תִּקּוּן בֵּ֣ית יֵה֔וּא

Yevgeny Satanovsky: I will hang, at least, Kolomoisky and Joseph Zissels.

Abraham Joshua Heschel: What manner of man is the prophet?

A student of philosophy who turns from the discourses of the great metaphysicians to the orations of the prophets may feel as if he were going from the realm of the sublime to an area of trivialities. Instead of dealing with the timeless issues of being and becoming, of definitions and demonstrations, he is thrown into orations about widows and orphans, about the corruption of judges and affairs of the marketplace.

Instead of showing us a way through the elegant mansions of the mind, the prophets take us to the slums. The world is a proud place, full of beauty, but the prophets are scandalized. They make much ado about paltry things, lavishing excessive language upon trifling subjects. Why such immoderate excitement? Why such intense indignation?  

Indeed, the sort of crimes and even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us, a single act of injustice— cheating in business, exploitation of the poor— is a slight; to the prophets, a disaster. To us, injustice is injurious to the welfare of the people; to the prophets, it is a deathblow to existence: to us, an episode, to them, a threat to the world. The prophet’s words are outbursts of violent emotions. His rebuke is harsh and relentless. But if such deep sensitivity to evil is to be called hysterical, what name should be given to the abysmal indifference to evil, which the prophet bewails? 

The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul, and he is stunned at man’s fierce greed. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is raging in the prophet’s words.