Transcript
Okay, Boker tov, good morning everyone. It's great to see you. Great to resume our parsha class, and to have the privilege to study פרשה לך לך parsha Lech Lecha together. A special thank you to Mendy and Sally Klein who are sponsoring this morning's learning in honor of their anniversary. A very, very happy anniversary. כן יהי רצון Ken yehi ratzon. If you would like to sponsor one of the coming weeks and have it listed in the weekly, please be in touch with Linda or in the office.As is our custom, we're going to do an overview of the whole פרשה parsha, review of the whole פרשה parsha, and then we'll come back בעזרת השם be’ezrat Hashem we'll have time to look at specific פסוקים psukim. פרשת לך לך Parshas Lech Lecha does not begin where last week's פרשה parsha left off. There's a little bit of a break. I'm not going to review a דבר תורה dvar Torah I'm very fond of giving. You could listen online, but at the end of last week's פרשה parsha, you see that Terach embarks on the same journey as אברם Avram, only he doesn't make it to the destination, אברם Avram does. A big distinction between אברם Avram and Terach in that way. But our פרשה parsha begins with an introduction to אברם אבינו Avram Avinu. ויאמר השם אל אברם Vayomer Hashem el Avram, or an introduction to God speaking to אברם Avram. God speaks to אברם Avram and tells him those famous, immortal, iconic words, לך לך lech lecha, go. Go where? Normally you tell someone go, the goal is to give them a destination where they should go to. Here, the destination remains unknown, the destination remains a mystery, but rather השם Hashem simply tells them where to embark from. לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך Lech lecha me'artzecha, mimoladetecha, umibeit avicha. Now normally you do that when you don't like someone. So if someone's in my house, someone's in my office, I had it with them, they're frustrating me, I say, go forth. Get out. And they say where? As long as you're out of here, מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך me'artzecha, mimoladetecha, umibeit avicha, just get out of here. I don't care where you're going. So what, השם Hashem has had it with אברם Avram? Get out of here? לך לך Lech lecha where? אל הארץ אשר אראך El ha'aretz asher areka. There's an element of trust. It's mysterious. השם Hashem doesn't tell him where it is because the emphasis is not the destination. The emphasis is not the geographic location where אברם Avram will arrive. Obviously it's a big part of it, the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein Habsarim, the promise of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael, the promise of the land of Israel to our people is critically important, but that's not the main focus. השם Hashem says I'll show you where that is. Don't worry about the coordinates to put into the GPS. For now all you need to know, it's time to leave here. And there's three levels of leaving here: מארצך me'artzecha, and ממולדתך mimoladetecha, and מבית אביך umibeis avicha. And this is not the section that we're going to study this morning, but each of these are are significant and symbolic of of something else. Rebbe Saloveitchik in the Rebbe Saloveitchik חומש Chumash says לך לך lech lecha, according to רש\"י Rashi, the semantics of לך lecha mean for your sake, להנאתך ולטובתך lehanatcha uletovatcha, for your benefit. There in the land to which I'm sending you, I'll make you a great nation, but only there. You can't become who you're meant to be here. You need to develop your own individual identity. You need to form yourself. It's not going to happen here. It'll happen there. Indeed here we come across a very strange motif that winds like a scarlet thread through the entire Torah. Beginning with Sarah, many of the women in the Bible were barren. It took a long time, great effort, many prayers, many sleepless nights, a lot of despair, almost resignation until השם Hashem grants them a child. השם Hashem tells אברם Avram, if you remain in אור כשדים Ur Kasdim you will live in luxury, but you will be worthy of the privilege of having children only in the land of כנען Knan. The word לך lecha also hints at action that is not to be repeated, but is final and ultimate. If God had wanted אברם Avram merely to visit the land of כנען Knan, he would have said only, לך lech, go, and I'll show you where, לך אל הארץ אשר אראך lech el ha'aretz asher areka. But God meant for him to leave the past, to blot out his memory, to emigrate from his country to a new country. A further meaning of לך לך lech lecha is go alone. God's intent was to separate אברם Avram, to break up his life and make him forget the past and start anew. לך לך Lech lecha commanded a psychological break with אברם's Avram's past, with his ancestral family and tradition. So the Rav's פשט pshat in לך לך lech lecha is not not just the geographic location, but he tells אברם Avram, this is every parent's worst nightmare when they send their kid off to Israel for the year. You want your child to develop and discover who they are but not in a way which separates them from their past. We are a people that are steeped in our past. But אברם Avram didn't represent the middle of the story, he's the very beginning of the story. And for the story to have a launch, for it to have a beginning, he has to transcend his past. ארצך ממולדתך מבית אביך Artzecha, moladetecha, u'beis avicha represent family, culture, society, influence. אברם Avram has to somehow transcend them to go on this journey of self-discovery. When God told אברם Avram, the Rav continues, לך לך lech lecha, he was in essence telling אברם Avram, your assignment is to make my presence known to the world. You must, and this is very important because as his children and disciples, this is our charge as well. Writes Rebbe Saloveitchik, God, השם Hashem was telling אברם Avram, you must dissipate the clouds that obscure me from perception. The שכינה Sh'china, the divine presence, indeed resides with us on earth. We encounter שכינה Sh'china continually. Yet, השם Hashem is not clearly revealed to us. He is hidden from the view. Right, he himself describes, בענן ba'anan, השם Hashem is in the cloud. He's indeed close, but he doesn't reveal. The hand of God in human events is not revealed, he's hidden. The obscuring cloud takes on a number of guises. For the physicist, the cloud is a mathematical formula. For the biologist, it is a biological reaction. For the psychologist, it is drive. For the general, it's the power of the army. The cloud is any manifestation of nature or man that promotes the illusion that the world operates autonomously, concealing the reality that השם Hashem is responsible for all that occurs on earth. אברם Avram was commanded to disperse the obscuring cloud in all of its forms. In a certain sense, a prophet is a wanderer, a nomad. He dwells wherever השם Hashem wills him to abide. השם Hashem commanded אברם Avram to move continually from place to place, with a task to fulfill and a message to convey. השם Hashem wants אברם Avram to reach out, not waiting for people to come to him. In this פסוק pasuk, the Torah describes the destiny of the prophet. So לך לך lech lecha is a description, not only of אברם Avram, but of the reality for us, a wandering people, a people who are not waiting to be reactive, but are charged with a mission to be proactive, to shape and to mold and to repair the world. And how do we do it? By dissipating the obscuring cloud. Every generation and every person, and in every society, there is another cloud that seeks to hide השם Hashem, another form of worship: the mighty dollar, elected officials, celebrities or athletes, mother nature, science, mathematics, it can come in so many different forms, but whatever form, it's the same theme of trying to hide השם Hashem. אברם's