We're only human, right?

I have recently heard many references to the fact that the patriarchs and matriarchs were people, but they were at the same time "greater than the average man". For instance, when Sarah causes Hagar to run away after she has been having a "higher than thou" attitude towards her, the text seems to imply that Sarah inflicted some sort of mental of physical pain on Sarah. However, many commentators suggest that since Sarah was one of the matriarchs and such a great person, that she never would have done something like that, and that she only instructed Hagar to conduct herself appropriately. There are a few situations like this in the Torah.

In contrast, there are situations like we see with Avraham. Avraham needs constant reassurance from G-d that G-d will follow through and give him land, wealth, children, and more. Avraham was a great person. How come he needed reassurance from G-d? It is true that he wanted reassurance because there were many setbacks which caused him to doubt that the promise would come true. But still, Avraham was more than the average person. A normal person would probably want reassurance, but Avraham was on a higher level than a normal person.

So here is my question. How is it possible that such holy people who were on such a high level still needed help and guidance like ordinary people? Please feel free to try and solve this puzzle!

The Importance of Promises

I know I just posted about the promise between Hashem and Avraham, but now I want to look at it in a different way, and that is the importance of promises. From a young age many Jewish children are taught that instead of “I promise” they have to say “bli neder”. Why is this?

The basis for the answer can be found in the story of Avraham. Hashem promised Avraham greatness, wealth, children, source of bracha, and land. He then goes about helping Avraham through his problems and adventures so that He can fulfill that promise. Now this is well and good, but why does Hashem then keep reassuring Avraham that He will fulfill the promise? Couldn’t he just remove any and all doubt from Avraham’s mind?

I think that the reason Hashem continually has to remind Avraham is to show us, the future generations, a lesson. He is trying to show us just how important promises are. By making a promise with Avraham and continually following up on it, He is showing us how carefully we should treat our own promises. We are all made betzelem Elokim, which means that in everything we do we should try to emulate Hashem. In other words, we need to try to take our promises as seriously as Hashem did.

The Promise

Hashem promised Avraham five things: greatness, wealth, children, source of bracha, and land. Each of these is mentioned separately, which leads me to think that each one has to have a different purpose as far as the general theme and the development of Avraham.

Greatness is important for many reasons. The main one is that no one is going to believe some random person that they should suddenly change their belief system. People tend to gravitate towards more popular and charismatic people and listen to what they say, so it is important for Avraham to be considered great. Another reason is that an entire people, Am Yisrael, is going to come from Avraham. If he was weak, and didn’t do anything then what would we have to look up to? The Avot are supposed to be the people we learn from and we’re supposed to follow in their footsteps. If Avraham was weak, where would we be? Continuing with this thought, if Avraham had not fought with the kings, reached Eretz Yisrael, or done anything else he did, we would not have a claim to anything today. If Avraham hadn’t been able to complete his mission we do not know where we would be.

Children and land are important because they show a plan for the future. Had Hashem only promised Avraham the other parts, it would be possible to assume that everything dies after Avraham, and that nothing is going to be passed down. By promising him children Hashem is showing Avraham that his line will continue, and that his mission does matter because it affects not only himself but the generations to come. Land shows that his children will have somewhere to go. They will not have to wander from place to place like Avraham himself did. They will have a permanent dwelling where they can grow and prosper.

Wealth and source of bracha are important in a different way. Both are a way of supporting Avraham along his journey. Wealth is the most obvious one, because as everyone knows, you need money to travel. Also, if the above is to be believed, then the promise is being passed down to his children which means that Avraham can feel safe in the idea that his children will be prosperous and well taken care of. A source of bracha is a little different. The main idea is the practical sense in that Avraham is spreading the idea of Hashem. This can be expanded by saying that by doing so, he is also able to strengthen his own beliefs and become stronger in them, thus becoming a strong representation of Hashem in this world because of which people recognize and pray to Hashem. And we can come to understand that it is in this way that a source of bracha is a way of supporting Avraham, because it helps him to be strong enough in his beliefs to continue his mission.

Avraham's Character

So far we have been focusing on Avraham and his "adventures". We learned that Hashem promised him land, children, wealth, and a bracha. All that Avraham does is a path to receiving each part of this promise. The question is why is it necessary for Avraham to be known as a master strategist, or a military genius? What does this have to do with the promise and Avraham's growth?

Something we learned in English was flat and round characters. Flat characters only have a single trait, and often represent one human stereotype. Round characters are the ones we can relate to. They often have conflicting feelings, and don't always make the same choices. Avraham is the same way. He needs to become a round character. In order for us to be able to take the necessary lessons from this story we need to be able to relate to him.

Another way to look at is that maybe Avraham needed to go through this particular hardship for a reason. What would that be? Well, it could be that he needed to do something on a world scale to truly fulfill his mission of spreading ethical monotheism. Let’s say he never had the battle with the four kings. Many people would not be able to recognize the greatness of Avraham’s “one G-d” had they not seen or heard firsthand what happened. People were able to see G-d’s greatness on this earth even if they were not involved, because they would hear that the five kings were defeated and Avraham’s proclamation that it is only with the help of G-d that he won.

A different possibility is that this helps Avraham’s development into the kind of person Hashem needs him to be before He can fulfill his promise. For example, it is possible Hashem wants Avraham to have the experience of working with people in the outside world towards a common goal. Or it could be to show him that sometimes it is necessary to go the long way to get what you need. Avraham could have decided to just get Lot back, but instead he helped to fight the entire war and help them win. This experience could be what Avraham needs to realize that he is the one who will start our nation and that Hashem is on his side, and because of that he will change the world.

Who was Ya'akov's Father?

In a comment to a previous post, I was talking about how HaShem repeats his promise that he gave to Avraham to Yitzchak and Yaakov. When He gives it to Ya'akov, He says he already gave it to "Avraham his father and to Yitzchak." Why would it say that Avraham was his father but say nothing about Yitzchak? If it had said Avraham your father and Yitzchak your father, there might at least have been something to talk about. It does things like that a lot in the torah. But why would the torah say that Avraham was Ya'akov's father and say nothing about Yiztchak? What is it trying to say? During the lives of Moshe Rabeinu and Aharon HaCohen, the torah says that Moshe was the father of Aharon's four sons because he taught them torah. While Aharon was their biological father, Moshe was their spiritual one. Was it that was with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov? I don't think it would be, but that would be one reason. Could it also be that between Ya'akov and Eisav, Yitzchak took Eisav's side? That dosn't make sense either, but that's pretty much all I can come up with.

If anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know!

We All Need Some Reassurance Sometimes

Everyone gets some doubt every once in a while. Some people might get it more than others. Some people might get it worse than others. The fact though, is that everyone has some kind of doubt sooner or later in their lives. Doubt goes all the way back to the times of Avraham. We have been studying him for some time now and already we have seen multiple times of doubt when Hashem has to intervene and soothe his anxiety. It's perfectly normal, in my opinion, that Avraham had doubt about something so important and so intense. Luckily for him, Hashem was there to put him at ease. Avraham was so worried about his future generations, that he even started to doubt the promise Hashem gave to him. This happened twice before Hashem finally realized Avraham needed something more. That is when Hashem gave Avraham a brit. Now, the promise cannot be broken. They called this brit, Brit ben Habitarim. This is the second brit we have seen in our studies thus far, the first being brit keshet.

Anxiety and doubt are very applicable to people our days and even myself. Doubt can occur on almost anything. Tests, friends, family, activities, ANYTHING! Luckily we have our friends and family to always turn to for guidance. And if they are not sufficient help, then we always have Hashem on our side. Hashem knows when we are anxious about something. Avraham did not voice his anxiety the second time. We went a whole perek without a word from Hashem, but then comes the next perek when Hashem comes to Avraham's savior.

Hashem knew exactly what Avraham needed to hear to calm down and focus on the promise. Hashem then executed exactly what Avraham needed so that he would relax a little bit. Thankfully, his easing worked and Avraham was back on the track to future generations and inheriting all the land.

Hashem is always there for us. He is even inside ur heads and knows when we need Him even when we don't call upon Him. Avraham is a great example of this. Hashem will always help us through and ease our anxiety when we are in need, just like He did with Avraham

The Promise: Passed On or Not?

This week, we learned about the Brit Bein Habetarim. After Avraham had helped the four kings win the war against the five kings, he had concerns about the validity of the promise. Therefore, Hashem had to restate and authenticate the promise. G-d started by reassuring Avraham that he would have children of his own to inherit the land from him. After this, Avraham cut up animals and walked between them. As we discussed in class, this was the handshake of the time and was not considered odd at the time. G-d then continues by telling Avraham that he would live a life of peace and prosperity. His children, starting in four generations, would be strangers in a strange land and would be afflicted for four hundred years. At the end of these four hundred years, they will be redeemed from bondage and THEY will be the ones to inherit the land from Egypt to the Euphrates.

I have a problem with this story. We know now that the four generations after Avraham starts with Yosef's children, who were born in Egypt. Yosef was the firstborn son of Yaakov and Rachel. He was Yaakov's "favorite" son and was educated by Yaakov himself. As we learned in class, Avraham's duty was to spread ethical monotheism and act accordingly. I wonder if he passed down the knowledge of what he was promised at the Brit Bein Habetarim to his son Yitzchak. If he passed it in to Yitzchak, did he pass it on to Yaakov? If it was passed on to Yaakov, did he tell Yosef? Finally, did Yosef tell his sons what would happen to them and their descendants?

