A Thought on Parshas Vayishlach

"...ki b'makli avarti es haYarden ha'zeh..." "...for I crossed this Jordan with my staff..." (32:11) In his prayer to HaShem, Yaakov recalls how he had long ago crossed the Jordan River with little more than his walking stick, his staff. Rashi comments that when he fled from Esav years before, he had no riches, not livestock, only his lone staff. Then Rashi cites a cryptic midrash that when the verse says that Yaakov crossed the river with his staff, it does not mean that he only had that staff with him, but it means that he had used the staff in order to enable him to split the water and then walk to other shore. He crossed the river with the use of his staff. Rabbeinu Avigdor develops this midrashic approach and takes it even further. He notes that centuries later, after our nation forded the Yam Suf, the verse says "v'yar Yisroel es ha'Yad ha'Gedolah" (Shmos 14:31) - which we normally translate as "the Israelites saw that manifest miracle." Rabbeinu Avigdor observes that if this were the meaning of that verse, it should have said that "Benei Yisroel" saw the splitting of the sea. Instead, it only says "Yisroel." This is an allusion, he writes in the name of another cryptic midrash, that the verse is really referring to the patriarch Yisroel, who is Yaakov (as we learn later in this week's parsha). Our sainted forefather Yaakov "watched" his children, the Benei Yisroel, cross the sea in the same manner in which he earlier had crossed the river. It was a case of the formative acts of our holy ancestors generating the manner in which our later history and destiny would come about. He adds, with more midashic support, that the staff with which Moshe Rabbeinu "split the sea" was actually the very staff which had been used by Yaakov centuries before. That stick had engraved upon it the sacred name of HaShem. Thus, the "mighty hand" which was present at the Yam Suf was the hand of Moshe waving the staff which encased the ineffable name of the Mighty One. No one doubted at that moment that the events at the Sea were anything other than a revealed miracle.

A Thought on פרשת יוצא

"...v'shavti b'shalom el bais avi v'haya HaShem li le'Elokim..." (28:21) "...and if I return in peace to my father's home then HaShem will be my Lord..." Ya'akov, fleeing his brother and headed to an unfamiliar land, makes a vow. He pledges that if HaShem protects him on the journey and allows him to return safely home, then HaShem will indeed be his Lord. At first glance, this vow seems oddly worded. Yaakov is making a promise to HaShem and is in the Presence of HaShem. He is talking to G-d! Yet, as he wraps up his promise, he seems to make a condition. If HaShem protects and safeguards him, then HaShem will be his Lord. Isn't it clear that he has already acknowledged that HaShem is his Lord? Besides, who would make such a conditional vow? We usually pledge to give charity or to do some virtuous act if we are able to achieve or accomplish something. I do not know of anyone who has said to HaShem that he will accept HaShem if HaShem does something for him. I take that back. One of my chavrusas in high school later became involved in the 60s drug culture. Years later, he made a surprise appearance at my chasuna in Phoenix, Arizona and told me that he had been using LSD while at the Grand Canyon and had an epiphany, during which he said, "HaShem, I promise to believe in you if You will believe in me." He returned to Torah observance at that moment. But otherwise, who makes such vows? Now Rashi offers that Yaakov's intention with those words was not to stipulate a condition but rather his recognition that "protecting and safeguarding" him included the fulfillment of HaShem's earlier promise to Avraham that his descendants (such as Yaakov) would be a holy people. Being protected by HaShem meant that Yaakov would see fulfilled through his children that promise of having a family who would be known as HaShem's pious nation. That would demonstrate that HaShem was his Lord, the G-d of the patriarchs. Rabbeinu Avigdor, on the other hand, offers a very different interpretation. Yaakov meant that once HaShem would return him to the home of his father Yitzchak, he would be able once again to fulfill his own sacred obligations to HaShem. When a person is on the run, or in transit or traveling, there are many religious practices which can become a challenge or an impossibility. No sukka on the train, no minyan on the boat, no beggars to give charity to and so on...... Yaakov was declaring his advance awareness that being on the road and far away from his brethren would obviate his fulfiing various mitzvos. So, he vowed that upon returning home, he would once again be able to demonstrate that HaShem was his Lord through a fuller service of Him. On the basis of this p'shat, Rabbeinu Avigdor derives the p'sak that wayfarers are absolved from fasting on standard Fast Days. In order to serve HaShem as Elokim, it is understood that one must be, as Yaakov said, peacefully back in the Jewish home. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Toldos

