VALUING OUR BIRTHRIGHT

Sidrah:  Genesis 25:19-28:9

Haftarah:  Malachi 1:1-2:7

                This week’s haftarah comes from the book of Malachi, considered the last of the Jewish Prophets.  A number of Jewish commentators identify Malachi, whose name literally translates as “My messenger,” as the same person called Ezra the Scribe, for whom the biblical book of Ezra is named.  Ezra saw the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and devoted considerable time and energy to reforming the society of this period.  He begins his sermon by pointing out how Hashem favored Jacob over Esau.  Next Malachi harshly criticizes the kohanim or priests for denigrating the public sacrifices in the new Temple.  What connects this misconduct to Hashem’s lack of favor toward Esau?

The scholar and commentator Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra, who lived in Spain during a period when Muslim rulers showed tolerance toward Jews, explains that Hashem discriminated against Esau because of his lower moral conduct.  A characteristic example of Esau’s disregard for proper conduct is the episode in which Esau “despises his birthright” by selling it to Jacob for a bowl of lentils. In ancient times the firstborn had the right to a larger share in the inheritance, but also had responsibilities as a kohen.   At Mount Sinai Hashem appointed the nation of Israel as a “kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:6) In this context Hashem intended the kohen’s role not so much as someone who performs sacred rites but more as a role model and educator.  The duty to set an example to others must have meant even less to Esau in his moment of hunger than his material advantage over his younger twin.

 In the time that Malachi was speaking, he apparently discovered that some priests were sacrificing deformed or diseased animals born to the flock consecrated for the daily and other public offerings, while appropriating healthy animals for their private use.  However we may consider animal sacrifices today, the public sacrifices in the time of the Second Temple represented the continuity of Hashem’s covenant with Israel and the heartfelt desire of the Jewish people to give of themselves to Hashem.  For the kohanim to view these precious gifts with envy and treat the special flock as “their” livestock was a desecration of Hashem’s sacred Name, and could only have a horribly negative effect on their ability to lead and instruct the public in heeding the commandments of Hashem. 

Judaism’s message to the world is that the Creator of the world loves His creation and is involved in it; that we do not have to be alike to be equal; and especially that His holy Torah is the path to changing ourselves and growing closer to Him.  Today that message is more important than ever, and we need to take our role as a kingdom of kohanim with seriousness and enthusiasm.

ESTABLISHING A LEGACY

Sidrah (Torah reading):  Genesis 23:1-25:18

Haftarah:  I Kings 1:1-31

For all King David’s wonderful qualities, he had a lot of problems as a parent.  Two of his sons, Absalom and Adonijah, tried to usurp his kingship before his death.  Absalom launched a revolt and was killed in battle.  As a commentator known as the Malbim (1) puts it, Adonijah was more cunning and waited until his father was advanced in years and failing in health before cultivating a circle of allies who would support him .   Fortunately Nathan the Prophet, never fearing to speak truth to power, warned Solomon’s mother Bathsheba of the plot and together they spurred King David into taking action. 

Abraham had a different task ahead of him.  He needed to find his spiritual and material heir Isaac a wife who would be both a life partner and a matriarch of the family charged with becoming a blessing to the nations of the earth.  Even though Abraham’s home city of Ur was considered a stronghold of idolatry, Abraham reasoned that a member of his own family, once introduced to the worship of Hashem, could work with Isaac to transmit the values of the family more successfully than a convert born in the land of Canaan.

Today we parents still have the responsibility to ensure that we hand over all the cherished lessons, experiences and spiritual as well as ethical standards our own elders entrusted to us.  Those wiser than I am have already recognized weaknesses in their relationships with their children very early on and smoothed them out, so that the next generation is willing and able to carry the legacy forward.  I see myself among those who discover cracks in the structure of relationships with our adult children and struggle to make repairs. Even those of us who are not parents have a connection to people who will remember us after we have left this world.  Just as it is never too early to start planning and working to pass on our legacies to those who come after us, it is never too late to begin examining and adjusting ourselves to develop better relationships with everyone around us, to make sure that our successors learn from our words and deeds so that we and they forge strong links in the chain of Jewish history.

(1)    MaLBiM:  An acronym of Meir Leibush Ben Yechiel Michel (family name Wisser).  The Malbim, who lived in the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1879, was an expert in Hebrew grammar and wrote commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.

PROTESTING AGAINST HASHEM

Torah reading—Genesis 18:1-20:24        

Haftarah—II Kings 4:1-37

When we study a haftarah, first we want to understand the theme of the prophetic passage. Next we want to understand how that theme relates to the theme of the Torah reading.  This week’s haftarah consists of two narratives from the life of Elisha, the prophet Elijah’s disciple and successor. The first tells how he enabled the widow of a prophetic disciple to rescue her children from being sold into bondage by creditors, and the second tells how he promised a childless woman she would have a son, and then resurrected the son after the child died.

