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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