Moshe Sokolow

BOOK REVIEW
BEIN HAFTARAH LE-PARASHAH
Yehudah Shaviv
(Jerusalem: Rubin Mass, 2000) ISBN: 965-09-0143-4
246 pp., $12.50 US

Even if there were as many books on the haftarot as there are on the
parashiyot—and there aren’t; even if there were as many educational re-
sources for teachers of Nevi’im as there are for teachers of Torah—and there
aren’t; this book would be outstanding. [As it is, it may have to share its
status with R. Jacobson’s Hazon haMikra, but that is no mean comparison.]
Unlike the standard explanation of haftarot (originating with the
Abu Dirham) as replacements for weekly Torah readings during times
of persecution, R. Shaviv argues that the earliest haftarot were assigned
only for special occasions (e.g., Shabbat Zakhor, Parah, etc.) and only
subsequently were they instituted on a weekly basis. Pursuant to this
theory, each selection in the book strikes a theme that characterizes the
haftarah at hand, and that may have served as the association that first
linked that haftarah to the occasion on which it is read.
The book is divided into two sections. The first deals with the
weekly haftarot, while the second features the haftarot that accompany
the many holidays and other special occasions (and is subtitled: Bein
Haftarah le-Moed). With about 40 shabbatot and 25 holidays throughout
the year (most of Sefer Devarim is included among the “special” occa-
sions, such as the three haftarot of catastrophe and the seven of consola-
tion), and a 246 page book, this makes for an average of only 4 pages per
haftarah, but R. Shaviv has the knack of an experienced—and extremely
knowledgeable—teacher to condense big ideas in a minimal space.
A small (and random) sampling of the themes to which the discus-
sions are devoted will provide an indication of the scope of the book
and the pedagogical uses to which it can be put.
• Noah: “No more devastation;” links the haftarah to the barrenness of
Sarah (and not just the obvious connection to the flood).

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 TEN DA‘AT

• Hayyei Sarah: “The outcome transcends the outset;” provides the subtle
contrast between Avraham, who starts out childless and is able—
despite old age—to father additional children, and David, who starts
out with many children yet, in his old age, is infirm and incapacitated.
• Yitro: “The Chapter of Peace;” compares the revelation at Sinai to the
one Isaiah witnessed in the Temple, and concludes with an explanation
of the practice—quite unusual in itself—of skipping a considerable
body of the continuation of the Isaiah text in order to find an appropriate
closing passage dealing with the value of peace.
• Aharei-Mot, Kedoshim: “A time to uproot and a time to plant;” deals
with exile and redemption, distinguishing between mortal plantings
and those of God.
• Ta‘anit Tzibbur: “A communal quest for God;” touches on the nexus
between the sanctity of time and the sanctity of place.
• Shiv‘ah de-Nehemta, the seven haftarot of consolation read after Tish‘ah
b’Av, consists of a fascinating inquiry into the question why these seven
particular portions were chosen from among the so many more such
portions available in prophetic literature.
This book will help students and teachers to deliver uncommon
(and exceptional) divrei-Torah on Shabbat, as well as assist teachers of
Nevi’im Rishonim and Aharonim to enrich those of their lessons that
coincide with the haftarot by supplementing the traditional commentar-
ies of the Mikra’ot Gedolot—and even the modern commentaries of
Da‘at Mikra—with contemporary wisdom and insight.

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