Akeidah
Temple Beth Jacob of Newburgh
Rabbi Larry Freedman
Rosh Hashana 5772
There are no fundamentalist Jews. What that means is that we don’t like to read a text and just believe whatever is written there. We always go for commentaries. We always want to learn what others have said and thought. The most devout, indeed the most observant of observant Jews first goes to the commentaries to understand what the Torah really means.
Our Torah study group, which requires no prior knowledge and no Hebrew (a shameless plug) is becoming very familiar with Rashi, that is Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzchak born in France in 1040. He’s a first stop in trying to understand the deeper meaning of Torah. Rashi is thought to have memorized the entire Torah, which allows his text to bring in words and phrases from one part of the Torah to the next. He was also brilliant both in bringing in his own ideas as well as being an aggregator, bringing in ideas others had written before him. Reading Rashi you get a good introduction to Torah darshanut, that is the ability to create a drasha, a sermon out of the text because it is not enough for us to read Torah and say, you must believe. Rather, we read Torah and then ask, “but what does it mean?”
And we have to because we are not fundamentalists. The akeidah, that means binding, is the name of the mere 19 p’sukim (verses) that tell the story of the binding of Isaac, the horrifying story we read every Rosh Hashana. God tests Abraham, already a mean spirited choice, by asking him to kill his son. And to this grotesque request we get a meek response of acquiescence. But in the last moment we get God sending a ram and because of that we have a shofar and that’s why we read it. Really? Are you kidding me? We read this terrible story in order to justify a shofar?
Well, no. We don’t. We read this story for many other reasons.
Here’s one. It’s a fable in reverse. At the time of Abraham, there were idolatrous tribes who did, in fact, practice child sacrifice. The idea that you would give something precious to the gods was customary in order to curry favor or show dedication. Many scholars presume that Abraham did not speak out against child sacrifice because the request would not have been a surprising one. Indeed, one could imagine Abraham, who was still trying to understand what this new God was all about, sighing as he learned that this God was no different than all the other gods who wanted child sacrifice.
But here, the end of the story gives Abraham a clear lesson. This is NOT what you should do. This is not the way we will operate. Do not ever offer a child and make sure that no Israelite ever does. The story has accomplished that goal. We have eradicated the very notion of child sacrifice around 3000 years ago. I share that historical use of the Akeidah because it is one of the best ways to discover that the lesson in the Torah is extremely profound even as it is wrapped around a very distasteful example. Unfortunately, that means we hardly need to read this story anymore to learn that lesson.
Fortunately, and you had to know this was coming, there are more lessons in the Akeidah. I could spend the rest of my career speaking about the Akeidah on Rosh Hashana. I just might do that. We’ll have to see.
In the meantime, let’s start with a little Rashi who can’t get past the first phrase. And honestly, I almost wish he had because he brings in a real humdinger of a comment. The first phrase is: va’yehi achar ha-d’varim[1], and it was after these things... That is to say, okay, we just finished a story and now we begin another story. But of course, anyone who knows even a little Hebrew knows that d’varim means things and it means words. So the akeidah could easily be understood to begin with the phrase, “and it was after these words.” Now, no good commentator ever takes the easy way so Rashi quotes earlier sages who asked, “what words and who said them?”
What words and who said them indeed. Rashi says this: There are those among our rabbis who say this means after the words of the Satan.
Satan exists in Judaism, a surprise for many of us. There is a notion of Satan as an adversary, a foil, as it were, for God. It is the not the story of a fallen angel, Satan is not the source of evil in the world. Indeed, all angels are ultimately part of God so Satan for Jews could no more be an opposite of God than my finger is the opposite of me. Satan is part of God. It’s just that sometimes aspects of God peel off and stand alone so that God can have a conversation that we can read and discuss. This is one of those times. A part of God, we’ll name that part Satan, peels off God to challenge God. Here’s the whole Midrash, the rabbinic imaginative sermon:
Abraham and Sarah, well into their 90s have a child Isaac. On the day Isaac is weaned, Abraham makes a party that includes a feast including some of his animals. This is a completely innocuous event. Perfectly normal but Satan causes trouble, stirs the pot. “You know,” Satan says to God, “With all that food and those animals roasted, I noticed that not a single thing was offered in Your honor. Does Abraham honor only his son?” God seems peeved and answers back, “Never mind sacrificing an animal to me. If I were to say to Abraham, ‘sacrifice your son’ he would do it.” And from there Satan says, “Prove it.”
I just can’t get over this interpretation, that the terror placed upon Isaac, the grief placed upon Sarah, the horror placed upon Abraham not to mention the annual repetition of this difficult story every Rosh Hashana is all based on a metaphorically testosterone fueled competition to show up the other guy. It is boasting and using human beings as a tool to make a point by God.
Of course, this is not the only interpretation. Rashi follows this amazing interpretation with another idea that is the complete opposite where Isaac willingly takes on the role of the sacrifice to make a point but we’ll save that one for another year.
Back to our first interpretation, after I calmed down from the idea that God is suckered into the events of the Akeidah, I could begin to see something else. There is an idea that no one is going to keep God from making a point, the idea that God leaps to prove Abraham’s faith. In a strange way, God is rushing to show that Abraham’s faith is complete and God will not tolerate even a hint of a rumor of a thought that Abraham could be anything but loyal, ready to live out God’s request.
I have to say, it’s nice to have someone rushing to have your back like that. It seems a bit stressful but it’s nice to have the support.
