PONDERABLE  

 

Sedrah Vayikra

   Vayikra/Leviticus 1:1-5:26 

   Haftarah Y’shayahu/Isaiah 43:21-44:23

 

MOTHER, WHERE ART THOU?

 

            These days it is nearly impossible to distract oneself from the elephant in everyone’s room: Pesach. I had my annual conversation a few weeks ago with the manager of our local Trader Joe’s who assured me that they would be “ramping up” their supplies of kosher meat and chicken again this season. Why “ramping up” you might ask. It turns out that, as a consequence of the coronapocalypse pachyderm thrashing about in our rooms, people’s plans for huge family sedarim have evaporated for a second year; and the traveling that often occurs during Pesach won’t be happening this year, vaccines notwithstanding. Order deadlines for co-ops based in other cities have passed. Thus, local demand by each stranded-at-home family has risen dramatically and more of us will be shopping locally for the limited supplies in Memphis’ few kosher sources.

            By now you are asking, “How does this tie in with Vayikra, this week’s sedrah?” Please read on. The entire sedrah is concerned with errors that individuals, from the national leader to the rank and file citizen, might have committed, often without knowledge of it (like those elusive crumbs for which we search on the day before Pesach). The discussion ad infinitum of the penalties associated with each possible trespass emphasizes the responsibility that each person bears, no matter their status in society. Errors, sins, missing the mark: each must be recognized and made right, through repentance and, often, financially. They are absolutely not to be ignored but dealt with head on.

            We are still living through a pandemic that has upended our twenty-first century belief and assurance that the science and technology of modernity could solve any problem, defeat any challenge, rebuff any invader. I liken it to an invasion from Mars: a common enemy has unstatused our quo, thrown off all balances, made us question our invincibility as a human family. God’s most magnificent creation, mankind, is being humbled by a microbe that neither thinks nor plans. It just “is”. Vaccines, finally available, elevate the hope of so-called “herd immunity”. L’shanah haba-ah b’yachad. Next year we will hopefully be together for Pesach as in the past.

            I’ve heard it suggested that the infinitely good, omniscient, never slumbering Lord of the Universe realized that even She/He could not be everywhere at once. And so mothers were created. Where is Mother today? It is us. The battle we wage against this 50-nanometer enemy can be won if and only if we listen to our mother’s voice that tells us “be careful”. And we all know how to be careful: the guidelines have been broadcast, hollered, televised, written in every medium; and appeal to our common sense. At many stores shopping baskets are being routinely sanitized by the workers before a customer can grab one. Most (why not all?!?) people wash frequently; wear gloves, masks, and face shields; are soon to be vaccinated, if not already jabbed; and keep their distance from one another. These are encouraging signs that we will emerge victorious. The worry is that too many people are still declaring the pandemic to be a hoax – while it’s happening – and that the vaccines are harmful! I’ve seen groups of young maskless men playing basketball in parks, oblivious (denial?) of the role they are playing in immortalizing the virus and its mutations. “Listen to your mother!” should be posted on every wall and lamp post.

            I’m persisting in optimism. I’m so optimistic that I envision a new world emerging from this conflict wherein international cooperation becomes the norm, that that which is truly important to improve the lot of us all becomes everyone’s prime directive, and universally elevating enterprises become the newest standard of living.

I know we can do this.

Let us make our mothers proud.

 

Shabbat shalom,

 

RCDJ

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Sedrah Tol’dot [not Toldot!]

  Bresheet/Genesis 25:19-28:9 

  Haftarah Malachi 1:1-2:7 (the last prophet)

 

WEAK or GHANDI-ESQUE?

[portions excerpted/edited from the writings of Reb Tzvi Hersh Weinreb]

    There are many "shtarkers" [strongmen] in the Bible. Samson, for example. But even kindly Avraham was a warrior, and a victorious one. Yaakov was proud of his triumphant use of "my sword and my bow." Moshe was able to slay the Egyptian who tormented his Jewish victim. Y’hoshua, Sha-ul, and David were all "shtarkers" who led their people in battle. One biblical figure stands out as a "non-shtarker," a gentle soul, perhaps even a pacifist: Yitzchak, the central figure of the this week’s sedrah, Tol’dot. Yitzchak commits no aggressive acts, however legitimate they might be, and never even asserts himself verbally.

   There is much contrast between Yitzchak and the other major characters of the Bible. Yitzchak was a decidedly non-militant personality. But … in the Jewish mystical tradition, the trait of g’vurah, strength, is assigned to Yitzchak and not to the other Patriarchs. Thus, in Kabbalistic terminology, Avraham represents chesed, compassion, and Yaakov stands for tiferet, harmony. It is gentle Yitzchak who carries the banner of g’vurah. How are we to understand this perplexing attribution of strength to that patriarch who seems to least exemplify it? … There are two types of strength. One way is to exert power. Avraham chose that way when he waged war against the four kings in the story we read just a few short weeks ago. Y’hoshua and David found that way necessary in their struggles.

    But Yitzchak knew the secret of another way of demonstrating strength. He faced challenges that he could have met aggressively. More than once, he faced hostility. In our Sedrah, we read of the enmity he confronted at the hands of the Philistines, who stopped up the wells he needed to water his flock. In verses 26:13-22, we read "…The Philistines envied him…They stopped up all the wells his father had dug…" What was Yitzchak's response? Not war! Rather, "Yitzchak departed…" He left the scene, he dug new wells, but again he faced violent opposition. "The herdsmen of G’rar quarreled with him…" They continued to stop his wells. In response, he dug another well, and yet another. He persisted, swallowing his pride and suppressing every impulse to strike back violently. Ultimately, he prevailed: he dug a well which was uncontested.

    Some find his patience in the face of his enemies frustrating. But Midrash Tanchuma finds it admirable and remarks: "Behold! See what strength Yitzchak possessed!" The Midrash validates this contention, namely that sometimes, "forgoing the military option is itself a show of strength." There is a verse in Proverbs which is particularly apt here: "Better to be forbearing than mighty; to have self-control than to conquer a city." (Proverbs 16:32).

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   Could it have been his overarching need for “shalom bayit” and a desperation for peace that kept Yitzchak from – in his mind - interfering with Rivka’s dysfunctional rearing of their twin sons? A reluctance that, ultimately, led to the disastrous outcomes of Yaakov’s and Esav’s relationship? It might have been Yitzchak’s own upbringing. He had witnessed the argumentative environment in the household of his parents, Avraham and Sarah, and the resultant painful expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. Yitzchak apparently had no desire to replicate the stresses of marriage and parenting, and wed as a forty-year-old only after Avraham’s intervention. And he was childless until 60. [In her defense, Rivka’s only prior family experience had been in a household whose normal day-to-day interactions with one another and the outside world was characterized by being cunning, scheming, and deceitful. From a psychologist’s perspective, theirs would not have been considered to have been a union “made in heaven”.] But it is revelatory of his inner strength that he re-united with his brother Ishmael to bury Avraham: the schisms of their parents were not bequeathed to them.

    Yitzchak had grown beyond their example. He had kept the torch of monotheism lit, passing it on to Yaakov. Thus, he is correctly regarded as a g’vurah.

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