Shabbat Pesach
Day 8
Torah - Deuteronomy
16:1-17 Haftarah - Isaiah 10:32-11:9
“The Eternal
Longing for Peace”
Dear Friends,
As we come to the end of Passover, our tradition
asks us to dream about a future of peace and understanding. Do we really believe that in Messianic times
the nature of the world will change, and wolves will live peacefully with
lambs? That’s what the Haftarah portion for this Shabbat says. “The wolf shall
dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and
the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together” (Isaiah 11:6). This
famous verse spawned a centuries-long rabbinic debate. While Nachmanides and
many other scholars believed that nature would indeed change, Maimonides
strongly disagreed. He wrote, “Do not presume that in the Messianic age any
facet of the world’s nature will change or there will be innovations in the
work of creation. Rather, the world will continue according to its pattern.
Although it is written ‘The wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie
down with the young goat,’ these words are a metaphor and a parable. The
interpretation of the prophecy is as follows: Israel will dwell securely
together with the wicked who are likened to a wolf and a leopard…”
Tradition teaches us that we need not hope, yearn
and pray for the natural world to change in order to bring about peace. Rather,
we must hope and pray and work towards the time when those who wish to destroy the
Jewish people will abandon their hatred and dwell in peace with Israel and all
peace-loving nations of the world.
Have a healthy and happy Passover.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow
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