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November 11, 2022 (17 Chesvan 5783) The Two Together Dear Holy Friends, I hope this correspondence finds you doing well and in good health. Please join us this Shabbat morning for our in-person services which will take place in the sanctuary and will also be available through our regular Zoom prayer link. In terms of narrative content, this is one of the most action-packed parshiot in the Book of Genesis. The list of famous tales in this week’s reading is almost overwhelming to the reader. First, Hashem reveals Himself to Abraham three days after his circumcision at age ninety-nine. Abraham rushes off to prepare a meal for three guests, who appear in the desert heat. One of the three, who are angels disguised as men, announces that, in exactly one year, the barren Sarah will give birth to a son. Sarah, not a spring chicken herself, laughs. Next, Avraham pleads with G‑d to spare the wicked city of Sodom. Two of the three disguised angels arrive in the doomed city, where Avraham’s nephew Lot extends his hospitality to them and protects them from the evil intentions of a Sodomite mob. The two guests reveal that they have come to overturn the place, and to save Lot and his family (specifically because he is the nephew of Hashem’s partner, Avraham). Lot’s wife turns into a pillar of salt when she disobeys the command not to look back at the burning city as they flee. Thereafter, Avraham moves to Gerar, where the Philistine king Abimelech takes Sarah, who is presented as Abraham’s sister, to his palace. In a dream, G‑d warns Abimelech that he will die unless he returns the woman to her husband. Hashem then remembers His promise to Sarah, and gives her and Avraham a son, who is named Isaac (Yitzchak, meaning “will laugh”). Abraham is one hundred years old and Sarah is ninety at their child’s birth. ( I guess this will make them 118 and 108 years old, respectively, when they attend Isaac’s high school graduation!). Isaac is circumcised at the age of eight days. Finally, in what is referred to, by world renowned scholar Shalom Spiegel, as “the last trial”, Hashem notoriously tests Avraham’s devotion by commanding him to sacrifice Isaac, the son for whom he prayed for, on Mount Moriah. The tension of the text and the narrative is palpable to any caring human being. It behooves us to delve into the three-day journey of Avraham and Yitzchak to the site of the Akedah (the Binding of Isaac). While most of us have a mental image of the young boy, Yitzchak, walking with his father, the biblical account informs us that Yitzchak is already thirty-seven years old! Due to that fact, the Binding of Isaac is really a spiritual test of both the father and the son. The term of interest in the Tanach is וַיֵּלְכ֥וּ שְׁנֵיהֶ֖ם יַחְדָּֽו “and the two of them walked together.” This term is used numerous times in the description of the account. To me, it resonates with the English phrase, “Man is not an island.” Throughout life, we are all thrown challenges. Things may not always go our way. Circumstances may be demanding. However, it is through our ability to find a partner, friend, confidant, or relative with whom can speak and share that we can move forward and face life’s most difficult moments. And while it may sometimes be challenging to find that individual, our tradition reminds us that Hashem can always be that partner to walk along your side. Margaret Fishback Powers is the author of the world-famous "Footprints" poem. When she wrote the poem in 1964, she was a young woman searching for direction at a crossroads in her life. One night I dreamed a dream.
May this Shabbat offer us all the opportunity to connect with our real
Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Eric Wasser, EdD, Hon.DM
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