Shabbat Parah is the third of the four special Shabbatot of the spring, and the Haftarah is taken from one of the chapters of comfort of Yechezkel.
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat Parah
For the connection between the Parsha of Parah, the Haftarah, Passover, and Purim (yes, Purim), see: Shabbat Parah – Paradox.
Filed under Shabbat Parah, Special Shabbatot
Shabbat Parah is the third of the four special Shabbatot between Rosh Chodesh Adar and Roch Chodesh Nissan, a time of preparation for the Passover season. At the time of the Temple, Passover included an actual sacrifice that was brought and then eaten at the Seder, and in order to participate, one had to be ritually pure. Hence the custom to read Parshat Parah, which describes some of the laws of ritual purity, several weeks before Passover.
In addition to the connection to Passover, the date of Shabbat Parah is related also to Purim. The Gemara says,
ואי זו היא שבת שלישית – כל שסמוכה לפורים מאחריה
“Which is the third week? The one right after Purim.” (Megilla 30a).
It could just as easily have said, “the week before Shabbat Hachodesh”, which is how it actually comes out on the calendar. Phrasing it as “after Purim” implies that Shabbat Parah is connected to the events that happened after Purim, and not only to the upcoming Passover.
The Haftarah of Parshat Parah begins by describing the shame of exile:
וַיָּבוֹא אֶל הַגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר בָּאוּ שָׁם וַיְחַלְּלוּ אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי בֶּאֱמֹר לָהֶם עַם ה’ אֵלֶּה וּמֵאַרְצוֹ יָצָאוּ:
They came to the nations to which they had come, and they desecrated the Name of My holiness, when it was said about them, “This is the people of Hashem, and they have left His land.” (Yechezkel 36:20)
The prophet Yechezkel says explicitly that when the Jewish People are in exile, it is a “Chillul Hashem”, a desecration of G-d’s Name. It shows that we failed in our mission to further G-d’s plan for the world, and is an embarrassment to the Jewish People and to G-d Himself.
Why do we need to read this “after Purim”? Purim was a great miracle; the Jewish People narrowly escaped destruction. But when it was all over, they were still in exile. The Haftarah of Parah tells us that this is not good enough. We must not for a moment think that our salvation on Purim shows that living “spread out among the nations” is an acceptable state for the Nation of G-d.
On the other hand, if even Mordechai and Esther, with all the power that they wielded, were unable to end the exile, then perhaps it was just too hard. We know from the Books of Ezra and Nechemiah that life in the Land of Israel at that time was barely tolerable. The state of the economy, security, even religion itself, were all sub-par, certainly relative to the strong and vital community in Shushan. Given the problems that they were facing, they must have wondered if G-d was actually interested in them coming back. Perhaps they did not deserve to be redeemed.
The Haftarah of Parah tells us that G-d will not tolerate the shame of exile indefinitely, regardless of the relative merit of the Jewish People:
…לֹא לְמַעַנְכֶם אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי אִם לְשֵׁם קָדְשִׁי אֲשֶׁר חִלַּלְתֶּם בַּגּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר בָּאתֶם שָׁם:
…וְלָקַחְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִן הַגּוֹיִם וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֶתְכֶם מִכָּל הָאֲרָצוֹת וְהֵבֵאתִי אֶתְכֶם אֶל אַדְמַתְכֶם:…וְזָרַקְתִּי עֲלֵיכֶם מַיִם טְהוֹרִים וּטְהַרְתֶּם…
… It is not for your sake that I do this, House of Israel, but for the sake of the Name of My holiness that you desecrated among the nations to which you had come.
… I will take you from the nations, and I will gather you from all the lands, and I will bring you to your land… I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be purified (Yechezkel 36: 22-25)
When G-d chooses to do so, He will take the Jewish People out of exile and back to the Land of Israel. Once they are there, He will take steps to “purify” them, to make sure that they deserve to live in the Holy Land.
This appears to be illogical, out of order. It would make much more sense if the Haftarah first said, “I will purify you”, and then, “I will bring you to your land.”
This paradox is one of the lessons of Shabbat Parah. The section in the Torah that we read on this Shabbat describes the ritual of “Parah Adumah”: an unblemished red cow is slaughtered and burned, and its ashes are mixed with water to create a solution that is called “purifying water”. This solution is the only way to remove the ritual impurity caused by direct contact with death. Paradoxically, every person involved in the preparation of this “purifying water” becomes impure himself[1]. This law is not meant to be logical or understandable to human beings. To make this point, this commandment is introduced as an “חוקה”, a decree. As Rashi puts it:
גזירה היא מלפני ואין לך רשות להרהר אחריה
It is a decree before Me and you have no permission to second-guess it. (Rashi, Bamidbar 19:2)
According to the following Midrash, this is not only true of decrees that G-d made in the Torah, it is also true of decrees that He has made in history:
זאת חקת התורה זש”ה מי יתן טהור מטמא לא אחד (איוב יד) כגון אברהם מתרח חזקיה מאחז יאשיה מאמון מרדכי משמעי ישראל מעכו”ם העה”ב מן העה”ז מי עשה כן מי גזר כן מי צוה כן לא אחד לא יחידו של עולם … תמן תנינן כל העוסקין בפרה מתחלה ועד סוף מטמאין בגדים היא גופה מטהרת בגדים אלא אמר הקב”ה חקה חקקתי גזרה גזרתי ואין אתה רשאי לעבור על גזרתי.
