LECH LECHA 12:1-17:27

 

 

LECH LECHA 12:1-17:27

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Parshat Lech Lecha begins at 12:1 –

 וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ

וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ

“And the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I foresee you.”

Hashem’s command to Abraham is very specific as to how the journey is to begin, but ambiguous as to the actual ending.  But whatever or wherever Abraham’s destination is to be, one thing is certain:  Hashem will be part of it.

At the outset, Abraham is commanded to go from or rid himself of past influences and trappings, whether they be cultural, religious or parental. 

He will be his own man, and moreover: God’s man.

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 וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ.

 “And the Lord said to Abram, "Go forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father's house, to the land that I will foresee for you”.

Abraham’s birthplace was the city of Ur, in what is now Iraq and what was then the country of Sumer.

At the time when Hashem commanded Abraham to leave,  Abraham was living with his father in Harran, חָרָן, a major trading center located in southernmost Turkey next to Syria.  If you scroll further down this post you will find a map that shows the location of Ur and Harran.   See the long journey made by Terach and family traveling in the Euphrates valley or upstream in the river and its canals. Years  later when our Parsha begins,  Abraham and family made the arduous trip from Harran to southern Canaan.  They must have passed through Aleppo one of the oldest cities in the region. If you consider that it all began in Ur, they made what amounts to a wide U-turn.

There are commentators who say that God did not immediately reveal the destination, wanting to make it a surprise…ridiculous.   Abraham could of hopped on a barge going down the Tigris or just as well he could of headed out to Asia Minor or somewhere else.

Olim: Abraham was called to leave his father's home, and start on his journey; Olim, so have we.

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Paraphrasing the Star Trek mission statement “to boldly go where no one has gone before”, Abraham is the Man:

From Harran he crossed the Euphrates River, ventured out from his land, his birthplace and his Father’s house to come to the Land that we now call Israel.  And because of Abraham’s bold stroke we are here today, and I for one am very grateful. 

In a larger sense, of the six billion human beings that populate our planet, because of Abraham, half of them recognize that there is only one God who created them and everything else. 

 All of us are beholden to Abraham our Father…and rightly so.

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In Parshat Lech Lecha we learn at 12:10 that, without being prompted by Hashem and on his own volition, Abraham and family leave the Promised Land and descend down to Egypt:

וַיְהִי רָעָב, בָּאָרֶץ; וַיֵּרֶד אַבְרָם מִצְרַיְמָה לָגוּר שָׁם, כִּי-כָבֵד הָרָעָב בָּאָרֶץ

“And there was a famine in the land, and Abram descended to Egypt to sojourn there because the famine was severe in the land”.

The Ramban takes Abraham to task for sinning in the first place by going to Egypt, and in compounding that sin by putting his wife in jeopardy of committing adultery. 

With all due respect to the Ramban, I have another take on this matter:  It is no secret that Sarah was sharper than her husband.  I can see Sarah telling Abraham: “No problem, Sweetie.  I can handle Pharaoh.  Just you wait and see.  When I’m through with him we’ll be leaving Egypt with a basket full of gold and silver.  And so it was.

Sarah in Pharaoh’s Palace.

Our Ancestors were giants, and but for their trail blazing deeds we probably would not be here today. Although they were heroic, they were  not super heroes; they were men of flesh.

The Zohar says that the famine was of spirituality. This sounds dubious.

But what did they expect to find in Egypt?

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There is an apparent contradiction in Parshat Lech Lecha:

 At 12:16, Abraham has no problem accepting gifts from Pharaoh:

  וּלְאַבְרָם הֵיטִיב, בַּעֲבוּרָהּ; וַיְהִי-לוֹ צֹאן-וּבָקָר, וַחֲמֹרִים, וַעֲבָדִים וּשְׁפָחֹת, וַאֲתֹנֹת וּגְמַלִּים.

“And he benefited Abram for her sake, and he had flocks and cattle and he donkeys and men servants and maid servants, and she donkeys and camels”.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that one of those “maid servants” was probably Haggar, who may have had a family connection with the Pharaoh.