We all know Yosef's story. His brothers were jealous of their father's clear display of favoritism towards Yosef. They threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave to Egyptian merchants. In Egypt, he became a slave in the house of Potifar, an officer of Pharaoh. He rose up in the ranks, but was thrown in jail. Pharaoh had troubling dreams and Yosef was the only one who could interpret them. He was then released and became Pharaoh's second in command in Egypt. He helped save Egypt from a great famine and his brothers eventually went down to Egypt in search of food. There, Yosef revealed himself to them and the entire family goes down to Egypt.

My question is: did Yosef have any idea what he and his brothers had started when they sent him to Egypt? Egypt was the land of the bondage of the descendants of Avraham and because of Yosef's success there, the entire family left Canaan and went to the land where they would be slaves fro four hundred years. I wonder what was running through Yosef's mind when he was sitting in the pit. Was it fear for the present or fear for the the future?

Refusing the Wealth

In Perek Yud Daled, Avraham joins 4 kings to try to save his nephew, Lot. The opposing 5 kings had captured Lot while looting Sadom, the city in which he lived after separating from Avraham. Of course, with G-d's help Avraham came out victorious and saved Lot. He also reconquered land for the other kings. After this, Avraham was offered a large amount of wealth (from the spoils). Avraham refused to take the money. He wouldn't even accept a shoelace of the wealth. The point of this was to show that he is dependant on G-d.

In class, this point confused me. I related it to a story that we have all heard countless times: One day a city was flooding. The water was getting higher and higher, and all the people were being evacuated. One man refused to leave because he believed that G-d would save him. People came to try to save him, men in a boat came, even people tried to save him by coming in a helicopter, but he still refused to leave, saying, "G-d will save me." The man died. In heaven he he became very angry because he had put all of his trust in G-d, and G-d had let him down. G-d said to him, "What are you talking about? I sent people, a boat, and a helicopter to save you!"

This story shows that not all of G-d's miracles are huge and miraculous like the sea splitting. He gives his blessings in all different ways. We can't just wait for Him to drop $1,000 from heaven, maybe instead He will help get you a job. Also, we need to do everything in our power to help ourselves, and not solely rely on G-d.

This idea was shown in this weeks Parsha. Before Yaakov's reunion with his evil brother, Eisav he does three things to prepare. He separates the camp (prepares for war). He sends gifts to Eisav, and last he davens to G-d. This shows that Yaakov did everything he could to help himself (and Bnei Yisrael) before he asked for G-d's help. So why did Avraham not want to take the wealth that was offered to him by the kings? He deserved it. He reconquered the land, therefore he deserves the spoils. This could have been G-d's plan to fulfill His promise of making Avraham wealthy.

Maybe G-d had told Avraham not to take it. Maybe Avraham didn't want money that was associated with battle/war. Maybe he already had enough and didn't feel right taking more. Maybe he thought it thought G-d would seem less great in the eyes of everyone if he took all the money and didn't act as if G-d would protect and provide for him.

Avraham says, "וְלֹא תֹאמַר אֲנִי הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת אַבְרָם"-And you should not say, "I have made Avraham wealthy". Avraham probably didn't want anyone, but G-d to be the reason he is wealthy. Even though he did deserve the wealth, no human should be able to say that he fulfilled one of the promises G-d made him.

Brit Habetarim

In class we learned about the brit habetarim. While Avraham is walking among the animals he had just slaughtered he falls asleep and Hashem starts telling him about the future. He first tells him that he himself will live in prosperity and peace, but 4 generations later, his descendents will be afflicted in a strange land. Oh, and don’t worry, the enemy will be held accountable. And when they leave, it will be with wealth after 400 years. THEN, and only then they will inherit the land between the Euphrates and Mitzraim.

There are two interesting things here. One is that Hashem is telling Avraham an essentially nice future while surrounded by piles of dead animals. One would think that would kind of ruin the mood. The other thing is the way Hashem says it. He starts out saying something nice, then He tells Avraham that his descendents are going to be afflicted. Then, He almost flippantly tells him not to worry because the enemy will be punished. I know that I would not be comforted if my children were going to be hurt just because the one who hurt them is going to be punished! I don’t really have an answer for that so I’m going back to the first one. I think that maybe the reason Hashem had Avraham lying down among the rotting corpses is to remind him that though it may sound nice, that they are going to leave with riches, they are going to have to suffer on the way there. The rose is not free of thorns.

Avraham's Modeh Ani

Every morning we say modeh ani, thank you Hashem for returning my soul to me. This prayer is thanking Hashem for giving us a chance to return to life and have another chance to do what He wants us to do. When Avraham left his house at the beginning of this parsha, he also got the chance to start again. He left behind his father and idols and went about spreading ethical monotheism. He is now doing what he wants to do, and what is right. There is no greater combination. I think this is truly what the modeh ani is asking for. We are asking Hashem to guide us in the right path so that we can grow and do what’s right so that one day, that will be what we want to do.

As a side note, something very important that Avraham learns is that Hashem is always with him. Also today, we all know that as Jews Hashem will be with us. If you look at the word Jew you will understand why. It comes from the word Yehuda. The “yud” at the beginning signifies Hashem’s name showing that without Hashem we, the Jews, would not exist. He is an essential part of who we are. Avraham is the beginning of that line. He is called the first Jew because, as we learned in class, he is the first one to truly believe in Hashem enough to leave and chase after the one true G-d.

clarifying promises

G-d promised Avraham that he would be the father of a nation. Originally, Avraham might have thought that this would be indirect. He might have thought that since the possibility of being a father at such an old age was slim, Lot would be like his child. When Lot became corrupted, Avraham might have thought the promise was void. Hashem came to Avraham to "renew" the promise. Avraham would still become a great nation. Since Avraham might have thought Lot would be considered his descendant, Lot would also receive some of the land. Hashem clarifies that the land will go to Avraham along with his nation.

ויצא - The Discussion Between יעקב and 'ה

On Friday, Rabbi Perl came to speak to us about the פרשה. He spoke about the conversation between 'ה and יעקב in which 'ה promises that He will look out for יעקב, that He will bring him back to the land, and that He will not forsake him and יעקב replies in a way that bothers different מפרשים: namely, רשי, רמבן, ספורנו, and the נציב. The way he asks 'ה, it's like יעקב is either making a deal with or testing Him. We thought that it might have been a test because 'ה JUST told him that He would do those things and why would there need to be a deal unless there was some doubt about the promise? The מפרשים think otherwise. Also, when the translation uses the word then in the beginning of פסוק כב, the actual hebrew text does not. It just uses a "ו" like in the rest of the conversation. We wanted to figure out if the "והיה ה' לי לאלוקים" is part of the conditions for the deal, or if it is a result. Is it something that 'ה has to do for יעקב, or is it something that יעקב will do for 'ה?

רשי says that it was a deal, but that it wasn't 'ה that יעקב was doubting. It was himself and his family. He wanted to make sure that even if they sinned, 'ה would still look out for them and keep his promise. He also says that "והיה ה' לי לאלוקים" is a condition to ask 'ה to be a G-d not only for him, but also for his future generations.

רמבן, like רשי, says that it was a deal and that it was himself and his household that יעקב didn't believe in. He wanted to make sure that the promise would be kept even if any of them sinned. He says that "והיה ה' לי לאלוקים" is part of the result: that if 'ה did the previously mentioned things, THEN יעקב would serve Him. The רמבן also says that instead of translating אם as if, we should translate it as when. If we translate it like this, we can see that יעקב had no doubt that 'ה would do those things, which takes the whole challenge/test issue out of it.

ספורנו says that it was neither a deal nor a test, but that יעקב was asking for things completely different from what 'ה had promised. He was asking for 2 things. He was asking for 'ה to take away everything that could distract him from his goal, and once 'ה did that, he was asking the 'ה judge him as אלוקים with a judgmental aspect rather than the merciful one he would need with all the distractions. Without them, he would see how much he was doing for 'ה on his own and he wouldn't have an excuse or need the lenience for anything he might have done with all the distractions to confuse him. He says that "והיה ה' לי לאלוקים" means that 'ה will use his judging personality rather than his merciful one, so it would be a condition and not a result.

The נציב says that it's a deal, but יעקב is not doubting 'ה's promise; he is asking for more. Instead of 'ה bringing יעקב to the borders of the land, He should bring him all the way to the house of his father, instead of just looking out for יעקב, He should make sure he has everything he needs automatically, etc. He says that "והיה ה' לי לאלוקים" is the result. יעקב is saying that even when he gets home to his father's house, he will still depend on 'ה for everything like he had to when he was not at home. The נציב still has a problem, though with the fact that there is never a "then" in the text itself. The תורה is deliberately vague to convey that even at home, יעקב would still need 'ה to help him with his faith and trust in Him.

