Sun is setting here in my home town of Knoxville, Tennessee. I mention that because someone asked me today if I was up in Marquette. No, I’m what my UP neighbors call a “Snowbird”–flying south for the winter. I like to say we’re “bicoastal” the coasts being Lake Superior and the banks of the Tennessee River (just a short distance from our southern home).
Today I had the honor of reading the selection from the Prophet Isaiah scheduled for this date. It includes Isaiah’s call to prophesy in his sixth and seventh chapters. But at the critical moment when we learn of the impending attack by the Arameans against Jerusalem, the sages who designed these readings made the startling (to me, at least) decision to cut out the line which assured us that the Aramean attack would fail. Isaiah 7:7 reads, ” כֹּ֥ה אָמַ֖ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֑ה לֹ֥א תָק֖וּם וְלֹ֥א תִֽהְיֶֽה׃” meaning, “Thus said my Lord, it shall not stand, nothing will happen (to Jerusalem).” But you have to read the unexpurgated version to find that outcome!
The reading then abruptly skips the remainder of Chapter 7–thereby omitting one of the most popular sections among Christians–and concludes with some verses from Chapter 9.
One fascinating aspect of this passage is that the version of Isaiah found in the Dead Sea Scrolls has a slightly different version of 6:3. In current editions of the Bible, that verse reads, “Holy Holy Holy is the LORD of hosts, His presence fills the entire Earth.” But in the Qumran Great Isaiah Scroll, the word “Holy” appears just twice. It hardly changes the meaning of the verse, but it has a different feel. Perhaps because this is a verse we recite in many of our services.
I’ve included a screen shot of the scroll, if you have any Hebrew you can see the verse easily where I have circled the words.
And now it’s time for me to wish all my friends,
A good week,
A week of peace,
May gladness reign,
And joy increase!
Shavu’a tov, Buena Semana, Gut Vokh!