Avram's mission and ours is to reveal השם Hashem to the world. Not hide our religion, not be defensive or apologetic about our religion, but to be the offspring of אברם Avram is to wear our religion on our sleeve, not in a holier than thou judgmental sense, חס ושלום chas v'shalom, but in a bringing other people close to השם Hashem kind of sense, in trying to elevate the world to enrich the world around us. That's לך לך lech lecha. Where the destination? Don't worry. You're going to be a nomad, you're going to wander. You need to find people, you need to fix my world, you need to bring me to them, dissipate the cloud so that so that they can find me. The נתיבות שלום Netivot Shalom, the Slanimer Rebbe has a little bit of a different פשט pshat. The נתיבות שלום Netivot Shalom says, what is לך לך lech lecha? לך לך Lech lecha, this is very powerful, I shared this several years ago on שבת שובה Shabbat Shuva when we talked about finding our mission in life, what is our unique, distinct mission? Who are we? Yes, we are all bound together by a same system of הלכה halacha. Yes, we're part of one people, which we'll talk about in a moment. But within that, there is individualism. Within that, we each have a unique mission. If we woke up this morning, מודה אני, רבה אמונתך modeh ani, raba emunatecha. השם Hashem, your אמונה emunah is great. Not only my אמונה emunah in you, but your אמונה emunah in me. How do I know your אמונה emunah in me is great? How do I know? Maybe השם Hashem has lost all faith in me. How do I know השם's Hashem's אמונה emunah in me is great? How do I know? It's not a trick question. How do I know? Because I woke up this morning. If I'm alive and I woke up this morning, I have more to accomplish. I have a mission, I have what to do. And the Slanimer Rebbe says, this is what השם Hashem was telling אברם Avram, the first עברי Ivri, the first Jew, what he's telling him and he tells each and every one of us, is that life is a journey of לך לך lech lecha. Could have just said, לך אל הארץ אשר אראך lech el ha'aretz asher areka, go to the land. That's not the journey. The journey is לך לך lech lecha. Let me read to you, the Rebbe writes inside in his נתיבות שלום Netivot Shalom. He says, יש לומר ענין דע עבודה בשם האר\"י הקדוש, אין אדם דומה לאדם מיום בריאת האדם והלאה. ואין אדם אחד יכול לתקן מה שחברו לתקן Yesh lomar inyan da'i mivneh b'yesod ha'avodah b'shem ha'Ari ha'Kadosh, ein adam domeh l'adam miyom bri'as ha'adam v'halah. V'ein adam echad yachol l'sakein mah she'chavero l'sakein. No two people are alike. We don't have the same DNA, we don't have the same appearance, we don't have the same thought process, we're not born to the same family, we don't have the same socioeconomic status, we don't have the same athletic ability, artistic ability, IQ. We're all different, and that's undeniable, and nobody debates that. Therefore, we each have a different mission and role in the world. היינו שלכל אדם יש יאודו ותפקידו, אותו עליו לתקן בחייו Haynu she'lechol adam yesh ye'udo v'tafkido, oso alav l'sakein b'chayav. Each person has their mission, what they need to accomplish in life. ובכלל זה גא ייעוד המיוחד עבורו ירד לעולם לתקן היא דע U'vichlal zeh ga emuna ha'meyuchedet avuro yarad la'olam l'takken ki yadua, and it's why we're here. Make no mistake. We're not here what we can get out of the world, we're here what we can give to the world. The world is not full of our rights and privileges, the world is about duties and obligations. והקדוש ברוך הוא מאמין לכל אדם לתקן את נשמתו ותפקידו, יכול אדם לתקן את אשר תפקידו לתקן V'HaKadosh Baruch Hu ma'amin l'chol adam l'sakein es nishmaso v'tafkido, yachol adam l'sakein es asher tafkido l'sakein, and so on. And says the Slanimer Rebbe, based on this, he says that's the פשט pshat in לך לך lech lecha. What השם Hashem was telling אברם Avram was, לך לך lech lecha. Go figure out who you are, not as the result of ארצך ממולדתך ומבית אביך artzecha, moladetecha, umibeit avicha, not just the sum total, the composite of your parents, of your society, of your neighborhood, of the culture, of the media. לך לך Lech lecha, go identify and figure out who you are and what you uniquely bring to the world, and that is your mission. And that's how our פרשה parsha and that's how our journey, that's how our story begins. השם Hashem didn't choose אברם Avram. When I have time to get into this now, but השם Hashem didn't choose אברם Avram, אברם Avram chose השם Hashem. We're not the chosen people, we're the choosing people. אברם Avram chose השם Hashem, and השם Hashem reciprocated and said, okay, you get it. You understand what the world's all about. So, what I intended to do for the whole world, they don't get it. That's the דור המבול dor hamabul and דור הפלגה dor haflaga and קין והבל Kain v'Hevel and קנאה תאוה וכבוד kina, ta'ava, v'kavod, they don't get it. You get it. So therefore, because you get it, I will use you and your offspring as a microcosm of what the world was meant to be. But השם Hashem didn't choose us, he didn't reciprocate that choosing of us in order for us to feel superior, better, more entitled. He chose us because we have a mission, we have what to accomplish. So he begins the story of our collective mission by talking about אברם's Avram's specific mission, the mission that we all have of the לך לך lech lecha. Promises him, I'm going to make you a great name, והיה ברכה v'heyei bracha, you're going to be a ברכה bracha, ואברכה מברכך va'avarecha mevarechecha. ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה V'nivrichu vecha kol mishpechot ha'adama. And all of the people of the world will be blessed through you. Why are they called the משפחות האדמה mishpechot ha'adama? They're all going to be blessed through you. I have a thousand things over here. What does it mean ונברכו בך v'nivrichu vecha? So, here's the second thing I want to share with you. We're going to get to our section that we're going to study. But the פרשה parsha is so rich, there's so much to share. So here's the second. It comes from, it comes from Rebbe Schechter's relatively new ספר sefer, Rebbe Schechter on the פרשה parsha. So Rebbe Schechter here talks about that אברם Avram is told to go to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. There, אשך לגוי גדול escha l'goy gadol and the פסוק pasuk then says you'll be blessed by the משפחות האדמה mishpechot ha'adama. אברם's Avram's descendants, we are called, somewhat ironically, a גוי goy. גוי גדול goy gadol. We're the גוים goyim. Huh, we're the גוים goyim, turns out. We're the גוי goy. And what are they? They're the משפחות האדמה mishpechot ha'adama. A משפחה mishpacha is a family. They're the families of the earth. The הלכה halacha says that only the Jewish people, we are the only nation that's called a גוי goy. We say in מנחה Mincha, מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ mi ke'amcha Yisrael goy echad ba'aretz. There's only one גוי goy. Right again, it's ironic that we call non-Jews the גוים goyim, some disparagingly, hopefully not disparagingly, but we, it turns out, are the גוי goy. גוי אחד בארץ Goy echad ba'aretz is a פסוק pasuk in דברי הימים Divrei Hayamim. Rebbe Saloveitchik, Rebbe Schechter quotes, explained the word גוי goy is related to the word גויה geviya. A גויה geviya is a body. Only כלל ישראל Klal Yisrael is viewed as a singular entity to which the term גוי goy may be applied. Rav Hirsch has a similar idea in his commentary as well. So, they are משפחות האדמה mishpechot ha'adama, they're a conglomerate of separate families. But we are a גוי goy, a גויה geviya, we are one body, we're one entity, we're one whole. It's something so much more. Rav Yosef Engel demonstrates the concept can be found in the גמרא נזיר Gemara Nazir. The גמרא Gemara says נזירות nezirus only applies to one who belongs to a ציבור tzibbur. And so a non-Jew