Issac & Ishmael - 8 vs. 13

In this week's Torah portion, we are introduced to the father of Judaism - and through it many of today's major belief systems.
How did Avraham become the father of various religions? What role did his 2 sons play?

While living in Israel, Avraham & his wife Sarah experienced a great famine that hit the land of Israel.
Forced to traverse down to Egypt to acquire food, the couple runs into some problems, with Sarah taken by guards to marry her to Pharaoh.
G-d Saves Sarah by striking Pharaoh's household with a plague, and Pharaoh sends Avraham & Sarah away with great riches.
But during his short acquaintance with the holy Avraham & Sarah, after witnessing miracles wrought for them, Pharaoh, greatly impressed, sends his daughter Hagar to be a hand-maid
to Sarah, saying: "Greater a helper to Sarah, than a princess here."

Childless, Sarah asks Avraham to marry Hagar and they have a child, "Ishmael." In this week's Torah reading, Avraham is commanded to circumcise himself and the males of his household. Ishmael is 13 at the time. Soon Sarah is granted by G-d a child, Issac, and he is circumcised at 8 days old as commanded by G-d.

We are told in the Midrash, that one day, Issac and Ishmael were having an argument. Ishmael was gloating to Issac, saying:
"I am greater than you, for I had my circumcision at 13 yrs. old! I made my own decision, I chose to dedicate myself to G-d!
You were 8 days old and had no choice!" Issac answered him: "That may be, but I was circumcised & thereby dedicated to G-d at 8 days old, beyond my choice, because I am dedicated to G-d beyond
reason and understanding; beyond intellect." The nature of a Jew is his dedication to G-d, his commitment beyond reason. To be sure, Judaism places a central role on understanding
as much as possible about Judaism & G-d, but through thick & thin, as we've seen throughout history, even when it doesn't seem to make sense, we stay committed. And that's why Issac, his son Jacob, the 12 tribes, and all of the future Jewish People, had to be circumcised at 8 days old. A time when one doesn't yet "understand" G-d, but is bound with Him - body & soul.

Ishmael was born naturally, while Isaac was born miraculously, from a mother of 90 yrs. old who had always been barren. Sarah had no womb. Ever.
Every person in the world has a connection with G-d, and a spiritual self that must be nurtured, and Jews must help this happen.
It is our duty.
But to do that, we must always remember who we are, a people whose nature, as bequeathed to us spiritually by our forefathers, is a bound with G-d
that defies all logic and nature. An unalterable bond that defies any laws of a nature, any enemy, any circumstance.

Shabbat Shalom!

-Daniel

To Live with the Times

"We all must live with the times."



Those were the words of the Rebbe Shneur Zalman to his disciples before he secluded himself in his room. But what could they mean?
Could he possibly mean that the Divine intention was for man to keep up with the latest fashion and news?
So Rabbi Yehuda Leib, the Rebbe's brother, explained to the Chassidim that 'Living with the times' meant to connect with, learn from, & live with every week's Torah Portion.

Well, let's take a look at the week we find ourselves in.
As we leave the high holiday spirit that coursed throughout the Hebrew month of Tishrei, with Rosh Hashana,Yom Kippur, and who could forget Sukkot & Simchat Torah, we find ourselves ready to enter the month of Cheshvan.
Cheshvan? Check your calendars people, there's no special holiday of note (except for the weekly Shabbat of course).
Talk about a downer! From a month full of inspiration - to nada??

This week's Torah portion is Noah. Let's see if we can find in it any help to this problem and "live with the times."
In the portion we see Noah's building of a massive ark at G-d's Command, saving his family & members of the animal kingdom,and together surviving a tumultuous flood, finally arriving on land in order to restore goodness to a once corrupt earth....
Well, it looks like the 1st life lesson for this time of year is clear in our parsha! How so?

Life in this physical world is full of tests and challenges, physical & financial, troubles that engulf us like flood waters.
G-d Knows this and therefore Gives us a respite at times from these worries of the physical world, by granting us holy slots in time to take a step back.
He Brings us into an ark of holiness. Our Sages tell us that in Noah's ark, no animal attacked another, despite the cramped area and mixture of predators with prey. This is because the ark contained a holiness within it, a pervasive holiness akin to the time of the future redemption, when "The wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a young goat." (Isaiah 11:6)

Noah's ark symbolizes the month of Tishrei, an "ark" that contained us within it & shielded us from the troublesome waters of the mundanity of everyday affairs. But like we see with Noah, the purpose of the protection of the ark from the flood was not in order to only remain in it's holy environment, but in order to be strengthened to eventually re-enter the world and replenish it for the good.

