Reunifying Mikra & Mishnah:The Puzzling Haftarah of Shabbat HaGadol

(1) A pronouncement: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi. (2) I have shown you love, said the Lord. But you ask, “How have You shown us love?” After all—declares the Lord—Esau is Jacob’s brother; yet I have accepted Jacob (3) and have rejected Esau. I have made his hills a desolation, his territory a home for beasts of the desert. (4) If Edom thinks, “Though crushed, we can build the ruins again,” thus said the Lord of Hosts: They may build, but I will tear down. And so they shall be known as the region of wickedness, the people damned forever of the Lord. (5) Your eyes shall behold it, and you shall declare, “Great is the Lord beyond the borders of Israel!” (6) A son should honor his father, and a slave his master. Now if I am a father, where is the honor due Me? And if I am a master, where is the reverence due Me?—said the Lord of Hosts to you, O priests who scorn My name. But you ask, “How have we scorned Your name?” (7) You offer defiled food on My altar. But you ask, “How have we defiled You?” By saying, “The table of the Lord can be treated with scorn.” (8) When you present a blind animal for sacrifice—it doesn’t matter! When you present a lame or sick one—it doesn’t matter! Just offer it to your governor: Will he accept you? Will he show you favor?—said the Lord of Hosts. (9) And now implore the favor of God! Will He be gracious to us? This is what you have done—will He accept any of you? The Lord of Hosts has said: (10) If only you would lock My doors, and not kindle fire on My altar to no purpose! I take no pleasure in you—said the Lord of Hosts—and I will accept no offering from you. (11) For from where the sun rises to where it sets, My name is honored among the nations, and everywhere incense and pure oblation are offered to My name; for My name is honored among the nations—said the Lord of Hosts. (12) But you profane it when you say, “The table of the Lord is defiled and the meat, the food, can be treated with scorn.” (13) You say, “Oh, what a bother!” And so you degrade it—said the Lord of Hosts—and you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick; and you offer such as an oblation. Will I accept it from you?—said the Lord. (14) A curse on the cheat who has an [unblemished] male in his flock, but for his vow sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord! For I am a great King—said the Lord of Hosts—and My name is revered among the nations.

(1) And now, O priests, this charge is for you: (2) Unless you obey and unless you lay it to heart, and do honor to My name—said the Lord of Hosts—I will send a curse and turn your blessings into curses. (Indeed, I have turned them into curses, because you do not lay it to heart.) (3) I will put your seed under a ban, and I will strew dung upon your faces, the dung of your festal sacrifices, and you shall be carried out to its [heap]. (4) Know, then, that I have sent this charge to you that My covenant with Levi may endure—said the Lord of Hosts. (5) I had with him a covenant of life and well-being, which I gave to him, and of reverence, which he showed Me. For he stood in awe of My name. (6) Proper rulings were in his mouth, And nothing perverse was on his lips; He served Me with complete loyalty And held the many back from iniquity. (7) For the lips of a priest guard knowledge, And men seek rulings from his mouth; For he is a messenger of the Lord of Hosts. (8) But you have turned away from that course: You have made the many stumble through your rulings; you have corrupted the covenant of the Levites—said the Lord of Hosts. (9) And I, in turn, have made you despicable and vile in the eyes of all the people, because you disregard My ways and show partiality in your rulings. (10) Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we break faith with one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? (11) Judah has broken faith; abhorrent things have been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned what is holy to the Lord—what He desires—and espoused daughters of alien gods. (12) May the Lord leave to him who does this no descendants dwelling in the tents of Jacob and presenting offerings to the Lord of Hosts. (13) And this you do as well: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping, and moaning, so that He refuses to regard the oblation any more and to accept what you offer. (14) But you ask, “Because of what?” Because the Lord is a witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have broken faith, though she is your partner and covenanted spouse. (15) Did not the One make [all,] so that all remaining life-breath is His? And what does that One seek but godly folk? So be careful of your life-breath, and let no one break faith with the wife of his youth. (16) For I detest divorce—said the Lord, the God of Israel—-and covering oneself with lawlessness as with a garment—said the Lord of Hosts. So be careful of your life-breath and do not act treacherously. (17) You have wearied the Lord with your talk. But you ask, “By what have we wearied [Him]?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the Lord, and in them He delights,” or else, “Where is the God of justice?”

(1) Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming. (2) But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye. (3) He shall act like a smelter and purger of silver; and he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they shall present offerings in righteousness. (4) Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of yore and in the years of old. (5) But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me: Who practice sorcery, who commit adultery, who swear falsely, who cheat laborers of their hire, and who subvert [the cause of] the widow, orphan, and stranger, said the Lord of Hosts. (6) For I am the Lord—I have not changed; and you are the children of Jacob—you have not ceased to be. (7) From the very days of your fathers you have turned away from My laws and have not observed them. Turn back to Me, and I will turn back to you—said the Lord of Hosts. But you ask, “How shall we turn back?” (8) Ought man to defraud God? Yet you are defrauding Me. And you ask, “How have we been defrauding You?” In tithe and contribution. (9) You are suffering under a curse, yet you go on defrauding Me—the whole nation of you. (10) Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, and let there be food in My House, and thus put Me to the test—said the Lord of Hosts. I will surely open the floodgates of the sky for you and pour down blessings on you; (11) and I will banish the locusts from you, so that they will not destroy the yield of your soil; and your vines in the field shall no longer miscarry—said the Lord of Hosts. (12) And all the nations shall account you happy, for you shall be the most desired of lands—said the Lord of Hosts. (13) You have spoken hard words against Me—said the Lord. But you ask, “What have we been saying among ourselves against You?” (14) You have said, “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His charge and walking in abject awe of the Lord of Hosts? (15) And so, we account the arrogant happy: they have indeed done evil and endured; they have indeed dared God and escaped.” (16) In this vein have those who revere the Lord been talking to one another. The Lord has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the Lord and esteem His name. (17) And on the day that I am preparing, said the Lord of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him. (18) And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who has served God and him who has not served Him. (19) For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said the Lord of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs. (20) But for you who revere My name a sun of victory shall rise to bring healing. You shall go forth and stamp like stall-fed calves, (21) and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing—said the Lord of Hosts. (22) Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel. (23) Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. (24) He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord.

