For Sefaradim, this week’s Haftorah is taken from Sefer Hoshe’a (the first of the shorter Books of the Prophets which together make up “The Twelve”) Chapter 11, verse 7 — Chapter 12, verse 12
1. Much of what has been written for the Ashkenazzi Haftorah of this Sidra can be applied to this Sefaradi Haftorah as the Haftorah for the Ashkenazzim starts where the Haftorah for the Sefaradim ends and the comments concerning the one Haftorah really apply just as much to the other. As explained in the general Introduction to the Haftorahs, the original purpose of the Haftorah was to call to mind the Sidra of the week and there are usually therefore some points in the Haftorah which connect with the Sidra. In both these Haftorahs of this Sidra, although some points of connexion with the Sidra can be discerned, they are rather tenuous.
2. After the death of Shlomo ben Dovid, the Jewish Kingdom split into two. The northern part of the country was known as the Kingdom of Israel, while the southern part was called the Kingdom of Yehudah. The southern Kingdom of Yehudah consisted in the main of the people of the Tribe of Yehudah and some of the Tribe of Binyomin and the Northern Kingdom of Israel comprised in the main people of the other ten-and-a-half Tribes. (This Northern Kingdom is often referred to as Efrayyim because of that Tribe’s prominence and because its first king, Yerovom ben Nevvot, came from that Tribe.) The capital city of the Southern Kingdom of Yehudah was Yerushola’im and the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel was the later-built Shomron, for which reason the Northern Kingdom is often also referred to as Shomron.
3. The Beis HaMikdash, representing the spiritual centre of the Jewish people, was in Yerushola’im and so, too was the Sanhedrin and, consequently, most of the Torah teachers and Torah leaders of the Nation. Thus it came about that generally speaking the Southern Kingdom of Yehudah was more loyal to HaShem and His Torah whereas the people of the Northern Kingdom were more prone to turn away from HaShem and His Torah and the Mitzvos. Right at the beginning of the split, the king, Yerovom ben Nevvot, wanted to stop his people from going to Yerushola’im for the Sholosh Regollim (the three Pilgrimage Festivals) as commanded in the Torah, and to that end he erected temples, complete with calf-worship (the predominant religious fad of the time amongst the idol-worshipping nations of the day) and even posted guards along the roads leading to Yerushola’im to stop any would-be pilgrims.
4. Of course, without proper Torah leadership, the people of the Northern Kingdom quickly slid into idolatry and neglected the laws of the Torah, both, those between man and G-d and those between man and his fellow. Many and various were the calls by the prophets of the day to the people of the Kingdom of Israel and their kings to return to HaShem and His Torah. This Haftorah opens with Hoshe’a speaking in the Name of HaShem and His wonder at how the Jewish People vacillate between returning to HaShem or to continue in their wrongdoing. This was the task of the prophet, to bring the people back to HaShem and the observance of the Mitzvos. Sometimes the people would rally themselves to Teshuvah but too often the warnings of exile and punishment for defecting from HaShem fell on deaf ears and indeed often the prophets who spoke out were in real danger of death. (Their crime: “defeatist talk in a time of national threat from an outside enemy.”) Sadly, of course, the prophecies were fulfilled. At the time of our Haftorah, the danger was the empire-building aspirations of the king of Ashur, Tiglas Pilesser, and indeed it was not long before he invaded the Northern Kingdom and dragged some of its people into exile. The rest were taken into exile some forty years later.
5. In the course of the Haftorah, Hoshea reminds the people how at the very beginning — indeed, even before the beginning! — of the Jewish People, Yaakov, as a yet-unborn baby, had to contend with his twin brother and struggled with him in the womb of their mother and even though he was born second, because Yaakov had dedicated himself and his progeny to live by the teachings of his father Yitzchok and his grandfather Avrohom, HaShem elevated him and his descendants, rather than Aysov, to be His Chosen People. Similarly (and this is one connexion with the Sidra) later, when Yaakov had to contend with the guardian angel of Aysov, HaShem granted Yaakov the strength to overcome him. So, too, says Hoshea, would HaShem help His People to overcome their enemies, if only they would let go of their idol-worship and return to HaShem.
6. Hoshe’a lived in the Northern Kingdom and his prophecies are directed to his own region of Eretz Yisroel but he has a similar warning for the Southern Kingdom of Yehudah, for their conduct too has fallen way below the standard demanded by HaShem. They do not deal with one another fairly and they, too, formed alliances with foreign kings instead of relying on HaShem. Why do you not take an example from Yaakov, your great ancestor? asks Hoshe’a. He trusted in HaShem and therefore was able to persevere over his brother Aysov and his uncle Lovvon. (This is another of the points of connexion with our Sidra.) So too if you all would but return to Me and My Torah, I would protect you from all harm without your needing to form alliances with foreign rulers (who are anyhow unreliable in their promises). Cease your disloyalty to Me and get rid of your idols, stop cheating each other in trade and commerce, pay attention to the defenceless and protect them. Stop justifying your ill-gotten gains and stop relying on your own strength and business acumen. Return to HaShem and to the study of Torah as your ancestor Yaakov studied in the Tents of Shem (another possible point of connexion) and I will protect you.
7. With all the predictions of punishment and exile, Hoshe’a nevertheless prophesises that even after HaShem has exiled the Jewish People from their land, He will take them back