As it says, “Who makes pure from the impure, not the one” (Job 14). E.g.: Avraham from Terach, Hizkiyahu from Ahaz, Yoshiahu from Amon, Mordechai from Shimi, Israel from pagan nations, the World To Come from the World As it Is. Who makes this happen, who decreed this, who commanded this? The One and Only … as we learned, “everyone involved in the red cow from beginning to end becomes impure, and it itself purifies.” G-d said, I wrote an edict, I decreed a decree, and you may not transgress My decree. (Bamidbar Rabba Chukat 19)
It would make a lot more sense to us humans if pure would come from pure. Avraham ought to have come directly from the righteous Noach, and not from ten generations of pagans. Israel ought to have come into being in purity and isolation in the Holy Land, not in the immoral filth of Egypt. The World To Come should have been created in the first place, not as an outcome of the World As Is.
But that is not how G-d chose to run the world. Just as the laws of Parah Adumah do not make sense to us, yet we accept is as a decree from Above, so, too, we must accept G-d’s choices in history as a decree from Above.
We might have expected the steps toward redemption to proceed in a logical order, that the Jewish People would first be purified and only then return to our land. We might have expected that the redemption would be led by the purest and holiest of the Jewish People. Yet the Haftarah of Shabbat Parah tells us otherwise. If G-d chooses, the converse can be true: first we return to our land, and only then we are purified. This might not make sense to us, it might not be how we would have done it, but it is a decree from Above, and we do not have the right to second-guess it.
On the first Shabbat between Purim and Passover, we prepare for national redemption, an end to the shame of Exile, no matter what form it takes.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Connections, Shabbat Parah, Special Shabbatot
Shabbat Zachor is the Shabbat immediately before Purim. We read a special Maftir that talks about the commandment to remember to wipe out Amalek, and then we read a special Haftarah which talks about how King Shaul was charged with fulfilling this commandment.
The text, Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Shabbat Zachor is not short, but it is full of drama and emotion.
While the connection between Parshat Zachor and the Haftarah is obvious – Amalek – how it connects to Purim is less so. See: The Reboot for how Mordechai, Esther, and Haman are all found in the Haftarah and why.
Filed under Shabbat Zachor, Special Shabbatot
On the Shabbat immediately before Purim, we read a special Maftir, which talks about the commandment to remember to wipe out Amalek. We then read a special Haftarah, the story of how King Shaul was charged with fulfilling this commandment. While we are told how he destroyed the strongholds of Amalek in Israel, the Haftarah’s mainly talks about how he lost his chance to establish a dynasty, because he allowed the people to take spoils from the war with Amalek.
We could fulfill the commandment of remembering to wipe out Amalek any Shabbat of the year, but it was established to do so on the week before Purim, due to the many connections it has to the Megilla.
Let’s start with the most familiar one:
אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה גִּדַּל הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ אֶת הָמָן בֶּן הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי
After these events, the king Achashverosh promoted Haman ben Hemdata the Agagi. (Esther 3:1)
The name of the king of Amalek that Shaul conquered in the Haftarah was Agag:
וַיִּתְפֹּשׂ אֶת אֲגַג מֶלֶךְ עֲמָלֵק חָי
He captured Agag, King of Amalek, alive (Shmuel I 15:8)
By calling Haman, “the Agagi”, the Megilla implies that he is a descendant of Amalek. He may have been literally from that nation, or only a follower of the Amaleki way of life. Either way, in Jewish lore, Haman is Amalek.
But Haman is not the only one of the protagonists of the Megilla to be found in the Haftarah:
ה) אִישׁ יְהוּדִי הָיָה בְּשׁוּשַׁן הַבִּירָה וּשְׁמוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי בֶּן יָאִיר בֶּן שִׁמְעִי בֶּן קִישׁ אִישׁ יְמִינִי:
A Jewish man lived in Shushan City, whose name was Mordechai ben Yair ben Shimi ben Kish, a Man of Binyamin. (Esther 2:5)
The hero of our Haftarah, King Shaul, is introduced as:
וַיְהִי אִישׁ מִבִּנְיָמִין וּשְׁמוֹ קִישׁ בֶּן אֲבִיאֵל בֶּן צְרוֹר בֶּן בְּכוֹרַת בֶּן אֲפִיחַ בֶּן אִישׁ יְמִינִי גִּבּוֹר חָיִל:
לוֹ הָיָה בֵן וּשְׁמוֹ שָׁאוּל…
There was a man from Binyamin, whose name was Kish ben Aviel ben Tzror ben Bchorat ben Afiach, son of a Man of Binyamin, a great warrior. He had a son named Shaul… (Shmuel I 9)
The Megilla implies that Mordechai is related to Shaul. He is certainly from the same tribe, and even from the same family, and the text goes out of its way to make that point.
