This week’s Haftorah is from Yechezkel. It discusses all sorts of things to do with Kohanim. It seems clear that the reason this Haftorah was chosen is because the bulk of the Parsha deals with Mitzvos Hakohanim.

While the similarity between Parsha and Haftorah is clear, and the choice obvious, there is an equally obvious question: the Parsha also discusses Yomim-Tovim and a few other Mitzvos that are pertinent to all Jews – Kohanim and non-Kohanim alike. This being the case, Chazal could have chosen a Haftorah that would have a message more apropos to everyone alike. Why did chazal select a Haftorah pertaining mainly to the Kohanim?

Sometimes a question itself is the answer. We seem to view Kehuna as an exclusive elite club. The reality is that while not everyone can be a Kohen the Kohanim still ‘belong’, so to speak, to us. While YisroelIm are not Kohanim themselves they have Kohanim in their midst. A Kohen is only a Kohen because he is one of Am-Yisroel’s Kohanim.

Perhaps Chazal, in selecting this text, chose specifically to emphasize the fact that Kehuna is something we all have and it is something relevant to us all.

A very warm Good Shabbos, Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski