Parshas Toldos: To Go Forward

 The word Toldos, which is the name of this week’s parsha, infers both progeny and that which one hands down to future generations. The parsha focuses on the arrival and growth of the next generation, but it is also about the critical ways in which the future Jewish nation must develop. This concept must be kept in mind as one reads Parshas Toldos, because otherwise, one is often left perplexed at many of the interactions. One of these perplexities is the simply stated “Yitzchak loved Esau because he had a taste for game; but Rivka loved Yaakov.”

 

Beyond the somewhat obvious statement that favortism in a family is a recipe for trouble, it is hard to understand how Yitzchak, who had a unique connection to the divine after his near sacrifice, could favor Esau. The Midrashim explain that Yitzchak believed Esau’s outwardness would make him capable of expanding those who understood Hashem in the world just as Avraham had. At some point, however, it becomes hard to believe that Yitzchak had no intuition that Esau did not care about the family legacy or that Yitzchak could not see Yaakov’s special strengths.

 

The Midrash tells us that Yitzchak loved Esau because he believed in Esau’s potential. Yaakov - if one thinks about what the Torah tells us - was a man of the tents, which implies he was a scholar; Yaakov was already meeting his spiritual potential. He was natural to Yitzchak’s world and, perhaps, Yitzchak felt that he had nothing left to really give to him. It is, one should remember, a primary Jewish concept that we grow to love through giving. Yitzchak was aware of where Esau was lacking and gave his energy toward helping him develop, and thus grew to love him over Yaakov.

 

On the other hand, the Torah, however, tells us rather specifically that Yitzchak loved Esau for the game he provided through hunting. Yitzchak had a reason to favor him. A bond was formed through what he gained. While this sounds like behavior unworthy of one of the avos, it just reminds us that they were human, and the Torah presents reality. People are affected by giving and receiving. There is a reason that even a compliment can be seen as a bribe when dealing with judges in halachos.

 

One cannot, of course, forget the fact that the Torah also states the Rivka loved Yaakov. Was she any less culpable for the difficult dynamic of the family if she too favored one child over another? Perhaps she is, but perhaps it is important to notice how this is written almost as an afterthought. Did Rivka love Yaakov because Yitzchak loved Esau, because as a mother she saw that one of her sons was being neglected? Or did she, perhaps, love Yaakov because he was like his father, because he was already atuned to the life she had chosen? Or, one step further, did she love Yaakov because Esau, in his outgoing worldliness that so enchanted Yitzchak, reminded her of herself and her family?

 

It seems simplistic to say that Yitzchak should have been aware that Yaakov was good, that he was spiritually striving, and that Esau was bad. Good and bad, righteousness and evil, are black and white terms that limit one’s understanding of the world. As wickedly inclined as our sages state that Esau was, they made certain to note that he excelled at the mitzvah of kibbud av, honoring his father.

 

We know that Esau presented a false front. The Torah whitewashes his behaviors in this chapter, but the Midrashim make it clear that Esau was driven by negative impulses to which Yitzchak turned a blind eye. The Torah states that Yitzchak was blind and unable to see, but he had not been blind throughout the twins’ life so as not to be able to see their natures. Yitzchak, in this case, was blind to Esau’s faults because he wanted to see the potential, wanted to believe that Esau could bring his powerful spirit into alignment with the path Avraham had set down. But also, Yitzchak was unable to see his mistake in favoring Esau because Hashem was making certain that all the pieces were in place for the history of the world to move forward, for Yaakov to not only receive the bracha but to be forced to move, and in being forced to move, he was forced to grow up and develop his own strengths.  

