THE WEEKLY PARSHA
Our weekly parsha opens with the words which G-d spoke to Avram: "...Go
from your land, from your birthplace and from the house of your father,
to the land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1).
Avraham was commanded to leave his land, his birthplace and his father's
house. Doing that he was awarded many blessings, as the next verse makes
clear.
"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will
exalt your name; and you will be a blessing."
"I will make you into a great nation," Rashi explains, is the assurance
of offspring. "I will bless you" is the blessing of wealth. "I will
exalt your name" is the promise that G-d will add the letter heh to
Avram's name. His name will become Avraham. By the addition of this
letter the numerical equivalent (gematria) of the name Avraham equals
248 -- ramach -- the number of limbs in the human body. According to the
sages, this indicates that Avraham will be shalaim -- whole and
complete, without any deficiency or blemish.
After such great blessings of children, wealth and a reputable name, it
would seem that there was no need to bless Avraham with anything more.
Nevertheless, we were taught by Rabbi Meier Chadash z"l that Avraham was
given yet one more blessing which was greater than all those that came
before it, as it is recorded in the conclusion of the verse: "...And you
will be a blessing." When a person becomes a blessing for others, then
that is the greatest blessing of all.
A person wants to be happy and fulfilled in his life. He has to know
that the way to achieve real happiness and fulfillment is to help
others, to make them happy and fulfilled.
When the Temple stood a person would separate a tithe of the produce of
his field and give it to "the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the
widow...." When he did that mitzvah the Torah also commanded him to make
what was called "the confession of tithes." He would pray, "I have done
according to all that You commanded me" (Duet. 26:12,14), and Rashi
explained that the intention of these words was to say, "I have been
happy with what You gave me, and I have made others happy with it." In
other words, a person's joy with his own produce goes hand in hand with
using it to make others happy as well.
Avraham embodied the character trait of loving kinkness. His entire
being was dedicated to doing acts of charity and kindness for others. In
this way, through Avraham himself, G-d's promise that he will be a
blessing to others, was fulfilled.
This phenomenon will help us to illuminate Rashi's second commentary to
the same verse. "I will make you into a great nation" -- this is what we
say in the prayer of amidah, "...the G-d of Avraham." "I will bless
you..." is what we say, "...the G-d of Yitzchak." "I will exalt your
name..." is what we say, "...the G-d of Ya'akov." At this point you
might think that the conclusion of the bracha will mention all three
patriarchs. "And you will be a blessing" teaches that we conclude
"...G-d the shield of Avraham." We conclude with Avraham alone.
Concerning this Rashi Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman z"l (HYD -- may his blood
be avenged) said that the exile will be concluded when the character
trait of Avraham becomes widespread. Avraham was the archetype of acts
of kindness and drawing people close to G-d. We conclude with Avraham.
When we strengthen ourselves to be like Avraham our father, to become a
blessing to others through many, many acts of outreach and loving
kindness, then we will merit to the complete and whole Redemption, may
it come speedily in our days.
THE PRAYERS OF OUR MOUTH
KIDDUSH LEVANAH (Blessing the Moon)
Our sages have said (Sanhedrin 42) that all those who bless the new moon
in time are considered as if they welcomed the Divine Presence.
It is written, "This is the new month for you..." (Exodus 12:2). Also it
is written, "...This is my G-d and I will prepare for Him a habitation"
(ibid. 15:2). One of the 32 ways in which aggada is expounded from the
Torah is gezairah shavah: the same word in two verses teaches us from
one verse to the other. In this case "this" "this" teaches that one who
blesses the new moon in time is considered as if they welcomed the
Divine Presence. Nevertheless, what is the connection between blessing
the new month and welcoming the Divine Presence?
The Maharsha writes that in the exile we cannot ascend to the Temple in
Jerusalem although we do not stop yearning for it. However, when we see
the new moon and the renewal of the monthly cycle we remember that G-d
has promised to renew us as well. We will yet merit to ascend, to see
and to welcome the Divine Presence.
