Haftorah This Week
Welcome to Haftorah This Week, the place where you will find thoughts and reflections by CLAL faculty and associates on this week's Haftorah.
HAFTARAT SHEMOT
(Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23)
Certainly the best known section of this Haftarah comes at the end when the people of Judah, in what seems a caricature of childish mockery, parody Isaiah's prophecy: "Tzav le'tzav, tzav le'tzav, kav le-kav, kav le-kav, ze'er sham, ze'er sham..." ("One command, another command, one rule, another rule, a little here, a little there...") (Is. 28:10). Surprisingly, the prophet then repeats the parody (Is. 28:13), putting it in God's mouth and leaving us bewildered as to the significance of these simple words.
Perhaps we can understand the passage by considering the context of the Exodus experience. As we read this Haftarah, we (who already know how the story will end) begin to thrill with anticipation at the upcoming saga of redemption. In this Torah portion and in the several that will follow, we see God's miraculous redemption of Israel from Egypt: plagues, a burning bush, a sea split asunder and the awesome revelation of Sinai. We cannot help being overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude and power of these events. But then we contemplate our own humble lives, and wonder. What ever happened to the awe and mystery? What became of the outstretched arm, and the signs and wonders? Are there no more miracles left for us? Isaiah's cryptic words provide an answer. At the heart of miraculous redemption is not a single, earth-shattering, divine event, but rather the simple "baby steps," one at a time, each on its own practically a non-event.
This understanding is supported earlier in the Haftarah: "...the Eternal will beat out [the peoples like grain] from the... Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, children of Israel, shall be picked up, one by one" (Is. 27:12). The verse suggests that the redemption of a people comes not all at once, but one lost individual at a time.
(David Nelson)
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