Shabbat Shalom - Parshas Vayikra

Shabbat Shalom

Parshas Vayikra

Chodesh Nisan ... Our Month of Redemption

But after wandering thousands of years .....

we will be Redeemed ...

And this galus will seem to us like a dream

This week's haftorah starts with a rebuke to the Israelites for abandoning the Temple's sacrificial service. Sacrifices are the dominant topic of the week's Torah reading, too. Visit Korban Pesach and Sanhedrin Committee

The prophet Isaiah rebukes the Israelites for turning away from G‑d and refraining from offering sacrifices, turning to idolatry instead. G‑d exhorts the people to return to Him, promising to forgive their transgressions, as is His wont.

The prophet then mentions the futility of serving empty idols which may be crafted by artisans but "neither see nor hear nor do they know…" The haftorah concludes with G‑d's enjoinder to always remember Him and to return to Him.

Yeshayahu ... Chapter One

"The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken; Children I have raised and exalted, yet they have rebelled against Me.

An ox knows his owner and a donkey his master's crib; Israel does not know, my people does not consider. Woe to a sinful nation, a people heavy with iniquity, evildoing seed, corrupt children. They forsook the Lord; they provoked the Holy One of Israel"

Yeshayahu ... Chapter Two ... A warning to haughty women

"What do you mean that you crush My people and the faces of the poor you grind? says the Lord God of Hosts.
And the Lord said:
Because the daughters of Zion are so haughty; and they walk with neck stretched forth, and winking eyes; walking and raising themselves they walk; and with their feet they spout "venom."
And the Lord shall smite with zaraath the crown of the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord shall pour out their "vessels."
On that day, the Lord shall remove the glory of the shoes and the embroidered headdresses and the hairnets.
The necklaces and the bracelets and the veils,
The tiaras and the foot chains and the hair ribbons and the clasps and the earrings.
The finger-rings and the nose-rings.
The tunics and the bedspreads and the tablecloths and the purses.
The mirrors and the turbans and the clasps.
And it shall come to pass, that, in the place of perfume, will be decay, and in the place of a girdle, laceration, and in the place of the deed, a wound that causes baldness, and in the place of the organ of levity, a sack-cloth girdle, for this is instead of beauty."

Yeshayahu ... Chapter Six

"This people's heart is becoming fat, and his ears are becoming heavy, and his eyes are becoming sealed, lest he see with his eyes, and hear with his ears, and his heart understand, and he repent and be healed."

Yeshayahu ... Chapter Eleven ... And then the promises

"And it shall come to pass that on that day, the Lord shall continue to apply His hand a second time to acquire the rest of His people, that will remain from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Sumeria and from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

And He shall raise a banner to the nations, and He shall gather the lost of Israel, and the scattered ones of Judah He shall gather from the four corners of the earth.
And the envy of Ephraim shall cease, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, nor shall Judah vex Ephraim."

"...And the Lord shall dry up the tongue of the Egyptian Sea, and He shall lift His hand over the river with the strength of His wind, and He shall beat it into seven streams, and He shall lead [the exiles] with shoes.
16. And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people who remain from Assyria, as there was for Israel on the day they went up from the land of Egypt."

Yeshayahu ... Chapter Twelve ... our Salvation

And you shall say on that day, "I will thank You, O Lord, for You were wroth with me; may Your wrath turn away and may You comfort me. Here is the God of my salvation, I shall trust and not fear; for the strength and praise of the Eternal the Lord was my salvation." And you shall draw water with joy from the fountains of the salvation. And you shall say on that day, "Thank the Lord, call in His Name, publicize His deeds among the peoples; keep it in remembrance, for His Name is exalted.

Sing to the Lord for He has performed mighty deeds; this is known throughout the land.

Shout and praise, O dwellers of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

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Yeshayahu (Isaiah, 7th century BCE) One of the greatest prophets, a contemporary of Hosea, Amos and Micah. His prophecies include the vision of the Merkavah and many descriptions of the Messianic Era. The Tanach contains Isaiah's prophecies, including his vision of the Merkavah and many prophecies regarding the Messianic Era.