Parshas VaYishlach – Echoing the Present in the Past

We are all well-aware of the fact there is no land as special as Eretz Yisrael, and as frequently fought over, as the Promised Land. This current, horrible embroilment is just the next step. Not surprisingly, there is something relevant to discover in this week’s parsha.

Parshas Vayishlach begins with Yaakov and his family returning to the Land and coming into confrontation with Esau and a cadre of 400 men. Although there is a great deal of tension and undercurrents, they part in peace – and while Esau invited Yaakov to be closer to him, Yaakov wisely knew that that was a dangerous path.

At the end of the parsha, when the Torah delineates Esau’s lineage, there is a pair of verses that state:

Esau took his wives, his sons and daughters, and all the members of his household, his cattle and all his livestock, and all the property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land because of his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too many for them to dwell together, and the land where they sojourned could not support them because of their livestock. (36:6-7)

This pasuk is strangely reminiscent of the incident that occurred with Avraham and Lot when they returned to the Eretz Canaan after going to Pharaoh’s court in Mitzrayim. Lot separates from Avraham, for their possessions had also become to great to sojourn in the land together.

The duality of Yitzchak/Yishmael and Yaakov/Esau is well known, but when one sees how Bereishis 36:7 reflects Bereishis 13, one realizes that Lot was Avraham’s contrast. Lot is not considered a forefather of any continuing civilization the way Yishmael and Esau are, but perhaps one could say that he was the forefather of an over-all collective of the self-serving who have no strong belief.

What is interesting here is to note that, in history, the descendants of Lot and the descendants of Esau moved away from their claim to the Promised Land. The descendants of Yishmael did not, just as Yishmael himself seems to have remained attached to Avraham and, one might presume, continued to hope for a portion of the Promised Land.

There is no take-away inspiring take away message here. There is only the fascination with the Torah’s continual revelation of history. And that theme continues on a totally different note when one looks at the story of Shechem.

It is almost frightening to point out that the story of the City of Shechem begins with the abduction and violation of Dena, an innocent young lady who went out to visit the local ladies. The king of Shechem, in collusion with his people, presented his violating son as a potential suitor, and the situation ends with Levy and Shimon murdering the men of the town. It seems like “disproportionate” violence, and Yaakov even reprimands them while noting his fear of the neighboring tribes’ reactions. The Torah sheh’ baal peh, the oral Torah, however, makes it quite clear that the entire city was happy to celebrate Shechem’s behavior and therein we know that there was a deep evil rooted here.

Again, there is no call to action in this Dvar Torah. There is only the fascinating information one can discover in the Torah and the inspiration that provides.

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4Sherry Schwartz, Karen Saltzman and 2 others

Parshas Vayetze – The Influence of Lavan

 Dedicated to a refuah shelaima for Binyamin ben Simcha and Chaya Sofya Sara bas Mera. To the hostages who have been returned, may they have healing, and to those who remain hostage may they come home soon.

 

In Judaism, it is customary to think of our periods of exile by different names. The four great exiles are known as the Babylonian exile, the Persian exile, the Greek exile, and the Roman exile – this last being the exile of Edom that has continued for 2,000 years. There was also the Egyptian exile before we were a nation, and there are references to an oppression enforced by Yishmael. Today, as is commonly discussed, we live in the galus of Edom and suffer the persecution of Yishmael, but one of our greatest threats comes from what might be called the Influence of Lavan.

 

It seems that in every generation there is a set of time when humanity declares that society has descended into its lowest state. And quite often they are right. And quite often we are shocked to find that we can go even lower. It also seems to be true that that time has come and that there has rarely been an era in which deception, and, more significantly, self deception, has been allowed to become a cultural norm – at least in the West. This is the Influence of Lavan.

 

Although Lavan is mentioned earlier in the Torah, it is in Parshas Vayetze that his character is truly presented. Lavan has a reason and an explanation for all of his actions, and they are explanations that sound legitimate and plausible. When he switches Leah for Rochel on Rochel’s wedding day, he presents it as a kindness to his daughter and the following of tradition. When he demands that Yaakov work another seven years to wed Rochel, he hints that this is only fair, after all, since he worked seven years and got Leah. And then there was the matter of Yaakov’s wages for having worked for him long past the 14 years of his marriage vow, which Lavan continually tried to curtail even as he claimed that Yaakov need only specify his wages.

 

This last example is fascinating. Lavan told Yaakov to state how much he was owed, and, shortly thereafter, Lavan’s sons start to complain that Yaakov is taking all of their father’s wealth. Their statements did not come from a vacuum. They had grown up being told that Yaakov was an interloper, even though he was married to their older sisters and quite obviously was a dedicated employee. This was Lavan’s influence. This was the result of the subtle, and not so subtle comments, that must have infiltrated Lavan’s house as he recognized and tried to deny Yaakov’s success. That is Lavan’s nature, as he does, indeed, paint himself as the successful employer even though his wealth came from Yaakov’s hard work.

