Test of morality

We learned that God intended the Akedat Yizchack to be a test of what kind of morality Avraham had. It could have been that Avraham had a morality because he simply thought that certain things were right to do and certain things were not and that is why he was moral. Another approach, the one God wanted Avraham to have was that Avrahav followed Gods moral code because that was what God commanded and God has the ultimate say.

With this test God tested Avraham as a whole, what the source of his actions were. Since Avraham was willing to kill his own son, which definately goes against everything he has worked up to and goes against everything he seemed to believe in and teach, we can clearly see that Avraham did all of this for God and because God commanded it.

Now I was sitting there and pondering, how this relates to us. Is it trying to teach us that our source of morality has to come from and because of God? Is this saying that we are not able to think for ourselves if something is moral or not? I feel like this goes against our right to speak our mind and think. Why would we have a brain, to reason our way through what we think is right, if we are not able to use that method?

Life is full of questions, maybe you can help me solve some of them...

Morality vs. Religion

Today's class about morality and ethics reminded me of this lovely picture that I saw on a great website called iwastesomuchtime.com Usually this website is full of silly pictures and entertaining videos, but this picture really made me think. I had to read it a couple of times in order to fully understand what it was trying to say. So what a coincidence that I found this last night, and today in class we learned about morality, religion, and ethics in reference to Avraham and the famous akeda. According to Soren Kierkegaard and this theory Teleological Suspension of the Ethical, this was the ultimate test in order to show what was the driving force behind Avraham's beliefs and actions. Was he a moral and ethical person because of the actual morality or because God said so? This made me start thinking where the idea of ethics and morality even came from? Did people have the idea of ethics and morality before Avraham came around? If Avraham introduced the idea of ethical monotheism and he was the one to find God, doesn't that in itself prove that ethics and morality stemmed from the idea of God (and/or religion)? Now the picture. I want to know what yall think of it! Honestly I'm not sure myself what I think of it. Comment away!

יראת אלוקים

We looked at 3 different sources (other than בראשית) that use the phrase יראת אלוקים. In each source it speaks about not doing certain things because it's not mortal or ethical, or setting up a moral and ethical society. In the first, we see how יוסף doesn't want to imprison the brothers because he sees that it's not moral and ethical. The second shows how the מילדות don't want to kill the babies because it's not moral and ethical. In the final one, we see that יתרו (who isn't even Jewish) sees the value of setting up a court system with people who are יראי אלוקים - they go against bribery, and stand for אמת. The world has to be run on moral and ethical principles. All the sources display how they aren't trying to have a person relationship with a G-d, when they use the phrase יראת אלוקים they are using it in a way to refer to moral and ethical behavior.
These background sources gave us insight into the meaning of the phrase יראת אלוקים when it's mentioned in בראשית. When אברהם comes to גרר and runs into אבימלך, he said שרה was his sister. When he was later asked why he said this, he explained that he saw there was no יראת אלוקים and he was scared that they'd murder him to take שרה. So essentially אברהם is drawing a parallel between a lack of יראת אלוקים and the willingness to kill (which suggests a lack of צדק ומשפט. So, by saying that he saw there was no יראת אלוקים he was saying that he sensed a lack of morality and being ethical i this society.
We see that there is a natural order to the world in פרק א' which says that man acts in a "G-d like" way because he is made בצלם אלוקים. This order isn't referring to the personal relationship with ה' through מצוות (etc.), but more of just acting in a way that established a moral and ethical society. It has nothing to do with G-d as a "commander" - it's a relationship with G-d in the sense that we are made בצלם אלוקים and therefore must emulate G-d. So אברהם was saying that he was afraid that there was no יראת אלוקים and therefore they'd be willing to kill for what they wanted - because they'd fail to realize that they had צלם אלוקים and therefore must separate from their animalistic instincts.

Lot and S'dom

We learned about the story of לוט and the city of סדם. He greets these visitors, and he pleads with them so they will come into his house. So then all of סדם comes to his house and bangs on the door looking for the 2 men (or angels). לוט comes out and says - "oh, my brothers don't do this evil, I have two daughters, you can take them but don't harm these men or they'll be judgement between us." So the men extended their arms, wanting to break the door, לוט saves the men and the people leave. אברהם looks towards Sdom and sees it in smoke - G-d remembers אברהם and sends לוט to him, לוט had sexual relations with his own two daughters in order to have עמון and מואב - because so many people had been destroyed.
So there are two interpretations of this story. One from רש''י and one from רמב''ן:
רש''י: Everything in this story is literal - it's מדה כנגד מדה: he, לוט, gives his daughters up, then he has sexual relations with them. This shows us how לוט and his tragic downfall was the complete antithesis of אברהם.
רמב''ן: The whole thing is more sarcastic and isn't meant to be taken literally. It doesn't make sense - why would 500 people come to rape two people? And why on earth would לוט be willing to give up his own two daughters? When they were banging on the door asking for the guests, it showed how inhospitable the people of סדם were, and when לוט offers his daughters he was speaking sarcastically to show the people how horrible their actions were. After this סדם was mad at לוט for rebuking them, which proves that סדם really needed to be destroyed.

Avraham vs. S'dom

We have been learning about how אברהם is the paradigm of צדק ומשפט/social justice. We see many examples of אברהם as this perfect example of social justice. The first story, from פרק י''ח, which I found extremely surprising, אברהם is talking to Hashem and he stops just to go up to the 3 men to see if they needed anything. Through this story we see exactly to what extent אברהם goes towards helping people. The second story, also from פרק י''ח, is when אברהם debates with Hashem in order to save סדם - a society that was full of people who didn't act morally and ethically, which was all that אברהם stood for. At first the two stories don't really seem to be connected and that they shouldn't come after one another in the Torah. However when you compare the actions of the two people in each story, it makes it clear as to why the two stories are connected and come after one another.
When we learn about אברהם, we learn about his intense passion for צדק and משפט. He focused on taking care of those who were lower than him, and spreading the ideas of ethical monotheism to the בני ישראל. He wanted to create a society that embraced the שבע מצוות בני נח, acted בצלם אלקים, and established a society based on צדק ומשפט. We see how important these concepts are to אברהם when they are put into action as he tends to the angel's needs. We get an even greater sense of how important they were in comparison to the values, or lack thereof, of סדם .סדם was a society that was the antithesis of everything that אברהם stood for, and even though this was true אברהם still fought for them when Hashem sought to destroy them. This really shows us how true אברהם was to what he believed in, and that he was very understanding and caring towards others. By having the two stories one after another, it helps us make an easy, direct comparison between the two.