Lot's separation

We learned in class this week that when Avram, Sarai, and Lot went down to Mitzraim, they did not come back empty- handed. They had lots of cattle, money, slaves- you name it. Lot became corrupted with this wealth, but Avraham did not. They started arguing over this, but Avram has no desire to fight with Lot. They therefore split up and Lot went to Sodom, which he describes as "Kigan Hashem Kieretz MItzraim." This proves the fact that Lot has become corrupted, since he was comparing MItzraim, which was evil and corrupt, to the garden of Hashem! As a result of this, G-d must reassure Avraham that His promises will come true and that there is no reason to worry. This may be because Avram thought that since he was 75, the promise of descendants might have been fulfilled through Lot, but since he had gone astray, it wouldn't be fulfilled. G-d tells him that this is not the case; he will have children and the promise will be fulfilled through him. He then adds that all the land will belong to Avram and his descendants, not Lot. Avram then builds an altar to G-d, showing his renewed faith in G-d's covenant.

Like the dust of the earth

IN this week's parsha, G-d tells Yaakov to spread out like the dust of the earth. This phrase is constantly repeated throughout Bereshit; why is the spreading out of the Jewish people constantly likened to dust? I came up with some possible answers. The dirt beneath our feet is one of the building blocks of this planet. It helps sustain life by enabling us to grow food to eat, trees so we can breathe, and numerous other benefits. It is therefore a great blessing to be likened to dirt because this could be a way of making the analogy that the Jewish people make things flourish. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we accomplish great things and help mankind. This could also be a reference to the fact that people come from the dust of the earth. We come from dust, and when we die we will return to dust.

The Promise:Yaakov and Avraham

I would like to compare the responses of both Avraham and Yaakov to G-d's promise to give their descendants the land of Israel. In our class we learned about Avraham and though he at times, seems to doubt the authenticity of the promise, he never 'talks back' to G-d or demanded an explanation or a written agreement. He always accepted what G-d said and does as He told him to. Yaakov, on the other hand whose response we learned with Rabbi Dr. Perl (who did a spectacular job teaching us, by the way) had a different approach when faced with G-d's promise. Though the commentators explain his responce in different perspectives, the basic problem here is unlike Avraham he didn't immediately trust in G-d and in the hopes that G-d would take care of everything for him. It should have been easier for Yaakov to accept G-d's words, after all Yaakov was raised being taught about G-d.

So why the different responses? I can't tell you what the correct answer is, but I will give my own answer.

First, Avraham spent most of his life as the only person who believed in G-d and didn't worship idols. He believed in one omnipotent G-d, but he never had any solid proof so that he could tell himself, even if others didn't believe him, that his beliefs were true. When G-d first spoke to him, the last thing he would want to do is do anything that could "offend" G-d or show any lack of trust in Him. Yaakov, though, wanted more than just a promise for the future, he wanted a promise that would ensure his safety now. (Although that might seem selfish, it is a part of human nature to want that kind of security and protection.) Avraham had had a pretty awful childhood (his father let the king throw him into a furnace), so you could imagine he was hoping his descendants wouldn't have to endure the same things he did. Yaakov, who was raised while learning about G-d and dealing with the unpredictable Eisav, he was worried about the future and the Now. Therefore, he had to confirm that G-d was going to protect him the whole way, and not just his descendants.

The Promise

Hashem promises Avraham that his children will be numerous/become many nations and that they will inherit the land. The question now is why did Avraham deserve this reward and why was the promise repeated many times throughout Avraham's life?

Avraham was the first person in the history of the world to recognize Hashem as the true creator and sustainer of the universe and to succeed in spreading ethical monotheism. He began to speculate about the existence of G-d at a young age. According to the Midrash, Avraham was imprisoned for his beliefs and thrown into a fiery pit. He was later miraculously released by the king. Afterwards, G-d commanded him to leave his home, his birthplace, and the house of his father to follow G-d to an unnamed land. He willingly did so. He brought his wife, nephew, and all of their possessions with him. He then proceeded to spread his practice of ethical monotheism throughout the land. It was then that Hashem first gave him the promise of זרע and ארץ. Avraham then built a מזבח for Hashem. Then came the famine. Avraham, Sara, and Lot went to Egypt for food. Avraham told Sara to lie and tell the Egyptians that she was Avraham's sister, not wife. He probably did this for two reasons. First of all, he didn't want to be killed so that the Egyptians could take his wife. Secondly, the promise of זרע required Avraham's wife. We know now that זרע refers to the descendants of Avraham and Sara. Without her, the promise might have been void. Hashem afflicts Pharaoh's house and the three of them return to Canaan. Then, Lot became corrupted. He decided that instead of following the ways of ethical monotheism, he would follow the ways of the people of Egypt: corruption and immorality. He decided to move to Sedom, a city as corrupt as Egypt. It was then that Hashem repeated the promise to Avraham.

Throughout Avraham's lifetime, Hashem repeated the promise when the validity of the promise was in doubt. Here, the problem appeared in the promise of זרע. At this point, Avraham was over age seventy five, and it seemed very unlikely that he would ever have children of his own. Therefore, he believed that the promise of children would come through Lot. When Lot strayed from the path of morality, Avraham considered that the promise was void. Therefore it was necessary for Hashem to renew the promise and to prove to Avraham that he would have numerous descendants and that those children would inherit the land of Canaan.

Promise

Hashem made Avraham a series of promises. These were that he would have so many future generations that he would not be able to count them, Avraham would be given all the land and after him his children would inherit it after him, material wealth, anyone who curses him will be cursed and anyone who blesses him will be blessed, and lastly he will be a bracha to everyone. After Hashem gives him these promises, Hashem brings him, his wife Sarai, and lot to Egypt due to a famine. Avraham has to leave his homeland and follow G-d. Avraham of course follows. When they get there, they pretend that Sarai is really Avraham's sister rather than his wife, to safe his own life. Pharaoh takes Sarai as a wife only to find out later that she is really Avraham's wife. Pharaoh throws him in jail but miraculously send him out on the condition that he leaves Egypt. From this we learn how immoral Egyptians are. They were willing to kill Avraham just because he was married to a beautiful woman whom they wanted. Avraham, Sarai, and Lot take their belongings and their wealthy and leave Egypt. The only problem is that Lot was very influenced by the immoral ways of the Egyptians that he decided to go live in a city that was like it. Avraham on the other hand, uninfluenced by Egypt decides to keep going on his path like he was before, going in the name of G-d. Hashem though, must sense a feeling of uneasiness from Avraham because He feels the need to repeat the promises to him again. This could be because Avraham might have thought that he was already 75 and he could not have children anymore, thus making Lot his only descendent. Now that Lot chose this "bad" city though, Avraham could have been worried that he would not have any future generations. Hashem comes to the rescue and reassures Avraham that he will have future generations who will be as great as the dust of the land. Hashem also tells Avraham to look at all the land from one side of the world to the other. This is probably because Avraham might have felt that he would not get all the land because Lot just chose this bad city. Hashem thankfully steps in and reassures Avraham, calming all his nerves.

The Promise

Hashem told Avraham that he should go with Him and He will take Avraham to a land that he will show him. Avraham took his wife, Lot, and his belongings and went to the land. Avraham got to the land which was Cana'an. Hashem promised to Avraham that he would become great, wealthy, known, blessed, a source of blessing, everyone that blesses him will be blessed and everyone that curses him will be cursed, and that he will be the leader of a great nation, and have many kids, as many that he will not even be able to count how many. Avraham runs into many predicaments that causes him to rethink if the promise will ever be fulfilled. Every time that this happens Hashem has to reassure him that the promise will come true and he doesn't have to worry.

אור כשדים

Avraham almost gave up his life for his love of G-d. Avraham destroyed his father's place of worship because he wanted his father to believe in Hashem. Avraham's father was so into it that he was willing to kill his own son. They threw Avraham in a pit of fire to see if he will die. Avraham had faith in Hashem so he was pushed into the pit and he completely survived. Haran also jumped into the pit but he died. Haran died because he just wanted to stick with the winner of this fight, he didn't have the complete belief in Hashem that Avraham did.

Do we need a land?

Usually religions evolve or start with an area of land. G-d brought Avraham away from his homeland, where there was already a religion. This seems strange to us and almost is a contradiction. Judaism is one of the few religions that absolutely does not revolve around land, but here we just learnt that Hashem took Avraham to the land that would eventually be ours. Does this mean Judaism is just another one of those religions that evolves around a piece of land? I don't think thats necessarily true. I think ultimately G-d knew we were going to get our own land and that is why he took Avraham to it in the first place. Even though it did not happen right away and there was much fighting involved to get to the ultimate goal, it was still gotten. I think this all goes back to last year when we had the debate about if G-d knowing the future is really giving us free will or not. G-d knows the outcome but lets us choose our own way to get there, or at least that's the way I think of it. I think G-d wanted Avraham to see where his future generations would live before he died so He took him there, how his future generations were going to get it, He didn't know.

Different Opinions

We learned in class this week about or kasdim. Rashi and Rambam have 2 different answers for the meaning of this. Rashi thinks it was a place, but Rambam thinks it was rather an event. The simple meaning, which is what Rashi likes and strives to find is that Or Kasdim was a place. He says that "Or" is referring to the hebrew word for village and Kasdim is just the name of that particular village. Rashi disagrees with Rambam that it was an event because if it was an important enough it would have been written in the tanach, but it is not. If it refers to the village then it does not make sense because that is the birthplace of Avraham and Avraham is from shem making Or Kasdim an event rather than a place. Rambam simply believes this because of the context of the sentence.

