Lech Lecha- Showing Off or Showing Up?

 Lech Lecha, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Nov 042011
 

“This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.” (17:10)

We are taught that Avraham kept every mitzva in the Torah before he (or anyone else for that matter) was even commended to, with one exception: the commandment to become circumcised. Bris Mila is the only Mitzva he did once he was commanded to do it. [Prophetically, Avraham divined the mitzvos that would only be commanded later – like eating matza and blowing shaofar, for example. ) The question, asked Rav Nissan Alpert, is why not? Why specifically by the mitzva of mila did Avraham wait until God actually commanded him to do so?

Furthermore, the Medrash in next week’s Parsha reveals that actually even after Avraham was commanded to circumcize himself he still was not totally sure. The Medrash recounts that Avraham visited some friends and asked for their advice regarding the circumcision; he wanted to know if it was a good idea. The question is obvious! By the story of the Akeda, Avraham had no qualms about sacrificing his son Yitzchak. There he did not consult with colleagues- he needed no convincing that it was the right thing to do. But here by Mila, Avraham needs to ask his friends for advice-!?

Rav Nissan Alpert offers one approach. The Mitzva of Mila, he says, is categorically different than all the other Mitzvos Avrhaam did up until that point. Circumcision displays a radical physical difference between a Jew and a non-Jew. (Let us put aside one who unfortunately cannot or did not have a circumcision.) It is a sign that the Jewish people are an elevated group. Avraham knew this fact and was concerned that undergoing this radical change would perhaps sabotage his attempts at influencing the pagan worshipers of his time. Once he got the Mila everyone would view him as a Religious Fanatic, or a person with sacrifice for God too great to be mimicked by the mere mortal. People might be intimidated, overwhelmed, or turned off when encountering a person who took his service to God to such an extent as to make an abrasion in his body.

Therefore Avraham did not voluntarily circumcise himself and he even was hesitant when God told him to do so. “Perhaps, Avraham relayed to his friends, Hashem’s message will go unheard if I perform this mitzva. Maybe it is better I do not do it!! Only when his friend Mamre advised Avraham to listen to God did Avraham acquiesce.

Why now, at the age of 99, was God advising Avraham to get a Mila? If Avraham avoided having it done up until this point, why did God feel that now it was the time to get it done? Rav Alpert adds that now God knew that Avraham would become a father soon. Before Avraham could be a proper father and teacher to his child, Avraham need to ‘perfect’ himself through getting the mila.

There are a number of lessons to be derived here. Sometimes we feel that to influence others to more closely follow the ways of Hashem we cannot appear to extreme in our religious behavior. We might turn them off. Indeed, as evidenced by Avraham’s hesitance, this might be a valid approach. We have to be careful not to be overbearing or patronizing when trying to influence others. But Mamre (and God of course) disagree with Avraham and say that no, he should still get the mila. This approach seems to imply that sometimes we should not worry so much about our appearances. We should be ourselves, be proud of our ideals and what we look like. This will create a positive sentiment and impact when displayed properly to others.

 Posted by jlasson at 10:47 am  Tagged with: , ,

Calling out in the Name of God

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Oct 252010
 

Our parasha traces the very beginning of a new epoch in human history – the beginning of Avraham Avinu’s relationship with Hashem, his role in the world, and a brit binding Hashem and all of Avraham’s descendents. Our parsha sweeps us across many lands and through many of the situations Avraham faced, but one motif stands out:

וַיַּעְתֵּק מִשָּׁם הָהָרָה, מִקֶּדֶם לְבֵית-אֵל—וַיֵּט אָהֳלֹה; בֵּית-אֵל מִיָּם, וְהָעַי מִקֶּדֶם, וַיִּבֶן-שָׁם מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה, וַיִּקְרָא בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה. בראשית יב:ח

“From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, and he built there an altar to God and called out in the name of God.” (ּBereishit 12:8)

Avraham again calls out in the name of God in 13:4, and once more in 21:33. In his father’s footsteps, Yitzhak follows suit in 26:25.

What is the relationship between building an altar and calling out in God’s name? In order to understand that, we must understand what calling out in God’s name even means.

Onkelos on all four verses translates “calling” as “praying.” Therefore, calling out in God’s name means to pray to God. Many rishonim, including Rashi and the first opinion cited by the Ibn Ezra, agree with this explanation. Then, in this sense, there is no real connection between prayer and the construction of the altar, since we know that prayer can take place anywhere.