Hello my dear fellow classmates,

So today we learn the very sad event in which Sarah asks her husband to ask Avraham to send away his son Yishmael since he is a bad influence on her son Yitchak. Hashem enforces her behavior and tells him that he should heed her words and do as she asks. I was so appalled upon hearing this. First of all, isnt it so egocentric, selfish and inconsiderate of Sarah to ask her husband whom she loves to basically banish his son. She has a son, she knows how painful it would be to have to abandon a child. In addition, why would Hashem support that. Just because Yishmael is not a zera does not mean that he needs to be abandoned. This whole situation makes Sarah and hashem seem cruel and heartless. Yishmael is such a nebuch in this situation. Can you guys please make me feel better about this situation!?!

Pondering

Let's all just stop and think about a few weird things, because I would love it if someone could come up with answers!

Weird Situation One: Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, who can probably have whatever woman he wants, decides he wants to be with Sarah, an elderly woman. What's the deal? Why does he want to be with Sarah when she's so old?


Weird Situation Two: Avimelech, another king, decides he wants to have to Sarah... what is going on!! Wasn't Sarah old?

Weird Situation Three: Lot's wife turned into salt because she turned to look back at the destruction. She turned into salt???

I have, at least, an answer to the third weird situation. The midrash teaches us that Lot's wife sinned like all of the other people in the city, and she did not really merit to escape. When Lot first greeted his guests (angels or men?) he asked his wife to help him in being a courteous host, and she refused. She reluctantly agreed to fetch salt, but she got it from the neighbors and let them know that Lot was having guests over. Because she sinned through salt, her punishment was to become salt. Talk about bad karma.
Also, a fun fact about the pillar of salt that I am going to copy from this website: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lots-wife-midrash-and-aggadah

The pillar of salt was left by God as a memorial for all time (Yalkut Shimoni on Esth., para. 1056). Anyone who sees Lot’s wife is required to recite two blessings. The first, “Blessed be the One who remembers the righteous,” expresses thanksgiving and praise to God for having remembered Abraham, by the merit of whose righteousness He saved Lot and his wife from the upheaval; this blessing relates to the miracle that was performed for Lot. The second blessing, “Blessed be the true Judge” (that is recited upon hearing of someone’s death), is recited for the punishment visited on Lot’s wife (BT Berakhot 54a–b).

Avraham and Moshe Leading the Way

Lately, as we have been learning more and more about Avraham's character, we mention how Avraham's qualities seem to be the exact opposite of sedom. In perek 20 we learned about Avraham's development of yirat elokim. He had common morals, ways of the world. In perakim 18 and 19 we learned that Avraham was someone who taught his children to act with tzedek and mishpat. All of these qualities are opposed to Sedom's qualities. Sedom perverted justice, did not take care of the downtrodden, they were haughty, and the list goes on and on.

I would just like to point out that not only were Avraham's qualities the complete opposite of Sedom's, but also the other nations that we learned about earlier in Bereishit. For example, the nature of man in Dor Hamabul became corrupt. People did not follow the hierarchy that G-d had set up. They acted with violence and did not treat each other properly. Overall, they lacked the understanding that they had tzelem Elokim. Avraham, as we know, did not lack tzelem Elokim. He spread the word of G-d, had complete trust in Him, and followed everything He told him. In the era of Dor Haflaga, people tried to be higher then G-d. Again, there was a hierarchy problem. They tried to make a name for themselves by building a tower that would be 'higher' than G-d. On the contrary, Avraham made a name for G-d, not for himself. He did everything he could to spread the word of G-d and ethical monotheism. In conclusion, we see how Avraham's qualities are completely opposite from Dor Hamabul, Dor Haflaga, and even Adam and Chava!

In shul on Shabbos, as the Rabbi was speaking about Moshe's humility, I was thinking that that really is also the exact opposite of the people of Dor Hamabul and Dor Haflaga. The Midrash says that when G-d told Moshe to write the word Vayikra “And He called”, Moshe didn’t want to write that last aleph. It seemed to Moshe that it gave him too much importance. How could he write that G-d called to him? Who was he after all? Moshe would have preferred to write Vayikar “And He happened (upon him).” In other words G-d just “came across” Moshe, He didn’t “go out of His way” to appear to him. In spite of this, G-d told Moshe to write Vayikra “And He called”. Moshe put the aleph at the end of the word as G-d had commanded him — but he wrote it small. If Dor Hamabul and Dor Haflaga would have followed Moshe's and Avraham's characteristics of praising and understand the greatness of G-d and following His hierarchy, then they probably would not have been destroyed.

Avraham and his tests

We have learned that Avraham has been given many tests, in order for God to test his abilities and faith. Akedath Yizchack was the hardest test of all since God wanted Avraham to kill his only son.

There is a problem with this though. If someone tells you that he promises to give you candy tomorrow, and then a few minutes later says, if you truly trust me, give me a sword so I can kill you, is it really 100% trust if you give him the sword? Of course my answer is no. If the person promised you to give you candy tomorrow, of course he wont kill you!

Same thing can be applied with Avrahams story: God promised Avraham that his and Sarahs zera will inherit the land and multiply very much, therefore how can Avraham really think that God would then go and kill off his son.

There is a big possiblity that Avraham knew that God was not actually going to kill Yizchack.

Block Schedule and Deja Vu

First of all, I would like to say how much I enjoyed the block schedule today. I was a little nervous for the block scheduling, but it turned out much better than I had expected, and the class time really flew by! Today while we were doing chavruta work and I was reading through the pessukim, everything seemed familiar. It seemed like we had already learned these new pessukim, 20 and 21, and that these events had already happened. While Avraham is passing through new places spreading his ideas of God, in Geror Avimelech takes Sarah, who Avraham says is his sister. This is a very similar situation to what happened with Pharaoh in Mitzrayim; why does it seem like the same story is happening again?

