The Biblical personality we are going to discuss here has an obvious special meaning to me.
But we don’t know all that much about him.
He makes but two appearances in all of Tanach: in this week’s haftarah (Yirmiyahu 32) and in the one (Yirmiyahu 36) we read when the parshiyos of Behar and Bechukosai are read separately – not such a common occurrence.
Who was Baruch ben Neriyah?
Baruch appears as the trusted and loyal student of Yirmiyahu. Yirmiyahu was incarcerated by Tzidkiyahu for the “crime” of relaying messages from Hashem that were critical of the actions and behavior of the king and Klal Yisrael. These prophecies were sent as warnings and clearly stated that if the nation did not do teshuva, the king of Bavel would come to destroy them and the city of Yerushalayim.
In the midst of all this, HaKadosh Boruch Hu appears to Yirmiyahu and informs him that his cousin, Chanamel, would be visiting him in prison and would ask him to redeem and inherit a family field as he was next in line within the family to do so. Shortly thereafter, Chanamel visits Yirmiyahu and the transaction is completed with all the necessary witnesses and documents.
In fact, this perek serves as an important source of the laws on this subject and is carefully analyzed by the Gemara. Baruch ben Neriyah is mentioned here as he assists Yirmiyahu in the sale. This redemption is the connection between the haftarah and our parsha – Parshas Behar discusses the laws of the redemption of familial lands in Eretz Yisrael. When a family member is forced to sell his land to a person outside the family due to his weak financial state, the closest family member with the financial means to do so is given the mitzvah to buy and redeem the land so that it stays in the family.
Later in the haftarah, Yirmiyahu is bothered by why Hashem had him buy land in Eretz Yisrael in the midst of all the messages of misery. Hashem answers him that no matter what happens He will always renew the land and the nation at some point.
What else do we know about Baruch ben Neriyah?
Megillah 14b lists him as one of the eight prophets who descended from Rachav. His father, Neriyah, and grandfather, Machseiyah, are also on that list. It also notes that they were kohanim. The Sifri (Beha’alosecha, piska 41) says that Baruch was distinguished in his deeds from all the men on the king’s court. The Netziv commentary on the Sifri explains that despite the king being livid with Yirmiyahu for his negative and critical prophecies, and despite all of the king’s officials, Baruch’s colleagues, feeling the same, he bucked the tide and remained loyal to Yirmiyahu, and of course to Hashem.
This dedication and loyalty is seen most powerfully in Yirmiyah 36 when Yirmiyah prophesizes the words of what we call now Megilas Eicha, foretelling the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash and Yerushalayim. Yirmiyahu tells Baruch to write a scroll with the words and present it at the king’s palace. Baruch knows this could possibly land him in jail, just as had happened to Yirmiyahu, still, he rushes to fulfill his rebbe’s request. The king at the time, Yehoyakim, was predictably enraged when the scroll is made public and burns it. His officer colleagues tell Baruch that he and Yirmiyahu should hide so as to avoid severe punishment. Baruch’s sincere and righteous dedication to Hashem here is clearly portrayed.
Baruch was Yirmiyahu’s talmid but he was the rebbe of a much more well-known person in Tanach: Ezra HaSofer. In fact, Megillah 16b states that as long as Baruch lived, exiled in Bavel with the rest of Klal Yisrael, Ezra did not go up to Eretz Yisrael. In fact, the Gemara there derives from this that it is more important to learn from one’s rebbe than to build the Beis HaMikdash! Shir Hashirim Rabbah (5:5) says that Ezra needed to clarify his learning from Baruch before ascending to Israel and that Baruch himself could not make the trip because he was old and frail, and could not even lean on something to enable his walking.