Last night we talked about blessings. What does it mean to be a blessing. How do you know you are a blessing? Everybody left with a blessing, given by someone present, either in the room or on Zoom. We learned that ia blessing is something we are grateful for, It can be something unique that you offer the world. The world is a better place because you are in it. Each of you is a blessing. Each of you brings me joy. Even in a time of war.
I saw this post recently, a Mary Oliver poem about joy.
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the
case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.
Mary Oliver
Last week we debated whether we could do an update form of Adon Olam. I argued, yes argued, that yes…if Israelis can do weddings. We can sing. Joyfully. Even in our sadness.
Abraham in this week’s portion is told that he and his descendants will be a blessing. He will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the sea.
At the High Holy Days I stood here and said come back for Lech Lecha and I would talk about Isrrael, I figured we would be discussing judicial reform. I figured it would be complicated. I figured that we would not all agree and that I would feel like I don’t know enough. I still don’t but it is an important conversation. A critical one. I did not imagine that we would be at this moment.
Many rabbis this week have shared how the Torah portion today fits the moment that we are in.
G-d tells Avram, not yet Abraham, to go, to leave his country, the land of his birth, his father’s house, and go to the land that G-d would show him…to Canaan, now the land of Israel. There he would be.a blessing. A great nation.
This is the land that G-d swore to give to our ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, throughout the Torah. This reference here then is the first claim that Jews are in the land. Hebrews, Israelites, Jews, whatever term you call us, have lived continually in the land since Abraham’s time. Perhaps, in the continual barrage of misinformation, you may have read or seen a meme that Jews or Israelis have no claim to the land because they haven’t lived there bwfore 1948. That would be false. Even after the destruction of the Second Temple some Jews remained. That’s why there are two Talmuds, the Babylonian Talmud and the Yerushalmi, The Jerusalem Talmud. That’s why there are photos from the 1800s of men and women both standing at the Western Wall that I like to use to talk about a woman’s right to daven at the Kotel equally with men—but that is a sermon for another day. Sometimes we need to refute misinformation.
Back to today’s story. There was a famine in the land and once again Avram and his family became refugees. He went down to Egypt. In the Zohar we learn that this is also a spiritual going down, the opposite of going up, making aliyah which is a spiritual aliyah. A measure of that going down is how Avram treated Sarai. She was a beautiful woman, and he was willing to sacrifice her to the Egyptians to save himself by calling her his sister. This is the end of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Every year I say something about this topic. Today I will merely say that our patriarchs and our matriarchs were not perfect people. This was not Avram’s finest moment. And it is a clear example of domestic violence. And he uses this trick, this ruse twice!
Domestic violence exists in roughly the same proportions regardless of educational level, economic level or ethnic origin. It exists in the Jewish community, Roughly, 1 in 4 women will experience rape or domestic violence at some point in their lifetimes. It is wrong. Period. And it still exists and the numbers show that it went up during the pandemic by roughly 40%. That is why I am so proud of the work that organizations like Shalva do and closer to home our own Maureen Maning and the Community Crisis Center. It is why it is important that the Elgin Police Department works to eradicate domestic violence and part of why I am a police chaplain.
Back to our story, Sarai is carried off to the Egyptian palace because she is so beautiful. There she becomes a captive in the Pharaoh’s own home, and she becomes his wife. She is rescued by G-d when G-d unravels Avram’s plan and Pharaoh dismisses them. Rescuing captives, hostages is a very high value in Judaism. We pray for it as a blessing in those first morning blessings, who releases the bound or the fettered. It is part of the second paragraph of the Amidah, when we acknowledge that G-d, “matir asurim,” frees the captives. It is emphasized in the Talmud.