 

This is all well and good and, in truth, fairly common knowledge about Lavan. What we need to look at here is the behaviour of our ancestors, of Yaakov, of Leah, and of Rochel.  They met deceit with kindness. They met selfishness with rigour and staying true to living an honest, Gd-fearing lifestyle. The only time they seemed to falter from this path was when Rochel, with good intentions, made the decision to take her father’s idols to prevent him from worshipping them. Because she tried to do something righteous through pure trickery, she ended up bearing the weight of Yaakov’s curse.

 

Right now, as Yishmael attacks and Edom looks eagerly to watching Yaakov fall, we must all be wary of Lavan. Every year at Pesach we read in the Haggadah: "Go and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Yaakov our father… Lavan sought to uproot everything...” The duality of Lavan, when one claims both rightness and victimhood even as one perpetrates great ill, is a dangerous and cunning foe, and it is the foe we face today.

 

Many of us are left bewildered, struggling to comprehend how anyone could equivocate the violent offenders being released at a 3 to 1 ratio for innocent men, women, and children who were taken at gun point from their homes or from a recreational concert. Across the many types of medias, Jews and non-Jewish Israelis have set out a barrage of fact-based declarations, of heartfelt pleas for recognition, and even humorous works of satire to show the world that this is insane. More significantly, even as the world’s “peace-keeping” organizations like the UN and the Red Cross betray their very mandates, Israel strives to present evidence of the excessive measures it takes to try to prevent civilian casualties.

 

But this is Am Yisrael. This is who we are. Pound us. Berate us. Hate us. We will stay strong to the path of real justice. We will reflect our heritage as the descendants of Yaakov, Leah, and Rochel.

 

Stay Strong. Am Yisrael Chai.

Have a beautiful and meaningful Shabbas.

Parshas Toldos – Do Not Fear Their Boastful Entitlement.

Dedicated to a refuah shelaima for Chaya Sofya Sara bas Mera and Binyamin ben Simcha, and for the release of the captives and the safety of the chayalim.

I wish that I would not still be seeing correlations in the parsha to the times in which we live, but it has been over a month and the hostages have not been returned, and our soldiers are still fighting, and missiles are still falling upon the cities of Israel, and the nations have shed their masks and shown their true feelings towards us – both good and ill. And so, because it inspires me, I will continue to share with you those things within the parsha that strike me as fascinating correlations.

In this week’s parsha we read about Yitzchak’s interactions with the Philistines, and, again, in this it mean the ancient Aegean sea race. Like his own parents, Yitzchak takes his wife to Avimelech the King of Gerar. A significant number of pasukim are spent discussing this storyline, which mirrors that of the generation before. They pose as siblings, the king wants to marry Rivka, Hashem intervenes so that nothing happens, and Yitzchak and Rivka are recognized and treated with great respect.

There is, however, a second story with the Philistines, and this one seems to be of some significance into seeing that which we can now see as historical repetition. Yitzchak became wealthy and successful, and he noticed that the wells his father had dug had been stopped up. Avimelech asked Yitzchak to move away because his people were growing jealous, and Yitzchak politely obliged. But even after he moved, the Philistines were still jealous and hassled him. He discovered that they had stopped up the wells near Gerar that had been part of Avraham’s covenant with the Philistines. When Yitzchak’s servants dug new ones, the Philistines claimed them. Then it happened again. One more move, one more set of wells, and only then, when he had moved quite far away as, perhaps, implied in the name he gave the place – Rechovot (meaning wide) – did they leave him alone. And Yitzchak said, “For now the Lord has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”

It has always seemed odd that this situation is described in a way that is both vague and detailed. What might be the significance of these machinations being recorded? It appears to be just a land dispute. But was it, perhaps, a warning to us, so many millennia later, that there is an inherent untrustworthiness in the Philistines. We see a great sense of entitlement in how these original Philistine claim the land that Yitzchak made bountiful, and it feels like foreshadowing to the claims we are hearing today.

One would be remiss in looking at this narrative and not seeing that immediately after the Philistines seemed to give up and Yitzchak expressed what seems almost like relief, that Hashem visited him (when he went to Ber-Sheva) at night and said, “I am the God of Avraham, your father. Fear not, for I am with you, and I will bless you and multiply your seed for the sake of Avraham, My servant." (26:24).

This is the message that we must hold fast to. Their claims, their entitled declarations, mean nothing because Hashem has made a promise to the descendants of Avraham.