Chazal have said that one who thinks to do a mitzvah, but is prevented
from doing it -- it is considered as if he did it. Thus, when we go to
look upon the renewal of the moon and bless it, and in our heart we are
contemplating our own renewal and our return to the holy habitation of
the Divine Presence, then it is considered as if we have already
welcomed her.
The Levush writes that when we look at the moon we see the works of G-d
and His awesome power. This is the case with the moon more than any of
the other stars whose movements are not so obvious. It is considered as
if we have welcomed the Divine Presence when we observe the works of G-d
and the greatness of His deeds. In addition, the renewal of the cycles
of the moon represents the Divine Presence.
This bracha which we bless over the renewal of the moon is called
"kiddush ha-chodesh," sanctification of the month. However, the accepted
text mentions renewal of the month rather than sanctification of it. It
is entitled with the term sanctification in order to invoke the
sanctification of the new month which was made by the bet din. In the
court a blessing was recited when the new moon was sanctified. However,
the Sephardic custom is to call it "birchat halavanah," the blessing of
the month.
(The Book of Our Heritage)
STORIES OF THE SAGES
"...He said to Sarai his wife, `Behold now, I know that you are a woman
who is beautiful to look at" (Gen. 12:11).
Rashi comments on this verse citing a midrash. "Until now I was not
aware of you. This was because of the modesty of both of them. At this
time something happened to make him notice her."
In his sefer Tzemach Tzedek, in the chapter on modesty, the gaon, Rabbi
Yehudah Aryeh di Modina of Venice tells the following story.
"I found written that in one city there lived a saintly and modest
woman. One of the nobleman of the city saw her and desired her. She
would not listen, but he made up his mind to take her by force. He went
to her house with soldiers, and took her, and brought her to his house.
When she saw that her cries would not be heard and that her pleading
was to no avail, she asked him, "What do you see in me that you do not
desire any other except me?"
He answered, "Your eyes are like a dove's. They drive me mad."
She said to him, "Since you have this great love for my eyes, I am
going to do what you want. Just wait a moment to enable me to prepare
myself in the chamber."
She entered the chamber and closed the door. She took a knife and
gouged out both her eyes. She opened the door and said, "I have seen
that your love for my eyes is very great. Here they are. And do with
them whatever you want.
The shocked nobleman sent her home.
EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN
There is no subject to which we must relate more seriously and in depth
than education. These words are true for all generations, but especially
in this turbulent generation. It must find relevant pathways in a new
world, even before it has had the time to recover from the calamity of
the Holocaust.
On the one hand we are blessed with an increase in the number of Torah
observant Jews. On the other hand we are faced with a terrible
deterioration of values and humanistic ethics throughout the world. This
external phenomenon casts its shadow upon our internal world.
Education is a task of the highest order. Its success guarantees the
existence of our nation's heritage and its Torah. It is a task which is
incumbent upon every father and every mother, and it is not possible to
say, "I am exempt from this job."
On the other hand, education is also a natural inclination of every
parent. By their nature parents want to educate their children properly.
However, it is necessary for them to know that education is also a deep
wisdom. A person cannot grasp this wisdom casually, or through his
emotions and feelings. It is impossible to rely upon the natural
intuition of the parents, to say, "I will educate according to the
feelings that G-d implanted within me, and probably I will educate
properly." The wisdom of education requires study and attention. And
would it be that with much study and thought which we dedicate to
education that G-d guides us to success.
The subject of education must be arranged and defined in order to know
what can be considered the way of education and what does not come into
the definition of education. Some things are also contrary to the goals
of education and cause unwanted results. These must also be defined.
There are other things which are sometimes thought to support education.
However, after internal contemplation and under a long-range view, these
things prove to be outside the definition of education, and occasionally
even conflict with education. These, too, must be defined; and we must
see why they are considered education, and why they are really not so.
These days the awareness that education is a wisdom requiring study is
deficient. Sometimes, even teachers and educators are lacking in this
awareness.
In order to act properly in the matter of educating children, it is
necessary to act with deep consideration, with proper definitions, and
with attention to what the parents are doing.
(Introduction to the sefer Zeriah U'binyan Ha-chinuch, Rabbi S. Wolbe)
