Monday, November 14, 2011

Parshat Vayera



                Who was Avraham Avinu, what did he stand for and what should we learn from him?  We are first introduced to him in last week’s Parsha later in his life, when God first speaks to him and tells him to move to the place that he will give to him and his family, and he will be blessed and made into a great nation.  But who was he before this?
                Many of us are familiar with the story of Avraham destroying the idols in his father’s shop, and mocking the pagan worships of idols when they wouldn’t believe that the idols had destroyed themselves.  There is another Midrash which highlights Avraham’s courage to mock the beliefs of those around him and his ineptitude at being a salesman.  One day an elderly man came into the idol shop to buy an idol.  Avraham asked the man how old he was, when the man told him that he was 70 years old, Avraham asked him why he worships something younger than him.  Avraham said, “You were born 70 years ago and yet you worship something that was made just yesterday.”  The Midrash continues to describe similar interactions that he had with customers.  How did the society handle Avraham’s attitude about their religions and Gods?  Another Midrash describes the interaction between Avraham and the King of Babylon, Nimrod, after Nimrod became aware of Avraham’s blasphemy. 
                Nimrod who believed himself to be a God says to Avraham, “Don’t you know that I am God and ruler of the world, why have you destroyed my images?”  Avraham said to him, “if you are God why don’t you cause the sun to rise and set, or if you are God, tell me what I will do in the future?”  Avraham continues," you are a man, the son of a man, your father could not escape death and neither will you at the appropriate time.”  Nimrod challenged Avraham, “then worship the fire which brings about death,” and Avraham responded, “why not the water which quenches the fire.  Or the clouds which swallows water.  Or the wind which blows the clouds.  And then avraham pointed out that man can stand up against the wind.  At this point Nimrod lost his patience and commanded that Avraham be cast into a furnace.  But Avraham was miraculously saved. 
One more story about Avraham and Nimrod.  Avraham was famous for his חסד, his charity and generosity.  As we see in the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Avraham was incredibly generous with his hospitality.  People traveling from all over the world would spend time in Avraham’s tent, resting from their travels and feasting like kings.  When it came time for travelers to leave they would ask Avraham how much they owe him for his expenses.  Avraham would say that they don’t have to pay him because God will pay.  One day, word of Avraham’s generosity made it to King Nimrod.  King Nimrod took 5000 soldiers with him to the tent of Avraham in order to test Avraham’s generosity.  Avraham provided the entire entourage with a feast fit for a king.  At the end of the meal, Avraham brought the bill for this meal and for all of his previous expenses to King Nimrod.  King Nimrod looked at the bill, and looked at Avraham and said, “What is this?  I thought you don’t charge your guests because you believe to be repaid for your hospitality by God?”  Abraham responded to Nimrod, “I thought you believed that you were God.” 
                These stories highlight two well known characteristics of Avraham; his hospitality and his confidence in his belief in the one true God which led him to mock pagan beliefs.  Avraham was an iconoclast, he was on a mission to inform the world that the Gods they believed in were, false, and that there is only one unifying power in control of the world.  And the way to serve this One God was by doing acts of loving kindness towards your fellow human being.  This is the behavior that is famously modeled by Avraham at the beginning of this week’s Parsha, and pointed out to us by God before God informs Avraham about the impending destruction of Sodom.  God says in chapter 18, verse 19, “For I know him, because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the lord, doing charity and justice…”  לעשות צדקה ומשפט!
                This was who Avraham was, God chose Avraham because this was his personality.  The Parsha gives us models of the concepts of צדקה ומשפט, charity and justice, connected with this description of Avraham.  First we see the attitude and degree to which Avraham prioritized the value of hospitality to guests.  In the first verse of the Parsha the torah tells us that God appeared to Avraham, this is immediately followed by the next verse telling us that, Avraham saw three travelers and he ran to great them and invite them to rest and eat.  The rabbis picked up on the immediate transition of God appearing to Avraham followed by his running to great guests and commented (שבת קכז.), “hosting guests is greater than receiving the divine presence,” Because Avraham left God’s presence to greet his potential guests. 