Now for Esther, the heroine of the Megilla. She enters the story because the king’s advisors suggest that because Vashti refused to come when called, she should be replaced:
וּמַלְכוּתָהּ יִתֵּן הַמֶּלֶךְ לִרְעוּתָהּ הַטּוֹבָה מִמֶּנָּה
King will give her kingdom to her fellow woman who is better than her. (Esther 1:19)
In the Haftarah, the prophet Shmuel tells King Shaul that he will lose his kingdom, and be replaced:
קָרַע ה’ אֶת מַמְלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ הַיּוֹם וּנְתָנָהּ לְרֵעֲךָ הַטּוֹב מִמֶּךָּ:
“Hashem tore the kingdom of Israel from you today,
and has given it to your fellow man who is better than you. (Shmuel I 15:28)
Thus, the Megilla is a “reboot” of the story of the Haftarah, with Haman cast as Agag, and the role of Shaul divided between Mordechai and Esther.
In the Haftarah, Shaul loses his power due to his misreading of the nature of the conflict with Amalek, and due to his failure to exert his authority as king. In the Megilla, Mordechai and Esther are faced with similar challenges, and overcome them, ending up with greater positions of power.
What were Shaul’s mistakes, and how do Mordechai and Esther make up for them in the “reboot”?
First, Shaul misunderstood the nature of the battle. He treated it as any other war, against any other enemy. However, the war with Amalek is not our war, it is G-d’s war. Amalek represent an ideology and a culture that is incompatible with what G-d is trying to achieve with mankind. The Torah wants us to understand this, remember it, and act on it. That is why there is a specific commandment to hear the following verses read from the Torah, at least once a year, as the Maftir of Zachor:
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם:
אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ וְאַתָּה עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱלֹהִים:
וְהָיָה בְּהָנִיחַ ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ מִכָּל אֹיְבֶיךָ מִסָּבִיב בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ
תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם לֹא תִּשְׁכָּח:
17) Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, when you left Egypt.
18) That he happened upon you on the road; he attacked those lagging at your rear,
when you were tired and exhausted; and did not fear G-d.
19) And it will be, when Hashem gives you respite from all your enemies all around,
in the land that Hashem your G-d is giving you as an inheritance, wipe out the memory of Amalek, from under the heavens; do not forget! (Devarim 25)
When the Torah describes what Amalek did, it says two things:
The first refers to Amalek’s ideology, the second, to the actions that result from that ideology. Amalek believes that our world is random; things happen, there is no rhyme nor reason, all is meaningless coincidence. Life is unpredictable and cruel; the distinction between good and evil is artificial and unnecessary. The only thing that has meaning is power; raiding the weak and taking what you can is as valid way as any to succeed in life.
Hitler, who in Jewish lore is also identified with Amalek, said it very clearly:
Providence has ordained that I should be the greatest liberator of humanity. I am freeing man from the restraints of an intelligence that has taken charge, from the dirty and degrading self-mortifications of a false vision known as conscience and morality, and from the demands of a freedom and personal independence which only a very few can bear. … Conscience is a Jewish invention; it is a blemish, like circumcision (Rauschning, Hitler Speaks, p. 222).
This is why G-d is in a state of war with Amalek.
When King Shaul allowed his people to take from the spoils of Amalek, he reduced the battle to a normal war against a normal enemy, in which, as per the laws and customs of the time, the spoils belonged to the conqueror. But this war was G-d’s war, not Shaul’s. The spoils were not theirs to take.
Unlike Shaul, Mordechai and Esther understood exactly who their enemy was. When Mordechai tells Esther about Haman’s plan to kill all the Jews, he tells her:
וַיַּגֶּד לוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר קָרָהוּ וְאֵת פָּרָשַׁת הַכֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר אָמַר הָמָןלִשְׁקוֹל עַל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיְּהוּדִים לְאַבְּדָם:
Mordechai told [Esther’s messenger] about all that had happened to him,
and about the matter of the money, that Haman had said to weigh out to the king’s treasury to destroy the Jews. (Esther 4:7)
The Midrash explicitly connects this term to the one in Parshat Zachor:
אמר להתך לך אמור לה בן בנו של קרהו בא עליכם הה”ד (דברים כ”ה) אשר קרך בדרך
He told [Esther’s messenger], “Go tell her, the grandson of “happening” has come at us, as it says, “that happened upon you on the road”. (Midrash Esther Rabbah 8)
Mordechai realized that he was not dealing with just an ordinary enemy, he was dealing with Amalek. Haman was “the grandson” of the philosophy that power is the only value, that the weak exist to be exploited, and that a conscience is a blemish upon humanity. To save the Jewish People from Amalek, all resources must be mustered, and G-d’s war must be fought.
