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Hayei sara
PARSHAT HAYEI SARA
THE SILVER PLATTER
"The field which Abraham purchased from the Hittites; there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife." (Genesis 25:10)
God had promised Abraham and his descendants the entire land of Canaan, today the land of Israel. Nonetheless, when his wife Sarah dies at the beginning of this portion, Abraham has no place to bury her. Abraham goes through a difficult and expensive negotiation with the Hittites to buy a small piece of property, the Cave of Machpelah. In the end both Abraham and Sarah will be buried there along with their descendants Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. (Rachel will be buried elsewhere.)
The lesson from this portion is that, only with difficulty will Abraham gain possession of the Promised Land. Nobody will hand it to him and his family on a "silver platter." Numerous times in history Abraham's descendants, the Jewish people would live on the land, only to be exiled. When the modern state of Israel was about to be established, Chaim Weizmann famously said, "The State of Israel will not be handed to the Jewish people on a silver platter."
This image became famous in one of the earliest Hebrew poems written by Nathan Alterman and published in 1948, immediately before the founding of the state. It pictures a young man and a young woman entering the community, filthy from fighting the war. The people ask them, who are you? They respond, we are the migash hakesef, the silver platter on which the state was given. This poem is often read on Yom HaZikaron, Israel Memorial Day, the day before Yom Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. It reflects the fact that anything worthwhile life only comes through pain and sacrifice. Or as Ben Hai Hai said in Pirkei Avot, lefum tzara agra "according to the suffering is the reward" (Avot 5:23). To quote the English equivalent of this saying, "no pain no gain."
Nothing Israel has accomplished has been simple. Whether fighting numerous wars of survival, combatting terrorism, resurrecting the Hebrew language, settling millions of immigrants from throughout the world, or becoming a world center of technological innovation, everything has been a struggle. Nothing has been handed to Israel on a silver platter. That leads me to the problem today. Everyone offers simplistic solutions for Israel to solve its problems.
From the left we hear one solution, "end the occupation." Of course, they never say what occupation. Do they mean the occupation of lands captured in the 1967 Six Day War, lands such as Nablus and Hebron (which contains the Cave of Machpelah)? Or do they mean the occupation of the entire country, pulling out of Tel Aviv and Haifa? Israel has experience pulling out of occupied lands and handing them to Palestinians. They pulled out of Gaza, Hamas took over, and Israel was met with barrages of rockets.
From the right we hear another solution, annex the land. This is the approach of many in the newly formed government of Bibi Netanyahu. This also creates countless problems. The land contains millions of Palestinians. If Israel annexes the land, it either becomes a Jewish non-democratic state or a democratic non-Jewish state. It cannot have it both ways. Annexation is no solution to the Israel – Palestinian issue.
Perhaps a solution can be found to the vexing problems of Israel, but such a situation will be difficult. It will involve delicate negotiations and compromises. And neither side seems ready for such a solution. As an American Jew, it is not my obligation to tell Israel how to solve its problems. I do not live there, and my children do not serve in its army.
Israel was not handed to the Jewish people on a silver platter. But perhaps it is important to remember that nothing worthwhile in life is handed to us on a silver platter. Everything worthwhile requires hard work, pain, and sacrifice. That lesson applies not only to the state of Israel. It applies to all of us in our personal lives.
IS GREED GOOD?
"Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man at the spring—when he saw the nose-ring and the bands on his sister's arms, and when he heard his sister Rebekah say, "Thus the man spoke to me." He went up to the man, who was still standing beside the camels at the spring." (Genesis 24:29)
Abraham appoints his servant Eliezer to find a wife for his son Isaac. We all know the story of Eliezer finding Rebekah by the well, and Rebekah demonstrating her kindness by giving water to him and his camels. Eliezer gives her precious jewelry as gifts and invites her to marry his master's son. Towards the end of the portion, Isaac and Rebekah marry, and the Torah goes out of its way to express his love towards her.
In this portion we introduce a new character – Laban, the brother of Rebekah. Laban sees the precious jewels on the body of his sister and runs out to greet the man bearing the gifts. One senses that he sees the money, not the man. This would be the story of Laban's life. He saw the money rather than the people. He epitomized greed.
In a few weeks we will read how Isaac and Rebekah's son Jacob came to marry Laban's two daughters, Leah and Rachel. Jacob works seven years for his beloved Rachel only to be wed to the older sister Leah. If he wants Rachel, he must work another seven years. In the end he works twenty years for his two wives and a share of Laban's wealth. And Jacob makes it very clear that Laban was constantly changing his wages.
The most egregious example occurs in a few weeks, when Laban promises Jacob as his share all speckled and spotted sheep and goats. Knowing something of genetics, he then hides the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, so that fewer will be born. But Jacob also knows something about animal husbandry and finds a way to get the animals to bear more speckled and spotted. What is clear is that Laban loves money, to use modern language, seeing dollar signs rather than people. In the end, Jacob and his family must flee from his uncle – father-in-law.
It was in the 1987 movie Wall Street that Gordon Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, gave us the meme "Greed is good." This was during the Reagan years and the movie poked fun at capitalism and the quest for money. Of course, greed is not good. But is it truly bad? Is there anything wrong with a desire for money? The Rabbis say that we human beings need our evil inclination. Without it nobody would build a house, go to work, or marry.
We all need a certain amount of greed, that desire for money. It is what motivates us to go to work each day, to often work hard, to provide for ourselves and our families. Jewish law requires a man to train his son in a profession. (Today we would say Jewish law requires a man or woman to train their son or daughter in a profession.) We each need to think of how we will provide for ourselves. There is no tradition in Judaism of a vow of poverty. Wealth is considered a blessing.
The problem with both Laban and Gordon Gekko is not that they were greedy. It is that their greed turned to avarice. Their greed blinded them to the needs of others. Money became more important than people. In the end, such avarice would come to destroy them.
I once had a long discussion with a very successful salesman about his profession. He said that he never approaches a customer thinking about making a sale. He thinks about the customer, what they need and what they desire. He tries to get to know the person. In the end, if the conversation leads to a sale, that is good. If it does not, that is also good. For he has served the needs of another human being rather than his own needs.
Laban becomes a major character in the book of Genesis to teach us a lesson. What happens when money becomes more important than people? In the end, he is cut off from his daughters and his grandchildren. He learns that too much greed is not good.
SEEING THE OTHER SIDE
"Let it come to pass, that the girl to whom I shall say, Let down your water jar, I beg you, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also; let the same be she whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that you have shown kindness to my master." (Genesis 24:14)
The election is over. We know who the next president and vice president will be. Now let the healing begin. Elections can be nasty affairs, but I do not remember one as nasty as this one in my lifetime. In my tradition, Jews used to frown if someone dates someone out of the faith. Today, Jews frown if someone dates someone from the opposite political party.
I have many friends who are Democrats and many friends who are Republicans. I have many friends who voted for former Vice President Joe Biden and many friends who voted for President Donald Trump. I know one thing to be true. The people I know who voted for Biden are not "radical socialists who want to defund the police and outlaw gasoline cars." The people I know who voted for Trump are not "reactionary racists who want to overturn all gains made by blacks, women, and gays." The people on both sides are decent Americans who love their country and want the best for America. They may differ on public policies. But there is no room for the name-calling and demonization of people for their political views.
Now that the election is over, I would like to throw out a challenge to people on both sides of the political divide. If you voted Democratic, can you defend why someone would choose to vote Republican? If you voted Republican, can you defend why someone would choose to vote Democratic? Can you step aside for a moment to see why someone would support the other side. This is a tradition with a long history in Judaism.
Let me share a simple example. According to Jewish law, certain animals such as lizards are ritually tamei (impure). The Talmud speaks of the greatness of one of the leading rabbis, Rabbi Meir. He could find a way to argue the other side, that such an animal was really tahor (pure), and that other pure animals were really tamei (impure). (Eruvin 13b) The Midrash goes even further. In the days of King David, children who had never tasted sin could find forty-nine ways to declare something impure and forty-nine ways to declare that same thing pure. (Leviticus Rabbah 26:2)
Obviously, there is some exaggeration here. But the Rabbis are making a point. There is great merit in being able to see both sides of an argument and cogently argue for the other side. Another of the great sages, Rabbi Yohanan, complained bitterly when his brother-in-law Reish Lakish died. (Sadly, he died after they had a bitter fight.) Rabbi Yohanan said that now everybody agrees with him, but when Reish Lakish was alive he would argue with him. The arguments would sharpen his own understanding of the law.
The ability to understand what the other side is thinking is also part of the secular study of philosophy. Philosophy has its roots in Socratic dialog, where one party would make a point and the other party would argue with that point and make a counterpoint. There is a classic fallacy in philosophy called the ad hominem attack. Instead of arguing with someone's point of view, one denigrates their character. To call one's political opponent a radical or a reactionary, an anarchist or a racist, is the worst example of the ad hominem attack. It is the area where political discourse is abandoned, and a brutal nastiness takes over.
I think what bothered me most about this election was the lack of kindness in describing one's political opponent. This week's Torah portion centers on the search by Abraham's servant Eliezer to find a proper wife for Abraham's son Isaac. Eliezer does not look for money or beauty or brilliance when he finds Rebecca. He looks for kindness. The young lady who offers him water, and also offers water to his camels, she will be the appropriate wife for Isaac. Kindness is the central value.