Often when two kings want to enter into a treaty, they seal the agreement by exchanging royal women in marriage.  The women then also serve as hostages.

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Compare this action with Abraham’s refusal to accept any booty at all from the King of Sodom in 14:23 -

אִם-מִחוּט וְעַד שְׂרוֹךְ-נַעַל, וְאִם-אֶקַּח מִכָּל-אֲשֶׁר-לָךְ; וְלֹא תֹאמַר, אֲנִי הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת-אַבְרָם

“Neither from a thread to a shoe strap, nor will I take from whatever is yours, that you should not say, 'I have made Abram wealthy”.'

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In this week's Parsha, Lot and Avram have separated.  Lot has chosen to dwell in the lush Jordan valley in the city of Sodom, despite the city's sinful reputation.

The Jordan valley is made up of five or more City-States.  For a period of 12 years five City-States, including Sodom, have been vassal kingdoms under the empire of Elam which is now Iran.  The time period is approximately 1850 BCE.

 

 In the 13th year, the five vassal states rebel.  The king of Elam is named Chedarlaomer.  Elam is located east of the Tigris river in what is now Iran, not to be confused with Iraq where Ur is located, and where Terach family originally came from.  And history tells us it was Elam that destroyed Ur resulting in Terach and his family maybe becoming refugees.

Chedarlaomer along with three other allied kingdoms put down the revolt.  They defeat Sodom and take Lot and his family captive.  Avram, aided by 318 armed men from his household give chase and rescue Lot. 

It is an exciting story, a precursor to the Entebbe rescue mission.

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Rabbi Avichai Rontzki, Z’L served in the position of IDF Chief Military Rabbi from 2006 to 2010, with a rank of Brigadier General.

 At 14:14 we learn:

וַיִּשְׁמַע אַבְרָם, כִּי נִשְׁבָּה אָחִיו; וַיָּרֶק אֶת-חֲנִיכָיו יְלִידֵי בֵיתוֹ, שְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר וּשְׁלֹשׁ מֵאוֹת, וַיִּרְדֹּף

“And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed (led) his trained boys, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued…”

חֲנִיכָיו   has been defined as “his trained”, but may also mean dedicated, tutored, educated, consecrated and more.

It would seem then, that Abram gave intellectual, moral, and social instruction to his “boys” as well as how to handle weapons...the 1st Hesder Yeshiva, an important concept.

There is an ongoing heated debate in Israel regarding compulsory service for Ultra-Orthodox men serving in the IDF.

Regarding the 318 household men that Abraham took in order to rescue Lot there is an interesting comment made in Talmud tractate Nedarim 32a:

Rabbi Abbahu said that Rabbi Elazar said: For what reason was Abraham our Patriarch punished, and his children enslaved to Egypt for 210 years? Because he made a draft [angarya] of Torah scholars, as it is stated: “He led forth his trained men, born in his house” (Genesis 14:14). These trained men that he took to war were actually his disciples, who were Torah scholars.

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Meeting of Abraham and Malchizedek – by Dieric Bouts the Elder, 1464–1467

In Parshat Lech Lecha at 14:18-20 we are introduced to the gentile King of Shalem, Malchi-Tzedek, and Priest of  a deity called the Most High, אֵל עֶלְיוֹן.  

וּמַלְכִּי-צֶדֶק מֶלֶךְ שָׁלֵם, הוֹצִיא לֶחֶם וָיָיִן; וְהוּא כֹהֵן, לְאֵל עֶלְיוֹן

“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was Priest of God the Most High.”

We witness some questionable behavior on the part of Abraham:

Let's not gloss over the problem of Avraham Avenu accepting not only bread but accepting wine from an idol worshipper, Wine in particular raises a problem. In today's Halakhic environment there is a prohibition against wine touched by a non-Jew: If the person who touched it is possibly an idol worshiper, the wine is forbidden.  

In Israel wine that is Kosher bears a kosher label,כשר. Non-Kosher wine may say כשרלא 

When I moved to Israel and poured my first bottle of  wine it took me  a minute to realize that לא meant "not", and it went down the drain. Live and Learn.