 

Yitzchak’s behavior provides and interesting lesson in life in the 2020s. It is simplistic to declare good and evil, both when speaking about Yaakov and Esau and when talking about world politics today. Every nation has nuances, and within that there are usually even more nuances. Esau was, after all, a true master of honoring his father. He wasn’t completely cut off from the Torah world. She c

 

Right now, the world is blind like Yitzchak. The world has grown to accept, if not to actually love, those who act like wild animals in the streets and who spew hatred, sometimes violently, against their neighbors. They see in the anti-Israel factions the opportunity to prove themselves generous in fostering potential for the future. They believe that nations can change their nature if the world just tries to understand them better and believes in their potential goodness – even when they kill and maim and murder.

 

And Yaakov, who sits in his tent and studies or minds the flock, is overlooked

 

For the last many months, the Jewish people have witnessed an assuredly peculiar situation,  watching the world support outright terrorists and politicians of all ilk make excuses for threatening and violent behavior. The twists and turns of truth – such as this week’s declaration by Montreal’s mayor that last week’s protests were peaceful until some ”vandals” got involved just to make trouble – are designed from above to bring things into focus for the Jewish nation. Such obvious ignorance and distortion of truth as pervades today’s media and discussions makes it obvious that everything occurring is yad Hashem, the hand of Hashem, and, therefore, there is a purpose whether we understand it or not.

Parshas Chayei Sarah

 

This week’s Parsha, Parshas Chayei Sarah, could be described as a parsha that is about death. After all, it begins with the death and burial of the matriarch and ends with the death and burial of the patriarch. (That may sound almost depressing, but it cannot be forgotten that in-between is the foundation of the next generation – the shidduch of Yitzchak and Rivka.) As significant as it is to have their passings and their burials recorded, the state of the world today bares a constant reminder of the other critical aspect of this parsha: the acquisition of a burial plot for Sarah.

 The details of the actual purchase of Marat Hamachpela are vital for the Jewish people to know and understand. Avraham’s specifically public negotiations and payment set the tone for all of his descendants. Even while Hashem had promised Avraham that his children and his children’s children, the myriad there would be for generations, would inherit the land, there were right ways and wrong ways to go about it. Avraham’s insistence on a clean purchase, on no solicitous gifts or false faced dealings such as those presented by Ephron the Hittite, reverberates through history and empowers us even today.

 It is interesting to note that Ephron the Hittite is recorded at both the beginning and the end of the parsha. The beginning, when the negotiations are recorded, make sense. Why, however, does the Torah repeat Ephron’s name when Yitzchak and Yishmael bring their father to his final resting place.  “His sons Yitzchak and Yishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife (Bereishis 25:9-10).

 The obvious answer is that his name is attached here for clarification, so that no one will be confused about where Avraham was buried. That answer is just a bit too obvious because it would simply be redundant information. Bereishis 23 makes the purchase very clear by the burial of Sarah. We must, therefore, look deeper.

 The Midrash notes in Bereishis Rabbah 58 that Ephron was greedy. His persona is associated with Mishlei 28:22: “A greedy man rushes after wealth; and he does not know that diminishment will befall him.” His diminishment is noted in the Torah in that Pasuk 23:16 “diminished the letter vav from him.”  And while this specific short-form is noted at the end of the negotiations with Avraham, the negotiations in which Avraham demonstrated straight-forwardness and integrity, it should be noted that the short form is also used in the one reference to Ephron in perek chaf-hey. Avraham was willing to pay whatever price was necessary for Machpela, even the bloated evaluation of Ephron the Hittite. Thus stating the contrast between the two and legitimizing Avraham’s purchase of the cave.

 But this set of pasukim in Perek Chaf-Hey catch the commentators’ attention for other reasons. The pasuk states: “His sons Yitzchak and Yishmael...” Proper format, even according to today’s etiquette, is that the name of the elder child goes first. And while we know that Yitzchak was Avraham’s true heir, Yishmael was, nevertheless, his first-born son. A fair number of commentators, such as Rabbeinu Bahya and the Ramban determine from this pasuk that Yishmael has, by the time of his father’s funeral, done complete teshuva. This explanation means that not only did he repent of all his ways, but that he started following his father’s path.

