We continue this week with #3 of the seven-part series of comforting haftarot for the weeks after Tisha B’Av. This one features the prophet Yeshayahu promising a wonderful future for the Jewish people.
Shabbat this week is called Shabbat Hazon, named after the first word in our haftarah. Hazon means “vision.” Our haftarah includes a grim vision of destruction from the prophet Yeshayahu.
Our haftarah
is the second in the three sad haftarot that we read in the weeks leading up to Tisha B’Av. This week, we hear from the prophet Yirmiyahu who delivered his message in the final years before the destruction of the first temple.
We just completed three difficult weeks of mourning for the Beit Ha-Mikdash, and after Tisha B'Av, it’s time to feel hopeful again, and that’s what the haftarah is all about, comfort.
The haftarah for Emor is a vision from the prophet Yehezkel. He talks about a future Beit Mikdash and the rules for the kohanim who will work there. Some of the descriptions are very similar to the rules for kohanim that appear in our parashah.
In our haftarah, the 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.