|
Vayera October 30, 2026
Dear CAS Friends, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous line about fear—“the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”—doesn’t stop there. He continues: “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Roosevelt understood that fear can stop us in our tracks. Fear comes in many forms: fear of harm, isolation, persecution, getting lost, getting it “wrong,” or not being good enough. It takes leadership—of self and of others—to look fear in the eye and still take the next step forward. Abraham’s life in this week’s Torah portion is a lesson in doing just that: moving forward even when fear could hold you back. The very first Jew, Abraham, is called a Hebrew—Ivri—in Genesis 14:13. The word Ivri, from the root avar, “to cross,” marks him as one who crosses over, both geographically and spiritually. Abraham crosses rivers, boundaries, and the unknown, daring to leave behind what is familiar to journey toward what is uncertain. And in his ultimate test, walking up the mountain with his son, he confronts fear head-on. As Dr. Gila Fine teaches, Abraham hears God’s terrifying command to sacrifice his child and refuses to shrink. He looks an impossible situation in the face and chooses to believe that a just and loving God must mean something else. Part reinterpretation, part willful faith, Abraham rises early and takes each step up the mountain, trusting that somehow, it will be all right in the end. Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, a late 18th–early 19th century Hasidic master not unaccustomed to tragedy, said—and many still sing the words: כל העולם כולו גשר צר מאוד, והעיקר לא לפחד כלל
“Kol ha’olam kulo gesher tsar me’od, v’ha’ikar lo l’fached klal.”
“The whole world is a very narrow bridge, and the main thing is not to be afraid at all.”
Rabbi Nachman lived in Eastern Europe, primarily in what is now Ukraine, during a time of profound uncertainty and danger for Jewish communities. He married at thirteen, lost four children, and faced pogroms and tuberculosis. His philosophy often centered on combating despair through faith. Jewish leaders throughout history have been masters at doing just that—combating despair with faith. Dr. Viktor Frankl expressed a similar idea: “We must never forget that we may also find meaning in life even when confronted with a hopeless situation, when facing a fate that cannot be changed. For what then matters is to bear witness to the uniquely human potential at its best, which is to transform a personal tragedy into a triumph, to turn one’s predicament into a human achievement. When we are no longer able to change a situation—we are challenged to change ourselves.” However fear shows up in your life, I invite you to channel the defiant Ivri within—to cross over fear itself, using reinterpretation, willful faith, and the courage to take the next step forward. Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Dahlia Bernstein
|