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 VA'ERA
(Ezekiel 28:25-29:21)
Thus said the Lord God: When I have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples
among which they have been dispersed...they shall settle on their own soil...and they
shall dwell on it in security. They shall build houses and plant vineyards... and they
shall know that I the Lord am their God.
(Ezekiel 28:25-26)
The prophet Ezekiel describes the vision of the ingathering of the exiles following the
Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem as a two-stage process. First, the nation will
experience physical redemption--they will "settle on their own soil...in
security...build houses and plant vineyards." Second, they will experience spiritual
redemption--they will "know that I the Lord am their God."
This two-stage process mirrors the two-stage process of the story of the Exodus, part
of which is related in this Torah portion of Vaera. In our Parsha God says: "I will
free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage...and I will
take you to be my people and I will be your God" (Exodus 6:6-7). In the original
story of liberation, then, physical safety and security precedes spiritual understanding
and fulfillment. Bodily and economic well-being are critical prerequisites to spiritual
wholeness.
Our tradition recognizes the powerful need for human beings to achieve physical dignity
and self-esteem before they can stand upright and complete before God. God does not desire
a weak and vulnerable people, but a strong and independent one who recognizes the inherent
sacredness of the resources with which it has been blessed, and who will use those
resources to help build a world which reflects the presence and perfection of God.
As Heschel once said, "In our relation to the immediate we touch upon the most
distant. Even the satisfaction of physical needs can be a sacred act. Perhaps the most
essential message of Judaism is that in doing the finite we may perceive the
infinite."
(Dini Lewittes)
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