Friday Shabbat Shalom

What's the difference between looking and seeing? EVERYTHING! As we see in this week's Parshat Toldot, "when Yitzhak (Isaac) was old and his eyes were too dim to see," (Genesis 27:1) he calls his eldest son Eisav (Esau) to confer his blessing and clan leadership on him. Sadly, this isn't the first instance of Yitzhak not really seeing.

The death of a mother is fundamental. For me, there is forever a rift in my heart now that my mother has passed into another, non-physical stage of existence. When I tore my shirt in keeping with the traditional understanding of the ritual of kriyah (literally: tearing), it felt right. It embodied on the outside what I was experiencing on the inside.

G!D asks him to take his son, his precious one, Isaac, to a mountain in the land of Moriah, which means “the land of seeing”, and offer him there as a burnt offering. What a paradox! This is the son that G!D has said will be the inheritor of Abraham's line and his legacy, but how is it possible to have an heir after the heir has been sacrificed?

Like Abraham and Sarah at the opening of Bereishit/Genesis 12, we too are traveling to an unknown land and looking at an uncertain future. “Lech Lecha- Go forth from your native land and from your father's house to the land that I will show you," says the Holy One.

This story of global destruction, human sin and righteousness demands re-reading in light of our current reality. One theme is clear: the complete interdependence between humans and the natural world. Human behavior pollutes and then dooms the entire world.

So many people look at Genesis, Chapter 1 in Parashat Bereisheet, as a simple, fairy-tale kind of story. It’s the kind of narrative we teach in Early Childhood classrooms and have small children create lovely artwork around. For many people, it’s certainly not as compelling or “true” as the Big Bang Theory or the Theory of Evolution.

As we memorialize the Pittsburgh Attack this weekend, recalling the worst anti-Semitic act committed in recent memory, we search for comfort, meaning and a way to respond. What can I do to address something that seems so much bigger than I am? How can I make a difference? What is the best means to fight anti-Semitism? I am not sure that there is a “best” answer to these questions, but I do think there are steps I can take.

The sedra of Emor outlines the festivals that give rhythm and structure to the Jewish year. Examining them carefully, however, we see that Sukkot is unusual, unique. One detail which had a significant influence on Jewish liturgy appears later on in the book of Deuteronomy: Be joyful at your Feast . . . For seven days celebrate the Feast to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete. (Dt. 16: 14-15)