Lekh Lekha (Haftarah)

"Israel in Whom I Take Pride”

The haftarah for Lekh Lekha, Isaiah 40:27-42:4, picks up where that for Shabbat Nahamu ends, and ends where the haftarah for Bereshit begins. Once again, the manifest reason for its choice is the explicit reference to “Abraham my beloved” in 41:8. But on a deeper level, the haftarah is concerned with Jewish chosenness, the special relationship between God and Israel: the seed of Abraham, the descendants of Israel or Jacob, ”my servant… my chosen, in whom I delight” (42:1). “Why do you say, O Jacob… that my way is hidden from God.” Here too, as in the haftarah for Bereshit, God’s creative power and might are invoked: “Do you not know? Have you not heard that He is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth, who neither tires nor becomes weary, whose wisdom is unsearchable” (40:28). Only here, God’s eternity and power are invoked primarily as proof that “there is no need to fear” and that he will uphold the covenant with Israel.