 In doing teshuva, Yishmael needed to do more than just turn his life around. He had to overcome a possibly justifiable sense of righteous indignation at being seconded by a much younger brother. He had to put aside his jealousy at the bracha showered upon Yitzchak. He had to “see” that there was a designated path and accept it. Let’s be realistic, it probably was not an easy thing for him to do.

 Adding in the fact that Yishmael set his pride aside and acknowledged Yitzchak’s position at Machpela reminds us that Yishmael was fully cognizant of the legitimacy of the claim of Yitzchak’s descendants to the Promised Land. However, there is still a lingering question as the why it was necessary to repeat “the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre, the field that Avraham had bought from the Hittites.”

 We have all seen the maps of the Middle East. There are giant splashes of one color and a tiny sliver of another – a provocative reminder of the size of the claim the State of Israel has for a Jewish national holding compared to the size and number of Arab states. By stating this very specific location, the Torah is setting a reminder that we may claim only that which is ours and that we have no need for that which is others. The Jewish nation has no desire for anything more than its homeland, and the fact that it is our homeland – that Yitzchak’s descendants had precedence – was acknowledged and respected by Yishmael, the forefather of the Muslim people.

 Good Shabbas and Mazal Tov Eitan Kelly on you Bar Mitzvah this Shabbas.

Parshas Vayeira: Talk to Hashem

(I hate to start the parsha off with an apology, but I am going to do so nevertheless. I am adjusting to a very different teaching schedule this year, which means I have to rewire my brain to write earlier, which I have not yet managed. My process, therefore, is a bit more curtailed and off-the-cuff than I would like  - meaning less reading into the words and more conceptual.)

 

It would be easy to jump into all that the parsha has to say about Hagar and Yishmael this week to talk about the situation in the world. This is, after all, the beginning of Yishmael. Indeed, even before Yishmael, we see the root of the problem in Hagar, who, according to the Midrashim, flaunted herself before Sarah as the real wife of Avraham because of her ability to carry a child. Hagar did not see that Sarah’s own spiritual greatness was a contributing factor to the greatness of this family. It is interesting to note that between Yishmael and the sons she bore when she returned as Keturah, the children of Hagar, the population disparity was 7 to 1. But population, or might, did not make right, and Hashem designated only Yitzchak as Avraham’s true heir.

 

Thus has it been proven how easy it is to look at Parshas Vayeira and see deep connections to our life and times in 2024. There is, however, another section of the parsha that seems important to look at, and that is Avraham’s conversation with Hashem about S’dom.

 

One could consider Avraham’s petition to Hashem futile. Afterall, he didn’t stop the destruction of S’dom. S’dom’s destruction was, at that point, inevitable. Every argument that Avraham could prepare was something Hashem had already taken into consideration. Hashem had made His decree, and history was set in motion. So why was this discussion included in the Torah? Indeed, not only was it included, but the Torah goes out of its way to stress how important Hashem felt it was to tell Avraham about that which was about to happen.

 

But everything in the Torah serves a purpose for the future of Klal Yisrael. Throughout the thousands of years of our history, the Jewish people have faced times of immense crisis. Often, we could see the danger coming, but it seemed that the spirals of history were too far in motion to be stopped. We might feel forsaken. We might feel unheard. We might even feel bereft and abandoned.

 

Hashem wants us to be like Avraham, to react and to try to change the world. The dialogue with Avraham tells us that we still have a proactive responsibility to try, to pray, to beseech Hashem. There are no unstoppable spirals; there is only that which Hashem decrees. S’dom couldn’t be spared or redeemed, but still Hashem listened and was mindful of that which Avraham argued. Hashem listened to the possibility, dwindling, that there might be righteous people left, and one must believe that if He could have found a redeeming feature for S’dom, He would have.

 

The year 5784 feels like the beginning of another spiral. So much has happened that feels out of control, out of line with the natural course of history and society… that’s, at least, how it feels. We have davened to Hashem, and yet we still await resolution. We have beseeched Hashem, and the hostages are still not free.