I pray that as our nation moves forward, kindness can reenter our political discourse. It begins when we can see the legitimacy of the other side even as we argue passionately for our own side.
LIFE IS DIFFICULT
"My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? Bury therefore your dead." (Genesis 23:15)
As I grow older, the years of my youth blend together. But one vivid memory stands out. It was my eighteenth birthday and my parents gave me a beautiful birthday card. They wanted me to carefully read it. It was Rudyard Kipling's famous poem If. It begins with the words, "If you can keep your head when all about you, Are losing theirs and blaming it on you." After a number of verses well worth reading, it ends "If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run – Yours is the earth and everything that's in it, and – which is more – you'll be a Man, my son!" I believe that somewhere among my papers I still have that card.
My parents' gift was their wish to me, put into words in Kipling's poem. Life is a struggle, often very difficult. We all face challenges and troubles as we move through life. "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, And treat these two imposters just the same." My parents were trying to tell their eighteen-year-old son, soon to leave home and start college, that life is not easy. The good things do not automatically fall into place, and often there are difficult obstacles. It is vital that as we go through life, we hold our heads high and keep our values straight. And I tried to impress these same teachings on my own three children as they grew up.
If anyone knew that life is not easy, it was our father Abraham. Tradition teaches that God put him through ten difficult tests before making a covenant with him. In this week's portion, he will go through one more difficult test. God has promised Abraham the entire land of Canaan. And now his beloved wife Sarah has died at the age of one hundred twenty-seven. And in the entire land which God has promised him, Abraham has no place to bury his wife.
Abraham desires to buy a burial plot in the Cave of Machpelah, not far from today's city of Hebron. But the cave is owned by Ephron the Hittite, who wants a large sum of money for the property. Abraham pays the money and buries his wife. But the lesson is clear – even for Abraham nothing is going to come easily. Life is a struggle. The philosopher Nietzsche, with whom I often disagree, did say, "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger." People love to quote that line at me, not knowing the source of the quote. But I think there is much truth in the quote.
There is an attitude today among many people that they do not want their children to struggle too much. They want to avoid competition. Children are given trophies for participation, not for winning. Parents are concerned with their children's self-esteem. Nonetheless, it is often struggling and overcoming adversity that is most helpful for self-esteem. One thinks of the classic story of the boy who sees a butterfly struggling to get out of its cocoon. He decides to help the butterfly. But the boy's help prevents the butterfly from gaining the strength it will need to survive. And so the butterfly quickly dies.
The Christian theologian John Hick (1922 -2012) tried to explain why we live in a world filled with pain and suffering. He wrote that such suffering fulfills the purpose of "soul-making." As we struggle with life, we become stronger, better people. Hick reflects a much older idea in Christian theology attributed to the Eastern Father Erenaeus who spoke of how humans perfect themselves through struggle.
We all want life to be easy. We want to receive what we need without pain and struggle. It would be nice if life handed us good jobs, good relationships, plenty of money, and no problems. But as another poet James Stephen Thompson wrote, "I never promised you a rose garden." His words went on to become a best-selling novel by Joanne Greenberg. Life is often difficult. Abraham knew that. Life is filled with struggles. But it is through such struggles that we grow as human beings.
CHOOSING LIFE OR CHOOSING DEATH
"Sarah was a hundred and twenty seven years old; these were the years of the life of Sarah, and
Sarah died in Kiriath-Arba; which is Hebron in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her." (Genesis 23:1 – 2)
This portion is called Hayei Sara, literally "the life of Sarah." It should have been called Mot Sara, "the death of Sarah." It tells of the death of Sarah at one hundred twenty-seven years old, and Abraham's attempt to find her a burial plot. Later in the portion we read of the death of Abraham. It should be about death, but instead it very deliberately speaks of life. Life is the number one value in Jewish tradition. The book of Deuteronomy teaches "therefore choose life." We always seek to save a life.
This emphasis on life is central to the Jewish mindset in countless ways. Traditionally Jews donate money in multiples of eighteen, for the word chai in gematria (a number for each letter) is eighteen. According to kabbalah, there are multiple names for the soul, but the highest is chaya "life." Over and over on the Jewish High Holidays, the holiest days of the year, we say "remember us for life O King Who loves life, and write us in the book of life for Your sake, God of life." Even at a Jewish funeral the rabbi rarely speaks about what happens when we die, but rather how the deceased lived their life. Life is the choice.
How sad in our culture that so many individuals have chosen death. Last Shabbat morning while I was in our services, I got word that an active shooter at Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh. Later we learned that eleven Jews at worship were killed by this Jew hater. A number of others were injured, including four policemen. The shooter shouted that all Jews must die as he carried about his deadly business. This one hit home in a powerful way, because for six years I served as a rabbi in Pittsburgh. I was at a different synagogue out in the suburbs, but I regularly attended meetings and events at Tree of Life. I was friendly with the rabbi at that time.
Over and over we see people who choose death over life. Whether at a high school in Parkland, our airport in Ft. Lauderdale, a nightclub in Orlando, a concert in Las Vegas, a church in Charleston, or an elementary school in Connecticut (I can add many more), the haters among us choose death. We react with anger and sadness, we mourn, we argue once again about gun control, and yet the hate does not stop. This time it was an antisemitic attack, reflecting the oldest hatred in the world. And so we Jews, who taught the world choose life, must once again bury our dead.
Why does this happen? On Yom Kippur before Yizkor, I gave what I felt was one of my most important sermons. I said that it is human nature to divide people into us and them, our kind and the Other. And I said that it is natural to demonize the Other. People demonize all kinds of people – blacks, gays, Hispanics, Palestinians, etc. But the group with the longest history of being the Other, of being demonized, is the Jews. As we say at the Passover seder, "In every generation they rise up to destroy us." For a long time in America, particularly after the Holocaust, the Jew haters stayed underground in their dark corners. Today they are coming out again. We saw this at the white supremacist march in Charlottesville, VA, with shouts of "Jews will not replace us." We see it on college campuses where Jews are often harassed. And now, in a very painful way, we see it in a lovely urban synagogue in Pittsburgh.
What can be done about the haters? In my Yom Kippur sermon I quoted the great French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. He said that when I meet the Other, I have obligations. Rather than hate, I have to love the Other, listen to the Other, learn about the Other, and help the Other. The haters will always exist. Our job is to say, in the clearest voice possible, that the hatred of the Other will not be tolerated. Whenever someone chooses death, it is our job to choose life. May the memories of the victims at Tree of Life synagogue be for a blessing.
INTRODUCING LABAN
"Rebecca had a brother, and his name was Laban; and Laban ran out to the man, to the well.
It came to pass, when he saw the ear ring and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spoke the man to me; that he came to the man; and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well." (Genesis 24:29-30)
This week our portion introduces a new character who will became a major figure over these coming weeks. His name is Laban; he is the brother of Rebecca, and will become the uncle of Jacob and the father of Leah and Rachel. When Jacob marries first Leah and then Rachel, Laban becomes his father-in-law. He also became Jacob's boss, employing Jacob for twenty years.
In the Bible, individuals are more than simply characters in a story. Often they represent archetypes, they epitomize certain character traits. From the beginning, Laban represents greed. He is a man for whom the love of money overrules everything else. We already see this character trait in this week's portion. Abraham's servant Eliezer, searching for a proper wife for Isaac, meets Rebecca at the well. He realizes that Rebecca has all the right values to become Isaac's wife, so he gives her some valuable gifts, including earrings and bracelets. When Laban sees the jewelry his sister was wearing, he becomes unusually obsequious towards Eliezer. One senses from the text that he would like some of the jewelry for himself.
In a few weeks, when Jacob flees towards his uncle Laban, Laban greets him with hugs and kisses. Rashi makes a wonderful comment on that verse. Laban hugs Jacob to see if he is hiding gold on his person, and he kisses him to see if he is hiding pearls in his teeth (Rashi on Genesis 29:13). We can ignore Laban's trickery and switching Leah for Rachel during the wedding ceremony to Jacob. His true spirit comes out in Jacob's claim that Laban was constantly changing his wages.
Perhaps the most blatant example of Laban's greed is when Jacob and Laban come to an agreement over those wages. Jacob will receive all the speckled and spotted sheep and goats born into the flock. Laban proceeds to hide the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, knowing enough genetics to know that if he leaves behind only white sheep, the young will also be white. In the end, Jacob turns out to be even more clever, and finds a way for even white sheep to give birth to speckled and spotted young. (I wrote about this in the past, showing Jacob's knowledge of epigenetics, a whole new field of biology.)
Laban, both as a young man envying his sister and an older man cheating his son-in-law, epitomized greed. Money was the driving force behind most of his actions. Christianity sees greed as one of the seven deadly sins. Judaism takes a more nuanced view. There is nothing wrong in principle with the desire to make money. In fact, wealth is considered a blessing from God. But when the desire for wealth causes someone to cheat or be dishonest in their business practices, that is the evil inclination out of control. Similarly, if the desire for wealth causes a person to hoard his or her money and never share or give to a worthy cause, that is the evil inclination out of control. The rabbis say that such greed was the sin of Sodom. They would say, "What's yours is yours and what's mine is mine" (Avot 5:10). I will not steal from you but do not ask me to share what is mine.
