Today's Haftarah was an especially beautiful portion of the Book of Isaiah, relating the promise Hashem made to the Jewish people, those who keep his commandments and glorify his name. It is clear that the covanent between the Master of the Worlds and the Jewish people is eternal and he will never foresake us even when we have transgressed. The Love that Hashem has for his people is greater than any love between a man and a woman, it is forever.
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/TorahReading_cdo/AID/15574/section/haftorahIsaiah
Chapter 43
21. This people I formed for Myself; they shall recite My praise.
22. But you did not call Me, O Jacob, for you wearied of Me, O Israel.
23. You did not bring Me the lambs of your burnt offerings, nor did you honor Me with your sacrifices; neither did I overwork you with meal-offerings nor did I weary you with frankincense.
24. Neither did you purchase cane for Me with money, nor have you sated Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities.
25. I, yea I erase your transgressions for My sake, and your sins I will not remember.
26. Remind Me, let us stand in judgment; you tell, in order that you be accounted just.
27. Your first father sinned, and your intercessors transgressed against Me.
28. And I profane the holy princes, and I deliver Jacob to destruction and Israel to revilings.
Chapter 44
1. And now, hearken, Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen.
2. So said the Lord your Maker, and He Who formed you from the womb shall aid you. Fear not, My servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
3. As I will pour water on the thirsty and running water on dry land, I will pour My spirit on your seed and My blessing on your offspring.
4. And they shall sprout among the grass like willows on rivulets of water.
5. This one shall say, "I am the Lord's," and this one shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and this one shall write [with] his hand, "To the Lord," and adopt the name Israel.
6. So said the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer the Lord of Hosts, "I am first and I am last, and besides Me there is no God.
7. And who will call [that he is] like Me and will tell it and arrange it for Me, since My placing the ancient people, and the signs and those that will come, let them tell for themselves.
8. Fear not and be not dismayed; did I not let you hear it from then, and I told [it] and you are My witnesses; is there a God besides Me? And there is no rock I did not know.
9. Those who form idols are all of them vanity, and their treasures are of no avail, and they are their witnesses; they neither see nor hear, nor do they know, so that they be ashamed.
10. Who formed a god or molded an image, being of no avail?
11. Behold, all his colleagues shall be ashamed, and they are smiths-of man. Let all of them gather, let them stand, they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together.
12. The ironsmith [makes] an axe, and he works with coal, and with sledge hammers he fashions it; and he made it with his strong arm; yea he is hungry, and he has no strength, he did not drink water and he becomes faint.
13. The carpenter stretched out a line, he beautifies it with a saw; he fixes it with planes, and with a compass he rounds it, and he made it in the likeness of a man, like the beauty of man to sit [in] the house.
14. To hew for himself cedars, and he took an ilex and an oak and he reenforced it with forest trees; he planted a sapling, and rain makes it grow.
15. And it was for man to ignite, and he took from them and warmed himself; he even heated [the oven] and baked bread; he even made a god and prostrated himself, he made a graven image and bowed to them.
16. Half of it he burnt with fire, on half of it he ate meat, he roasted a roast and became sated; he even warmed himself and said, "Aha, I am warm, I see fire."
17. And what is left over from it he made for a god, for his graven image; he kneels to it and prostrates himself and prays to it, and he says, "Save me, for you are my god."
18. Neither do they know nor do they understand, for their eyes are bedaubed from seeing, their hearts from understanding.
19. And he does not give it thought, and he has neither knowledge nor understanding to say, "Half of it I burnt with fire, and I even baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and ate. And what was left over from it, shall I make for an abomination, shall I bow to rotten wood?"
20. [To] a provider [made] of ashes, a deceived heart has perverted him, and he shall not save his soul, and he shall not say, "Is there not falsehood in my right hand?"
21. Remember these, O Jacob; and Israel, for you are My servant; I formed you that you be a servant to Me, Israel, do not forget Me.
22. I erased your transgressions like a thick cloud, and like a cloud have I erased your sins; return to Me for I have redeemed you.
23. Sing, ye heavens, for the Lord has done [this], shout, ye lowest parts of the earth; ye mountains, burst out in song, the forest and all trees therein; for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and with Israel shall He be glorified.
Topic: G-ds Promise to the Children of Israel : G-d Loves Us! (Read 1801 times)