"...va'yigdalu ha'na'arim..." "...and the young boys grew up..." (25:27) After introducing us to Esav and Yaakov, the Torah soon relates that they developed and went after their respective interests. It may seem a bit curious that the Torah even mentions that these two boys eventually matured. That is what everyone does. People grow up and take on adult identities. It is the way of the world and a fact of life. Why does the Torah tell us the obvious? Rashi may be attempting to address this question by bringing in a midrashic interpretation that the Torah is hinting to us that the transformations of Yaakov and Esav from young boys into well-defined personalities - one very righteous and one very nihilistic - were evident as soon as they entered adolescence. When the Torah writes that "they grew up", it means to tell us that they chose their life paths as soon as they stopped being children. That is not so common. In fact, it is rather discouraging. To think that any child, even way back then, and perhaps especially the sons and grandsons of our patriarchs had pretty much outgrown the influence of their parents and were poised to develop on their own so early in life! Rabbeinu Avigdor draws on another midrashic approach. He cites a view that sees our verse as an allusion to "growing up" in the religious or legalistic sense. The medrash teaches that the maturing of Yaakov and Esav entailed their entry into the age of personal responsibility. This turning point was the day in which those twin brothers turned 13. On that day, writes Rabbeinu Avigdor in the name of the medrash, their father Yitzchak Avinu stood up and recited the blessing "Baruch shep'tarani mae'onsho shel zeh" (Blessed is HaShem who has absolved me of liability for him). Rabbeinu Avigdor contends that the objective of our verse is to impress upon us something more than the development of a child's character and a parent's limited time to shape his or her personality. The Torah is telling us that a parent has a responsibility to build a child's religious and moral character as well. A parent bears some liability for a son or daughter, yet in our tradition, that liability closes once a child enters halachic majority. From that point on, we have already seen to it that our descendants know clearly that HaShem expects them on their own to walk in His ways. From his illuminating interpretation of our verse's message, Rabbeinu Avigdor codifies that a father is commanded to pronounce this blessing over his son at his bar mitzvah once he has read from the Torah. He rules that the father must stand aside his son and place his hand on the boy's head to display that this son is the subject of that bracha. He adds that this is the custom followed by the Jews of France. Good Shabbos. D Fox

A Thought on Parshas Chayei Sara

"...va'yish'tach'avu l'am ha'aretz..." "...and Avraham bowed to the local people..." (23:7) The Torah describes how Avraham completed the purchase of a grave site for Sara and himself. He appears to have closed the deal by bowing in the direction of the persons who agreed to the sale. What can we learn and derive from this gesture? Rabbeinu Avigdor writes that we conclude from this verse that one must give thanks when he has good news. He notes that the concept of bowing - hish'tach'avaya - is a behavioral representation of giving thanks. He illustrates this from scriptural and Targumic sources. He reasons that one can utter words of thanks, and one can also gesture thanks through bowing the head graciously. The more humbled one is when granted goodness, the more apt he or she is to find words inadequate. This is when one might portray their appreciation through a nonverbal or behavioral means. He notes that we bow to HaShem in key places, and that this is a gesture of sublime thanksgiving. Rabbeinu Avigdor goes on to illustrate how we bow at the beginning and end of the first bracha in our Amida prayer. This is known as the Bracha of Avraham; its ends by thanking HaShem Who is the Magen Avraham - the Shield of Abraham. He suggests that this "Bracha of Avraham" is modeled after the verse in Nechemia (9:6) which we recite each day near the close of pesukei d'zimra. The prophet proclaims "It is You alone HaShem... who selected Avraham." We see how thanks is proclaimed to HaShem for having chosen our Patriarch. This thought is captured in our initial praising of HaShem in the Amida, where we allude to that special selection of Avraham through verbalized thanks and by bowing. Rabbeinu Avigdor then directs our attention to the verse describing how Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, bowed in thanksgiving upon hearing good news, and he praised HaShem - ya'yikod ha'ish va'yishtachu la'HaShem va'yomer Baruch HaShem - (24:26). Following this, in verse 52, we find Eliezer bowing a second time. From here, Rabbeinu Avigdor says, we see an allusion to the rule that we must bow at both the beginning and the end of the Bracha of Thanksgiving (Modim and "HaTov Shimcha") later on in the Amida prayer. Rabbeinu Avigor endorses the practice of bowing when we give thanks to HaShem. It is interesting that he includes in this rule the practice to bow at the beginning and the end of the Birchas haTorah which a man says at an aliya, when he is called to the Torah. Although not all halachic authorities support that practice, Rabbeinu Avigdor rules that this is the proper way to thank HaShem for giving us His Torah. We thank Him in verbalized blessing and in behavioral gesture by way of bowing our heads as we say the brachos over and following Torah reading. This is the practice which I saw when I was a student of HaGaon Rav Simcha Wasserman zt'l, and which I continue to practice. Good Shabbos. D Fox