 

Avraham kept inquiring down to the last 10. This is the chizuk that we must take from the parsha. History has a path, Hashem’s path. We won’t always like it; it will sometimes be devastating – in truth - but Hashem knows the far greater plan. Our voices cannot remain silent, because our calling out to Hashem is the core of our relationship; it is our true inheritance from Avraham.

 

 

 

 

 

Parshas Lech Lecha: The Extra Hoo

 As a child, one of the most exciting ideas to learn is that every person has a unique fingerprint. Even when we are young, our psyche ponders our place in the world, our role in the universe, and learning that our fingerprints are completely our own – even if one is an identical twin – is an affirmation to our uniqueness. Fingerprints are a physical expression of an important fact, that each one of us has a unique neshama.

 

The essence of human life is that we are a combination of goof and neshama, the physical and the spiritual, and this, perhaps, has significance when one reads Bereishis 13:1. “And Avram went up from Mitzrayim - he and his wife and all that was to him - and with Lot, to the Negev/South.” The grammar in this pasuk leaves much to question for its seeming redundancy. Avram went up – he and his wife. Why does the pasuk add the pronoun hoo/he, when it already states his action? Why are Avram and Lot named, but not Sarai?

 

Each one of these people had a journey that impacted them on every level. Avram came to Mitzrayim and became a man of great wealth and influence. There in what was considered the epitome of civilization in the ancient world, Avram gained material wealth and associated power. For most people, being so well treated and honored by Pharoah would be seen as the epitome of success. But Avram was able to look beyond the material gains of Mitzrayim and recognize that returning to Eretz Canaan was the truly upward path. Avram, when leaving Mitzrayim, took both his physical self and his spiritual self.

 

Hoo v'eeshto – He and his wife. Why isn’t Sarai named. Certainly, their journey to Mitzrayim impacted her more than anyone else. She was physically taken to Pharoah, held captive and unsolicitedly wooed. But for Sarai, there was no attraction to life in Mitzrayim. There was no risk of her losing track of who she was and what her purpose was. According to Bereishis Rabba, Avram put her in a box to protect her on their way into Mitzrayim, and while that may not have kept her from the soldiers’ notice, she went down to Mitzrayim spiritually protected. Thus when they went up she was the same partner she had always been; she was the match to Avram’s “hoo.”

 

Lot, on the other hand, left Mitzrayim with his name and his wealth. He didn’t change for the better not did he adhere to principles. Lot went with Avram when Avram went up because he had to, but he, his deeper essence, did not ascend. Lot just followed.

 

Parshas Lech Lecha is a parsha very much about being and journeying. Who we are and where we are matter, as does where we are heading. And all of that can be understood on the two distinct plains of existence. We may live in a place that is spiritually unhealthy, but we ourselves do not have to become spiritually unhealthy. It is easy to be like Lot and lose yourself to physical comfort and material enrichment. It is inspirational to look to Sarai and know that even in times of mortal danger one can maintain one’s spiritual dominance. But it is to Avram that klal Yisrael looks to demonstrate how we must emulate our ancestors. He accepted success but always remembered the importance of his relationship with Hashem. He did not shun wealth, but later, when he saw how wealth effected his nephew, he was able to prioritize proper conduct over material ease.

 

 This week’s parsha starts out with Lech Lecha, those famous words that can be translated as “Go for yourself.” Each of us is on a unique journey through this world. And each of us must strive to make certain that we are not just a name, not just the physical manifestation of ourselves, but that we bring with us our neshamos, that we go up as we go forward.

 Wishing you all a beautiful Shabbas.

 

Parsha Noah: In an Era of Safa

 Parshas Noah: In an Era of Safa

Let’s be honest. Many of us are looking to the week ahead and wondering what will be. As I write this Dvar Torah at midnight on Erev Shabbas Rosh Chodesh MarCheshvan, the headlines are filled with discussions of Iran’s threats of imminent attack and no one can even make sense of the political headlines on the eve of the US elections. Thank goodness Hashem runs the world as we mere mortals are truly on the wrong track.