Then, we see the story of Sarah saying that Hagar needs to be sent away. After Yitzchak is born, Sarah realizes that Yishmael is a bad influence and will negatively impact the way Yitzchak is raised by Avraham and Sarah. Since Yitzchak will become the Zera of Avraham, there is a specific way in which he must be raised. Yishmael will be a deterrent to the proper childhood of Yitzchak. Like before, we see Sarah acting on behalf of her family and sending away part of Avraham's other family-Hagar and Yishmael. Previously, she sent Hagar away, afflicted her based on the article we read, and now she is trying to send Yishmael away. The emotional effects that these banishments have on Avraham must be difficult. They can even be considered one of his tests (or challenges!) that Hashem presents to him, showing that for many years he considered Yishmael to be his zera and now all of the sudden, Hashem is telling him that Sarah is actually right and this is the best situation; he must send Yishmael away.

So I saw a little bit of deja vu here. I felt like we were seeing repetition (AVIVA!) Then Morah Perl casually commented about the development of Avraham's character. The first two stories show us a different side of Avraham that is not emphasized as much in the latter stories. Each section of the perekim that we have learned that talk about Avraham focus on a different aspect of his personality. We have learned about the Tzedek and Mishpat in regard to Sdom, contrasting Avraham's quest for Tzedek & Mishpat with Sdom's lack of tzedek & mishpat. Here we see a different side of his character that offers us insight into the idea of the challenges presented to this paradigm of Tzedek and Mishpat. We see a new character development that helps us push the thought of repetition to the side.

Connections

In perakim 18-19, we learn a lot about Avraham developing into a person of tzedek and mishpat. He is someone who teaches his children to act in tzedek and mishpat as opposed to sedom. As we saw in the sources, the Jewish people are supposed to do tzedek and mishpat and take care of their fellow man even if they are not like you. This includes the poor, a ger, an orphan, a widow, etc. Avraham did just that. This reminded me a lot of chumash class last year when we learned Devarim so I decided to take out my notes from last year and find the similarities. As you know, I love to connect things that we learn from past years! I just think it is so cool how everything really does connect, and messages and themes do not just stop in one parsha or sefer, it is everywhere in Tanach.

So I searched and searched and finally got up to the second semester where we started parshat re'eh. One of topics in parshat re'eh is the social and moral obligation to take care of the poor. This is discussed in Devarim because the poor people are at a greater risk to leave Judaism and/or be influenced if their basic needs are not met. When the Jewish people go into the land of Israel, we want to make sure that no one goes astray and if poor people are not being taken care of then there it is very likely that they will go astray. Here we see taking care of the poor, but it is included for a different reason. In Sefer Devarim we also learned about setting up a just society by using tzedek and mishpat. So, G-d was of course right! Avraham passes tzedek and mishpat to his generations and advocates on behalf of the individual.

A Relatable Situation

As opposed to what I said about Sarah in my last blog post, in this post I would like to bring out an important aspect in Sarah's reaction when she hears she is going to have a baby. Naturally, when we hear things that do not make sense to us or seem completely impossible, we have certain reactions. We will sometimes laugh or cry or scream or whatever. Also, when hearing bad news, some people do not know how to take it, so they just laugh instead. Similarly, Sarah began to laugh when she heard the angels tell Avraham that she was going to have a baby. After all of these years of infertility, and now as an old woman, who would believe that they are about to have a child?! This just shows that Sarah was slightly uncomfortable with the situation and did not know how to react. As a kid, I always learned that Sarah laughed at this situation and pictured her laughing in the angel's faces, thinking, "you guys are crazy!" Now that I think about it, that seems pretty disrespectful. However, as we learned in class, she was just reacting strangely. This shows that although she was a righteous woman, who would never laugh at God and what He had to say, she was still human. She showed a quality that many of us have as well, and this makes it easy to relate to her and even look up to her as a role model.

A Torah Reality Show

Let's go back to the story of Avraham and Sarah before they could have children. Sarah had the brilliant idea of proposing to Avraham that he take her maid, Hagar, as a wife so that he could finally have a son. At first glance, we think that this is great. Sarah was so righteous for doing this. However, when Hagar gets pregnant, Sarah becomes a little bit jealous. She feels that Hagar was supposed to be more of a "surrogate mother" than a wife to Avraham. She begins to think that Avraham is starting to love Hagar and is treating her life a real wife as well. This accusation does not seem like something such a righteous woman would do. Why do you think Sarah did such a thing? Avraham, like any other man, didn't want to deal with this pressure. He told Sarah to go ahead and do what she felt was right. However, what he didn't know was that it would turn into a whole big mess. Sarah began to inflict Hagar, which was very uncalled for, and Hagar ran away. This is just like a reality TV show today: There is "girl drama" over the man. Sarah is jealous and wants Avraham to have nothing to do with Hagar. Sarah sees her as just her maid, a peson who is not a great as her, so she wants to put her down...Beginning with this whole situation, this sefer starts to get interesting as it brings forth more "drama" and play-like scenes. So interesting! This helps apply these stories to our lives today and really understand the REALITY of the situation.

hello my dear fellow classmates,
so perek yud chet is simply a strange perek!!
First Hashem and God have a discussion. Then Avraham basically tells God to hold on because he needs to serve the three angels. Then as he is serving the three angels and Sarah basically appears and overhears what they say about her having a baby and then she laughs. Then it suddenly talks about two angels going to Sdom. Then Hashem basically has a soliloquy and then he talks to Avraham. This is SUCH a BALAGAN!
But the thing that i would really like to focus on are the last two "scenes." Firstly, when Hashem talks to himself about destroying Sdom, he basically wonders how he can keep this from Avraham. Why? Why does Hashem have to be considerate of Avrahams feeling? they are not equals. Hashem can do whatever he wants! In addition, why does Avraham have the right to ARGUE with Hashem about destroying Sdom? He is trying to make a deal with Hashem as if he was his equal which he is not. How dare he? Why is Hashem allowing this behavior?

Sedom and Avraham

I'll be the first to say it: Perek 18 is so peculiar! It's just weird! Not necessarily weird in a bad way, but certainly there is a lot to it.