can't be a נזיר nazir. A non-Jew is not subject to the laws of טומאה tumah or to the דיני נזירות dinei nezirus. Why? It's based on a פסוק pasuk that talks about, כי איש איש אשר יטמא ולא יתחטא ונכרתה הנפש ההיא מתוך הקהל ki ish ish asher yitma v'lo yischato v'nichreta hanefesh hahi mitokh hakahal. You're only subject to טומאה tumah, and by extension you only qualify to be a נזיר nazir if you're part of a ציבור tzibbur. A non-Jew can be part of a משפחה mishpacha, a family, a nuclear unit, but they can't be part of a greater unit. There is nothing interconnecting them. They're a conglomerate. You know, American citizens all have in common America, but that's all we have in common. There's nothing more inherent or intrinsic about us. If one of us moves and becomes a citizen of another country and gives up the citizenship to America, there goes that thing that connected us. There's nothing intrinsic. Whereas, only the Jewish people as a nation, scattered across the globe, speaking different languages, living among different cultures, dressing in different ways, but still we are a גוי goy, a גויה geviya, we're one body, we're one entity, we're one whole. Wherever there's a mixed marriage, Rav Schechter writes, in which one parent is a כהן kohein and לוי levi, the other is not, the status of the child is determined by the יחוס yichus of the father. This is based on the פסוק למשפחותם לבית אבותם l'mishpachosam l'veit avosam, according to the family, according to the father. Same is true regarding non-Jews. When the two parents come from different nationalities, certain nations like the מצרים Mitzrim and אדומים Edomim and עמלקים Amalekim have a special status in הלכה halacha. If there's an intermarriage between two different nationalities, status of the children is determined based on what the status of the father alone. Why then is it that in a case of a mixed marriage between a Jew and a non-Jew, רחמנא ליצלן rachmana litzlan, the lineage does not solely follow the father? Right, if כהן kohein and לוי levi, ישראל Yisrael goes after the father, if מצרי Mitzri, אדומי Edomi, עמלקי Amaleki goes after the father, why, when a Jewish woman marries a non-Jewish man, why, or a non-Jewish woman marries a Jewish man, why does it follow the mother, not the father? There were three opinions among the תנאים Tannaim as to the parental requirement. Both parents be Jewish, either the father or the mother be Jewish, or we just follow the mother. It's תוספות יבמות דף ט\"ז Tosfos Yevamos daf tet zayin. First two opinions were rejected over 2,000 years ago, and the accepted opinion, as we know, is only to follow the mother. What about the fourth possibility that wasn't even raised, which was to only follow the father? That wasn't even one of the opinions among the three. It was either only the mother or either the mother or the father or both the mother and the father. Why wasn't it even a consideration that you just follow the father? So Rav Schechter writes, the reason seems to be based on the distinction we made above between a גוי goy and a משפחה mishpacha. We follow the lineage of the father to determine which משפחה mishpacha the child belongs to, both in the case of the non-Jewish משפחות האדמה mishpechot ha'adama, as well as in the case of משפחות כהונה ולויים mishpechot kehuna and lvi'a. However, determining whether someone is Jewish or not is not a function of משפחה mishpacha. It comes, it's a function of גוי goy, of being part of a Jewish nation. He says the same thing is true about גירות geirus and how you join on. He says this is the פשט pshat. I'll just leave you with this. The גמרא יבמות Gemara Yevamos with our פסוק pasuk, ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה v'nivrichu vecha kol mishpechot ha'adama. השם Hashem promises אברם Avram, all the nations of the world will be blessed through you. So the גמרא Gemara interprets the word ונברכו v'nivrichu like from the word להבריך lehavrich. להבריך Lehavrich means to graft. And the מדרש midrash says רות המואביה ונעמה העמונית Rus ha'Moavia v'Naama ha'Amonis, both were grafted onto the Jewish people. Converts can join. You can't join a family. You can marry into a family, but you're still not biologically part of that family. But a גוי goy, you can join. When you convert and join that nation, you are as much of the part of the nation, even as those who were born into it. So it's a fundamental difference. The other nations of the world are משפחות mishpachos, whereas we uniquely are גוי אחד בארץ goy echad ba'aretz. And along those lines, I'll tell you before we continue today's the יארצייט yahrtzeit of the Piaseczna Rebbe, zatzal. השם יקום דמו Hashem yikom damo, Rav Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna. He's just a tremendous, tremendous individual. We've studied many of his works together and have made references to him. His אש קודש Aish Kodesh, which were the sermons he gave in the Warsaw ghetto, he was killed today, the fourth of חשוון Cheshvan in the Trawniki labor camp after losing his whole family. But his sermons that he gave in the Warsaw ghetto were ultimately in a canister, they were buried together with the עונג שבת Oneg Shabbat archives, and they were reprinted when they were discovered shortly after the Holocaust. They've been reprinted several times. Just recently, they've been reprinted again by a scholarly edition, really correcting the original edition was so quick to get out, it wasn't true to the manuscript, the Rebbe's own own handwriting. And there's a a greater edition that came out. Also, Dr. Henry Abramson who used to live here in South Florida is now a dean of Touro in Brooklyn, just put out, last week, I just got the book, it's amazing, where he traces these sermons of the אש קודש Aish Kodesh of the Piaseczna in the historical context in which they're being given. When you read the אש קודש Aish Kodesh, when you read the sermons of the Piaseczna Rebbe, the דרשות drashos he was giving on שבת Shabbos in the Warsaw ghetto, you would have no idea, he doesn't ever use the word Nazi, Holocaust. So you understand that there's something much more that he's talking about. He talks about self-sacrifice and the עקידה akeidah of today and he's describing, if you understand the context, you can see it in the writing, but he doesn't explicitly reference it. So what Dr. Abramson does is, he traces what was going on in the ghetto in the Holocaust historically, calendrically, on the שבת Shabbos that it was originally given and gives the context for the דרשה drasha in a really extraordinary fashion. I highly recommend it. Piaseczna Rebbe was an extraordinary individual. Rav Moshe Weinberger whose shul is named Aish Kodesh after the Rebbe, it's really promoted his Torah and since then it's really spread. His חובת התלמידים Chovas HaTalmidim, מחשבת אברכים Machsheves Avreichim, his his בני מחשבה טובה Bnei Machshava Tova, his ספרים sefarim are are an absolutely incredible. So in חובת התלמידים Chovas HaTalmidim, in the opening chapter of his ספר sefer, חובת התלמידים Chovas HaTalmidim, a student's obligation, which is a student's duty, obligation, it has been translated, he writes the following, I'll read it to you in English, because it should be לעילוי נשמתו l'ilui nishmaso, and it's relevant to our פרשה parsha and what it means to be part of a גוי goy, of a גויה geviya, of one body. He writes, if you're discouraged because your immediate ancestry is undistinguished, lift yourself up and gaze beyond, deeper into your past. You are descended from holy men and women, from prophets, from the sages of the Mishna and Talmud, from great rabbinic masters and צדיקים tzaddikim. The Talmud states, גמרא סוכה Gemara Succah, that the people of Israel, if they are not prophets themselves, are at least children of prophets. It's clear from the context that