Isaiah: your light burst through like the dawn

Today in service for Yom Kippur this passage from the Haftarah caught my attention:

No, this is the fast I desire:
To unlock the fetters of wickedness,
And untie the cords of the yoke
To let the oppressed go free;
To break off every yoke.

It is to share your bread with the hungry,
And to take the wretched poor into your home;
When you see the naked, to clothe him,
And not to ignore your own kin.

Then shall your light burst through like the dawn
And your healing spring up quickly;
Your Vindicator shall march before you,
The Presence of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then, when you call, the Lord will answer;
When you cry, He will say: Here I am.
If you banish the yoke from your midst,
The menacing hand and evil speech,

And you offer your compassion to the hungry
And satisfy the famished creature —
The shall your light shine in darkness,
And your gloom shall be like noonday.

The Lord will guide you always;
He will slake your thirst in parched places
And give strength to your bones.
You shall be like a watered garden,
Like a spring whose waters do not fail.

Men from your midst shall rebuild ancient ruins,
you shall restore foundations laid long ago.
And you shall be called
“Repairer of fallen walls,
Restorer of lanes for habitation.”

I am not a scholar of The Prophets, much beyond the occasions reading, and with the hours spent in services over the last few weeks, paying attention to what you are reading can be hard! But when I came across this passage, I started to weep. This, to me, is what this is all about. G-d isn’t telling us that the glory comes with a BMW, with D&G, with HDTV, it comes when we share our bread with the hungry and house the poor.

And on top of this, some would say, predictable message, is not only that you will do your deed as a citizen, but poetically, a light will burst forth and repair your wounds, G-d will know your pain, and things will be ok.

See this is what I don’t get with non-religious nihilists; can they not see the rational parables in words like these? Can then strip away the supernatural for a moment and notice that we are told, by our forefathers, to be good citizens of the world, to tend to those less fortunate? If they can get past some odd stubbornness, they will see we owe a lot to, and could benefit from a return to, these values that some very smart people, a long time ago, sought to teach us.

I simply felt the power of knowing that the capacity of your fellow to forgive you is infinite, as long as you show redemption, again, to your fellow man.