Or Kasdin: Rashi and Ramban

Rashi and Ramban disagree on the meaning of the phrase Or Kasdin. Rashi gives several possibilities on what the phrase could mean. He mentions the Kivshon HaAish, but thinks that if it were referring to something so important it would be written in the Torah. He concludes that it must refer to the valley of Kasdin, the birthplace of Avraham. Ramban disagrees. He says that it is not possible for Or Kasdin to be Avraham's birth place because it is in Cham's land and Avraham is a descendant of Shem. Therefore, Or Kasdin must refer to the Kivshon HaAish.

A Place or an Event?

Rashi and Ramban both have more than one answer to what te words "Or Kasdim" really mean. Rashi being known for trying to find the Pshat or the simple meaning, thinks that these words are referring to a place. He says the word Or is referring to the word 'Bikah'-village. In this way the words mean the Village of Kasdim. He thinks that these words can't be referring to the event of Kivshon HaAish, because if this event was so important than it should have been included in the Tanach. Ramba, on the other hand says that Avraham was not born in the land od Kasdim, because Kasdim is in the land od Cham and Avraham is a descendant of Shem. Ramban believes that the story of Kivshon HaAish is true and very important. He thinks that these words cannot be referring to a place. And if it's not a place, than they must be referring to an event.

Unfortunately, we have no evidence of weather this event actually took place. Ramban believes that it happened because of hints in the text. Rashi was not satisfied with basing his answer on a story that might not be true, so he came up with a different one.

Rashi vs. Ramban

Both Rashi and Ramban were great commentators on תנך. Every person/rabbi who studies Torah finds textual anomalies and builds an explanation around that. In that sense, the text of the Torah is like a grain of sand in an oyster. Over time, a pearl will be formed out of the sand and oyster saliva. Like this, the rabbis would build a story around the problem in the text that is meant to teach us a lesson. This is the basic idea of how the Midrash was formed. Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (A.K.A. Rashi) was among the first medieval commentaries. He studied the Torah his entire life and found textual anomalies everywhere. He was well educated in the Midrash, so he knew the stories. In his study of the Torah, he wrote footnotes on the side of his text. These footnotes included the most realistic "Midrash" explanation. He did not accept that simple words in the text referred to wild and important stories. Instead, he gave an explanation that logically explained what was happening in the Torah without referring to a story unmentioned in the Torah. (He was once talking to his grandson and Rashi is reported to have said that if he could go back and change anything in his life, he would have made a commentary on the פשט: how can we understand-on the most basic level-what the text is trying to convey?) It is also important to note that RASHI DID NOT COME UP WITH HIS EXPLANATIONS. He found them in the Midrash and recorded them. Rabbi Moshe Ben Nachman (A.K.A. Ramban) was almost the opposite in ideology. He was taught (and passes on to us) that one should use the פשט interpretation, unless there is no other way to explain the text. He respected Rashi very much, but most of the time, he humbly contradicted Rashi. According to Ramban, "Ur Kasdim" is referring to an event because of the general phrasing of the statement. According to Rashi, "Ur Kasdim" is referring to a place. (If the story of the fiery pit was so important, why is it not mentioned in the text of the Torah?)

We can see here that there is even dispute in the world of the commentators. Unfortunately, we do not know what really happened or what we are supposed to get out of the phrasing of the statement "Haran died on the face of (before) Terach his father in the land of his birth in Ur Kasdim." Each person should come up with their own opinion about what is true and what is fable.

Rabbi Finkelstein's שלוש סעודות Speech פרשת חיי שרה

This שבת at שלוש סעודות at Anshei, Rabbi Finkelstein spoke about how the תורה never mentions אברהם with his family after he left until he sends אליעזר back to find a wife for יצחק. The תורה talks about him a lot with regards to his other friends that didn't believe in 'ה, but never with regards to his family. The reason is that after אברהם left his father's house, there was still a chance that he might return to the way he had been raised if he was allowed to interact with his family. His non Jewish friends would not pull him back, but his family might. The only time the תורח mentions anyone from אברהם's family, even the ones that believed in 'ה is יצחק at עקידת יצחק, because he is the one being bound. Once עקידת יצחק took place, אברהם proved that his commitment was so great that meeting his family again would not pull him or his wife and household back in any way. Therefore, אברהם could sent אליעזר back to his old home to find a wife for his son. One of the reasons that יצחק had not gotten married until now is that אברהם had not yet passed that last test. Until then, he had not proven himself to be on a level that interacting with the other part of his family would not pull him or his household back with regards to their dedication to 'ה.

חסד vs. צדיק

I'm going to go off of the subject of חומש for now because everyone keeps posting on everything I'm about to post on.

Ok, so in פרשה class on Friday, Rabbi Maimon spoke to us about the difference between being a צדיק and a חסיד. Not a חסיד in the מאה שארים sense, but as in a person who does a lot of חסד. What is the difference?

We said that a צדיק does what he is asked to do, while a חסיד does what is wanted of him without being asked. נח was an איש צדיק and did what he was asked, but אברהם was an איש חסיד and took the initiative. That's why רבקה had to be tested before she could become יצחק's wife. If she was going to be a part of אברהם's family, she had to have the same trait of חסידות. When אליעזר asked רבקה if she would get him water and she gave water to his camels also, she demonstrated that trait. This proved her worthy of being a part of the family of אברהם אבינו, who was the epitome of חסד.

Or Kasdin

We have been learning about the Or Kasdin and whether it refers to the Fiery pit. It could refer to several things, but what we know for sure is that Haran died before Terach. We learned that the Or Kasdin could refer to either the Fiery pit or a valley. Rashi concludes that it was probably just refering to a valley.

Ur Kasdim, Civshon Ha Esh?

IN chumash we have most recently been learning about the sentence "...Vayamat Haran Al Pnei Terach Aviv Beeretz Moladeto BeUr KAsdim." This is talking about how Haran died on in Ur Kasdim "on his father's face". Rashi cannot find a mishna on the text in this circumstance so he refers to the mishna about the civshon haEsh to explain that Ur Kasdim could mean that Haran died in the civshon haEsh. The only problem is that there is no texutal basis for this so Rashi finds another answer. Ramban, however, believes that this mishna is true because it is rabbinic tradition and is hinted to in the text, so he goes to prove that this pasuk is talking about the civshon haEsh. His first proof is that Avraham was not born in the land of Kasdim because this is where the descendants of Cham lived, and Avraham was descended from Shem. This goes to show that this is referencing an event and not a place. He further proves this point by stating that when G-d says " hotzeiticha meUr casdim" he does not say "lekachticha", showing that this was done miraculously. He also adds that the text is vague here. There is an outside account where a king imprisoned Avraham and then let him leave- this was some form of miracle, a hidden miracle. This is Ramban's reason for why Ur kasdim must be the miraculous event in the text.

Rashi and Ramban

Recently in Chumash we have strayed off the path and learned about Rashi and Ramban's different types of commentary. Rashi is more focused on the basic pshat understanding and looks for textual anomalys that he can clarify with a midrash. When he does not have a midrash based on the text, he looks in other places for an answer. The Ramban believes that the midrash's stories are truth and we must know them as fact so he looks for places in the text that can refer to midrash. Aside from all this, we learned in class that commentators like Rashi do not, in fact, have nivuah. So a question that I have been wondering is why they are in every chumash and are trusted opinions? Why are specific people's ideas given so much credibility? How do they have any factual basis if they are no more than educated guesses? And why in that case are we studying someone's unproven educated guesses? If anyone has an answer or opinion in this, please feel free to answer!

thanksgiving and bereshit

Tonight in Mishmar, we were learning about whether Jews are obligated to give thanks or not, in honor of the approaching holiday of Thanksgiving. We saw that there are many sources which say we are, and all the various places that it says so. This got me thinking about everything we have learned this year in Bereshot and the history of the Jews in general. We are known the complain a lot. In the desert, we complained over water, food, meat, etc. We were never happy with our lot even when we had just been through amazing miracles. This made me wonder if the same is true in Bereshit. People have just been created, and are put in a beautiful place where everything is given to them, yet do they ever utter a word of thanks? No. Instead, they take advantage of this and get kicked out of the garden. Later on, when Cain sins, G-d has mercy on him, but is Cain grateful? No. Next time something good happens in your life, take a moment to be grateful and realize what a good life you have and appreciate what G-d has given you

The Levyasan

Going a little off topic here....

On Shemini Atzeres, Sarah and I were at Anshei with the people that came to visit from TorahTours in New York. Rabbi Finkelstein said that we should all merit to sit in the sukkah of the Levyasan. I was confused. I thought a Levyasan was a big fish. All I could picture was a huge whale from the inside- just big ribs hanging inside the skin over a small wooden sukkah. Then I thought, how would you be able to sit and see the stars from in there? Through the blowhole? And why is it so special that we should merit to sit there?