Esther needed more convincing. Like her ancestor Shaul, her innate humility had the potential to paralyze her. She did not believe that she had the power to make a difference, and she was highly concerned about making a bad impression on the people around her:
(יא) כָּל עַבְדֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְעַם מְדִינוֹת הַמֶּלֶךְ יוֹדְעִים אֲשֶׁר כָּל אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה אֲשֶׁר יָבוֹא אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל הֶחָצֵר הַפְּנִימִית אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִקָּרֵא אַחַת דָּתוֹ לְהָמִית לְבַד מֵאֲשֶׁר יוֹשִׁיט לוֹ הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת שַׁרְבִיט הַזָּהָב וְחָיָה וַאֲנִי לֹא נִקְרֵאתִי לָבוֹא אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ זֶה שְׁלוֹשִׁים יוֹם:
All the king’s servants and all the members of all the king’s states know that any man or woman that comes to the king to the inner courtyard without having been summoned, the law is that they be put to death; unless the king stretches his scepter toward him. And I have not been called to come to the king for the past thirty days. (Esther 4:11)
She did not feel that she had any royal authority to exercise, no power at all that could be mustered. It was perhaps similar thinking on the part of Shaul that caused him to look the other way when the people took from the spoils of Amalek. Indeed, this is what the prophet Shmuel accuses him of:
וַיֹּאמֶר שְׁמוּאֵל הֲלוֹא אִם קָטֹן אַתָּה בְּעֵינֶיךָ רֹאשׁ שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָתָּה
“Even if you are small in your own eyes, you are the head of the tribes of Israel!” (Shmuel I 15: 17)
Shaul let his humility interfere with his ability to act, and Esther was about to make the same mistake. At this point Mordechai takes on the additional role of the prophet Shmuel:
כִּי אִם הַחֲרֵשׁ תַּחֲרִישִׁי בָּעֵת הַזֹּאת רֶוַח וְהַצָּלָה יַעֲמוֹד לַיְּהוּדִים מִמָּקוֹם אַחֵר וְאַתְּ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ תֹּאבֵדוּ וּמִי יוֹדֵעַ אִם לְעֵת כָּזֹאת הִגַּעַתְּ לַמַּלְכוּת:
If you will be silent right now, relief and salvation will come to the Jewish People from another place. But you and your father’s house will be lost. And who knows, if it were not for this moment that you became queen?” (Esther 4:14)
Mordechai understands that Esther’s nature might cause her to continue to be silent. She does not believe in her power, does not believe in herself as a queen. So Mordechai warns her of the consequences; not to the Jewish People, who will be saved some other way anyway, but to Esther herself and to “her father’s house”.
But if the Jewish People would be saved, why would Mordechai suggest that Esther and her father’s house would be lost? Would she not be included in the salvation? Why would an orphan be concerned about what will happen to “her father’s house”?
“Her father’s house” refers to Mordechai and Esther’s ultimate ancestor, Kish Ish Yemini. The loss refers to the loss of the royal dynasty, which was Shaul’s punishment for his inaction and lack of leadership. Mordechai tells Esther that she is getting a second chance. If she acts now, she can defeat Amalek. If she fails to act, the opportunity to make up for Shaul’s failure will also be lost.
Esther takes up the challenge. She has Mordechai gather the people she leads, and then:
וַיְהִי בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי וַתִּלְבַּשׁ אֶסְתֵּר מַלְכוּת
On the third day, Esther dressed herself in royalty (Esther 5:1)
Royalty, the use of power, was not an innate part of her character. But when it was necessary, she put it on as if a costume, and wielded this power to effect the salvation of her people. The kingdom of Persia was given to Esther, “the fellow one who is better than her”. In this reboot of the story, Esther does better than Shaul, and redeems the royal house of Esther and Mordechai’s ancestor, Shaul ben Kish Ish Yemini.
PDF for printing, 4 pages A4
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Connections, Shabbat Zachor, Special Shabbatot
The Haftarah of VaYikra, like many other Haftarot, are taken from the Chapters of Comfort in Yeshayahu .
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of VaYikra
While it mentions sacrifices, which is the topic of the Parsha, what it is really about is the relationship between G-d and the Jewish People.
In particular, it shows us what the relationship is not.
Filed under Sefer Vayikra, VaYikra
This Shabbat is Shabbat Shekalim, the first of four special Shabbatot that precede the Passover season. For the Maftir at the end of the Torah reading, we read verses that describe the commandment to give a half-shekel for the census. The money would be used for the communal sacrifices for the entire year. Besides the Maftir, we also read a special Haftarah for Shabbat Shekalim. It tells us how King Yehoash raised money in order to repair the Temple. One of the things that the Haftarah tells us is how the money was handled:
וְלֹא יְחַשְּׁבוּ אֶת הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר יִתְּנוּ אֶת הַכֶּסֶף עַל יָדָם לָתֵת לְעֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה כִּי בֶאֱמֻנָה הֵם עֹשִׂים
And they did not audit the men who were given charge of the silver to give to the craftsmen, for they were working on the basis of trust. (Melachim II 12:16)
The Midrash uses this verse to discuss the level of responsibility and transparency that is required from people who handle public funds:
עליו נאמר (מ”ב =מלכים ב’= יב) ולא יחשבו את האנשים אשר יתנו את הכסף, ולא יחשבו זה דורו של יואש שהיו עושין באמונה, שנו רבותינו מי שהיה נכנס לתרום את הלשכה לא היה נכנס לא בפרגוד חפות ולא באנפליא שאם יעשיר יאמרו מתרומת הלשכה העשיר, שאדם צריך לצאת ידי הבריות כדרך שהוא צריך לצאת ידי המקום
It says (in the Haftarah), “They did not audit the men to who were given charge of the silver” – this was the generation of Yehoash, who were trustworthy. The rabbis said: Whoever would enter the treasury would not do so wearing rolled up sleeves or a cloak, so that if he were to become wealthy, people would not be able to say, “Ah, he made his money by taking from the treasury.” A person needs to look good for people just as much as he needs to look good for G-d.