Other rishonim (the Ramban and the second opinion in the Ibn Ezra) play around with the syntax of our verses to yield the following read: “and he called upon others to pray to God.” Calling out to God means being His representative in this world and invite others to pray to God. In this sense, the altar was constructed as a central place from where to preach and spread awareness of the Creator. Calling out in God’s name is not merely a single act but a lifelong mission.

Rav Yehudah Rock notes that in Dvarim, the makom hamikdash is referred to as the place where God will rest His name, or specifically, “l’shaken sh’mo sham.” (12:11) L’shaken, here translated as “to rest,” is the verb form of the word “shekhina,” the Divine presence. Shekhina, however, is never used in the noun form in Tanakh, only later by the Rabbis. In Tanakh, it appears exclusively as a verb. The noun form used instead is “shem.” So in fact, we have been mistranslating the word shem. Shem not only means name, as well as fame, but can mean the glory of the Divine presence. 1

This completely transforms our understanding of our forefathers’ actions. They traveled from place to place building altars, not just as a means of prayer or sacrificial worship, but as a focal point where God’s presence and glory could be revealed and realized to the local inhabitants. They called upon people not just to pray or to worship in a narrow sense; they transformed people’s perception and awareness of Hashem. It’s like they went to Nowheresville and built shuls, and JCCs, and schools, and youth groups, and they made Hashem a living reality for their congregants. When they “called out in the name of God,” they made God present in a time and place where He was not.

Our sages teach us: maaseh avot, siman l’banim, the actions of our forefathers are a sign for us, their sons. We, too, must build altars today in 2010. We must create a makom Shekhina, a “resting place” for the Divine presence,” in places devoid, and transform people’s relationship with and perception of the Almighty. And, with help of Hashem, we must successfully call out in His name.

[cross-posted on divreidavid]

  1. i.e. shem=shekhina. This informed understanding of the word shem might explain the enigmatic sin of Bavel. The psukim read that the inhabitants said, “Let us make a shem for ourselves,” and God responds decisively, which is strange if all they wanted was a nice big tower and for people to know about it…who could judge them? Certainly not I. But they didn’t just want to make for themselves “a name,” they wanted to make their own Divine presence, to replace God. This textual clue is the impetus for the midrashic understanding of Bavel’s sin being avodah zarah.
 Posted by David Pardo at 3:30 pm  Tagged with: ,

Famine

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Oct 302009
 

This week’s portion brings us to the life of Avram. Avram obeys G-d’s command to leave his place of dwelling, and eventually arrives at Canaan. After Canaan, we are told that Avram pitches his tent with Beth El on the west and the Ai on the east. And then Avram goes down to Egypt.

ויסע אברם הלוך וננסוע הנגבה: ויהי רעב בארץ וירד אברם מצרימה לגור שם כי כבד הרעב בארץ

(בראשית יב, ט-י)

Then Avram traveled on, journeying steadily toward the south. There was a famine in the land, and Avram descended to Egypt to travel there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Genesis 12, 9-10)

The Midrash explains that there are ten different famines that are to plague the world. One was during the days of Adam, the second was in the days of Lemech, and the third one was in the days of Avram. The last famine that will come to the world will be at the end of days, before the arrival of Mashiach. As the Prophet says,

הנה ימים באים… והשלחתי רעב בארץ לא רעב ללחם ולא צמא למים כי אם לשמוע את דברי ה

(עמוס ח, יא)

Behold, days are coming… and I shall send out a hunger onto the land. Not a hunger for bread, and not a thirst for water, but rather [a hunger] to hear the words of G-d. (Amos 8, 11)

In Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, it is said that the last famine will be the most difficult of them all. This seems to be odd- isn’t a famine for the words of G-d a good thing? People hungry for religion, for guidance in life, returning to their roots; isn’t this exactly what G-d wants of us?

To answer this question, we must look deeper into the very definition and effects of a famine. What is the benefit that emerges from the years of famine? People learn to be satisfied with the little resources available. In a famine, even a few bread crumbs are seen as an elaborate and nutritious meal. In a drought, every precious drop of water is conserved. For example, the people of Africa who live in drought conditions don’t care whether or not their water is clean and bacteria-free. When there is a drought, one takes what there is, or dies. Even a few drops of water are seen as satisfying substance.

Explains the Ponovizer Rov, a very similar case will emerge when the hunger for G-d’s word begins. People will be satisfied with even the very little amount of spiritual guidance they find in life. They won’t check to see whether or not their religions is pure, whether what they are returning to is true Judaism. People will be content with gimmicks. We should take a message from this week’s portion, to always make sure that what we believe in is pure and correct- we cannot settle for anything less than the truth.