There is one more section in the Torah that is important to note: “And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were displeasing to his father Yitzchak. So Esau went to Yishmael, and he took Machalas, the daughter of Yishmael, the son of Avraham, the sister of Nebaios, in addition to his other wives as a wife” (28:8-9). Esau, wanting to try to set the world right by his own understanding of it, married into Yishmael.

Right now, we see news reports have stated that while it appears that the majority of people in the “West” support Israel, that is reversed among youth. The young face of Esau, bold and impetuous and thinking that they understand how to fix a world, has made the mistake of marrying themselves to Yishmael. But look closely at the name of Yishmael’s daughter: Machalas. If one translates this word into modern Hebrew one finds that it means disease. This joining of Esau and Yishmael is a disease upon the world…and the only cure is truth, emes.

We state that refuah lifnei hamacah, that Hashem prepares the cure before the illness. Bnei Yisrael knows the truth, and while the Palestinians seem to be masters at manipulating the media, their manipulation will, imertz Hashem, be their undoing.

May truth win swiftly, and may Klal Yisrael and the world know peace.

Parshas Chaye Sarah - Straight Talk in a World of Deception

Dedicated to a refuah shelaima for all of the injured in the war in Eretz Yisrael, for the safety of our soldiers, and as a prayer for the return of the hostages.

Parshas Chaye Sarah is composed of two main stories: the purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah as a burial placed for Sarah and finding a bride for Yitzchak. These two major moments seem very different, but they are connected by one thing in addition to their being the lifecycle events of patriarchs and matriarchs, and that connection is the subtle desire for deception verses talking straight.

This week in our current situation, it would be easy to jump into a Dvar Torah about Avraham’s purchase of Machpela from Ephron. But if you are reading this, you are probably not someone who needs proof of the Jewish people’s right to exist in the Promised Land. The text of the exchange has always been a bit of a mystery. Had the Midrashim and the commentaries not told me that there was subtext, that Ephron offered the land without any interest in not being paid the full market price, I would have thought that Avraham was highly beloved by his neighbors.

Even when Avraham insists on paying, Ephron declares, “My lord, listen to me; a [piece of] land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is it between me and you? Bury your dead” (Bereishis 23:15). The general response is that this was a cultural response, a way of saving face in front of the Hittites. This may be true, and many of us have enjoyed haggling in the shuk, but it also demonstrates that Avraham was not interested in this game. He asked what the land cost and paid the premium price because he understood one of the most significant messages in the Torah: words matter. What is said matters.

Once the cave is purchased, Avraham looks to settle Yitzchak down and sends his servant Eliezer to Charan to find a bride. Hereto we have a situation where everything looks to be on the up-and-up. Lavan, Rivka’s brother, invites him to their home – and the Torah even tells us that Lavan did so only after hearing that Eliezer appeared rich. Her father and brother seem to be looking out for her in all of their discussions. And yet we know, from actions still to come and from the explanation of our greatest Midrashim, that they were duplicitous. They actually, according to the Midrash, had no intention of handing him Rivka but rather planned on murdering him and taking all of his gold.

Here is the interesting thing. Already, the Torah has provided a great deal of detail about what happened when Eliezer met Rivka, before she told her mother of him and her brother rushed to invite the rich man home. Once they have arrived at her home and Eliezer has been welcomed, he is invited to sit with them for a meal. He responds: “And [food] was set before him to eat, but he said, ‘I will not eat until I have spoken my words.’ And he said, ‘Speak.’” (24:33). This would not be so interesting if the Torah did not then present the entire story all over again from the lips of Eliezer…in many pasukim.

Eliezer, Avraham’s closest disciple, lays all of his cards on the table from the very beginning. Just like Avraham his master. There is no interest in playing games. There is no interest in underhanded gain. There is no interest in saving face and acting as if he has zero self-interest. This is the Torah value.

Stepping into the modern era and hearing the twisted history of stealing land, one cannot help but think of how Jews bought so many hecters (forgive me if that is the wrong term) of land in the first half of the 20th century and how the Zionist movement was clear on its call for a Jewish Homeland. There was no duplicity.

One might argue that in just a few weeks we will read the Torah narrative of Yaakov, who is known for the midda of emes and yet is called by his wife Leah the chief of the deceivers (in a Midrash). Yet when Yaakov buys Esav’s birthright, he speaks in straightforward terms and when he deals with Lavan he tries every means to express exactly what he wants, even as Lavan twists words and manipulates him constantly. And while the narrative of the brachos from Yitzchak is difficult, the text makes it clear that Yaakov did this against his will and tried his best to stick to the truth by, according to the Midrash, carefully wording his responses.

