Our Torah Gatherings – Wed 11/4 & Sun 11/9

The Parting of Abraham and Lot
Tapestry, wool and silk, 6 warps per cm, The Parting of Abraham and Lot from a set of eight of the Story of Abraham, Mortlake, after a design attributed to Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Bernard van Orley, c. 1658-9.

A Yiddish Vinkle of our Own:

Here is a link to the Yiddish Film, Zay Gezundt Jerusalem. 

In addition to the film title using one of my favorite expressions in wishing people good health and expressing good will as well, the film captures in its own way, the tension felt in the Yiddish speaking world of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century.  It was a time in which Hebrew was emerging as the ‘new” language of a Jewish people and the Land of Israel was emerging as the new focus of a European Jewish community which was beginning to break free from its previous Hasidic and Ultra Orthodox embrace.  This film captures a time in which there was a realization which seemed to foreshadow an end to European Jewish life and the Yiddish culture, along with the Yiddish language which seemed to unite it.   They were well aware that on the one hand, there was no future in Europe for the Jews and on the other, a mass aliyah of Europe’s Jews would spell the end of Yiddish Language usage and quite possible an end to Yiddish culture as we once knew it.  Watch the film, it is brief and poingient.

Zay Gezunt, Jerusalem (2015)

Note:  I have made a decision to return to the custom (Tradition! — or Masores), of introducing Yiddish words and phrases into our studies, if for no other reason, then we have lost just too much of such a rich tradition of Jewish wisdom and literature in this past century.  And in some small way, I am going to try to bring back ‘a Biseleh a Mama Lushen’ or  ‘a little of our mother language’  so at the very least, we can all have a little forshpeis (small taste) of the language that had sustained us for countless generations and gave us a world in which we could find ‘a groisseh Naches’ or ‘a lot of both joy and meaning’ with one another and for one another.  It’s not a ‘choilem’  or a ‘dream,’ we can bring ‘a bisleleh’ back to our collective tish, (so to speak).

A shanem dunk . . . .

Seth

_________

While we find ourselves in Genesis, in a series of stories, most of which concern Abraham, there is just so much to consider.  Some would even say, perhaps a little too much.  In a casual perusal of this week’s section, in which we find ourselves, ‘Parsht VaYera,’ we will have no less than 6 major episodes of the ongoing saga of Abraham and Sarah.  All of the stories are informative, many of which are pivotal. Some stand out and speak loudly and as I am now famous for saying, they are best understood only when ‘lain out’ — side by side.  Pun simultaneously unintended and intended, please forgive in both instances . . . refer to a Barnes wall, any wall if you would like.

א  וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו יְהוָה, בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא; וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב פֶּתַח-הָאֹהֶל, כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם.	Gn 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
ב  וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו, וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה שְׁלֹשָׁה אֲנָשִׁים, נִצָּבִים עָלָיו; וַיַּרְא, וַיָּרָץ לִקְרָאתָם מִפֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל, וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ, אָרְצָה.	2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed down to the earth,

Abraham and the Three Angels. James Tissot 1836-1902 thejewishmuseum.org

When we first find Abraham, he is at an advanced age, sitting in the doorway of his tent, in the heat of the day, and there he sits, not more than a day after his circumcision.  It is at this moment when he feels the presence of God and yet, looking up, it seems like there are men standing before him.

י  וַיֹּאמֶר, שׁוֹב אָשׁוּב אֵלֶיךָ כָּעֵת חַיָּה, וְהִנֵּה-בֵן, לְשָׂרָה אִשְׁתֶּךָ; וְשָׂרָה שֹׁמַעַת פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל, וְהוּא אַחֲרָיו.

Gn 18:10 And He (or they) said: ‘I will certainly return unto thee when the season cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.’

Not only will we learn from ‘these men’ that Sarah will bear a child at this season in a year’s time, but these same men (or Angels of Gd, if you so chose) will be the very connection from this moment in time all the way to those final and fateful moments of Lot’s Sodom and Gemmorrah.

טז  וַיָּקֻמוּ מִשָּׁם הָאֲנָשִׁים, וַיַּשְׁקִפוּ עַל-פְּנֵי סְדֹם; וְאַבְרָהָם–הֹלֵךְ עִמָּם, לְשַׁלְּחָם.

Gn 18:16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

It is here that we have a long awaited rumination of Gd as to whether he is going to tell Abraham of his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. (Please note that he does not ruminate about his decision, but only about including Abraham in his decision).

טז  וַיָּקֻמוּ מִשָּׁם הָאֲנָשִׁים, וַיַּשְׁקִפוּ עַל-פְּנֵי סְדֹם; וְאַבְרָהָם–הֹלֵךְ עִמָּם, לְשַׁלְּחָם.

Gn 18: 16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked out toward Sodom; and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.

Gd, at this moment in the story, gives us a reason as to why he wouldn’t include Abraham in his plans

יז  וַיהוָה, אָמָר:  הַמְכַסֶּה אֲנִי מֵאַבְרָהָם, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי עֹשֶׂה.	Gnn 18: 17 And the LORD said: ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing;
יח  וְאַבְרָהָם–הָיוֹ יִהְיֶה לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל, וְעָצוּם; וְנִבְרְכוּ-בוֹ–כֹּל, גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ.	18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
יט  כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו, לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֶת-בָּנָיו וְאֶת-בֵּיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו, וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה, לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט–לְמַעַן, הָבִיא יְהוָה עַל-אַבְרָהָם, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר, עָלָיו.	19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.’

And herein lies the rub . . . Gd is not so sure that letting Abraham in on his plans will yield the same reaction that he got from Noah. If Gd is looking for another Noah, Abraham would not be the right choice.

Remember this Noah is the one that doesn’t say a word Noah did exactly as Gd told him to do. And in case we have forgotten, Abraham is not exactly very Noah-like.

Arguing Abraham

We are relieved to be known as the Children of Abraham — and not as the Children of Noah, especially given his passive reaction to Gd’s commands.

Importantly, however, the Torah is now a little more interested in Lot’s family — especially in the way they perceive ‘their world around them.’

And of course, let us remember, Sodom is more than just a town, it too is a world unto itself. The people who live there appear to be evil, at least in the way that the Torah ‘sees’ them to be.  In addition to everything else, they are understood as ‘inhospitable.’ (note: Abraham and Lot act hospitably, Noah does not).

And so now let’s keep an eye on these two: Lot and Noah —  and how their stories are told within the Torah itself.  It’s no longer just the Noah and Abraham story, which we have discussed.  It is now the ‘World of the Flood’ and the ‘World of Sodom and Gomorrah, a much wider and much deeper comparison.

It is not just the family of Noah, it is also the family of Lot. And while all of this is going on, we even able to see Abraham move a little to the side, especially as we now turn our attention to both ‘Noah and Lot’ and to their ‘family members,’ all of whom are ‘trapped inside of an ark and within ‘a doomed city’ of sorts.

The Sodom and Gomorrah motif from the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel, 1493. Lot’s wife has already transformed into a salt pillar, in the center.

Stay tuned, it only gets better . . .

Seth

Rabbi Seth Frisch / מהרש’’ף
Lerhaus: A Newshul of Jewish Thought and Learning
www.newshulofamerica.org
(215) 385-0778