Parshat Yitro
The great theophany experienced by Bnei Yisrael at Har Sinai is undoubtedly the highlight of this week’s parsha. Ostensibly, it is also the event that forms the connection between the parsha and the haftarah. However, it would be somewhat simplistic of us to accept these two respective visions as being the only connection that Chazal saw between the parsha and the haftarah reading, and therefore the only reason for the choice of this sixth perek in Sefer Yeshayahu as this week’s reading. After all, there is much that is different between these two visions. The one depicted in today’s haftarah is a vision seen by Yeshayahu Hanavi alone upon beginning his service to God, and cannot truly compare to the public revelation of God’s glory that was seen by the entire nation at Sinai. Yeshayahu heard the song of the angels, Israel heard the words of God. The purpose of the Sinaitic experience was to charge Israel to be a holy nation who would serve Hashem, while the purpose of Isaiah’s experience was to charge him to condemn Israel for having failed in that mission. The result being that, at Sinai, the Israelites watched as Hashem’s glory drew closer to them as it descended upon the mountain, while the navi was seeing God’s Shechina ascending away from the Beit Hamikdash as it rested upon the Divine throne above (see Abarbanel).
What, therefore, might have been the reason Chazal chose this chapter to be read? Perhaps we can suggest that our rabbis saw in the inauguration of Yeshayahu parallels to that of Moshe Rabbeinu, and the mission of the prophet as a continuation of the predictions of Moshe. Moshe complained that he was “kvad peh,”slow of speech; Yeshayahu complained he is “t’mei sfatayim,” one of “impure lips.” Yeshayahu was to tell the people that they were “deaf” (to the warnings of the prophet) and “blind” (to the miracles God wrought for them), much as Moshe told Bnei Yisrael throughout their desert years. The prophet would tell the people of the destruction of their land and of the exile that awaited them, precisely the message Moshe shares with them in his tochacha, his admonition. And just as Moshe ended his nevuot in Parshat Ha’azinu with words of comfort and encouragement, so too did Chazal skip from the seventh chapter to the ninth (according to Ashkenazic minhag) in order to end the haftarah with words of hope and encouragement.
In the final analysis, our selection from Sefer Yeshayahu was meant to connect us to more than the Decalogue alone, to more than Ma’amad Har Sinai alone, and even to more than the events of this sedra alone. We must learn that the words of our prophets remain the same throughout the ages. Hashem’s message to us, spoken by His nevi’im, remains true through all of history. The Aseret Hadibrot we read in this week’s parsha lays out for us God’s desired blueprint for human behavior. And the sooner we learn to follow that blueprint and heed the words of our nevi’im, the sooner we will be privileged to merit the comfort they promise and experience the complete redemption of which our prophets spoke.
By Rabbi Neil N. Winkler
Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.
