Parshas Vayeira: Lesson in the Long Plot

 

 Parshas Vayera is over-flowing with ideas to talk about, many of which could be shockingly personal. This is hard to understand if you read the parsha on a superficial level. Afterall, how many of us can relate to angels visiting, cities being destroyed, family members being told to leave, or being asked to sacrifice one’s child. And that’s not even all of it! For all the rather drastic moments of the parsha, however, there are dynamics that each of us relate to in our own lives. Not all moments in the Torah are relatable – I certainly have never quite understood the Bris Bein Habaturim at the end of last week’s parsha – but underlying the entire Sefer Bereishis is the reminder that life is complicated; it has many ups and downs, even for those who had direct interaction with Hashem, perhaps all the more so for them. Life is not meant to be flat and easy, although in the challenging moments we often wish it were.

 This week’s parsha once again (connected to last week’s writing) finds Avraham faced with the dilemma of needing to part from a family member. When Avraham told Lot to separate from him because he was unable to live up to the moral standards that Avraham viewed, it seems practical and justified. First of all, Lot is a grown man. Secondly, Lot is going away to a good situation (well, at least for the moment).

 When Sarah presents a similar situation to him, having a member of the household who seems unable to live up to the moral standards of the household, who is running wild and being blatantly belligerent, the situation isn’t so simple. Avraham cannot see the flaws in Yishmael as he did in Lot. He has to wait for Hashem to tell him that Sarah is seeing the world more accurately than he is.

 Of course, you say – this makes total sense since Yishmael is his son. Lot was only his nephew. Except Lot wasn’t “only” his nephew. At that point, Lot had been like a son to him and his presumed heir. More significantly, and sometimes overlooked, is that Lot was Sarah’s brother, so they were twice connected.

 It is, perhaps, interesting to follow the line of this narrative. Avraham splits with Lot. Lot moves to Sodom. Lot is kidnapped and needs to be rescued in a war. He is returned, by Avraham, to Sodom. Lot’s life is then completely overturned (pun intended) when Hashem destroys the valley of Sodom and Amorah. Lot ends up stranded in a cave with his two daughters and, well, you know the rest of that story. It is several years after this that Avraham is faced with the question of sending Yishmael away. Perhaps, beyond his difficulty seeing the true nature of Yishmael’s behavior, Avraham also suffered from a sense that had he not sent Lot away, Lot’s life would have turned out differently.

 When Avraham does accept that Sarah is right – you know, with a little help from Hashem – it is still not an easy thing for him to do. And unlike the story of Lot, Yishmael’s departure does not come quickly to an easy life. The boy nearly dies on the journey away.

 At the end of Parshas Vayera, Avraham must once more make a decision to part from a relative. There is, in a way, an escalation. He decided Lot needed to separate from him – good start, bad end. Sarah, and Hashem, informed him that he needed to send Yishmael away – bad start, decent end, but more on that in a moment. Finally, Hashem commands Avraham to bring Yitzchak and fully part from him by offering him to Hashem.

 The commandment to bring Yitzchak is huge, and Avraham doesn’t flinch. He was certainly hesitant to send Yishmael away from his tents, which is far less drastic sounding than bringing Yitzchak for a sacrifice. But just as Avraham’s hesitation at Yishmael had, perhaps, a remnant of trauma at the fate that befell Lot, his lack of hesitation at bringing Yitzchak is because he has seen what became of Yishamel. According to the Midrash, Yishmael – referred to in this part of the parsha as the Naar, the youth – returned to his father’s household, returned to his father’s ways. A good ending, an unexpected outcome.

 It may seem a silly analogy on the outside. According to Avraham’s understanding of what Hashem wished him to do, there was no long-term good outcome. This was giving up his beloved son. But between Lot and Yishmael, Avraham had learned to understand that partings are part of life and that partings give each person the opportunity to fulfill (or fail at) their tafkid. Lot could have done Teshuva and returned, but he stuck to Sodom even when he knew their wicked ways. Yishmael did teshuva and returned to the path of Avraham.

It’s almost 10:30 now, and did most of this off-the-cuff this morning, so forgive me if it doesn’t make sense. Now, I must end. The take-away:

No person can know or understand where each step in life is going to take them.

Lech Lecha: Lifted Up Eyes

 “Lift up your eyes” is not a particularly uncommon phrase in the Torah, but perhaps this week we may find a beautiful idea of how Hashem brings to us midah kneged midah.

 

This week’s parsha includes the well-known incident of the parting of ways between Avram and his nephew Lot. Avram has been the patriarch of their small family of travellers, and Avram was the reason that they acquired the wealth and fame that they did. Lot went along for all of it and revelled in the family’s success. Avram’s flocks grew, and Lot’s flock grew. As Lot’s wealth increased, however, he forgot that what he had was not from his own merit, butthat he had benefitted from his relationship with Avram. It seems, based on what we know of Lot’s behavior, that he grew arrogant.

