TORAH READING FOR SHABBAT ḤOL HAMO’ED

Moses said to the LORD: Behold, You have told me to bring this people up [to the Land], but You have yet to inform me whom You shall send along with me; You have told me that You have singled me out and that I have found favor in Your eyes. Now, if I indeed find favor in Your eyes, let me know Your ways, so that I might become acquainted with You, so that I find favor in Your eyes: behold, this people is Your nation! He replied: My presence shall go forth and guide You. He said to Him: If Your countenance does not go with us, do not remove us from this place. How am I to know that I have found favor in Your eyes – I and Your people – if not through Your presence among us? Let me and Your people be chosen from all other nations in the land.

The LORD said to Moses: I shall do this thing that you said, for you have found favor in My eyes, and I recognize you by name. He said: Please, show me Your glory! He said: I shall pass all My beneficence before you, calling out the name of the LORD in your presence, and I shall be gracious to whom I shall be gracious; I shall be merciful to whom I shall be merciful. *He said: You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live. The LORD said: Behold, there is a place near Me, where you can stand upon the rock. When My glory passes, I shall put you in the rock’s cave, and cover you with My palm until I pass. Then I shall remove My palm and you shall see My back, but My face may not be seen.

The LORD said to Moses: Carve out two stone tablets for yourself, like the first ones, and I will inscribe on them the same words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Prepare yourself by morning, for in the morning you shall go up to Mount Sinai and stand before Me there, at the summit. No one shall go up with you, nor shall anyone be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the sheep and cattle may not graze in front of that mountain. *So he carved out two stone tablets like the first ones; Moses arose early in the morning and walked up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking in his hand the two stone tablets. The LORD descended in a cloud, and stood with him there; and proclaimed in the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving-kindness and truth, extending loving-kindness to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion and sin, and absolving [the guilty who repent]; He shall not absolve [those who do not repent], but shall visit the punishment of fathers’ sins upon their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.” And Moses hastened to bow to the ground, prostrating himself. He said: “O LORD, if I find favor in Your eyes, please, let the LORD go forth in our midst, for this is a stiff-necked people; forgive us our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” He said: “Behold, I will forge a covenant: in the presence of your entire people I will work wonders like none ever formed in all the world or for any nation; this people among whom you dwell shall witness the works of the LORD, for what I will do for you is awesome indeed. *Keep what I command you today; I shall expel the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizites, the Hivites and the Jebusites for you. Guard yourselves against forging any covenant with the inhabitants of the land that you are about to enter, so that they do not become a snare in your path. Instead, shatter their altars, break apart their sacred pillars, and cut down their worshiped trees. For you may not bow to any other god, for the LORD’s name is Jealous; He is a jealous God. [And so do this,] lest you make a covenant with an inhabitant of the land and, when they stray after their gods and offer sacrifices to them, he invite you to partake of his sacrifice, and you do. And lest you take of his daughters to marry your sons; and these daughters stray after their gods and cause your sons to worship them too. Do not make molten gods for yourselves. *Observe the Festival of Matzot: you shall eat matzot for seven days as I have commanded you, at the season of the month of Aviv, for in the month of Aviv you went out of Egypt. Every firstborn that opens the womb is Mine, as well as every firstborn male of your herd, whether bullock or lamb. A firstborn donkey must be redeemed with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you must behead it; each of your own firstborn sons must be redeemed: do not approach Me empty-handed. Six days you shall do your work but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing and in sowing seasons too, you must rest. You shall celebrate a Festival of Weeks [Shavuot] at the time of the first wheat harvest, and a festival of ingathering [Sukkot] at the completion of the year. Three times a year all males shall present themselves before their Master, the LORD God of Israel. When I conquer nations for you and extend your borders, no one will covet your land when you go up to be seen by the LORD your God, three times each year. Do not slaughter My [Pesaḥ] offering along with leaven; the offering of the Pesaḥ festival must not be allowed to remain until morning. You shall bring the first fruits of your land to the house of the LORD your God. Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.

HAFTARA FOR SHABBAT ḤOL HAMO’ED PESAḤ

The LORD pressed His hand upon me; He brought me out with His wind and placed me in the valley; it was filled with bones. He made me traverse them all around; and there were very many of them all over the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones be revived?” And I said, “LORD, O God, You alone know.” He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones; say to them, ‘O dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! For so says the LORD God to these bones: Behold, I shall place My spirit within you and you shall live. I will place sinews upon you, pad you with flesh, and cover you with skin, and I shall place a spirit within you and you shall live; and you will know that I am the LORD.’” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a sound, a rattling noise – and the bones came together, each bone to its bone. And I watched as sinews were placed upon them, and flesh padded them, and skin covered them on the surface – but they were without breath. He said to me, “Prophesy, son of man, prophesy to the wind; say to the wind, ‘Thus said the LORD God: Come, wind, from all four directions, and breathe into these slain ones, so that they might live.’” And I prophesied as He had commanded me, and the wind breathed into them and they were alive, and they stood upon their feet, an exceedingly vast army. He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel: behold, they say, ‘Our bones have dried, our hope is lost, our decree has been sealed.’ Therefore, prophesy, saying to them, ‘Thus spoke the LORD God: Behold, I shall open your graves and lift you out of your graves, My people; I shall bring you to the land of Israel. And you will know that I am the LORD when I open your graves and lift you out of your graves, My people. I shall breathe My spirit into you and you shall live, and I shall place you upon your land, and you will know that I am the LORD: I have spoken and performed,’ says the LORD.”