(For instance, and let this be QUESTION 1 for my fellow readers: The beginning of the perek says that the Lord appears to Avraham, but then it says that 3 men came, and he ran to do hachnassat orchim and take care of them. What's the deal. Really, what is going on here? Was he all like, "Hold on, Hashem.. I'm gonna put you on hold.. I just have to wash these random guys' feet and give them bread, but I'll be back, don't worry"? Do you think that these angels really appeared? Do you think that it was all part of the vision? I'm sorry, but this might be a little too trippy for me. What's happening! Ahh! )

That was so not where this blog was supposed to go. Why don't I just get right to it, then.. After that whole angel/not angel happened, and Hashem told Avraham that Sarah was going to have a child, something even weirder happened! 

Hashem literally stops and asks himself "should I tell Avraham this?" Here, I'll give you the passuk.

"And the LORD said: 'Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing;  seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?  For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." (16-19)

This is Hashem arguing with Himself on the issue of whether or not he should tell Avraham about Sedom. In the next passuk He decides to tell him. But wait-- (QUESTION) why should God have to tell Avraham? This is unprecedented! Nothing like this happens in the whole Torah- what's going on!Why does Avraham need to be informed, and why should he be informed?

Avraham is going to be known as someone who values צדק ומשפט. Therefore, before G-d moves forward with His plan, he decides to stop and tell Avraham. Indeed, Avraham argues with G-d to try to save Sedom, even if there are only 10 good people.

 There are many different places in Tanach where Sedom is described as the antithesis of צדק ומשפט. Avraham is the paradigm of צדק ומשפט and Sedom stands as the complete and total opposite. Hashem talks about the actions of the people and all of their problems, and its always in the context of Sedom. What we see here is that Sedom is antithetical to Avraham. Avraham teaches his children- he doesn’t just do it, he passes it along- to follow G-d and have צדק ומשפט. Then we have Sedom. 

Behold, the contrast between Avraham and Sedom! 

There aren't even 10 righteous people in sedom!

Social Justice

Lately we have been contrasting Avraham with Sdom and pointing out his focus on Tzedek and Mishpat or social justice. The two stories, the first of Avraham showing Hachnasat Orchim with the angels and the second being the destruction of Sdom, at first glance do not seem like they are connected and should not be one after the other in the sequence of the Torah. However the contrast between Avraham's values and the misguided values of Sdom show us how the two stories have a connection and give insight into why they are next to each other in the Torah.

Avraham was the paradigm of social justice. He was legendary for his focus on Tzedek and Mishpat. The Nevi'im Acharonim were also very much focused on Tzedek and Mishpat. Many of them, including Yishayahu and Yichezkel, preached social justice, including taking care of widows and orphans and the downtrodden of society. It was imperative that Bnei Yisroel follow moral laws and create a society dominated by Tzedek and Mishpat. This is even more important that Korbanot, as Hashem tells Bnei Yisroel in Yishayahu that He does not even want their korbanot because they are violating moral and ethical laws and instead bringing Korbanot. It is obvious to us how important social justice is, since it is dominant over Korbanot, which are an essential part of the relationship between Hashem and Bnei Yisroel.

Today this idea of social justice sometimes seems obvious. I think that we forget how important social justice is. Perhaps we think that since we live in a country of democracy, we don't have to remember how important social justice is for us to carry out. We need to remember the importance of social justice and how we must go out of our way to help the downtrodden in society. If the neviim acharonim stress this so much, it must be one of the most important aspects of Judaism.

Understanding Sarah

Today's Chumash class proved to be very interesting. Mrs. Perl noticed that we all had a difficult time understanding the actions of Sarah in the Hagar Story, and she printed out an article for us by Rav Elchanan Samet. Rav Samet approached the story with the right mindset, and he came up with a really good answer.

Rav Samet says that the story involving Sarah and Hagar is a typical situation for the times. It was common practice for women to give their handservants to their husbands for the purpose of having children. This practice is even discussed in the Code of Hammurabi. The code says, "Should a man marry an infertile woman and she gives her maidservant to her husband, if the maidservant bears children and then equates herself with her mistress, the mistress may not sell her, since she has given birth to children [and it would constitute cruelty to separate the maidservant from her children]. Rather, she shall place upon her a sign of servitude and assign her as one of the maids. If she does not bear children, she may be sold.

Rav Samet explains that the way things worked was that when a woman have her maidservant to her husband, she still held authority over the maidservant. In actuality, the maidservant's status is changed because she is married to the master of the house, and she is thus a free woman. However, this only applies if she maintains a good relationship with the mistress. If the maidservant begins to act haughtily, or on the same level as the wife, the law allows the mistress to return the maidservant to her previous condition of servitude. Such was the situation with Sarah and Hagar, Rav Samet asserts.

The "oppression" of Sarah spoken of in the Torah is simply referring to the reinstating of Hagar to her previous status- that of a maidservant. The loss of freedom felt by Hagar certainly constitutes oppression, especially in the emotional sense. The loss of her freedom and independence was the source of Hagar's emotional distress.

And what is further proof that Sarah did not physically harm Hagar? When Hagar flees in the desert, the angel of Hashem appears to Hagar and asks who she is running from. Hagar replies that she is running from "her mistress Sarah." Hagar does not say that she is running from any incident of mistreatment; she is running because Sarah is her master again. The angel tells Hagar to return- if Sarah were beating and tormenting Hagar, would the angel, on G-d's orders, tell Hagar to return to such abuse? No. Harsh treatment therefore must mean the "perfectly legal lifestyle of servitude to which Hagar is subjected."

I found this article to be highly intelligent and thorough, making complete sense. If we approach these situations in the right context, considering the laws and practices of ancient times, we can better understand the stories in the torah. 

tHello my dear fellow classmates,

so today we read this wonderful article that explained what it actually mean that "Sarah afflicted her." Many people were very upset about the fact that Sarah is seen as "the bad one." She is supposed to be our role model and is therefore not supposed to be the one who acts in such a disturbing manner. The article explained that Sarah did not actually afflict Hagar, but it was rather the fact that she lost her newfound freedom and therefore ran away.

The interesting thing was that i actually liked the idea that Sarah made a mistake by afflicting her maidservant. Why is it such a bad thing? She was emotional and hurt over this terrible and difficult situation with Hagar that she just lashed out at her!

