Temple Sinai Members and Friends,
There is the well-known rabbinic phrase, sometimes recalled at funeral services, “Adonai gives, and Adonai takes, Blessed be the name of Adonai.” These words have the purpose of declaring that just as God is involved in the moment of the birth of a person, so too is God involved at the time that a person takes his or her last breath. As the Gospel song goes, “He got the whole world in His hand,” God has all of life, including death, in God’s hands. For many this is a comforting thought because it allows the person to know that as God is involved in all the events and experiences of our lives, yes all of them, we are NEVER ALONE. As it says in Psalm 118:6, “God is with me, I have no fear!” (also, the concluding words of Adon Olam as well as the title of one of my published books).
This week’s Torah portion is Vayeira, “And God appeared to Abraham in the terebinths of Mamre…” (Genesis chapter 18:1). The events of this parashah are well known to many and are extremely dramatic in their presentation. The portion of the week opens with three men, who turn out to be messengers from God, approaching Abraham while he is sitting outside his tent recuperating from his self-inflicted circumcision. It turns out that these three messengers of God have arrived to let this couple know that Sarah, who up until this point in her life (she was 90 years old) could not conceive, would have a baby in nine months. This elderly couple laughed at this news so that when the child was born, they called him Yitzchak, which means “This has to be a joke.” So, at this point in the biblical narrative, we find God, through God’s Angels, as the harbinger of life.
In the next scene, we find these same three angels, only two angels according to the Torah text, going to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, to wipe out their inhabitants as punishment for their misbehaviors, particularly for their sexual immoral practices. This becomes quickly evident with the story of Lot and how horribly and distastefully the three angels were treated in the city of Sodom. So, at this point we find God, through God’s Angels, as the harbinger of death.
I have always found this parashah particularly important in my own theological beliefs of God’s involvement with us, as it so poignantly shows how God is involved in everything in life, the good and the bad, and yes, the beautiful and the ugly. This is particularly evident in the famous event of God asking Abraham to take the life of his son Isaac, which is in this week’s parashah, chapter 22.
This Torah portion raises so many questions and I invite you on both Friday night and Saturday morning to explore them with me. We are commanded to “la-a-sok,” to wrestle, with the Torah text and thus we shall!
I look forward to teaching my two-part series on Kabbalah beginning this Thursday at 3 pm. You can either attend in person or on Zoom. There are two parts to Kabbalah studies, one being the theoretical and the other the practical. Part one, this week, will be the former as I will give an overview of kabbalah and its basic principles. In part two, the following week, I will take these principles and share some spiritually exciting meditative techniques. Even if you have not signed up, you are still welcome to attend.
Shabbat Shalom,
Your Rabbi Steve