There is a story of the rabbi who goes to a very wealthy man in the community to ask for a gift for the synagogue. The man answers, "Rabbi, are you aware that my parents are in a nursing home, living off nothing but social security? Are you aware that my brother is unemployed with a large family and no way to pay his bills? Are you aware that my sister has a sick child who needs constant medical care? I don't help any of them, why should I help you?"
Sadly, we have all met people like this, people driven by greed. In the end, Laban was estranged from his daughters and his grandchildren. Often such greed rips families apart. Wealth is a gift from God, a gift we need to share with others.
THIS LIFE OR THE NEXT
"Abraham breathed his last, dying at a good ripe age, old and contented, and he was gathered to his people." (Genesis 25:8)
Let me begin with one of my favorite stories. There was a very pious man, well known for his acts of tzedakah (charity). When the man died, his rabbi said that he was sure the man had gone to gan eden (heaven, literally the Garden of Eden). The rabbi said that he would try to communicate with the man. The rabbi prayed hard and finally heard a voice – the pious man was speaking to him. "Tell me, are you in gan eden?" "I am here.," said the man. "Do you like it in gan eden?" "To tell the truth, not really. I am bored." "How can you be bored?" asked the rabbi. "Up here there are no acts of tzedakah for me to do."
One of the central ideas in Judaism is that we can only do mitzvot in this world. When a person dies and is buried in their tallit, according to Jewish tradition we cut one of the tzitzit (the corner fringes.) This makes the tallit not kosher. We do not need to wear a kosher tallit in the next world. In Hallel, a prayer taken from the book of Psalms, we say, "the dead cannot praise God" (Psalms 115:17). This world is where the action is. The emphasis of our tradition is not getting into heaven, but creating heaven in this world.
There are powerful hints of this idea in this week's portion. The portion is built around death. At the beginning of the portion we learn of the death of Sarah at 127 years. Abraham bargains with the Hittites for a burial place, and eventually buys the Cave of Machpelah. At the end of the portion Abraham dies at 175 years, and is buried by his sons Isaac and Ishmael. The estranged brothers come to together to bury their father. The portion talks about death, and yet the name of the portion is "the life of Sarah." It is not death but life that is important. The emphasis is not on the next world but on this world.
Many Christians put a much greater emphasis on getting into heaven. I have seen it when I have occasionally attended Christian funerals. The priest or pastor in the eulogy places great emphasis on theology and the fact that the person is now in heaven, or to put it in Christian language, "So-and-so is now with Jesus." At Jewish funerals, the major emphasis is on how the person lived in this world. I often speak about whether the person accomplished in this world what God sent them into this world to do. When I speak to Christian groups, the first question they ask me is, "What do Jews believe about heaven?" I try to explain that although Jews believe in the World to Come, the emphasis is on how to live in this world.
Jews do speak about the World to Come. In the Talmud Rav makes a famous statement, "This world is not like the World to Come. In the World to Come there is no eating and no drinking, no sexual activity and no business, no jealousy, hatred, or rivalry. Rather the righteous sit with their crowns on their heads and delight in the divine presence" (Berachot 17a). In my humble opinion, it sounds lovely, for a day or two. But I cannot imagine it for eternity. Maimonides speaks of an eternity of philosophical contemplation, which some individuals might find appealing. But the important Jewish idea, emphasized by the rabbis, is that the World to Come is not forever. We are coming back to this world.
Rabbinic tradition speaks of resurrection of the body. In fact, according to Rabbinic thought, whoever denies resurrection of the dead from the Torah will have no place in the World to Come (Mishnah Sanhedrin 10:1). This idea has made it into our daily liturgy, where we praise God as mechiyei hametim (who brings the dead to life.) Mystics took this idea in a slightly different direction, believing in reincarnation (gilgul) rather than resurrection. But they all agree that we are coming back into this world, getting a body once again. And by getting a body, we will be able to fulfill mitzvot and continue our purpose in this world. These ideas point to the importance of transforming this world rather than the world to come.
Of course, none of these ideas appear in the Bible. In this week's portion, Abraham is simply "gathered to his ancestors." Other sources say that when we die, we "sleep with our fathers." And so, as we read about the end of the lives of Sarah and Abraham, we are urged to think not about their deaths but about how they
WILL YOU GO WITH THIS MAN?
"They called Rebekah and said to her, will you go with this man? And she said, I will." (Genesis 24:58)
Whenever I read this portion about choosing a wife for Isaac, it brings back an old memory. It was in my early days as a rabbi serving a congregation in Nyack, NY. I had recently married, my wife Evelyn moving down from a job and family in Boston to be with me. (She would later go with me to Pittsburgh, and eventually to south Florida.) During those early years of our marriage, we befriended the couple who served as caretakers of our synagogue. They were slightly older than us and deeply religious Christians.
The couple recommended a book to me which I truly enjoyed. It was entitled A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, and it told the story of a young man seeking to find himself. He takes off with his dog on a walk across America from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. He first walks towards the south, ending up in New Orleans. On the way he meets numerous people who help him develop a deep Christian faith. And then in New Orleans he meets and falls in love with Barbara, the woman who would become his wife.
Peter proposed to Barbara, but then asked her to join him on the remainder of the walk to the west coast. I try to imagine her reaction, and that of her family. She told him that she needed to pray. And then she went to church. By coincidence, or perhaps by the hand of God, the preacher spoke about the story of Rebekah in Genesis. Abraham's servant had been sent to find a wife for Abraham's son Isaac. The servant had chosen Rebekah because of her kindness at the well. And now Rebekah's family asked her the question, "will you go with this man?" Would she go to a distant land to marry a man she had never met? Of course Rebekah answers, "I will."
Barbara saw the preacher's sermon as a sign. She decided to commit to Peter, train her body, and join for the remainder of the walk. Their adventures became a sequel to the first book called The Walk West. They have since written several other books about their walks in different parts of the world and their Christian faith. But the books give a beautiful image of a woman leaving her home and those she loves to join a man.
The Jenkins, like our friends in Nyack, are deeply religious Christians. But this also could be a Jewish story. One of the most powerful and emotional scenes in Fiddler on the Roof is when Tevye takes his second daughter Hodel to the train station to travel to Siberia and join her beloved Perchik, who has been arrested. Tevye asks his daughter, "Siberia! And he asks you to leave your father and your mother for that frozen wasteland and marry him there." She responds, "No papa, he did not ask me to go. I want to go." She then sings the haunting song "Far from the Home I Love."
The Bible and the Broadway musical are both examples of a woman leaving her home to join a man in another place. But of course we live in a more egalitarian age. I have seen numerous examples of men who have left their jobs, their families, and their homes to follow the women whom they love. Whether it is the man or the woman, life sometimes tells one partner to leave and follow the other partner, sometimes to a distant place.
This week's portion is about making a proper marriage. There are many powerful lessons. But I believe one of the most powerful is that to make a marriage that works, sometimes one partner has to sacrifice for the other partner. Rebekah left home to travel and meet with the man she would marry Isaac. In Fiddler on the Roof, Hodel promises her father that she will marry Perchik under a huppah (Jewish wedding canopy.) Tevye responds, "No doubt a rabbi or two was also arrested."
A successful marriage means sharing the dreams of another. Often it begins when one person leaves home to join with another, sometimes in a far off place. Sometimes it means sacrifice. But true love is not simply about romance and magic. Often true love entails sacrifice. Such sacrifice can become the foundation of a powerful marriage.
THE GREEDY BROTHER
"Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban. Laban ran out to the man at the spring – when he saw the nose-ring and the bands on his sister's arms, and when he heard his sister Rebekah say, thus the man spoke to me, he went up to the man, who was still standing beside the camels at the spring." (Genesis 24:29 – 30)
My car is in the shop having some major work done. I absolutely trust my mechanic who has kept my cars running for years. He was honest with me that the job was expensive. He told me that I could shop around for someone who would do it cheaper. But he also said to be careful; he himself had sent work to other mechanics who ripped him off. They told him they were replacing parts which they did not replace or were doing work they did not do. If a mechanic would cheat another mechanic, what chance do the rest of us have? I told my mechanic to do the work.
Greed seems to be a fundamental part of the human condition, not just for mechanics but for all of us. We see money and immediately lose our moral compass. It reminds me of a Hasidic story about a very wealthy man who never gave money to any worthy cause in town. One day the Rebbe went to see him. He told the wealthy man to look through the window. "What do you see looking through the window?" "I see a street filled with people." Then he held up a mirror. "What do you see looking through a mirror?" "I only see myself." The rebbe continued, "A window and a mirror are both made of glass. But the mirror has a layer of silver under the glass. Without the silver you see everybody else. But take a little bit of silver, and all you see is yourself."
It is a fundamental human attribute to cut corners for a little bit of silver, to cheat for money. We are all tempted by greed. This fundamental flaw in human character is best epitomized by a man introduced in this week's portion – Rebekah's brother Laban. The portion centers on finding a proper wife for Isaac, Abraham's son. Rebekah is chosen for her kindness, offering Abraham's servant Eliezer water at a well and also giving water to his camels. Eliezer gives her a gold nose-ring and two gold bracelets, and invites her to become Isaac's wife.
