Shoftim

This Shabbat we will read parshat Shoftim, on the establishing and structure of just courts, and other legal issues. But at the moment I am more interested in the Haftorah, which comes from Sefer Yeshayahu, a reading particularly appropriate for Rosh Chodesh Elul.

הִתְעוֹרְרִי הִתְעוֹרְרִי, קוּמִי יְרוּשָׁלִַים, אֲשֶׁר שָׁתִית מִיַּד יְהוָה, אֶת-כּוֹס חֲמָתוֹ

Awaken yourself! Awaken yourself! Arise O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of HaShem the cup of His fury...

We are three weeks out of Tisha b'Av, the darkest period of mourning and now, as we enter Elul, when we move to purify ourselves, to shake off complacency, and sound the shofar to stir the soul to teshuva, the Navi calls on us to awaken, and though we faced the wrath, it is Hashem that will be our comfort...

כֹּה-אָמַר אֲדֹנַיִךְ יְהוָה, וֵאלֹהַיִךְ יָרִיב עַמּוֹ, הִנֵּה לָקַחְתִּי מִיָּדֵךְ, אֶת-כּוֹס הַתַּרְעֵלָה--אֶת-קֻבַּעַת כּוֹס חֲמָתִי, לֹא-תוֹסִיפִי לִשְׁתּוֹתָהּ עוֹד.

HaShem takes the cup of fury from our hands, and we will never drink of it again. And then, in the final verses of the reading

כִּי-הֹלֵךְ לִפְנֵיכֶם יְהוָה, וּמְאַסִּפְכֶם אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

HaShem will go before us, the G-d of Israel will be our rear guard.

Not a bad way to walk into Elul, the time when we renew our relationship with HaShem. And something to look forward to...