Summary of The Haftorah:
Judges: 11 1:33
In the year 2779 Yiftach HaGiladi became Judge - Shofet. Yiftach is
described as a gifted warrior who was seemingly unworthy of becoming the
Shofet. His brothers had cast out Yiftach because he was the son of a
concubine. While away from his family Yiftach gathered around himself an
army of outlaws. Due to the oppression and tyranny of Ammon, Yiftach was
asked by the elders of Gilad to return to the family and lead them against
the forces of Ammon. Yiftach was victorious and remained Shofet for six
There are a number of reason why the story of Yiftach was selected to
complement Parshas Chukas. First of all the issue of leadership. The Talmud
tell us that "Yiftach in his generation was like Samuel in his generation."
Although Yiftach was not the greatest scholar, he nevertheless was the
recognized leader and a prophet. As such he was accorded the absolute
support of the Halacha and the people. This support can at times appear as
dogmatic as the law of the Red Heifer. However, our absolute support for our
acknowledged Torah leadership is the foundation of our legal system and the
transmission of Torah from generation to generation.
The second reason has to do with the battle with Sichon. Sichon was king of
the Ammonites who had taken possession of lands once belonging to Moab.
Sichon refused to allow the Bnai Yisroel to pass through his lands and went
to war against them. Sichon was destroyed and his lands were forfeited to
the Bnai Yisroel. In our Haftorah, the king of Ammon, as cousins to the
Moabites, claimed legal ownership to the lands which Moshe had taken from
Sichon, who had taken them from Moab.