(1) A woman is acquired in three ways, and she acquires herself in two ways. She is acquired through money, through a document, or through sexual intercourse. Through money: Beit Shammai say, "With a dinar [a specific unit of money] or with the equivalent value of a dinar." And Beit Hillel say, "With a perutah or with the equivalent value of a perutah." How much is a perutah? One eighth of an Italian issar [a specific unit of money equal to one twenty-fourth of a dinar]. And she acquires herself through a bill of divorce or through the death of the husband. A yevamah [a widow whose brother-in-law performed levirate marriage with her] is acquired through sexual intercourse, and acquires herself through chalitzah [the ceremony performed by the widow of a childless man as an alternative way to release herself from the obligation to wait for levirate marriage] or through the death of the yavam [one upon whom has fallen the obligation to perform levirate marriage].

(2) A Hebrew slave is acquired through money or through a document, and acquires himself through years [of service], through the Jubilee Year, or through prorated monetary [payment]. A Hebrew maidservant has an advantage over him, in that she acquires herself through [physical] signs [of puberty]. [A slave] who [has his ear] pierced is acquired through [the] piercing, and acquires himself through the Jubilee Year or with the death of the master.

(3) A Canaanite slave is acquired through money, through a document or through chazakah [a presumption of ownership, generally regarding landed property, established by unchallenged, publically known possession for a certain period of time, together with a legally acceptable claim regarding how the property came into the possessor’s hands]. And he acquires himself through money by a third party or through a document by himself. These are the word of Rabbi Meir. And the Sages say, "Through money by himself and through a document by a third party, providing that the money be from a third party.

(4) A large animal is acquired through transfer [of the reins], and a small animal through lifting [it]; these are the words of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar. The Sages say, "A small animal is acquired through pulling [it]."

(5) Mortgaged property is acquired through money, through a document, or through chazakah; and non-mortgaged [property] is acquired only through pulling [it]. Property which is non-mortgaged can be acquired along with mortgaged property through money, through a document or through chazakah; and that which is non-mortgaged can, [by association,] bind [itself to] that which is mortgaged [to force one] to take an oath regarding [that property].

(6) Anything that is used as currency for something else, once this [party to the transaction] takes possession [of it], this [other party] is obligated in its exchange. How so? If one exchanges a bull for a cow, or a donkey for a bull, once this one takes possession, this one is obligated for its exchange [i.e., the animal he agreed to exchange for it]. The Temple authority [acquires directly] through money, and the lay authority [acquires] through chazakah. A verbal statement [declaring an object as belonging] to the Temple [authority] is like [physical] transfer to the lay [authority].

(7) [With regard to] all commandments of the son which are [incumbent] upon the father, men are obligated, and women are exempt. And [with regard to] all commandments of the father which are [incumbent] upon the son, both men and women are obligated. And [with regard to] every positive commandment that is time-dependent, men are obligated and women are exempt. And [with regard to] every positive commandment which is not time-dependent, both men and women are obligated. And [with regard to] every negative commandment, whether it is time-dependent or it is not time-dependent, both men and women are obligated, except for: "You shall not round off [the corners of your head]" (Leviticus 19:27), "You shall not destroy [the corners of your beard]" (ibid.), and "You shall not become ritually impure for the dead" (Leviticus 21:1).

(8) The leanings, and the wavings, and the presentations, and the kemitsot [individual handfuls of the meal offering, which the priest takes to be put on the altar], and the incense offerings, and the melikot [instances of utilizing a slaughtering method used for bird sacrifices, employing the thumbnail instead of a knife], and the sprinklings, and the collections of blood are practiced by men, but not by women, except for the meal-offering of the sotah and of the female Nazirite, that they wave [them].

(9) Any commandment which is dependent on the Land [of Israel] only applies in the Land. And any commandment which is not dependent on the Land applies both in the Land and outside the Land, except for orlah [the fruit of a tree during the first three years after its planting, the consumption or usage of which is forbidden] and kilayim [the prohibition of planting together certain plants]. And Rabbi Eliezer says, "Also chadash [grain from the current year that one is forbidden to eat until after the sixteenth of Nissan]"

(10) Anyone who performs a single commandment is bestowed with goodness, his days are lengthened, and he inherits the Land. And anyone who does not perform a single commandment is not bestowed with goodness, his days are not lengthened, and he does not inherit the Land. Anyone who is [involved in] Scripture, the Oral Law, and proper social behavior will not easily [come to] sin, as it is stated, "And the three-ply cord is not quickly severed" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Anyone who is not [involved in] Scripture, and not in the Oral Law, and not in proper social behavior is not part of civilization.