Shabbat Hagadol
Parshat Tzav
The haftarah we read this Shabbat is the final nevuah of our latest prophet, making it the very last prophecy in all of the Tanach. We certainly should attach great significance to the final words Hashem leaves us with before we are sent into the long galut. Although this is true, it is somewhat difficult to find any connection of this pre-Pesach haftarah to the Yom Tov itself. Many suggest that the final verses that speak of the coming of Eliyahu as harbinger of the Messianic Era connect us to the Pesach theme of the past and future redemptions. And yet, as true as this is, it helps explain only how the final pesukim tie into the Passover message, while much of the haftarah, including its primary focus, seems distant from the message of Zman Cheiruteinu, our Festival of Freedom. In fact, the bulk of the haftarah is made up of the prophet’s harsh condemnation of Israel for the moral and religious corruption that filled the land (“I will be a swift witness against…the adulterers and they who swear falsely; against those who extort the wages of the worker, the widow and the orphan.”).
It is enlightening, therefore, to realize that, as opposed to the previous four “special” haftarah selections, this one was not ordained by the Mishna but, rather, was a later minhag first adopted by Ashkenazic communities. Originally, the haftarah for the parsha of Tzav (often, as this year, the Shabbat before Pesach) was taken from the seventh perek of Yirmiyahu in which the navi sharply condemns the people for their corruption of the sacrificial rite (a fitting choice for the parsha that describes that rite). However, when the 14th of Nisan, the day when the paschal sacrifice was offered, occurred on Shabbat, the rabbis felt, correctly, that it would be wrong to read of Hashem’s rejection of Israel’s sacrifices. The Or Zarua suggests, therefore, that this haftarah was used in its stead, for, although it too condemns the people for their fraudulent sacrificial practices, its opening prophecy, “V’arva laShem minchat Yehuda,” that in the future, the simple meal offering of Yehuda will please God as did the ancient offerings in the Temple, softened the harshness of the message. Since the parsha of Tzav is usually read on Shabbat Hagadol, this haftarah remained to be read on the Shabbat before Pesach each year.
I would also suggest that the words of Malachi were meant as a warning to future generations to avoid this type of corrupt behavior while they were in exile, and to provide them with hope for the future. The promise that Hashem will open the “windows” of the heaven and rain down endless blessings for Israel kindled the faith of a downtrodden nation and kept them hopeful throughout the long galut. Perhaps this was the connection to the holiday that celebrates the redemption of our people who, like their descendants, were exiled for hundreds of years and returned to their home where they received God’s blessings.
The navi’s words certainly rang true to the past generations—and speak just as clearly to us today as well.
By Rabbi Neil N. Winkler
Rabbi Neil Winkler is the rabbi emeritus of the Young Israel of Fort Lee and now lives in Israel.
