A piece of Talmud I have been thinking about all week often gets taught this way:
when one hears a fire truck going by with sirens wailing, one shouldn’t pray “please, God, let it not be my house burning” — either it is, or it isn’t, but the prayer won’t change whatever is already real. But where does this come from in Talmud? There were not fire engines back in the day. It comes from Berachot 9 and the idea that we should not say a prayer over something that has already happened or that is in vain. Sometimes this applies to medical diagnoses as well. We may already, for example, have cancer. We can’t change that now. We can manage how we respond to it. Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book is not “Why bad things happen to good people, but “when.” That doesn’t mean that the response is easy.  

Similarly, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as cited in Gates of Prayer before the Amidah, as an intention, a kavanah which we used last night and this morning, said, 

“Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken bridge, or rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will.” 

“Pray as if everything depended on G-d; act as if everything depended on you. Who rise from prayer better person their prayer is answered.” (Gates of Prayer, page 157) 

Last night we talked about what we would put in a “go bag.” We talked about the samovar in my office that was carefully carried from Russia by the Goldstein family. It is heavy, brass, beautiful. And you could pack things inside of it. For thousands of years Jews have been forced to leave and leave quickly, all the way back to the Exodus from Egypt, the story of which we begin to retell next week. Sometimes people leave because of threats of violence. Sometimes in times of famine. Sometimes because of natural disaster. Our Haggadah begins the story with these words: “Our father was a wandering Aramean.” which is actually how Deuteronomy begins to retell the story.  

 Often, I play a game with our kids in Torah School—and sometimes even with adults at our seder table. You have 18 minutes to leave Egypt. What are you taking with you. Sometimes we do it in alphabetical order.  

This is no longer a drill. And not just in Southern California. We have had people displaced in our own community. Paul and Lynne Glaser in Ashville. Anita Silverman by fire at her senior living complex and now resettled but it took long months. And while her senior cat was rescued by the Schaumberg Fire Department, he was not welcome in her new apartment. Judy Richman from Del Webb when the tornado roared through last summer. The point is clear. Everyone should have a go bag. A list of what goes in that bag is included as a public service announcement at the end of this d’var Torah.  

We have a prayer, “Ma Tovu Ohalecha Ya’akov.” How lovely our own dwelling places, O Jacob, our sanctuaries O Israel.” They are indeed lovely.  But all too often we leave them and the belongings that are in them. 

While the dwelling places are lovely, the most important thing is the lives they contain. This week I made phone calls to fire victims in California on behalf of Congregation Or Ami in Calabasas in the Palisades. It’s what we’ve been talking about all year. It’s about connections. Community. The Amen Effect. It was something I could do. From here.  

Almost all the people I texted with or spoke with said the same this. They described themselves as lucky. Sad, maybe even depressed, missing family heirlooms and history and memories. Photos, art, Steinway pianos. And lucky. 

Sometimes we think that the jewelry, the china, the silver are our legacies. I look around my living room. Things I have acquired over a lifetime. Over several generations. But they are not really legacies. What is a legacy? 

Today’s portion is a bit of a challenge. Jacob is at the end of his life. He is “blessing” his sons. 

“The God of your father, who helps you,
And Shaddai who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that couches below,
Blessings of the breast and womb.
The blessings of your father
Surpass the blessings of my ancestors,
To the utmost bounds of the eternal hills. 
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
On the brow of the elect of his brothers.” 

What follows is a “blessing” for each son. But they feel much more like a blessing and a curse:
Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he consumes the foe, 
And in the evening he divides the spoil.” 

 I don’t really want to be called a ravenous wolf as a blessing!

Perhaps the legacy, the blessing needs to be balanced. Balance is a key word. How do we maintain our balance when the world seems so out of kilter? What hope do we offer the next generations? How can I even dare to offer hope at times like these? What is the blessing in this moment? 

As you know, Simon and I hike extensively. 38 states and 5 foreign countries. One of our most memorable hikes was from Topanga Canyon Road down to where the MASH filming site was in Malibu Creek State Park. For me, it was thrilling (and exhausting because it was hike down and then hike back up!) as a big fan of MASH. But perhaps what was most magical was creating memories with our adult kids. One other critical hike was in Estes Park, CO in the Rocky Mountain National Park. The ranger we were hiking with talked about the growth after the fire there now many years ago. Almost immediately, little ferns begin to grow. Those bright green shoots fill me with hope. Earlier this week I saw a blog post about precisely this. “Look for the miracles,” the woman, she herself had been through a devastating fire several years ago, wrote. “Look for the ferns.”  

In another destructive fire, I was moved by a family who returned to their burned home to find the mezuzah still intact. I am considering buying mezuzot (I have ones in mind from Israel) to send to people at Or Ami. It is a way that we rededicate ourselves.  

Other times I have quoted Mr. Roger who used to say: “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” Our job is to find the helpers. Our job is to be the helpers. That’s how we “love our neighbors as ourselves.”  

Looking for the miracles and looking for the helpers is how we build resiliency. It is how we build community. It is how we build hope. Even in the worst of this current crisis there is evidence of hope. Life will continue (for most). Life will be changed. There will be mourning and grief. But life will continue. 

That mourning includes anticipatory mourning. Jacob did something else in this what could be called a “deathbed scene.” He left detailed instructions. He was to be buried not in Egypt but back in Canaan, back with his ancestors, with Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac in the cave of Machpelah. Joseph was able to convince Pharaoh to let him go to do this. All the dignitaries went too. In a scene reminiscent of this week’s state funeral held at the Washington National Cathedral with burial back in President Carter’s birthplace of Plains, Georgia. 

But after the burial at Machpelah, Rabbi Menachem Creditor reminds us of a midrash on this portion. Joseph returned to the pit where his brothers once threw him in. (Genesis Rabbah 100:8). He transformed this moment from trauma—real trauma—to gratitude. This is not easy to do. Creditor continues, citing Rabbi Matthew Berkowitz “comparing it to survivors revisiting places of profound suffering: a soldier returning to a battlefield, a Holocaust survivor journeying to a concentration camp (Returning to Joseph’s Pit, 2025). These acts are not about erasing pain but about reclaiming agency and gratitude, even in the face of profound hurt.” 

Joseph and his brothers mourned for Jacob after the burial for seven days. Ever wonder where the tradition of shiva comes from? Right here! 

This “pre-planning” is a real gift to your family. A blessing, a legacy. We have talked about this before. Part of your legacy might be writing an ethical will, so your children and grandchildren know your values. Part of it maybe offering forgiveness for things said, and those not said. Part of it maybe making clear the funeral plans.  

As we conclude this morning, we pray for healing. For ourselves, for our nation, for the people of California and Florida and Tennessee and North Carolina, for all of Am Yisrael including the hostages and the IDF and all those displaced from their homes, in the north of Israel, in Gaza, in Syria, in the Ukraine. ANd may we go forth from this book of Genesis stronger into Exodus where we are taught that we were wandering Arameans and slaves in the land of Egypt so that we have an obligation to be helpers, to welcome and love the widow, the orphan and the stranger. Chazak, chazak v’nitchazek.  

