Hezekiah

Hezekiah did some amazing things to turn the Jewish people around and lead them back to Hashem. For this, G-d was with him for most of his reign, until the 14th year of his reign when G-d allowed Assyria to attack. Hezekiah was forced to submit to the King of Assyria and pay him taxes. Hezekiah decides he doesn't want to use his money to pay taxes to the King of Assyria and has a brilliant idea. He decides to take gold from the Beit Hamikdash, the same Beit Hamikdash he had re-established and re-furbished early on in his reign, and use that gold to pay the King of Assyria.

When I learned this I was just shocked. It was clear to Hezekiah that G-d was with him for most of his reign, and when Assyria invaded it should have been an extremely clear message that G-d was upset with him and no longer with him. Why would he then decide it'd be a good idea to anger G-d? There is no doubt that Hezekiah knew G-d was in control of everything. With such a clear knowledge of G-d, how does one do anything that would jeopardize their relationship with G-d if they knew it meant life or death?

Maybe there's a lesson here. Perhaps it is saying that even someone who feels like they have the strongest relationship with G-d has the capability to screw up. Humans are humans, no matter how clear G-d is in our lives.

That's just a thought. But quite honestly, I'm okay just thinking Hezekiah was a complete idiot.

Mashiach

        In Prakim Yud Aleph and Yud Bet it is talking about the vision and how it is contrasting how the people are actually living. At this point the people are facing corruption and corrupt leaders, punishment for their sins, and they are dependent on man rather than Hashem. The people were told that if they change their ways and go back to Hashem then they can avoid punishment. 
           This contrasts their current reality to the people as an incentive for the people to change.
  I think today that there are still people who are more dependent on other people like rather than Hashem. 

We Want Moshiach NOW!

We learned all about Moshiach in class, including what life will be like when Moshiach comes. There will be no political oppression, total knowledge of G-d, and peace and perfection throughout. All the Jewish people will be united, there will be no jealousy, war, famine or competition. We will understand the deepest parts of existence, and there will be no desire to do anything wrong.

This world described sounds absolutely amazing, especially when you're struggling through a difficult time. If you think about the problems in this world, the world of Moshiach could fix every one of these problems. Can you imagine a world with no war, jealousy, conflict, hunger, injustice, etc? Every single person should want Moshiach to come.

If this is the case, then why aren't we doing everything in our power to bring Moshiach? Why isn't every Judaic class in Jewish schools focused on the goal of bringing Moshiach? Why is it that when the topic of Moshiach is brought up we focus on the longing for Moshiach and not on what we can do to bring him? This is what I want to know.

Maybe it's too hard for us to bring Moshiach. Maybe G-d knows something we don't. Maybe we're not ready for him. Who knows.

Here's to hoping that Moshiach will decide to show up tomorrow.

Karma

Yeshayahu had a son named She'ar Yashuv, which means a remnant shall return. Yehudah is going to be destroyed by Assyria, but Assyria thinks that they are the ones who caused all of the destruction in Yerushalayim because of their power and success, when in reality it was all Hashem. Because of Assyria's thoughts Hashem is going to end them also. However Hashem is going to leave a remnant of them behind, even if they did not do teshuva. This is where Yeshayahu's sons name come into play; He named his child this to represent this concept.
It is like in today's society if we do something bad, things will come back around and "attack" us. Like all of those people who attacked the innocent people in Boston this past week, they will get their punishment soon enough because they know they have done wrong and they are haughty for their actions.

In פרק י the Jews sinned once again, and Hashem wanted them to realize that if they continued to sin they would be brought into exile. Since they did not change their ways Hashem sent Assyria to attack them and put them in exile. But Hashem wanted to make sure that the Jews knew that the Assyrian's attack was because they were sinning and that Hashem sent them to the Jews. But he also needed to make sure that the Assyrians knew that it wasn't their own strength that put them to war. The Assyrians are being arrogant by thinking that all the power came from them. 
We need to remember that everything in our lives is from Hashem whether it is good or bad. If it is something good we have to remember that everything comes from Hashem. If you get a good grade on a test, you should remember that Hashem had a part in making it happen. If it is something bad we have to remember that we were given it for a reason, and we need to try to do better because of it. Also if something very unfortunate happens we have to remember that Hashem did it for some sort of reason, and we just cannot see the full story. Like the event that just happened in Boston. This horrible tragedy was taken place for some sort of reason by G-d, but we will never understand completely because we cannot see the whole picture. 

Uziyahu and Hashem

In Perek Vuv it says that Man is mortal and Hashem is imortal. Uziyahu tried to go against Hashem but he was punished. From this I think I can learn that no matter how much you think you know everything  Hashem knows everything and is all powerful.The people back then didnt think they were going to get punished. Today I think people are very confident in themselves and dont think that they will get punished.

Yishayahu's Message

Yishayahu had many messages that he gave to the people in pesukim bet through tet. His message is that you have to have a relationship with Hashem and with other people. This is very applicable to us today. We have to have a connection and a relationship with other people but we cant forget about the most important relationship which is our relationship with Hashem. Ysiahayahu also said that it is not enough to only worship Hashem in the Ben adam lmakom sense but you have to follow the Ben adam lchavero Mitzvot too.