 

According to the Midrash, Lot allowed his shepherds to let his sheep go unmuzzled, to graze where they would. He acted as if he owned the land because he took it upon himself that he would be Avram’s heir.

 

Lot’s behavior was worthy of rebuke, but instead, Avram showed him respect and kindness. Rather than come to him and tell him that he was doing something wrong, which, by that point, Lot would not have heard (since he had already rationalized his actions), Avram spoke to him with utmost respect. He looked at the younger man and told him to choose his path. Avram’s telling him to choose to the left and he would go right or to the right and he would go left has the subtle implication that Avram understood that he could not influence Lot any further into choosing to follow a righteous path. Lot would have to choose that for himself.

 

Then Lot lifted up his eye, as it says in Bereishis 13:10, and “chose for himself” as it says in 13:11. He chose “kol kikar hayarden.” He didn’t choose a settlement; he chose all of the plain of the valley of the Yarden. When Lot lifts up his eyes, he does not have humility; rather, he has his true nature – avarice.

 

Avram had no requirement to give Lot free reign on where he would settle, but he wanted to treat Lot with dignity and respect. Perhaps, one could wonder, he hoped rather that Lot would wish to stay with him and would offer to amend his ways.

 

Four pasukim later, after Lot has departed for Sodom, Hashem calls to Avram and instructs him to follow in the course of action of his nephew. Hashem tells Avram to lift up his eyes and see the land. The situation, as we see, is very different. Hashem is here, in 13:14, telling Avram that everything that he sees – tzaphona v’negva v’kadma v’yama – north, south, east, and west, would be his. Hashem’s use of the phrase that just described Lot’s action, however, could be understood as an allusion to the way Avram interacted with Lot.

 

Hashem had many reasons for singling out Avram. One of them, perhaps, was the fact that Avram was able to treat Lot with such dignity. Lot disappointed Avram (who had thought, at one point, that Lot might be his heir) in not being able to live to Avram’s standards. When Avram saw that it was no longer appropriate for Lot to dwell within his camp, however, he did not hesitate to let him choose the place he would settle, to let him take from what Avram could have seen as land that was promised to him. In return for his incredible bein adam l’chavero, Hashem gently and lovingly reminded Avram that, no matter what, all of this land was the Promised Land.

 

We often have times when we know that someone behaves in a way we disagree with, when we feel we need give them tochacha. We are reminded here that how we treat that person is just as important, if not more important, than the guidance we wish to give them. Hashem did not draw Avram aside and remind him of His promise as a reward for sending Lot away since he could not live righteously, but the language of the Torah here signals the importance of Avram’s constantly keeping in mind the dignity of another. It is a lesson that never goes to waste!

Parshas Noah: Unique and Distinct

 Parshas Noah: Unique and Distinct

 We humans share the earth with a plethora of other life, and one of the most complicated questions modern society has had to resolve is how we view our role in the grand spectrum of earthly life. In Parshas Noah, Noah and his family are given the job of preserving the animals, of taking two – or seven – of each species and making certain that they survive the great flood. This, of course, fulfilled Hashem’s original dictate: “Hashem blessed them and Hashem said to them, ‘Be fertile and increase, fill the earth and master it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the living things that creep on earth.’” (Bereishis 1:28).

 While this pasuk is often translated as “rule over,” the wording of dominion allows for a broader understanding, one in which we humans are caretakers. This means that we have a constant and grave responsibility to think about how we treat the environment, about how interact with all types of life forms.

 One could say that Noah fulfilled this role in a way no other ever accomplished. He literally had the responsibility of saving the lives of every non-marine animal on the planet, so he certainly was their caretaker Except, Noah didn’t think of it on his own; he did it as a direct command from Hashem.

 Of course, if one is a true animal lover, one might worry about all the rest of the animals – the ones that perished in the flood. But there are commentaries that talk about the way the animals became corrupted by the behavior of humankind, and this, it is said, is why they were destroyed – in the same way as humankind, with only a choice set preserved for the next stage of the earth.

 The next stage of the earth…after the flood, when Noah and his wife and their sons and daughters-in-law emerged from the ark, was not only a moment of the earth’s rebirth, but a time when the dynamic of human and animal life shifted.

 Bereishis 9 says: “Hashem blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, ‘Be fertile and increase, and fill the earth.’” – Note the same language – “The fear and the dread of you shall be upon all the animals of the earth and upon all the birds of the sky—everything with which the earth is astir—and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand” (9:1-2). The question that seems immediately apparent is why does Hashem now introduce a dynamic in which the animals shall have fear and dread of humans?