Before Misheberach:

A Prayer for Firefighters and First Responders
Blessed are the hands that pull others from the flames,
scarred hands, calloused hands, trembling hands,
hands that grip hoses and axes,
hands that steady the world when it shakes.
Blessed is the courage that rises
stronger and higher than smoke —
the courage that steps into the chaos,
the courage that doesn’t flinch at the sound of breaking glass and metal,
that doesn’t stop even when the air burns and the ash falls.
Blessed is the heart that holds two truths at once:
the knowing that life is fragile,
and the stubborn faith that saving one life
is enough to hold up the universe.
We pray for the strength to carry the burden of this holy work.
For lungs that can breathe through the thickest soot.
For arms that will not falter,
even when the weight feels unbearable.
And we pray for their return.
For safe passage through the fire, the flood, the storm.
For nights where they can rest,
and mornings where they can hold their children
without the smell of smoke on their skin.
May they know that we see them,
that we hold them in the deepest parts of our hearts,
that their work is sacred,
like the flame that burns but does not consume.
Blessed are the ones who run toward the danger,
who wade into the waters,
who carve paths through the wreckage—
not because they are fearless,
but because they refuse to let fear have the final day.
Let them be guarded by something larger than themselves:
a voice in the wildness saying,
“You are not alone. You are not alone.”
And may the Holy One—by whatever name they call—
watch over them always,
and bring them back home.
Amen.
     Sarah Tuttle Singer 

 Before Candle Lighting, both Friday night with two tapers and Saturday night for havdalah where those tapers become one “fire” with multiple wicks, usually representative of the community coming together:  

Burning Hope by Paul Kipnes 

Last night, two fires raged to within 5 miles my three holy places: our home, our synagogue Congregation Or Ami, and my father-in-law’s house. We packed, prepared to evacuate, only to see amazing firefighting teams knock the fires down. Lying in bed this morning, trying to figure out what comes next, I felt a flicker burning within. Which became … 

Burning Hope
By Paul Kipnes
A flicker in the endless dusk,
A spark that whispers, Not yet lost.
Beneath the ash of dreams lifelong,
A stubborn ember, frail but strong.
It dances through the choking smoke,
Defying winds that would revoke
Its fragile right to blaze anew,
A beacon for the shattered few.
The world may press with heavy hands,
May scatter stone and barren sands,
But hope, though burning, never dies—
It smolders soft in weary eyes.
Overnight, as fears are cultivated,
It refuses to be evacuated.
A quiet hope to heal the earth,
Through morning’s light, it finds rebirth. 

I saw this one of Facebook and didn’t snag the author, so I apologize. If I find it I will add the attribution. We talk a lot about balance at CKI. It is true of some of our basic elements as well. Water and fire. They are both necessary and can be destructive. She captures this:

FOR BLESSING AND NOT FOR CURSE 

Creator of all things,
your creations fill the Earth. 
With a simple glance I
behold the bounty 
of your makings.
The living creatures of
flesh and breath,
the foliage which feeds,
the elemental powers which
we attribute to your actions.
We cannot simply pray 
for abundance when too much 
becomes a curse.
Reliant on the rain
whose waters sustain
in scarcity 
delivers death with drought
in abundance
engulfs and drowns.
Reliant on the fire
whose heat warms 
in scarcity
bears fatality with frost
in abundance
engulfs and incinerates.
The same water which
fuels can flood.
The same fire which
fuels can destroy.
We cannot pray them away.
Creator of all things,
we pray for balance
blessing, not curse
life, not death
satiety, not want
knowing one shifting wind
can change our fate.  

Go bags:

From the Westchester County Website: 

• Bottled water and nonperishable food, such a s granola bars 

• Personal hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, wet wipes, etc) 

• Flashlight, hand-crank or battery-operated AM/FM radio, and extra batteries 

• Portable cell phone charger 

• Notepad, pen/pencil, and marker 

• Local street maps (paper version) 

• Spare home/vehicle keys 

• Whistle or bell 

• First aid kit 

• Dust mask to reduce inhalation of dust and other debris 

• Work gloves 

• A change of clothing (long sleeve shirt/pants, rain gear, sturdy footwear, etc.) 

• Copies of important documents (insurance/medical cards, contact lists, identification, marriage and birth certificates, etc.) in a portable, waterproof container or plastic bag 

• Back-up medical/assistive equipment and supplies 

• A list of the medications you take, why you take them, and the dosages 

• Cash, in small bills 

• Supplies for your service animal or pet 

In my go bag, I will also put one piece of irreplacebale jewelry that was my grandmother’s, a daisy pearl pin and a piece of silver that rode out the Chicago Fire in 1871. My daughter plans to take her first Disney medal.  

This is a portion about reconciliation, about survival, about migration. It feels like a recap of all the themes of Genesis which we wrap up next year. 

Joseph finally sees his father again. Hallelujah! 

Joseph is amazed that his father is still alive. How is that even possible. “So Joseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while.” (Gen 46:29) 

This is an emotional scene for both of them! Let’s remember, Joseph was thrown in a pit and sold into slavery. Then the brothers told their father that Joseph was dead and showed him that famous coat of many colors soaked in animal blood.  

This part of the d’var Torah may need a trigger warning. No parent should have to bury a child as the conventional wisdom says. Yet it happens all too frequently. To even members of our own congregation. Jacob maybe flamed the sibling rivalry with that coat, but the brothers should not have tricked their trickster father.  

Children are often angry with the way parents parent. There is a new trend in the United States of adult children, often sons of fathers, who cut off ties with their parents, primarily the fathers. If you google for this trend you will find lots of articles. Perhaps the best one may be behind a paywall but worth finding it is from the New Yorker magazine. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/why-so-many-people-are-going-no-contact-with-their-parents I encourage you to read it if you can get to it. 

But Israel when he get to Egypt and sees Joseph says “Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”” (Gen. 46:30) 

They and the brothers found a way to reconcile. It isn’t easy. And it is important to note in the Maimonides guide to teshuvah if someone sincerely apologizes three times and it isn’t accepted, it is on the other person. 

Joseph then presents Jacob also known as Israel to Pharaoh who wonders how old Jacob is. 130 is the answer. Pharaoh promises to take care of him and Joseph’s brothers.  

Pharaoh comes up with an equitable arrangement. Declaring that of their holdings, 1/5 and only 1/5 would be Pharaoh’s and rest of the holdings would be for Jacob and his descendants. This seemed to please everyone and our story end with this line: 

“Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.” (Gen 47:27) 

Fertile and increase. P’ru u’vru. The same language that is used at the beginning of Genesis when G-d commands Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply.  

Next week we read the very last of Genesis and then move on to Exodus where we learn that after 400 years a new Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph. The Israelites did in fact multiple and Pharaoh was afraid that they would attack the Egyptians and there were not enough resources to go around.  Does that sound familiar? 

We are told to make Kiddush for two reasons. One to remember Creation. And one to remember the Exodus from Egypt, another great migration story.  

While this was written thousands of years ago, the underlying themes are still relevant in our day. 

