Illustration Credit: Noa Kelner
Haftarah הַפְטָרָה
In our haftarah, the נָבִיא (navi, prophet) Yehezkel informs the Jewish people that they deserve to be sent out of their land because they have been committing some serious sins. A number of these are sins that the Torah forbids in our parashah (or next week’s parashah). For example, people are disrespecting things that are holy, including Shabbat. (Compare Yehezkel 22:8 to Vayikra 19:3 and 19:30.)
Yehezkel also lists ways that people are hurting each other, including taking advantage of strangers, widows, and orphans (Yehezkel 22:7) and accepting bribes (22:12).
- As you read all the different sins in the haftarah, try to keep track of which are sins against God and which are sins against other people. Which kinds of sins get emphasized more?
- What message can we learn from the way that Yehezkel talks about all these different kinds of sins at the same time?
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