 

Interestingly, we might be on the same wrong track as one described in this week’s parsha - the Dor Haflaga, the generation of the Tower of Bavel. It is a narrative we all know. The world’s population gathered together and built a tower with the intention of fighting Hashem. They believed that they had no need for Hashem. If we look back twenty years or so ago, many people in the west possibly felt same way. Certainly, there were problems, global hot spots or revolutions, but with the dissolution of the Cold War, most nations felt more connected than ever. The internet’s pervasiveness crossed and broke boundaries; it brought people together. Technology would shape our lives.

 

When we talk about language in a Torah context, most of us think of lashon, which is also the word for the tongue. It’s how we form words internally. Our inner voice is the voice of our souls. But Bereishis 11 does not talk about lashon. It talks about safa, the language of the lips.

 

Safa is an external language. Safa is the language of the internet. Safa is the language spoken because that’s what everyone else is saying. It’s how politics devolved into hyperbole and soundbytes and name calling, because it became more important to sound like part of the herd then to stand out.

 

The Dor Haflaga was noted as being unified, and one might argue that today’s society is divided rather than unified – is unable to build because it is shaking its own foundations. But this question is addressed in an interesting Kli Yakar on Bereishis 11:1:

 

“For when the wicked gather together, they think among themselves of wicked plans against others. On top of this, fights, disagreements, and hatred break out among them. And this is the law of jealousy (alluding to Numbers 5:29) that is found among groups, all the actions of which are not for the sake of the Heavens, but rather to make a name for themselves in the world (referring to Genesis 11:4). And the main reason for this is that, since each one has his own personal motive, their hearts are divided against each other. For this one will desire money and glory, that one much food, the other much sex, and still another one will say, "Let's make a name for ourselves," and wants to be the highest of the high. Because of this, a fight develops. Either it is from not having one goal, given that there are many evil paths, whereas there is only one good path. Or it is from each one wanting and desiring to be more important and higher than the others. And is this trait not found in most of our people? Hence the dispersion of these groups is better than their assembly…”

We see this today. The language of protest is used to promote harrassment. The language of justice is used to promote hate. Our world is so much larger than the world of the Dor Haflaga. (After all, we aren’t the regeneration of human life after a world-washing flood.) Therefore, it is harder to recognize how unified the language of the world is. But it has been pointed out, far too many times lately, that both “the right” and “the left” have seen a dramatic rise in unveiled anti-Semitism. They are two sides of the same coin.

 

The Dor Haflaga lived in a time when Hashem’s presence was almost physical (Hashem is described as walking through Gan Eden, Noah is described as walking with Hashem). That was many eras ago, before Hashem pulled Himself back and before Hashem designated one nation to represent Him amongst all the others. The Dor Haflaga used their safa to build a tower to attack Hashem, the upcoming generation in western society – in their need to be seen as heroic, each as a “good” person – are using their safa to slander and demoralize Klal Yisrael, that one nation.

 

The Dor Haflaga recognized the existence of Hashem but resisted the idea of being under control. Today’s generation does not believe in Hashem, in the active force of God in the world. But, the Jewish people know differently.

 

Everything that has occurred over the last fateful year makes it almost impossible not to see Hashem’s hand in the world. Hashem is blindfolding an entire generation so that they appear unable to see true evil when it is before them, and Hashem is doing this, perhaps, so that Klal Yisrael will have their own eyes opened and will step away from the other nations and closer to Him before He knocks down their figurative tower.

 

With this in mind, as the week bears down on us, let us pray not for the right outcome – since what ever outcome occurs is right, is per Hashem’s intentions – but rather, let us daven the Klal Yisrael be given the strength to stay strong and see truth.

 

I wish you all a beautiful Shabbas