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Transforming Comfort: Hermeneutics and Theology in the Haftarot of Consolation

The selection and arrangement of lectionary texts are powerful tools for the interpretation and transformation of Scripture. The most extensive example of this phenomenon within the Jewish lectionary is the sequence of haftarot surrounding the ninth of Av. The redactors of this haftarah sequence use strategies of selection and arrangement to transform a collection of texts from Isa. 40-66 into a coherent unit with a dialogic structure and a defined sequence. While this new liturgical unit is composed solely of biblical texts, it articulates a theology of consolation that differs from that of its constituent texts in their biblical context. In Isa. 40-66, reconciliation and redemption are inextricably linked to each other. The haftarah sequence unhitches reconciliation from redemption and asserts that even though redemption lies in the future, the reconciliation between God and Israel occurs in the present in the midst of the worshiping community.