(Midrash Shemot Rabba Pekudei 51)
The Midrash says that the men who were working “on the basis of trust” were trustworthy not only because they were known to have good character. They were trustworthy because of the precautions they took to be beyond reproach: that is, they would not enter the treasury with folds or pockets.
The Midrash continues by comparing their behavior to that of Moshe Rabbeinu, who had been the treasurer for the Mishkan, as is described in the Parshiyot of VaYakhel and Pekudei, which are read for Parshat Shekalim on leap years:
משה היה גזבר לעצמו על מלאכת המשכן…נכנס משה אצל בצלאל ראה שהותיר מן המשכן אמר לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא רבון העולם עשינו את מלאכת המשכן והותרנו מה נעשה בנותר, אמר לו לך ועשה בהם משכן לעדות, הלך משה ועשה בהן כיון שבא ליתן חשבון אמר להם כך וכך יצא למשכן וביתר עשיתי משכן לעדות, הוי אלה פקודי המשכן משכן העדות
Moshe Rabbeinu was himself the treasurer of the building of the Mishkan. […] He entered Betzalel’s workspace and saw that the donations were in excess of what was needed to make the Mishkan. He turned to G-d and said, “Master of the Universe! We made all the work for the Mishkan and there is a remainder. What should we do with the remainder?” He said, “Go make me a Mishkan HaEdut (a place of assembly)”. Moshe went and had that made. When the time came to give the accounting, he said to them, such and such was used for the Mishkan, and with the remainder I made the Mishkan HaEdut, as it says, “This is the accounting of the Mishkan, Mishkan HaEdut.”
(Midrash Shemot Rabba Pekudei 51)
The Torah makes a point to tell us that all the donations were carefully accounted for, and all the funds that had been donated by the community were used for the good of the community. The Midrash implies that even Moshe Rabbeinu himself might be suspected of dipping into the cash, and that no one, not even Moshe Rabbeinu, can be put in charge of public funds without having to make a careful accounting. No one person can be trusted with that much money.
The Haftarah of Shekalim, which we read right before Rosh Chodesh Adar, also has parallels in Megillat Esther. When Haman gets Achashverosh drunk and convinces him to kill all the Jews, he says the following:
אִם עַל הַמֶּלֶךְ טוֹב יִכָּתֵב לְאַבְּדָם וַעֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים כִּכַּר כֶּסֶף אֶשְׁקוֹל עַל יְדֵי עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה לְהָבִיא אֶל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ: וַיָּסַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת טַבַּעְתּוֹ מֵעַל יָדו ֹוַיִּתְּנָהּ לְהָמָן בֶּן הַמְּדָתָא הָאֲגָגִי צֹרֵר הַיְּהוּדִים: וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ לְהָמָן הַכֶּסֶף נָתוּן לָךְ וְהָעָם לַעֲשׂוֹת בּוֹ כַּטּוֹב בְּעֵינֶיךָ:
If it pleases the king, let it be written to destroy them,and ten thousand measures of silver,I will weigh out into the hands of the contractors to bring to the king’s treasury. The king took his ring from his hand,and gave it to Haman ben Hemdata Agagi, enemy of the Jews. The king said to Haman: “The money is given to you, and the people, to do with it however you please.” (Esther 3)
The phrase, “into the hands of the contractors,” does not appear anywhere else in Tanach – except in the Haftarah of Shekalim:
וְנָתְנוּ אֶת הַכֶּסֶף הַמְתֻכָּן עַל יְדֵי עֹשֵׂי הַמְּלָאכָה הַמֻּפְקָדִים בֵּית ה’
They gave the coined silver into the hands of the contractors who were assigned to Beit-Hashem. (Melachim II 12:12)
These “contractors” were the people that the Haftarah describes as being very trustworthy, the ones who were beyond reproach in their handling of the funds. If Haman suggests channeling the money through them, then part of Haman’s argument to Achashverosh was that the ten thousand measures of silver would not delivered by him personally, but rather that the money would be supervised by an impeccably trustworthy source. When Achashverosh answers him, “the money is given to you,” what he’s saying is that he has absolute trust in Haman. He doesn’t need accountants, Haman himself can take care of everything. The money, the people’s lives, the entire kingdom – Achashverosh hands everything over to Haman with no auditing whatsoever.
As we have seen from the Parsha and the Haftarah, the Torah does not approve of placing that amount of trust in any human being: Moshe Rabbeinu himself had to account for the way he used money dedicated for the Mishkan; the “contractors” for the renovation of the Beit HaMikdash could not go into the treasury wearing loose cloaks. Yet Achashverosh places no limits and no controls on Haman’s power. This is so dangerous and so reckless, that when Mordechai tells Esther about the meeting between Achashverosh and Haman, he says:
וַיַּגֶּד לוֹ מָרְדֳּכַי אֵת כָּל אֲשֶׁר קָרָהוּוְאֵת פָּרָשַׁת הַכֶּסֶף אֲשֶׁר אָמַר הָמָן לִשְׁקוֹל עַל גִּנְזֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ בַּיְּהוּדִים לְאַבְּדָם:
Mordechai told [Esther’s proxy] about all that had happened to him,and about the matter of the money, that Haman had said to weigh out to the king’s treasury to destroy the Jews. (Esther 3:7)
The way Achashverosh handled “the matter of money” showed the unreserved trust that he had in Haman, and the complete and utter power that he placed in this one man.