 Posted by Harel at 6:54 am  Tagged with: , , , ,

Planning Ahead

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Oct 292009
 

The Trip Down to Egypt 

[1]This week’s parsha tells the story of our first forefather, Avraham. Among many other stories, we learn how Hashem commanded him to leave his home, travel to Israel and how a famine forces Avraham and Sarah to leave Israel for Egypt.

A quick summary of the trip to Egypt is as follows: Before getting to Egypt Avraham and Sarah realize that the Egyptians are not very moral people and since Sarah is so beautiful, they might kill Avram in order to take Sarah. To avoid this possibility, the two decide to tell the Egyptians that they are siblings.  This will hopefully save Avraham from murder and Sarah from rape. Upon entry into Egypt, the officers of Pharaoh see Sarah and take her to the king, while Avraham is paid richly. Hashem, however, afflicts the Egyptians on account of having taken Sarah.  Upon realizing Sarah’s true identity, Pharaoh rebukes Avraham and asks him and Sarah to leave the country.

The Ramban notices an amazing parallel between this episode in Egypt and the story of the Jew’s slavery in Egypt. In that story, there was again a famine, so Yaakov and his sons’ again descend to Egypt. The Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians and they took the Jewish women (only throwing the baby boys into the Nile.) Hashem afflicted the Egyptians with the Ten Plagues, and finally the Jews were chased out of the land with huge amounts of wealth.

In his analysis of the story of Avraham and Sarah, the Ramban criticizes Avraham for putting Sarah into such a horrible situation. He goes so far as to say that the reason the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt was because of Avraham’s actions endangering Sarah.

The Abarbanel, however, sees the story completely differently. He doesn’t think that Avraham Avinu did anything wrong when making his plan with Sarah. If this is so, then what is the unavoidable connection between Avraham’s trip to Egypt and our later slavery there?

There is an idea in Judaism known as “maaseh avot, siman l’banim,” which loosely translates to mean that the actions of ancestors are signs of what will eventually happen to descendants. By causing Avraham to live through the experience of going down to Egypt, having his wife taken from him, seeing the Egyptians afflicted by Hashem and finally by leaving with vast amounts of wealth, Hashem hinted towards the similar cycle of oppression and ultimate salvation that the future Jewish people would experience.

We see from this story that our actions don’t just affect us, but rather affect generations to come. While the actions and experiences of someone with the stature of Avraham Avinu have huge, global implications, that does not detract from the lesson that our actions too have ramifications reaching far beyond our immediate surroundings.

Why Avraham?

[2]The second issue I want to focus on is the question of what it was about Avraham Avinu that made him the one Hashem chose to found the Jewish people?

Most people would immediately answer this question by saying “Avraham was the first monotheist,” but this is not entirely true.  We know that many people preceding him (e.g. Adam, Hanoch, Noach) believed in and had personal relationships with Hashem. There must then be something about Avraham that distinguishes him from everyone who preceded him.

When thinking about characteristics that would make someone a successful founder of a religion, a staunch devotion to a belief system and a desire for truth are two characteristics that seem necessary. These characteristics, however, are not used to describe Avraham. Rather, our sages use these terms describe Yitzchak, known for the trait of Din (Justice), and Yaakov, known for the trait of Emet(honesty). Avraham’s main character trait is rather understood to be Chesed (kindness).

This kindness – this ability to make his own needs secondary to the needs of others – was what made Avraham so special. Avraham didn’t just realize there was a Creator, he asked “What does Hashem want of me?” Avraham was fully prepared to give everything of himself in the service of others and in the service of Hashem.

This is why Avraham, with his qualities of kindness and selflessness, had to be the first of our forefathers. He had to set the framework for all of morality to follow. Without the basis of kindness, it is very easy to see how a drive for truth can end up in the repression of others and how a staunch religious devotion can end up alienating others.

May we all learn from the messages and the foundations of Avraham Avinu and realize that all of our actions have lasting effects and that doing everything selflessly truly sets a framework able to last the ages.


[1]: This idea is based on idea I heard from the Keshet (english KMTT) Podcast on the weekly Parsha by Rabbi Yonatan Grossman.] 

[2]: This second idea is based on a talk that I heard from a Podcast by Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovitz.

 Posted by Liron Kopinsky at 11:00 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,
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