Book Review: Prophetic Voices: Renewing and Reimagining Haftarah

David J. Zucker, PhD, before retiring was the Rabbi/Chaplain and Director of Chaplaincy Care at Shalom Park in Aurora, Colorado. He publishes in a variety of journals. See his website, www.davidjzucker.org. His latest book is American Rabbis: Facts and Fiction, Second Edition, (Wipf and Stock, 2019). Other publications include The Torah: An Introduction for Christians and Jews (Paulist: 2005); The Bible’s Prophets: An Introduction for Christians and Jews (Wipf and Stock: 2013); The Bible’s Writings: An Introduction for Christians and Jews (Wipf and Stock: 2013); and [with Moshe Reiss, z”l] The Matriarchs of Genesis: Seven Women, Five Views (Wipf and Stock: 2015).

BOOK REVIEW

Prophetic Voices. Renewing and Reimagining Haftarah. Ed. Barbara AB

Symons. (New York: Reform Judaism Publishing, 2023) xxxv + 524 pp. Re-

viewed by David J. Zucker.

Publicly reading from “the Torah on Shabbat has been a central religious activity among Jews” for over two thousand years. “A reading from the

Prophets, as a counterpoint to and conclusion of the weekly Torah reading, is first known to us from early Rabbinic literature, developing in the second century CE” (p. 25). It took time before there was a consensus of what these readings should be, but roughly “by the end of the ninth century, the traditional haftarah reading cycle as we know it today reached its basic form in Babylonia” though even then there were “some regional variations.” With the emergence of the call for “religious reform in Judaism, beginning in Germany in the early decades of the nineteenth century and in America several decades later” changes to the traditional haftarah readings grew apace. These changes reflected the reformers thinking that “a meaningful Judaism for the modern age must draw primarily upon the prophetic tradition emphasizing personal morality and social ethics” (p. 29). In time, “social justice [issues] gained currency among Reform rabbis …[and in] time ‘prophetic Judaism’

became’” (p. 42) part of the public image of the American Reform move-

ment. Yet, it was felt by some that “Reform Judaism [needed to] do a better job of emphasizing its continued commitment to social justice and more fully root itself in both prophetic Judaism and the traditional liturgical experience” (p. 46). This work is a result of that thinking.

The book offers two new commentaries on each traditional haftarah as well as new suggestions for the weekly haftarot Torah portions (pp. 65-342). Just to give a sampling of proposed readings for the opening parshiyot of Genesis one finds material written about or by Rabbi Regina Jonas [the first woman

DAVID J, ZUCKER

rabbi, privately ordained in Germany in 1935, murdered at Auschwitz 1944], Rabbi Arthur Waskow, contemporary poet Alden Solovy, Elie Wiesel, Rabbi Chaim Potok, Martin Buber, and a selection from Babylonian Talmud Taanit 23a).

Also included in this volume are haftarot for the Traditional Jewish Calendar such as Shabbat Rosh Chodesh, the High Holydays and Festivals, Shabbat Sh’kalim, Shabbat Zachor, and so on (pp. 343-438). The next major segment addresses haftarot for the American Jewish Calendar year and provides suggested materials. Examples in this imaginative section include Martin Luther King Day, Tu BiSh’vat, Black History Month, Presidents’ Day, Women’s History Month, Baseball Opening Day, Yom HaShoah, Yom

HaAtzma’ut, Earth Day, Pride Shabbat, Juneteenth, Independence Day, and Kristallnacht among many others (pp. 439-503). Each selection is followed by a short commentary about its relevance.

Helpful material is found at the commencement of this volume, namely the Introduction (pp. xxv-xxix; the section How to Use This Book (pp. xxxixxxv); and “The Prophets in Their Narrative and Historical Contexts (pp. 16- 18).