Long before there was a Jewish exile, the Torah already spoke of the Jewish return.

In Parshat Nitzavim, the first of this week's double portion, Moshe tells the Jewish people that a day will come when they will be scattered among the nations. But he also promises that exile will not last forever.

"Then the Lord your G-d will return your captivity and have compassion upon you, and He will return and gather you from all the peoples among whom the Lord your G-d has scattered you" (Devarim 30:3).

Two verses later, Moshe goes even further: "And the Lord your G-d will bring you to the Land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it" (30:5).

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With millions facing hunger and displacement in Sudan, dissidents enduring prison and torture in Iran, and thousands of political prisoners languishing in Myanmar's jails, the world is hardly suffering from a shortage of worthy humanitarian causes.

Yet some of the biggest names in the movie business have decided that what the world really needs is the release of Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian terrorist and convicted murderer serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison.

More than 20 actors associated with Marvel films have joined the "Free Marwan" campaign demanding his release, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Mark Ruffalo, Don Cheadle, and Cate Blanchett.

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In a small museum in northern Azerbaijan sit two objects that tell a surprisingly long story. They are a pair of tefillin so tiny that the black boxes are barely a centimeter wide. During the Soviet era, when openly observing Judaism invited trouble, Jews could conceal them beneath a hat or sleeve.

Today, the tefillin are displayed in the Museum of Mountain Jews in Qırmızı Qəsəbə, or Red Village, across the Kudyal River from the Muslim city of Quba. The museum occupies the restored Karchag Synagogue and opened in 2020.

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The final words of this week's Haftorah (Isaiah 60:1-22) contain one of the most intriguing contradictions in the prophecies of redemption.

Isaiah declares: "The smallest shall become a thousand, and the least a mighty nation; I am the Lord; in its time I will hasten it" (Isaiah 60:22).

Be'itah achishenah - "In its time - I will hasten it."

But how can both be true?

If redemption will come be'itah, at its appointed time, then how can G-d hasten it, achishena? And if He hastens it, then it would seem that it is no longer coming at its appointed time.

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Some prophetic verses comfort us by promising that a better future will come.

Others tell us that bringing about that future requires something from us.

This week's Haftorah (Isaiah 54:1-10) does both.

Jerusalem has endured exile and loss, but Isaiah tells her not to look only at what has been destroyed. She must look ahead to what will be rebuilt.

"Enlarge the place of your tent and let the curtains of your dwellings stretch forth; do not hold back. Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you shall spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants shall inherit nations, and they shall settle desolate cities" (Isaiah 54:2-3).

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