Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3:12
The Torah describes the appearance of G-d at Sinai. It says that G-d came down in smoke and fire, there were the blasts of the shofar and thunder and lightning, and the entire mountain trembled. The Torah portion continues with the recitation of the Ten Commandments.
The haftarah begins with Ezekiel saying that the heavens opened and he saw visions of G-d. The depiction Ezekiel gives of the panorama of sound and light is quite incredible. He describes amazing sounds and flames, flashes of light and smoke.
He goes on to describe the creatures he saw. They were like flashes of flame. Each had four animal faces, 6 wings, and legs with hooves. They were balanced on a wheel within a wheel, and the wheels had eyes on them, all about.
The description in the haftarah is quite beautiful, amazing, and detailed.
My first thought upon looking at this was that it was us at Har Sinai, then
as I read I realized this is the Haftarah . Maybe there is a connection between us and the creatures that Ezekial saw. I love the colours.
Chag Shavuot somayach,
Chashi
There are great parallels between Har Sinai and the haftarah. I loved the images Ezekiel used- he was one intense character.
What a wonderful thing to see on erev shavuot. I love the image you have used. I can imagine myself in your illustration, being charged with heavenly inspiration and wanting to fly into the heavens and down to grapple with the world using my new found faith.
I look forward to following this marvelous series.
I like your use of the word “charged”. The haftarah uses colours and images relating to power and energy.- which I hope comes through in the illustration.
wow, Laya….it is wonderful …..and especially getting it today when I just got home from work having spent the past few days working and heavy duty discussion on Shavuot. Can’t wait to keep on reading evey week. Penney
Thanks Penney- I’m so glad this was a good follow up to heavy duty Shavuot talk!