the Talmud is not referring to the distant past, but means to suggest that even now a spark of the prophetic power of his ancestors is to be found within every Jewish child. All you have to do is dig for it and you will discover it within you. A beautiful message of the Rebbe, and as we learn about אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov and שרה רבקה רחל ולאה Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah, we should remember our יחוס yichus, where we come from and who we are and the potential that we have and what it means to be part of that גוי goy, what it means to be part of that גויה geviya. Somebody just shared with me that the Lubavitcher Rebbe, someone, זצ\"ל zatzal, was talking to him about someone who he described has no background. So the Rebbe said, what do you mean he has no background? Doesn't he come from אברהם יצחק ויעקב Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov? So, even in the way that we speak, you see that theme. We all have יחוס yichus, we all have a great background. It's where we come from, it's what it means to be part of one, of one גויה geviya. Continuing, Avram comes to כנען Knan. And shortly after he's there, he and Sarah head down to Egypt. They come down to Egypt. Interestingly, in Egypt, I was thinking that Sarah could write hashtag me too. Her experience in מצרים Mitzrayim. I don't mean that in to make light. I mean it in a serious way. Those issues go back as far as our matriarch Sarah herself. So they come down to מצרים Mitzrayim and the Ramban writes that Avram is accountable for what he did with Sarah. It's a whole separate topic. Are do we have license to criticize the אבות ואמהות Avos v'Imahos? The Ramban certainly felt he had license, though the text doesn't say it and חז\"ל Chazal don't say it. The Ramban says that Avram did the wrong thing by Sarah in how he positioned her and what he and what he did to her. So we have the episode which really is a precedent. Again, we've spoken about in the past, you could listen online. Our פרשה parsha also launches this dichotomy, this distinction between ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael and מצרים Mitzrayim, not just as geographic locations but as philosophies of life. You see it in terms of Avram is sent to כנען Knan but then he goes down to מצרים Mitzrayim. You see it in the sense that Lot when he turns a direction which way he's going to go, he's attracted to and he's faced, he's turns to, excuse me, and he's attracted to the philosophy of מצרים Mitzrayim. In our פרשה parsha, השם Hashem tells Avram, your children are going to go down to מצרים Mitzrayim. So there's מצרים Mitzrayim is not just a coincidence, it's not randomly on the border of Israel. There's an entire tension between the philosophy of a מצרים Mitzrayim and the philosophy of ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael is the land that השם's Hashem's eyes are on constantly. It's the land where we rely only on rain, it requires אמונה emunah, whereas מצרים Mitzrayim is irrigated from the Jordan. מצרים Mitzrayim is a place that's morally decadent, it's a place that's morally corrupt, it's a place, what did I say? The Nile. I'm sorry. It's a place that has resources so that it doesn't feel it needs השם Hashem and ultimately forgets השם Hashem and you see that tension. They return to ארץ ישראל Eretz Yisrael. Here, Avram and Lot run into this philosophical disagreement and they part ways, they go in a in a different direction. And then we have the war of the kings. Four and five kings. Lot is captured, Avram asserts himself into the war, he's constantly rescuing his nephew Lot, and when he does at the end, he is awarded and comes to this peace treaty which in this context Avram is given a certain name. What's the name that Avram is given? If you look in פרק י\"ד perek yud daled, פסוק י\"ג pasuk yud gimmel, it's on page 62. ויבוא הפליט ויגד לאברם העברי Vayavo hapalit vayaged l'Avram ha'Ivri. The fugitive came and told Avram the first time we see this name, he is the עברי Ivri. Why is he called Avram the עברי Ivri? And we too carry that distinction. We too carry that names. So רש\"י Rashi says the term עברי Ivri means he came from the other side of the river, מעבר הנהר me'ever hanahar. He's from the other side of town. He's from, he's from out of town. He's from the other side of town. Avram's origin was אור כשדים Ur Kasdim. He was an immigrant to כנען Knan. Since he came from the other side, he's an immigrant, he's called the עברי Ivri, from the other side. So in the Rebbe Saloveitchik חומש Chumash he writes, the question arises, however, why are the people described as Hebrews forever? Okay, we're immigrants forever. We're עברים Ivrim, from the other side of town forever. Can't we get rid of that name? Can't we move on? Why is השם Hashem called the God of the Hebrews? Why did the prophet Yonah, for example, identify himself as a Hebrew? Apparently, the term Hebrew is more than a geographic designation. Hebrew became the symbol of Judaism, of the faith of our nation. According to the מדרש בראשית רבה Midrash Bereshit Rabbah, Avram is called עברי Ivri because he stands מעבר אחד me'ever echad, as one side, while the rest of the world stands on the other side. Avram took the vision of the creator of a new world order, a new morality, separated himself from the rest of the world, ideologically. His descendants continue to carry that title. The Jews have crossed many rivers, lived in many lands, but in a spiritual sense, we have remained rooted over the river on the other side with the heritage of sanctity and purity. So, מעבר me'ever means that Avram came from the other side of the river, but we are forever עברים Ivrim, which means we have in our DNA, since we descend from Avram, we have the capacity to be willing to be on the other side. The whole world thinks that the normal culture is to do X, we know that we need to have Y, we have to have the courage to stand on the other side and stand up for modesty, stand up for monotheism, stand up for Jewish values, stand up for definition of marriage, stand up for the principles, the values, even when the whole world shifts and they become on one side, we have in our ability, we have in our DNA the capacity as the offspring of Avram to be on the other side, מעבר me'ever, to be willing to stand up on on the other side. You know, this notion that we are a גוי אחד בארץ goy echad ba'aretz, this notion that we're all the descendants of אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu, we have the greatest יחוס yichus, that we're one body, we're one entity, I'll tell you two things last week were amazing. Last week I had to travel twice. I went to Chicago and I had to go to New York. So when I was in Chicago, I davened in the morning in a shul in Chicago, Rav Mintz's shul, A KINS. And at the end of davening, they say Tehillim, and then they read a mi shebeirach for cholim. And I guess they have a list of names. Taking off my tallis and tefillin, I'm listening with half an ear, and all of a sudden when they're reading the list of cholim, I hear a name very familiar to me, Baruch Tzvi ben Rivka Basya, somebody from our own community we're all davening very hard for. I literally got goosebumps. I thought I'm halfway across the country in another shul I'd never been in before, in a room full of strangers, and then you hear they're davening for someone they don't know, but they heard, they heard who needs the tefillos. That's what it means to be part of a גוי אחד בארץ goy echad ba'aretz. That's what it means to be part of one entity. That's what it means to be interconnected. When I flew back, I'm walking through the airport Fort Lauderdale, and there's a חסידישע ייד Chassidishe Yid who walks by me, it was Friday morning, and he says to me, a גוטן שבת