with so much suffering will flourish and live to be a fantastic haven for the entire world.

Rejoice with Jerusalem, all who love her! He calls out: Rejoice all those who held her hand during the years of suffering.

And once again he lifts up the city and the nation in the feminine: Jerusalem of the future is depicted as the mother of the people, all people; the mother of the world, with breasts full of nourishment for the thirsty masses who will nurse and suckle from her comforting bounty that will become a mighty river of peace, the gift of consolation and healing: 

כִּי־כֹ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהֹוָ֗ה הִנְנִ֣י נֹטֶֽה־אֵ֠לֶ֠יהָ כְּנָהָ֨ר שָׁל֜וֹם וּכְנַ֧חַל שׁוֹטֵ֛ף כְּב֥וֹד גּוֹיִ֖ם וִֽינַקְתֶּ֑ם עַל־צַד֙ תִּנָּשֵׂ֔אוּ וְעַל־בִּרְכַּ֖יִם תְּשׇׁעֳשָֽׁעוּ׃ 

כְּאִ֕ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אִמּ֖וֹ תְּנַחֲמֶ֑נּוּ כֵּ֤ן אָֽנֹכִי֙ אֲנַ֣חֶמְכֶ֔ם וּבִירֽוּשָׁלַ֖͏ִם תְּנֻחָֽמוּ׃

“YHWH Spoke: 

I will extend to her a river of peace;  The wealth of nations as a flowing stream; And you shall drink of it. You shall be carried on shoulders and dandled upon knees.

Like one whom a mother consoles: So I will console you: You shall find consolation in Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 66:12-13

The word ‘consolation’ keeps appearing in this final chapter - imagining Jerusalem as the mother who consoles, the life-giver who welcomes you back into her arms with love.

But it’s not unconditional love. There is one condition: Obedience.

As Isaiah imagines the cosmic return to Zion, the river of peace that flows from and into the city, he reminds the people that only those who truly cling to the truth and to justice will be worthy of this vision and drink from this river of peace. Those who still prefer the flesh pots over the spirit will be left behind, thirsty.

And this is how Isaiah brings the vision home: The multitudes will travel to Jerusalem, all nations, all people, all languages, by foot and in chariots, on mules and horses, each carrying pure gifts to the temple, on a new earth under a new sky. It’s a new day.

It’s a magnificent procession, a river of pilgrims united by a shared vision for humanity, honoring sacred space and time: 

וְהָיָ֗ה מִֽדֵּי־חֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ בְּחׇדְשׁ֔וֹ וּמִדֵּ֥י שַׁבָּ֖ת בְּשַׁבַּתּ֑וֹ יָב֧וֹא כׇל־בָּשָׂ֛ר לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֺ֥ת לְפָנַ֖י אָמַ֥ר יְהֹוָֽה׃

“On each new moon, and each new moon following; 

On each and every sabbath,

All flesh shall come to bow before Me, said YHWH.”

Isaiah 66:23

Would this not be a perfect ending to the chapter and the book? 

But Isaiah goes one step further, with this graphic description of what the pious pilgrims will see when they will exit the temple after this historical visit:

וְיָצְא֣וּ וְרָא֔וּ בְּפִגְרֵי֙ הָאֲנָשִׁ֔ים הַפֹּשְׁעִ֖ים בִּ֑י כִּ֣י תוֹלַעְתָּ֞ם לֹ֣א תָמ֗וּת וְאִשָּׁם֙ לֹ֣א תִכְבֶּ֔ה וְהָי֥וּ דֵרָא֖וֹן לְכׇל־בָּשָֽׂר׃

“They will exit and gaze upon the corpses of the people who rebelled against YHWH:

The worms shall never die in their corpses,

Nor their fire be quenched;

They shall be a horror

To all flesh.”

Isaiah 66:24

Really, Isaiah? A pile of rebellious corpses that defies the laws of decomposition with eternal damnation? That’s how this journey ends??

The sages who chose this chapter as the added liturgical reading for the Sabbaths on which a new moon also occurs chose to soften the blow and repeat the previous verse as the official ending.

But that’s not the director’s cut. Isaiah began his book with vision and ends it with flesh that won’t rot. Between the lofty goals of prophecy and people’s base and often brutal choices is the holy human journey that he takes us on. The ultimate message is the aspiration for love and hope, faith and truth - despite the perils along the path and the desires that don’t end up delivering us the joy and justice we all crave and deserve. He looks us in the eye with no pretense - there is a choice to make, and it has consequences.

Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson helps us powerfully wrap up the visions of Isaiah and his bold message, still so meaningful today:

“In the final chapter of this glorious book, Isaiah circles back to his core message of priorities and hope. As he has stated time and time again, the human perversity in religion is to shift faith from ultimate relationships of love and justice to those of power and pomp. Rather than acknowledge that life and the universe are beyond our control, that we are creatures participating in a vast and awesome creation, we try to use religion as a tool to domesticate the cosmos, to bend it to our will and ego. 

Elaborate sanctuaries that cost tens of millions of dollars (or, in ages past, consumed the lives and bodies of thousands of slaves) – these are the perversions of the religious impulse, its ultimate betrayal.

No building can contain the God of Israel. 

What does provide a home for God? The poor and brokenhearted. In the heart of those who suffer the abuse of a corrupt system of power and wealth, there Israel’s God lodges. In the blistered feet of homeless refugees, there God’s focus lies.”

And so we say goodbye, with gratitude to the prophet Isaiah, his anonymous disciples and those who spoke in his name, as well as the many poets, sages and scholars who helped us make sense of his poetic polemics and prophetic visions. Onwards we walk, alongside refugees and exiles, pilgrims and seekers, back to Jerusalem and its sagas - starting next week with Jeremiah. 

May we find comfort and nourishment in each other’s generous kindness, on this and on every journey of our lives, on new moons, sacred sabbaths, and new years; in the gaps of grace between spirit and flesh, vision and reality, here and there. 

Image: Picasso, Mother and Child

TODAY! Goodbye Isaiah, Hello Jeremiah

OUR NEXT BELOW THE BIBLE BELT ZOOM TALK:

Please join me on Zoom for our next Monthly Conversation, as we wrap up the Book of Isaiah, venture into Jeremiah’s world and explore what these ancient prophets have to offer our inner and political lives - just in time for a new Jewish year and continued political challenges - everywhere. 

Join us on Thursday, August 17th 2023, at 1pm ET.

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Below the Bible Belt: 929 chapters, 42 months, daily reflections.

Become a free or paid subscriber and join Rabbi Amichai’s 3+ years interactive online quest to question, queer + re-read between the lines of the entire Hebrew Bible. Enjoy daily posts, weekly videos and monthly learning sessions. 2022-2025.

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