The problem is that we always think that people like Sarah, Rachel Rivkah, Avraham, Yaacov and Yitzchak, Moshe, etc have to be perfect because they are the role models we all look up to. For example, we all want celebrities to be perfect and completely flawless, yet deep down we know that they are definitely not. That is why i think that all our role models from the Torah should not be perceived as perfect. I think that it is good to think that Sarah afflicted Hagar and that she misbehaved because after all she is not perfect! She is allowed to have made mistakes and hopefully learned from them. We shouldnt put our role models on a pedestal and it is okay that they make mistakes since they are only human.

Yishmael in Islam

As we said in class, the promise that Hashem makes to Avraham concerning Yishmael is a little bit strange. We see that he is going to be successful and will multiply and be the father of a great nation. Hashem makes this promise in response to the news that Avraham will have a new son who will carry on his legacy. Avraham, shocked by the news, has to cope with the fact that the child who he previously thought will be the one to carry on his name, is truly the child who will be pushed aside. Now there is a new child in the picture: Yitzchak. But don't forget about Yishmael, Hashem says, because he too will be great and will multiply.

Islam claims that Yishmael is the forefather of Muhammad. Yishmael in the tradition of Islam, is an important figure who is recognized as a patriarch of Islam. He is additionally recognized as teh forefather of many prominent Arab tribes. He is mentioned as one of the righteous in the Koran along with many other important Muslim prophets and patriarchs. So here is my question for everyone: If we take Hashem's promise literally and we follow the ideas of Islam for a second, did it really come true? Did Hashem truly turn Yishmael into a great nation that multiplied and increased in numbers? If we believe that Yishmael is a forefather of Mohammad and therefore a patriarch of Islam, does he really have a "great" nation? Also, what do we mean by great here? Do we mean in terms of numbers or in terms of success? Basically, did Hashem's promise come true?

So, Sarah...

What is Going on with Sarah?

Where did we leave off? Ahh... yes.. with that whole Zera thing. Well, Avraham has just been informed that the Zera would come from his seed, it wasn't Lot or anything. Right. The only thing was.. his wife couldn't have kids, plus they were both really old.. so what was going on there?

At the beginning of Perek tet zayin, Sarah says "You know.. maybe the problem is me," and she gives Avraham an Egyptian maiden named Hagar. See what Sarah did there? She assessed the situation and took action- she was trying to make a change. Throughout this post (and the sefer) we will see that Sarah doesn't just stand by and watch Avraham become father of the Jewish people, she takes action and gets things done and it is why she is the mother of the Jewish people. Speaking of which...

It's funny that I just said that because at the moment, she is suggesting that Hagar would be the one to have the kids. However, she does not mean that Hagar would be the mother, just that she would be the one to carry the child, kind of like a surrogate. So, after Sarah laid out that plan it happened and Hagar became pregnant. 

Here's a shocker: after Hagar becomes pregnant, "her mistress becomes light in her eyes". That's right- she starts thinking that she is better than Sarah. I mean, look at it from her side (not that she's right): After all these years, Sarah can't become pregnant but she can become pregnant very easily and now she carrying Avraham's child. 

After this, Sarah becomes mad at..Avraham. (*By the way, I realize that technically it's Sarai now, but I prefer writing Sarah.) Yeah, she thinks that Avraham was starting to view Hagar in a way that was like a wife. But Avraham responds by saying something like "You know, she is your maiden"

If that weird anger episode towards Avraham wasn't enough, now Sarah "afflicts Hagar" which causes Hagar to flee. Oh goodness, oh my! Oh what jealousy can make a woman do. 

So, I'm wondering what you guys think about this situation. Let me ask some questions:

Questions

1. What do you think about the whole "here, let me give you my maiden" thing? I know it was a nice suggestion on Sarah's part, but isn't it kind of weird? I mean, I know the answer is probably like "in today's age it's not acceptable to treat a woman like something that we can use to have babies, but it used to be" but it just doesn't seem right. The way that Avraham could just impregnate her and still tell Sarah "it's your maiden", it is all kind've gross. Do we even know how old Hagar was?

2. What do you think of Sarah's anger flares? Do you justify them? Why or why not? 

3. Do you think this perek reflects Sarah in a good or bad light? Why?

Look! It's a Jewish Sarah! ;-)

Avram and Sarai With a 'Hay'

In perek 17 we learn that Hashem changes Avram and Sarai's names to Avraham and Sarah. When we were young we learned that their names were changed because Hashem was with them and therefore a 'hay' was added to their names. This is lovely and all, but now that we are older and wiser, I would like a more substantial answer. Any ideas?
In passuk hay Hashem says to Avram that he will now be called Avraham because he will be the father of many nations. As we said in class, these passukim are building up on the 'Goy Gadol' promise that was given in the first part of the first revelation between G-d and Avram in perek 12. If this is really just building up on the 'Goy Gadol' promise than why wasn't Avram's name changed in perek 12 when it first starts talking about the 'Goy Gadol?' I guess you can say that in perek 12 it was only an introduction to the 'Goy Gadol' idea and the idea was really embellished in perek 17. Also, in perek 17, we learn that the sign of the brit is the brit milah. At the end of the perek Avram is circumcised himself and that really makes him deserving of Hashem being in his name. That brit milah almost proves that Avraham will be the father of many nations.
We also learn in this perek that Sarai's name becomes Sarah. I find this very interesting because Sarai was not really acting in such a 'G-dly' way. Mrs. Perl kept saying in class that Sarai is not being described in a positive light. After she tells Avram to have a child with Hagar, she get upsets at Avram and accuses him of thinking that maybe his zera should be from Hagar. We soon learn that Sarai afflicts Hagar and Hagar flees. So, it seems that instead of Sarai getting punished for her actions, she gets rewarded in getting her name changed, being blessed, and having a son.

What's Going On?

What is going on indeed. Sarah chased Hagar away, and in the desert a promise is made to Hagar. What promise? Here's the basic story: Hagar fled and an angel appeared to her in the desert, asking what was happening. Hagar replied, “I’m fleeing from Sarah my mistress." The angel tells Hagar that she should submit to her mistress, and then he continues: “I will greatly increase your zera, and you won’t be able to count them.” וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְ־הֹוָ־ה הַרְבָּה אַרְבֶּה אֶת זַרְעֵךְ וְלֹא יִסָּפֵר מֵרֹב. The angel says: וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ מַלְאַךְ יְ־הֹוָ־ה הִנָּךְ הָרָה וְיֹלַדְתְּ בֵּן וְקָרָאת שְׁמוֹ יִשְׁמָעֵאל כִּי שָׁמַע יְ־הֹוָ־ה אֶל עָנְיֵךְ: Continuing he says: וְהוּא יִהְיֶה פֶּרֶא אָדָם יָדוֹ בַכֹּל וְיַד כֹּל בּוֹ וְעַל פְּנֵי כָל אֶחָיו יִשְׁכֹּן. The description of Ishmael: he is a master over everyone.


