The haftara for the first of three Shabbatot before Tisha B'Av is taken from the beginning of Sefer Yirmiyahu, and tells of Yirmiyahu's designation as prophet and the initial prophecy he receives concerning the destruction of Jerusalem. In his first prophetic vision, Yirmiyahu beholds a makel shaked, or almond branch (Yirmiyahu 1:11). The underlying meaning of this vision, God explains, is "ki shoked Ani al devari la-asoto" – that the events he foresees will occur in the near future. The verb sh.k.d. denotes speed or haste, and indeed the almond tree is generally the earliest tree to blossom in late winter. Yirmiyahu's vision of a shaked thus represents the haste with which the calamitous events will unfold.
Why is the speed of these events of such significance that it warrants its own prophetic vision? One would have thought that the time-frame of Jerusalem's destruction is a secondary issue, and would not occupy the central theme of Yirmiyahu's initial prophetic experience. Why does God first show Yirmiyahu a vision forewarning the speed of the tragic events that await the Jewish people?
Professor Nechama Leibowitz, in her Studies to Sefer Bamidbar, explains that this prophecy served to warn the people not to blindly lull themselves into a false sense of security by assuming that the tragedies will occur only in the distant future. After all, as the second verse of Sefer Yirmiyahu informs us, Yirmiyahu began his "prophetic career" during the reign of Yoshiyahu, which marked a period of relative stability and prosperity in the Judean kingdom. We can easily imagine that under such conditions, people would hardly give thought to a "prophet of doom," who warns of impending disaster. They would likely either dismiss the prophecy altogether, or, at most, reassure themselves that given the current state of stability, any disastrous events that could occur would certainly take many decades, if not centuries, to unfold. This is particularly so given that it was Babylonia who, as Yirmiyahu later warns, would bring about this calamity. During Yoshiyahu's period, it was Egypt that began rising to dominance in the region, and in fact it was the Egyptian who ultimately killed Yoshiyahu. Therefore, even those who would take the prophet's warning seriously would likely assume that they had many years before the Babylonian Empire would lay siege to Jerusalem. They would therefore allow themselves the leisure of disregarding the prophet's warnings and exhortations, and to continue conducting themselves as they had until now.
God therefore begins Yirmiyahu's prophecies with a vision of an almond branch, which represents the dizzying speed at which the Babylonian Empire would rise to power and seize Jerusalem. The hope was that this vision would awaken people to the reality that perceived periods of stability and security can end in an instant, and that today's conditions – permanent and unshakeable as they appear – will not necessarily last until tomorrow.
Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il