Traditionally, Shalem is assumed to be Jerusalem, the city of peace or the city of ” שלום" .  However, Shalem is the name of a Canaanite god, and this seems to be a better interpretation.  The name ירושלים is not mentioned in any of the Five Books, and only first appears in the Book of Joshua at 10:1 where we are introduced to the King of Jerusalem whose name is Adoni-Tzedek.

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Sarah presenting Hagar to Abraham, Adriaen van der Werff, 1699.

When Hagar became pregnant Sarah treated her harshly, and Hagar ran away.  An angel appeared to Hagar, who instructed her to return to Sarah, promising her that the child she will bear will become a great nation.   She was told to call her son Ishmael. יִשְׁמָעֵ֔אל

At 16:11 -

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר לָהּ֙ מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהֹוָ֔ה הִנָּ֥ךְ הָרָ֖ה וְיֹלַ֣דְתְּ בֵּ֑ן וְקָרָ֤את שְׁמוֹ֙ יִשְׁמָעֵ֔אל כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֥ע יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־עָנְיֵֽךְ

“And the angel of the Lord said to her, "Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your torment”.

This meaning for Ishmael is readily seen in his name:  יִשְׁמָעֵ֔אל;  “The Lord has heard”.

Afterward, Hagar referred to God as "El Roi", אֵ֣ל רֳאִ֑י  , my seeing Lord.

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How does Abraham compare to Noach?

Noach is characterized at 6:19 being as having been:

--נֹחַ אִישׁ צַדִּיק תָּמִים הָיָה, בְּדֹרֹתָיו:  אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים, הִתְהַלֶּךְ-נֹחַ

“Noah was a righteous man; he was perfect for his generation(s); Noah continually walked with God”.

In the Parshah at 17:1 Hashem expresses his aspiration for Abraham, telling Abraham to:

וַיֵּרָא יְהוָה אֶל-אַבְרָם, וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי-אֵל שַׁדַּי--הִתְהַלֵּךְ לְפָנַי, וֶהְיֵה תָמִים.

“…and God appeared to Abram, and He said to him, "I am the Almighty God; continually walk before Me and be perfect”, but not necessarily a tzadik.

Abraham pleads with Hashem to forestall the destruction of Sodom. While the Chumash is silent on whether or not Noach acted in a similar fashion with respect to saving all of Creation.  Because of this possible dichotomy, some commentators attribute Abraham to be more of a Mensch than was Noach.

However, Abraham was pleading from afar in his lofty perch overlooking the valley. In contrast for at least 100 years, Noach was in harm’s way, where the action was, day after day after day.  

So you tell me; will the real tzadik please stand up.

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At 17:27 Abraham follows out the commandment of circumcision:

וְכָל-אַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ יְלִיד בָּיִת, וּמִקְנַת-כֶּסֶף מֵאֵת בֶּן-נֵכָר--נִמֹּלוּ, אִתּוֹ

“And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him”.

What is interesting to me here is that Abraham purchased people, presumably foreign Canaanites.  He was a slaveholder.  When the “Black Lives Matter” people get wind of this do you think they will ask for compensation from us Jews?

NOACH 6:9-11:32

 NOACH 6:9-11:32

Was Bob Dylan influenced by Parshat Noach when he wrote "For the times they are a-changin'"?

Come gather 'round, people

Wherever you roam

And admit that the waters

Around you have grown

And accept it that soon

You'll be drenched to the bone

If your time to you is worth For the times they are a-changin' savin'

And you better start swimmin'

Or you'll sink like a stone

For the times they are a-changin'

https://youtu.be/90WD_ats6eE

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Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, 1806, Deluge

 The precursor for the destruction of humankind is found in the previous Parshah, exemplified at 6:7 -

“And the LORD said: 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and creeping thing, and fowl of the air; for it grieves Me that I have made them.”

