In our small cement backyard in Brooklyn we have a beautiful garden. We grow tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and beets. The garden needs to be pruned daily as the weeds literally grow overnight and destroy it.
Yirmiyahu, the navi of the Three Weeks, is the prophet who saw the brokenness of his people, of Hashem’s garden being taken over by the weeds of idolatry and evil.
In the haftara we read this week, we are introduced to this great prophet, hear his origin story, and learn his mission.
“I have placed you as a prophet to the nations to uproot and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, build and plant (Yirmiyahu 1:10).
Sometimes you need to uproot and pull down. It’s crucial that we realize that the action of uprooting is not to merely destroy. Rather, it is “to build and to plant.” There is hope!
They are called the three haftarot of trouble, but they also tell us of a possibility of repair and replanting. The haftarot are supposed to be wake up calls, to try to make this year different than last year. We can uproot the behaviors which caused the exile, and allow ourselves to rebuild, plant and grow. Can we uproot the weeds and plant a fruitful garden in its place?
