Lekh Lekha: Getting the Hint to Grow Our Nation Properly – With Tefillah!

 Lekh Lekha

This year, I referenced this article

https://arabbiwithoutacause.blogspot.com/2019/11/avrahams-relationships-and-sarais-chamas.html

and just added the following to the end (here is the last paragraph from there, with an additional sentence in bold).

Of course some of this is conjecture, but it is clear to me that people grow in time, and relationships change, and hopefully evolve for the better. The first of our forefathers and foremothers are a great example of how at all stages, people ought to be in tune to each other, and whenever and as much as possible, ought to pray that their relationship should only be growing and improving, through their own efforts and through the help of God. Whichever relationship is better – אתו or עמו, that should be achieved as well.

Certainly getting angry at someone for doing your bidding is an inappropriate response. Believing very much in the power of prayer is a tremendous maylah – a great credit to Sarai for sensing what was truly needed. Who knows? Perhaps she offered Hagar to Avraham to get him to pray for Sarai. Maybe she was hoping he’d catch a hint. If that was the case, the hint was lost on Avraham, and the rest is history.

Things played out as they did, Hagar had a son named Yishmael, and Yishmael’s descendants are viewed today as being the Arab world. Not all Arabs hate Israel, though obviously those who do, hate ALL JEWS and have gone far beyond the pale in their hatred.

May we learn from Sarah that if there is disgrace upon anyone, it may be because we haven’t prayed hard enough to have the resolution we need and hope for. May God hear our prayers and may He bless us all with peace, in our homes, in our families, among our People, and in our Holy Land.  

Light Comes From Different Sources

Parshat Noach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

 One of the instructions given to Noach is to make a "Tzohar" for the Teivah (Ark). Rashi's explanation is based in the Midrash – that the Tzohar was either a shiny precious stone that gave light, or that it was, perhaps most obviously, a window.

Ibn Ezra strongly objects to the idea that some suggest that the Tzohar is another name for the opening of the Ark. He prefers the “window” approach (plus another which we’ll see shortly) 

 The argument supporting the two opinions recorded by Rashi are supported numerically by the Rosh and Baal Haturim who use either Talmudic numbers or their own ingenuity to suggest that depending how you write Tzohar – without or with a Vov – would numerically equal לאור האבן (to the light of a stone) or אור חלון (to the light of a window) respectively. 

 [[ROSH -- Tzohar (Without a Vov) = L'Or HaEven (295) (Sanhedrin 108b) 

BAAL HATURIM -- Or Chalon = Tzohar (with Vov) (301/302)]]

When the Midrash Aggadah describes in greater detail what Rashi summarized, it explains that God commanded him to bring precious/shiny stones that would light the Ark as if it is their (based on how צהר is related to צהרים/afternoon), because the Ark was otherwise dark.

 מדרש אגדה (בובר) בראשית פרשת נח פרק ו סימן טז 

 [טז] צהר תעשה לתיבה. צוהו הקדוש ברוך הוא שיכניס עמו מרגליות שתהא מאירה להם כצהרים, מפני שהיתה התיבה חשיכה: ד"א צהר תעשה. זה חלון שהיה פתוחה, ונח מביט ממנה מה שיעשה, ובימי גשמים שהם מ' יום היה צריך למרגלית, והחלון צריך לפתוח אחר מ' יום של גשמים:

Utilizing both interpretations the Midrash concludes about how the respective Tzohars were used. During the 40 days of rain, they used the stones for light, and after the rain stopped, they could open the window.

 The Pesikta further adds that the shining luster of the stones was more prominent in the nighttime – Rabbi Levi explains that when the stones were weaker (in their light giving capacity), Noach knew it was daytime. And when they were stronger, he knew it was night. 

 Where does one even find such a special stone? According to Targum Yonatan, Noach went to the Pishon River to find the right stone for his purposes. In other words, he followed a river that flows directly from Gan Eden. Not surprising that he should want such a connection, considering that his journey's goal was to revert back there somewhat, as he and his family were going to be starting the world anew post the flood. 

 A number of commentaries, including Ibn Ezra, Radak and Chizkuni, go in a different direction when it comes to defining the Tzohar. While everyone understands it to mean a "light" these three commentaries note the similarity between Tzohar (which comes from the term Tzoharayim meaning daylight) and Yitzhar – oil, used for providing light. 

 Radak puts it plainly and bluntly when he says, ובאמת הכין נח שמן לנר בהכינו כל צרכיו: "The truth is that Noach prepared oil for all his lighting needs" (the weather was not going to be light giving for a long time). 

Perhaps a message to be taken from these discussion surrounding the Tzohar is that there are different ways that illumination can come about.

A recent discussion in our synagogue addressed the rules surrounding candles on Yom Tov (holidays), and the reality that we simply don’t use candles for light anymore, due to our reliance on electricity, wasn’t lost on us. When we talk about light, we may be talking about natural light, such as from the sun, or physical light, such as whatever light we experience, whether in daylight or a lit up space, or artificial light, which could also be from bulbs – depending how dark a space is. 