Now Laban enters the picture. He sees the nose-ring and bracelets worn by his sister and immediately invites Eliezer to stay in their home. If he had not seen the expensive jewelry, would he have been so quick to invite the man to his home? We get a hint of Laban's character in this portion. That character will be more fully revealed in the portion we will read in two weeks.
At that point Rebekah's son Jacob flees from his family and falls in love with Laban's daughter Rachel. (She was his first cousin, but first cousin marriages were allowed.) The Torah says there, "On hearing the news of his sister's son Jacob, Laban ran to greet him; he embraced him and kissed him." (Genesis 29:13) Rashi makes a wonderful comment about Laban. "He ran to greet him" thinking he was laden with money. "He embraced him" thinking he had gold hidden on his body. "And kissed him" thinking he had pearls in his mouth.
Jacob would marry both of Laban's daughters Leah and Rachel. He would work for Laban for twenty years, but Laban would constantly change Jacob's wages. When Laban agrees to give Jacob the speckled and spotted sheep and goats, he then hides these sheep and goats away so that they will not be available to pass on their speckled and spotted traits. Finally Jacob realizes that he must flee from his father-in-law in the middle of the night. If a man is trying to rip off his own son-in-law, husband to his daughters and father to his grandchildren, imagine what he did to strangers. Laban represents the epitome of the person who, because of silver, only sees himself.
Greed is a fundamental part of human character. We all need money to survive. It becomes very easy to be a bit dishonest in order to take someone else's money. In the 1987 movie Wall Street, Gordon Gekko played by Michael Douglas spoke a line that came to symbolize an era. "Greed is good." The world needs to hear that both Laban and Gekko were wrong, "Greed destroys. Honesty is good."
A PROPER MATCH
"Let the maiden to whom I say, Please lower your jar that I may drink, and who replies, drink and I will also water your camels, let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac. Thereby shall I know that You have dealt graciously with my master." (Genesis 24:14)
Most of this week's portion is built around finding a proper wife for Isaac. In the end Abraham's servant Eliezer brings Rebecca home, Isaac brings her into his tent to marry her, and he loves her. Perhaps for one more week I can speak about marriage.
I keep a log of all the weddings I have performed since I moved down to Florida. There are hundreds on the list. As I added my daughter and her new husband, and the couple I married a week later, I flipped through the list. I have lost track of many of these couples. Some have moved away. Some, particularly when there was a later-in-life weddings, have passed on. But of the ones I still know about, I tried to calculate how many are still together and how many have separated. If the divorce rate around the country is around 50%, my record is slightly better. Probably about 33% of the weddings I have performed are no longer together.
Sometimes I blame myself. Should I have done a better job at pre-marital counseling? Should I have turned down some of those weddings? Occasionally I will insist on couple's counseling before setting the date. I think of one couple from my early years as a rabbi who struck me as not ready for marriage. I insisted on counseling and they agreed. I eventually performed the wedding. I am still in touch with them and now, thirty years later, they are still together.
Some people will argue that marriage was never meant to be forever. We marry one person to meet our needs early in life, another for the middle years, and perhaps another for old age. In ancient times polygamy was permitted. Today, when only monogamy is permitted, we have serial monogamy. One wife follows another; one husband follows another. People have argued that today, when people live long lives, perhaps this is a better way to understand marriage.
I know that I am a hopeless romantic, but I do not agree. I still believe marriage ought to be a lifelong commitment. Certainly some marriages are unhealthy; that is why Jewish tradition is liberal about divorce. In the Talmud, Hillel taught that a man may divorce his wife if she burns his food. (Gittin 90a) But I believe divorce is a last resort to a badly broken marriage. The ideal is a lifetime together.
So why do so many marriages break down? Some have said that we should go back to the old fashioned way of selecting a marriage partner. The Talmud clearly places the obligation on a father to find a proper wife for his son. (Kiddushin 29a) This is still the norm in the very Orthodox community. The father chooses a potential spouse, but the son or daughter is allowed to meet them in a chaperoned setting to decide, yes or no. That is why in New York, in the lobby of nice hotels, you can often see very Orthodox young men and women sitting and talking. This idea of parents picking a match also takes place among some very traditional Christians. Joshua Harris wrote a book called I Kissed Dating Goodbye, which is a call for more traditional matchmaking among committed Christians.
Nonetheless, the genie has been let out of the bottle. In this day and age, young people are going to find potential spouses on their own, whether through friends, at parties, at the gym, or on the internet. Mommy and daddy have little say in this search for a life partner. So when I speak to young people, what advice can I give them?
This portion is built around finding a wife for Isaac. When Abraham's servant looks at the young ladies, she has one criterion – kindness. Who will offer him water, and also offer water to his camels? The number one criterion for an appropriate marriage partner is values. How do they treat other people? How does he treat his mother? How does she treat her employees? How do they behave towards the server in a restaurant or the clerk in a store? That tells far more about a person than how beautiful or rich they are. I tell couples to look for values – kindness, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, and gentleness. Perhaps if we looked for these qualities, we could build much stronger marriages.
ISAAC AND REBECCA
"And Isaac brought her to his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he loved her, and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death." (Genesis 24:67)
One of my favorite verses in Genesis occurs towards the end of this portion. It describes the marriage of the second Patriarch Isaac and his arranged bride Rebecca. There is something very moving about this brief passage. In the previous verses, Isaac is in the field meditating (the Rabbis said he was praying mincha, the afternoon service). Rebecca arrives on her camel. When she saw Isaac she falls off the camel. The verse then goes on to describe four steps – 1) Rebecca moves into Sarah's tent; 2) Isaac marries Rebecca; 3) Isaac falls in love with Rebecca; and 4) Isaac finally finds comfort after the death of his mother Sarah. Let us look at each of these four steps in greater depth.
For the first step, Rebecca moves into Sarah's tent. The Torah has already shown the deep kindness of Rebecca. She not only gives water to Abraham's servant but she also gives water to his camels. She is willing to leave her family and travel a great distance to marry Isaac. She is an impressive young lady. But so far Isaac has seen none of this. He was at home mourning for his mother this whole time.
Here the Midrash takes over (Genesis Rabbah 60:16). When Sarah was alive a cloud representing God's presence hung over the tent. When Sarah died, that cloud disappeared. When Rebecca came she opened the doors once again to welcome visitors into the tent. She began separating and blessing the challah dough, and Sabbath candles once again burnt in the tent. God's presence reentered the tent, and reentered Isaac's life. Isaac saw this and was ready to marry her.
The second step was the wedding. We know nothing about how they married. Did Abraham walk his son under the huppah? Did anyone walk Rebecca? Was there a rabbi? A ketubah? Or did they simply go to the local justice of the peace and sign a document. The Torah never says because it is unimportant to the Torah. As I tell many a bride and groom, what is important is not the wedding but the marriage.
The third step was when Isaac fell in love with his bride. Notice that first they married, then they fell in love. It was the opposite of conventional wisdom – "first comes love, then comes marriage." The love comes after the fact. Before the marriage, the important task was finding the right bride, a woman who displayed kindness. In our contemporary world, someone searching for a life partner often looks not for kindness nor ethical values. They look for sexual attraction. But often our contemporary focus on looks blinds us to the underlying values. I tell every bride and groom, do not focus on beauty. It fades. Focus on values, which never fade. "Charm is deceptive and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is greatly to be praised." (Proverbs 31:30)
How deep was the love between Isaac and Rebecca? Later when they face twenty years of infertility, the Torah pictures them standing across the room from one another, each praying for the other. There was no anger and no accusations (unlike another infertile couple Jacob and Rachel). And there was no attempt to bring in a surrogate mother to have a baby (unlike Abraham and Sarah.) There was only a couple helping each other through a difficult time. As Goldie said to Tevye, "If that's not love, what is?"
Finally the fourth step, Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother. After a loss the pain lingers. But kindness from another is a major factor in alleviating the pain. To go back to our Midrash, Isaac found comfort because he knew that Rebecca would continue the traditions of his mother. He now knows that the covenant will be passed on to a new generation.
PARSHAT HAYEI SARAH
NO SILVER PLATTERS
"So Ephron's land in Machpelah, near Mamre – the field with its cave and all the trees anywhere within the confines of that field – passed to Abraham as his possession, in the presence of the Hittites, of all who entered the gate of his town." (Genesis 23:17 – 18)
God had promised Abraham the entire land of Canaan as an eternal possession. But now Abraham's wife Sarah had died, and Abraham needed a burial place. This proved to be difficult. Abraham carried on a whole negotiation with the Hittites who lived on the land, and in particular with Ephron, before buying the cave of Machpelah and the surrounding field. Abraham had to pay a substantial sum of money for the burial plot.
Today one can visit the cave of Machpelah in Kiryat Arba outside Hebron. But it is an area that is contested and can be dangerous. Recently four Israeli Jews were killed by a terrorist near-by. One gets the feeling that even if God promised the land to Abraham, God was not going to make it easy to take possession. Nothing worthwhile is handed to us on a silver platter.
