Insights from Reverend Hazan Benlolo

Sponsored by:Sponsored by: Chantal Brahmi & Family, in memory of,
Amanda Alisaa Blondon z"l and Anna Elofer z"l.

This week's haftarah mentions G‑d's repeated enjoinders to observe the commandments, keep the Shabbat and eschew idol worship; reflective of this week's Torah portion, which discusses many commandments, including the obligation to sanctify the Shabbat and reject idolatry.

The prophet Ezekiel transmitted G‑d's message, reminding the Jews how He chose them as His nation, how He took them out of Egypt and promised to take them to the Holy Land. In Egypt, G‑d dispatched a prophet who exhorted the Jews to abandon their idols, yet they did not do so. He then gave them laws and statutes, including that of the observance of Shabbat as a sign between Him and His people. "But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they walked not in My statutes, and they despised My ordinances, which, if a man keep, he will live through them, and My Sabbaths they desecrated exceedingly."

The prophet goes on to mention G‑d's punishment of the Jews in the desert, namely that they did not enter the Holy Land. He then admonishes the children not to follow their fathers' ways, but to observe the laws and to sanctify the Shabbat.