 And we could be referring to an intangible kind of light, a symbolic kind of light, which counters the bad we sometimes refer to as “darkness.” Darkness can refer to the absence of light, or it can refer to a “headspace” a person is in whether depression, despair, or when simply confronting evil. Those that peddle in destruction are often referred to as those who peddle in darkness. 

Noach was facing a darkness. The world he knew was going to be destroyed, because people in his time peddled in darkness. They were uncaring, they were self-centered, they did not bring light to the world. Aside from the word used to describe their crimes – חמס – which is often translated as robbery, one need look no farther than the instruction given to them when they left the Ark, as recorded at the beginning of chapter 9. 

"You may eat of the animals and birds and fish of the world. However, the animal must be dead when you eat it. And you are not allowed to murder humans. Those who murder humans will be put to death by other humans (under the order of a court of law)." 

 To me, this implies that part of what defined the crime of חמס included those who were eating animals that were forbidden to humans to eat, and that for whatever reason murder was taking place with regularity, with no repercussion to murderers. 

 And so, as we once again contemplate Parshat Noach, we can challenge and ask ourselves what vision of humanity we champion? 

Do we champion the vision of Eden, of veganism, of idealism? Do we champion the vision of exile from Eden, in which man falls again and again, committing robbery, murder and eating forbidden foods, to the point that the world needs to be destroyed? Do we champion a world not focused on surviving, but focused on thriving through channeling the human-instinct-to-take-life in the direction of animals for the purposes of offerings and food? And of course through humanity having a certain code of ethics that punishes the murderers for taking away from others’ pursuit of happiness and ability to live a full life on this earth, a life guided by a simple societal handbook that puts in order a basic respect for humans to be able to live and serve God in His world that He gifted to us. (An ordered society taking the lives of actual murderers, people with blood on their hands, by consensus is not "murder" or "unlawful killing")

 Not much more needs to be said. We are in the final days before very important and difficult tasks will be undertaken – not in the court of law, but in the courtroom of humanity. Many lives are likely to be lost in a war that has at its core the question of Israel’s survival. 

 War by definition is brutal – there are no winners, especially when a media is on the front, calling every move into question. But those who murder and delight in it are not to be given a second chance. And all those who die as a result are all on the hands of those who began the fight to begin with, who ignored the Torah’s final warning against murder. 

May Hashem grant a swift victory to the IDF, may we see a return of captives. And may all of humanity be granted to see the Tzohar – the light – that emerge from the darkness, as a very hostile region comes to accept that the only true path forward is one in which weapons are put down, and everyone lives and lets live, in peace. 

Halevai the light will be so clear one day!

How Humans Are Wired + Rejection of the Nachash

This Dvar Torah is dedicated to the memory of all the precious souls lost in Israel since Shmini Atzeres. May all of our learning serve as a merit for the holy soldiers of the IDF. 

Parshat Bereshit

by Rabbi Avi Billet

There are 4 verbs used to describe the creation of human beings. 

 In Chapter 1, the Torah tells us

 (כו) וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱ-לֹקים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ וְיִרְדּוּ֩ בִדְגַ֨ת הַיָּ֜ם וּבְע֣וֹף הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם וּבַבְּהֵמָה֙ וּבְכָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וּבְכָל־הָרֶ֖מֶשׂ הָֽרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ: 

 (כז) וַיִּבְרָ֨א אֱ-לֹקים ׀ אֶת־הָֽאָדָם֙ בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ בְּצֶ֥לֶם אֱ-לֹקים בָּרָ֣א אֹת֑וֹ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה בָּרָ֥א אֹתָֽם: 

First God, who is either speaking to the royal “We” or to angels, or to the ground, says “Let us make (נעשה) Mankind.” He goes on to create (ויברא... ברא) humanity. In chapter 2, we find a different format used for the making of Man. 

 (ז) וַיִּיצֶר֩ יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱ-לֹקים אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֗ם עָפָר֙ מִן־הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔ה וַיִּפַּ֥ח בְּאַפָּ֖יו נִשְׁמַ֣ת חַיִּ֑ים וַֽיְהִ֥י הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְנֶ֥פֶשׁ חַיָּֽה: 

 (ח) וַיִּטַּ֞ע יְקֹוָ֧ק אֱ-לֹקים גַּן־בְּעֵ֖דֶן מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיָּ֣שֶׂם שָׁ֔ם אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָצָֽר: 

God forms (יצר) the human (האדם) and then places this human in the Garden of Eden. 

 A few verses later we are told that since this man could not find a partner for himself, God put him to sleep, took a part of him (there is a debate as to what אחת מצלעתיו means) and built (ויבן) a woman. 

