Parshat Vayigash
Shabbat, 9 Tevet, 5777
7 January, 2017
If there is a sign of devine prophecy, perhaps it is found in the Haftarah which coincides with these times today. What does the Haftarah have to say that might shed some light on the thought of "One State of Israel?"
"They shall no longer be two kingdoms." Rashi
Commentary tells us that this Haftarah is about the unification of Israel - north and south.
Ezekiel Chapter 37
| 15And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: |
| 16"And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write upon it, 'For Judah and for the children of Israel his companions'; and take one stick and write upon it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.' |
| 17And bring them close, one to the other into one stick, and they shall be one in your hand. |
| 18And when the children of your people say to you, saying, 'Will you not tell us what these are to you?' |
| 19Say to them, So says the Lord God: Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will place them with him with the stick of Judah, and I will make them into one stick, and they shall become one in My hand. |
| 20And the sticks upon which you shall write shall be in your hand before their eyes. |
| 21And say to them, So says the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their land. |
| 22And I will make them into one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be to them all as a king; and they shall no longer be two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore. |
| 23And they shall no longer defile themselves with their idols, with their detestable things, or with all their transgressions, and I will save them from all their habitations in which they have sinned, and I will purify them, and they shall be to Me as a people, and I will be to them as a God. |
| 24And My servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all, and they shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes and perform them. |
| 25And they shall dwell on the land that I have given to My servant, to Jacob, wherein your forefathers lived; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever. |
| 26And I will form a covenant of peace for them, an everlasting covenant shall be with them; and I will establish them and I will multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary in their midst forever. |
| 27And My dwelling place shall be over them, and I will be to them for a God, and they shall be to Me as a people. |
| 28And the nations shall know that I am the Lord, Who sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary is in their midst forever." |
