Summary of Haftarat Shabbat Parah
Shabbat Parah is a special Shabbat that comes before the month of Nisan. The Mishnah explains that on the Shabbat after Purim, we replace the regular maftir, the last section of the Parashah, with the section from Numbers 19, the section of the Torah that explains the laws of ritual contamination through the corpse contact and purification by means of sprinkling with water and the ashes of the red heifer.
In temple times, this would remind those in attendance at the synagogue that they needed to undergo the ritual purification with the ashes of the red heifer prior to Passover. Otherwise, they would not be ritually fit to eat the Passover sacrifice. The purification process takes seven days. Shabbat Parah is a three-week notice to plan accordingly.
Because the ritual purification involved sprinkling with the water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer, The Tosefta designates Ezekiel 36:25 as the appropriate haftarah passage for Shabbat Parah Adummah.
Ezekiel 36:25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
Since the destruction of the temple, there is no altar, Passover sacrifice, or ashes of the red heifer. Nevertheless, the synagogue lection has retained the Temple-era custom of reading Numbers 19 and Haftarat Parah on the Shabbat after Purim.
In the haftarah portion, Ezekiel predicts the ingathering of the children of Israel from among the nations. He predicts Israel’s return to the holy land. He predicts miraculous fertility, population explosion, and agricultural prosperity in the land. According to Ezekiel, the redemption will be more than just a physical return to the land of Israel.
Ezekiel foresees a spiritual component to the redemption as well. He predicts that God will spiritually cleanse the children of Israel, transform their sinful nature, pour out His Spirit upon them and enter into a new covenant relationship with them.
Even though we can no longer prepare for the festival of Passover with sprinkling waters of the ashes of the red heifer, the weeks leading up to the festival are an auspicious time for us to seek the spiritual purification of our hearts. To the extent that we do, we lay hold of the promise of the Messianic Era.
From FFOZ Voice of the Prophets
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