D’var Torah – November 7
I hope this finds you all well.
There’s a Facebook meme that I have often seen posted this time of year. It goes something like this:
“If you eat today, thank a farmer.
If it’s on your table, thank a trucker.
If you eat in peace, thank a veteran.”
For Americans, there is a lot to celebrate and to be grateful for in the month of November. In it we hold elections, honor our veterans, and celebrate the fall harvest and beginning of the holiday season. But behind each of these blessings and gifts is someone who sacrificed enormously to make them possible for the rest of us.
In this week’s parsha of Vayeira (Genesis 18:1-22:24), we read of God commanding Abraham to offer up his son Isaac as a burnt offering.
The text makes it seem that Isaac is oblivious to the fact that he is to be the sacrifice.
We read the following: “….And he [Isaac] said, ‘…but where is the sheep for the offering?’ And Abraham said, ‘It is God who will see to the sheep for this burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them walked on together.” (*Genesis 22:8)
The great Rabbi of the 12th and 13th centuries, David Kimhi (aka the RaDaK) comments on these lines: “Yitzchok understood from this that he had been chosen to be the offering. This is why the Torah continues, significantly: ‘they continued walking together,’ i.e. of one mind and of one spirit.” [*1]
In other words, Isaac knew he was to be sacrificed, but yet he still selflessly followed his father to what he knew would most certainly be his death.
When the moment comes and Abraham is about to put his beloved child to the knife, a messenger of God stays our patriarch’s hand and gives him these holy words:
“Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your favored one, I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command.” (*Genesis 22:16-18)
There is a clear message from this: if Abraham had not been willing to sacrifice Isaac and if Isaac had not been willing to be sacrificed, our story, our Jewish story – all that we have and all that we are – would have ended on the slopes of Mount Moriah right then and there. Abraham and Isaac were willing to sacrifice everything so that we can be here today, right now.
This brings us back to our day in the here and now in the midst of our contemporary lives. In this sacred secular month of thanksgiving, let us be mindful and thankful to those, who day-in and day-out, make sacrifices on our behalf and our account so that we can enjoy the lives that we do. From the farmers who break their backs and blister their hands in the sweltering fields to the long-haul truckers who travel far from home, to the veterans who gave up their youth, bodies, safety, and comfort to defend the country, to the teachers who spend extra hours off-the-clock tutoring struggling pupils and use their own paychecks to get supplies for their students, to our first responders who put their lives on the line every single day to keep the rest of us safe, to the ER nurses and doctors who take care of critically injured accident victims at 3:00 in the morning, all of us have a solemn duty to be grateful for the sacrifices that they make for us.
So as we cast our ballot, attend the local Veterans Day parade, partake in a festive meal with our closest friends and family in the warmth, safety, and security of our hearths and homes, and enjoy all the other blessings that this month has to offer, let us give thanks to those who have sacrificed and continue to make sacrifices on our behalf.
Perhaps that is the greatest lesson of Vayeira and Thanksgiving.
Wishing you a Good Shabbos and a great weekend.
Bivrakha,
Rabbi Aaron Stucker-Rozovsky
Beth El Congregation | 520 Fairmont Ave, Winchester, VA 22601
(540) 667-1889 (office)