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה, אֶמְחֶה אֶת-הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר-בָּרָאתִי מֵעַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה,

מֵאָדָם עַד-בְּהֵמָה, עַד-רֶמֶשׂ וְעַד-עוֹף הַשָּׁמָיִם:  כִּי נִחַמְתִּי, כִּי עֲשִׂיתִם

Mankind had a choice to either choose good or to choose evil.  We opted for evil, evil in the nature of violence.  I think we have always been that way.  From the get-go human beings have been creatures of violence. 

 We still are.

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In Parshat Noach at 6:13 we see that  the wickedness of humankind was universal; therefore the punishment was universal.  All will be blotted out.  To blot out, in the context of our Hebrew language is to erase as in erasing from a book (U. Cassuto, A Commentary On The Book Of Genesis, 2005, page 305).

Wickedness is to be totally obliterated.  This concept again comes to the fore  when we are commanded to annihilate the wicked Canaanite nations.

The Torah is not intended specifically for intellectuals or philosophers or theologians.  But it is intended to be read by you and me, ordinary people.  However, more often than not, we folks need guidance.  

Let's help one another. 

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 In Parshat Noach we witness the deconstruction of Creation.  The Flood or Marvul (מַבּוּל) is not your ordinary calamity.  It is a cataclysmic event, a rolling back of Genesis. 

The blessing given to mankind 'to be fruitful and multiply' with the exception of one family has been taken off the table.  Everyone else is going to die.

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From a geologic point of view until very recently I had a problem with the volume of water needed to cover the entire planet Earth from sea level to a height above Mt. Ararat, at least a two mile high thick ring of water.  There just was not a volume of water, atmospheric surface or groundwater available to meet the requirements needed for the Flood.

However, some years ago I read about  a mineral only discovered in 1969 called ringwoodite.  This mineral is a form of magnesium silicate (Mg2SiO4) and is formed at high temperatures and pressures in the Earth's mantle.  This places it at a depth between 326 and 410 miles below the Earth’s surface.

Ringwoodite is able to bind oxygen and hydrogen together within its crystalline structure as hydroxide ions. This is the wherewithal for water.  It is estimated that 2.6% of ringwoodite is H₂O.  It is theorized that the volume of water contained in ringwoodite is equivalent to one to three times the volume of water in the Earth’s oceans, enough to supply the requirements of the Flood.  This is another instance where science is able to reconcile itself to words of Torah.

At 7:11 the Torah says: “…בַּיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֗ה נִבְקְעוּ֙ כָּל־מַעְיְנוֹת֙ תְּה֣וֹם רַבָּ֔ה…”

“…on this day, all the springs of the great deep were split,…”

Water coming up from the Earth’s mantle under landmass locations must have been very hot and under great pressure.  Nothing would survive.

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A Restoration Scene From the La Brea Tar Pits Museum, California

In support of the proposition that from the get-go human beings have been creatures of violence consider what it said about Mega-Faunal Extinctions:

In biology a mega fauna is a large animal, such as an elephant or a  camel or a horse, an animal weighing at least 100 ponds. While today most non-domesticated mega-faunal animals are only found in Africa or southern Asia there was a time when they were wide ranging and found all over the globe.

For example in North America alone until about 13,000 years ago there were large populations of giant sloths, giant tortoises, the saber-toothed tiger, llamas, camels, horses, giant beavers and many others. In what amounts to a geologic instant tens of mega-faunal genera were wiped out concurrent with the first appearance of human beings on the continent.  And the extinctions were not limited to North America.

Look at this chart. There is a correlation between times of first appearance of humans and unique megafaunal extinction pulses on different land masses.  You can not but conclude that human beings have always been violent by their nature.

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In a shiur regarding Parshat Noach Rabbi Eric Levy informs us that the Parshah begins with the Toldos of Noah and ends with the Toldos of Terach. Toldos is often translated as "history of" or "offspring", but it may also have an implication of a change in spirituality

6:9

אֵ֚לֶּה תּֽוֹלְדֹ֣ת נֹ֔חַ

These are the offspring of Noach…

11:27

ְאֵ֨לֶּה֙ תּֽוֹלְדֹ֣ת תֶּ֔רַח

And these are the offspring of Terach…

As per Rabbi Levy, at the beginning of the Parshah we see a change in the spirituality of humankind during the time of Noah.  It is a change for the worse.