Chaim Weizmann, the first president of the state of Israel, once said, "The state will not be given to the Jewish people on a silver platter." This idea became part of a powerful Hebrew poem written by Nathan Alterman immediately before the founding of the state. The poem portrays a young man and young woman walking off the battlefield, still filthy and fatigued. The nation asked them, "Who are you?" The young people answer, "We are the silver platter on which the Jewish state will be given."
This image of the difficulties of a Jewish state in the Jewish homeland hit home for me this week. I attended the national policy conference of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.) AIPAC is an organization that teaches public officials (and many others) about Israel and seeks support from American political leaders of both parties for Israel. After a day and a half of talk about the nuclear threat from Iran, the on-again off-again peace talks with the Palestinians, and the attempts to delegitimize Israel, Weizmann's words rang true. The world is going to make it as difficult as possible for the state of Israel to survive and flourish. Nobody is going to hand it to us on a silver platter.
What is true in international politics is equally true in our own personal lives. We live in a world of instant gratification. We will zap food in the microwave rather than spend the time cooking. We download all the information we need off the internet. (I will confess that I was getting upset with my computer this morning on how slowly it downloaded Alterman's poem.) We take drugs, both legal and illegal, to feel good. I constantly receive spam that I can earn all kinds of college degrees with no work. In the world of instant gratification, it is hard to get across the idea to young people that everything in life that is worthwhile takes time and effort.
The quest for instant gratification is particularly true among young people. There was a time when a professional career began with entry level jobs and hard work. Today our young people immediately want management positions. There was a time when relationships were based on long term commitments, and slowly building trust. (Remember that old-fashioned word "courtship." It sounds so quaint.) Today young people do not seek relationships but rather to hook-up, a euphemism for quick one-night stands. There was a time when feeling good physically meant a careful commitment to diet and exercise. Today we take a pill, and we watch the advertisement for machines that will make us look like models in ten minutes a day.
I see this quest for instant gratification in the world of religion. There was a time when learning to participate in synagogue life meant learning to read the Hebrew and taking the time to become familiar with worship services. Today we want instant spirituality. That is one reason people are flocking to the kabbalah center.
The Talmud teaches, "according to the pain is the reward." (Avot 5:23) Everything worthwhile in life is going to take some effort and pain. As Abraham learned, nothing is handed to us on a silver platter.
FORCES OF LOVE; FORCES OF HATE
"Let the maiden to whom I say, please lower your jar that I may drink, and who replies, drink and I will also water your camels – let her be the one whom you have decreed for Your servant Isaac." (Genesis 24:14)
Seventy-one years ago this week anti-Jewish pogroms broke out all over Germany. Known as Kristallnacht or "the night of the broken glass", Jewish stores were looted as the streets were filled with broken windows, synagogues were burned, and Jews were murdered or arrested. It began a period of intense violence against the Jews culminating in the slaying of six million. During this week the Nazis unleashed the forces of hate.
One would hope that over seventy years later such hatred would cease. But it seems to be an everlasting force amongst humans. This week within walking distance of my home, someone covered the walls of a Jewish Community Center childcare facility with swastikas and Nazi slogans. Signs of hate greeted children dropped off by their parents for day care. Jew hatred continues.
But it is not simply Jews. This week America mourns the tragedy of a mass killing at Fort Hood, TX. An army psychiatrist, trained in the art of healing, killed thirteen military personnel and wounded countless others. His motives are unclear. But on the surface, he appears to be influenced by Islamic extremists who would make Americans, particularly the American military, fair game for murder. The forces of hate have been unleashed into the world, and it is extremely difficult to stop them.
After the attacks of 9/11 I spoke about forces of hate. I said at that time that the only way to overcome them is through forces of love. This is a vital part of what Jewish tradition at its best tries to do; unleash forces of love into a world where hate is often rampant. Perhaps that is the reason why Jews have often been the victims of the haters; our message is one of love.
I shared an example last week at the Anti Defamation League dinner. I was asked to give the opening invocation and chose to open with a brief d'var Torah. I shared a beautiful Rabbinic passage. The Sifra records a dispute between Rabbi Akiba and Ben Azzai. What is the most important verse in the Torah? Rabbi Akiba taught, "Love your neighbor as yourself." (Lev. 19:18) Ben Azzai taught, "This is the record of Adam's line." One can understand Rabbi Akiba's opinion; the Golden Rule is at the center of the Torah. But Ben Azzai goes even further. When the Torah teaches that we are all descended from Adam, it means that we are all family. All humans are brothers and sisters in the eyes of God.
The thrust of Biblical and Rabbinic tradition is that all human beings share a common ancestry. Therefore, no human being can hate another human being based on ethnic background, religion, race, sexual orientation, or any other criteria. All human beings must have equal dignity in our eyes. The Bible is trying to be a force of love in a world often ruled by the force of hate.
This portion is one of the earliest stories on the power of love. Abraham asks his servant Eliezer to find a wife for his son Isaac. Eliezer does not look for the most beautiful nor the richest girl. Rather he searches for acts of kindness. Which ever young woman who goes to the well, offers him water, and also offers water to his camels, she is a worthy wife for his master's son. It is a small wonder that after an arranged marriage with Rebecca, that Isaac truly loved her. Kindness to others, particularly to a stranger, is the most important value.
There are two types of forces at work in the world today – the forces of hate and the forces of love. Sadly, religion through the years has often been on the side of the forces of hate. Religion at its best needs to become a force of love. Only then can the force of love truly overcome the force of hate.
ACCEPTING GIFTS
"Abraham accepted Ephron's terms. Abraham paid out to Ephron the money that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites – four hundred shekels of silver at the going merchants' rate." (Genesis 23:16)
When I was sixteen years old I received a set of golf clubs as a birthday gift from a family relative. I used them a few times during the next year, but never became an avid golfer. Shortly after my seventeenth birthday, the same relative showed up at my house and told me, "You are not using those golf clubs often enough. I am taking them back." That was the end of my golf clubs and my teen golf career.
I learned a valuable lesson from this relative. Gifts come with strings attached. Or as the saying goes, "There is no such thing as a free lunch." Gifts always come with obligations, even if those obligations are subtle and not too clear. We might say about a gift, accept it with good graces, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." (This refers to the story in Virgil's poem The Aeneid. The Greeks who were besieging Troy created a giant horse as a gift, with soldiers hidden inside. The gift was brought into the walls of Troy, leading to the downfall of the city.) Perhaps if Troy had looked at their gift horse in the mouth, they might not have fallen in battle. Perhaps the more apropos saying should have been, "Beware of Greeks bearing gifts."
As I write these words one of the stalwarts of the United States Senate, Republican Ted Stevens of Alaska, has fallen. In a close election, he lost his seat after being convicted of seven counts of failure to report gifts. He accepted gifts including work on his home from contractors doing business with the government of the United States. A senator should know better – gifts always come with strings attached. That is why government ethics committees have such strong laws against public officials receiving gifts of any kind.
This week's portion begins with the negotiation of Abraham and the Hittites to buy a field and the cave within the field as a burial site for his wife Sarah. Ephron the Hittite is willing to deed the cave over to Abraham as a gift. "No my lord, hear me. I give you the field and I give you the cave that is in it, I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead." (Genesis 23:11) But Abraham does not want a gift. He does not want to be beholden to the Hittites, who were idolaters in the land that God promised Abraham.
In the end, Abraham paid full price for the land – four hundred shekels of silver. But he walked away from the negotiation with a clear conscience; he had paid for the land and it was his. (The sad irony is that today there is an ongoing dispute about the ownership of that cave between Jews and Moslems. The cave which is located in Hebron is holy to both peoples, and has been a place of high religious tension for decades.)
Later Jewish law has a fascinating discussion about the acceptance of gifts. There is a principle in Jewish law – zachin l'adam shelo befanav – "one may act for the benefit of someone even if they are not present." May a person accept a gift on behalf of someone else if the intended recipient is not present? The Talmud seems to indicate that the answer is yes – receiving a gift is to someone's benefit. (see Gittin 11b) However, there is discussion of this in later Jewish sources. What if the recipient does not want the gift? What if it is not to his or her advantage to accept such a gift? As we have shown, gifts always come with strings attached.
We are entering the season of gift giving in our secular culture. Giving gifts are a wonderful way of expressing love and appreciation to others. But gifts can also create obligations between the giver and the recipient. Perhaps the lesson of this week's portion is the same as the lesson of ancient Troy, be careful whenever receiving a gift.
TWO COUPLES
"Let the maiden to whom I say, please lower your jar that I may drink, and who replies, drink, and I will also water your camels, let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac." (Genesis 24:14)
We humans are a species who like to couple up. We search for a life partner. Let me tell the story of two couples, one from long ago and one more contemporary.
The first couple met through an arrangement by the man's father. When the young man came of age to marry, his father sent a trusted servant of the household to find an appropriate wife. The father did not trust the local young ladies, so the servant went off to a different land in search of that wife. He went to a well where the local young women went to draw water. Whichever young woman proved her kindness by offering him water, and also offering it to his camels, she would be an appropriate match for the young man.
