Rabbi Howard Morrison

During much of the year, the Haftarah (lesson from the Prophets) bears an overlapping theme with the weekly Torah portion. From the Shabbat following Tisha B'Av up to Rosh Hashanah, this pattern is not the case. Rather, the intervening weeks are called "The seven weeks of comfort," with all the prophetic messages coming from the prophet, Isaiah.

Parshat Ekev coincides with the second week of comfort. The Haftarah comes from Isaiah 49:14-51:3. One particular section catches my eye as we are nearing two years since the horrors of October 7, 2023, and with some fifty hostages still being held in the hell of Gaza.

"Can spoil be taken from a warrior, or captives from a victor? Yet thus said the Lord: Captives shall be taken from a warrior, and spoil shall be retrieved from a tyrant; for I will contend with your adversaries, and I will deliver your children. I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh. They shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine. And all mankind shall know that I the Lord am your Savior, The Mighty One of Jacob, your redeemer (Isaiah 49:24-26)."

Each day over the last twenty-two months has been filled with agony and pain. We mourn the dead, offer solace to their families, and we are just sick seeing images of the emaciated ones still clinging on to life. 

May the prophecy in this week's Haftarah truly be fulfilled as we approach the second week of comfort in the Summer season.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison