Drash: Haftarah of Parashat Bereishit

The Haftarah for Parashat Bereishit ends two verses before an interesting verse: Isaiah 43:12 (“I have declared, and I have saved, and I have announced, and there was no strange god among you; therefore ye are My witnesses, saith the LORD, and I am God”).

In Pesikta de-Rav Kahana, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai interprets Isaiah 43:12 in an unusual way. The end of the verse reads “And you are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and I am God.” Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai teaches: “If you are not my witnesses, then I am not God.”

This reminds me of one of the irritating habits of English-grammar sticklers, in response to the apparent misuse of a conditional clause. For example, Sam invites Jennifer to a party. “I'm leaving at 8PM if you want to come,” he offers. Jennifer, our hypothetical grammar-stickler, responds victoriously, “What time will you leave if I don't want to come?”

This wordplay is more loaded when the misplaced conditional is performing a semantic function, such as indicating diffidence or hesitancy. My mother sometimes says to my father, “You can set the table if you want.” My father invariably replies, “And if I don't want?”

What these English examples show is that syntax is not everything: just because an interpretation is grammatically possible, or even literal, does not mean that it is justified. And indeed, it is often the opportunist with his own agenda who takes things way too literally, especially when it comes to the conditional.

However, these English examples also show something else, which is that a conditional sometimes does not truly mean “if/then”; rather, it means that the speaker is looking for some kind of connection with the listener, but is afraid to come across too strong.

Now, it's arguable whether the end of Isaiah 43:12 should even be read as a conditional sentence, especially considering that it is not in the perfect tense. However, for our purposes, we can take on Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's reading of the verse as conditional.

In that case, then, we could imagine that God is using a conditional sentence not, as Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai interprets, to assert that His divinity rests on human response, but rather because God is having a moment of insecurity. He wants a connection with humans, but he doesn't want to push too hard. He's inviting a relationship without quite having the courage to extend the invitation directly.

In fact, it's possible to read Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's teaching in a similar vein. Rather than a chutzpah-dik assertion that God needs man as witness in order to be God, perhaps Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's interpretation of the verse is also a poignant reminder that sometimes even God needs a little bit of reassurance.