                Also, after God tells Avraham that he will destroy Sodom, Avraham models the behavior which makes him so great.  He challenges God in the strongest of terms.  Verse 23 says, Avraham approached God - ויגש אברהם, and Rashi points out that the word here for approach is always used in an aggressive way as one approaches an adversary to do war.  Avraham is going to battle with God for what he believes is right, and he argues with God using unbelievably harsh language.  He says in verse 25, “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike.  Far be it from you!  Shall not the Judge of the earth deal justly?”  But at the end of this incident Avraham realized that he was wrong and God was right, and accepted the judgment of God.
                Avraham was a model of charity and justice.  His approach to taking care of others was influenced by his view of justice in the world, everyone deserves to eat, and it is the duty of humankind to provide for each other.  And his approach to justice in the world was influenced by his attitude of charity.  Avraham believed that it was just to not punish the wicked if it meant that innocents would be harmed as a result.  It seems like God picked Avraham because of his value for human life, truth, and his strength of character,  Avraham would go to war for what he believed was right no matter who or what he was up against.  When it came to justice and charity, protecting and caring for human life, Avraham would mock the entire surrounding Babylonian culture and king, Avraham would go to war, so to speak, with God.  Avraham was not a meek person who would follow any and all commandments blindly.  So how are we to understand that when Avraham was commanded to kill his son Yitzchak, we don’t hear even a tiny bit of protest?  Avraham fights injustice, how much more injustice can there be than the killing of his innocent child? 
                This incident is considered to be the biggest and final test of Avraham by God.  Rabbenu Nissim, one of the most famous Gaonic commentaries on the Talmud who lived in the 11th century comments, “the nature of this trial calls for explanation, since there is no doubt that the Almighty does not try a person in order to prove to himself whether he is capable of withstanding the trial since God is all-knowing and is in no doubt about anything.”  God doesn’t need to know if Avraham will pass his test or not.  So who is the test for?  Maimonides tells us in his Moreh Nevuchim, the sole object of the trials mentioned in the Torah is to teach human beings what they ought to do. 
                What are we to learn from this story?  How is Avraham’s behavior a model of how a Jew should act? 
                Before I answer these questions, I want to point out something about this incident in the text.  We call this story עקידת יצחק, the binding of Isaac, and not the sacrifice of Isaac.  Perhaps that is because we know the end of the story; we know that he was not sacrificed only tied up as a sacrifice.  But maybe there’s more to it.  The text says in chapter 22 verse 2, “take your son, you’re only son, the son you love, Isaac; and go to the land of Moriah and raise him up there as a sacrifice there on one of the mountains.”  What’s missing from this verse?  An actual command to kill him.  Some commentators point out that God never told Avraham to actually kill Isaac, only to prepare him as a sacrifice.
                Avraham didn’t know what God was going to command him?  He never said to actually kill his son.  But you might argue, what is he supposed to think?  Of course Avraham was assuming that the purpose of offering his son up as a sacrifice is to actually do the act.  Maybe, but Avraham didn’t know.  He couldn’t argue with God about the injustice of the act of killing his son because he didn’t know what he was expected to do.  Where we all see the horror and injustice at the idea of even binding his son an altar like one would do to a sacrifice, Avraham did not see that.  Avraham only argues with God about what God was going to do.  But when Avraham was commanded by God to do something himself, he observes without ever doubting the righteousness and justice of the act.  In reality, God never commanded Avraham to kill his son, and Avraham had faith that God had a good reason for his command, even if he did not understand it himself. 
                This is one of the most important lessons that Avraham has to offer us.  In today’s Jewish world, being hospitable, charitable and adopting social justice causes is very obviously part of our birthright as children of Avraham.  We follow in Avraham’s footsteps and serve God in these ways that are obvious to us to be good and holy things.  And these are both universal lessons of Avraham for the entire world.  But Avraham’s faith goes beyond these obvious manifestations; Avraham’s faith was a faith in the goodness of the entire system of belief in God even even when it is not obvious.  In this situation, when confronted with something that seemed wrong to us, it may have never dawned on Avraham that God would actually want him to kill his son.  Avraham’s faith in the way of the lord, to do charity and justice and his humility in knowing that he can’t see things the way that God does, may have kept him from ever jumping to the conclusions that we all jump to.
