#haftarah

Every week on Shabbat in shul we read a Torah portion, such that over the course of the year we will get through the entire Torah.

For each Torah portion there is an associated Hafotrah, which a section from another of the books of tanach that has some associated theme in common with the Torah portion that was read (with some exceptions).

There are a total of about 82 Haftorahs (I did a quick google, couldn't find a def. answer, so running off of memory).

Wait, you ask, there are like 52 weeks in a year. Even if you add an extra month, you still only get to 56. How are there 82?

Well, I answer, all the major holidays have there own torah portion and haftorah, and if they fall on shabbat their haftora superceeds the normal one. Along with chol hamoed, minor holidays, and several other events that can occur.

So you never read all 82 in one year.

Now this leads to something interesting, due to how the calendar works, some haftorahs are rarer than others.

Miketz (the one we just had), usually falls during Hanuka, in fact on average it is only not on Hanukah once every 10 years!

So usually it gets supplanted by Chanuka's hafotrah (well, one of them). It's a classic story too!

It's the one about Solomon, the baby, and the 2 mothers!

and we won't read it (in shul at least) for another 17 years!

Note that we're talking about the melodic/cantillation aspects specifically here: Eichah can be your favorite trop without being your favorite megillah. And you don't have to be able to leyn to have an opinion — feel free to vote based on whatever you most enjoy listening to!

Bonus points for sharing in the tags what specific minhag of trop you were thinking of when you voted, since they're beautifully different!

Chag Sameach HawkTorah peoples!  We hope that your Hanukkah (or Chanukah) is going well and you have found the time to be present with the ones you love and to eat some greasy latkes. This week’s Haftarah portion is super exciting.  There are three different ones that are read this week because it is Hanukkah, Machar Chodesh (the day before Rosh Chodesh) AND Rosh Chodesh.  Hanukkah trumps all other circumstances and so we will be focusing on that Haftarah portion - Zechariah 4:1-7.

In this portion Zechariah is speaking with an angel who woke him up.  According to the text he was woken, “as a man is wakened from sleep”.  The angel asked Zechariah what he saw and Zechariah answered that he saw a lampstand (menorah) with seven lamps and seven pipes.  This lampstand was accompanied by two olive trees, one on each side.  Zechariah asks the angel what this could mean and the angel responds, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit - said the Lord of Hosts.  Whoever you are, O great mountain in the path of Zerubbabel, turn into level ground!  For he shall produce that excellent stone; it shall be greeted with shouts of ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’  

So, what can we take from this?  We see it as a lesson in perseverance and in putting your all into what you do.  You do not need to have physical strength or great power to make an impact.  If you have the drive to do something, nothing should stop you from at least trying.  Don’t let the fear that others might be bigger, stronger, or more powerful than you deter you from trying.  You can turn your mountains into level ground and produce that excellent stone.  You can be greeted with shouts of ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’.  All it takes is a little ruach (spirit) and anything can happen.  Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

“But all I know is nothing happens if you just give in; It can't be any worse than how it's been; And it just so happens that we just might win; So whatever happens, let's begin”.  Picture this, the year is 1899, and you find yourself in New York City.  You make your living selling Newspapers.  It isn’t much, and you’re still very poor, but it’s something.  Now imagine that you come to work one day to find the price you have to pay for the papers went up without any warning.  You and your fellow newsies are stunned.  You aren’t made of money, you’re just a bunch of kids and teens out on the streets of New York trying to scrape up enough money to survive.  

What do you do?  It’s you against some of the most powerful people in New York, and perhaps the entire country.  You decide to band together, and go on strike.

Sound familiar?  It should.  This is the premise of the 1992 musical film Newsies, which was then later turned into a Broadway show in 2012.  But that’s not all, did you know that Newsies was based on true events?  Newsies has been Marissa’s favorite musical since...well, probably since 2012 and Amanda has gotten into it more recently (thanks to Marissa constantly talking about it).  Needless to say, we’re very excited to be talking about our favorite newsboys this week.

I can hear you all now, “But Amanda and Marissa, what does Newsies have to do with the Haftarah portion?  Are you just finding any excuse to talk to us about your favorite shows?”  The answers are, a lot...and yes.  It should also be noted that from this point on, we will be referring to the movie and the stage show and not the actual events because we are more familiar with them and we don’t want to get anything wrong or give you false information.  

The story of the newsies is so important and so relevant to this portion.  The newsies aren’t superheroes by any means, they’re just a bunch of average kids.  If anything, these kids were a bit below average.  They were poor, some orphans, and some with disabilities.  I mean, look at Crutchie and Kid Blink.  

But the newsies don’t let any of this stop them.  They work together, and devise a plan.  They then put their plan in action.  But this is all easier said than done.  Like we said, it was a bunch of little guys against some of the most influential people in the world.  There were some hiccups along the way, and their faith, especially Jack’s, was tested.  You’re probably thinking, “why didn’t the papers just hire other people to sell their papers?”  Or, “why do they even have newsies in the first place?  They’re just a bunch of kids.”  Well, here’s the thing.  This may have started with one group of newsies, but it didn’t stay that way.  They knew that if they wanted to make a difference, they needed to get as many people to band with them as possible.

