#haftorah

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!

In addition to reading Parshat Berisheet, the Creation Account, Jews around the world will be reading Isaiah 42:5-43:10 this beautiful Shabbat morning.

In the text, we find praises to God because of the Divine’s handiwork in creating the world.  Throughout the entire Hebrew of the Tanakh, God is usually given masculine pronouns but on this first Shabbat of our Torah cycle, we encounter maternal imagery for God.

“יְהוָה֙ כַּגִּבּ֣וֹר יֵצֵ֔א“ [”Adonai kagibor yetzeh”] “Adonai goes forth like a warrior...” (Is. 42:13), and God said that “כַּיּוֹלֵדָ֣ה אֶפְעֶ֔ה אֶשֹּׁ֥ם וְאֶשְׁאַ֖ף יָֽחַד׃" [”kayvoleydah efeh eshom v’eshaf yachad”] “Now I will shriek like a woman in labor, I will pant and I will gasp” (42:14)

God’s essence is attributed to a warrior that becomes as powerful as a woman in labor.  Imagine how revolutionary that statement was when our ancestors developed this and other texts, and how revolutionary it was when it was canonized in the Tanakh within the book of Isaiah, and how revolutionary that we as Jews have been reading it right alongside our Creation narrative for ... God knows how long!

May the start of the Torah bring you all strength, love, and joy!

Parshas Ki Seitzei

Yeshaya 54:1 This week’s haftorah displays Hashem’s boundless love for the Jewish people. In the end, after a long painful exile, the Jewish people will be granted permission to return to Eretz Yisroel. Most appropriately, the prophet Yeshaya opens and invites Yerushalayim to rejoice over the in gathering of her exiles. He says, “Rejoice barren city who never expected such an…

Parashat Shemot / פרשת שמות

Rashi on Moses שמות ב׳:ב׳ (ב) וַתַּ֥הַר הָאִשָּׁ֖ה וַתֵּ֣לֶד בֵּ֑ן וַתֵּ֤רֶא אֹתוֹ֙ כִּי־ט֣וֹב ה֔וּא וַֽתִּצְפְּנֵ֖הוּ שְׁלֹשָׁ֥ה יְרָחִֽים׃ Exodus 2:2 (2) And the woman conceived, and bore a son; and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. רש”י על שמות ב׳:ב׳:א׳

(א) כי טוב הוא. כשנלד נתמלא הבית כלו אורה:

Rashi on Exodus 2:2:1

(1) She saw that he…

Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading.

1st Aliya: The Jews had been in Mitzrayim since 2238. The Parsha begins as Pharaoh orchestrated the oppression of the Bnai Yisroel. Starting in 2362, with the birth of Miriam, the oppression…