Haftorah Parashat Vayikra
Yeshayahu 43;21-44;23
A Break from Holiday Concerns
This week’s haftarah interrupts the series of readings connected to the special Torah reading for that week (Shekalim, Zachor, Parah, haChodesh, and then Shabbat haGadol next week). Instead of focusing on some Purim or Pesah related concept, we expect this week’s haftarah to relate to the parsha, which lays out many of the sacrifices that would be offered in the Mishkan and Beit haMikdash.
Last week, Yehezkel’s vision of the role of the sacrifices in the future Beit haMikdash led us to touch on the topic. This week’s haftarah calls our attention back to that theme again, because Yeshayahu takes a different position on sacrifice than we might have expected. Those who know Yeshayahu at all are accustomed to his complaining about the Jewish people’s excessive focus on sacrifice; we have ourselves seen some of those complaints in earlier haftarot. Given that this week’s Torah reading is so strongly in favor of sacrifice, it would be odd to see that kind of position taken in the haftarah, and we do not.
Sacrifice, Sin, and Substitutes for God
Instead, the haftarah groups three disparate issues, pointing us in the direction of a lesson that is moderately positive on the topic of korbanot, but also emphasizes broader concerns that ought to underlie any offering of sacrifices. Hashem opens with a complaint about the Jews’ failure to call out to Him, despite His having made them His people. The complaint continues that not only do the Jews not call out to God, they do not bring their sacrifices to Him, despite Hashem’s having refrained from imposing excessive burdens of sacrifice upon them. Worse, while they have not brought their sacrifices to Hashem, they have “burdened” God with their sins.
The mention of sin leads into two sections (separated by a parsha setuma, often indicating some connection among the two), in both of which Hashem stresses God’s role as the source of punishment and forgiveness. In the first, Hashem reminds us that our earlier ancestors sinned towards God (Radak understands that to refer to Ahaz, Hizkiyahu’s father, who encouraged people to offer sacrifices other than in the Beit haMikdash; that reading adds one more sacrifice element to the haftarah, and puts into the early years of Yeshayahu’s career), leading Hashem to, each generation, punish the Jews.
With but a brief pause, Hashem then turns to the opposite tack, stressing His concern for the Jews, His plan to forgive and purify them, bringing about a time when many Jews will return to God and once again assert their fidelity to Him, to the traditions of Avraham, Yitshak, and Yaacov.
As we try to track the chain of reasoning (so we can know how it all hangs together), we need to remember that Yeshayahu started with calling out to God, which led to his mentioning sacrifices and the Jews’ failures in that regard. Since much of sacrifice is brought to atone for sin (although not all—this week’s Torah reading also offers examples of freewill offerings, where a person just decides to offer a sacrifice to God), at least the connection to the complaint about the Jews’ sins and the assertion of Hashem’s being the source of forgiveness makes some sense.
A Disquisition on Idolatry
The haftarah then spends fifteen verses (out of a total of thirty one) complaining about idolatry, especially its inherent contradictions. After three verses about how Hashem, as first and last, is the only source of true forgiveness and/or salvation, the haftarah turns its attention to those who worship idols. The navi points out that people ignore the uncomfortable the fact that they are the ones crafting these idols out of ordinary materials and then endowing them with divinity. In the most pungent expression of this idea, he notes that some people chop wood, use half of it for ordinary house needs, such as fire for heat, and build an idol with the other half.
To perhaps even further stress our concern with this issue, the last three verses again return to the theme of our need to pay attention to Hashem, the only real source of either forgiveness or salvation.
So Many Ways to Be Led Away from God
This flow of ideas brings to the fore an important undercurrent of Jewish thought that we ought to notice more fully. The Jews of Yeshayahu’s time allowed themselves to believe that sacrifices were how they got forgiven by God, as well as how they insured a good future.
That error, which Ramban stresses in many places, can take several forms, since the fundamental error consists of seeking ultimate security in some source other than God. In the continuum of religion, one’s focus on sacrifice (or lack of it) is not all that distant from idolatry. One who invests too much in the power of sacrifice is likely to neglect other of God’s concerns, meaning that they are not truly worshiping God, they are using the magic of sacrifice to provide the security they crave.
So, too, one who does not bring sacrifices often enough (such as when s/he has sinned) is losing sight of God as the true and only source of forgiveness. Once God is not the source of forgiveness, the difference among the other sources one can seek to avail oneself of is fairly small, since they all share the crucial (flawed) assumption that forgiving sin is more magical than anything else. Rather than introspection and rectification, forgiveness for such people involves finding the right magic (sacrifice or idols, in this selection) to wipe away the blemish.
Idolatry in Our Time
We may be used to tuning out prophetic discussions of idolatry, since it is relatively rare in our time. The haftarah’s perspective, however, takes us in a direction that can be productive to consider even today. Ordinarily, we see idolatry as problematic because of the competition of believing in a deity other than God, but Yeshayahu is also bothered by people’s trusting their own creations more than God.
That suggests that our haftarah is warning us that people tend to get too caught up in seeking security in ways they can control, such as idols or (to put it in relevant contemporary terms) money. The only real security, however, lies with Hashem, just like the only real forgiveness lies in using korbanot (or, in their forced absence, prayer) as a way to fully repent our sins and return to God. Shabbat Shalom.
[21] This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.
[22] But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
[23] Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
[24] Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
[25] I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
[26] Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
[27] Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.
[28] Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
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Isa.44
[1] Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
[2] Thus saith the LORD that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
[3] For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
[4] And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
[5] One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
[6] Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
[7] And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them.
[8] Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
[9] They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
[10] Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
[11] Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
[12] The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.
[13] The carpenter stretcheth out his rule; he marketh it out with a line; he fitteth it with planes, and he marketh it out with the compass, and maketh it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
[14] He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
[15] Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.
[16] He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
[17] And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
[18] They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
[19] And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
[20] He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
[21] Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
[22] I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
[23] Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.