The Third Haftorah of Admonition
Our haftorah for this week (Isaiah 1:1-27) is the last of the three Haftorahs of Admonition that we read on the three Sabbaths preceding Tisha B’av. As in all of these special Haftorahs, the prophet Isaiah reproves Israel for her waywardness. Unlike the previous two Haftorahs, this Haftorah is chanted in a particular way. It begins with the nusach, the trope, of the regular Shabbat haftorah. In the second verse, we switch to the plaintive melody of Lamentations, the nusach of the scroll we read on the 9th of Av. Then, in verse 17, both the tone of the haftorah and the melody change. Instead of an angry rejection of Israel by God, God urges Israel to repent, promising that if they do so, their sins will be wiped away. There is hope. They can still repair their relationship with God. In verse 20, we return to the sad melody of Lamentations as the tone of the Haftorah shifts again to reproval and criticism. Finally, in verse 24, we end where we began with the melody of the weekly Shabbat haftorah. Israel will be punished, but the upright will be saved. Israel will again know justice and righteousness. Jerusalem will be known as “ir tsedek,kirya neemanah” – “City of Righteousness, Faithful City”.
As a side note, verse 26, Va-ashiva Shif-tah-yikh Ke-va-rishonah ve-yoatsayich ke-vatchila was used by the rabbis to formulate the eleventh blessing of the weekday Amidah. Instead of the promise made in the Haftorah to Israel by God, “I will restore your judges as in days of old, and your counsellors as in former times”—hearkening back to a time when Israel was more faithful to God –the weekday Amidah reads as a request from Israel to God — “Restore our judges as at first, and our counsellors as in the beginning.” The restoration of a sovereign Israel with a reconstituted justice system is what is envisioned in the Amidah.
Haftorah Tetzaveh
Ezekial was a priest and a prophet who served in the First Temple in Jerusalem. He was exiled in 597 BCE by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon along with King Jehoiachim and other elites of the city. Early in his book (Ezekiel 11:22-24), Ezekiel has a vision where the Presence of God departs from Jerusalem because of the iniquity of her inhabitants. Just before our Haftorah begins, Ezekiel has a vision of the Presence of God returning to the Temple. (Ezekiel 43:4-5) Ezekiel is told, “This is the place of My throne…where I will dwell in the midst of the people Israel forever.” (Ezekiel 43:7)
Our Haftorah begins by God telling Ezekiel to describe the plans and design of the new Temple to the people of Israel which he is being shown in a vision. The very act of informing the people of Israel that there is a plan will be enough to motivate the people to repent of all of their sins and be in a state to listen. We then get a description of the new altar.
The measurements of the altar are given in “amot” (singular: amah), the basic construction measurement in Biblical Israel. One “amah” is about 18 inches. Converting this to feet, the base of the altar is to be a square, 27 feet by 27 feet. It will be a tiered structure, like an ancient ziggurat, reaching 15 feet in height. There will be a ramp leading up to the top (the hearth) and four horn-like protrusions on each of the four corners of the top level.
The altar is to be consecrated (made suitable for holy use) by the Zadokite priests. The consecration involves sacrificing a bull and applying its blood to the horns of the altar, the corners of the foundation of the altar and to the surrounding rim of the base. The carcass of the bull is to be burned outside of the sanctuary. The following day the same procedure is to be followed with a goat. This concludes the ritual of “purging” the altar on day one. Then, a bull and a ram are offered as sacrifices to God. They are slaughtered and burned completely upon the altar.
Each day for the next six days a goat is to be killed, its blood applied to the altar as in the previous day, (the act of “purging”) and a bull and a ram offered to God. On the eighth day the altar will be considered ready for use by the general population. They will bring their sacrifices to be forgiven for their sins and to offer thanks to God, and God will receive these offerings with favor.
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Rabbi Marc D. Rudolph 