The servant found a young lady, very pretty and still inexperienced around men. He gave her gifts, told her the story, and asked to meet her family. After meeting with her family, she was given the choice. It would be improper for a young woman to enter a marriage against her will. The young woman's family asked her, "Will you go with this man?" and she replied, "Yes." So she began the long journey to meet her future husband.
She saw him for the first time while she was sitting on a camel and he was meditating in the field. She immediate jumped off the camel and covered her face for purposes of modesty. They met and shortly afterwards they married. He found great comfort in his new wife, particularly since he had recently lost his mother. Soon after the marriage they fell in love.
The marriage had its difficulties, dealing first with infertility and then with two warring sons. But they prayed for each other. Unlike most couples in their day and age where men often took a second wife or concubine, this couple remained monogamous. And they were fortunate to have a playful, joyous sexual life. Looking back from years later, it seems to have been a good marriage.
Let us look at a second couple, this one more contemporary. Both the young man and the young woman had long ago left home and were living on their own in a large city. They both had good jobs and enjoyed active social and sexual lives. They each met members of the opposite sex through friends, at parties, at work, at the gym, and sometimes on the internet. They went out in pairs or with groups of friends. Sometimes they hooked up. Sex was casual and recreational; both this man and woman practiced safe sex. There was no connection between sex and love.
One day these two young people met each other, and there was an immediate mutual attraction. They began seeing each other, and soon they were in an exclusive relationship. Shortly afterwards they decided to take their relationship to the next level. They moved in together.
The young man and young woman were in love and they spoke about marriage. But they wanted to give their relationship time to be sure it was right. Besides the man said, "I do not need a piece of paper to prove my love for you." However they did want a baby. And they felt that perhaps it would be better to be married before bringing a child into the world. However, soon the woman found herself pregnant.
They did plan a wedding, but decided to wait until after the baby was born. The bride did not want to walk down the aisle in her wedding gown while pregnant. They did hope their love would last forever. But they also knew that many of their friends had been married and divorced, and there was always a way out if the relationship did not work out. So far they have beaten the odds and are still married.
These are the two couples. Of course the first couple is in the Biblical story we read this week, the arranged marriage of Isaac and Rebecca. The second couple could be many of the young people I meet today. Allow me to ask a simple question. Which story represents a better way for young people to meet their life partner? If as a society we want young people to couple up, marry, and have a family, what is the best way for society to arrange such coupling?
SHARING THE JOURNEY
"They called Rebekkah and said to her, will you go with this man? And she said, I will."
Many years ago a Christian friend gave me a book to read, Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins. He then gave me the sequel, The Walk West by Jenkins and his wife Barbara. Although the books came from a Christian perspective, I could identify with them. Peter was from my generation, a young man who found himself disillusioned and lost in the seventies. He decided to walk across the United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to find America but more important, to find himself. On the trip he had a number of adventures. He also found his Christian faith.
One story that moved me was how Peter met his wife Barbara halfway through the trip. He saw her in church and began courting her. He decided to ask her to marry him, and join him for the remainder of the journey. Imagine, the person you love proposing marriage, but only if you are willing to take a journey by foot of a few thousand miles. Most of us would laugh. Barbara needed to think and pray about the issue.
She went to her church and listened to her preacher's sermon. The preacher happened to speak about the story we read in this week's portion, the arranged marriage between Isaac and Rebekkah. Her family asked Rebekkah, "Will you go with this man?" and she answered, "Yes." Barbara saw this sermon as a sign from God. She married Peter and joined him for the rest of the walk west. Since then the two of them have taken numerous long walks around the world, writing about their journeys and their religious faith.
I was moved by the story. It symbolized what I hope marriage can be. A woman meets a man and he invites her to join him on a journey, perhaps not by foot but an adventure nonetheless. Their future is unknown. But she makes a commitment to go along with him, and by her presence she helps him succeed in his journey. Or perhaps it is the other way around. A man meets a woman and she invites him to join her on a journey. His presence helps her succeed on her journey. Marriage is a journey by two people together into the unknown. It is risky. The hope is, by joining someone else on that journey, we not only make him or her better, we make ourselves better.
Of course, it is extremely important to find the right partner for our journey. Abraham did not want just any young woman to be Isaac's wife. She had to come from his hometown, and more important, she had to have excellent values. Abraham did not tell his son Isaac, "Go hang out at a single's dance or a bar with the local girls to find a wife." The choice was made carefully, and there is a deep sense in this portion that God brought them together. As I sometimes say in jest, paraphrasing an old Jewish maxim, "Sometimes God brings the woman to the man like Isaac and Rebekkah, sometimes God brings the man to the woman like Jacob and Rachel – and sometimes they meet on J-Date." The first step is finding the right travel partner through life.
The second step is to stay focused on that partner. Have you ever walked along with someone, been distracted or daydreaming, then looked besides you and seen that they are not there? I once lost my son when he was a young child in a mall that way. Perhaps that is a wonderful illustration of what can easily happen if we are self-absorbed and lose sight of our partner. We cannot journey through life with someone if we lose sight of him or her on the journey.
Too often someone has come to me for counseling as his or her marriage is breaking up. "We have found ourselves going in different directions. We have decided the time has come to split." Often I try to save such marriages, but I am rarely successful. Sometimes divorce is the best thing. But it is always a sad last resort. There is certainly something joyous about a life where two people are joined in a journey together for a lifetime.
A wise rabbi once wrote, "Life is a journey." Many of us, by choice of necessity, take the journey alone. But there is something blessed about joining someone else and doing the journey together. When someone asks the question – "Will you go with this man?" "Will you go with this woman?" – how wonderful to say, "Yes, I will."
BUYING LAND
"Let him sell me the cave of Machpelah that he owns, which is at the edge of his land. Let him sell it to me, at the full price, for a burial site in your midst."
Leo Tolstoy wrote a wonderful short story entitled "How much land does a man need?" It tells the story of a poor peasant who longs to own more land. The devil makes a deal with him, giving him as much land as he can encircle in one day, as long as he returns to the same spot where he started before sunset. Greed overwhelms him as he runs, carving off a huge tract of land. He barely returns in time, exhausted from running, and keels over dead. Tolstoy ends with the words "Six feet of land was all that he needed."
This story popped into my mind as I thought about the beginning of this week's Torah portion. For the first time in the Bible, money changed hands in order to buy a piece of land. Abraham bought a parcel of land from Ephron the Hittite, including the Cave of Machpelah, to bury his wife Sarah. Eventually this cave would become the burial place of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob and Leah. Only Rachel of the patriarchs and matriarchs was not buried there. This piece of land is one of the holiest spots on earth today to both Moslems and Jews. It has also become one of the most violent spots on earth.
The irony is that that, although we have a full record of the transaction, there is a good chance that in any final peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians, this land will go back to the Palestinians. Hopefully the Jews of Israel will have access to their holy spot and be able to pray in the Cave of Machpelah. But if the military and political leaders of Israel and the Palestinians are ever able to work out a just peace (and as I write these words, such a treaty seems far away), this particular piece of land will become part of the Palestinian state.
I say this with sadness but a sense of reality. I have visited this piece of real estate and sensed the history and the holiness of the spot. I have also seen the hatred this piece of land has generated between Jews and Moslems. I walked away with a belief that if we can make peace in Hebron (Kiryat Arba) where this cave is located, we can make peace anywhere.
Ask any financial advisor, and he or she will tell you that the greatest investment is real estate. Depending on location, of course, the value of real estate will almost always increase. Real estate is the symbol of wealth. Nonetheless, both Tolstoy's story and this Biblical episode point in one direction – our ownership of land is never absolute. Owning land is important, but so are a number of other values including peace, justice, and life itself. We worship God; we do not worship land.
The classical Biblical punishment for wrongdoing is removal from a piece of land. Adam and Eve were forced out of the Garden of Eden for eating fruit that God had forbade them to eat. Cain was an eternal wanderer, never settling on a piece of land, because he slew his brother Abel. Abraham was not allowed to permanently settle on the land because the sins of the Canaanites were not yet complete. The Israelites were not allowed to return to the land because they were unworthy after the incident of the spies. By Biblical law, all land purchased was returned to its original owner every fiftieth year for the Jubilee. Later Rabbinic literature includes a phrase which has become part of our festival liturgy, "Because of our sins were we exiled from our land." The land is ours, but only if we prove worthy. And it is never ours forever.
In our modern times, our right to use our land is not absolute. We must obey zoning laws, pollution laws, and act in a way that is in keeping with the public good. My own community, Lauderhill, is about to pass an ordinance limiting the colors that a homeowner can paint his or her house. And we all know, by the laws of eminent domain, the community can take away land if it is deeded for a greater community good.
Our ownership of land is never absolute. It is always conditional upon our using the land for a greater public good. For in some ultimate sense, we do not own our land at all, no matter how lien free our deed is. In an ultimate sense, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof." (Psalms 24:1) We are simply temporary sojourners.
OVERCOMING ESTRANGEMENT
"And Abraham breathed his last, dying at a good ripe age, old and contented; and he was gathered to his kin. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah."