Questions:
Wait a minute! Why are her descendants going to multiply? Aren’t the descendants of Yishmael evil and oppressive to the Jews? And why did Avraham have such a child- one that would be the father of a bad nation? Why was Avraham the father of two different nations that hated each other? Any answers?

Sarah

This week we learned about Sarah and her somewhat "psychotic behavior." After Avraham tells Sarah that G-d said he would have a child, Sarah assumed that it would be from another woman. This is a reasonable assumption- she was too old to be having children. So she demanded that Avraham take her handmaiden Hagar and get her pregnant (which he did). Then it says that Hagar saw she was pregnant, and then Sarah came down in her eyes. יָּבֹא אֶל הָגָר וַתַּהַר וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וַתֵּקַל גְּבִרְתָּהּ בְּעֵינֶיהָ.
Now, Sarah comes to Avraham and says, “I’m mad at you! I gave you this woman, she is pregnant, she looks down on me- G-d should judge between me and you.” וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל אַבְרָם חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ אָנֹכִי נָתַתִּי שִׁפְחָתִי בְּחֵיקֶךָ וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וָאֵקַל בְּעֵינֶיהָ יִשְׁפֹּט יְ־הֹוָ־ה בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶיךָ. What’s going on? Maybe Avraham treated her like a wife instead of putting her in her place, or he was just nice to her. Maybe Sarah thought her husband was unfaithful. Avraham says, “Why are you mad at me?” אמֶר אַבְרָם אֶל שָׂרַי הִנֵּה שִׁפְחָתֵךְ בְּיָדֵךְ עֲשִׂי לָהּ הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינָיִךְ. So Sarah afflicts her and as a result Hagar flees: וַתְּעַנֶּהָ שָׂרַי וַתִּבְרַח מִפָּנֶיהָ. This does not portray Sarah in a good light.

Question: I am really bothered by this ordeal. Sarah is supposed to behave well and be a proper person, but she gets all crazy about Avraham getting Hagar pregnant. And she is rude about it. She is mean to Avraham and to Hagar. My question for you is: Do you think her behavior was justified? Do you think this story should affect our opinion of Sarah is the perfect "married to the forefather" type of person? Why or why not?

Enemies in the Torah

Since today was Purim, I thought it would be nice to connect a new idea between Chumash and Purim (also, I have absolutely no clue what has been going on in class since I was never here so this works!) We learn the story we all know well: there is a beautiful queen, she has a pious uncle, there is a wicked man who wants to destroy the Jewish people, the queen saves the day! This tale, as simple and cliche as it may sound from a childish perspective, can really be seen as a multifaceted piece of Tanach that can be interpreted in many different and complex ways. However, the recurring theme that I see is the idea of the enemy, which can be applied to almost any story in Tanach.

Even the beginning of Bereshit begins with a story between the good and the evil, or in this case man vs. animal. The snake represents "evil" or the enemy, allowing room for stretching here, and ultimately what it comes down to is good vs. evil. Almost every story, from Yitzchak vs. Yishmael and Yaakov vs. Esev all the way through Moshe vs. Pharaoh and eventually the Jewish people vs. the variety of nations that they fight and eventually conquer throughout the nevi'im, has the classic villain. We celebrate when we conquer the villain, Chanukah and Purim, and we mourn when the villain conquers us, such as Tisha Ba'av. But perhaps we can see all of these "enemies" as a part of us that we have to conquer or our Yetzer Hara. In all of these instances, the enemy is there to present some sort of threat or opposite characteristic. It is the challenge to not give in to the enemy and stand up for our own ideas and principles in Judaism. Mordechai refused to give in to Haman and did not bow down to him, even if it did mean that he inadvertently caused the proposed plan to annihilate the Jewish people. Some may ask, why couldn't Mordechai just bow down once in order to save all of his people? Wouldn't it have made more sense to forget your principles in order to save your life and the lives of the entire Jewish nation? But I see this, as ultimately a battle between good and evil. Purim is a time where good prevails and we can see how the enemy was defeated.

Perhaps this does not connect with what we are currently learning, but if we stretch things just a tad, we can see how prevalent certain themes are throughout the Tanach!

Avram In The Modern World

After we learned that Avram was the victor in the war with the kings, Avram became one of my role models. He didn't become my role model because he won a war or because he was strong; rather I noticed how multi dimensional Avram was as a leader. He was a perfect example of how we, as modern Orthodox Jews, can live our lives today. Avram was a bright, intelligent man who looked for G-d using logic and reason. He called out in the name of G-d, and he had the utmost trust, belief, and fear of G-d. G-d promised Avram that his children (zera) will become great and inherit the Land of Israel. Even though Avram is an old man and still has no children, he clings to G-d and never gives up hope. He senses bad influences when they are not so clear and distances himself from them so that he will not become corrupt. For example, he stays away from all of the riches that Pharoh gave him and doesn't focus on the wealth; rather he focuses on Hashem. He also doesn't want to have anything to do Sedom because he knows that they are sinners and bad people. When I learned that Avram won the war with the powerful kings, I was 'sold' on Avram's greatness. Not only did he strive in his religious life, always devoted to Hashem, but he was also militarily and politically strong. This is like our lives today. We need to find a way to balance between our 'secular' and 'Jewish' lives just like Avram did. Even when Avram was fighting a war, he still brought G-d in to things. He was a military victor AND recognized Hashem's role in the world. This also reminds me of when we learned about Ani Ashem and Ani Hashem Elokechem in Sefer Vayikra. There are 'religious' and 'moral' laws that we must embody and Avram certainly succeeded in the two.

