A Glowing Vision of ‘Aliyá

Yesterday we read the sixth of the Seven Haftarot of Consolation.

It begins with a call to Tziyon to rise and shine, and ends with a promise that God will hasten the redemption in its time.

Much of the middle of Yesha‘yahu pereq 60, though, is a movie-cut-scene-like vision of Beney Yisra’eil returning to The Land and to God's City from exile all over the world. There are caravans of camels, and ships bringing back the returnees... but what's this?

Right in the middle, Yesha‘yahu pauses in his description, and asks,

מִי אֵלֶּה כָּעָבֿ תְּעוּפֶֿינָה, וְכַֿיּוֹנִים אֶל אֲרֻבֹּתֵֿיהֶם?

Who are these who fly like clouds,
like doves to their masonry nests?

R' Amnon Haramati points out that this is a sudden shift in the prophetic image — Yesha‘yahu is seeing the future, watching Israelites return home by land and sea, by camel and by boat... and right there, in the middle, he pauses, recognizing an additional method, another way that ‘Am Yisra’eil is returning to their Land — but he doesn't know what to make of it. He recognizes flight, but has no experience to conceive of it. Who can these people be, soaring through the air, and landing, and exiting the flying cloud-colored vehicle, to kiss the ground?