gutn Shabbos. I said, a גוטן שבת gutn Shabbos. I was blown away again. Why? Normally you see another Jew, you just do like the Jew nod, like, you know, Jew, Jew, good, nod, you keep on walking. He said, a גוטן שבת gutn Shabbos. I said a גוטן שבת gutn Shabbos. I thought to myself, I had been in four airports that week, four airports. I walked by thousands of people. We're all Americans, we're all citizens. I even saw some with Yankee hats on. Right? We didn't stop and talk, we didn't exchange a greeting, we didn't connect, we didn't make eye contact, we didn't nod, because our interconnection is superficial, it's peripheral. But here I saw this ייד Yid, I don't know his name, I don't know where he's from, I don't know where he's going to, I know nothing about him. But he said a גוטן שבת gutn Shabbos and I said a גוטן שבת gutn Shabbos. You know why? Because we're part of a גוי אחד בארץ goy echad ba'aretz. We're part of one גויה geviya, one body, one entity, one people. That's what it means. That's what's so special about it. I don't think a Frenchman visits another country and sees another Frenchman, they feel as connected as we do when you're wherever you are in the world and you see a יארמולקע yarmulke. Or there's another frum family, or there's, and you're just, oh, it's משפחה mishpacha. There's משפחה mishpacha. There's גוי אחד בארץ goy echad ba'aretz. That's what it means, and it began here in our פרשה parsha with אברהם אבינו Avraham Avinu.Sodom is defeated, Lot is taken captive, Avram saves him. They want to give Avram honor, he rejects it, מחוט ועד שרוך נעל mi'chut v'ad sroch na'al. He doesn't take anything, he doesn't want anything. Then we have השם Hashem reassures Avram, the ברית בין הבתרים Bris Bein Habsarim. All of this is worthy of great study, some of which we've studied before. We have Hagar and יִשְׁמָעֵאל Yishmael, that Sarah, שרי Sarai at the time, realizes Avram can't realize the dream of progeny, of a future, through her, and generously and graciously offers Hagar. Hagar is given the promise of יִשְׁמָעֵאל Yishmael. We have new names and a new destiny, the obligation of ברית bris. Sarah's name is changed. Avram does a ברית bris on יִשְׁמָעֵאל Yishmael and his whole household, and that is the end of the פרשה parsha.Let's go back to the section we're going to study today, which is פרק ט\"ז, פרק י\"ז, פסוק א' perek tet zayin, perek yud zayin, pasuk aleph. Chapter… 17 verse 1. It appears on page 72. 72, thank you. Page 72 in the Artscroll Stone חומש Chumash.Very good.Okay. ויהי אברם בן תשעים שנה ותשע שנים Vayehi Avram ben tishim shana v'tesha shanim. Where are we in the פרשה parsha? After Hagar and Yishmael. Now Avram is 99 years old. ויהי אברם בן תשעים שנה ותשע שנים Vayehi Avram ben tishim shana v'tesha shanim. וירא ה' אל אברם ויאמר אליו אני א-ל שדי התהלך לפני והיה תמים Vayera Hashem el Avram vayomer elav ani Kel Shakai hishalech lefanai v'heyei samim. Avram's 90 years old, Hashem appears to him and he says, I am and he gives this enigmatic name that we'll decipher in a moment, introduces himself. התהלך לפני והיה תמים Hisalech lefanai v'heyei samim. Walk before me and be תמים tamim. What is be תמים tamim? Be תמימות'דיק temimusdik. והיה תמים V'heyei tamim. What does to be תמים tamim mean?Complete. How is one complete? Okay, have a family. If you have a family, you're complete? מילה Mila. If you have a מילה mila, every person with a ברית bris is is תמים tamim? Be perfect. Nice. What does that mean? What does this mean? What does this mean? משפחה Mishpacha. Okay, what does that mean? Anyone have a definition which I will understand what it means? Whole. What does that mean? Whole, complete, perfect. So far I don't understand. What? Potential to be pure. Have the potential to be pure? Oh. So what does תמים tamim mean? So first of all, let's see Rashi. אני א-ל שדי, אני הוא שיש די באלקותי לכל בריה Ani Kel Shakai, ani hu sheyesh dai b'Elokusi l'chol briah. There is enough within me for everybody, says Hashem. די Dai. Hashem is perfect. Stop searching, stop looking, stop going elsewhere, invest and forfeit yourself entirely to me. לפיכך התהלך לפני, והיה לך לאלוקה ולפטרון L'ficha hisalech lefanai, v'heyei lecha l'Elokah u'l'patron. So if you invest in me, if you stick with me, if you connect with me, then I will be for you what you're looking for. Because I I'm די dai. I everything, I have everything. די Dai, like דיינו dayeinu? די Dai. I have everything. וכן כל מקום שהוא במקרא פירושו כך, די שלו, והכל לפי הענין V'chen kol makom shehu b'mikra peirusho kach, dai shelo, v'hakol l'fi ha'inyan. די, דיינו Dai, dayeinu, it all means Hashem is enough. And that's the root. Rashi's telling us his פשט pshat. The root of this name of Hashem, שדי shin-dalet-yud, Rashi's quoting חז\"ל Chazal, but that the root of this name is שדי shin-dalet-yud, that name of God is די dai. Whatever you're looking for in the world, you can find it in Hashem. Whatever you need and are relying on from the world, you get it from Hashem. Enough. Hashem is enough. He is everything. He is everything.So therefore, now you understand the the פסוק pasuk. If ויהי אברם vayehi Avram, Avram's 99, Hashem says to him, look, I'm די dai. I got it all. I'm everything you're looking for. I'm everything you need. I can provide everything you want. And therefore, התהלך לפני hithalech lefanai. Rashi says, הדבק בעבודתי Hidabek b'avodasi. Cling to serving me. You think you're so invested in the stock market? You think you're so invested in the fashion? You think you're so invested in society? You think you're so invested in whatever you're so invested in, invest in me because I'm in charge of all that. שדי Shin-dalet-yud, די dai. I control it all, so if you really care about that, then the best way is הדבק hidabek, cling to דבקות dveikus in me. In the אמונה emunah shiur on Wednesday mornings, we began last week, we're learning the Slonimer Rebbe's פרקים prakim on דבקות dveikus. What is this מצוה mitzvah of דבקות dveikus? What does it mean to cling to Hashem? What is דבקות dveikus? The מהר\"ל Maharal and Ibn Ezra and others, the Slonimer Rebbe quotes, all say that if you reduce all of Torah and מצוות mitzvos, they're all an exercise and a platform for achieving דבקות dveikus. Why did you sit in a סוכה sukkah? For דבקות dveikus. Why are you listening to the שופר shofar? דבקות dveikus. Why are you wearing a טלית ותפילין tallis and tefillin? דבקות dveikus. Why are you lighting the שבת Shabbos candles? דבקות dveikus. Why are you honest in business and not talking לשון הרע lashon hara? דבקות dveikus. We're spending Wednesday mornings understanding what that means and how we can achieve it. You can listen online if you can't make it in person. But דבקות dveikus, here you could add this Rashi to his, the Slonimer Rebbe's collection of מקורות mekoros, because here he writes התהלך לפני hisalech lefanai. Because I'm שדי shin-dalet-yud, התהלך לפני hisalech lefanai. הדבק בעבודתי Hidabek b'avodasi. Cling to, stick to, the root of the word דבקות dveikus is דב\"ק dalet-beis-kuf, דבק devek. דבק devek is in modern Hebrew, glue. Hashem says, stick to me like glue. Stick with me, stick to me, and I'll have your back.And now you understand what והיה תמים v'heyei samim means. What is והיה תמים v'heyei samim? How are you whole or complete? אף זו ציווי אחר ציווי. היה שלם בכל נסיונותי Af zo tzivui achar tzivui, heyei shalem b'chol nisyonoysai. Be complete in all of my tests. And how is one complete in tests? By relying and having faith and leaning and depending on Hashem. How are you whole? You know how you're whole with Hashem? When you don't also believe, bless you, in superstition, and you don't also subscribe to nonsense and נארעשקייט narishkeit and put your faith in other things. When you put your faith in other things, you're believing in נארעשקייט narishkeit. Rav