Vayikra - For My Sake

Yeshayahu 43:21-44:23

In the middle of this week’s Haftorah, Yeshayahu declares:אָנֹכִי אָנֹכִי הוּא מֹחֶה פְשָׁעֶיךָ לְמַעֲנִי וְחַטֹּאתֶיךָ לֹא אֶזְכֹּר, I, I am the One who erases your transgressions—for My sake—and your sins I will not remember. (Yeshayahu 43:25)

The repetition of the word אָנֹכִי immediately echoes the moment when the covenant between Hashem and Israel first began: אָנֹכִי ה׳ אֱלֹקֶיךָ. At Har Sinai, that word introduced the relationship that would bind Hashem and His people across generations. Here, Yeshayahu invokes it again. Even after distance and failure, the prophet reminds the people that the covenant established at Sinai still stands.

But the verse contains another striking word: לְמַעֲנִי, for My sake. One might expect forgiveness to come for our sake - because we repent, because we improve, because we merit it. Yet the prophet frames it differently. Hashem forgives לְמַעֲנִי.

The Malbim explains that the forgiveness described here does not arise from the merit of the generation alone. Rather, it flows from Hashem’s own commitment to the covenant and to the purpose for which Israel exists.

The bond that began with אָנֹכִי at Har Sinai therefore continues across time. Even when the relationship falters, the covenant does not disappear. Hashem remains committed to the promise and to the future it is meant to bring about.

Forgiveness, in this vision, is not only an act of compassion toward the past. It is an affirmation of the future — of the enduring covenant that began with the word אָנֹכִי.