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Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Society should never silence the voice of its critics. We may disagree with them, but it is vital not to shut them down. They can be seen as modern day prophets, posits Rabbi Prof. David Frankel using the Haftarah portion as his basis.
This week’s parashat hashavua has a special haftarah from the book of AMOS.
Amos was an 8th Century prophet who taught that Israel was in big trouble.
One of the things that we read in this week’s haftarah is the response of the leadership and the people in Israel to the prophets that God had sent.
And what the haftarah tells us is how God is sad at Israel’s response to all the good things that he had done for them. He says (Amos 2:10-11)
ואָנֹכִ֛י הֶעֱלֵ֥יתִי אֶתְכֶ֖ם מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם וָאוֹלֵ֨ךְ אֶתְכֶ֤ם בַּמִּדְבָּר֙…׃ וָאָקִ֤ים מִבְּנֵיכֶם֙ לִנְבִיאִ֔ים
“I had taken you up from Egypt; I had provided for you in the desert; And I gave of your sons to be prophets.”
And what did you do?
וְעַל־הַנְּבִיאִים֙ צִוִּיתֶ֣ם לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹ֖א תִּנָּבְאֽוּ׃
“But to the prophets you commanded saying: Do Not Prophesize.”
(Amos 2:12)
This is a damming condemnation of Israel’s leadership.
God sends prophets and the purpose of the prophets is to warn, to challenge, to speak of dangers. What did the Israelites of old do?
They commanded them: לֹ֖א תִּנָּבְאֽוּ
Do not speak.
We do not want to hear your speeches of doom. We don’t want to listen to your oracles of woe. This is the great sin that Amos condemns the leadership of Israel with.
I believe that these words from the haftarah are very relevant for today.
We all have a tendency to not to want to hear prophecies and speeches and predictions of things that are uncomfortable. However, it is the responsibility of all of us, and especially of the leadership to encourage those who have this role of prophetic critique, to encourage them to speak loudly and to listen to them carefully.
The Israelites of old were condemned by Amos for silencing their prophets. Amos tells the Israelites that this will only spell greater disaster.
The lesson for our day, I believe, is crucial. It is our job and the job of our leadership not to silence the prophets of today, not to quiet down anyone who says that there are dangers, anyone who challenges our conceptions, but to welcome them.
To welcome challenging voices and to listen to them humbly.
Let us hope that when we read the haftarah this Shabbat we each take in that important message: We must always to listen to those who tell us things we don’t want to hear and accept it with humility and openness.
Shabbat Shalom from Schechter
David Frankel is Associate Professor of Bible at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies. He has been on the faculty since 1992. He earned his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem under the direction of Prof. Moshe Weinfeld. His publications include “The Murmuring Stories of the Priestly School,” and “The Land of Canaan and the Destiny of Israel.” From 1991 to 1996, Frankel was rabbi of Congregation Shevet Achim in Gilo, Jerusalem.