Wolbe zatzal writes, Rav Wolbe writes there's a very danger, big danger in being תמימות'דיק temimusdik. והיה תמים V'heyei samim is to be תמימות'דיק temimusdik. תמימות'דיק Temimusdik is like innocent, pure. What happens sometimes to people who are innocent and pure? They can be taken for a ride. So the innocent or pure person thinks that I can, I'm going to do that superstition. I'm going to listen to that fake מקובל mekubal. I'm going to follow that that, that's not what it means. We are people that don't believe in astrology or astronomy. We don't believe in horoscopes and superstitions. We don't believe in this nonsense. There's Torah prohibitions against witchcraft and and the things, כישוף kishuf, and against all these things. והיה תמים V'heyei samim means don't invest yourself in that. Don't read fortune cookies. Eat the cookie, be humored by the by the company who wrote us the fortune inside, but don't believe, wow, can't believe I got this just today when I'm going through this thing and it must mean that. That's כישוף kishuf. That's that's not והיה תמים v'heyei samim. והיה תמים, תמים תהיה עם ה' אלוקיך V'heyei samim, tamim tiyeh im Hashem Elokecha. התהלך לפני והיה תמים Hisalech lefanai v'heyei samim means דל\"ת יו\"ד dalet yud, that there's enough in Hashem. You don't need horoscopes, you don't need red bendels, you don't need ayin hara, you don't need shtick, you don't need all the shtick. You look around in the Jewish world, everyone knows I rail on this at least twice a year. You look around at the Jewish world and there are people neglecting the real thing for fake things. Hashem is the biggest סגולה segula. We have 613 סגולות segulos, it's called מצוות mitzvos. I say this example all the time. Every day in shul, I see people come late, talk while they're in shul, leave early, but before they leave, they open up and read their פטום הקטורת pitum haktoret from a קלף klaf because there's one מקור makor, the כף החיים Kaf HaChaim who says it's a סגולה segula for פרנסה parnasa. So they neglect, it happens to be a whole הלכת'יק שאלה halachik shailah, you're not supposed to write a פרשה parsha on a קלף klaf separate from all the the פרשיות parshiyos, but leave aside the halachic challenge of it. But you come late to shul, you talk while you're in shul, you have no כוונה kavana while you're דאווענען davening, you run out early, and you think because you embraced the סגולה segula, that's going to do it for פרנסה parnasa? You want פרנסה parnasa, have some כוונה kavana during ברוך ה' לעולם Baruch Hashem l'olam. You have an audience with the king of kings. It's like sitting in the Oval Office and you're neglecting the president because you're texting because somebody said if you forward this message to 10 other people, then the president will definitely listen to what you have to say. So you tell the president, listen, just be quiet, just stand over there. One minute, I'll be with you in a minute. I'm sorry I'm late and I got to go already, but I got to forward this message to 10 other people because I heard that if I forward a message to 10 other people, then the president listens to me. President looks at you and said, listen to you? Now I have no interest in you. So that's what והיה תמים v'heyei samim means. Because אני א-ל שדי ani Kel Shakai, because I am דל\"ת יו\"ד dalet yud, because I'm enough for you, I should be enough for you. If I'm not enough for you, then I'm not really interested in you. So the greatest way to achieve whatever we want out of that סגולה segula is to realize that the biggest סגולה segula is אמונה ובטחון emunah u'vitachon. The biggest סגולה segula are Torah and מצוות mitzvos and we're an עם סגולה am segula. You think the מפרשים meforshim on the פסוק pasuk עם סגולה am segula say, we're a nation that wears red bendels? No. עם סגולה Am segula means we're a nation that are עוסק בתורה osek b'Torah and מצוות mitzvos. That's what, that's what it means.Rashi expands. התהלך לפני במצות מילה hithalech lefanai b'mitzvas milah. ובדבר הזה תהיה תמים Uv'davar hazeh tiyeh tamim. Some of you were alluding to it. Maybe התהלך לפני hithalech lefanai, we're about to read in this section, Avram's charged to go get a ברית bris. Avram is not yet perfect, he's not yet done. He bought the suit, the label's still on it. You gotta take the label off to finish the suit. The threads, sometimes the fancier suit have these threads you got to pull out, the last way to complete the suit. So Hashem says התהלך לפני במצות מילה hithalech lefanai b'mitzvas milah. Go now and do that last act והיה תמים v'heyei samim, and then you will be perfect. שכל זמן שהערלה בך אתה בעל מום לפני shekol zman sheha'orlah b'cha atah baal mum l'fanai. As long as you have the עָרְלָה orlah on you, you're a בעל מום baal mum. So how are you והיה תמים v'heyei samim? That's how you're והיה תמים v'heyei samim when you will go, when you will go remove it. Okay. The Ibn Ezra has a different פשט pshat in this name. Writes the Ibn Ezra, מִגזרת שודד migizras shoded. שדי Shin-dalet-yud, Rashi played on the דל\"ת יו\"ד dalet-yud component of the שדי shin-dalet-yud. The Ibn Ezra sees the ש-ו-ד-ד shin-vav-dalet-dalet, שודד shoded, which means to vanquish or to overpower. שודד, שהוא מנצח ומתגבר Shoded, shehu menatzei'ach u'misgaber. God is, he's the most powerful. He is the mightiest. He is the source of absolutely everything. Rav Soloveitchik writes in his חומש Chumash, the מדרש Midrash records that prior to his circumcision, Avram mingled with others and gathered many adherents. When Hashem commanded him to become circumcised, Avram was concerned that an insurmountable barrier would be placed between him and his neighbors. Hashem responded, it is sufficient for you, דייך dayecha, that I am your God. God assured Avram by explaining that if one has a relationship with Hashem, then needs no one else to obtain fulfillment. Hashem in essence responded to Avram, you may lose others, but you'll never lose me. The name שדי shin-dalet-yud as explained by Rashi is a composite of אני הוא שיש די באלקותי לכל בריה ani hu sheyesh dai b'Elokusi l'chol briah. At first Avram thought that his mandate was to convert the entire world. His mission was primarily a universal one as a father of a multitude. Avram traveled through large segments of the civilized world to spread monotheism. He thought that he would complete the process in his lifetime. The Almighty told him, די dai, enough, suggesting a limit to the expansion of Avram's circle of followers, a limitation that would result from his circumcision. God's plan was instead to develop a nation small in number but powerful in path. Very interesting. So by now revealing himself to Avram, until this point, the נפש אשר עשו בחרן nefesh asher asu b'Charan came earlier in the פרשה parsha. Avram and Sarah were transformative leaders already. They ran the first mega shul. They had an arena, 50,000 people, they preached to every שבת Shabbos. Avram and Sarah were transforming the world. And now Hashem introduces himself to Avram and he says, good. I want you to kickstart monotheism in the world. But your main mission is not to transform the world, you have a much more narrow mission, and that narrow mission, the symbol of is that I'm introducing you now with my name of די, דל\"ת יו\"ד dai, dalet-yud. He was telling Avram, דייך dayecha, די dai, it's enough with trying to change the world. Now, your offspring, your family, your children, it's time to invest in them. The name refers to Hashem specifically in his role performing miracles. The חִידָ\"א Chida explains that the name derives from the fact that Hashem is משדד meshaded the laws of nature. He causes them to be broken in order to bring about such miracles. Along similar lines by using different etymological root, Ibn Ezra says is Shaddai is derived from the word שודד