Famine…migration because of famine…enough resources…even to our own day. People talk about the Great Migration when so many Irish arrived on these shores. Who read Grapes of Wrath, one of my all time favorite books but perpetually on banned book lists. That was internal migration during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl from Oklahoma to Bakersfield, CA. Who can forget the picture of the Syrian boy in the red t-shirt who died on the coast of Turkey trying to reach Greece. These images are likely, sadly, to increase with famine from climate change dominating the news. 

https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emerging-crisis-famine-returning-major-driver-migration 

People are often forced to make impossibly difficult choices. Food, heat, medicine, medical care. The number one reason in this country for bankruptcy is medical debt. 58% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and many are one paycheck away from bankruptcy and could not afford a $1000 emergency expense.  

While moat of us no longer live on farms that is part of what was driving Joseph’s brothers and his father to seek relief from famine in Egypt. 

Here in Elgin, we are lucky. With the help of organizations like Food for Greater Elgin, and Elgin Cooperative Ministries, we manage to feed the hungry seven days a week. As we approach Martin Luther King Day, we will once again participate in the Elgin Martin Luther Food Drive, which support many of our local pantries, not just Food for Greater Elgin. Over the next two weeks, we will ask you to bring non-perishables to CKI which we will then deliver towards the total count. It is this kind of coming together, just like Jacob, Joseph and his brothers, that brings me hope.  May we be blessed in the new year to not experience famine, separation of families and hard choices between food, heat and medicine.

The last few weeks have been about dreams, visions. This week, this is no exception. Our haftarah gives us two visions. 

I’m going to ask you to close your eyes to see if you can envision this first one: 

He said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl above it. The lamps on it are seven in number, and the lamps above it have seven pipes; 

and by it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on its left.” 

“Do you not know what those things mean?” asked the angel who talked with me; and I said, “No, my lord.” 

This is a vision of the Menorah, the seven branched candelabra first in the mishkan and then in the Holy Temple. The Menorah that was carted off to Rome and is pictured in bas relief on the Titus Arch. 

The word menorah is fascinating. It has ner, candle and or, light both embedded in it. These candles are to bring light. To be the light.  

Despite this, at least for me the vision of what this candelabra was to look like is not very clear. Do any of you have a clear image? Look around you. There is a concept in Judaism of hiddur hamitzvah, beautifying the mitzvah. In our windows we have 8 different chanukiot in our windows, each one beautiful in their own right.  

But what is a mitzvah? I am working my way through Michael Strassfeld’s Disrupted Judaism. “Hasidim teaches that the word mitzvah/commandment is related to the Aramaic word tzavta, which means connection.” He concludes that mitzvot are not items to check off a list but rather opportunities for connection. For Strassfeld, the mitzvot provide opportunities for connection to other people, to our vision of life, to this planet to the unity underlying the universe and finally to ourselves.   

In every synagogue, there is a ner tamid, an Eternal light. This light is to be kept burning for all times. This congregation is fortunate to have two. One here in this room, in the sanctuary, the mishkan or mikdash. And another in the room we call the library or chapel.   Each is beautiful in their own right.  

Both spaces are consecrated, made holy and that is what we do as a part of Chanukah, which means dedication, we rededicate these sacred spaces. 

And we have a job to do to make sure that these spaces are sacred. To keep the lights burning. To make sure that they don’t go out. One day, Dick Johnson came to me to tell me that the light in here was out. There was an edge of almost panic in his voice. It turned out that it was an easy fix. The lightbulb needed to be replaced. In truth, it is easier now with LED bulbs since they last so much longer. Thank you, Gene! But to the idea of mitzvah as connection, it is incumbent of all us to watch, to make sure that the light doesn’t go out. And if it does go out, to work together to rekindle it. 

That is the message of Peter Yarrow’s song, “Light One Candle” the chorus of which is “Don’t let the light go out.” It is incumbent on all of us to make sure that the light doesn’t go out. Peter recently entered hospice and we sang his song last night. Peter’s light and his music will not go out long after he passes. He will leave a lasting legacy. 

Still in Strassfeld’s book, he quotes Rav Kook, “Take that which is old/tired/routine and make it new. And take the new and make it holy.” Let me read that again: “Take that which is old/tired/routine and make it new. And take the new and make it holy.” 

Here at CKI we have a vision statement. We are a Jewish community that cherishes life long learning, building community, creating meaningful observance and embracing diversity. 

Meaningful observance is like the menorot in the windows. There is no one way to do Jewish. What is meaningful to me may not be to you and visa versa. Yet together we are a community, embracing that very diversity. That is not to say we have no community standards. We do. Rather, it is about taking the old and making it new and meaningful, together. It is about meeting each of you where you are, wherever you are on your Jewish journey.  

How we light the candles is an example of this. This is a Talmudic debate that has gone on for two thousand years.  

Do we light the lights as Shammai, all of them the first night and reducing them by one each night? He based his argument on the offerings for Sukkot. But Hillel countered and said we light one more light each night. Now we all “know” how the argument was settled. We add more light each night. Yet in some households, they go with Shammai. Or they light both ways. It’s not wrong. It’s the minority opinion.  

Here we increase the light, we increase the holiness, we increase the joy. Light brings joy. 

Joy can be tricky. Happiness can be tricky. Neither one of them can be a constant state. We can’t always be happy. Perhaps as someone suggested the goal is to be content. 

Rabbi Evan Moffic wrote a book The Happiness Prayer where he outlines what we need to do to be happy. 

“These are the obligations without measure, whose reward, too, is without measure: To honor father and mother; to perform acts of love and kindness; to attend the house of study daily; to welcome the stranger; to visit the sick; to rejoice with bride and groom; to console the bereaved; to pray with sincerity; to make peace where there is strife…and the study of Torah is equal to them all, because it leads to them all.” (Talmud, Shabbat 127a) 

For him, these actions bring happiness. Perhaps even joy.  

Strassfeld says it this way: “Hasidim’s emphasis on was rooted in a much broader world view, rejecting the asceticism of earlier Jewish mystics.”  

Being useful brings joy. Doing for others brings joy. 

Psalm 97 teaches, “Or zarua latzdik u;yishrainlev simcha. Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in heart.” First, we are righteous, then we get to experience the joy.  

The concept of rabbinic debate is not only ancient. My study partner and I debate what the core idea of Judaism is. She says it is to find meaning. I saw it is to find joy. But what if we are both right? By finding the meaning, we find the joy.  

Today I am wearing this new t-shirt, “In a world full of darkness, be a light.” I challenge each of you to figure out how you can be a light. How your little light, will bring us out of darkness. Maybe in combination with others.

Our portion end with this: 

“Then he explained to me as follows:  

“This is the word of GOD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit—said GOD of Hosts. 

Whoever you are, O great mountain in the path of Zerubbabel, turn into level ground! For he shall produce that excellent stone; it shall be greeted with shouts of ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’” 

You have undoubtably seen those stickers often on bank or fast food drive thrus: “You are beautiful.” Like the menorot in our windows, each different, each of you is beautiful. Very beautiful. You and you and you and you.  

How many of you have seen Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? I see and hear this portion in those terms.  

This is an old, old story. Yet, this is a portion that seems ripped from the headlines today. These stories go on and on.  