As we leave the ark of Tishrei & enter the new world of Cheshvan, let's live with Noah and his mission to re-enter the world fresh and invigorated,
ready to make the world into the world G-d Intended it to be. A world full of Torah and Mitzvot, good deeds and kind words, love and joy.
The inspiration of Tishrei has strengthened us to re-invigorate the world for good.
So let's get to it!

Shabbat Shalom!

Daniel

This is My Torah Scroll

Hey Everyone!
Tonight is the Jewish holiday of "Shemini Atzeret," while tomorrow Night (Thursday) is the joyous holiday of "Simchat Torah" - full of dancing with Torahs & saying "L'chaim!" We celebrate the completion of the Torah by dancing with the Torah, every Jew together, scholar and beginner alike, for in essence we are all equal and have an equal share in the Torah given to all of us by G-d at Mt. Sinai.
Below is an amazing true story that I've always loved - I hope you enjoy.
May you have a very happy holiday! (For more info on the holiday, see: Simchat Torah)

By Ruth Benjamin


Henryk was very young in 1945, when the War ended and solitary survivors tried frantically to trace their relatives. He had spent what seemed to be most of his life with his nanny, who had hidden him away from the Nazis at his father's request. There was great personal risk involved, but the woman had readily taken it, as she loved the boy.



All the Jews were being killed, and Henryk's nanny did not think for a moment that the father,Joseph Foxman, would survive the infamous destruction of the Vilna Ghetto. He would surely have been transferred to Auschwitz -— and everyone knew that nobody ever came back from Auschwitz. She therefore had no scruples about adopting the boy, having him baptized into the Catholic Church and taught catechism by the local priest.

He told his son that he was a Jew and that his name was Avraham
It was Simchat Torah when his father came to take him. The heartbroken nanny had packed all his clothing and his small catechism book, stressing to the father that the boy had become a good Catholic. Joseph Foxman took his son by the hand and led him directly to the Great Synagogue of Vilna. On the way, he told his son that he was a Jew and that his name was Avraham.

Not far from the house, they passed the church and the boy reverently crossed himself, causing his father great anguish. Just then, a priest emerged who knew the boy, and when Henryk rushed over to kiss his hand, the priest spoke to him, reminding him of his Catholic faith.

Everything inside of Joseph wanted to drag his son away from the priest and from the church. But he knew that this was not the way to do things. He nodded to the priest, holding his son more closely. After all, these people had harbored his child and saved the child's life. He had to show his son Judaism, living Judaism, and in this way all these foreign beliefs would be naturally abandoned and forgotten.

They entered the Great Synagogue of Vilna, now a remnant of a past, vibrant Jewish era. There they found some Jewish survivors from Auschwitz who had made their way back to Vilna and were now rebuilding their lives and their Jewish spirits. Amid the stark reality of their suffering and terrible loss, in much diminished numbers, they were singing and dancing with real joy while celebrating Simchat Torah.

Avraham stared wide-eyed around him and picked up a tattered prayer book with a touch of affection. Something deep inside of him responded to the atmosphere, and he was happy to be there with the father he barely knew. He held back, though, from joining the dancing.

A Jewish man wearing a Soviet Army uniform could not take his eyes off the boy, and he came over to Joseph. "Is this child... Jewish?" he asked, a touch of awe in his voice.

"This is the first live Jewish child I have come across in all this time..."
The father answered that the boy was Jewish and introduced his son. As the soldier stared at Henryk-Avraham, he fought to hold back tears. "Over these four terrible years, I have traveled thousands of miles, and this is the first live Jewish child I have come across in all this time. Would you like to dance with me on my shoulders?" he asked the boy, who was staring back at him, fascinated.

The father nodded permission, and the soldier hoisted the boy high onto his shoulders. With tears now coursing down his cheeks and a heart full of real joy, the soldier joined in the dancing.

"This is my Torah scroll," he cried.

Abe Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League -- the Avraham in our story -- remembers this as his first conscious feeling of a connection with Judaism and of being a Jew.