 (כב) וַיִּבֶן֩ יְקֹוָ֨ק אֱ-לֹקים ׀ אֶֽת־הַצֵּלָ֛ע אֲשֶׁר־לָקַ֥ח מִן־הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְאִשָּׁ֑ה וַיְבִאֶ֖הָ אֶל־הָֽאָדָֽם: 

While the English translations likely don’t do justice to what these words truly mean, let us nevertheless summarize. 

God intended to MAKE (נעשה) man. He then CREATED (ויברא) man outside of the Garden, in the first account of creation. Then he FORMED (וייצר) man through gathering dust from the earth (note that this process is not described at all in chapter 1). This FORMED man was then placed in the Garden of Eden. When it came time to create woman, He BUILT (ויבן) her from whatever part of man is referenced by the word צלע. 

 Rabbi Soloveitchik famously distinguished between Adam of Chapter I and Adam of Chapter II in his “Lonely Man of Faith” focusing on the instruction given to Adam I (“Fill the world and dominate it”) and Adam II (“Work and Guard the garden”). 

Netziv describes how Adam II was made up of portions of earth from all over the world so that humans would be able to live in all places and climates on Earth. 

 If Adam I and Adam II are the same person, however, that would seem superfluous. Adam of Chapter I was told to fill the world and dominate it. It seems, from the way the Torah describes Adam of Chapter II, he may have been a different human, whose job was to work and guard the garden. And since, unlike Adam I, who was created with a female, Adam II was created alone, it may also seem that Adam II was initially supposed to simply be the watchman for the Garden, living alone in that particular idyllic setting, perhaps even forever. 

 In fact, Netziv explains his task of עבודה and שמירה as referring to Serving God and observing Mitzvos, arguing that the purpose of the garden was to create a bastion for spiritual pursuit. The human in the garden was to be an earthly equivalent of an angel, doing God’s will in a non-heavenly setting. Mankinhd didn’t even have a need to eat or engage in any worldy activities – similar to the existence Moshe Rabbenu had when he was on the top of Mt. Sinai for 40 days. 

 We don’t need to rehash how man was taken out of that idyllic scene. But a couple of bullet points are noteworthy: 

1. Man was alone in the garden, which may have been God’s plan. But since this Man was the same prototype as Adam I, he did not want to be alone 

2. God agreed that it was לא טוב – not good – for him to be alone and that this Man needed a companion 

3. The man who was formed (יצר) was paired with a woman who was built (ויבן) 

4. Their different understandings of God’s command led them to violate the 1 rule God gave them 

5. The breaking of the rule caused their expulsion from the Garden, after which they had to live a more difficult and challenging life of harder work and more difficult labor (pun intended), and eventually seasons.

This new reality may have put them into contact with Adam I (and Woman I?) who were living outside of the Garden. And when Kayin married, he may have created the first intermarriage with a different type of human, who was wired slightly differently, who had a different kind of creation, and who was just not made of the same “Garden of Eden origin” stuff. 

And thus humanity became more complicated. 

In this last week since Shmini Atzeres, we have come to see what we (our Jewish community) has known for a long time to be true. People are not all wired the same. 

We are wired to be the live and let live type. Let us do our thing, let us live according to the Torah, according the Jewish culture we have. Don’t bother us. And you will find that we are very happy to not bother you. 

 For close to two millenia, Christianity had a difficult time accepting that. Thankfully in the last 30 years in particular there has been a significant turnaround (much of which is informed by the aftermath of the Holocaust, though it took a generation for it to become more widespread) that has turned many Christians from being our worst enemies to being the best friends of Israel. 

 Ironically, Jews thrived in Arab lands for over 1,000 years. But when the shoe changed, it is Arabs, and in particular some Muslim Arabs, that have gone in the complete opposite direction, mostly since the establishment of the State of Israel, though we know that in the pre-State period there were riots and unrest, hatred and murder of Jews as well. 

 How could this be? Aren’t we all human? Don’t we all share the notion of “live and let live?” 

Clearly the answer is No. This is wired into the human condition. Some have בריאה and the desire to dominate as guiding their approach to life. Some have יצירה and the desire to serve God (in a healthy and Godly way that makes room for other people to live and thrive) driving their humanity. Some are builders because they were built. And some humans simply can’t help themselves and fall to the advice of the Nachash/serpent, who looks at the Word of God and simply says, “Just because God said to behave that way… so what?... enjoy the Forbidden Fruit!” 

As the Serpent was cut down to size then, and told that he will bite the human, but the human will step on his head to kill him, may God help our People live up to the humanity we stand for, which is destroying the Nachash who looks to destroy humans who build and create and do for the betterment of humanity and God’s world. 

May God see to it that the humans who value life overcome and fulfill our job of isolating the Nachash to his life mission of being cursed of all creatures, of eating the dust of the earth, and of being relegated to living out its days as rejected from every space where humans are welcome. 

The Nachash wanted what the human had, but was unworthy because he defied God to try to get it. Those who defy what it means to be human are undeserving of a seat at the table of humanity.