In this week's Haftorah, we meet a complex and compelling figure: Yiftach HaGiladi. His story begins not with strength or leadership, but with rejection. The son of a concubine, Yiftach is driven out of his father's home by his half-brothers. Isolated and humiliated, he flees to the land of Tov.
It's there that the Navi tells us: וַיִּתְלַקְּטוּ אֶל יִפְתָּח אֲנָשִׁים רֵקִים, and worthless men gathered around Yiftach. He doesn't seek them out — they gather to him. These are people on the margins, like him. Together, they form a group, bound not by purpose, but by pain.
The Yalkut Shimoni uses the story of Yiftach to prove an adage, 'A wandering person is drawn toward a patch of thorns,' teaching us that people tend to gravitate toward those who resemble them. The Midrash teaches that this truth is so foundational, it echoes through every level of Torah tradition: it is written in the Torah, repeated in the Neviim here in the story of Yiftach, stated a third time in the Ketuvim, taught in the Mishnah, and reinforced in the Baraita. This is a message we are meant to hear from every direction - we are shaped by the people around us. When we feel lost, we may gravitate toward those who mirror our insecurity or bitterness.
But the inverse is also true. Yiftach's story takes a turn when those who once rejected him return, asking him to lead them. In a moment of national crisis, they recognize his strength. Yiftach could have refused. Instead, he chooses to rise. No longer surrounded by empty men, he now walks among the elders of Israel — a leader not just in title, but in stature.
Yiftach's transformation reminds us that we are not fixed by our past. Just as we are influenced by others, we can also choose better. We can reach for circles that elevate, for relationships that reflect the people we want to become. Because when we choose to surround ourselves with people of faith, purpose, and goodness, we don't just change our company — we elevate ourselves.
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