Sarah and I asked someone how that could be possible, and she answered us by taking a Tanach and showing us a Rashi. (It's a Rashi on Perek Alef Pasuk Chaf Alef if anyone want's to check it out) The Rashi said that when HaShem created the world, He created two HUGE fish. They couldn't both remain on earth because their children would be too big and there would not be enough space on earth. The male remained on earth (it's possible it is now known as the Loch Ness Monster) while the female went to Shamayim. It's said that all the great Tzadikim merit to sit in the sukkah inside of the female levyasan.

So I guess we should all hope to merit to sit in the sukkah inside of the levyasan!

Is it fair?

We learned last week in class that Haran had to decide between Avraham and Nimrod. Is it Harans fault if he was brought up learning that idols were the way to go? I don't think it should be. Unfortunately it is though, but this still troubles me. I think (strongly) that Haran should not be punished for something that he does not know about. Now yes he did probably have some idea that Avraham was the right decision, but non the less he still died. This topic is just so troubling! I know G-d cannot give unlimited chances, but to punish an uneducated person?

Is this the reason he died though? (Now that I think about it I'm not so sure) Did he die because he didn't decide but rather than choose the right side? That makes more sense if that is the reason he died. This situation can easily be applied to present day. People like to win. If someone is on a losing team, they will try everything they can to switch over to the winning team. Another example is betting on a sports game. People bet and if their team is losing they want to switch. I think it's interesting to see time and time again that these things are still going on today.

Haran in the Fiery Pit

If we take the meaning of the words "Vayamat Haran B'Ur Kasdim" to mean he died in a fiery pit, or a furnace, there is a story to explain why he was in the pit in the first place and why he died there.

Haran was the brother of Avraham and when Avraham is thrown in the furnace by Nimrod, Haran has the choice to either support Avraham or support Nimrod. He waits to see if Avraham will come out alive before he makes his choice. When Avraham comes out of the fiery furnace alive, Haran decids that Avraham's ally (HaShem) must be stronger than Nimrod. He therefore decides to support Avraham, knowing that he (Haran) will be thrown in the furnace as well, but he thinks that HaShem will save him too. Obviously, it doesn't go at all as he planned. He is thrown in the furnace, but he doesn't get out alive. He dies there. So that's how we can understand how Haran ended up dying in the "Ur Kasdim", if that's how we want to translate the words.

Haran's Choice

In the midrash that we learned last week, Avraham's father Terach brought him to Nimrod (the king) after he refused to believe in idols. Nimrod ordered that Avraham should go into a fiery furnace and if his beliefs about one, all-powerful G-d was true then it could be proved by weather he survived. Avraham's brother was asked if he sided with Avraham or Nimrod. He said that whoever wins, he will side with. After Avraham survived the furnace, Nimrod asked Haran who he sided with. He answered Avraham, the clear winner. He then was sent into the furnace. There he was burned alive and was not saved by G-d. Haran's comments and ideas can be seen in two different ways. One way could be that he like everyone else had been tought from the very beginning about the power of idols, therefore it wasn't really his fault that he believed in them. The point of G-d saving Avraham from the fire was to prove that there is an omnicient, omnipotent G-d and the idols are nothing but inanimate objects with no divine powers. After seeing this Haran seemed to be convinced that there is a G-d and Avraham was right. If Haran had come to the conclusion that Avraham (and G-d) had been hoping all of the people would come to then why was he punished with dying in the furnace?

Well, for one Haran is not like every other person. He is Avraham's brother. He has had the chance to hear Avraham's beliefs and he had chosen to continue worshiping the idols. Unlike everyone else who had been tought nothing but the idea of idol worship, Haran had had two separate ideas to choose between. Also, Haran had not said to Nimrod as his answer 'I will go with whoevers G-d is proven real' or something similar to that. He said I will side with whoever wins. This does not prove that he now believes in G-d, he just wants to be on the winner's side. All of this proves that Haran did not deserve to be spaired by G-d.

The Story of Terach and Avraham

In class this week, we learned about Terach. He was the father of Avraham, Haran, and Nachor. They were all descendants of Shem, the son of Noach. When they are first mentioned in the Torah, their names are simply recorded in a genealogy list. This symbolizes that they were not chosen by G-d. We hear about them again a few pesukim later, but this time in an actual story. Radak's original question on this was, "Why does the Torah repeat the names if they are written in the pesukim before?" The answer is that the first time the names are mentioned, it is simply a genealogy list. The second time they are mentioned, it is to tell us the story of Terach's life: the death of Haran, his move to Charan, and his death. Rashi also has a question about this story. He questions why the passuk says that Haran "died on the hands of his father" and whether "Ur Kasdim" was Haran's birthplace or the fiery pit that he died in. He gives three answers for these two questions. The first answer is that the phrase "on the hands of his father" is simply referring to the fact that Haran died before his father. Since this answer does not address the second question at all, Rashi gives another answer. The second answer is that Terach indirectly caused his son's death because HE was the one who brought Avraham to Nimrod. He explains the story that we all know of Avraham in the fiery pit. To clarify his point, he says that Haran died "in his birthplace, in a fiery pit". Rashi finds fault with this answer because it does not answer the obvious question: if this story of the fiery pit is so important, why is it only implied in the text? Therefore, Rashi gives a third answer. He quotes מנחם בן סרוק in his interpretation of the word "אור". He says that "אור" means valley, and in the context, it means in the valley of כשדים. The death of Haran was an event that occurred in Terach's lifetime and it took place in the valley of כשדים. This answer satisfies Rashi because it explains what the passuk is referring to and it completely wipes the story of the fiery pit out of the equation.

Just to conclude, I would like to add that regardless of what the "true story" is, we need to understand that Avraham's childhood and family helped shape who he became. Regardless of whether the story of the fiery pit actually happened, Avraham's father worshipped idols. His brother died. Avraham was the first person to recognize Hashem as the one and only G-d. If he had not come from a world of idol-worshipers, why would his revelations about Hashem have been significant?

Believe in Hashem

It is extrememly important to know that Hashem is and will always be there for us no matter what you do he will still be there watching over us and helping us through the hard times. All you have to do is Daven-this is something very simple to do-take out a book and read the words of it. When you look back at how much Hashem has done for us you realize just how much more specail He is and what he will do for us. The first generations of the world didn't realize this about Hashem and didn't realize that if they ask for something Hashem will try and accomplish this for them. We always have a chance to ask Hashem to forgive us, Hashem tried to show to the people that they could ask for forgiveness and he would accept their Teshuvah. Avraham was the first person to completely realize the true presence of Hashem, if you truly beleive in Him then he will help you through something you ask for, Avraham destroyed his father's idols to show that they are useless and do nothing to protect. Avraham's father was so angry he was wiling to kill his son to prove that he was right. Avraham fully beleived in G-d and when his father through him into a pit of fire he was completely safe and survived the fire, but when Haran tried to jump in-his intention were not pure, he just wanted to agree with the winner-he was burned from the fire and killed. We learn the lesson of that if you believe in Hashem he will help you the the rough-but you can't just believe your intentions must be pure

Before and After the flood

Before the flood G-d had a picture-everyone would follow all the rules and everything would be completely perfect, no problems. Hashem didn't think anything would go wrong-he was incorrect, the people betrayed him and didn't listen to what he said and people were doing bad things. G-d didn't want the world to be like that so he decided that he will destroy the world and start all over with no problems and new commands that they will listen to, the perfect plan-but it doesn't turn out the way that Hashem wants. After the flood G-d wants everyne to spread out and go to different places and make the nation bigger, but that doesn't happen. The new natioin decides they want a life of their own and they don't want Hashem to be there so they decide they aren't going to spread out and they want to make a new name for themselves. G-d had promised that he would never destroy the world on account of man so instead of destroying them and starting over again he makes them all speak different languages so that they are forced to spread out and make the naiton bigger.

G-ds "mistake"

We learned that Hashem has to destroy the world and 'start over' when man sins. We normally think Oh, G-d made a mistake, then forget about it. I think that it wasn't a mistake, but intentional. I have two reasons. The first reason is Hashem wanted to give written instructions, but if He started with them, man wouldn't see a justification to follow them. Once people sin and don't know how to act, man knows we need the instructions. The second reason is Hashem wanted man to know making a mistake is inevitable. If you make a mistake there is a way to fix it. Just do what you can!

Was Dor HaMabul's punishment really worse?

We learned that both nations, Dor HaMabul and Dor HaFlaga, sinned. They were both punished severly, but in different ways. When Dor HaMabul sinned, they sinned against Hashem. They were almost completely destroyed, leaving only one family. When Dor HaFlaga sinned, instead of destroying the world again, Hashem got them to do what He wanted in a different way. He changed the language so that no one could comunicate with each other. I think that in order to keep people reproducing, a few family's spoke the same language. This punishment is surprisingly similar to Dor HaMabul, but at the same time, entirely different. Dor HaFlaga could not really communicate with everyone else, so it was like no one else existed, they were alone, just like Noah's family. Even though they all survived, this is a pretty bad punishment. In my opinion, both punishments were bad, but Dor HaFlaga's punishment is a little worse. They have to live knowing that so many people are out there, but they can't communicate with any of them.

