Haftorah Parashat Toledot
Malachi 1;1-2;7
Family and Its Discontents
It should be clear why we read this selection as haftarah for this week’s parashah—it refers to God’s choosing Yaakov over Esav, just as Yitzhak does in the Torah reading. That leaves two other issues unclear, one of which we’ll have the time to discuss this week.
In an issue we cannot take up here, we ought to wonder at God’s saying that He chose Yaakov over Esav, since the parashah makes it Yitzhak’s choice. If God had really decided, before Yitzhak gave the “wrong” blessing to Yaakov, the charade with the blessings seems really beside the point. Couldn’t Rivkah have walked in to Yitzhak, told him the story, had God back her up, and move on from there?
Perhaps even more fundamental to understanding the haftarah, we don’t understand why Hashem mentions having chosen Yaakov over Esav, when the real complaint of this piece of navi—as we see by reading a little further—is how the Jews, particularly the priests, are mistreating the service of God. Instead of bringing appropriate offerings, they are bringing stolen and blemished animals, acting towards God in not nearly the way they would treat a human father or king.
The answer lies in metaphor and its value. Malachi opens the piece by declaring it a “massa,” which Rashi translates as a load carried from somewhere else, adding that Hazal deduced from this that all the prophets were at Sinai, where they received their personal messages as well. Malachi’s opening with that word suggests an emphasis that his current message is inherent in the Sinaitic revelation, that God’s having chosen Yaakov over Esav reflects something crucial in our relationship.
I use the word advisedly because the metaphor of family holds the key to Malachi’s complaint. The issue at hand is the Jews’ mistreatment of God, particularly the priests, and we do not allow ourselves to mistreat anyone as much as family. Without speaking about my own family—I have read about and been around enough families who let their guard down to know that this is broadly true—we will all wince with recognition if I say that we reserve our cruelest comments, our most outrageous behavior, for the confines of family.
Which is what the Jews of Malachi’s time were doing with God. Strangers who want to offer sacrifices to God, even pagans who think of God as one among many, do so with reverence. The Jews instead bring lame, stolen, and otherwise unfit animals.
The stress on Yaakov as part of a family with Esav also suggests that the rejected brother still has ways of getting back into God’s good graces, of rejoining the family. Since that has not yet happened, the haftarah leaves us wondering (even hoping) for that time.
The family metaphor explains two further aspects of the haftarah, the Jews’ not even understanding their crime, and the focus on the tribe of Levi. For the first, Malachi’s complaint that when the Jews offer these various improper sacrifices, “ein ra,” they see no problem with it, another characteristic element in family squabbles. We can, unfortunately, speak to parents, children, spouses, and siblings with a bite and a disdain that we would be horrified to use on anyone else. Within the family, though, we see it as acceptable, as if that is what family is all about.
The responsibility for changing that family dynamic lies with each member of the clan, but even more so with the leaders, whose job is to teach/remind/convince/coerce the rest of the gang to behave appropriately and properly. Translated to Temple service, that means that the priests—who currently apparently accept the improper sacrifices and offer them on the altar—need to improve their own actions, to serve as a model for others, and to train the Jews as to the proper way to serve God.
A family dynamic can be changed, and so can our dynamic with God. From the contempt of familiarity, we can move to expressing always the love and connection we feel for those closest to us, and, we should hope, for Hashem.
Famous Phrases from This Haftarah in Rambam’s Writings
Chapter 1, Verse 7: The navi refers to “shulhan Hashem nivzeh hu, the Table of God is denigrated,” which Rambam in several places sees as the source of the detailed laws about how one has to prepare an animal for sacrifice. Included here are the prohibitions against offering a “terefah,” meaning an animal that has a physical wound that will necessarily bring about its death, and that the various parts of the already-slaughtered animal have to be washed carefully before being offered, even though they will all be burned together. Here, too, the metaphor guides our actions—to insure that we not treat God’s “Table” disrespectfully, we have to treat the “food” we offer there much as we would were we giving it to a human ruler.
Chapter 2, Verse 3: Hashem warns “ve-zeriti peresh al penechem, peresh hagechem, and I will spread dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals,” which Rambam cites twice in the Mishneh Torah, each time in the context of eating improperly. First, in Hilchot Deot 5;1, Rambam cites the verse to characterize those who chase food for the pure pleasure, meaning that a part of the Jews’ crime in Malachi is their having used the holidays as just an excuse to have meat sacrifice. The same idea is echoed in Hilchot Yom Tov 6;18, where Rambam uses it to characterize those who eat on Yom Tov without caring for the poor; instead of enjoying the holiday for spiritual purposes, they are converting it into a pure eating experience.
Chapter 2, Verse 6: The verse refers to the priest walking “be-shalom u-ve-mishor,” which the gemara, cited by Rambam in Avot 1;12, applies to Aharon, seeing him, in contrast to Moshe, as a source of peace and unity among the people.
Chapter 2, Verse 7: The verse announces that “siftei Kohen yishmeru da`at, ve-Torah yevakshu mi-pihu, ki malach Hashem Tsevaot hu, the lips of a priest will guard wisdom, and others will seek wisdom from his mouth, for he is an angel of God,” which Rambam takes both as a proof that it is appropriate to call a sage an angel of God (Avot 5;13, which means that Rambam could read some references to angels in Tanach as actually meaning people), and, based on the gemara, as a warning that we should only accept the Torah taught by people who are of high quality in their knowledge as well as in their other actions—if the teacher is an angel of God, we should accept Torah, but if not, not. Shabbat Shalom.
Mal.1
[1] The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi.
[2] I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
[3] And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
[4] Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.
[5] And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The LORD will be magnified from the border of Israel.
[6] A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
[7] Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
[8] And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.
[9] And now, I pray you, beseech God that he will be gracious unto us: this hath been by your means: will he regard your persons? saith the LORD of hosts.
[10] Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for nought? neither do ye kindle fire on mine altar for nought. I have no pleasure in you, saith the LORD of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
[11] For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
[12] But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.
[13] Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the LORD.
[14] But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
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Mal.2
[1] And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.
[2] If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.
[3] Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
[4] And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
[5] My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
[6] The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
[7] For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.