By the end of the Parshah, at the time of Terach, we also see a change in spirituality, this time for the better.

Rabbi Levi said that within Parshat Noach there is an implication of a positive change in mankind's spirituality:  

https://outorah.org/p/1248/https://outorah.org/p/1248/

With all due respect Rabbi Levy, I have a different take on the subject:

At the time of Noach, Hashem warns Noach of the impen

 Besides being ever complacent, Noach has no other place to go.

Terach is in a similar circumstance:  At the age of 70 he fathers three sons.  One of his sons, Abram, was born in the year 1948 BCE.  They all live in the city of Ur.  However, one of the sons, Nachor, has left Ur and settled in the city of Harran, far distant from Ur about 600 miles to the North, in what is now northern Syria, close to the Turkish border.

Ur had been a magnificent metropolis.  During the period that is called its thirdding disaster.  For his own safety, at Hashem's command, Noach is instructed to build an Ark; take refuge in it while the Flood will wipe out all of the corrupt human species.  dynasty, from 2030 – 1980 BCE, Ur may have a population of 65,000 people, the largest city in Mesopotamia.  It was a political, cultural and religious hub. That all ended in about 1940 BCE when the Elamites completely destroyed the city.  Survivors not taken into captivity were faced with starvation as the fields had been torched and the water supply had become contaminated (Mesopotamia, G. Leik, 2002,  page 137).

At that time Terach was probably in his 70’s.  He and his family left the devastated region, going up river. It is my belief, similar to many people today,  Terach’s family became refugees and fled to Harran the home of Nachor.  This was their “Ark”.

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וַיִּקַּח תֶּרַח אֶת-אַבְרָם בְּנוֹ, וְאֶת-לוֹט בֶּן-הָרָן בֶּן-בְּנוֹ, וְאֵת שָׂרַי כַּלָּתוֹ,

אֵשֶׁת אַבְרָם בְּנוֹ; וַיֵּצְאוּ אִתָּם מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים, לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן, וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד-חָרָן, 

וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם

“And Terach took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came unto Charan, and they settled there.”

Alternative Ending:

I think that if Terach had realized his initial intention of going to the land of Canaan, he would have been in line to be the first Jew in place of his son and daughter-in-law.

This week's Parsha, in the concluding Aliyah at 11:31 has Abram's father Terach and family starting out on a journey, in part physical, and perhaps spiritual.  

We Olim have done the same, with one important difference: 

Unlike Terach we have settled in Israel.

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In terms of spirituality we have come a long way.

If Joshua has anything to say about, let there be no mistake: Terach and the whole Mishpacha, including our Patriarch and our Matriarch worshipped idols.  Any Midrash that says that Abraham learned about monotheism from an Angel or from his mother in a cave while hiding from Nimrod is just a white-wash.

In the Book of Joshua at 24:2 it says:

הַנָּהָ֗ר יָֽשְׁב֚וּ אֲבֽוֹתֵיכֶם֙ מֵֽעוֹלָ֔ם תֶּ֛רַח אֲבִ֥י אַבְרָהָ֖ם וַֽאֲבִ֣י נָח֑וֹר וַיַּֽעַבְד֖וּ אֱלֹהִ֥ים אֲחֵרִֽים

“And Joshua said to the whole nation, "Thus said the Lord God of Israel, 'Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the river from earliest time, Terach, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor; and they served other gods.”

And please spare me the Midrash that has Terach as an idol manufacturer and has Abraham as a youth smashing the idols.  In this instance I’ll refer to you Frank Sinatra:

https://youtu.be/61HW8uxzEZs

Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you If you're young at heart For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind If you're young at heart

It is pretty clear to me that we do not now worship idols.  In its stead, however, we worship science.  For my part I would caution you not to worship science as if it were a religion unto itself.  In doing so, at best you will be engaging in a form of polytheism resembling a form of idol worship that our Prophets railed against.

The question remains: How did Abraham learn about monotheism?