Abraham died and his sons Isaac and Ishmael came together for the funeral. The boys had been estranged from one another, Ishmael had been sent away from his home because he was a bad influence on Isaac. Ishmael was estranged from Abraham who had sent him into the wilderness with a minimum of water. And of course, there was an estrangement between Abraham and Isaac. Twice the Torah speaks of how Isaac and Abraham had walked up the mountain together for the near sacrifice. When it was over, Abraham had walked down alone. Isaac would not speak with Abraham again. As so often happens in life today, it took a funeral to overcome the estrangement.
I want to share some thoughts I wrote in my book God, Love, Sex, and Family. Family estrangement is one of the most common counseling issues I confront as a rabbi. Occasionally the estrangement comes as the result of abusive behavior. Sometimes it occurs over money, particularly when a family business breaks up. Often, however, the estrangement begins as a minor fight that causes two family members to stop speaking with one another. Stubbornness prevents either from backing down and seeking peace. The years go by, until there is a permanent rift. Often it takes a funeral to get two warring relatives to speak with one another once again.
The Talmud tells the story of two scholars of the law, Rabbi Johanan and Reish Lakesh. Reish Lakesh had been a gladiator who tried to rob R. Johanan. The rabbi, a man known not only for his piety but his beauty, told him, "Your strength should be used for the study of Torah." Reish Lakesh replied, "Your beauty should be used for women." R. Johanan said, "If you dedicate yourself to a life of study, I will let you marry my sister who is even more beautiful than I."
The two men became brothers-in-law and study partners, each impressed with the other's brilliance. Then one day they were arguing an obscure point of law – the ritual purity of certain weapons. R. Johanan shouted out in exasperation, "A thief knows his own trade." An argument ensued and the two men stopped talking. Each was angry with the other. Reish Lakesh's wife (who was R. Johanan's sister) begged R. Johanan to apologize, but he refused. Only when Reish Lakesh died did R. Johanan express bitter regret for the estrangement. ( Baba Metzia 84a.)
Here were two brilliant men who were too proud to open the door and seek forgiveness. As the book of Proverbs teaches, "Pride comes before the fall." (Proverbs 16:18) Family counselors know that to apologize, and to forgive, is to release a heavy burden. Rabbi Charles Klein, in his fine book How to Forgive When You Can't Forget writes:
"Several years ago, I offered my own version of a guaranteed weight-loss program. Unlike other highly-touted diet plans, mine did not require giving up any of the foods people love to eat. I simply suggested that if people were to lay aside a grudge or forgive someone, they would feel as though they were ten pounds lighter." (Charles Klein, How to Forgive When You Can't Forget,, p. 35-36.)
When I counsel family members estranged from one another, my advice is always the same. Take action to reestablish contact. Pick up the phone and call. Write a note. Send a birthday card. Even if there is no response, continue to do it, even for years. I know a divorced father whose teenage daughter cut off all contact, blaming him for the divorce. He continued to send her birthday and holiday cards, even as she refused to take his calls. I told him not to give up. She was twenty-four before she reestablished contact with him after eight years of painful separation. Today they have a cordial if not close relation¬ship.
Perhaps most important, I teach people to forgive. The act of forgiveness is a vital step in healing the self and rebuilding relationships. ¬Certainly nobody has to destroy their own being in order to maintain a relationship with their family. Healing the self will take time, and usually demands professional counseling. It also requires an attempt to forgive family members who have hurt us. Once the self has been healed, it is time to begin the work of reestablishing a relationship with family.
LOOK FOR VALUES
"Let the maiden to whom I say, `Please lower your jar that I may drink, and who replies, `Drink, and I will also water your camels,' let her be the one whom You have decreed for Your servant Isaac."
I recently spoke with a young woman involved in a long term relationship with the same man. They were living together but had no plans to formalize their relationship with a wedding ceremony. I mentioned, half jokingly and half seriously, "I have a huppah (marriage canopy) in the trunk of my car. (Have huppah, will travel!) How about making the relationship kosher." The woman replied, "Rabbi, no thanks. I have discovered that as soon as people get married, they stop treating each other nicely. They start to take each other for granted. Marriage is not for me."
Unfortunately for those of us who believe in marriage, there is some truth to this woman's claim. How often have I spoken to someone in a bitter unhappy marriage, or after a painful divorce, and I have asked, "Why did you marry this person in the first place?" Their reply, "Before I married them, they were different." They were nicer.
I must ask, were they truly nicer, or were they putting on a façade to win over the heart of their boyfriend – girlfriend. Was the dating period used to uncover the true values of their partner? Let me share something I wrote in a pamphlet I prepared for perspective brides and grooms entitled, The Seven Secrets of a Successful Marriage.
In the book of Genesis, Abraham sent his servant Eliezer to find a fitting wife for his son Isaac. Eliezer traveled back to Abraham's homeland, waited by the well, vowed that whichever young woman offered him water to drink, and also water for his camels, would be the appropriate wife for Isaac. Shortly afterward, Rebekah went down to the well, and proved her kindness by offering them water. The arranged marriage worked beautifully, as she became Isaac's wife and he loved her. (Genesis 24:67)
Note that Eliezer, in his test, looked for kindness and generosity. As a wise person once taught, "Don't marry for looks and don't marry for money. Both can disappear overnight. Marry for values; they never disappear."
Most of us, during our courtship days, put our best foot forward. After all, we are trying to win the affection of another person. Only after marriage are our true values revealed. The man who treated his girlfriend so kindly during the courtship days will begin to take her for granted, or may even become abusive. The woman who flirts coyly with a boyfriend suddenly becomes insensitive to his needs after marriage. When the courtship days are finished, the true self comes forth.
Therefore, it becomes vital to look carefully and honestly at our perspective spouse before we walk down the aisle. If either the bride or group suspects that their future spouse's values are not what they should be, now is the time to reconsider. It is rare that people change substantially after marriage.
What are the values that one should look for in a spouse? I urge couples to look carefully for such character traits as kindness, honesty, even temperedness, generosity, tolerance, and compassion. The purpose of courtship is to slowly uncover the real "self" of our perspective spouse, often hidden under a facade. As we see our partner more clearly, we can honestly ask, "Is this the person I want to share a bed with for fifty years? Is this the person I want to parent my children?"
THE POTENTIAL OF LIFE
"And the life of Sarah was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years." (Genesis 23:1)
Sarah the wife of Abraham lived to be one hundred twenty seven years old. The wording is strange – "one hundred years and twenty years and seven years." The Rabbis understood this to mean that at age one hundred she had the beauty of a twenty year old and the innocence of a seven year old. This is certainly a summary of life worth striving for.
This portion is called Hayei Sarah, meaning The Life of Sarah. Yet it speaks about her death. Only with death can we realize whether someone lived up to their potential in life. Only at the end can we look back and say, this was a successful life. Sarah's death became a celebration of her life.
When a baby is born, he or she is mere potential. He or she have not been defined yet. The baby will grow up, start down a path, and decide, to use a baseball metaphor, will his or her life be a ball or a strike? Will he or she miss the plate, fall short of the mark, not live up to his or her potential? Or will he or she hit the mark, find the plate, live the life that God meant them to live? Will the baby be a source of naches, of pride and joy, or a source of tsures, of trouble and travail, for his or her parents. At birth we do not know. A baby is mere potential.
This idea comes across in a classical rabbinic passage I often share at funerals to give comfort to the mourners. There are two boats, one leaving the harbor on a long voyage, and one coming into the harbor at the end of a long voyage. For the one leaving the harbor, people are nervous, they do not know whether the boat will successfully reach its destination. For the one coming into the harbor, people feel a great comfort, the journey is over and it has been successful.
The rabbis mention that in real life it is the other way around. A baby is born and we feel such joy. Yet we never know if that baby will live a full and successful life, whether he or she will live up to potential. A person dies and we feel such great sadness. Nonetheless, if the person has lived a successful life, we ought to feel a great comfort. When a baby is born, he or she is mere potential. Only when life ends can we ascertain whether the life was successful, whether the person fulfilled their destiny.
This is reflected in an interesting fact about Jewish life. Did you know that traditionally we Jews do not celebrate birthdays. In fact, the Bible only once mentions a birthday, and that was Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. It was Pharaoh whose whole life was set out for him in advance, who never seems to have the will to do the right thing. He is the only one who celebrates a birthday. In Judaism, when we commemorate a person, we remember their yahrzeit, the day they died, not their birthday, the day they were born.
In America, we honor Martin Luther King Jr. by celebrating his birthday. In Israel, they honor Yitzhak Rabin on his yahrzeit, the day he was assassinated. In America, they celebrate the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Jews remember the yahrzeit of Moses and the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Now that they are gone, I remember the yahrzeits of my parents, not their birthdays. It is more than a mere cultural difference. It is a major theological statement.
On the day we are born we are simply potential. We do not know if we will live up to the reason why God created us. Only when life is over do we know if we have lived up to our potential. Sarah lived up to her potential. Will we?
"And Isaac took Rebekah home, and he married her, and he loved her, and found comfort after the death of his mother."
"Love and Marriage, Go Together like a Horse and Carriage." So goes the old song. In reality, it is not necessarily true. Too often a couple will fall in love and marry despite serious disagreements about such fundamental issues as religion, money, family, gender roles, or even the basic values of their partner. These couples naively believe that "love conquers all." As time passes, the love seems to fade. Rarely can love alone sustain a marriage when other ingredients are missing.