Some newsies needed more...persuading than others, but soon they had a whole group on strike.  The goal was to get all of the newsies of New York to band together, and they succeeded.  As for why the papers needed newsies, well, I believe Jack Kelly (one of the strike leaders) said it best:

The reporters would write the most boring headlines...many about the trolley strike which just dragged on.  So, the boys got...creative when trying to sell the papers.  They fabricated new headlines to spark public interest.  Without the newsies, these papers simply wouldn’t sell.  

With a lot of perseverance and spirit/passion, these boys were able to come to a settlement and end the strike.  It wasn’t because they were strong, or because they had a lot of power.  They refused to give up.  In the movie version of Newsies, the newsies invited all of the child laborers in New York to join their strike.  Remember, this was a time before child labor laws and health and safety regulations.  The conditions these children were working with where horrendous, but no one cared.  So, they joined the newsies strike.  The following are lyrics from the song “Once and for All”:

This is for kids shining shoes on the street with no shoes on their feet everyday This is for guys sweating blood in the shops while their bosses and cops look away I'm seeing kids standing tall, glaring and raring a brawl All of these guys who are sick of the lies getting ready to rise to the call!

This wasn’t just about the money, it was about equality and fairness.  The newsies wanted people to know that they were well...people too and deserved to be treated as such.  We know we’ve been repeating this, but we really want it to sink in.  The newsies were able to win without physical strength or power.  They worked hard and believed in their goal.  It was through their passion that they found strength, and you can do the same.  Sometimes we feel a little helpless and don’t know how to make things better.  There could be government policies or school policies or...well anything that you don’t agree with and want to change to make better.  Don’t worry about being the little guy.  Find that passion, find that ruach, and you will find the strength to make a change.

That’s all for this week, Happy Chanukah/Hanukkah!

Amanda and Marissa

PS: if you want to watch Newsies to experience the magic and further understand what we’re talking about, go check out the stage show on Netflix or watch the movie on Hulu or wherever else you can (legally) find it.

P.P.S.: Check out this song by Debbie Friedman that goes with this part of Zechariah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AoO-otdfog (throwback to those temple junior choir days)

The Prophesy of Isaiah by Marc Chagall; 1969. x

Shabbat Chazon marks the Shabbat immediately before Tisha B’Av and is known as the saddest Shabbat of the year.  Chazon means ‘Vision’ in Hebrew and refers to the Haftarah portion that is read this Shabbat concerning the prophecies of Isaiah, which predicted the beginning of the Jewish diaspora by the Babylonians due to the fact that the people of Israel and its leaders have turned away from Hashem.

Naso – How it could have ended

The Haftarah tells the story of Shimshon’s birth. Shimshon’s mother, Mrs. Manoach, was barren until she was visited by an angel. This is how she tells her husband what happened:

וַתֹּאמֶר לְאִישָׁהּ לֵאמֹר אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים בָּא אֵלַי וּמַרְאֵהוּ כְּמַרְאֵה מַלְאַךְ הָאֱלֹהִים נוֹרָא מְאֹד וְלֹא שְׁאִלְתִּיהוּ אֵי מִזֶּה הוּא וְאֶת שְׁמוֹ לֹא הִגִּיד לִי: וַיֹּאמֶר לִי הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן She spoke to her husband, saying: “A Man of G-d came to me, he looked like an angel of G-d, very frightening, and I did not ask him where he comes from, and he did not tell me his name. He said to me, ‘You are going to be pregnant and give birth to a son… (Shoftim 13:6-7)

If the story were told by a neighborhood “yenta”, it might have looked like this:

“You know that Mrs. Manoach, the one who’s barren, nebech? Guess what, she’s pregnant! But did you hear her story? She was out in the field, and an angel came to her. Yeah, sure, an “angel”… Poor Manoach. He’s so clueless.”

In the ancient world, there were many fables of women “visited” by divine beings, and the supernatural children that they bore. If Manoach had doubted his wife’s fidelity, nobody would have held it against him.

Parshat Naso offers a solution for a husband whose wife has been compromised and there is no way to know what happened: the Sotah ritual. Her husband can take her to the Temple, where she is made to drink a potion that kills her if she is guilty, or blesses her with fertility if she is innocent. It is an ordeal, in every sense of the word, but at least it provides closure. It is a way for him to prove to himself and to society that she was in fact innocent, a way to stop the rumors and the pitying looks, a way to repair their relationship.

But Manoach did not take his wife to the Sotah ritual. Their relationship did not need to be repaired.

In the conditions for the ritual, we find the following:

וְעָבַר עָלָיו רוּחַ קִנְאָה וְקִנֵּא אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ וְהִוא נִטְמָאָה אוֹ עָבַר עָלָיו רוּחַ קִנְאָה וְקִנֵּא אֶת אִשְׁתּוֹ וְהִיא לֹא נִטְמָאָה And he was seized by jealousy, and was jealous over his wife, and she had become impure; or, he was seized by jealousy and was jealous over his wife, and she did not become impure. (Bamidbar 5:14)

It is not enough for the woman to have appeared to stray. The husband must also be seized by jealousy. If he is not, then the ritual is not necessary.