                Judaism is a legal system, it’s not simply about Jewish values or ethical living; it is also about obedience.  If we only submitted to the authority of the laws that make sense to us than who is the real authority in that system, God or us?  We can’t know the reason for everything.  When we are confronted by something that seems unreasonable in our religious system, it is human nature to be uncomfortable, but we can’t jump to conclusions.  We need to have faith that there is a good answer, and delay our desire to pass judgment on it immediately.  We need to learn faith and humility like Avraham, to accept the fact that there is nothing in the system that will contradict the Jewish values of charity and justice, even when we don’t see it that way.  Because, in the words of the Parsha, charity and justice are the way of the Lord. 
                And so, that is the lesson which the test of Avraham should teach us.  We are to do righteousness and Justice, and to have faith that all of what God commands is consistent with those themes, even when we can’t understand it.  

Parshat Vayera



                Who was Avraham Avinu, what did he stand for and what should we learn from him?  We are first introduced to him in last week’s Parsha later in his life, when God first speaks to him and tells him to move to the place that he will give to him and his family, and he will be blessed and made into a great nation.  But who was he before this?
                Many of us are familiar with the story of Avraham destroying the idols in his father’s shop, and mocking the pagan worships of idols when they wouldn’t believe that the idols had destroyed themselves.  There is another Midrash which highlights Avraham’s courage to mock the beliefs of those around him and his ineptitude at being a salesman.  One day an elderly man came into the idol shop to buy an idol.  Avraham asked the man how old he was, when the man told him that he was 70 years old, Avraham asked him why he worships something younger than him.  Avraham said, “You were born 70 years ago and yet you worship something that was made just yesterday.”  The Midrash continues to describe similar interactions that he had with customers.  How did the society handle Avraham’s attitude about their religions and Gods?  Another Midrash describes the interaction between Avraham and the King of Babylon, Nimrod, after Nimrod became aware of Avraham’s blasphemy. 
                Nimrod who believed himself to be a God says to Avraham, “Don’t you know that I am God and ruler of the world, why have you destroyed my images?”  Avraham said to him, “if you are God why don’t you cause the sun to rise and set, or if you are God, tell me what I will do in the future?”  Avraham continues," you are a man, the son of a man, your father could not escape death and neither will you at the appropriate time.”  Nimrod challenged Avraham, “then worship the fire which brings about death,” and Avraham responded, “why not the water which quenches the fire.  Or the clouds which swallows water.  Or the wind which blows the clouds.  And then avraham pointed out that man can stand up against the wind.  At this point Nimrod lost his patience and commanded that Avraham be cast into a furnace.  But Avraham was miraculously saved. 
One more story about Avraham and Nimrod.  Avraham was famous for his חסד, his charity and generosity.  As we see in the beginning of this week’s Parsha, Avraham was incredibly generous with his hospitality.  People traveling from all over the world would spend time in Avraham’s tent, resting from their travels and feasting like kings.  When it came time for travelers to leave they would ask Avraham how much they owe him for his expenses.  Avraham would say that they don’t have to pay him because God will pay.  One day, word of Avraham’s generosity made it to King Nimrod.  King Nimrod took 5000 soldiers with him to the tent of Avraham in order to test Avraham’s generosity.  Avraham provided the entire entourage with a feast fit for a king.  At the end of the meal, Avraham brought the bill for this meal and for all of his previous expenses to King Nimrod.  King Nimrod looked at the bill, and looked at Avraham and said, “What is this?  I thought you don’t charge your guests because you believe to be repaid for your hospitality by God?”  Abraham responded to Nimrod, “I thought you believed that you were God.” 
                These stories highlight two well known characteristics of Avraham; his hospitality and his confidence in his belief in the one true God which led him to mock pagan beliefs.  Avraham was an iconoclast, he was on a mission to inform the world that the Gods they believed in were, false, and that there is only one unifying power in control of the world.  And the way to serve this One God was by doing acts of loving kindness towards your fellow human being.  This is the behavior that is famously modeled by Avraham at the beginning of this week’s Parsha, and pointed out to us by God before God informs Avraham about the impending destruction of Sodom.  God says in chapter 18, verse 19, “For I know him, because he commands his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the lord, doing charity and justice…”  לעשות צדקה ומשפט!
