Chanukah and haftarah - the mystery link!

Most of love the festival of Chanukah!

Food, family, gifts and light!

But do we know the story that we are really celebrating each year and what about the possible link to the haftarah...

Curious then read on!

The well known portion from chapter 4 of the book of Luke actually gives us the first hint of the tradition of the haftarah reading each shabbat.

"Yeshua went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on Shabbat he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Yeshua. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The haftarah is the section from the Prophets read on Shabbat at the conclusion of the weekly Torah reading, as well as after the Torah reading on certain holidays and fast days. If you don't have a copy of the Torah cycle readings you can download a copy here.

The origins of the haftarah reading are somewhat vague, and several theories have been suggested. The most common explanation is that in 168 BCE, when the Jews were under the rule of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (of Chanukah infamy), they were forbidden to read from the Torah (five Books of Moses) so the sages would read a section of the Prophets be read instead, usually an idea that was related to the Torah reading that should have been read that week. This custom stuck even after it became safe to read from the Torah again. In those days, the only way everyday folks did not have a handy compiled bible in their home, the only way they could hear the Word was at public readings. These sacred scrolls were held in the synagogues and temples in order to preserve and protect them.

As we approach the feast of dedication next month (Chanukah) and remember the time of oppression and the push back, we see both here and abroad, the future shadows of such times. I read this week of a man in the UK being convicted of a thought crime for offering a silent prayer for his deceased son. Grab that sword of the Spirit Maccabees, it's time to put on the armour of Adonai and stand firm !!

May the bible you hold in your home, become as sacred to you and your family as these scrolls were to those who safeguarded their passage into the book we now read.

To those who have begun to study Torah each week, may these additional portions enrich your journey of discovery and pursuit of Messiah.

Shabbat shalom.