Malachi 1:1-2:7.
This week's haftorah opens with a mention of the tremendous love G‑d
harbors for the children of Jacob, and the retribution He will visit upon the
children of Esau who persecuted their cousins. This follows the theme of this
week's Torah reading, whose two protagonists are Jacob and Esau.
The prophet Malachi then rebukes the kohanim (priests) who offer blemished
and emaciated animals on G-d's altar: "Were you to offer it to your governor, would he
be pleased or would he favor you? . . . O that there were even one among you that would close the doors [of the Temple] and that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain!"
The haftorah ends with a strong enjoinder to the kohanim to return to the original covenant
that G‑d had made with their ancestor, Aaron the High Priest. "True teaching was in his mouth, and injustice was not found on his lips. In peace and equity he went with Me, and he brought back many from iniquity."
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