To explore the role of love in marriage, it would be useful to compare two Biblical stories, the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah and the marriage of their son Jacob to Rachel. Isaac and Rebekah had an arranged marriage; they did not even meet until shortly before the wedding. The love came after the marriage.
Jacob and Rachel's marriage was much closer to our contemporary scenario. He loved her, worked seven years for her, was forced to work a second group of seven years, and yet "they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her." (Genesis 29:20) They fell in love and eventually go married.
Which couple had the stronger marriage? There is no way to compare absolutely. Nonetheless, both couples suffered severe infertil¬ity problems. Their very different reactions serve as a clue to the strength of their respective marriages. Isaac and Rebekah waited twenty years to have a child. When they learned that Rebekah was infertile, "Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife." (Genesis 25:21) Rachel also was infertile and she cried out in pain at her inability to conceive. Jacob answered with anger, "Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb!" (Genesis 30:2).
There seems to be more kindness and understand¬ing in Isaac and Rebekah's arranged marriage than in Jacob and Rachel's marriage built on romantic love. It is noteworthy that Isaac and Rebekah were the only couple who are described as having a playful sexual relationship. It is also noteworthy that when Jacob died, he asked to be buried not with his true love Rachel but with his first wife Leah.
What is the role of love in creating a successful marriage? The best answer comes out of the Greek view of love. The Greeks had three terms for various aspects of love – eros, philos, and agape. Eros is romantic love, where sexual attraction is combined with a kind of chemistry. Philos is the love that grows out of friendship. It implies an intimacy, a sharing, a total comfort with one another. Agape is altruistic love. It is the love the Bible refers to when it speaks of one's soul being bound up in another soul. (Genesis 44:30) It is love as service to the other, being and giving for the welfare of the other. It is love built on empathy. It is the love when a man or a woman makes their spouse the most important commitment in their life.
I am convinced this kind of love does not come immediately, in the rush of romance, to a couple. It comes after they have established intimacy, after they have begun to build a home together. That is why I tell every couple planning a wedding, the true love comes after the marriage.


Have you heard of Bigbang? Not the TV show, the Korean boy band. They are basically the Korean Backstreet Boys and elicit all the fervor that boy bands usually do. These five young androgynous Korean boys are dominating what is currently the hottest pop genre – K-Pop.
K-Pop is big business and Bigbang is the biggest in the business, currently. Bigbang took home $44 million in earnings over the past year. That's more than the $33.5 Maroon 5 made, more than Dr. Dre's $41 million, and more than Jimmy Buffett's $40.5 million. That is how popular K-pop is right now and it is all thanks to the mastermind Yang "YG" Huyn Suk.
Yang is a former K-Pop idol who know owns and runs YG, his own publicly traded $630 million record label, talent agency, and concert promotions. His company is on pace to do a quarter-billion dollars in revenue this year. Yang is responsible for not just Bigbang, but also the entire modern K-Pop movement. Over the last handful of years K-Pop has been growing beyond the borders of Korea. It is fast on its way to becoming an international craze.
Consider the case of Psy and "Gangnam Style" – he still holds the all time YouTube record with more than 2.6 billion views since it debuted in 2012. That kind of worldwide popularity just wasn't possible 10 years ago. Back then the only ways to access K-Pop was via a specialty record store or illegal download.
The rise of K-Pop is a relatively recent phenomenon. Though Americans brought Western pop and rock 'n roll to Korea during the Korean War of the 1950s, it wasn't until the 1990s that the K-Pop sound began to emerge as a hybrid of American hip hop, European electronic music, and traditional Asian music genres. The resulting sound became known as K-Pop.
Yang was in high school at the apex of that movement. He spent his teen years mimicking the music of Soul Train and learning how to dance like Michael Jackson. In 1992, Yang, Seo Taiji, and a third member teamed up to create the band Seo Taiji and Boys. Their first hit, "Nan Arayo (I Know)," made Rolling Stone's list of the best boy band songs of all time.
Then, in 1996, at the height of Seo Taiji and Boys' popularity, Yang walked away. He immediately launched his K-Pop factory and record label, doing what Simon Cowell would do – plucking members from TV talent shows and pairing them with other contestents and talents to form a boy band strategically created for maximum appeal.
Yang's company is more than just a record label. He also acts as manager, concert promoter and talent agency. Recorded music is just 25% of Yang's revenue. Another 25% comes from live music, thanks in part to clients like Bigbang, which has been grossing an average of $2.6 million on its current world tour. Also on Yang's roster is girl group 2NE1, which sells out arenas worldwide and recently did an Addidas commercial with Nicki Minaj.
Psy, Bigbang, and 2NE1 may be making waves internationally, but by and large K-Pop is still a regional industry. South Korea brings in 40% of his revenues. Most of the revenue from international audiences comes from Japan and China. However, Western audiences are circling. Luxury brand holding company LVMH bought 12% of Yang's YG label for $80 million in 2014.
Yang has his eye trained on North America and its plethora of enormous stadiums and arenas. Currently, his acts are selling out at venues on both coasts. It would be a bad move to bet against Yang. K-Pop is taking over the world, he is making sure of it.


text:
MaddowBlog
From The Rachel Maddow Show
ALL MADDOWBLOG POSTS
Wednesday's Mini-Report, 1.29.20
Today's edition of quick hits.
Jan. 29, 2020, 10:30 PM UTC
Today's edition of quick hits:
* The White House has a problem with Bolton's book: "In a letter to former national security adviser John Bolton's attorney, the White House said Bolton's upcoming book contains classified information that must be removed before it can be published."
* On a related note, this was interesting: "Rep. Eliot Engel pushed back on President Donald Trump's claims that John Bolton didn't complain about the president's conduct toward Ukraine as the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman revealed a September call with Bolton in which the former national security adviser told him to examine the ouster of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine."
* Coronavirus: "The World Health Organization will reconvene its emergency committee Thursday to determine whether the coronavirus outbreak amounts to a public health emergency of international concern, as the total number of people infected in mainland China surpassed those infected with SARS during the 2002-2003 epidemic."
* What a mess: "The President just keeps contradicting his own DOJ, the House of Representatives' top lawyer said in yet another court filing Tuesday pointing out the Trump administration's clashing positions."
* No way to treat an ally: "The U.S. military said it began notifying nearly 9,000 South Korean contract workers that they will be out of work starting in April if the Trump administration and South Korean negotiators fail to reach a cost-sharing deal on the upkeep of 28,500 U.S. soldiers stationed in that country."
* Remember when the White House seemed to care about infrastructure? "House Democratic leaders are set to roll out their vision for a $760 billion, five-year infrastructure proposal that places a major emphasis on climate change, seizing on an issue that has become a growing concern for their party's activists and presidential hopefuls."
* The Fed: "In his press conference following the Federal Reserve's January meeting, which wrapped up on Wednesday, Chairman Jerome Powell said the Chinese coronavirus is a situation that bears watching, even as he stressed that the Fed's mandate would remain focused on U.S. economic growth. He also once again emphasized the many ways in which trade uncertainty has trickled into decisions made by both executives and policymakers, even as he sounded a reassuring town about the overall economic outlook."
See you tomorrow.
MORE: Today's Maddowblog
Dershowitz shocks with argument about Trump, political interests
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Friday's Mini-Report, 1.27.23

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Yesterday came suddenly
The Economist: IN "TIME'S Arrow", a novel by Martin Amis, the protagonist experiences time backwards. Eating involves regurgitating food into his mouth, sculpting the mush with his tongue, packaging it up and selling it to a grocery store. The passage on defecation is best left undescribed. Such a comic device More
People perceive future events closer than past
Business Standard: People perceive events in the future as closer than those in the past, as it helps them to approach, avoid or otherwise cope with the events they encounter, a new study has found. Researchers suggest that the illusions that influence how we perceive movement through space also influence More
Study: Moving Backward Alters Our Perception of Time
The Atlantic: When college students were asked to look one month either into the past or the future, they perceived the future as closer ("a really short time from now"), while feeling more "psychologically distant" from the past. Commuters at a Boston train center, when asked to do the same More
Events in the Future Seem Closer Than Those in the Past
People experience time as if they're moving toward the future and away from the past We say that time flies, it marches on, it flows like a river — our descriptions of time are closely linked to our experiences of moving through space. Now, new research suggests that the illusions More
My, What Big Teeth You Have! Threatening Objects Appear Closer
When we're faced with things that seem threatening, whether it's a hairy spider or an angry mob, our goal is usually to get as far away as we can. Now, new research suggests that our visual perception may actually be biased in ways that help motivate us to get out More
Social Cognition
Why The Trip Home Seems To Go By Faster
NPR: In 1969, astronaut Alan Bean went to the moon as the lunar module pilot on Apollo 12. Although the trip going to the moon covered the same distance as the trip back, "returning from the moon seemed much shorter," Bean says. People will often feel a return trip took More
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Core themes of focus include sustainable food & agriculture, health/wellness, climate solutions/resource efficiency and human elevation/social justice. Over thirty of Builders' founding Limited Partners are former operators & entrepreneurs: "Builders", committed to serving as operating partners to the fund and to supporting the entrepreneurs and leaders who are building businesses that improve the world.
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