Joseph is sold, taken to Egypt and becomes the head of Potipher’s, his master’s house. The text tells us something wonderful: “Now Joseph was well built and handsome.” How nice. Who wouldn’t want to spend time with this good looking guy. The master’s wife is no exception. She tried to get him to, you know, lie with her. Joseph refused, multiple times. However, at one stage she managed to rip his cloak from him. She falsely accuses him of going after her and he is thrown in jail. 

False accusations are akin to gossip, rumor. It is expressly forbidden in Judaism. On Yom Kippur when we recite the sins, more have to do with our speech than any other category. There is an old story about two women who are sniping at each other and telling tales about each other all over town. They go to the rabbi for help. He, it’s always a he in these stories, tells them something surprising. Take a down pillow into the town center, rip it open and scatter all the feathers. They do just as he said. It didn’t help. They go back to the rabbi. He tells them to go back and collect all the feathers. Impossible. So, it is with words. Once they are out of your mouth, they are impossible to get back. The damage is done. (I’ve actually told this story before and scattered feathers to let kids collect them. Much harder than gathering Hershey’s kisses at a B-Mitzvah!) 

Recently, just this month as CNN reported, “More than 18 years after accusing three former Duke University lacrosse players of raping her, a falsified account she shared in graphic detail, Crystal Mangum has admitted she lied about the encounter. I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t, and that was wrong. And I betrayed the trust of a lot of other people who believed in me,” Mangum said on Katerena DePasquale’s show, “Let’s Talk with Kat.” “I made up a story that wasn’t true because I wanted validation from people and not from God.” 

The damage that she did to the lacrosse players may never be completely undone.  

Yet, the damage done is to more than the players, to Duke and to court system. The damage effects every woman who does have the courage to report a real sexual assault.  

“False reports hurt not only the people falsely accused, they hurt every rape victim,” Jennifer Simmons Kaleba, vice president of communications for RAINN, told CNN. “There are already too many victims who do not report the crime for fear of not being believed. After a false report in such a high-profile case, even more survivors may be reluctant to come forward out of fear that law enforcement will not believe them.” 

According to one study 63% of sexual assaults are not reported. https://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Overview_False-Reporting.pdf There are many reasons for that. Among them the fear of not being believed because of false reporting. Having served on a rape and domestic violence hotline, I can tell you that women fear reporting because they are afraid they will not be believed.  

 This is a worldwide problem.  

In France recently, 51 men were convicted of drugging, raping and filming their escapades. The evidence was irrefutable. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/19/world/europe/pelicot-rape-trial-guilty-verdict.html  In this case, there were no false accusations and the primary victim did not even know that she was a victim until 2020 when confronted by the photographic evidence. She had worried about why her hair was falling out and unexplained. memory losses.  

After October 7th it became clear that many victims had been sexually assaulted. We know that rape is a tool of war. Yet it took the UN until March to recognize the truth of it. Here is their press release: https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15621.doc.htm  

There are still women being held as hostages. What horrors have they experienced in captivity? There are still 13 women who are being held as of Nov. 25, the International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=531232856456698  

The text tells us the G-d was with Joseph:
“GOD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he stayed in the house of his Egyptian master.” (Gen. 39:2)  

“GOD was with Joseph—extending kindness to him and disposing the chief jailer favorably toward him.” (Gen 39:21) 

“The chief jailer did not supervise anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because GOD was with him, and whatever he did GOD made successful. (Gen 39:23) 

This hope leads to the song from Joseph: 

Close every door to me,
Hide all the world from me
Bar all the windows
And shut out the light 

Do what you want with me,
Hate me and laugh at me
Darken my daytime
And torture my night 

If my life were important I
Would ask will I live or die
But I know the answers lie
Far from this world 

Close every door to me,
Keep those I love from me
Children of Israel
Are never alone 

We pray that G-d is with the hostages, all of the hostages, and their families, that they know the sense of not being alone, even in those darkest tunnels. Yes, we pray for the Gazan and Syrian and Lebanese mothers and children. For all those who experience sexual violence, in the US, France, Gaza, the West Bank, around the world, that they have the courage to survive and report it. We pray for a day where sexual violence will not be a tool of war. Full stop.  

It is really very simple. Don’t gossip. Don’t engage in rumors. Don’t create false rumors. If someone tells you that they have been assaulted, believe them.  

What a perfect portion for this morning. We’ve just celebrated the wonderful naming of Ruth. You have brought your child here to give her a Hebrew name, to dedicate her to the Jewish people, to G-d. How appropriate in this month of Kislev, the month of Hanukkah, the word itself means dedicate. 

This portion is all about descendants and their names. You didn’t select one of those names. 

Our portion begins with Rachel giving birth. She names the child Ben Oni, son of my sorrow but Jacob calls him Binyamin, son of my right hand. 

Sadly, she died. Right there on the road to Bethlehem. Near Hebron, also called Kiryat Arbah. Those name places are still in the news, especially at this season.  

Children should be seen but not heard was a former method of parenting. Children are a burden, according to an old Scottish story that becomes part of the charming Brownie Story. The poor shoemaker was upset that the children weren’t helping with any chores. The children consult a wise old owl who tells them to be the brownies, the fairies that their father had wished for. They return home and secretly begin doing those chores. They learn that children are a blessing. 

Psalms teach us: “Children are a heritage of God, the fruit of the womb is a precious reward.” (Psalm 127:3)  

We have just seen right here this morning that children are indeed a blessing. 

In the old days, including Biblical times, a woman’s worth was defined by her children. Being barren was seen as a curse from G-d. We have examples of Sarah, Rebecca, Hannah and Racel herself, all of whom were barren. Given birth was a scary event. Jewish women attending a birth would circle the birthing stool with a red thread to protect the mother and child and to ward off Lilith.  

If you walk through an old cemetery in New England, you find too many graves that are simply labeled mother or baby. Those babies don’t even have a name. In an agricultural economy, women had many children in order to work in the fields.  

Maternal health improved in this country for decades. But access to maternal health care has not been equitable. Sadly, maternal health in this country has slipped in recent years. 

“80 percent of maternal deaths are preventable—yet in the US, the maternal health crisis has only worsened in recent years. Even as one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, the US ranks 55th in the world for maternal mortality, according to a 2020 WHO report—the worst of any developed nation.” https://perelelhealth.com/blogs/news/maternal-health-crisis#:~:text=80%20percent%20of%20maternal%20deaths,worst%20of%20any%20developed%20nation.  

Those numbers are predicted to become worse as we have heard the stories of women being denied necessary, needed health care with various abortion bans in some states. At this stage we are still lucky in Illinois.  

Yet, we have had examples of mothers who have lost full term babies, even here at CKI. We have had women who have wanted to conceive and could not. There was another baby born this week at CKI, and we will be delighted to name her soon and welcome her warmly into the CKI community. The family went through IVF. As their facebook announcement proclaimed: “We hold space and light for anyone struggling with infertility and will always chat with folks who want to learn more about fertility treatments and support systems.” 

The text tells us that Rachel wept for her children. 
She continued to weep:
Thus said GOD:
A cry is heard in Ramah—
Wailing, bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children.
She refuses to be comforted
For her children, who are gone. 