The Midrash connects that “matter of money” with Parshat Shekalim:
אמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש גלוי וידוע לפני הקב”ה שעתיד המן הרשע לשקול שקלים על ישראל לפיכך הקדים שקליהם לשקליו:
Reish Lakish said: Hashem knew that the evil Haman would weigh shekalim against Israel, therefore, He pre-empted his shekels with their shekels. (Megilla 13:2)
This Midrash goes on to explain that the half-shekels given by the entire Jewish People at Sinai, at six hundred thousand people times a half-shekel each, added up to ten thousand measures of silver, the same amount that was mentioned in the Megilla. Haman promised Achashverosh the amount of silver that would have been given by the entire Jewish People for the commandment of “Shekalim.”
Reish Lakish did not see this as a coincidence, and neither did Mordechai. By handing over ten thousand measures of silver, Haman attempted to “buy” each and every member of the Jewish People from Achashverosh. Not only did Achashverosh give him unlimited power, he gave them unlimited power over the entire Jewish People, with no constraints whatsoever.
This is why Mordechai tore his clothes in despair, and why Esther risked her life to go to the king.
However, as Reish Lakish pointed out, the commandment of Shekalim pre-empted Haman’s attempt to “buy” us from Achashverosh. We were already “paid for” – with the half-shekel that we gave to our King, the King of Kings.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Connections, Shabbat Shekalim, Special Shabbatot
The Haftarah of VaYakhel is from Melachim, a description of the making of the Temple, which parallels nicely the Parsha of VaYakhel, which describes the making of the Mishkan (Tabernacle).
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of VaYayakhel
The Haftarah is very short (to make up for last week, Ki Tisa, which was very long), and on the years that Chanukah starts on Friday night and has two Shabbats, it is also read on the second Shabbat Chanukah. But for a completely different reason than we read it for VaYakhel.
The reason we read it for VaYakhel, since you asked, is here: Labor of Love
Filed under Sefer Shemot, VaYakhel
The Parsha of VaYakhel could have been much, much shorter. It could have just said,
“And Moshe told the Jewish People all the things that G-d had commanded them regarding building the Mishkan (tabernacle). The Jewish People did all the things that G-d commanded.”
End of Parsha.
If it wanted to be a little more descriptive, it might have included chapter 25, the first chapter of Parshat VaYakhel. In it, Moshe first warns them about keeping Shabbat, then he tells them about all the things that need to be made, and asks for donations. We hear about how all the people donated everything that was necessary, after which it could have ended with, “And the Jewish People made all the things that G-d commanded.”
End of Parsha.
Instead, we have chapters 26, 27, and 28, which are in the format of:
“He made fifty golden hooks…”
“He made goatskin curtains …”
“He made wooden boards…”
“He made a woven hanging for the entrance…”
and so on, thirty-odd times[1].
The Haftarah has a similar format. The chapter of Melachim that is read for the Haftarah describes the making of the objects needed in the Temple. Here too, the list is very detailed, including objects like pots, shovels, nets, and basins. Here too, this chapter (of which the Sefardim read one subset of verses and Ashkenazim another) repeats the word “he made”, ויעש, many times[2]. The Haftarah that we read is even known by its first few words, “ויעש חירם”, “Hiram made”, referring to the chief craftsman of the project.
Hence we see that both in the Parsha and the Haftarah, there is an emphasis on the detailed craftwork that was required for the various objects needed in the Temple, with a specific emphasis on the craftsman.
Why is this important?
Pulpit rabbis and Bar Mitzvah boys who find themselves having to give a speech about this Parsha tend to find refuge in its first few verses. Moshe gathers the people, and the first thing he does, as we mentioned earlier, is tell them that they must keep Shabbat.
(א) וַיַּקְהֵל מֹשֶׁה אֶת כָּל עֲדַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר צִוָּה ה’ לַעֲשֹׂת אֹתָם:
(ב) שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תֵּעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יִהְיֶה לָכֶם קֹדֶשׁ שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן לַה’ כָּל הָעֹשֶׂה בוֹ מְלָאכָה יוּמָת:1) Moshe gathered the entire congregation of Bnei Israel; he said to them, these are the things that Hashem has commanded you to do:
2) Six days you will do melacha[3], and the seventh day will be holy, Shabbat-Shabbaton to Hashem; whoever does melacha will be put to death. (Shemot 35)
Keeping Shabbat means that you do melacha for six days, and during the seventh day, you do not do any melacha. What is melacha? It’s something that one does, a form of labor or work. But what kind, exactly?
A bit later in the same chapter, when the chief craftsman of the Mishkan, Betzalel, is introduced, we hear more about what it entails:
ל) וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל רְאוּ קָרָא ה’ בְּשֵׁם בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן אוּרִי בֶן חוּר לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה:
לא) וַיְמַלֵּא אֹתוֹ רוּחַ אֱ-לֹהִים בְּחָכְמָה בִּתְבוּנָה וּבְדַעַת וּבְכָל מְלָאכָה:30) Moshe said to Bnei Israel: Look, Hashem has called the name of Betzalel ben Uri ben Chur of the tribe of Yehudah.