                This was who Avraham was, God chose Avraham because this was his personality.  The Parsha gives us models of the concepts of צדקה ומשפט, charity and justice, connected with this description of Avraham.  First we see the attitude and degree to which Avraham prioritized the value of hospitality to guests.  In the first verse of the Parsha the torah tells us that God appeared to Avraham, this is immediately followed by the next verse telling us that, Avraham saw three travelers and he ran to great them and invite them to rest and eat.  The rabbis picked up on the immediate transition of God appearing to Avraham followed by his running to great guests and commented (שבת קכז.), “hosting guests is greater than receiving the divine presence,” Because Avraham left God’s presence to greet his potential guests. 
                Also, after God tells Avraham that he will destroy Sodom, Avraham models the behavior which makes him so great.  He challenges God in the strongest of terms.  Verse 23 says, Avraham approached God - ויגש אברהם, and Rashi points out that the word here for approach is always used in an aggressive way as one approaches an adversary to do war.  Avraham is going to battle with God for what he believes is right, and he argues with God using unbelievably harsh language.  He says in verse 25, “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that innocent and guilty fare alike.  Far be it from you!  Shall not the Judge of the earth deal justly?”  But at the end of this incident Avraham realized that he was wrong and God was right, and accepted the judgment of God.
                Avraham was a model of charity and justice.  His approach to taking care of others was influenced by his view of justice in the world, everyone deserves to eat, and it is the duty of humankind to provide for each other.  And his approach to justice in the world was influenced by his attitude of charity.  Avraham believed that it was just to not punish the wicked if it meant that innocents would be harmed as a result.  It seems like God picked Avraham because of his value for human life, truth, and his strength of character,  Avraham would go to war for what he believed was right no matter who or what he was up against.  When it came to justice and charity, protecting and caring for human life, Avraham would mock the entire surrounding Babylonian culture and king, Avraham would go to war, so to speak, with God.  Avraham was not a meek person who would follow any and all commandments blindly.  So how are we to understand that when Avraham was commanded to kill his son Yitzchak, we don’t hear even a tiny bit of protest?  Avraham fights injustice, how much more injustice can there be than the killing of his innocent child? 
                This incident is considered to be the biggest and final test of Avraham by God.  Rabbenu Nissim, one of the most famous Gaonic commentaries on the Talmud who lived in the 11th century comments, “the nature of this trial calls for explanation, since there is no doubt that the Almighty does not try a person in order to prove to himself whether he is capable of withstanding the trial since God is all-knowing and is in no doubt about anything.”  God doesn’t need to know if Avraham will pass his test or not.  So who is the test for?  Maimonides tells us in his Moreh Nevuchim, the sole object of the trials mentioned in the Torah is to teach human beings what they ought to do. 
                What are we to learn from this story?  How is Avraham’s behavior a model of how a Jew should act? 
                Before I answer these questions, I want to point out something about this incident in the text.  We call this story עקידת יצחק, the binding of Isaac, and not the sacrifice of Isaac.  Perhaps that is because we know the end of the story; we know that he was not sacrificed only tied up as a sacrifice.  But maybe there’s more to it.  The text says in chapter 22 verse 2, “take your son, you’re only son, the son you love, Isaac; and go to the land of Moriah and raise him up there as a sacrifice there on one of the mountains.”  What’s missing from this verse?  An actual command to kill him.  Some commentators point out that God never told Avraham to actually kill Isaac, only to prepare him as a sacrifice.
                Avraham didn’t know what God was going to command him?  He never said to actually kill his son.  But you might argue, what is he supposed to think?  Of course Avraham was assuming that the purpose of offering his son up as a sacrifice is to actually do the act.  Maybe, but Avraham didn’t know.  He couldn’t argue with God about the injustice of the act of killing his son because he didn’t know what he was expected to do.  Where we all see the horror and injustice at the idea of even binding his son an altar like one would do to a sacrifice, Avraham did not see that.  Avraham only argues with God about what God was going to do.  But when Avraham was commanded by God to do something himself, he observes without ever doubting the righteousness and justice of the act.  In reality, God never commanded Avraham to kill his son, and Avraham had faith that God had a good reason for his command, even if he did not understand it himself. 
