time

They say time flies by when you are having fun. While I am having fun, it also flies by when your work week is Sunday-Wednesday and those days have lots of Torah in them. I'm learning all the time and trying to work hard and learn some Hebrew while I'm at it. I'm continually being reminded that I need to practice and study my words, but it is very hard to do after trying to listen to Hebrew all day. Concentrating on another language is an absolutely exhausting task. I'm surprised I don't fall asleep when I get home. Instead I zone out for awhile and can't fall asleep at a reasonable hour.

This week is a fascinating parsha entitled Hayei Sarah. It is named somewhat evasively, as the start is actually the death of Sarah. If one reads this opening connected to last week's parsha, one might think that Sarah died as a result of the Akedah, the binding of Isaac, the test between Gd and Abraham, a holy game of chicken, one might even say. Perhaps I'll backdate a post on the Akedah another time.

This week there has been much in the news about a controversial house in Hebron. It seems appropriate that Jews and Arabs should be arguing about a home in a town which is the center of this week's parsha. There, in Hebron, Abraham bought land to bury his wife. The negotiations are so intricate that they even form the basis of some of the laws of marriage (again a topic for another post). I do not claim to have an great insight into this week, but I do find it a striking coincidence that the news this week seems to fit so well into the parsha. So much of Israeli history is about land, the purchasing of land, the rights to land. The Torah aptly reflects and predicts this. On this theme, the parsha ends with the death of Abraham and the lineage of Ishmael. Even as Abraham wills the remainder of his assets to Isaac, it is explained that the children from his concubines (including Ishmael) were provided for and received substanial gifts of their own. Could oil be one of those gifts? Only Jews could take the one land in this part of the world that doesn't have massive oil reserves!

Of course, Thomas Friedman would say that is a gift. Not having oil, this nation is forced to develop its mental resources. It is forced to develop technology to improve its environment and the world. Essential parts and technologies for cell phones, computers, medical technology, water management and desalinization have all been created and/or improved in this tiny land. Perhaps that is the true inheritance of Isaac--ideas.

Abraham is famous not for his farming, not for his diplomacy, but for his ideas, for his relationship with the one Gd, for spreading this idea and offering it as a gift to all that would take it.

Abraham is famous for welcoming guests, for treating others with dignity, for attempting to save evil towns, and for being repeatedly tested by Gd. Sarah lived with this and according to Midrash, helped to convert others to their joint faith.

The central narrative of Hayei Sarah is Abraham's servant looking for a bride for Isaac. While Abraham does not ask that she have a good nature, his servant chooses a test that will require her to demonstrate her goodness, her kindness to animals. Rebekah passes this test by getting water for the servant's camels until they are full. As we were taught this week in Midrash class, she had to draw this water and lug it up a hill, one jar/bucket at a time for ten camels who had just gone on a great journey. That is truly menschligkeit. Such actions demonstrated that she too lived by ideas and ideals, for we know that one way of judging character is to see how someone treats their inferiors--and animals fall into this category. If she was to treat the camels so well, she would clearly be a good wife for Isaac.

What ideas does this week's parsha spark in you?
What questions does it raise?
Is time moving quickly or slowly for you?
Are you happy where you are and with what you are doing?
Do you need to go on a journey?
If you were to judge your life, how would you judge it?
What ideas are central to your life?
Shabbat Shalom.