Thus said GOD:
Restrain your voice from weeping,
Your eyes from shedding tears;
For there is a reward for your labor
—declares GOD: 

They shall return from the enemy’s land.
And there is hope for your future
—declares GOD:
Your children shall return to their country.
Jeremiah 31:15-17 

On that road to Bethlehem there is a shrine that is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims. Rachel’s Tomb, Kever Rachel in Hebrew, Qabr Rachil in Arabic. It has been a source of comfort for mothers facing infertility. I have known women who have gone to Kever Rachel for precisely this reason. Yet the borders in that part of the Middle East are still very much in dispute and who has access on any given day can be in question. The security risks are real. 

Rachel is still weeping for her children. This has been particularly true this year. I watched a video recently of three Rachels, Rachel Goldberg Polin, mother of Hersh Goldberg Polin, Rachel Goldberg, mother of Avi Goldberg who fell in battle, moderated by Rachel Shransky Danziger on the yahrzeit, Heshvan 11 by tradition of our matriarch Rachel. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpCxgee7aDY 

 The weeping continues. When Hersh was killed there were several poems written. I went looking for them in preparing for today. I found one, on JTA, by my dear friend Rabbi Menachem Creditor: 

i dreamt I was dreaming
that a crying sky was imagined
that rachel’s cry could still be heard
that comfort would still be possible. 

i woke
to my People’s shattered heart
and photos of six precious Jewish children
whose cries are no longer heard.
may their souls finally be at rest. 

i walk through a haze
my mind races
my heart cries 

rachel, rachel, crying for her child.
i cry with you. 

Menachem Creditor 

As he said at the end of the article, “As long as any Rachel weeps, our work is not done. We must continue to be her voice, her hands, her hope, building a future where the promise of return and safety is fulfilled for those still in darkness.” 

 We all cry, just like Rachel. We cry for those unable to conceive, unable to get the health care they deserve, we cry for the remaining hostages and their families, we cry for those displaced in the North and the children going to school in hotel ballrooms, we cry for children used as pawns and human shields. We cry for the children injured in unnecessary wars, in Gaza, in Syria, in Ukraine, in Darfur. We cry. We cry. We cry.  

Yet, we dare to hope. We hope right here in Elgin. Because children are our guarantors. Our legacy. Yes. Children are our blessing. Mazel tov!  

Vayetzi, And Jacob went out. He was running away.  

Jacob was on a journey. He left everything he knew behind him and then he set out for Laban’s house, to find a wife and to escape his brother’s rath. 

We are all on a journey, from one place to another. And perhaps back again. 

He lay down with a stone as his pillow and he began to dream. A ladder going up and down. And on the ladder, angels, messengers, going up and down.  

I’ve been thinking a lot about tents this week. I love camping. It is something I choose to do. And once we went camping in Quebec, in Charlevoix, and it rained the whole time. Not easy for cooking. We played lots of boggle in the tent and ate more meals out in the little village than we had planned on. We ended that vacation in Quebec City in a very modern hotel. I slept better in the tent than I did in the hotel. It was quieter without the air conditioner fan noise! Oh, for sure there can be a rock that gets under you in a tent—usually my hip, but I haven’t tried a stone for a pillow!  

Balaam, the non-Jewish prophet who was hired to curse the Jews, instead blessed them and said, “Ma Tovu Ohalecha Ya’akov. How good are your tents O Jacob. Your dwelling places, O Israel.” We open every service with these words. They are particulaly meaningful this week after the fire at Tent City, the homeless encampment.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=Wj1oCAPqhwU 

When Jacob woke up he declared, “G-d is in this place and I knew it not.” He named the place Beth El, House of G-d.  

We are grateful to be in this building, with heat, and light, and a roof that doesn’t leak. With these beautiful stained glass windows. And we are grateful for all of you, for showing up, for being you, for building this community together. 

Along our way we may encounter angels, messengers. I remember a big argument with my father when I was in first grade. He insisted that Jews don’t believe in angels. He was wrong, but I got to do a different art project that year. No wreaths, angels or bells to decorate the classroom!  

The angels, malachim that are in the Hebrew Bible are not the Valentine’s Day, Hallmark card, Renaissance cherubim of Rembrandt, Raphael and Ruebens. Rather they were beings that came with a specific task, to guide us on our ways. Each one had a purpose or message. For instance, in the story of Abraham and his three visitors, each one had a unique mission. The first announced that Sarah would have a baby. The second announced that Sodom and Gomorrah would be destroyed. The third messenger was sent to test Abraham’s faith. 

Perhaps you have encountered an angel or a messenger. Someone in the right place and the right time to communicate just what you are supposed to do or to guide you over a particular hump. Sometimes they are not easy to spot. Sometimes they remind me of Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life. If you haven’t seen that classic Christmas movie, you really should. It is so very Jewish in its themes. 

When my mother was dying, there were some big decisions that needed to be made. I was by myself at the hospital in Grand Rapids. The rest of the family had not yet arrived. My daughter was a freshman in college. She was trying to balance starting school well and being in Grand Rapids. Seemingly out of nowhere, a high school classmate who worked in the hospital as an anesthesiologist found me in the stairwell. She told me it was all going to be OK. An angel? You bet. And I am forever grateful. 

Fred Rogers, from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood had this to say: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” 

This week we had the opportunity to see lots of helpers. Lots of angels and messengers. That’s where I get my hope.  Each of you is an angel. 

Sometimes, however, those messengers and messages come in the middle of the night. Seemingly when we are all alone. That seems to be true of Jacob. Both in our story today and how our story ends.
Our story ends today with Jacob going out. He is going back to Isaac’s house. It i twenty years later. He is a different man, older, perhaps wiser, with wives and servants, livestock. Next week we will meet him again, alone again where he encounters another being, an angel, G-d himself. 

Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav thought that each of us should be outdoors in nature pouring out our heart to G-d. Here is his prayer: 

Grant me the ability to be alone;
May it be my custom to go outdoors each day
Among the trees and grass—among all growing things
And there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, \
To talk with the One to whom I belong.
May I express there everything in my heart,
And may all the foliage of the field
All grasses, trees and plant–
Awake at my coming. 
To send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer
So that my prayer and speech are made whole
Through the life and spirit of all growing things
Which are made as one by their transcendent Source.
May I then pour out the words of my heart
Before Your Presence like water, O Lord.
And lift up my hands to You in worship,
On my behalf, and that of my children! 

Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav 

Debbie Friedman, z’l set it to beautiful music.  

This is not unlike Henry David Thoreau describing why he went to Walden Pond: 

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”  

How Jewish. Going to the woods to live deliberately. With intention. With kavanah.  

We are each on a journey, May we be blessed as we go on our way, coming and going. May we discover as they did in Tractate Sukkah the place that our hearts hold dear: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9-2t7W_8M0 

Makom she-libi ohev, sham raglai molikhot oti.”
“The place that my heart holds dear, there my feet will bring me near.”
     Mishnah,Tractate Sukkah 

May you find the messengers and the messages of your lives. May you be an angel for someone else.  