31) He has filled him with the Spirit of G-d: with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge, and with all melacha.
Similarly, when chief craftsman of the Temple, Hiram, is introduced (a few verses before he appears in our Haftarah[4]), it says:
יג) וַיִּשְׁלַח הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה וַיִּקַּח אֶת חִירָם מִצֹּר:
יד)….וַיִּמָּלֵא אֶת הַחָכְמָה וְאֶת הַתְּבוּנָה וְאֶת הַדַּעַת לַעֲשׂוֹת כָּל מְלָאכָה בַּנְּחֹשֶׁת וַיָּבוֹא אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה וַיַּעַשׂ אֶת כָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ:13) King Shlomo sent for and got Hiram of Tzor.
14) … He was filled with the wisdom, the understanding, and the knowledge to do all forms of melacha in bronze. He came to King Shlomo and he made all of his melacha.
From the juxtaposition of melacha with “wisdom, understanding, and knowledge”, we can infer that melacha refers to skilled labor, or craftsmanship. In fact, the Laws of Shabbat define melacha as the set of activities that were needed to build the Mishkan and its contents, activities that require a certain amount of skill or competence. Moreover, actions that are not done in a skillful manner do not count as melacha. Examples of this are: doing something unintentionally, having two people do a task meant for one individual, or doing something for a particular purpose and accomplishing something else as a result. In other words: if it’s done without “wisdom, understanding, and knowledge”, it is not truly melacha.
Now one might think that the fact that G-d does not want us to do melacha on the day that He made holy, on Shabbat, it means that G-d does not think very highly of this type of work, or even work in general. Perhaps the ideal for human beings is to be spiritual beings who spend their time in contemplation, rather than in activity.
But that is not the message that we get from Parshat VaYakhel. Shabbat is meant to remind us of Creation. When G-d created the world, He did not rest for seven days. Rather, He acted for six days and rested on the seventh. Human beings were created “be’tzelem Elokim”, in the image of G-d. We are His partners in Creation; He has given us power over nature, the ability to work with wood and metal to create things that nature cannot bring forth on its own. Just as He created for six days, we, too, are expected to act, to be “filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge”, and to create things for six days. We are then commanded to also emulate Him by holding back, by refraining from melacha, from craftwork, on the seventh day, on Shabbat. Not because melacha is not important, but because it is an expression of our godliness, of our “Tzelem Elokim”, as is Shabbat itself.
Having given us the ability to create, a portion of Himself, as it were, G-d is delighted in seeing us do so. So much so that He lists every one of the actions of craftsmanship involved in implementing the joint G-d / human project, the Mishkan.
The Ramban, in attempting to answer the question posed above, regarding the purpose of Parshat VaYakhel’s detailed repetition of the work of the Mishkan, says the following:
ועל הכלל כל זה דרך חבה ודרך מעלה, לומר כי חפץ השם במלאכה ומזכיר אותה בתורתו פעמים רבות
In general, all of this shows affection and regard, that is, that Hashem desires this melacha and mentions it in His Torah several times (Ramban, Shemot 36:8)
The reason that the Torah repeats each and every act of melacha, of creation, thirty-odd times, is that Hashem gets nachas from seeing His children act in “tzelem Elokim”, in wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.
It is precious to Him, and it should be precious to us, also.
Dedicated to the memory of Rose Alster, z”l, my grandmother (in-law), Elta Bubby to thirty-odd great-grandchildren, whose yahrtzeit was this past week, 19th Adar. She got nachas from hearing every detail of each and every one of their actions, as they were each precious to her. She is still precious to us all.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
[1] According to the search results of Bar-Ilan’s Morashti CD, 37 times.
[2] Seven times in the entire chapter, 2 of them in the Haftarah that we read.
[3] The word melacha was deliberately left un-translated, as it does not have a direct parallel in English. The rest of this essay attempts to pin down its precise meaning.
[4] This is the section of the chapter read by Sefardi shuls for VaYakhel. They read our section next week, for Pekudei, while we read the section after that.
Filed under Connections, Sefer Shemot, VaYakhel
The Haftarah of Ki Tisa is on the long side, but one of the best stories in all of Tanach, Eliyahu on Har HaCarmel:
Linear annotated translation of the Haftarah of Ki Tisa
Why is this the Haftarah of Ki Tisa? Something to do with the sin of the Golden Calf, but not the way one might have thought. See Who’s to blame?
Speaking of which: the 1972 Israeli song “Izevel”, about Jezebel, the queen.
Har HaCarmel, what it might have looked like after several years of drought
Achav was worried about his horses dying in the drought. Here is Tel Megiddo, where some of them were stabled
Filed under Ki Tisa, Sefer Shemot
The Haftarah of Ki Tisa is the story of Eliyahu at Har HaCarmel, where he proves to the Jewish People that Hashem is G-d and the idol Ba’al is imaginary. At first glance, this Haftarah appears to be the natural choice for the Parsha of Ki Tisa, which recounts the Sin of the Golden Calf: Moshe had to deal with idolatry, and Eliyahu had to deal with idolatry. However, the situations are not parallel, they are inverse. The Parsha starts with the Jewish People serving G-d whole-heartedly and follows with them devolving into worshipping a golden statue. Conversely, the Haftarah starts with the Jewish People serving a pagan god, and follows with them saying “Hashem is G-d,” and serving G-d whole-heartedly.