What was Manoach’s reaction to hearing that “a man of G-d came to” his wife? He begs G-d to send him again, to hear what else he has to say. What was Manoach’s reaction when he shows up again, not to him as requested, but again to his wife, out alone in the field? Does he question her, or blame her, or wonder what the Man of G-d wants with her? None of that. When she runs in and tells him, “He is here again, the man that came to me the other day” –

וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ מָנוֹחַ אַחֲרֵי אִשְׁתּוֹ Manoach got up and went after his wife (Shoftim 13:11)

Manoach is nothing like the husband in the Sotah ritual. Not only is he not consumed by jealousy, but the thought does not even cross his mind. She is his wife; he goes where she leads.

So that we don’t miss this point, the Haftarah’s twenty-four verses use the phrase, אִשְׁתּוֹ “his wife”, seven times. Instead of saying, “he said to her,” it says, “Manoach said to his wife.” Instead of saying, “she answered,” it says, “his wife answered.” Similarly, in the Parsha of Sotah, the phrase, “his wife”, is repeated four times. Additionally, both sets of text use the somewhat rare term, אִישָׁהּ “her man”, three times in close proximity. This linguistic mechanism is meant to highlight that what is at stake here is the idea of “man and wife”.

The relationship known as “man and wife” goes back to Creation. Whereas the betrayal of this relationship, adultery, is one of the cardinal sins listed in the Torah, the Parsha takes it one step further, and tells us that jealousy alone might be equally destructive. It also offers a way to resolve it. The Haftarah takes it one step further than that, and tells us that jealousy is not the only possible reaction to such circumstances.

If Mr. and Mrs. Manoach had not thought of each other as “man and wife”, if he had not believed in her, if his faith in her had been affected by slander and sinister glances, than he might have taken her to be a Sotah.

If the husband of the Sotah had been more like Manoach, and had trusted his wife and stood by her even when things looked bad, then he would not have had to put her through the ordeal.

Parshat Emor and the Haftarah of Emor both discuss the commandments and restrictions that apply to Cohanim, the hereditary priesthood of the Jewish People. The Haftarah of Emor describes in detail the role that the Cohanim will have at the time of the Final Redemption. It reviews their service in the Temple and the additional restrictions that the Torah places on them both during their service and in their personal life. It describes their responsibilities to the Jewish People outside the Temple, such as teaching Torah and adjudicating Halachic issues, and it lists some of the responsibilities of the Jewish People to them, such as the gifts of Challah (first bread) and Bikurim (first fruit).

According to Parshat Emor, the additional commandments are what imparts upon the Cohanim the additional level of sanctity required for service in the Mikdash (Sanctuary). Among the verses that are addressed to them, we find the following commandment addressed to the Jewish People as a whole:

As we have learned in previous Parshot, such as Kedoshim, what makes someone sacred is that they act differently than the people around them. The Jewish People have a very long list of commandments; consequently, there is an expectation that the Jewish People will have a higher level of sanctity relative to other nations. Likewise, G-d gave the Cohanim additional commandments to differentiate them from the rest of Israel, with an even higher level of sanctity. But if it is G-d who makes them sacred, as per the end of the verse, what does it mean when the very same verse says, “you will make them sacred”? In what way are we, the Jewish People, able to make the Cohanim sacred?

Rashi, distilling several Midrashim into a handful of words, explains:

One might think that if a Cohen married a divorcee, which is explicitly forbidden in the Torah, then he made a personal choice, and while he may have done something wrong, it does not affect Jewish society as a whole. However, the Torah says: “You must make him sacred”: the responsibility to observe the laws that are unique to Cohanim is theirs, but the responsibility to enforce them is ours.

The verse continues and says: “he shall be sacred to you”. That, too, is not a mere platitude, but is expressed through action. Rashi explains:

Our responsibility to keep the Cohanim sacred is expressed through the preferred treatment that we show them. Therefore, the Cohen gets the first Aliya to the Torah, and he is the first to be asked to lead Birkat HaMazon after meals. This is not much to ask; we are not obligated to defer to them in politics or business or even Torah. But this little bit is enough to embed their special status in the culture and consciousness of the Jewish People.

One might have thought that once the Temple was destroyed and the primary role of the Cohanim, to bring the offerings to Hashem, was no longer a part of Jewish life, that the sanctity of the Cohanim would disappear as well. But this has not been the case. More than three thousand years after this commandment was given, the Cohanim are still distinct among the Jewish People. This remarkable persistence is due to the sanctity of the additional commandments that the Cohanim were given, and due to the deference that the Jewish People have continued to show them. As commanded, we have made them sacred.

Ultimately, we will reach the stage of redemption described in the Haftarah, where we once again have a Temple, and need Cohanim to serve there:

At that time, there will still be Cohanim, distinct and sacred among the Jewish People.

Copyright © Kira Sirote

In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l