Summary:
In our portion, we read that Abram, Sarai, and Lot go to Canaan. Later, famine takes them to Egypt, where Abram identifies Sarai as his sister in order to save his life. Eventually, Abram and Lot separate. Lot is taken captive, and Abram rescues him. Abram has a son, Ishmael, with his Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. Then God establishes a covenant with Abram. The sign of this covenant is circumcision on the eighth day following a male baby's birth.
Lesson from our Haftarah Portion:
In Isaiah, 40:27-41:16 we find a deep connection between the Haftarah and the Torah portion. Just as God calls Abram from among the nations, so too will the people of Israel be called from their exile and redeemed in love.
Lech L’cha – go on a journey…with these words God speaks to Abram and tells him to leave his father’s home, the land of his birth, and go on a holy journey toward becoming a people, toward the Promised Land. Throughout much of our history, since that moment, our people has been in exile, not only from the Promised Land but also from the best that they can be. Being in exile is a dark and scary place.
Our Haftarah begins with the words “My way is hidden from the Eternal”. With these words Isaiah describes the situation in which the people find themselves. They are in exile in Babylonia, feeling far from God, far from Israel. This distance has led to a sense of depression that God has forsaken them. The people feel “faint and weary,” they “stumble and fall.”
Throughout our history, during periods of suffering our people has felt forsaken by God. It’s as if our people have been forsaken in exile. The text we read this shabbat begins with lament and despair as it describes the emotions of the people in exile.
However, Isaiah is a prophet of vision and hope. Even though the Haftarah begins with the words “My way is hidden from the Eternal”, it ends with the words “But you shall rejoice in the Eternal.” The text of the Haftarah is like the historical journey of our people. It moves from lament to exhilaration, acknowledging that God’s promise to redeem the people is eternal. Israel, “the seed of Abraham” can always anticipate that it will be restored to its homeland, to its rightful place. The people of Israel is God’s “servant whom God has chosen.”
Our text this Shabbat, while expressing the despair of exile, is hopeful. God remembers and cares for us. God “never grows faint, never weary.” Just as God took Abraham and set him on his journey, so too will God accompany us on ours.
Abram began a journey into the unknown. That journey has not been without its challenges, disappointments and tragedies. However, our Haftarah offers us an eternal sense of hope that our journey has a divine purpose, that we are not alone nor forgotten. Isaiah exhorts us to have strength along the way.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Don Goor