Today’s Torah portion is called Todot. Generations. We just sang L’Dor v’dor, from gneration to generation. This portion is about succession, one generation to the next 

At the very beginning of the portion, Rebecca went to an oracle to figure out what was going on her womb, she was going to l’drosh, to seek out the meaning of the pain she was experiencing. L’drosh is the root for midrash, to seek out the meaning of the text and Beit Midrash, a House of Study. (Ironically, the Arabic midrasha are the Muslim house of studies) Arabic and Hebrew are very related languages. That’s a very important point as the war continues in Gaza and now Syria and other flashpoints. 

Rebecca is told that there are two children in her womb. Twins. Jacob and Esau. Esau and Jacob. The next generation.  

In the old world, the first born (male) inherited everything. Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright. (Oh, for a pot of lentil stew on this cold morning. Some year we will do that again. Don’t worry, I have the perfect recipe!) Then he tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing meant for Esau  

The portion ends with a blessing or two. Not the ones you expect. Then a search for wives for both Jacob and Esau.  

It makes us ask questions about our own lives today. What is it we want to pass down to our children and grandchildren. What are the blessings do we want them to receive? For me, even in these crazy times being Jewish, being part of this covenant that Rebecca preserved by passing it down to Jacob is a blessing. It is what gives my life meaning. What are the values that are so important that we want our children and children to be Jewish? Is it just who they pick to marry?  How do we ensure that the covenant continues? 

I’m currently reading Rabbi Michael Strassfeld’s book Disrupted Judaism. You may recognize his name from his history with the Jewish Catalogs. That was another period where it seemed Judaism was on the cusp of changing from one generation to the next. Then the leaders of what became known as the chavurah movement wanted what they called “do-it-yourself Judaism.” It was less top down, more sit around and discuss, make a challah, learn to meditate, to lead services. It was started at Havurat Shalom, a stone’s throw from Tufts and I enjoyed many pleasant Shabbat mornings there. 

Strassfeld believes our emphasis on mitzvot, those obligations commanded by G-d are not quite the pillars to keep Judaism and our people together. Yet they still have power for us as individuals and as a community. This may become our next big book together. After an important introduction about what is the contemporary challenge we face, he outlines 11 core principles: 

1. Created in the Image of G-d 
2. Living in a moral universe 
3. Living with awareness 
4. Engaging in Social Justice 
5. Finding holiness everywhere 
6. Caring for the planet 
7. Wrestling with G-d 
8. Working on our inner qualities 
9. Turning and returning teshuvah 
10. Being a life long learner 
11. Living in an open society 

All of these he backs with significant Jewish texts. Torah, Talmud, Midrash. Codes. It feels very familiar and very real.  

Art Green, a contemporary and friend of Strassfeld, wrote a similar book. Judaism’s 10 Best Ideas, a brief guide for seekers: 

Chap. 1: Simchah – Joy: Happiness as a Religious Precept.  

Chap. 2: Tzelem Elohim – Created in God’s Image.  

 Chap. 3: Halakhah – Walking the Path: A Community of Doers  

Chap. 4: Tikkun Olam – Repairing the World: Being God’s Partner to improve the world. To heal the world.  

Chap. 5: Shabbat – Getting Off the Treadmill: Take a breath! Take a break. Much as Israel has kept the Sabbath, the Sabbath has kept Israel. Ahad Ha’am. 

Chap. 6: Teshuvah – Returning: Faith in Human Change  

Chap. 7: Torah – The People and the Book: Text and Interpretation  

Chap. 8: Talmud Torah – “Teach Them to Your Children”  

Chap. 9: L’Hayyim – To Life!: Accepting Death, Affirming Life  

Chap. 10: Ehad – Hear O Israel: There Is Only One.  

This is not a new game. In fact, it is a very old game. 613 commandments are a lot. How do we boil them down to something more manageable. The Talmud in Makot 23b-24a does just that.  

David came and reduced them to eleven – as it is written (in Psalm 15):  Micah (6:8) came and reduced them to three, as it is written: ‘[The Eternal] has told you, what is good, and what the Eternal requires of you: only to do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’…Then came Isaiah (56:1) and reduced them to two, as it is said: ‘Thus says the Eternal: ‘Observe justice and do righteousness.’ Amos (5:4) came and reduced them to one, as it is said: ‘For thus says the Eternal to the house of Israel, Seek Me and live.’ … Habakkuk (2:4) then came and based them all on one [principle], as it is said: ‘the righteous shall live by their faith.’ 

It ends with just one commandment from the prophet Habbakuk, “Live by Faith.” 

Surprised? You know that we Jews debate everything even across the generations. You might be remembering the famous story of Hillel and Shammai, when someone knocks on Shammai’s, Beit Midrash and says he will convert to Judaism if Shammai will teach him everything about Judaism while standing on one foot. Shammai sends him away. Not very welcoming! The convert then goes to Hillel’s House of Study. He poses the same question. Hillel responds: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary—go and study!” 

Rabbi Akiva said “This is a great principle of the Torah: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). (Bereshit Rabbah 24:7) 

Maimonides has his 13 principles of faith. Edmund Flegg wrote his “I am a Jew”  

When I study with our students and their parents, or people who are looking at Judaism seriously with an eye toward conversion, I think my list would include a blend of these. There is a lot of overlap between these core principles. 

Our vision statement: 

1. Lifelong learning, it is definitely on Strassfeld’s list and Green’s. Asking good questions. Reading, studying, learning. Education is clearly a Jewish value. Teach your children diligently. But not just our children. All of us are obligated to keep learning. 
2. Meaningful observance links with Strassfeld’s living with awareness and finding holiness everywhere and Green’s concept of halakah, walking the path. 
3. Building community for me this is what it is all about. From here we can wrestle with it all, we can l’derosh, seek out meaning.  
4. Embracing diversity may relate to live in an open society 

But my list would also include: 

1. Tikkun olam, Repair the world. Tzedek tzedek tirdorf, Justice, justice shall you pursue 
2. Seek peace and pursue it 
3. Be kind, embrace chesed, lovingkindness 
4. Love the widow, the orphan and the stranger, the most marginalized amongst us 
5. Just show up 
6. Do the right thing 

This is my list. The way I hope I live my life, day in and day out. Informed by Jewish tradition. It gives my life meaning. What is on your list? 

Why is this important today? With today’s portion?  

Our parsha ends with both Jacob and Esau no longer in their father’s house, each going to seek out a wife. Neither reconciled with each other. The sibling rivalry in this portion is legendary and an example of how to not to parent. How not to pit one child against the other. Harold Kushner’s book, How Good Do We Have to Be makes the point that there is enough love to go around. What a different world it would be if Rebecca had treated Esau differently.  

Rebecca wasn’t sure she trusted G-d enough (I wrote a master’s thesis on this!) She made sure to manipulate the process so that the covenant got passed down to the right one, to her beloved Jacob. He became the inheritor of the covenant which he then passed down to the 12 tribes and the rest, as they say is history.  

Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. (Pirke Avot 1:1). We are the inheritors of this precious legacy.  