                This is one of the most important lessons that Avraham has to offer us.  In today’s Jewish world, being hospitable, charitable and adopting social justice causes is very obviously part of our birthright as children of Avraham.  We follow in Avraham’s footsteps and serve God in these ways that are obvious to us to be good and holy things.  And these are both universal lessons of Avraham for the entire world.  But Avraham’s faith goes beyond these obvious manifestations; Avraham’s faith was a faith in the goodness of the entire system of belief in God even even when it is not obvious.  In this situation, when confronted with something that seemed wrong to us, it may have never dawned on Avraham that God would actually want him to kill his son.  Avraham’s faith in the way of the lord, to do charity and justice and his humility in knowing that he can’t see things the way that God does, may have kept him from ever jumping to the conclusions that we all jump to.
                Judaism is a legal system, it’s not simply about Jewish values or ethical living; it is also about obedience.  If we only submitted to the authority of the laws that make sense to us than who is the real authority in that system, God or us?  We can’t know the reason for everything.  When we are confronted by something that seems unreasonable in our religious system, it is human nature to be uncomfortable, but we can’t jump to conclusions.  We need to have faith that there is a good answer, and delay our desire to pass judgment on it immediately.  We need to learn faith and humility like Avraham, to accept the fact that there is nothing in the system that will contradict the Jewish values of charity and justice, even when we don’t see it that way.  Because, in the words of the Parsha, charity and justice are the way of the Lord. 
                And so, that is the lesson which the test of Avraham should teach us.  We are to do righteousness and Justice, and to have faith that all of what God commands is consistent with those themes, even when we can’t understand it.  

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Parshat Lech Lecha – Global Hunger Awareness Shabbat

In several weeks we will celebrate Thanksgiving, gathering with family and friends to enjoy abundant feasts and to express gratitude for the many blessings in our lives. A Midrash teaches that Abraham, who begins his journey and relationship with God in Parshat Lech Lecha, noted the connection between eating and expressing thanks long before the Pilgrims. Known for his hospitality, Abraham would receive travelers, offering them food, drink and rest. According to the Midrash, after his guests had finished their meal, he would invite them to say a blessing. When they asked what they should say, he would respond: “Blessed be the everlasting God of the world, of whose bounty we have partaken.”
Perhaps Abraham’s generosity and gratitude was influenced by his own experiences.  Abraham was someone who knew, firsthand, the difficulty of not having enough food to eat.  Imagine Abraham’s experience in the beginning of this week’s Parsha.  After being told by God to leave his home and go to the place that God will show him; and then, shortly after hearing God’s promise to him that his descendants would inherit that land forever, a famine strikes.  This famine was so bad that Abraham needed to leave his home and go to Egypt to find food.  The desperation he must have felt as a result of this feminine must have been horrible.  God had just promised him that he and his descendants will inherit the land that he was living in forever, yet when starvation hits, Abraham needed to leave that land to find food. 
Thank God, for most of us, the experience of starvation to that degree is not something that we can relate to.  But famine is real; there are people in the world today who don’t have enough food to feed their families or themselves.
This weekend, we are participating in a nationwide effort organized by American Jewish World Service called Global Hunger awareness Shabbat.  The point of this program is to raise the awareness and sensitivity to this problem around the world and in our own communities.  There are so many things that pull at our attention in the news and there so many worthwhile causes that we get involved in that it’s sometimes difficult to remember the simple fact that there are people in the world who don’t have enough to eat.
                There are many laws in Judaism which would educate us to have sensitivity to those who don’t have enough to eat, and help alleviate that problem.  Because of the way the world has changed, and our economies have changed, the society we live in is no longer based on local farmers, so we don’t follow many of the laws that are only applicable to that situation.  As a result these laws don’t affect us in the same way they would’ve had they been relevant in our daily lives.  Therefore, sometimes we need to make an extra effort to make sure that we do not lose the sensitivity that these mitzvoth would have instilled in us.  Giving tzedakah is not enough to fully embody the sensitivity that we might be missing in not being able to perform these mitzvoth. 
