The Vineyard and the Farmer

This week in class, we learned a lot about the imagery Yishayahu used to convey his message to the people of Bnei Yisrael.  Several times throughout his speech, Yishayahu mentioned a vineyard and the farmer that tends the vineyard.  He said that the farmer puts everything he has into the vineyard, lovingly tending the grapes and making sure that they are provided for.  The farmer will provide for the grapes throughout the growing season of one year and then pick the grapes and makes wine out of them.  When the farmer finally gets to drink the wine, he is filled with a sense of pride in his own work and love for his "children." After all of that work, the farmer starts again with a fresh batch of vines and grapes the next season and goes through this whole process again.

This analogy, obviously, is talking about the relationship between Bnei Yisrael and G-d.  G-d has been there for Bnei Yisrael from the beginning.  Hashem wanted to create a people that would be created in His image and that would act morally and ethically.  This nation became Bnei Yisrael.  Hashem provided for Bnei Yisrael from the time of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov to the time their descendants spent in Egypt to the time of the Exodus, when the descendants of the Forefathers became a proper nation.  Naturally, G-d wanted to see his efforts pay off in the end; He wanted to see the people acting in the moral and ethical way that he wanted them to according to the Torah.  The reason this analogy is so relevant is because G-d is clearly the parent of this nation. In addition, He wanted these ideas and the religion to pass on to the next generations.

How can a child rebel against a parent after all the things the parent has done for them?  More specifically, how can people not see all of the "work" G-d has put in to shape them as a nation?

At the time of Yishayahu, the people were in a really bad place spiritually.  Their values were completely skewed and they were not fulfilling the Mitzvot between man and man as G-d had intended them to.  This disobedience on the part of Bnei Yisrael led to the worst punishment of all: exile and utter destruction in the land.

Seeing as we are living in the "exile," I find this topic most relevant, especially because we are approaching Rosh Hashanah.  A new year is like a clean slate.  I know that some people, me included, forget that G-d has the power to send us punishments for our sins because we don't have a Navi coming to tell us when we need to repent and we don't always see what the punishment is in this world.  As the grapes in the vineyard, it is our job as people to create the best wine we can... also known as acting in the most moral and ethical manner that we can.  Only when we do this will G-d be satisfied with our behavior.  Actually, we need to take it one step further if we want to be redeemed from our current exile.  We all need to follow all of G-d's commandments, especially those commandments between people.  When that happens, Mashiach will come.

Shana Tova!  :)