The Weekly Shtikle - Ki Savo

As a general rule, the passage chosen for the haftarah is meant to mirror the Torah portion in one or many ways. We are currently in the midst of the seven consecutive haftaros of nechamah, comfort, as a rebound from the three devastating haftaros we read in the lead-up to Tish'ah B'Av. Still, at the same time, there are definitely connections to be made to the parsha. There is one that stood out to me in the case of Ki Savo.

In this week's haftarah, we find among the comforting words of Yeshaya (60:17) that HaShem will replace copper with gold, iron with silver, wood with copper and stone with iron. The most prominent portion of the parsha is, of course, the ominous tochacha. In it we find the following warnings: (28:23) "The skies above you be like copper, and the earth underneath you iron." (28:36) "…where you will serve other gods of wood and stone." (28:48) "an iron yoke."

The Torah uses specific materials in expressing the curses that will befall us if we do not follow in the proper path. Those very materials are then used in the comforting words of the haftarah. (It is interesting to note that while the tochacha does not mention gold and silver specifically, it does mention gods of wood and stone. Very early in next week's parsha, there is a reference (29:16) to gods of wood and stone, silver and gold.)

Have a good Shabbos.

 

Eliezer Bulka

WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Al Pi Cheshbon: Balancing the Shevatim 

Dikdukian: Tough Day at the Office

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com

The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to shtiklelist+unsubscribe@weeklyshtikle.com.