My guess is that his learning came from his wife, Sarah, who was definitely smarter than him.

At 21:12 Hashem says to Abraham:

כֹּל אֲשֶׁר תֹּאמַר אֵלֶיךָ שָׂרָה, שְׁמַע בְּקֹלָהּ

"...In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice..."

I rest my case.

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In the final verses of the Parsha we learn about the Tower of Babel:

At 11:12

 וַיְהִ֖י בְּנָסְעָ֣ם מִקֶּ֑דֶם וַיִּמְצְא֥וּ בִקְעָ֛ה בְּאֶ֥רֶץ שִׁנְעָ֖ר וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם

“And it came to pass when they traveled from the east, that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there”.

Where and what is Shinar, שִׁנְעָ֖ר?

Shinar is a variant of the land called Sumer. 

Shinar was mentioned earlier at 10:10 as the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom, and which encompassed all of Babylonia which was part of Sumer.

The Sumerians were great innovators. Among many other things, way back, 5,000 years ago they are credited with creating time and writing.

Before the Sumerians, a day began with the sunrise and ended with the sunset. People went to work from when the sun was positioned at a certain height in the morning sky and returned to their homes when it set. It was the Sumerians who divided the day from the night by time, by increments of sixty-second minutes and sixty-minute hours which made up twelve hours of night and the twelve hours of the day. Cuneiform writing is said to be Sumerian in origin.

To their credit, the builders of the Tower of Babel invented writing and the division of time into hours and minutes.  

Did this go part and parcel with Hashem's concern?

A related point: Terach and his family lived in Ur, a Sumerian city.  Sumerians were great intellects, in my mind they were "Proto-Jews".  They had the capacity to see beyond idol worship.

We are their result.

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The greater a person is or believes he or she is, the smaller the room for error in one’s life decisions. Had Noach been merely Mr. Noach, his choice of beginning the world again with a vineyard and wine would have been acceptable and even understandable. After all, the trauma of the destruction of so many human beings in the waters of the great flood required some sort of release of tension and an escape mechanism. But he was not just plain Noach when the Lord commanded him to build his ark and restart humanity.

 

He was Noach, the righteous man of his generation, the person who represented goodness and service to God and humanity. He was special, an exalted person who overcame the influences of a wicked and dissolute society and withstood its ridicule and insults. A person of such noble character and pious nature should not begin the rebuilding of human society with vineyards and wine.

 

It sent the wrong message to his progeny and through them to all later generations as well. Holy people are to be held to holy standards of behavior and endeavor. There are no one-size fits all in ethical and moral standards of behavior. The rabbis of Midrash taught us that with a greater human capacity for holiness there is a commensurate capacity for dissolute behavior as well.

 

The Talmud states that it is the scholarly righteous who have the strongest evil inclination within them. The responsibility for spiritual greatness is commensurate with the capacity for the holy greatness of each individual person. This is why Noach finds himself criticized by Midrash, and later Jewish biblical commentators, in spite of the Torah’s glowing compliments paid to him in its initial description.

 

A person of the stature of Noach should not be found drunk and disheveled in his tent, an inviting figure for the debauchery of his own offspring. The failure of greatness is depressing. As King Solomon put it: “If the flame has consumed the great cedars, then what else can be the fate of the hyssop of the wall?”

 

Greatness carries with it enormous burdens and fateful consequences. As we pride ourselves on being the “chosen people” we are held by Heaven to behave and live our lives as being a chosen people. Wine and drunkenness will not suffice for a nation that is destined to be a be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a special people.

 

Burdened by this greatness the Jewish people have fallen short of the mark numerous times in our history. But we have always risen again to attempt to fulfill our destiny and realize our potential. It is this characteristic of resilience, inherited from our father Abraham, that has been the key to our survival. We have constantly dealt with great ideas and issues. Drunkenness, whether physical or spiritual, has never been a trait of Jewish society. We are aware of the story and fate of Noach, but we pursue the greatness of Abraham as our goal in life.  

 

Shabbat shalom

Rabbi Berel Wein