Promises

We learned in class today that God promised Avraham two things:
1. That Avraham will get his own descendent to be the one to get the yerusha.
2.That Avraham will inherit the land

Avraham was quite confused by these promises because he firstly did not have children of his own, but the closest that came to his son was Eliezer. Secondly, Avraham did not understand how he can get the land because he just lost it to the Kings in the war.

God promised him that after the Jews will be in Mizraim they will inherit all this land.

My question is: How does that make sense? God did not promise this under a condition( He didnt say that the Jews will only get it if they will be good) therefore how is it possible that the Jews did not get all of the land?

Hello my dear fellow classmates,
So this week we learned about the promise that Hashem made to Avraham.
He did this Brit with Avraham because he wanted to reassure and encourage him that he will keep his promise that he made to Avraham. Firstly, he promised him the Aretz(Land) and that he will have it as well as his children will inherit it. In addition, he promised that his descendants(not some servants or relatives) will be from his seed! However. he does point out that his children will be slaves in the foreign land of Egypt for 400 years. My question is the following: remember how we learned how when God wanted to destroy Sdom and Amorah god begged him to spare them? remember how Rachel cried for her children when they were exiled to Bavel? Why did Avraham not even weep or beg Hashem for mercy in order to spare his children from suhc a hardship?!? did he not care?

"Mikedem"

I find it absolutely mind boggling how Avraham was such an amazing human being! He seemed to do everything right. He was the ideal man that God was waiting for all of the years after Adam sinned! He listened to God and left his homeland behind. He never even had children along the way, which Hashem promised to him and, yet, he continued to spread the word of God. Incredible!

Something that completely threw me off was when there was a mention of the word "Mikedem." We learned that this word is used in a negative way to mean that the people were moving further and further away from perfection/ the way that God wanted them to be. However, in this case it was used with a positive meaning. Avraham went to Cna'an, the land that God showed him, and moved further and further into the land to spread the word of God. I was just so surprised when we read this and found that it was being used in a positive way! This just goes to show that a man as great as Avraham had endless possibilites. He didn't necessarily know where he was going, but he went. He did as much as he could to spread the word of God, even though he was in a foreign land that he didn't recognize. We can take this as a lesson that we can still be religious Jews in exile. We can continue our faith and not be ashamed of who we are. We do not need to go around preaching our religion to others, but we should be able to practice our religion to the best of our ability and be proud of it!

The Adventures of Avraham and Lot

Wait.. Is Lot Even Chosen? 

Parshat Lech Lecha starts off with a lot of the adventures of Avraham and Lot. It seems like they really went through a lot together. 

At the beginning of the Parsha, Lot went with Avraham and Sarai to the place that Hashem commanded Avraham to go. During this time, Hashem promises Avraham that He will give Avraham's offspring the land. The funny thing is, Avraham was 75 at the time and he didn't have any children. So what is this promising that Hashem is doing? I don't think that Avraham ever doubted Hashem, and at that exact moment that Hashem promised the land to Avraham's children, Avraham's instinct must have been to think that Hashem was referring to Lot. Lot, after all, was his nephew. Avraham probably acted as a surrogate father to Lot after his father died, so it would only make sense that Lot would inherit the land which Hashem is promising to Avraham. 

After the whole Egypt-ordeal, Avraham Sarai and Lot travel up from Egypt with lots ( ;) ) of money. Now something weird happens... Avraham and Lot can't live together because they are having issues with their property. Their shepherds got into a fight over the land. Avraham was trying hard not to argue and wanted to settle it. The result was not so great though.

Lot lifted his eyes and chose the land that reminded him of Egypt: ie. He chose the place that was dependent on consistent floods. As opposed to Israel, which depends on rain- which means that one must to goods deeds to receive the rain- Lot chose a place far away from God. 

This is the end of a great friendship. As it says: "Thus they parted, one from his brother (13:11)." There is no denying the close connection Avraham and Lot had. They were in a sense, like brothers, or even like father and son. Lot chose his way, though, and chose to move away from Avraham. Despite all of this, when Lot is in danger later on, Avraham still saves him which proves that though they parted ways, they were still family. 

Remember at the beginning of the post/journey when Hasem promised Avraham's children that land? And we were all like "that's for sure Lot"? But Lot isn't here anymore! Ahh... 

After Lot left- and the the Torah literally says "after Lot had parted from him (13:14)"- Hashem makes Avraham the same promise he made to him before. He tells Avraham that his children will inherit the land. Why repeat it? Well, the passuk really answers itself. It is to emphasize that the promise was made exclusively to Avraham's decedents. Which would not include Lot. Well, this is fun foreshadowing. I guess Avraham is going to have some decedents soon...! 

Questions to Ponder

1. What do you think about Lot? Are we too hard on him? or maybe not?

2. The Sforno says that the renewed promise was deferred until Lot's departure "otherwise it would have inflamed Lot's greed even more." Do you think this is a fair assumption?

3. What do you think Avraham was thinking when Hashem made him these promises? Do you think that he thought he was going to have kids?

Lot Lot Lot

As stated in the Chumash, when Avraham and Lot seperated, Lot looked upon a city called Sdom and decided he wanted to go there since it looked nice.

What I dont understand is that it was really so perfect for Lot to go to an evil city, so Avraham can save him. Did God do this on purpose? Was this meant to teach us a lesson about Avraham or about being good?

When God decided to crush Sdom, Avraham quickly went to help his brother. I think this tries to show the goodness of heart Avraham had for his brother. There was also another reason why Lot was saved, because he continued his good deeds learned from Avraham which is inviting people to his house even though it was not allowed in this city. This also comes to teach that what is taught to us in our homes and schools is very important since it will stick with us forever and will help us get out of difficult situations.

Hi everyone! Yesterday I was visiting Midreshet Harova and I went to a class called "bein adam l'chavaro" They were studying a passuk from the Torah that I found very familiar. It was from Vayikra and was about putting a stumbling block in front of a blind man. The passuk ended with the words "Ani Hashem" and I was so excited that I was so familiar with this topic. The students discussed the practical meaning of putting a stumbling block in front of a blind man, and why it can be found in the same passuk as cursing a deaf man. The British teacher explained that putting a stumbling block in front of a blind man is just "nasty" while there is more depth into the commandment of not cursing a deaf man. Then the class discussed if this was a mitzvah bein adam l'chavaro or bein adam l'makom. It could very well be bein adam l'makon because these two actions are always seen by Hashem although the person who you are immediately affecting may not notice what you are doing. So therefore, it makes sense that this would be bein adam l'makom also. The teacher opened this up to discussion: some girls said it was both makom and chavaro. I happened to remember that Ani Hashem indicated a moral or ethical commandment as opposed to Ani Hashem elokeichem. I was so excited to learn this concept from a different angle, as this teacher presented, and wanted to share it with our chumash class.