The question, then, is how do we make this relevant and meaningful to our children that they want to be part of the community and not run away like Jacob and Esau. If it is about creating meaning in life, how do we help our children create that meaning for themselves and for their children? How do we create meaning for ourselves and our descendants?  

Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be caring. Be grateful. Make the world a better place. One corner of the world at a time.  

I am wearing a t-shirt this morning. “Be the good. Believe there is good.” 

These are the years of the life of Sarah. Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years and Sarah died. Apparently in Kiriyat Arba, also known as Hebron. Abraham comes to mourn for her. He buys a burial plot. That’s why some believe Jews have the rights to the West Bank. He eulogizes her. Some say that his eulogy was the poem from Proverbs that we call Eishet Chayil, a Woman of Valor. And he knows he needs to find a wife for Isaac. Life continues. Life has to continue. The covenant has to continue. After the heart ache of the akeda, the binding of Isaac and the death of Sarah, he has to do right by Isaac. 

He sends his servant, not named in the text but called Eliezer, back to the land of his birth on this mission, to find a wife. 

Eliezer met Rebecca at the well: 

“Drink, my lord,” she said, and she quickly lowered her jar upon her hand and let him drink. When she had let him drink his fill, she said, “I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking.” Quickly emptying her jar into the trough, she ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. 

That’s a lot of water. And a lot of rushing. A lot of running.  

Often Rebecca is described as having great kindness, empathy. Why?  

She could have just given Eliezer water for himself. She volunteered to water the camels. All 10. Camels can drink between 20 to 40 gallons in one sitting, A gallon is about 5 pounds. Great for weight training! Rebecca would have had to draw, pull up between 1,600 and 3,200 pounds of water, one pitcher at a time. 

The word gamal, from which we get camel in English, is an interesting one. Soon you may play driedle with a gimel on it—same word, that’s why the gimel has a tail. (and nun has no tail at all!) But it also gives us the phrase, gomal chasidim tovim, who bestows lovingkindness on us in formal English or who fills us up (like a camel) and the phrase, gemilut chasadim, deeds of lovingkindness. Chesed is important. Kindness is important. Empathy is important.  

Chesed to animals especially important. There has been a lot of discussion in the Klein household and even in this community about how to treat animals, whether we can pray for animals and more since our dog Caleb and Simon were attacked two weeks ago. People have in fact been incredibly kind and we are grateful.  

We’ve had people call, people who have said mi sheberach prayers, people who have visited with their dogs, some who dropped off gifts, and people who have helped transport. All of those are acts of kindness, gemilut chasidim chesed.  

We are taught in the Talmud that we are commanded to feed our animals even before we ourselves are fed. The Gemara derives this from the verse, “And I will give you grass in your field for your livestock—and then does it says “you will eat and be satisfied (Deut. 11).” Berachot 40a 

After the camel test…Eliezer dines at a big family feast. Perhaps a precursor to our own Thanksgiving feasts. He asks the family if they will allow Rebecca to go with him to be a bride for Isaac. There is some back and forth, some negotiation. Some jewelry given, even for the mom. The relatives insist on getting Rebecca’s permission. 

And they said, “Let us call the girl and ask for her reply.”  

They called Rebecca and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” And she said, “I will.” 

As we approach Thanksgiving dinner some advice: don’t ask the young people, “When are you going to get married. Or when are you going to have a child. Or anything about finances or weight. Maybe not even about politics.  

This portion actually has three deaths. Sarah, Abraham and Ishmael. We learn much from watching how our patriarchs and matriarchs deal with the inevitable loss. One important lesson. Abraham died alone. Yet Isaac and Ishmael, both estranged from their father, come back together, long enough to bury Abraham. They then go their separate ways.  

Perhaps this is a model for our current world. We need to bury our dead and mourn too many senseless deaths. In Israel. In Lebanon. In Gaza. We need to stop the bloodshed and actively seek peace and pursue it. 

Earlier this week, our book group joined with Gail Borden Public Library for National Jewish Book Month. We read Rabbi Sharon Brous’s The Amen Effect. If I could summarize the book it would be show up. Just show up. For the big things and the little ones. For the sad things little funerals and the simchas, the joyous ones. 

As part of that discussion, I said that I tell families in the throes of grief that they will hear things from well-meaning people which may not be helpful. So like the topics to avoid at a Thanksgiving dinner, here are my top five things not to say to someone grieving: 

1. G-d needed another angel
2. They’re in a better place.
3. 3. You can have another child
4. 4. G-d has a plan.
5. 5. G-d will never give you more than you can bear.

The important thing is to show up…that is an act of kindness. And to listen. Deeply listen. And to meet people where they are, wherever they may be.  

Rebecca teaches us to take this goal of boundless, unlimited lovingkindness, chesed, seriously. To challenge ourselves with real selfless commitment. Rebecca teaches us to be initiators, to look for times and places where we can be of service, where we can just show up, being proactive and useful, before others even expect it.  

We are taught by the Ba’al Shem Tov, the founder of the chasidic movemnt, that a soul may come into this world for seventy or eighty years, b’ezrat Hashem, with G-d’s help, with the sole purpose of doing a favor for someone else, for being kind, like Rebecca. That ability to help someone in need, that chesed, lovingkindness. Is what Eliezer sought, for he know that it was that essential trait that would determine the candidate to be a genuine matriarch of the Jewish people. (based on https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/763991/jewish/Rebecca-and-the-Camel-Test.htm ) 

Be like Rebecca. Be good. Be Kind.  

This week we are just three weeks into our most sacred text. Bereshit, the book of Genesis, the first book of the Torah. 

The world was created. We had our first murder. The world was nearly destroyed. We were told that would not happen again, at least not by water. The tower of babel and the confusion of languages. and then a long genealogy. We met Abraham. Three weeks.  

We are told that Noah was righteous in his generation and Abraham was righteous.  

I asked our Torah School kids what righteous means. It means being right, being correct, doing the right things.  

What was it that Abraham did that made his righteous? What is it that we can do to emulate Abraham? 

Our portion begins with the words, Lech Lecha. Go. Abraham is told to go. To leave his land, the land of his birth, his father’s house and go to the land that G-d will show him. Pretty powerful stuff, pretty powerful language. Why does he have to leave everything he knows? To focus. The Hebrew construction is a bit odd. Lech Lecha often gets translated as go forth. But the Hebrew offers another clue, Go to yourself.  Find yourself.  

Leaving is hard. Making space for something new with its promise of being better is hard. Yet, that is exactly what Abraham needs to do. What G-d demands him to do. He is forging a new path, a new future for himself and his family, both Sarah and Hagar, Isaac and Ishmael. He, in the midrash, smashed the idols of the past. 

For some, these last few weeks have been about smashing the idols of the past. For others, it didn’t happen the way they envisioned.  

Cat Zavis said: “Some continue to embrace the idolatry of the past, an idolatry that makes us believe that we are safe when we isolate ourselves, when we demean and oppress others, when we build walls. But in truth, we are safe when we are in community, when we see and uplift the Divine within one another, and when we build bridges and solidarity. Sometimes we harden our hearts and fear takes over. We have a choice. Are we willing to leave behind the idolatry on which our country was built and forge a new path? How might we do so? Can we take responsibility for the injustices of the past and build a future on justice and liberation for all? Being alive is truly miraculous. This is our time. We are all here for a reason. How will we show up and meet this moment? Let’s start by being together in a beloved community to nourish ourselves and dream of a future where everyone is nurtured and held in beloved communities.” 

