This week’s Haftorah is taken from the first Book of Kings, from Chapter 18 verse 1 till verse 39. Sefaradim begin at verse 20.
Although there are a number of topics covered in the Sidra, nevertheless the episode of the Golden Calf stands out prominently. When it seemed as if the madness that had grabbed hold of the people was unstoppable, Moshe Rabbeinu bravely stood in the breach and dealt decisively with the situation. He punished the wrongdoers and then set about defending the People from the deserved anger of HaShem. The Haftorah of this Sidra tells of a similarly dramatic event at Mount Carmel when Eliyohu HaNovvi, too, stood quite alone against the priests of the Baal and brought the Jewish People back to HaShem.
The time was during the reign of Achov, a king whose wife Izevvel was a Phœnician princess and who together with her had spread idolworship throughout the Land of Israel. In her crusade against Torah and Judaism, Izevvel had killed out hundreds of Talmidei Chachommim or had forced them to flee the country or driven them underground. Even Eliyahu HaNovvi himself had had to go into hiding. Because of all this, Eliyahu HaNovvi had decreed a drought of three years and HaShem had fulfilled his words. There was terrible famine in the land.
At the end of the third year of misery and starvation, HaShem told Eliyahu to appear before Achov. He is to tell him that HaShem has not forsaken His People. If only they would publicly renounce their idolworship and return to Him, He will give rain. Eliyahu sets out in the direction of the royal residence in Shomron. Achov, together with Ovadya, his Master of the Royal Household, were just then walking through the locality. They had taken different paths, searching for even some damp watercourses where there might be some clumps of grass for the horses — so desperate was the situation — when suddenly Ovadya comes across Eliyahu. Despite his position in the household of the wicked Achov, Ovadya was a truly G-d-fearing man and he was glad to see his Rebbe, Eliyahu. But when Eliyahu told him to inform his royal master that he wished to speak with him, he was seized with panic. Achov and his henchmen had long searched high and low for Eliyohu for they wanted to kill him. If Ovadya was now to tell Achov that Eliyahu had met him and had told him that he was coming — and then he quite understandably fails to turn up — Achov will kill Ovadya for he will say that he is harbouring his sworn enemy, Eliyahu. He begs Eliyahu not to command him to...
