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Good Shabbos! Good YomTov!
Gmar chasima tova! Tzom kal!
LAMPLIGHTER
ZICHRON YAAKOV
PARSHAH IN A NUTSHELL
HAAZINU
Deuteronomy 32:1–52
The name of the Parshah, "Haazinu," means "Listen" and it is found in Deuteronomy 32:1
The greater part of the Torah reading of Haazinu (“Listen In”) consists of a 70-line “song” delivered by Moses to the people of Israel on the last day of his earthly life.
Calling heaven and earth as witnesses, Moses exhorts the people, “Remember the days of old / Consider the years of many generations / Ask your father, and he will recount it to you / Your elders, and they will tell you” how G‑d “found them in a desert land,” made them a people, chose them as His own, and bequeathed them a bountiful land. The song also warns against the pitfalls of plenty—“Yeshurun grew fat and kicked / You have grown fat, thick and rotund / He forsook G‑d who made him / And spurned the Rock of his salvation”—and the terrible calamities that would result, which Moses describes as G‑d “hiding His face.” Yet in the end, he promises, G‑d will avenge the blood of His servants, and be reconciled with His people and land.
The Parshah concludes with G‑d’s instruction to Moses to ascend the summit of Mount Nebo, from which he will behold the Promised Land before dying on the mountain. “For you shall see the land opposite you; but you shall not go there, into the land which I give to the children of Israel.”
YOM KIPPUR
Leviticus 16:1-34; 18:1-30
The Torah reading for Yom Kippur morning describes the service performed on this day by the Kohen Gadol (high priest) in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.
A special feature of the Yom Kippur service was the casting of lots over two he-goats — equal in age, size and appearance — to determine which shall be offered to G‑d in the Holy Temple, and which shall be dispatched to carry off the sins of Israel to the wilderness.
The climax of the service was when the Kohen Gadol entered the innermost chamber in the Temple, the "Holy of Holies." Wearing special garments of pure white linen, the Kohen Gadol would enter the sacred place with a pan of burning coals in his right hand, and a ladle containing an exact handful of ketoret in his left. Inside the Holy of Holies, he would place the ketoret over the coals, wait for the room to fill with its aromatic smoke, and hastily retreat from the holy place.
"This shall be an everlasting statute for you," the Torah reading concludes. "...For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d... once a year."
During the afternoon Minchah service, we read chapter 18 of Leviticus, which details the prohibitions against incest and other deviant sexual behaviors. The Torah reading is followed by a haftorah (reading from the Prophets) which tells the story of Jonah — the prophet who was sent to prophesy the destruction of the sinful city of Ninveh, ran away from G‑d, was swallowed by a fish, and learned the power of prayer and repentance to evoke G‑d's mercy and annul the harshest decrees.
HAFTORAH IN A NUTSHELL
SHUVA
Hosea 14:2-10; Micah 7:18-20
The Shabbat between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is known as Shabbat Shuva or "Shabbat of Return (Repentance)." The name is a reference to the opening words of the week's haftorah, "Shuva Israel — Return O Israel." This haftorah is read in honor of the Ten Days of Repentance, the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
The prophet Hosea exhorts the Jewish people to "Return, O Israel, to the L-rd your G‑d," encouraging them to repent sincerely and ask for G‑d's forgiveness. Hosea urges the Jews to put their trust in G‑d, not in Assyria, powerful horses or idols. At that point, G‑d promises to remove His anger from Israel, "I will be like dew to Israel, they shall blossom like a rose." The prophet then goes on to foretell the return of the exiles and the cessation of idol-worship amongst the people.
The haftorah concludes with a brief portion from the Book of Micah, which describes G‑d's kindness in forgiving the sins of His people. "He does not maintain His anger forever, for He is a lover of kindness. He will have mercy on us, He will grasp our iniquities and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Micah concludes with an enjoinder to G‑d to remember the pacts He made with the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
YOM KIPPUR
Isaiah 57:14-58:14
Today's haftorah discusses the concepts of repentance and fasting, the theme du jour of Yom Kippur.
The prophecy begins with the words "Pave, pave, clear the way; remove the obstacles from the way of My people." A reference to the Yetzer Hara ("evil inclination") which must be removed to pave the way for sincere repentance. G‑d assures that He will not be forever angry at those who repent, and that instead He will heal them and lead them. The wicked, on the other hand, are compared to a turbulent sea: "there is no peace for the wicked."
G‑d exhorts the prophet Isaiah to admonish the people regarding their fasting ways which G‑d finds reprehensible — a message which resonated to this very day:
"Daily they pretend to seek Me, desiring knowledge of My ways . . . 'Why have we fasted and You did not see?' they ask. 'We have afflicted our soul and You do not know?' Behold, on the day of your fast you pursue your affairs, and from all your debtors you forcibly exact payment. Behold, for quarrel and strife you fast, and to strike with a fist of wickedness. You do not fast in keeping with the spirit of the day, to make your voice heard on high. Is this a fast that I will choose? . . . Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush and spread out sackcloth and ashes beneath him?"
Instead, Isaiah teaches the Jews the proper way to fast:
"Loosen the fetters of wickedness, untie the bands of perverseness, send the oppressed free, and break every oppressive yoke. Offer your bread to the hungry, bring the wandering poor into your home. When you see someone naked, clothe him . . . Then you shall call and the L-rd shall answer, you shall cry and He shall say, 'Here I am.' . . . G‑d will always guide you and satiate your soul with radiance; He will strengthen your bones and you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never cease..."
The haftorah concludes with the promise of great rewards for those who honor and take delight in the Shabbat.
SAGES ON THE PARSHAH
And so shall he do for the Tent of Meeting, which dwells amongst them in the midst of their defilement (16:16)
Also when they are in a state of defilement, the Shechinah (Divine Presence) dwells with them.
(Talmud; Rashi)
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