A Little Lesson

Lesson of the Day: This message is brought to you by Interpretations: Zahava Style.

We learned that Avraham considered Lot to be his brother, part of his family. Even after Lot went mekedem, away from G-d, Avraham considered him to be his brother. I think this is an important lesson for everyone. Just because someone "goes off the derech" or is no longer religious, or as religious as you, or as religious as they once were, we shouldn't judge them. We should'nt stop considering them family or friends, and we can't stop loving them. Hold back your judgement and disappointment/ and or disapproval, and keep on having a relationship with that person, or some kind of place in your life for them.

Third Time's a Charm

Well, this is somewhat similar to my post for last week, but 1) No one read it and 2) Instead of asking questions, I will answer them. But don't worry- I have a question for the bottom.

Fact: G-d appears to Avraham and says that he will inherit the land, and he will have children that will become a nation. It is a two part promise: zera and eretz.

Fact: G-d appears two more times only to repeat the same thing to Avraham. Why does G-d do this? The first time G-d appears again, it is to reassure Avraham that he will have children that will become a nation. These descendants won't be from Lot, as Avraham had assumed. Avraham will have his own descendants. No worries buddy! The Second time, G-d appears to let Avraham know that although he did not get the land during the war, when he could have, his descendants will be getting the land after they are slaves in Egypt.

One thing I want to point out before I pose the question: Avraham was the first person to believe in an ethical monotheism- one G-d, morals, etc. G-d even appeared to him and spoke to him. Yet, Avraham still has his doubts and worries (Lot turned away from G-d- what about my descendants? I thought they would be from Lot.) (Avraham should have realized that if G-d said he would have descendants, he'd have them, and clearly Lot was not part of it). This teaches us that we can have doubts sometimes about our religion, even when we have faith. It's okay to question things, and it is important for us to try and seek answers. Anyways, I just thought it was something nice to point out, that Avraham had worries, and we can have them too.

Questions:

1. Why does G-d first want the Jewish people to be slaves before they can get the land?

2. Why does G-d put the people into the slave world, where they acquire a slave mentality and therefore have a harder time doing the right thing and keeping hold of their faith?

This relates to class, because we discussed that G-d said the Jews would be slaves.

Belief.

Belief is another one of those weird words. The dictionary defines it as an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists; something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction; a religious conviction; trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. Although these are definitions of belief, there's an unspoken definition of belief that is different within each of us. Some find it easy to believe in G-d, some find it really hard and struggle with it. Although Atheists, people who don't believe that G-d exists, are looked down upon, I feel bad for them. I think that some Atheists really want to believe that there is an all-knowing power that exists, but they just really struggle with that idea of belief.
However, what Avraham did was so beyond belief it's not even funny. He was brought up in a society that was so not connected to anything other than idols, and he completely rejected this idea and thought that there was a higher power. He believed that there was something that created everything around him, and he pursued these ideas and even spread them. The society that he lived in punished him for this, maybe even because they were afraid that people would actually come to the realization that this is real, which would mean that they were wrong all along. We learned that Avraham learned this from a young age, and he rebelled, and even destroyed his father's idols. It's crazy to think that one person can just believe in something that seemed so radical to everyone around him, and differed from everything that he had ever known.
I think belief is another one of those things that we are always striving for, but not always so successful. We all really want to be those people who have this strong belief in Hashem and maybe even a connection, but for some of us it's so hard. We should be thankful that we have such an amazing opportunity to be around a community that is accepting and encouraging of pursuing our beliefs - as opposed to Avraham who didn't have this.

Trust

Trust. I feel like trust is a word that is subject to interpretation. I feel like it's a word that most people can look at and each one can come up with a different meaning. According to the dictionary, trust is a firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something; acceptance of the truth of a statement without evidence or investigation; the state of being responsible for someone or something; believe in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of. Personally, I have a really hard time trusting people. The nature of man is to act with self-interest, obviously there are those who are more selfish than others, but I believe that everyone has some sense of selfishness behind every decision they make.
However, what about G-d? How on earth could we say that G-d is acting in self-interest, when we are constantly taught that Hashem has our best interest at heart and that he acts only in our benefit. Even though we know that Hashem clearly doesn't act in self-interest, it's understandable why someone would have a hard time just doing anything and everything that is asked of us.
We learned in class (I guess I'm there sometimes) that when Hashem asked Avraham to get up and go, he had no idea where He was leading him to -- but he went. This is so crazy for me, even though Hashem had made promises to Avraham.. it wasn't anything that would happen right now -- so how did he just get up and go without even thinking?! It's actually crazy stuff. I know people always say trust is the foundation of every relationship, but clearly this goes above and beyond that saying. Avraham and Hashem's relationship clearly was based off of something far more than what trust is today. Just as we said that we should always strive to be the perfect nation that Hashem expects us to be, I think that this is the same thing. Although we can't quite understand their relationship or how to attain such a strong relationship with Hashem, we should always strive to reach that.

Appreciate

We learned that when Hashem wanted everyone to spread apart, he made them all speak different languages. When we learn about this as a kid, we hear about all the nations building the Tower of Bavel and then they all couldn't understand each other and couldn't build the tower. At the time, it's kind of humorous. I mean come on, what could be funnier than a whole bunch of people trying to build a tower and not being able to understand each other? Now that we're a bit older, I think I can say for most of us that the idea of all the sudden not being able to speak to someone or understand them is pretty scary. I know that I talk a lot, so I definitely wouldn't be able to not communicate with people. It's weird to think about, but we don't really ever take a step back and say oh i'm so thankful I'm able to talk and interact with other people. I know we're constantly saying how we take certain things for granted, but it's scary to think that something so simple as communicating with the people around us could be taken away in a second. I think that there are many things we can take away from Hashem's punishment of the people, but what I've specifically taken away from it is that even the most seemingly simple things are really so special and complex.