We have remained a straightforward people, and we will remain this way. Ephron, Besuel, Lavan and etc. have one major thing in common: They put on the face they thought that the person they were speaking to wanted to see even though they had plans in their minds that were far from the words that came from their mouths. This is the path of world politics and the media. This duplicity is the great public relations game that, to be honest, the State of Israel has been failing for decades. But, perhaps, it is not Israel’s fault. Perhaps, Baruch Hashem, this is just the way of our people. We have, right now, such simple wants – we want the hostages returned and to live in peace in our land. But the world can’t hear these basic requests because the world functions on deception, on the expectation that whatever is being asked for is not really what is desired. Our enemies speak of peace and ceasefire and humanitarian considerations with the intention of using that time to regroup, as they have proven time and time again. Israel asks for the return of the hostages and the end of Hamas – but no one believes our straightforward truth.

And while the world of nations might not care that we are genuinely laying our cards on the table, Hashem does. We are once again proving ourselves to be the true descendants of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. (---a fact not to be lost during the parsha in which the lineage of Ishmael is delineated!)

May the coming of Moshiach be swift and easy. May the hostages be returned hale and healthy to their families. May the suffering of our people in Eretz Yisrael come to an end. Am Yisrael Chai! Shabbat Shalom.

Parshas Vayerah: Avimelech of Gerar and Looking Ahead

 Dedicated to the chayalim who are protecting our nation and to the comforting of the displaced and the bereaved among our people and to a refuah shelayima to those who have been injured.

 

We are three parshiot into the new cycle of the Torah reading and four weeks into a devastating time period for the Jewish people. This week we read Parshas Veyerah, which is also the portion that we read on Rosh Hashana. It is a parsha that is overloaded with themes and ideas and lessons we can taken from our forefathers into our daily lives. It is the source of our greatest narratives: the care of guests from Avraham, the need to try to change the fate of society, the importance of family and family connections, and more.

 

Parshas Vayerah is also the parsha in which we meet the original Avimelech of Gerar, the king of a Pilishtim city. The Pilishtim of the Tanaach, it should be noted, have been identified as an Aegean boat society that settled in the Land of Canaan and who had no connection to Arabs. The inclusion of the Pilishitim in Vayerah is seemingly straight-forward and somewhat benign. It is almost a reiteration of the previous parsha’s events in Egypt; Avraham and Sarah travel out of the Promised Land due to famine and speak of themselves as siblings for protection. The ruler of the land, Avimelech, sees Sarah and wishes to marry her, he is punished by the Divine hand, realizes his mistake, and makes peace with Avraham. This takes place in Perek Chaf. In the next Perek, however, the Pilishitm king comes back in what seems to be an odd afterthought narrative:

 

Now it came to pass at that time, that Avimelech and Phicol his general said to Avraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. And now, swear to me here by God, that you will not lie to me or to my son or to my grandson; according to the kindness that I have done with you, you shall do with me, and with the land wherein you have sojourned."

 

And Avraham said, "I will swear." And Avraham contended with Avimelech about the well of water that the servants of Avimelech had forcibly seized. And Avimelech said, "I do not know who did this thing, neither did you tell me, nor did I hear [of it] until today" (Bereishis 21:22-26).

 

 

Here is history. Avimelech sees what Avraham has; he acknowledges Avraham’s relationship with Hashem. That does not, however, keep from dissembling. He is the king, and he knows what business his people have been about with the wells. (And a similar situation will occur in the next generation as well.) The commentator, Haemek Davar explains: “Avraham was concerned not about the injustice done to him but about the lack of fear of Heaven on the part of Avimelech’s men and presumably Avimelech himself. How could he propose swearing in Hashem’s Name if he had no fear of Him?”

 

 

Long before the current political situation, the Torah warned us about stealth and lies. Long before social media, we were warned that from the people known as Pilishtim, we can expect false declarations of innocence.

 

 

I do not usually write in such a highly political bent, but I think we are in an unusual time. Let me point out another fascinating piece of this week’s parsha. Just before these verses, the Torah relays the saving of Hagar and Ishmael, which concludes with the verses: “And God was with the lad, and he grew, and he dwelt in the desert, and he became an archer. And he dwelt in the desert of Paran, and his mother took for him a wife from the land of Egypt” (21:20-21). Here, in the midst of the two interactions with Avimelech of Gerar, is the formative event of the forefather of Islam.

 

 

What can we learn from this now beyond the fascination of seeing the present in the past? We see in Parshas Vayerah that the world has direction, that nations and peoples have character from their inception. Indeed, this is the parsha in which Amon and Moav are born of their father…And this is the parsha in which Yitzchak is born with the spirit of laughter – and in laughter I mean the sound of defying the odds – and he goes forth with his father in stoic understanding that to uphold the world there must be the ability to sacrifice and the knowledge that Hashem’s rachamim is present, even if we do not see it immediately.

 

The promises of other nations are fraught with the lack of Yiras Shemayim. The only trust we need to give is to Hashem.