                How does the first narrative relate to the events of this week’s Torah reading?  At first glance, it doesn’t; what does this have to do with the birth of Isaac, the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham’s covenant with Abimelech, or the Binding of Isaac? (1)

                The answer relates to the way our Sages of blessed memory understood the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Last week we read that the plain of Sodom used to be extremely fertile.  This led the people of the cities to become prosperous but unforgivably greedy.  Rabbinic midrashim (2) describe the ways that the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah displayed utter contempt for the virtues of charity and hospitality.  But the Prophets repeatedly speak out for the needy, and nothing says a haftarah can only include a reading from one book; why did the Sages choose this narrative?               The key lies in the verb, “to cry.”

                 In the Torah Hashem informs Abraham that He is about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their corruption.  Hashem precedes the death sentence with the words, “The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is very great, for its sin is very serious.”  Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, a major figure in the Orthodox Jewish movement, identifies the Hebrew Bible as the first “protest novel” in the history of the world.  Here Abraham actually haggles with the Creator of the Universe for the cities He wants to destroy.  Abraham’s words of protest are both courteous and bold:  “shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?”  A biblical commentator named Arnold Zweig summarizes this interchange beautifully.  ”Do you think…that Hashem did not know that there were not even ten righteous men in Sodom?  But Hashem wanted our father Abraham to show whether he was a man or no; and didn’t he show himself a man!”  In our Haftarah, the widow “cries out” to the Prophet for help.  Selling the children of a destitute widow may have been permissible according to the letter of the law, but absolutely wicked according to its spirit.

                The account of the Binding of Isaac portrays Abraham’s utter steadfastness when told to offer up the very son that Hashem had promised would produce children beyond counting.  Yet it is also seen by every viewpoint in Jewish thought as a protest:  a protest against the practice of human sacrifice.  Jewish lore says nothing about Abraham’s internal mood on his way to the place Hashem would show him, but nothing prohibits imagining that he was filled with agony, either.  In fact, I find it hard to imagine anything crueler than a parent who feels no sadness or outrage at the prospect of losing a child.  The woman whose miraculously promised son dies is quite open with her grief and rage against Elisha, and perhaps against Hashem as well, and who can blame her?  So Elisha silently endures her protest, as silently as Abraham journeys to the altar, and then brings her son back from the dead.  I have to admit, though, I haven’t found an answer to one important question.  Why did the child have to die in the first place?

(1)    We have a hint at the outcome of this narrative in Hashem’s command, “raise him up for an offering,” not “slaughter him” or “sacrifice him.”  In Judaism we also see the lesson that Isaac’s acquiescence in being bound for a sacrifice shows that Hashem sees offering one’s life to Him is equivalent to laying it down.

(2)    Midrash (plural Midrashim):  a homily or exegesis, derived from the word for “To search.”  Midrashim are meant to impart a moral or psychological lesson suggested by the text, rather than an article of faith.

LOOKING INTO THE HAFTARAH

                The Jewish people began a cycle of weekly readings from the Sefer Torah or “Five Books of Moses” early in the Second Temple period of history.  A little more than a hundred years before the beginning of the Common Era (1), the Syrian-Greek king Antiochus IV, in an attempt to unify his territory, ordered the Jews to place a statue of the king of the Greek pantheon in their temple and outlawed public readings of the Torah.  Jews instead began reading selections from books of the Prophets that related to the theme of each week’s Torah lesson. Even after the Maccabean revolt ended the oppressive demands of Antiochus, Jews maintained the practice of reading a lesson from the Prophets after the Torah reading.  This reading is known as the Haftarah, meaning “conclusion.”  Each Haftarah contains an insight into how the sages of old understood the application of the Torah to daily life and the mission of the Prophets, which is to show how to experience Hashem’s (2) love for us through His holy Torah (3).

(1)    Common Era:  Jews prefer to use the abbreviations CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before the Common Era) instead of their respective equivalents AD and BC which are based on Christian theology.

(2)    Hashem:  Hebrew for “The Name.”  Erasing any of the sacred Hebrew names for the Creator is considered an act of desecration in Judaism, and by convention we similarly avoid erasing translations of those names used in other languages, and use the word Hashem in their place.

(3)    Torah: The Hebrew word torah comes from the Hebrew word l’horot meaning “to show the way” or “to direct.” It can be used to signify the Sefer Torah, as well as the body of Jewish religious belief and practice. While it sometimes denotes “law,” the connotation is not at all the same as the Greek word nomos which signifies “order” and is the root of “astronomy” and “economics.”  The Torah is not the demand of an arbitrary tyrant, impersonal authority or vengeful overlord but the guidance of a loving Father.