Common Mistakes

The people in Dor Haflagah made a big mistake. They decided to build a city for themselves, instead of spreading out like G-d wanted them to. They wanted to stick together and make a name for themselves. By the pasukim telling us that they wanted to make a name for themselves instead of for G-d, we can understand that they did not acknowledge the hierarchy in which they are under G-d. They do not recognize G-d's Omnipotent power and omniscience. This is similar to the time Adam and Chava sinned by not recognizing G-d's supreme power. They tried to hide from G-d, not realizing that He sees all.

At this time in the world there have already been many sins and punishments that have taken place. There have been many times that G-d has re-established Himself as G-d and made sure it was known among the people. By now, it should be clear that if you mess with G-d 's plan, there will be harsh consequences. These people were not stupid. They knew there was a G-d. And yet they did not try to fulfill His orders (of spreading out and populating the world). To us, they're actions seem dumb. How after Adam, Chava, and Kayin's sins could they still not recognize Hashem's power and obey his commands?

Well, as I usually do on these blogs, I will give my own answer:

I do not think these people are deliberately trying to disobey G-d's orders. They must know what G-d wants. Their actions do seem stupid considering what we know about the previous sins and punishments. But, when you look at the peoples' actions more closely, they really don't seem that crazy. The people wanted to stick together. The world was just created, they don't know what kind of dangers are awaiting them in foreign places. They are afraid of the unknown. That's normal for us too. Maybe they think they will be safer by just sticking together. When I'm in sketchy places for basketball games I definitely feel safer with a group. They also wanted to make a name for themselves. Who in this time doesn't want to make a name for themselves? Go on YouTube and you can see thousands of people displaying their talents hoping they will someday become famous. Clearly the people did not make the right decisions. They should have acknowledged G-d's supreme power and trusted that they were in good hands. They made a huge mistake. But, their actions are a part of human nature. We make the same mistakes today. We also have problems trusting Hashem, and sometimes think of ourselves before Him. This is all a part of human nature. Humans can be selfish and do not always trust/fear G-d the way we should, and we continue to work on getting rid of these traits every day.

Coming Together

So kind of in response to what Alex said earlier about dor haflaga being a worser punishment than dor hamabul because now the whole world is separated. Just coming back from an NCSY shabbaton, I have heard many divrei Torah over the last 3 days. Some of which is actually applicable to out topic. Alex mentioned that the whole world is now separate because of the language barrier. I have to disagree with that statement. Today we see Jews all over the country and even all over the world. Even though we do not speak the same language as a Jew in a different country does not mean we don't communicate with them. When we go to Israel, we find a way to communicate with our fellow Jews. G-d separated us from each other by giving us a language barrier, but I think that has only brought us together. Now we have to work harder to communicate sometimes, but I think in the end it only brings us closer. On the shabbaton there were people from all over. Not only from the midwest regions but also from Los Angeles, Texas and New York as well. We didn't necessarily have a language barrier, in fact language was not an issue at all. We all spoke English (some of the NCSYers more languages than other). The reference I am trying to make is that language is not the only barrier we create in this world. There were people who were religious and went to an orthodox school and some who have never made a bracha before in their life. unfortunately we sometime make a barrier between those people and ourselves. I think though, that especially something like NCSY or even just hanging out with different people, we break down those barriers. Sometime barriers end up bringing us closer. In the end, G-d's punishment has put a damper on communicated, but I think personally it has only brought me closer to my people and all Jews around the world because now I want to try and do everything I can to communicate with them and I try harder to communicate with those people that are not easy to. We don't always see the good in G-d's punishments, but they are always for our own good. I think we can take away from this punishment is that sometimes we have to work towards things. Unity is just another one of those things.

Dor Haflaga- How the Punishment fits the Crime

For many, the first time learning about the people of Dor Haflaga and their punishment is confusing. What did they do wrong? Why is their punishment so serious? In order to understand the reasons for their punishment, it is necessary to know what Dor Haflaga was doing and why. The people of the Dor Haflaga were making a tower to make a name for themselves and wanted to stay together. They were afraid to spread apart. They were punished because by building a tower to make a name for themselves they were basically stating that they did not want G-d in their lives, and that they wanted to be better than Him. It is a mitzvah to Pru Urvu Umilu et Haaretz, and by not spreading apart Dor Haflaga was violating this commandment. In other words, they were disobeying direct commandments, and also disregarding the divine hierarchy between man and G-d.

The Nature of Sin

Sin is a basic part of man. Man has sinned since the first generation. It is in our nature to defy the authority figure. In Sefer Bereshit, the authority figure is G-d. Although He created us and we were created in the image of G-d, man is just a rebellious child. I am sure that every parent in the history of the world has dealt with some form of rebellion from their children. Since Adam and Chava were the first people, their rebellion came as a bit of a shock. They defied a direct commandment from G-d and were punished for their actions. This can be compared to a teenager who is testing their parent's limits and goes too far. Their child, Kayin, also sins. He did defy the "intuited" moral code that G-d expected man to act on. He killed his brother, which is the natural thing for any jealous sibling to do. I am not saying that it is acceptable (or often done) for a child to "kill" their sibling. When children get angry, they have to take it out on something or someone. At this point, G-d had already dealt with rebellion, so He knew the proper consequences. Obviously, Kayin's descendants didn't get the message. They continued to defy the moral code. Therefore, they were not chosen. Fast forward to the generation of the flood. They were the epitome of immorality. They stole from each other, killed each other, and mated with animals. What creations of G-d would act this way? Therefore, G-d saw fit to destroy them all and start fresh. He chose Noach to continue the human race. He and his family were to multiply, spread out throughout the world, and populate it. At this point, Hashem made a "Brit" with man. G-d recognized that it is in Man's nature to sin. He therefore vowed never to destroy the world again on account of man's behavior. This does not mean, however, that G-d will stop punishing those who sin. It just means that the entire world will not be destroyed because of the sins of a few. Hashem also spelled out the moral code that man kept violating in the 7 מצוות בני נח. These are the rules that parents make for their children to keep them out of trouble. Moving on to Dor Haflaga. This generation came after the flood and was not filled with immorality. Instead of continuing to spread out, this generation decided to stick together and build a city. They also decided that the credit for the greatness of the world should not go to G-d, but to man. It seemed like they wanted to remove G-d from the picture. Therefore, they decided to build a tower "with its head in the heavens" to show that man is equal to G-d. As a punishment, G-d made them all speak different languages. They got so frustrated that they could not understand each other and they spread out. Eventually, G-d's goal for man was (mostly) accomplished: man multiplied and populated the world. Instead of spreading ethical monotheism, the people of Dor Haflaga began/continued to worship idols. This all leads us to the story of Avraham, the first person to recognize the hierarchy completely and believe that Hashem is the one true G-d.

Dor haMabul and Dor haFlaga

As we wrote in our assessments, there are many similarities between the dor haMabul and the dor haFlaga. Both of them did something wrong in the eyes of Hashem and so were punished. In the dor haMabul the world was destroyed, and in the dor haFlaga their languages were changed and they were forced to spread throughout the world. Many people maintain that the punishment for the people of the dor haMabul was much worse, what with the whole world being destroyed. I think that they are pretty close. We learned that until the dor haFlaga’s sin Hashem had wanted the whole world to be “chosen”. After their sin, only one nation, the Jewish people were to be “chosen”. It is said that while building the tower of Bavel, the people had the greatest sense of Achdus ever seen in this world. Imagine working together with people, and getting along, and really enjoying them and what you’re doing, then all of a sudden you suddenly don’t understand each other. You are all speaking different languages with no way to communicate. The only thing you can do is slowly do exactly what you had been trying to avoid: leaving. I think that is much worse than just one day waking up in Shamaim. The people in dor haFlaga knew what they were missing, and had a chance to regret what they did, no matter that it was too late.

Hashem makes mistakes too.

We learned that G-d destroyed the world, but the interesting part is that he regretted it and vowed to never again destroy the world on account of an individual. Just like us, humans, make mistakes, so does the almighty G-d. I think this is an important lesson for us. Sometime we make mistake, but the important part of making mistakes, as we all know is to learn from them. G-d learned from them which is, in my opinion something he unintentionally or even more so indirectly wanted us to pick up on and actually participate in. So the lesson that I took out of the vow Hashem made to never destroy the world again on account of an individual is that even amazing, holy, almighty, all powerful people make mistakes but they always learn from them, as should we.

The Only Option

In Parshat Noach G-d decides to destroy the entire world with a flood and repopulate the world through Noach and his family. This decision confuses me. If a kid makes a model of something for school and found something wrong with it and wanted to just destrop it and start over, a mother would usually say 'no, don't mess it up, we can fix it!" I'm not trying to compare G-d to a child, but the decision making is similar. Why should G-d feel the need to destroy a world when He could fix it. Punish the people maybe or find a way to show them that He is G-d and if they don't obide by his rules, they will be wiped out. There must be other options other than just destoying the whole world, right?

So, I don't know the exact answer, but this is what I came up with:

Adam and Chava. The first people to be created. Also, the first people to commit a sin. So, what was G-d's decision there? Punishment. You would think after these harsh punishments, everyone would follow G-d's commandments and not sin. But, it's only one generation later that Kayin kills his G-d fearing brother, Havel, and decides not to do Teshuva and is punished. Already, out of the first four people on this Earth, three have been punished, and the fourth was killed by his immoral brother. The world is not turning out the way G-d had planned. Now, there are many immoral, unethical people commiting sins, mating with animals, and not fearing G-d. Shet (Adam and Chava's third son) has a son named Noach. Noach is not on the same level as Avraham or Moshe, but in his times he is the most moral and G-d fearing man. This is when G-d makes his decision. Get rid of the bad people and repopulate the world through the only G0d fearing, ethical man, Noach. G-d knows by now that punishment might help a little in one generation, but will not help in the long run as we see with Adam and Chava and their immoral son Kayin. By now G-d has realized that yes, man is inclined to sin. Man cannot be expected to know how to act. Therefore, G-d must give them written instructions on how to act in a moral and ethical way. But, it is now too late. The people are already too corrupt to follow any set of instructions G-d will give them. Noach, unlike Avraham does not try to teach the people about G-d. There seems to be no chance to turn these people around. The only option left is to start new. Wipe these people out, repopulate, and give them the 7 Mitzvot Bnei Noach.

Man's True Nature

As we learned in class, the generation of the flood was violent and lacked recognition of the natural order of things. Since they were violating the natural plan established for them in Perek 1, Hashem decided to destroy the world and start again from Noach's family. Along with this action, Hashem recognized that man has a יצר הרע and will sin. Despite this, Hashem vowed never to destroy the entire world again on account of man's misdeeds (ברית). Because the assumed morality obviously didn't work, Hashem made a ברית with all of humanity and created the "שבע מצוות בני נח" as guidelines for man's behavior. Man's role is now to act "בצלם אלקים" as defined in the seven commandments for all of humanity.

Hashem knew the true nature of man. He completely created us and the world we live in. Therefore, it only stands to reason that He knows the motivations for our actions. The sins of the generation of the flood came from their lack of morality. They killed and stole from each other, they were corrupt, and they mated with animals. The creation of the שבע מצוות בני נח proves that man needs more guidance than: "Here is your role in the world. Now go and fulfill it." These seven commandments apply to the entire human race. They are the guidelines on how to be a moral and ethical person. Other religions use this as their foundation. Judaism takes it (several steps) farther. We are the chosen nation and we are expected to act even more morally and ethically than others.

Genealogy list versus story

I was just thinking about what we had covered this week in chumash class when I had a thought. Adam knew that his mate had to be Btzelem Elokim- in the image of G-d. He also knew what his tasks were- to follow the mitzvot, to work the land, to rule over the animals, etc. But when man and woman are confronted by the conniving snake, they can't seem to make the correct decisions. They knew when everything was ok what they hada to do, but under pressure, they wavered. They hid from G-d and thought He could not see them,they doubt His authority, they start blaming each other for everything, etc.,and the story seems to go downhill from there. This same mindset is still true for people today. When life is great, so is their observance/ character/ etc. When there is the slightest hint of pressure , people tend to not be so steadfast to their morals that they otherwise "stick steadfastly true to". This just makes me think: at times like that shouldn't these morals be that much more important? However, this idea apparently does not occur to many people during such times. Interesting, isn't it? Something to think about.

תולדות

In בראשית we see the word "תולדות" used many times. Before you read בראשית you may ask yourself: "what does this word mean?" This word can have many different meanings it can me the stories or accounts of-where it would tell a story about someone or it can mean the children of-where it means like a genealogy list. We also learned that sometimes בראשית is called "ספר תולדות" and you probably ask why is it called this? We learned that mainly in בראשית when it says תולדות it is talking about stories or accounts of (here a child can be born and that can just be an account of that person) and only a few times if it the children of where most of the section is a genealogy list of that person. בראשית is sometimes called ספר תולדות because the whole Sefer is either a story of someone or a genealogy list of someone.

ואלה תולדות: What does it mean?

As we have been learning in class, there can be more than one translation for the words ואלה תולדות in ספר בראשית. We said in class that it could be one of two things: a narrative, as in "ואלה תולדות שמים וארץ", when it talks about the beginning of mankind, or it could be a genealogical list, as in "ואלה תולדות שם", where we learn the genealogy from שם to אברהם. After looking at the different places where it is used in ספר בראשית, we began to see a pattern. We found that there is a concept of "נבחר ונדחה" (chosen and pushed aside). For everyone that does good and is chosen, there is a story about their life. For everyone that does bad and is "pushed aside", there is only a list of their descendants until the next chosen person, mentioning the bad person as briefly as possible. Below is an outline of what is written above, along with some other examples of "ואלה תולדות".

ואלה תולדות שמים וארץ

• Everyone on earth was chosen. They were all made בצלם א-לוקים and were given the command to פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ וכבשוה. There were religious and moral directives.
• Adam had קין, הבל, and הבל .שת was killed by קין, and קין was expelled from the land. That left שת whose descendants all became corrupt, except for נח.
• Assumed morality wasn't there.
  

אלה תולדות נח

• Recreation of the world- שבע מצוות בני נח created and a religious and moral system spelled out and articulated
• מגדל בבל- דור הפלגה- They don't recognize 'ה.
  

אלה תולדות אברהם

• אברהם and his children are chosen. We don't know if both children were chosen to begin with, but later on, ישמאל only gets a genealogy list. יצחק is the one who gets a story.

אלה תולדות יצחק

• Like in the story of אברהם, both of יצחק's sons may have been chosen to begin with, but in the end, only יעקב gets a story.
  

אלה תולדות יעקב

• The sons of יעקב must have known about the whole story about only one son being chosen in the past, which would be a logical explanation for why they threw יוסף in the pit and sold him. He was obviously the favorite son, and his brothers were scared that he would be the one to get a story told about him, and they would not. They might have thought that if they got rid of יוסף, they would have a better opportunity of getting their own story. Instead, all of them are chosen. there is no more נבחר ונדחה.
• ספר בראשית is the story from the beginning of time until the creation of the ב"ני. The בנ"י become the chosen people in the chosen land. This helps to explain why we got the Torah and became the chosen nation instead of anyone else. ספר בראשית= ספר התולדות.

תולדות

In class this week, we learned about the word תולדות. We said that it could mean either "Stories" or "Children of". Honestly, most people do not learn ספר בראשית as in depth as we do here, so they do not understand the immense honor it is to have your story written down in the "stories" section. I know I didn't understand. Of course I knew that the people whose complete stories are told in Bereshit were wither very great people or they had stories that future generations could learn from. In our analysis of Sefer Bereshit, we found that there were many "mess-ups" in the various "batches" of people. The first mistake was the family of Adam and Chava. They were the first people created in the image of Hashem. They were also the first ones to violate a direct commandment from Hashem. Their story teaches us that defying a direct commandment from Hashem won't lead to anything good. The next mistake was their son Kayin. He was the first one to use the power of jealousy for evil. This particular incident was probably the source for "Don't covet" in the Ten Commandments. He was punished for his sin, but his descendants continued to defy Hashem. It was Adam and Chava's third son, Shet, who recognized Hashem and whose descendants include Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, and Bnei Yisrael. Though Hashem also had to deal with Noach's generation and the generation of the Towel of Bavel, all of it eventually led to BNEI YISRAEL: the chosen people. Now it's our job to emulate the great deeds of our forefathers and avoid the mistakes of the "unchosen people".

Adam vs. Kayin

I'd like to compare Adam's sin and punishment to Kayin's. Adam violates the first ever commandment by G-d when he eats from the Tree of Knowledge. His punishment is that he will be banished from Gan Eden, his home and will have to toil to make the found produce crops. Later, his son, Kayin becomes jealous of his brother Havel. G-d had accepted Havel's offerings and had not accepted Kayin's. While working in the field one day Kayin murders Havel. His punishment is that he is cursed and is banished from the land and will be a nomad for the remainder of his life. But, Hashem will protect him from being murdered by the people. To me, this whole situation is confusing. Adam was the first ever person. He was like a baby. He was still learning right from wrong and was very naive. Kayin, on the hand had more experience than Adam, and had the chance to learn from Adam's mistakes. Yet, he receives divine protection after his sin. One could argue that this is because in Adam's time there wasn't anyone to be protected against, since he and Chava were the only two people on Earth. Also, Adam violated a direct violation from G-d, and Kayin did not. Both were asked questions by G-d, giving them a chance to own up to what they did, and do Teshuva. Neither did Teshuva. Adam blamed his wife, and Kayin pretended to be innocent. To me, it would make sense to let the people kill Kayin and not give him any divine protection. After all, he did commit murder. From the concept of מדה כנגד מדה, Kayin should be murdered. The man he killed was G-d fearing and G-d must have liked him if he had accepted his offerings. Here is my personal explanation for this: After Adam sinned, G-d saw that man is drawn to sin. It takes a lot of effort to prevent them self from committing a sin. Perhaps G-d thought that just because Adam sinned doesn't mean every human from then on will too. Then came Kayin and Havel. Havel showed great potential and feared G-d. Kayin was not like his brother, and his offerings were not accepted, causing him to eventually kill his brother out of jealousy. G-d saw that man had become corrupt. Without divine guidance and protection they would never learn and life on Earth would be a disaster. If G0d just sent Kayin off into the world and he was killed, the cycle would begin again. Sin, punishment, exile, death, corruption and so on. G-d had to protect Kayin so he could help the human race and hopefully prevent any further corruption.

Adam and Chava's Yom Kippur

Right now we are in the Aseret Y'mei Tshuvah and Yom Kippur, the final day of judgement for this year is coming up. During these ten days we are supposed to reflect on everything we've done and make tshuvah for our transgressions. This time of year we get tons of e-mails asking for forgiveness for any possible hurt feelings. (I don't think this is the right way to do it, but that is a different story.)

In perek gimel, we learned how Adam and Chava tried to hide from Hashem and, in a way, their sins. They did not want to face up to what they had done and repent. Because of this, Hashem kicked them out of the garden.

From this story we can learn many different lessons but there are 2 that I want to focus on. First is the most obvious Hashem is King and Ruler over all, and that if you don't follow his commandments you will be punished. As a side note to this lesson, we all know that this is most definitely true, yet we also have the ability to repent. This means fully accepting what we have done, and resolving to never do it again. By doing so, we can nullify our sins.

The second lesson is that no matter what you do, your sins will come back to haunt you. You cannot run from them or Hashem as Adam and Chava tried to do. This will inevitably make your situation worse. The first step towards moving on is always acceptance.

As a seperate idea, the day that Adam and Chava hide is almost like their own personal Yom Kippur. They had the ability to 'fess up to Hashem, but decided to hide instead. Thus, He declared their banishment from the garden.

Man's Advantage

According to the article we read, it seems as if only humans have the option of doing תשובה. We see that when אדם and חוה sin, 'ה asks them what happened, giving them the option to confess. With the נחש, though, 'ה doesn't ask what happened, he just punishes it. The נחש is part of nature, and as such, has no hope of doing תשובה. The laws of nature are very strict. It is not in the laws of nature for an animal or another part of nature to do תשובה. Only creatures made בצלם א-לוקים (humans) merit the demonstration of the attribute of mercy.
In the example given in the article, there was a man named R' Elazar ben Dordaya who was known for having had many inappropriate relations with women all over the world. One of the women told him that he would never be accepted as having done תשובה. He felt terrible for what he had done and went to many creatures of nature to ask them to beg for forgiveness on his behalf. He went to the mountains and valleys, the earth and sky, the sun and moon, and the stars and constellations. All of them said that they had to pray for forgiveness for themselves first. R Elazar sat down and began crying. He cried for a long time and said, "There is no one for me to depend on but myself!" After a short time, a voice rang out and said R' Elazar ben Dordaya is invited to Eternal Life.
As the article says at the end, "There is no repair and no teshuva – not through the heavens and the earth, neither by the agency of the mountains and hills, nor any hope in the sun and moon or the stars and constellations, nor through the snake. Teshuva and repair exist only within man, and we have no one to rely on but ourselves."
We should all work to do תשובה and repair ourselves, especially during these עשרת ימי תשובה and we should all be signed and sealed in the ספר החיים.

DO TESHUVA!!!

With Rosh Hashana finished a matter of hours ago and now in the midst of a fast day, what we are learning in class about Adam and Chavah can be connected to all that has happened. All G-d wants us to do is repent and be good children. He does not want to punish us nor does he want to keep us in exile. From the article we all read I got out of it that G-d is put into a position where He needs to punish us. If He did not punish us and set us straight, the world today would just be running around crazy! G-d gives us numerous opportunities to do teshuva. We should take every single one and use them to do just that. To repent and right our wrongs. We are lucky in a sense that we have all these opportunities because Adam and Chavah did not G-d gave them one chance to confess and forgive them. Instead of confessing which might have lessened the punishment, they decided to lie/hide. We are so lucky that today and throughout this whole time we can right our wrongs. Confess to G-d like Adam and Chavah should have done. Who knows what the world could have been like if they would have just come clean and told G-d the truth. And who knows how our doing teshuva now could impact or change the future.

Bereshit and עשרת ימי תשובה

As everyone already knows, we can learn a lot from Parshat Bereshit during the עשרת ימי תשובה. The main theme in the beginning of Parshat Bereshit is sin and punishment, eventually followed by repentance. At the beginning of the Perek, Adam and Chava ate from the tree of life, thus defying Hashem's direct commandment. After they sinned, they realized that they were naked. In response, Hashem totally changed the nature of man (by making him work hard for food and by making childbirth painful) and exiled them from the garden. Cain later killed Hevel and was punished (he became a nomad for the rest pf his life). Cain's descendants did not recognize Hashem. They made advancements in technology, but they never declared themselves as loyal to Hashem. It was the third son of Adam and Chava, Shet, who, along with his descendants, recognized Hashem as the one true G-d.

We can learn a lot about the nature of sin, punishment, and repentance. Since these ten days are mainly for recognizing our sins and for repenting for them, we should "learn from the past and apply it to the future". The first main point is not defy a direct command by G-d. If you do that, then you will be punished. The second point is that the first steps in repenting are recognizing your sin and feeling remorse for what you have done. The third is that in the future, you should always recognize and follow Hashem in the ideal Torah lifestyle. With these steps, we should be able to achieve forgiveness and be sealed in the book of life.

How is this fair?

In the article from last week, it mentions that if one is presumed to have violated a commandment for he sole purpose of disobeying G-d, then they are immediately punished, no questions asked. How is this fair? We know that the Torah tries to be as fair as possible, but this does not seem right. Perhaps it was accident, or it wasn't what it looked like? A case of mistaken identity? The witness heard wrong? At least give them a trial, right? Nope. This person's fate is set in stone. While this may be a challenging concept to grasp, there are some possible explanations I can come up with. Flat out disobeying G-d is not tolerable, and so harsh punishment is neccesary so behavior like this does not become acceptab;e. If people see Jews acting in this way, what does that make them think? definitely not making a good name for themselves. this seems like a reasonable explanation for such a harsh judgement.

Teshuva

I think that right now is the perfect time for us to be learning about the sin of Adam and Chava, because it is very close to Rosh Hashana where we are supposed to do teshuva and ask for Hashem's forgiveness. Like the snake (Chava's Yetzer Hara) making Chava eat from the tree, we have to try to push away our Yetzer Hara and not give in to it.When you think about how much one person can change the whole world it seems kind of scary, it makes you want to think more about the actions you are going to take. This month we ask Hashem to forgive us for the sins that we have done. If Adam and Chava had begged for forgiveness instead of just running away and getting punished, maybe the whole world would be completely different. Hashem could have rethought their punishment and our relationship with Hashem might have been much closer.

Punishment

Punishment is an important topic in the Torah. It is a way for Hashem to show us our misdeeds and we can atone for them. It's almost like training a pet: if they do something wrong, you simply make them uncomfortable. They then have no desire to do what they had done before. In the three cases in Bereshit, the sinners were punished for doing things that defied direct commandments from Hashem. The snake caused Adam and Chava to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, so his nature was changed completely, thus making it nearly impossible for him or snakes in the future to cause people to sin. For Adam and Chava, surviving changed from "easy and G-d given" to something they actually had to work hard for. Adam had to work hard to grow food. Chava had to endure pain during childbirth. For Cain, who murdered his brother out of rage and jealousy, he was forced to wander the Earth and struggle. This is a "מדה כנגד מדה" because all murder did in a world with very few humans was leave them without companions. They had to wander the world alone. Companionship is vital to human happiness. By murdering his brother, Cain ruined any kind of friendship he might have had. Instead, he had to go through life marked by Hashem, so everyone else would know about his sin and so that they would not defy Hashem by killing him.

Basically, all of these punishments are examples of the causes and effects that might lead us to defy Hashem. It is our job to take these examples and apply them to our lives. It is important that we consider the affects of our actions and how we might better ourselves by obeying Hashem's commandments.

mans nature to sin

It is in man's nature to sin, but man always has a chance to do Teshuva. When Adam and Chava ate the fruit, Hashem asked them what had happened. If they answered honestly, they would have been doing Teshuva. When they lied, Hashem saw that they hadn't done Teshuva and then He punished them. The same with Cain. When he killed his brother, Hashem asked Cain 'were is your brother'. Only after Cain lied did Hashem punish him.

The only character not given a chance to do teshuva is the snake. Since man is created in the image of Hashem, they are able to do Teshuva. The snake, who is just a small creature in nature, was not created in the image of Hashem. He is not given a chance to do Teshuva.

Nature of Sin

This talks a little about the google docs we had to fill in last week. When I talk about two examples, I'm talking about the two examples on there about the differences and similarities between Adam and Kayin.

Man is drawn to sin. It’s not always something he can help. When he does sin however, it’s his job to admit what he did rather than run from it, as it seems to be the human instinct to do, judging from these two examples. According to these examples, HaShem will not always say straight out that they sinned. He gives them a chance to lie or to tell the truth. In Adam’s case HaShem asked how they knew they were naked. In Kayin’s case He asked where is your brother. In both cases they had the option to tell the truth and take responsibility, but they chose not to. They needed to stand up, tell the truth, and accept their punishment or it would be worse for them in the long run.