The Haftarah of Shabbat Rosh Chodesh is read whenever Rosh Chodesh falls out on Shabbat, and overrides any other Haftarah. The only exception is Shabbat Shekalim and HaChodesh, which are tied to Rosh Chodesh Adar and Nissan, respectively.
It is not an easy Haftarah; it contains some very powerful imagery, both of comfort and of fear.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat Rosh Chodesh
The obvious connection is the repetition of the words “Shabbat” and “Chodesh”. Understanding why Shabbat and Chodesh are mentioned, and what they have to do with the general theme of Geula (redemption), now that is not obvious at all.
Hi Kira. Behatzlacha on your endeavor. Josh
Here’s a question from Parshat Lech Lecha. At the end of aliyat shelishi we find that Avraham builds an altar to God and offering sacrifice. Building an altar and sacrifice, thus far in Chumash, is as spontaneous response to an event: Cain and Abel, Noah, and Avraham at the beginning of the parsha. My projection is that these were spontaneous expressions of gratitude although I wasn’t there to ask anyone. Here however all that we have is God’s promise and the directive to scout the land. There is no bounty; it’s just a promise and you know the thing about promises. So is there a chidush in the development of prayer with this sacrifice? While the idea of a prayer of gratitude is a universal phemonenon, is this the first sign of a unique type of human expression?
Josh, thanks for the question. “You know the thing about promises” is exactly the crux of the matter. Later on in Lech Lecha, it says, “Avraham believed in Hashem; He considered it tzedaka”. The pronoun “he” can refer either to Hashem or to Avraham, but the gist is the same: the fact that Avraham actually believed that G-d would keep His promise was a “chiddush” in the development of mankind’s relationship with G-d.
It is one of the reasons Avraham is called “ohavi” (one that loves me) in the Haftarah.