The Talmud actually calls pidyon shvuyim, rescuing captives a “mitzvah rabbah”, a great mitzvah because captivity is seen as even worse than starvation or death. (Bava Batra 8b)
Maimonides then writes, “The redeeming of captives takes precedence over supporting the poor or clothing them. There is no greater mitzvah than redeeming captives for the problems of the captive include being hungry, thirsty, unclothed, and they are in danger of their lives too. Ignoring the need to redeem captives goes against these Torah laws: “Do not harden your heart or shut your hand against your needy fellow” (Deuteronomy15:7); “Do not stand idly by while your neighbor’s blood is shed” (Leviticus 19:16). And misses out on the following mitzvot: “You must surely open your hand to him or her” (Deuteronomy 15:8); “…Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18); “Rescue those who are drawn to death” (Proverbs 24:11) and “… there is no mitzvah greater than the redeeming of captives.” (Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim 8:10-11)
The Shulchan Aruch adds: “Every moment that one delays in freeing captives, in cases where it is possible to expedite their freedom, is considered to be tantamount to murder.” (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 252:3)
In Europe, congregations and communities maintained funds just for the rescue of those seized unlawfully.
We have witnessed the power of this in what we call modern history with the Raid on Entebbe, executed by Netanyahu’s brother Yoni and the even more recent release of Gilad Shalit who was held captive by Hamas for five years and was only released in exchange for 1,027 prisoners including 280 prisoners serving life sentences for planning and perpetrating previous terror attacks. I fear that some of those events are part of how we got to this very moment.
Surely there are limits to our need and our desire to bring every captive back. Rabbinic scholars and military strategists debate this. Does exchanging one prisoner for many lead to more captives? Does it embolden terrorists? I know that I do not have the answer. I do know that every life has value. Every life is created b’tzelem elohim. In the image of G-d. Bring them home now. I do know that if I thought I could have solved peace in the Middle East I would have chosen a different career with perhaps the State Department. It is also important to note that the Israeli policy is different from the US policy. Officially, the US policy is we don’t negotiate with terrorists. Full stop.
After Sarai’s release, Avram and Lot wander back up to the Negev, but their possessions were too great and “the land could not support them.” So, they divided the land in two. Avram said, Is not the whole land before you? Let us separate: if you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north.” Haven’t we heard that language before? Is this the original two state solution?
Yet again there is a repetition of the promise of the land:
And יהוה said to Abram, after Lot had parted from him, “Raise your eyes and look out from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west, for I give all the land that you see to you and your offspring forever.
I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring too can be counted.
Up, walk about the land, through its length and its breadth, for I give it to you.”
And Abram moved his tent, and came to dwell at the terebinths of Mamre, which are in Hebron; and he built an altar there to יהוה.
The land. This very land. His descendants, what became known as the children of Israel and the children of Ishmael both are blessings. Both lay claim to the land. Both are created b’tzelem elohim, in the image of G-d.
Yet sibling rivalry is real and this solution is not good enough, a twelve-year war ensues. [The invaders] seized all the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions, and went their way. They also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, and his possessions, and departed; for he had settled in Sodom.
Lot is captured. Our second hostage.
And [God] said to Avram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs, and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years; Foreshadowing before there was a literary term for it.
As I write this, we don’t know what will be or what the fate of the hostages will be. Apparently, Israel rolled into Gaza overnight. It is clear that more people will die. More children will die. Our tradition teaches to seek peace and pursue it. To run after it. I know I don’t have the solutions. My heart is breaking.
Yet, there is another promise, given to Isaiah:
“I the Lord have called you. I hold your hand. I create you and appoint you a covenant people, a light of nations, opening the eyes of the blind, rescuing prisoners from the jail and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon.” (Isaiah 42:6-7)
As part of our Torah service for the past few weeks we have been adding to our mi sheberach prayer, the prayer for those in captivity. There have been a number written recently. We have been using this one:
Our God, the One who raised Joseph up from the pit, be “a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.” (Psalm 9:10)
Send complete rescue and full redemption to all those held captive by the enemy. Strengthen their spirit and bring them our prayers that they be protected from all harm. Implant understanding in the heart of the enemy that they may return the captives in wholeness of body and spirit.
Grant wisdom to the Israel Defense Forces that they may secure freedom for the captives without loss of life.
Grant strength of spirit and courage of heart to all the sons and daughters of Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar to release bonds of captivity and allow us all to live in freedom.
“They shall call upon Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in distress; I will rescue them, and honor them.” (after Psalm 91:15)
Rabbi Ofer Sabath Beit-Halachmi (Translation: Rabbi Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi)