WalkingTorah - Parashat Lech Lecha

WalkingTorah

Where ancient lessons guide modern life

Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert (WalkingIsrael.com)

Parashat Lech Lecha פרשת לך לך

October 24, 2015 י”א מרחשוון תשע”ו

It seems that very often in political discourse, one side will accuse the other of being on “the wrong side of history,” or of being “out of the mainstream.” The implication is that this is a negative, with the logic being, why would anyone want to be on the “wrong side of history,” or “out of the mainstream”? After all, don’t we want history to look favorably upon us? Don’t we want to be in sync with the majority of public opinion?

Parashat Lech Lecha might suggest otherwise. After the War of the Kings, described in Genesis 14, Abraham is informed that his nephew, Lot, has been taken prisoner, and is being taken to Mesopotamia by the victorious kings. The word used to describe Abraham, however, is one which only appears in this story. Abraham is called “the Hebrew” (in the original Hebrew, עברי/ivri). The root letters of the word עברי/ivri are .ע.ב.ר/I.V.R. These 3 letters can mean “to pass over,” or “the other side.” In other words, the verse is describing Abraham as “the one from the other side.”

But the other side of what? In Bereishit Rabbah, it states: “The entire world was on one side, and Abraham was on the other side.” In other words, Abraham was preaching one view, that of ethical monotheism, and the world was preaching another view. To cite just a few examples of major differences between Abraham’s (or the Torah’s) view and the rest of the world:

• The world said that human sacrifice, and particularly child sacrifice, was demanded by the gods. Abraham said that such an act was an abomination before God.
• The world said that strangers (that is, non-members of a family or tribe) need not be cared for, and may in some cases be actively persecuted. The Torah demands over thirty times that we take care of, protect, and even love the stranger.
• The world said that if a person murders another, he may either claim sanctuary in the local temple, or pay a fine, to be determined by the social status of his victim. The Torah specifies that if a murderer claims sanctuary, he should be dragged away from the altar itself and punished. And there is no distinction between different victims’ social statuses. All lives are equal in the eyes of God.

We take these values for granted today, but when Abraham began preaching them, they were far from widely accepted. Yet Abraham preached on.

You know who was told he was going to be on “the wrong side of history”? Abraham. You know who was told he was “out of the mainstream”? Abraham. Indeed, if one would want to summarize the Jewish people’s world experience in a few words, one might say that it has been a history of being told that we were on “the wrong side of history,” and that we were “out of the mainstream.” But who cares? said Abraham, and said the Jewish people. We want to be on the side of what is right, and just, and good! This is not a popularity contest, this is a struggle between right and wrong, between just and unjust, and between good and evil.

Hopefully, millennia-old truths will eventually be seen as being on the right side of history, and be incorporated into the lives of the mainstream. Until then, however, may we be blessed with the courage to stand up for what is right, not necessarily for what is popular at that moment in time. In this way, we will truly be worthy heirs to the legacy of Abraham, “the one from the other side.”

(Bereishit Rabbah cited in ב. יאושזון, מאוצרנו הישן - בראשית, p. 65)

Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert is originally from Teaneck, New Jersey. He served as an Assistant Rabbi and Judaics Studies principal in San Antonio, Texas from 2006-2009. In 2009, he moved to Israel with his family, where he works as a licensed tour guide for individuals, couples, families of all ages, groups, schools, and religious institutions. He also offers Virtual Tours of Israel through the internet. He may be reached via his website, WalkingIsrael.com.

Pro-Israel videos from Prager University

Here are some videos (none longer than 6 minutes) related to the Israeli-Arab conflict, and Radical Islam, courtesy of Prager University. They are excellent resources to use as "ammunition" in the battle to defend truth and freedom, against the forces of lies and totalitarianism. Only by consistently fighting for good values can we expect to win this war. This conflict is being fought at least as much in cyberspace and in the court of public opinion as it is being fought on the battlefield. For the world's sake, may we be successful.

• Dennis Prager - The Middle East problem
• Anne Bayefsky - Is the UN fair to Israel?
• Alan Dershowitz - Israel's legal founding
• Alan Dershowitz - Are Israeli settlements the barrier to peace?
• Alan Dershowitz - BDS: The attempt to strangle Israel
• George Gilder - Do you pass the Israel Test?
• Raymond Ibrahim - Radical Islam: The most dangerous ideology
• Kenneth Meshoe - Is Israel an apartheid state?
• Haroon Ullah - Why do people become religious extremists?

WalkingTorah - Parashat No'ach

WalkingTorah

Where ancient lessons guide modern life

Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert (WalkingIsrael.com)

Parashat No’ach פרשת נח

October 17, 2015 ד’ מרחשוון תשע”ו

Just who was Noah? Was he a righteous man? Was he an average man? According to the Torah (Genesis 6:9), the answer could not be clearer: “Noah was a righteous man; he was blameless in his age.” What more is there to say? He remained an exemplary person in a generation of incredibly wicked people. He was truly “a diamond in the rough.”

Actually, there is a lot more to say, according to Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak, 11th-12th c., Troyes, France). Citing a famous comment on this verse, in which the seemingly extra phrase “in his age” is noted, Rashi says: “Some of our rabbis have understood this in his favor, in that had he lived in a generation of other righteous people, he would have been even more righteous. There are others, however, who interpret this to his detriment. Compared to the evil people surrounding him, he was a righteous man. But had he lived in the generation of Abraham, he would not have amounted to anything.” In other words, if your neighbors are robbing seven days a week, and you are only robbing six days a week, then compared to them, you’re a pretty good guy!

So which is it? It seems that Noah was a righteous man. But was he righteous objectively, or merely subjectively? According to the Amshinover Rebbe (Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Kalish, 19th c., Mszczonów, Poland), we must pay careful attention to how Rashi names the two parties to this dispute. The group which describes Noah as objectively righteous is “our rabbis.” The group which labels him as merely subjectively righteous is the “others.” The teachers and leaders of the Jewish people, the rabbis, give Noah the benefit of the doubt. They want to assume the best of him, that anyone whom God deemed worthy of being saved from the Great Flood must surely have been a truly good person. Why go out of their way to cast aspersions on him?

On the other hand, it is a no-name group, the “others,” who try to cut Noah down, suggesting that he was not really that great a man. They did not judge Noah favorably, though they had evidence to do so, says the Amshinover Rebbe, and they violated to principle of giving “the other” the benefit of the doubt.

Many of us have opportunities to act as the rabbis, or as the “others.” When we see someone greater than we are, in whatever field, we may be tempted to belittle the person’s accomplishments. “He’s not that great,” we might say. “Compared to his siblings, what has he really done?” Why do we feel the need to do this? Perhaps it makes us feel better about ourselves, in that we have not accomplished as much as the object of our scorn. But this does not help us do better in that field. Pulling someone else down does not mean that we’ve gone up at all. We may feel like we’ve moved closer to that person, but in reality, we’ve stayed in the exact same place.

May we be granted the moral strength and wisdom to avoid being in the company of scorners and cynics, the “others,” and be counted among the rabbis, always trying to see the good in those around us.

(Amshinover Rebbe cited in ב. יאושזון, מאוצרנו הישן - בראשית, p. 33)

Rabbi Aryeh A. Leifert is originally from Teaneck, New Jersey. He served as an Assistant Rabbi and Judaics Studies principal in San Antonio, Texas from 2006-2009. In 2009, he moved to Israel with his family, where he works as a licensed tour guide for individuals, couples, families of all ages, groups, schools, and religious institutions. He also offers Virtual Tours of Israel through the internet. He may be reached via his website, WalkingIsrael.com.​