 The easy answer is that in the next verse, 9:3, the right to eat flesh is introduced. Let’s pause, however, and remember that the order of the verses has its own significance. Hashem shifted the dynamic between animal and man and then gave man the right to eat meat. We can assume that one thing is tied to the other, but the truth is that Hashem could have given humans the right to eat meat and still left animals with a passive response to mankind. Why then did Hashem separate humanity in such a way from the rest of the living creatures on earth?

 Perhaps the world fell into violence as it did because humanity at the time was unable to distinguish themselves from the animals, because they saw their role as rulers or caretakes as one that left them confused by the distinctions. While Adam was created at the same time as the animals, Adam’s creation was completely different. Adam, the first human – and all humans after – were a synthesis of heaven and earth, of the spiritual and the physical. Perhaps the generations before the flood were unable to understand the expectations of that synthesis. Perhaps they were too in touch with their animal side. And then, after all that time in the ark, living together with the animals, Hashem made it clear throughout the world that there is, indeed, a difference.  Just because we are meant to take care of the wildlife of the planet does not mean we are to be the wildlife of the planet.

 It’s wonderful if you love animals – or if you have an animal that you specifically have a connection to. But, you are human. You are unique and distinct amongst all that Hashem Created.

 Wishing you all a beatufiful Shabbas.

 

 

 

 

Parshas Beirishis: A Lesson from Kayin

It is often discussed how Sefer Bereishis is a historical map for the Jewish people, how everything that occurred to our ancestors repeats through history. That leaves a question. What lessons do we learn from Parshas Bereishis? If you’re laughing because the answer appears to be beyond counting, that is certainly legitimate. We learn about the creation of the world, about mankind’s need to pray, about our responsibility to take care of the world, and etc.

 

One thing we most certainly learn from the very beginning of the Torah, from the very beginning of humanity, is that people make mistakes – some small and some tremendous. But that is a lesson for all of humanity; what is the lesson for Klal Yisrael?

 

One might, interestingly enough, look to Kayin for a lesson that can offer great chizuk to Bnei Yisrael. Cain, as he is called in English, has an infamous reputation. He murdered his brother in the heat of jealousy – which of course is a wonderful narrative to pull apart for its intricacies of human nature. Let us, however, look at the consequence of his actions.

 

Hashem says to Kayin: “And now, you are cursed even more than the ground, which opened its mouth to take your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the soil, it will not continue to give its strength to you; you shall be a wanderer and an exile in the land” (Bereishis 4:11-12).

 

This curse is a terrible thing, and all the more so when you remember that while Hevel had been a shepherd, Kayin had been a farmer. He lost everything, including his identity. Nevertheless, it is hard to be sympathetic to a murderer, even if we empathize with some of the emotions that drove him to act; his conscious decision to strike his brother down refutes that sympathy.

 

It is Kayin’s reaction to his punishment, however,  that holds the important lesson for Bnei Yisrael.

 

“And Kayin said to the Lord, ‘My iniquity is too great to bear? Behold You have driven me today off the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from before You, and I will be a wanderer and an exile in the land, and it will be that whoever finds me will kill me’” (13-14).

Kayin is concerned about the how he will survive in the world, but first and foremost he is concerned about his relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. He recognizes in Hashem’s punishment something that Hashem had not explicitly stated. Hashem never said that Kayin was banished from Hashem’s presence, but Kayin understood that Hashem had designed the earth to nourish mankind. He remembered that the world had not grown anything until his father, Adam, had prayed for rain, and that rain set the growth in motion. Kayin knew that the need to labor was the consequence of Adam and Chava’s eating of the fruit – but also that Adam’s labor brought him and all his descendants an appreciation for the blessings Hashem gave. Now he would be separated from those blessings, a step removed.

 

Hashem’s response is to declare “‘Therefore, whoever kills Kayin, vengeance will be wrought upon him sevenfold," and the Lord placed a mark on Kayin that no one who find him slay him” (4:14).

 

What is the lesson here? Of course, we know that it is never too late to call out to Hashem; it’s never too late to do teshuva. But on a larger scale, we, Bnei Yisrael, are in a similar position. We have sinned – sinned to such an extent that we have been exiled. We know that Hashem has hidden His face from us and that the nations turn an unkind eye towards us, revile us, and seek to do us ill knowing, on a metaphysical level, that Hashem has turned his face away.

 

However, when we call out as Kayin did – putting the perspective first and foremost on our relationship with Hashem rather than on our worldly situation, Hashem provides the protection we need.

 

I wish you all a beautiful Shabbas.