One example of these laws is, to leave the corners of your field uncut so that the poor people who don’t have enough food of their own can come and take from it, and to leave any sheaths of wheat which fall out of a bundle on the field for the poor.  In the explanation of this Mitzvah the Talmud says (Masechet Shabbat 23a-b), “On account of [various] considerations the Torah ordered corners to be left at the edge of the field:[as a precaution] against the robbing of the poor, and against wasting the time of the poor.”  What does it mean, robbing of the poor?  The Gemara is showing us that it is not enough to just give charity.  The mitzvah of leaving the corners for the poor person is not simply because we need to give charity, the farmer who fulfilled this commandment was still obligated in the separate commandment of tithing his income to give to the poor.  This mitzvah sensitizes us to the fact that everyone in the world has a right to eat!  It is our duty to help people attain this right if they are unable to do it on their own. 
I was fascinated by the connection of this mitzvah to some of the facts about world hunger that I read about it in the resources that the American Jewish world service provided for this Shabbat.  Did you know that there is actually enough food produced in the world to feed all of the world’s population adequately?  It’s not simply a matter of disproportionate displacement of the world’s wealth and all the rich people should give more money.  This issue isn’t even on the radar of the occupy Wall Street agenda.  The issue is more about access to the food, and proper distribution of food by the organizations doing this work.  The Gemara above was teaching us that our involvement in this mitzvah is about people’s right to eat above and beyond the charity that we give.  There is enough food in the world to go around, but unlike the mitzvah of providing the corners of your field to the poor person, there is not an adequate system in organizing the way in which the food can get to the people who need it most. 
Often this is because of the way that international food missions fail to understand the nature of the societies and cultures that they are providing food for.  For example, I have a very good friend who has spent months living with indigenous tribes in Bolivia studying them for her doctoral dissertation in Anthropology.  I remember one time she told me that the people get thousands of pounds of food from the UN, but they’re still starving be they don’t know what to do with it.  The UN sends them beans; the local population has never seen a bean before.  They aren’t given instructions on what to do with these beans, so the beans end up decorating people’s front lawns while their children starve.  This is just one example.  This is obviously a very complex situation and there will be different issues everywhere you go. 
Unfortunately, hunger isn’t just a problem in the developing world.  Here in Nashville, as well as many other cities, there is a situation in where people are starving and malnourished simply because of a lack of supermarkets in their neighborhood.  For a poor person who works twelve hours a day and has no car it is very difficult to get healthy food for their family when there is no store which sells healthy food anywhere near their homes.  Even in our own Jewish community, there are many families who qualify to receive monthly food boxes from Jewish Family services. 
My goal on this Global hunger awareness Shabbat is at the very least to raise the awareness of an important issue that is often too easily overlooked.  There are millions of people starving in the world, in the city and even in our own community.  Thankfully, regardless of our economic difficulties, the vast majority of us do not have to worry about where our next meal will come from.  But this is not the case for everyone.  I ask that on this Shabbat we all take a moment to really think about it what it must have been like for Abraham to feel forced to leave Israel on account of hunger and that we realize this question really does affect people on a daily basis.  It is my hope that through doing this some of us will be inspired to donate to organizations that do work to help address this problem in the developing world like American Jewish World services, or become interested in getting involved with local food banks and food justice programs, or choose to contact the Jewish Family services to find out how we can help, or be more sensitive to this issue and grateful for what we have because you never know who around is struggling with this. 
The very basic outcome of the awareness to the problem is a feeling of gratitude for whatever it is that we have.  Throughout this week’s Parsha Abraham models a healthy behavior of being thankful.  There are a number of times in the Parsha that God makes promises to Abraham guaranteeing success to him and his offspring.  After every time that God makes a promise to Abraham, Abraham immediately offers a sacrifice.  Abraham’s gratitude inspired him to give something back.  It is my hope that we can all be thankful for things that we have and be inspired to assist those in need.