The Family You Choose - Haftarat Mikeitz
This week’s Haftarah is both well-known and rarely recited. It’s the Haftarah, the portion of the Prophets, that is associated with today’s Torah portion - but because this week’s portion usually coincides with Shabbat Ḥanukkah, we only get this Haftarah once every decade or so. Nevertheless, it is a well-known story: the narrative of Solomon, the king of United Israel whom the Divine bestows with legendary wisdom, encountering the Baby Dilemma. If you’re not already familiar with the story, it goes like this: there are two women before him in the court, and one baby. Both women claim to be the mother, and it’s up to Wise King Solomon to determine with whom the infant shall go home. So what is a wise king to do? Rather dramatically, he rules that the baby should be… divided. Horrified, one of the women cries out: ‘No, let her keep the child, just don’t hurt him.’ The other woman seems satisfied with the justice of the king’s solution. And so Solomon sends the infant home with the ...