Day: November 7, 2024

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By Rabbi Shloimie Lindenbaum

בט נא השמימה וספר הכוכבים אם תוכל לספור…כה יהיה זרעך (פרק טו פסוק ה)

Hashem tells Avraham to look up at the stars and attempt to count them. He then tells him, just as you cannot count the stars, so will be your children, unable to be counted. R’ Chaim Kanievsky asks that from the Gemara in Sanhedrin (39a) it is clear that the stars can technically be counted, but because they are constantly moving, one cannot practically count them. If so, how is it a blessing that Avraham’s children will be the same? The inability to count the stars has nothing to do with their abundance? R’ Chaim answers that just as the stars are not fixed in one place, and because they are moving, they look more numerous than they are, so too the Jewish people are constantly “moving”. We are always doing good deeds, especially acts of kindness and giving to other people. When we do for others and live for more than ourselves we count as more than one person. Someone who lives with an attitude of doing for the public good cannot merely be counted as one person- they count as many people, all those people that they enabled to grow. This is the promise that Hashem made to Avraham, his children will be like the stars, they will be constantly moving, growing in good deeds and acts of kindness, which will make them count as many more than their census numbers.

אני קל שקי התהלך לפני והיה תמים (פרק יז פסוק א)

When presenting Avraham with the mitzvah of מילה, circumcision, Hashem introduces Himself with the name ש-ד-י, which the Medrash explains as “the One Who said “enough” to the world”. What is the meaning of this and what does it have to do with the mitzvah of מילה? The Beis Halevi explains that when Hashem created the world, He gave it an ability to develop by itself- to an extent. For example, He allows a wheat kernel to grow, first as straw, then to develop into new kernels with flour. As time goes on, the kernel develops more and more into something usable. But He placed a limit on this, the kernel will never continue developing into a loaf of bread. That was the attribute of Hashem saying “enough”. He placed a limit on natural development and required a point at which there must be human effort and intervention to develop further. This was the introduction to the mitzvah of מילה, Hashem created the human body, but specifically stopped its development early, before the מילה, to allow and require human intervention to attain perfection.

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By Rabbi Naftoly Bier

In this week’s פרשה, we learn of two monumental, eternal בריתות, covenants that are formalized between Hashem and Avraham Avinu, our patriarch Avrohom.

The first time we are introduced to the idea of a ברית, covenant, is in פ‘ נח , Genesis 9:11-12, where the Almighty declares that he will never destroy living beings or the earth. He then designated the rainbow as an everlasting reminder to us of His decision. We are constantly made aware of the momentous truths on which the welfare of humanity depends; i.e. Shabbos, Bris Milah, Tefillin… It is not merely enough for us to intellectually comprehend, but we need continuous reminders.

ברית can be translated as a covenant, an oath, a bond, and as an agreement between two parties; where an act is demonstrated to eternalize the idea or to make it enduring, irrevocable, and an innate, immutable facet of Hashem’s world.

We are introduced this week to the first covenant between Hashem and Avrohom Avinu, Genesis 15:18-21. This type of ברית is stated in Yirmiyahu 34:18. From this we learn that it was an acceptable manner in which covenants were established. The “two parties” would take a live animal, split its body in half and would walk through between the dismembered parts. Initially it seems to be a very strange ritual!

Rav Yosef Albo, ספר העיקרים שער ד, פרק כ“ד enlightens us with a profound explanation. The concept was based on the means of demonstrating that to truly engender an everlasting bond of mutual, irreversible, and relentless love, care, responsibility, and dedication to one another, to attain a level of unity where each party obligates to experience the other’s joy, concern, pain, suffering as if it’s their own, necessitates a bonding of two people merging into one body, one entity. This isn’t easily attained by thought.

When a person or any living creature has pain in one part of their body, the whole body suffers; it’s a law of nature. If for example a limb is disconnected from the body, then the rest of the body doesn’t feel it.

To demonstrate this idea, Hashem commanded Avrohom Avinu to take animals and dismember them in the middle, placing each half corresponding to the other half. He then walked between the pieces to demonstrate that just as these pieces were one entity – one body – and each part felt the pain of the other, and only death caused a separation, so too the two parties are inaugurating immutable, irreversible unity that can’t be terminated. The practical, logical, and honest application is that when one feels, senses, or perceives the affliction, detriment, or injury to the other, one immediately is there to assist. Simultaneously, one always shares their inner thoughts, passions, and sensibilities.

The גמטריא, numerical value of אהבה, love, is 13, the same as אחד, one; for true love is when an unequivocal sense of oneness is achieved. This explains why immediately Hashem revealed to Avraham Avinu the 400 years of hardship; doesn’t a covenant of love dictate caring and benevolence?

At that moment, Hashem was inculcating in Avrahom Avinu that true love had been consummated! “I feel the pain your descendants are going to experience; their pain is Mine, I empathize with you for עמו אנוכי בצרה, I will endure your sorrow as if it’s mine!

But in case, Avrohom Avinu’s descendants, Klal Yisroel, are not worthy that Hashem bestow His infinite kindness and mercy on them, Hashem proclaimed a second covenant, which is ברית מילה, the covenant of circumcision (17:7-13). The fact that the covenant is indelibly etched on the male’s body is a mystical connection that can never be relinquished, for it is a perpetual sign of allegiance to Hashem for an individual’s lifetime and eternally for the Jewish people.

Rav Yosef Albo lived in Spain during one of the most difficult eras of Jewish history – from 1380 to 1444. It was the time of relentless religious persecution on the part of the Catholic Church and Christian society in general. The first Spanish Inquisition took place in 1391. The Bubonic Plague’s impact was still felt, the Hundred Years War between France and England started in 1337, and the pope took residence in France from 1309-1377. All this strife and insecurity was blamed on the Jews.

Rav Yosef poignantly writes, “Even in these terrible times when we are mired constantly in pain and persecution, we shouldn’t lose hope; for though today we are akin to a person on his deathbed, we should never lose hope. For when we see the אות הברית, the sign of Hashem’s covenant of love inscribed on us, we know without doubt that due to this closeness we will return to our original state of strength, glory, and spirituality.” The message is eternal, invigorating, and inspirational for us in these difficult times.

After the עקדה, Akeida, Genesis 22:16, “Hashem swears… because you have done this and not withheld from me your only son, I will bless you…” The רמב“ן , Nachmanides explains that though this was promised already (13:27) it now became a covenant not dependent on our actions, that despite everything, we would one day witness the complete redemption and rectification of all, with the coming of Moshiach. This idea is repeated by the רמב“ן in .דברים לג:מ May we merit to see כבוד שמים speedily restored.