If one wanted to match the Sin of the Golden Calf with a chapter of Prophets on the topic of idolatry, there is a plethora of chapters to choose from[1]; all of the prophets dealt with idolatry in one way or another. So why was this chapter chosen?
What the Parsha and the Haftarah have in common is not the idolatry, and not Moshe’s or Eliyahu’s ways of dealing with it, but rather how each of them defended their people before G-d. According to the Midrash (Talmud Bavli Berachot 32-33), both Moshe and Eliyahu put the blame for what happened on G-d Himself.
Eliyahu said,
לז) עֲנֵנִי ה’ עֲנֵנִי וְיֵדְעוּ הָעָם הַזֶּה כִּי אַתָּה ה’ הָאֱ-לֹהִים וְאַתָּה הֲסִבֹּתָ אֶת לִבָּם אֲחֹרַנִּית:
“Answer me, Hashem, answer me! So that these people shall know that You, Hashem, are G-d, for You have turned their hearts backwards.” (Melachim I 18:37)
Eliyahu accuses G-d of having turned the hearts of the Jewish People away from Him. They cannot bear the entire blame for their actions if G-d set up a situation that they were not able to handle. The Jewish People had never had an aristocracy; Achav is only the second generation in his dynasty, and the concept of a royal family was relatively new. When Jezebel, the royal princess of the House of Tzidon, became the queen, she saw it as her mission to show the Jews how things ought to be done; to introduce the rituals of the wealthiest, most cosmopolitan, most admired culture in the region into their society, by force if necessary. How could they be expected to match wills with someone like her, to withstand that level of pressure?
We all know that G-d is the ultimate matchmaker. If He had caused this match to fail, or caused Achav to marry someone more suitable, none of this would have happened. Eliyahu holds G-d responsible.
Similarly, according to the same Midrash, when Moshe said,
יא) … וַיֹּאמֶר לָמָה ה’ יֶחֱרֶה אַפְּךָ בְּעַמֶּךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם בְּכֹחַ גָּדוֹל וּבְיָד חֲזָקָה:
“Why, Hashem, should You be angry at Your people, whom You have taken out of the land of Egypt, with great might and a strong hand?” (Shemot 32:11)
… what he really meant was, “You have no right to be angry after leaving them for generations in the most pagan culture in the world!”
Here is a Midrash that puts it all into a metaphor that only Chazal could permit themselves to use:
א”ר הונא בשם ר’ יוחנן משל לחכם שפתח לבנו חנות של בשמים בשוק של זונות. המבוי עשה שלו והאומנות עשתה שלה והנער כבחור עשה שלו יצא לתרבות רעה. בא אביו ותפסו עם הזונות התחיל האב צועק ואומר הורגך אני. היה שם אוהבו אמר לו אתה איבדת את הנער ואתה צועק כנגדו. הנחת כל האומניות ולא למדתו אלא בשם והנחת כל המובאות ולא פתחת לו חנות אלא בשוק של זונות.כך אמר משה רבון העולם הנחת כל העולם ולא שעבדת בניך אלא במצרים שהיו עובדין טלאים ולמדו מהם בניך. ואף הם עשו העגל לפיכך אמר אשר הוצאת מארץ מצרים דע מהיכן הוצאת אותם.
R’ Huna said from R’ Yohanan: It’s analogous to a scholar who opened for his son a perfume shop in a red-light district full of prostitutes. The location did what it does, the profession did what it does, and the guy did what a guy does.
His father came and caught him with the prostitutes, and started screaming, “I’m going to kill you!” The father’s friend was there, and said to him, “You destroyed the boy, and now you’re screaming at him? Of all possible professions you taught him perfumery; of all possible locations, you opened him a shop in a red-light district?!”
So, too, Moshe said, “Master of the Universe! Of all the nations in the world in which to enslave Your children, You picked Egypt, who worship calves? Your children learned from them and also made a calf!” This is why Moshe said, “whom You have taken out of Egypt”. You should realize where You took them out of! (Midrash Shemot Rabba 43)
Like Eliyahu, Moshe blames G-d for the failure of the Jewish People. It is G-d who is responsible for their pagan mindset. If He didn’t want them to have that influence, He should not have put them in that situation in the first place[2].
This attitude is more than a little bit chutzpadik. If it weren’t Chazal that said it, we certainly would not have dared to interpret Moshe’s or Eliyahu’s words in this manner. But was it wrong of them to blame G-d? Were they punished for it? We know that neither prophet was perfect; Moshe was punished for hitting the rock in his anger rather than speaking to it, and Eliyahu, as we will read in the Haftarah of Pinchas, was censured for some of the things he said. Here, however, there is no hint of censure; not in the text and not in the Midrash. On the contrary, G-d listens to both Moshe and Eliyahu, implying is that the argument is valid and He accepts His share of the blame.
Or maybe He is just really happy that the Jewish People have leaders who are willing to go to such lengths to defend them.
Copyright © Kira Sirote
In memory of my father, Peter Rozenberg, z”l
לעילוי נשמת אבי מורי פנחס בן נתן נטע ז”ל
Filed under Ki Tisa, Sefer Shemot