shoded, robber, expressing the notion that God robs the laws of nature in order to fulfill his word. Very powerful. Hashem tells Avram, Avram, you're, you're a people person. You have lots of friends. I know I'm asking you to embrace a value system and a lifestyle which may alienate you from your friends, but I don't want you to ever think you're alone. You are never, ever alone because you always have me. At the end of our Yom HaShoah program last year, when I was interviewing Martin Greenfield, it should be well, and I asked him, after you lost your parents, your siblings, your spouse, after you lost everything in Auschwitz, how did you have אמונה emunah, how did you have faith? How did you keep going? And he said, said, you know, I lost my biological parents. I had no father or mother. Should I lose my father in שמים shamayim too? Of course, what kind of a question? I only had one father left. What was I going to walk away from him? It's most powerful, one of the most powerful things I've ever heard. And that's what Hashem is telling Avram. No matter what happens to you in this world, כי אבי ואמי עזבוני ki avi v'imi azavuni, no matter what happens to you in this world, whoever abandons you, or whoever loses this world, leaves this world, whatever people are alienated from, know דייך dayecha, די, שדי dai, shin-dalet-yud, that name of God is that you'll always have me, and I should be enough for you. Not bad, we did one פסוק pasuk today. Not bad. Let's keep going. We're going to try to double our our record this year so far.פסוק ב'. ואתנה בריתי ביני ובינך וארבה אותך במאוד מאוד Pasuk beis. V'etnah brisi beini u'veinecha v'arbeh oscha b'me'od me'od. And I put this ברית bris between me and you, and I set this ברית bris, and I will increase you most exceedingly. I will make you great. ויפול אברם על פניו וידבר איתו אלקים לאמור Vayipol Avram al panav vayedaber ito Elokim leimor. Avram falls on his face and God speaks to him. Avram now falls on his face and God speaks to him. Rashi says, אתנה בריתי etna brisi, what ברית bris is this? ברית של אהבה, ברית הארץ, לאורישך על ידי מצוה זו Bris shel ahava, bris ha'aretz, l'horishcha al yedei mitzvah zu. This is a love, a covenant of love. ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein habsarim doesn't have a whole lot of love. ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein habsarim is filled with fear. ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein habsarim is, that that's, ברית בין הבתרים Bris bein habsarim is very scary. So this, Rashi says in distinction, this next ברית bris, ואתנה בריתי v'etnah brisi, is ברית של אהבה bris shel ahava. It's a ברית bris of love. It's a promise of the land. ויפול אברם על פניו, ממורא השכינה Vayipol Avram al panav, m'mora haShechinah. Out of a fear for the שכינה Shechinah he falls on his face, שעד שלא מל לא היה בכוח לעמוד ורוח הקודש ניצבת עליו she'ad shelo mal lo haya b'koach la'amod v'ruach hakodesh nitzeves alav. Here God's talking to him, but until he had his ברית bris, until he was שלם בגופו shalem b'gufo, until he was complete, he didn't have the energy, the strength to stand when he was receiving נבואה nevuah. So he fell. ויפול על פניו Vayipol al panav, he fell on his on his face. Something interesting in this פסוק pasuk that's not happened until now, and that is, this is the first time that Hashem spoke to Avram where he reveals himself with the name אלקים Elokim. Until now, לך לך lech lecha, it's been revealing himself using the name י-ק-ו-ק Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. אלקים Elokim was not mentioned at all. It's only in the context of the מצות ברית mitzvas bris that אלקים Elokim is used. And Rav Soloveitchik suggests that maybe this is because אלקים Elokim is used entirely in the first פרק of בראשית perek of Bereishis, the chapter dealing detailing creation. Through the מצוה of ברית mitzvah of bris, the idea of man's self-creation comes to expression. What is foreskin if not waste remaining on one's body, refuse that man can remove himself. Circumcision symbolizes the partnership of man and God in creation. So here we have the use of the name of Hashem that we saw only back in בראשית Bereishis, in בריאת העולם brias ha'olam, in creation, to tell us God began creation using that name, and now God is recruiting Avram to be his partner in creation. He didn't finish. The ברית bris is our expression of being a partner with Hashem in creation. That's our charge, that's our task, that's what we are accomplishing. That's why we have that's done through the ברית bris, through the blood. The blood of the ברית bris is our willingness to sacrifice, it's מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh. Where else do we have blood from a מסירות נפש mesiras nefesh with the Jewish people? מצרים Mitzrayim, the willingness to put the blood on the doorpost. The נביא יחזקאל Navi Yechezkel captures this. We say it at every ברית bris. בדמייך חיי בדמייך חיי B'damayich chayi b'damayich chayi. With the blood of ברית מילה bris milah and with the blood of מצרים Mitzrayim, that's how our people live. What do they have in common? It's the exact same theme. Why didn't Hashem need us to tell him which was a Jewish house and which wasn't? He couldn't go on Google Maps and figure it out? Hashem had no idea? Why we had to put the sign on the outside of the door? The Almighty, omnipotent, infinite, this שדי, שדי shin-dalet-yud, Shakai, who can do everything, דייך dayecha, he couldn't figure out which was a Jewish home? אלא מאי Ela mai, what's the answer? Hashem says, look, I'll take you out of מצרים Mitzrayim, you need to have skin in the game. Pun intended, I guess. You need to have skin in the game. I'll take you out of מצרים Mitzrayim, you have to be my partner. What are you willing to do? What are you what what risk are you willing to take? Are you willing to slaughter the god of the Egyptians? You willing to identify your home with putting a the blood on the doorpost? You take a risk, you show me you're my partner, amen, I'll finish it up, I'll redeem you. ברית מילה Bris milah same thing. Hashem says, I created you, I brought you into this world. Now be my partner in creation, finish the job. Be my partner and finish the job. And this is why we get up when we open the door for אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi. I always say this וורט vort. Why do you have to get up? אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi can't come through the chimney? אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi can't walk through walls? He could be in every house simultaneously, but he needs me to open the door for him? Again, what what's the idea? אליהו הנביא Eliyahu HaNavi is coming to bring a message of redemption. I can't expect redemption if I'm not willing to get up off my chair. I can't sit back reclining in my couch waiting for the גאולה geulah. I have to get up off the couch. I have to get up off the chair. בדמייך חיי, בדמייך חיי B'damayich chayi, b'damayich chayi. Hashem says, using the name אלקים Elokim, a throwback to creation, be my partner in creation. Be my partner in redemption.