People - The children of Abraham this week are reintroduced to their common father and mother, and are reintroduced to their common guiding principle - "Go! Lech L'cha!" Our restlessness is substantiated, our inability to be satisfied with status quo (though we may try to fool ourselves...)
There is a very interesting Midrash which compares Avraham and the 11 or so generations before him to the verse "And I tried to heal Babel but it would not be healed. Leave it and walk, each man to his land." God says: "The Flood didn't work, because we see people still acting in a perverted way, so I give up on people and let them disperse (after the Tower of Babel) and let the man walk to his land; this is Avraham - 'Go to the land I will show you.'"
We noticed the strong language "Iz-vu'ha" - "leave it, give it up." There is a paradigm shift here, a shift away from hope that the generations will figure out what God wants, that they will stay in line
with His will and cease from perverting their natures. God moves away from that, and tries a different tactic: "Let the man go to his land" - Avraham.
God tells Avraham, "You will be a blessing." Rashi says, "Blessing used to be in my hands. Now I put it in yours; bless whom you wish." Avraham is now repsonsible for bringing the world together. Another Midrash says, from Song of Songs: "We have a young sister (a-chot)." This is Avraham, now joined (a-cha) the world together. Another opinion, who joined (a-cha) what has been rent." Avraham in himself will bring together and hold together a world which could not stay together before. His personality will be the unification of the world.
There has been a shift toward people, away from ideas. It is people, who are empowered by these ideas, who are responsible for holding the world togather and moving it forward. With this responsibility, we see Avraham moving constantly, meeting people, spreading the good word and
gathering more word to spread. In his interactions, he is not going about telling people it is this way or that way - he is showing it by who he is. He is showing no fear - once he knows that God is one, he
can go anywhere, he can let his curiosity guide him, he can ask people what THEY think, and can learn from them and incorperate what he hears into his constantly growing impression of the greatness of God. Because he doesn't have a line, or a trip. He IS what he is trying to say. He is just giving over himself. He is the unity of God in the world.
So too now. I hate to break it to you, but the world is not going to come together by itself. It doesnt seem like George Bush's coalition against terror satisfies the requirements to be the grand unification
theory. It doesn't look like Israel and Palestine are going to get it together any time soon. What's left is people, individuals who care enough and can bring the world together in themselves. Who can be
bridges between worlds. Watch closely Avraham and what he does and how, and let us all take it upon ourselves to work towards being islands of sanity and positivity in a world that seems to be falling apart.
Rav Gavriel Goldfeder
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Rav Gavriel Goldfeder is one of the first semicha recipients of the yeshiva. A graduate of Drew University in Religious Studies, he came to Bat Ayin after stints in other yeshivot and found a spiritual and intellectual home. Here he met his wife, Ketriellah, who was a student in our short-lived Women's Yeshiva. Upon graduation, Gavriel took the position of rabbi of the Aish Kodesh Congregation in Boulder, Colorado and together with Ketriellah and their growing family, they are busy creating (in Gavriel's words), "a community infused with Torah values, passion for learning and prayer, consideration of one another, and action, as well as deep celebration of the joys of life." |