The Haftarah Project: Behukkotai—Our Most Devious Hearts

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This week’s haftarah considers the corrosive effects of self-deception. It is from Jeremiah, often called the Prophet of Wrath. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel observes that the Prophet of Wrath lived in an Age of Wrath, a time when there was political and spiritual unrest, when the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah by outside invaders and the destruction of the people of Israel as result of their abandonment of God seemed imminent. Jeremiah saw the people distracted by material concerns, becoming “great and rich, fat and sleek” (5:27-28), abandoning God to worship idols of their own devising. He compares one who uses unjust means to become rich to “a partridge hatching what she did not lay.” (17:11) Jeremiah quotes God’s words that the people will forfeit the inheritance that God has given because of their own acts.

Jeremiah identifies the causes of this decline, warning that the Israelites have fallen prey to false gods, to ideas that are “utter delusions … futile and worthless.” (16:19) He charges that the Israelites have been led astray by the “most devious” heart, a heart that is “perverse” (17:9). a heart inscribed with guilt by “a stylus of iron,” and “engraved with an adamant point.” (17:1) These vivid and powerful words conjure a consciousness so tough, so impervious to change that industrial tools are needed to make an impression upon it. So obdurate a heart is not easily changed. This is a consciousness in which steely self-certainty prevails over all else and leads to an abandonment of God.

In his poem “Someday This Will Have a Name” Israeli writer and journalist Bradley Burston described Israelis as “Our people, The People of No Second Thoughts,” but this description applies equally to virtually every group of people in our deeply divided world. In our current Age of Wrath, overweening certainty and prejudice are among the false gods, the “no-gods” (16:20). Delusionary belief in our omniscience holds us in its thrall. There is often little reconsideration of decisions once made. And, because our hearts are “devious”–dishonest, deceptive–we may not even be aware of the extent to which we are misled. As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel observed, “… the regard for the self is present in every cell of our brain; . . .it is extremely hard to disentangle oneself from the intricate plexus of self-interests.”

But upon what can we rely if our perceptions and instincts are so fallible? The haftarah would seem to demand that we place all our trust in God, promising “Blessed is he who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord alone. He shall be like a tree planted by waters, sending forth its roots by a stream.” (17:7-8) At the same time, we are admonished to reject the counsel and comfort of human beings, warned that “Cursed is he who trusts in man, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his thoughts from the Lord.” (17:5)

Is that really the only choice we have, to distrust humans lest we be cursed by God? In an era characterized by lethal suspicion, why does God demand that we further cut ourselves off from other people? Surely a just and compassionate God could not demand from us so isolated and lonely an existence as the price of God’s blessing. And indeed, Jeremiah tells us that God’s curse is not directed at those who simply trust in humans. Rather, it is directed at those who trust in humans and make “mere” flesh their strength and who turn away from the Lord. Those who forsake God shall be shamed and doomed. (17:13) It is not trusting in other people that is condemned. It is trusting in people exclusively while rejecting God which is denounced.

The haftarah suggests that we abandon our false gods, look beyond our certitudes and ego, consider the complexities and ambiguities in every situation, and ask questions of ourselves and others. These tasks actually require that we rely upon humans as well as God. Along with God’s voice, we need to hear varied human voices, to be open to ideas we have never considered or have previously discounted, to rely upon each other to do right.

Editors Note: The reflections from the Haftarah Project represent the thoughts and opinions of the author.