Here we are, in beloved community, still in community. Many of us came from somewhere else, leaving behind the places we were born. That term that Cat Zavis used, beloved community, is one that Martin Luther King first used, is the name of a group that Josh Stober and I are participating in. We’re reading the book, Healing Resistance, trying to find a way to build a community that takes care of the most vulnerable, the widow, the orphan, the stranger amongst us. A world where people work together with the police and are not afraid of them, a world where people are respected and yes, loved. 

Abraham did more than just leave.  

He rescued his nephew Lot who was being held captive after which he broke bread with the King of Sodom, Malchizedek.  

He argued with G-d not to destroy Sodom and Gemorah. If there are just 50 righteous people…all the way down to 10. That is why our minyan is 10. 10 is the number for community. We are not meant to be alone. We are meant to be in community. Look around you. We here are in community. All of us together. Sometimes we agree and sometimes we don’t but we are all here.  

There is a power in being seen. Abraham…and Sarah do that. He saw the injustices of Sodom and Gemorah. He tried to protect the most vulnerable there. We nned to be seen…and to see. Look around you…we are building a community where people are heard and seen. Where people show up. Where people care about one another. 

Later we are told that his (and Sarah’s) tent were open on all four sides, so he could see who was coming. They practiced radical, audacious hospitality, from which we get the concept hachnasat orchim, welcoming guests.  

We are told that we should emulate G-d, “Just as G-d is merciful, we too should be merciful. Just as G-d is kind, we too should be kind.” The midrash continues that G-d’s kindness includes clothing the naked, Adam and Eve, feeding the hungry with manna in the wilderness and burying the dead. Abraham’s kindness includes feeding his three guests, even interrupting his conversation with G-d to rush to do so. 

Abraham certainly wasn’t perfect. He tries to pass off his wife as his sister. Twice. He throws Hagar (and Ishmael) out of the camp at his wife’s insistence as we will see next week. He almost sacrifices Isaac. Yet he gives us a model. Pirke Avot teaches, “In a place where there are no menschen, strive to be a good person.” That’s the message of Abraham. Be kind. Be loving. Be hospitable. Protect the vulnerable.  

G-d promises that Abraham and his descendants will be a blessing. They will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands on the beach. 

Some of you may be feeling tired this week. Between the time change and the election cycle this has been a week like none other.  

Yet our haftarah offers comfort. 

The ETERNAL is God from of old,
Creator of the earth from end to end,
Who never grows faint or weary,
Whose wisdom cannot be fathomed—
Who gives strength to the weary,
They shall run and not grow weary,
They shall march and not grow faint. 

Anne Frank said, “It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” 

The world is not yet as we would like it, as G-d and Abraham envisioned it. We learn from the Best Exotic Hotel Marigold: Everything will be alright in the end so if it is not alright it is not the end. The only real failure is the failure to try, and the measure of success is how we cope with disappointment. Remember you are everything, or you are nothing.”

Pirke Avot teaches: “Ours is not to finish the task, neither are we free to ignore it.” We are here in this time and place for a reason. Be like G-d. Be like Abraham. 

Today’s Torah portion is called Vayera, G-d appeared. Abraham is sitting at the entrance to his tent after his circumcision, no little surgery for an adult male at any stage, but particularly in those times. 

He saw three figures, (men, people, messengers, angels or as we just heard in the haftarah translation, agents), approach, standing near him. Abraham interrupts his visit with G-d, his conversation with G-d and runs, yes, runs, to welcome them.  

Fred Rogers from Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood is credited with saying that when things are scary, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” Those figures were the helpers. 

The verb here is nitzavim, just like a portion in Deuteronomy, “Atem nitzvavim hayom. You stand here today.” It continues, all of you. Your leaders, chiefs, old people, your wives, your little ones, your water drawers and wood choppers.” All of you. All of us. 

We learn two important things from this opening. G-d visits the sick so we should visit the sick. Abraham welcomes guests, strangers, whomever they may be.  

But Abraham and Sarah were not perfect people. Far from it. Yet they answered the call to be present, with a simple word “Hineini, I am here.” They are present. We need to be present. 

Many times, I am asked in a seemingly impossible situation, “Where is G-d.” Sometimes it is hard to see.  

This portion is full of sight and appearance. G-d appears. An angel or a messenger appears. Each messenger only has one responsibility, one action they must complete, one reason they have appeared. 

Sometimes it seems impossible to see the good. To see G-d. 

Today’s portion has two of the most painful stories in the Torah. Both of these we also read on Rosh Hashanah. I have wrestled with why. How do explain these painful stories to children, in particular.  

Perhaps they are about crying over children. Protecting children. Perhaps they are about new beginnings. Finding another way. Finding G-d in the midst of unspeakable tragedy.  

Sarah feels threatened by Hagar, worried for her child Isaac and demands that Abraham send them away, put them out of the camp. Abraham is told to listen to Sarah’s voice, and he does. He sends them away with just a skin of water and some bread.  

Hagar does not want to look on while her child dies of thirst in the desert. She cries out, “Let me not look on.” How desperate she must have been to not pray, “Save my child”. G-d hears the voice of the lad (not even named here). She cries for her child. G-d hears her pleas.  

“Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink.” 

Yet, in the very next chapter, Abraham hears a voice, telling him to take his son, his only son, the one he loves, take Isaac to a mountain G-d will show up and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham prepares to do exactly that. Abraham who argued with G-d about Sodom and Gemorah, seems willing to do the unthinkable. The rabbis couldn’t understand that and invented the midrash, the dialogue here. Take your son. I have two sons. Your only son. They are each the only son of their mother. The one you love. I love them both. Take Isaac.  

So they leave on this three day journey without telling Sarah where they are going or what they are about to do. When Issac questions Abraham, Abraham answers that “It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.” 

When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. He saw a ram!  

And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On GOD’s mount there is vision.” 

The message of these two stories is clear. We cannot sacrifice our children.  

It is alright to cry. Hagar cried. Sarah cried. Rachel cried. Hannah cried. About our children. About the world. And we cannot stop there. We need to open our eyes. We need to be Mr. Roger’s helpers. 

 Always, always we have to look for another way. We have to find another way. Don’t give up. Don’t lose hope. Keep searching. The water was there all along. The ram was there. The messengers were there. We need to answer the call to be present with Hineini. I am here. 

 “To love another person is to see the face of G-d. “ Victor Hugo, Les Mis 

Jeff Klepper who wrote the music to Shalom Rav, wrote a son, a bridge between Ahavat Olam and the Sh’ma. If we open up our eyes, maybe in the people who come to help, that is where we find the oneness of G-d.  

“Open up our eyes, teach us how to live.
Fill our hearts with joy and all the love You have to give
Gather us in peace as you lead us to Your name
And we will know that You are one. We will know that you are one.” 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGEhB-KYboo&t=78s