The choice for this week’s Haftorah is an interesting one. We read two consecutive stories from Kings II. The first story is that of Elisha the prophet and the oil. The prophet Ovadiah had previously stood up to the wicked decrees of Izevel who had pursued all the prophets. Yet despite the famine he had sustained one hundred prophets in two caves. He had used his entire fortune and even borrowed at a high rate of interest to support them. This caused his health to deteriorate and eventually he passed away leaving behind a wife, two sons, and huge debts. The wicked Yehoram who had lent the money saw that there was nothing to pay him back decided to threaten to take the two sons as slaves to pay for the debt. At this point our haftorah picks up, with the wife of Ovadiah coming to Elisha for help. Elisha performs a miracle and from a small jug of oil she begins pouring into empty jugs. The small jug flows continuously until all the available utensils are full. Contrary to regular economics, where a flood of oil on the market would push the price of oil down, the price of oil rose enormously and she sells enough oil to pay the debt and to live off the remaining profit.
Immediately following on from this story – in the same chapter – we read of the story of the childless couple from Shunam who would host Elisha on his travels. As gratitude for their hospitality he blesses them with a son, who tragically dies. The parents summon Elisha who comes to their house and miraculously Elisha revives the dead.
A number of similarities between this chapter of Kings II and the parshah have been pointed out. The plight of the widow of Ovadiah was similar to that of a visitor in Sodom. She had no caring neighbours, no one to turn to other than to Elisha. The story of the childless couple has obvious connection to Avraham and Sarah who in this week’s parshah are assured the birth of a child Yitzchak. The hospitality of the couple also is reminiscent of the house of Avraham. Furthermore the initial contact between Elisha and the couple took place on Rosh Hashanah as did Hashem’s remembrance of Sarah to bless her with a child, and as did the Akaidah – ‘The Binding of Yizchok’ in this week’s parshah.
But putting the connection to our parshah aside, what is the connection between these two stories? Perhaps I can suggest a theme running between these two seemingly unconnected stories. The theme itself pops up at the beginning of this week’s parshah.
Avraham is tending to the three angels disguised as wayfarers when suddenly they ask “where is Sarah your wife?” Rashi points out that the angels knew perfectly well that Sarah was in the house, but nonetheless asked in order to highlight to Avraham the modesty of his wife Sarah, in order to endear her to her husband. My mentor Rav Mandelbaum would point out how we see that the recipe for endearment between husband and wife is when the wife reserves herself just for her husband. She does not make herself ‘public property’ by bantering with other visitors. Nothing chalenges the love between husband and wife more than one spouse watching the other try to find admiration from someone other than their spouse!
The concept of modesty is commonly misunderstood. Can a woman not leave her house; must she remain secluded, entirely out of sight? We’ve discussed previously the delicate balance that a woman must have – to be seen yet not to be seen. But let us momentarily take a (very) brief look at the general concept of modesty. We find that after the sin of Adam there was an immediate need for clothes. Why? Rav Leff tersely defined what needs covering up. His definition is wonderful as it will apply to all aspects of modesty not just clothes. “Whenever something that is secondary might be mistaken as being primary then we cover it up”.
Our bodies are secondary to us, they are not our essence. They are just an outer shell. Before Adam sinned this was very clear. After the sin the lines became blurred and the body could now be mistaken for something of value in-of-itself. For this precise reason we must take care to cover up.
When three strange male guests were visiting then Sarah made sure to keep herself inconspicuous – modestly tucked away in the house. In such company she had to keep her beauty under wraps.
Similarly said Rav Leff the lid which covered the Ark was only to be put on when the Tablets containing the Ten Commandments were inside. Without the tablets the Ark was nothing more than a gold box. Only once it had something inside did it need to be covered. Once there was a primary and secondary purpose to the box there was a need for a cover. Our bodies are the cage that holds and reveals our very essence but we don’t want to excessively focus on the outer shell, so we cover up.
With an appreciation of the concept of modesty let us take a deeper look at the Haftorah. In the first story we note, “borrow vessels for yourself… and you shall come and close the door… you shall pour upon all these vessels”. For the blessing to flow the door was to be kept shut. Rav Paysach Krohn said, if you want to bring blessing into your house like Elisha did, then remember – keep the door shut. The whole world doesn’t need to see your private life. Conversely you don’t need to take your private life and flaunt it in the street. As we saw with Sarah, she reserved herself to her husband.
In the second story when Elisha comes to revive the child again we are told that he shut the door. This seemingly unnecessary clause is driving home the same point. Only behind closed doors will the outpouring from Hashem flow. We also find that when Elisha sends his messenger Gechasi to the boy he tells him not to speak to people on the way. Elisha understood that the recipe for Hashem’s Divine presence was modesty – the less people that know about it the better. Even the boy’s mother understood this. When her son passed away she placed him in the room and we are told that “she closed the door”. Perhaps this is the common theme between the two stories.
Good Shabbos, Yaakov