Abraham, meanwhile, does not complain but rather also wastes no time in showing his loyalty. Assuming he knew that this sort of thing was common, he could have tarried, he could have delayed, he could have quit the new monotheistic experiment right there. He could have said, well, this faith is no better than faith in those idols so forget it; I would rather have my son. And who would fault him for that? But that is not what he does. He keeps the faith. He keeps his faith and then some.
The text says, “vayashkem Avraham,” Abraham arose early. The word used, vayashkem, has a root word that implies early. That is more than just getting up in the morning. Vayashkem means rising early. Another word with the same root, hashkama, is used to mean reveille in modern Hebrew. And why did Abraham rise early? Because he had zrizut, he had a desire to jump on the task, to move swiftly. If this is what God asks, then Abraham was not going to tarry but use his sense of zrizut, alacrity to get to the task even if it is odious. That one word is a signal of how Jews are supposed to act when given a chance to do a mitzvah. We are supposed to jump at the chance. There’s an entire sermon in that one word, in that one idea that we should not hesitate to do a mitzvah. Offered the mitzvah of an honor to come up to the bima? We should accept with zest. Have a chance to give Tzedakah? We give willingly. See injustice? Loudly speak up. When you see a wrong do you rush to make it right or let it go? The Torah has hundreds of ethical mitzvot so the answer should be; we rush to make it right.
God knows that God has to stand up to Satan and squelch even the beginning of a rumor. Abraham knows he has to leap to do a mitzvah because he looks forward to doing a mitzvah and he doesn’t want people to imagine he is anything but dedicated. And isn’t that a good lesson for us? When someone starts to spread a rumor, we should rush to squash it. I don’t recommend creating the same sort of drama God opts for but we all hear things that we know are false or certainly don’t sound plausible and we all ought to challenge the speaker. We are called to stand up to falsehood and libel. As we reflect on our lives this Rosh Hashana we should consider not just the actions we have taken that are bad but the inaction as well. When did we not stand up to correct false information? When did we not stand up to defend a demeaning bit of gossip? When did we choose to enjoy gossip even though we knew it was hurting people?
And we should be like Abraham, filled with zrizut, rushing to do a mitzvah. And this may be our biggest challenge.
On the High Holidays, everybody comes out. We are all here together. And most of you enjoy the experience. Many of you express the same surprise that you really enjoyed being here for the reflection and the fellowship. You think maybe you’ll come on some Shabbat. And then many of you don’t.
The cantor and I will work to create compelling, meaningful experiences. We have great things planned: interesting courses, and lovely social gatherings. We have prayerful moments of reflection, opportunities to honor ancestors and a system of holidays that teaches ethical lessons while offering texture and joy to our lives. We are always striving to make these things more engaging.
What else do we need? We just need you to act with a sense of zrizut, acting with a sense of desire to do a mitzvah. We have to do it together. When was the last time you danced with a Torah on Simchat Torah? Many of you will say, last year. Many of you will have to scratch your heads to remember. This is one of our great joyful moments but too many of us just shrug our shoulders. Parents of our children aren’t bringing their children and adult members are just letting it go by. The same can be said for Purim and Sukkot and even Hanukah. I’ve had conversations with parents who never lit candles during Hanukah of all things because they were too busy. How can you be too busy for Hanukah? A little zrizut will make sure you won’t be.
Now, I don’t mean to yell. Yelling isn’t the point and guilt is worthless. What we need is a sense of purpose, a sense of desire and a sense of value. We have lost, among the Jewish people, a sense of value. Purim comes and too many of us think it’s either for children or we just don’t think it is worth celebrating even though it’s great fun and a story of self-reliance. This year we are going to add a quieter megillah reading in the daytime for those adults who want to have fun without 50 screaming kids. A yartzeit comes and we just don’t have the time to say kaddish for a parent mostly because we have lost the reason why that is valuable. We lost the reason of connecting with their soul through kaddish. Hanukah comes and we can’t see the reason why we should celebrate. We pass on the beauty of the candles and the story of strength. And then, of course, there are many intermarried families where the non-Jew is intrigued and interested but the Jew lacks motivation. For you we have a Mother’s Circle Class at the JCC. Three sessions for non-Jewish mothers raising Jewish children.
Lack of connection is a problem everywhere in the Jewish world not just here but as we come together at a new campus, as we enjoy seeing our neighbors and friends in the hallways of our new home, we have a chance to capture some of the zrizut we’ve lost. And this is a chance for you to share with me what you are looking for, what you hope to gain out of your synagogue.
This year we will try a new approach to family Shabbat where we will have an art project for the young ones during tefillot and lean towards the more contemporary side of our musical repertoire as well as an age appropriate sermon and include the kids with parts for them to lead. We have our introduction to Judaism class which is part introduction and part refresher for those who want to learn about Judaism from an adult perspective and I’m scheduling an adult trip to Israel in February 2013. By going at a more off-season time, we’ll save a lot of money and it won’t be too hot.
We are going to have a series about marriage and family issues and a gala vow renewal wedding ceremony in the spring.
We have great moments of spirituality where we try to understand our place in this world. We have social moments where we can gather among friends who share our heritage. We have moments of prayer where we can struggle with God and offer our most deeply felt concerns. We have a heritage that can improve the quality of your life, a heritage that adds richness and meaning to your life. Nothing less. Will you act with zrizut to capture this? Will you act as Abraham acted to embrace a mitzvah even if you are not quite sure how it will all work out?
Will you fight off your own personal Satan, that thing that holds you back, that little voice that keeps you from showing off your fullest potential? Because what we’ve got going here is magnificent. It is lofty and grand and important and meaningful. Grab it with the stirrings of zrizut and you will find yourselves blessed as Abraham found himself blessed more than he ever could have imagined.
No comments:
Post a Comment