פסוק ד'. אני הנה בריתי איתך והיית לאב המון גוים Pasuk dalet. Ani hinei brisi itach, v'hayisa l'av hamon goyim. As for me, this is my promise. You're going to be a father of many nations. ולא יקרא עוד את שמך אברם והיה שמך אברהם כי אב המון גוים נתתיך V'lo yikarei od es shimcha Avram v'haya shimcha Avraham ki av hamon goyim nesasicha. Your name is no longer אברם Avram, your name is now אברהם Avraham. This is the the name change and the and the role change as well.Rav Soloveitchik, I'm quoting the Rav a lot, because I like his new חומש chumash today. We don't only study the Rav, but today tapping into the new חומש chumash. He writes, with the emergence of Avraham, the founding of a new kind of community, the covenantal one, the vague role of fatherhood and the all-observing experience of motherhood were redeemed. Fatherhood in the covenantal society is the great educational commitment to the מסורה mesorah, the tradition, the freely assumed obligation to hand down, to pass on the covenant, a message, a code, a unique way of a life, a tradition of משפט וצדקה mishpat u'tzedakah. In the covenantal community, the father is promoted to teacher, and in his role is ipso facto shifted from the periphery to the center on par with that of the mother. No more should a childless couple feel desolate and forsaken because the Almighty did not bless them. The barren woman may lack the natural mother experience, but she can attain covenantal if not natural motherhood by choice, by commitment, by helping others, by contributing towards the strengthening of the covenantal community, by exposing children of other parents to the word of Hashem. When the letter ה hei was added to Avram's name, he became Avraham, the father of many nations, the spiritual father of all he taught. Natural procreative Abramic parenthood was denied to the childless couple, yet the creative Avram parenthood is a challenge which everyone is summoned to meet. So to be the father, the אב המון גוים av hamon goyim, means that we can be a father. We just had this in the דף daf, that when you teach someone else Torah, you're their parent. So we have the ability when we teach others Torah to walk in the footsteps of Avram, who was the אב המון גוים av hamon goyim, the fatherhood that's not a biological fatherhood, but the fatherhood of being a teacher and the fatherhood of being a of being a guide.פסוק ו'. והפריתי אותך במאוד מאוד ונתתיך לגוים ומלכים ממך יצאו Pasuk vav. V'hifreisi oscha b'meod meod u'nesaticha l'goyim u'melachim mimcha yeitzeiu. And you're going to spread, you're going to promulgate, there'll be many that come from you. You'll be fruitful and kings will descend from you. Who are these kings that will descend from you? כנסת ישראל Knesses Yisrael, the Jewish people. It's talking about the greatness and the role and the responsibility that we have. והקימותי את בריתי ביני ובינך ובין זרעך אחריך לדרותם לברית עולם להיות לך לאלקים ולזרעך אחריך V'hakimosi es brisi beini u'veinecha u'vein zaracha acharecha l'dorosam l'vris olam, lihyos lecha l'Elokim u'lzaracha acharecha. To fulfill this ברית bris and Hashem will be their God. ונתתי לך ולזרעך אחריך את ארץ מגוריך את כל ארץ כנען לאחוזת עולם V'nasati l'cha u'lzaracha acharecha es eretz megurecha, es kol eretz Canaan l'achuzas olam. And where will you do this? Where will you fulfill this vision? Avram began by being transforming the entire globe. Now Hashem narrows him down and says, now focus, דייך dayecha, it's enough, די dai, it's enough. Now retreat and focus on your family. Create a mini nation. Create one nation among the nations who will be a microcosm of for the world. And where will you do that? Where will they realize that? In ארץ כנען Eretz Canaan. והייתי להם לאלקים V'hayisi lahem l'Elokim. ויאמר אלקים אל אברהם ואתה את בריתי תשמור אתה וזרעך אחריך לדורותם Vayomer Elokim el Avraham, v'atah es brisi tishmor, atah v'zaracha acharecha l'dorosam. Hashem tells him, now observe my ברית bris. זאת בריתי אשר תשמרו ביני וביניכם ובין זרעך אחריך Zos brisi asher tishmeru beini u'veineichem u'vein zaracha acharecha. And this is the ברית bris, ובין זרעך אחריך u'vein zaracha acharecha. המול לכם כל זכר Himol lachem kol zachar. Here's the first task, here's the first mission. I want you to circumcise yourself. Rashi says ביני וביניכם, אלו שבאותו הדור beini u'veineichem, eilu sheb'oso hador, whoever exists now, ובין זרעך אחריך, העתידים להוולד אחריך u'vein zaracha acharecha, ha'asidim l'hivaled acharecha. So this obligation of a ברית bris applies to you now and to all who will be born after you, after you. And why are you doing this? The ספורנו Sforno writes, לאות ברית l'os bris. What's the reason for it? זכרון תמידי ללכת בדרכיו בהיותו כחותם אדון בעבדו Zikaron temidi laleches b'drachav b'heyoso k'chosam adon b'avdo. It is a permanent sign that you're walking in the way of Hashem. All of Torah and Mitzvos are there to transform the physical into spiritual. There is no greater symbol, there's no greater opportunity to transform the purely physical into spiritual than where the מקום הברית makom habris takes place. The sexual urge and appetite of man is something which can be base and animalistic, it can bring one down, or if channeled in the most appropriate way, it can be transformative and elevating, in the right context, in the procreative context, in an intimate loving marriage context, and so on. In the Rambam has to include the laws of of of of איסורי ביאה issurei biah, where does he put these laws, the laws of intimacy? Which book of his 14 books does the Rambam put it in? He puts it in his book of קדושה Kedusha. Why? Because in other religions, you take a vow of celibacy, of abstinence. How do you become holy? By not engaging in physical pleasure. In our religion, holiness is absolutely engaging in physical pleasure, but transforming it to being a spiritual experience, elevating it from the realm of the physical to the realm of the spiritual. So when the Rambam lists הלכות איסורי ביאה hilchos issurei biah, he lists it intentionally, categorizes it among קדושה kedusha, in the volume of קדושה kedusha, because for us, we don't abstain, for us we engage, but we elevate, we uplift. That's why the ברית bris takes place, specifically where it is. It's a symbol that that's our entire mission is to do that in every which way. The way we eat, the way we sleep, the way we talk, the way we engage, the way we do commerce. ונמלתם את בשר ערלתכם והיה לאות ברית ביני וביניכם U'nmaltem es basar orlaschem v'haya l'os bris beini u'veineichem. ובן שמונת ימים ימול לכם כל זכר U'ven shmonas yamim yimol lachem kol zachar. Eight days, יליד בית ומקנת כסף yelid bayis u'miknas kesef, everyone has to have it at eight days old. At the end of the פרשה parsha, Avram Taka has his ברית bris. Avram's 99 years old, בהימולו בשר ערלתו b'himolo basar orlaso. We'll end with this. Who did Avram's ברית bris? Who was Avram's מוהל mohel?Who was Avram's מוהל mohel? So, it doesn't say. It says we are now פרק י\"ז פסוק כ\"ד perek yud zayin pasuk chaf dalet. It says בהימולו b'himolo. בהימולו B'himolo is, notice the דקדוק dikduk, בהימולו b'himolo. It doesn't say, it's ambiguous, when he was circumcised. So the פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer and תוספות ראש השנה י\"א ע\"א Tosfos Rosh Hashanah yud-aleph amud aleph, both say Avram's ברית bris happened on יום כיפור Yom Kippur. The ברית bris, the first ברית bris ever took place on יום כיפור Yom Kippur, and the פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer says the מוהל mohel was שם בן נח Shem ben Noach, Noach's son Shem. He was the מוהל mohel. Rashi quotes a different interpretation. That's the פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer. Rashi quotes another פשט pshat. בהימולו, נטל אברם סכין ואחז בערלתו B'himolo, natal Avram sakin v'echaz b'orlaso. Avram did it on himself. רצה לחתוך והיה מתיירא שהיה זקן rotzah lachtoch v'hayah misyarei she'hayah zaken. But he was 99 years old. 99, you don't have the steadiest hand. He got a little nervous. His hand was shaking. מה עשה הקב\"ה, שלח ידו ואחז עמו Ma asah Hakadosh Baruch Hu, shalach yado v'achaz imo. Hashem grabbed Avram's hand and did it together with him. So either פרקי דרבי אליעזר Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer says שם בן נח Shem ben Noach. Rashi quotes the חז\"ל Chazal that Hashem grabbed Avram's hand and did it together and did it together with him as as well. A lot more to talk about and intended on talking about a lot more, but we have to stop here. Have a great week.
