The haftarah of Parshas Yisro begins with the Prophet Yeshayah beholding a vision of the Merkavah - Hashem's exalted throne, with adjacent malachim (angels) proclaiming Hashem's holiness and lauding His glory. Yeshayah then describes how Hashem's palace is shaken and fills up with smoke, which the commentators explain as a reference to Hashem's displeasure toward the King of that era, Uziyahu. Yeshayah is subsequently endowed with the authority to serve as a prophet, and he proceeds to depict incidents of national downfall, proclaiming in each of the prophecies in the haftarah that a measure of salvation will nonetheless be forthcoming as a result of the zechus (merit) of those sole individuals who remain righteous. Despite overall disaster, the merit of the tzaddikim will facilitate perseverance and an eventual return to Hashem. (This is a summary of the haftarah based on some of the commentaries.)

The question arises: What does this haftarah have to do with Parshas Yisro? The theme of the haftarah seems unrelated to the parshah.

Some explain that Yeshayah's vision of the Merkavah parallels Maamad Har Sinai, the Revelation at Sinai, in which B'nei Yisroel beheld God's intense glory as no other humans have ever done.

The parallel between Maamad Har Sinai and the Merkavah is clear; however, the relationship of the balance of the haftarah (which comprises the majority of it) with Parshas Yisro or with Maamad Har Sinai still needs to be explained.

Maamad Har Sinai is described many times in the Torah as the source of our emunah, our faith, in Hashem's Torah, for our ancestors personally experienced the Revelation at Sinai, hearing Hashem speak directly to them as He commanded the mitzvos. No other religion claims such an experience. In other religions, an individual claims that he had a prophecy, and he spreads the alleged truth of the prophecy via private or semi-private persuasion. As the Torah states in Sefer Devarim, we entered into our relationship with Hashem at Sinai not by someone claiming to have experienced a prophecy, or by hearsay; our ancestors were present and heard Hashem speaking live to them, as they were in a supernatural aura of thunder, lighting and intense shofar blasts, with Moshe ascending Har Sinai's envelopment of thick cloud.

Chazal (the Sages) teach that every Jewish soul, even of those Jews not yet born, was present at Maamad Har Sinai. What is the significance of this notion?

Maamad Har Sinai was important not only in terms of its serving as testimony to the truth of Torah to those present. Rather, Maamad Har Sinai imprinted the truth of Torah on every Jew, in the recesses of his neshamah, his soul.

We sometimes meet Jews who have strayed from Judaism but are moved by exposure to Torah, and at times we meet Jews who claim to have no interest in Torah and casually reject it, yet are strangely uncomfortable when they encounter Torah teachings or Torah-observant Jews and seem to express a sense of inner guilt and angst which accompanies or overshadows their dismissive attitude. Why? Because all Jews have an internal connection to Torah, regardless of any outer lack of acceptance or commitment to it – for the souls of all Jews were present at Maamad Har Sinai, and they have been sensitized to its message, however hidden and negated it may appear in their attitudes and involvement. (Think of a person who as a child experienced an event of major, seismic proportions. That event will remain with him forever, even if he tries to forget it, and it will evoke emotional and/or intellectual responses, even on a subconscious level, throughout his life, whenever something relating to that event transpires. Such is the case of the Jew, for whom Maamad Har Sinai is forever etched into his neshamah, and eternally impacts when experiences that touch upon Torah occur.)

We can now better understand how the haftarah as a whole relates to Maamad Har Sinai. In the haftarah, Yeshayah first envisions the Merkavah, as a preparation for future Nevu’ah (prophecy). Why is this? The answer is that Yeshayah had to behold the unforgettable and striking image of the Merkavah in order to properly carry the messages of inspiration and teshuvah to those on a path away from Hashem. The indelible imprint that experiencing the Merkavah made on Yeshayah would charge and enable him to bring the clarity of Hashem’s holiness and authority to others. This parallels Maamad Har Sinai, which left an indelible imprint on the souls of B’nei Yisroel, such that they would always relate to Hashem and His Torah at a core, often hidden and undetectable level. The inspiration of Maamad Har Sinai cannot be erased and is the source of our religious inspiration throughout time.

So too, Yeshayah depicts an eventual measure of salvation that will come after each negative incident in the haftarah. What enables such salvation, wherein inspired Jews return to Hashem, in spite of their ancestors’ and society’s downward paths? It is the inner spark of Sinai that burns in each Jew which enables him to transcend his background and surroundings and respond and reconnect to Sinai, regardless of his ancestors’ and society’s negative trajectory. This ability to reconnect is fueled by the image of Mattan Torah and its organic memory in every Jew’s inner mind and soul. The personal experience of the Revelation that each Jew carries with him enables him to be return to Hashem, as depicted in the prophecies of Yeshayah and as will occur again, may it be soon.