It’s now the second night of Succot and I await a visit from Isaac. It’s fair to say that this visit is the one to which I look forward with most anticipation as Isaac is the least familiar of the Seven Guests. I wonder about him. The verse makes it clear that Abraham was chosen, “It is You, God the Lord, Who chose Abram (Nehemiah 9:7).” Jacob, too, was chosen, “But hear now, Jacob, My servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen (Isaiah 44:1)!” There is no verse that speaks of Isaac as being chosen. In fact, when Maimonides (Laws of Idol Worship, Chapter 1:3) describes the transmission of Abraham’s message through the first generations, he speaks of Jacob as being appointed, and Levi also, as being appointed. However, he says only that Abraham made his message known to Isaac, but he never describes Isaac is being appointed by Abraham. There seems to be something missing about Isaac, and I can’t wait to ask him why.

My eyes are closed as I ponder Isaac’s life and mission. I open them to find my guest sitting facing me across the table.

“Do you feel chosen for a special mission in life?” It’s as if he was reading my mind.

“No,” I respond, “I feel that God has given many gifts to me, but that it is entirely up to me how to use them.”

“So,” Isaac continues, “you do not feel chosen. Do you feel that you have been appointed to a special position?”

I chuckle, point to my less than expertly assembled sukkah, and say, “and the position to which I have been appointed is not much better than the construction of this sukkah!”

“Did my father not visit you last night? Did he not describe to you how his first home was built in the air, so to speak, standing alone without any support from anyone other than himself (See “Abraham the Builder.”)?”

“Yes, he did visit me and speak of beginning my own construction project so that I could live a life in which I create my own destiny.”

“So then, how can you possibly describe this sukkah as something lacking, rather than the beginning of a major construction project to create something infinite, ‘above the stars’? If you truly desire to live a life in which you create your own destiny, you must understand that it is your choice and that you must assume the responsibility to appoint yourself as head of your unique project.”

“Did you do that?”

“Yes, my son, I did. My ‘project’ began as I lay bound hands and feet on an altar with my father standing over me prepared to sacrifice me to God. When I rose from that altar, I realized that I would have to build a life of my own. I did many of the things my father did. I visited Gerar. I dug the same wells  he had. I understood that I could do the same things my father had done before me and still make them my own actions. You sit in a sukkah as did your father before you, and as so many of your brethren do. You recite the same prayers. You practice the same mitzvot. Do you do it only as your father did, as others do, or are you able to make each thing your own?”

“I try to do each thing as my own.”

“So you are learning how to become a Builder.”

Isaac looks at me with piercing eyes and points out, “I suspect that you are held back by believing that you will never be as great as your father. Can you imagine what it was like to be the son of Abraham? I decided never to look back, but to look forward not only for myself, but in others as well! I was able to look at Esau, whom all are convinced was wicked and see his potential, to the point that I was willing to offer my greatest blessing to him. You will know that you are truly prepared to become a Builder, when you are able to look at anyone and see his potential. When you can see the potential for Building in each person you see, you will be able to see yourself as a Builder. I see some open spaces in your walls not just your roof. Use them to look outside the walls of your sukkah and perceive the potential for Building in all the people around you.”

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I built the house.

First I made it out of air.

Then I raised the flag

and left it hanging

from the firmament, from the star, from

light and darkness. (Pablo Neruda in honor of La Sebastiana)

“God said to Abram, ‘Go for yourself from your land’ (Genesis 12:1).” Rabbi Yitzchak opened his discourse on this passage with a quote from Psalms: “Hear, O daughter, and see, and incline your ear;  forget your people and your father’s house (Psalms 45:11).” This is analogous to someone who was passing from place to place and saw a certain palace ablaze. He said to himself, “Shall you say that this palace is without a supervisor?” The owner of the palace peered out at him and said to him, “I am the master of the palace!” So too, because Abraham said to himself, upon seeing the constant structure and that was taking place in the world, “Can it be that this world is without a supervisor?” The Holy One, Blessed is He, peaked out at him and said to him, “I am the Master of the world!” The next verse in Psalms states, “Then the King will desire your beauty; for He is your master; so bow to him.” God will desire to beautify you, Abraham, in the eyes of the world, so bow to Him and be His servant (Bereishit Rabbah 39:1).”

Abraham has come to visit my sukkah and instruct me so I may join of The Society Builders (See “Ghosts As Guests.”) Abraham began his construction project by connecting people to God as the Ultimate Builder. He stood alone against the world. He chose his unique path and was willing to stand against everyone as he searched for the Master of the Palace. “First I made it out of air.”

He began to travel and to speak of the Creator as the Master of the Palace to others; “Then I raised the flag and left it hanging from the firmament.” He dedicated his life to having people look high above the heavens and join him in the search for the True Master of the Palace; “from the star.”

This is the Abraham of whom it is written, “He took him outside, and said, ‘ Gaze, now, toward the heavens, and count the stars if you are able to count them!’ And He said to him, ‘ So shall your offspring be’ (Genesis 15:5).” We are taught that God lifted Abraham above the stars and the planets and promised him that he would not be controlled by the constellations but would always be empowered to create his own destiny. This was the promise for Abraham himself and for his offspring.

This is the message that Abraham brings to my Sukkah: “You must be willing to build your own house; a place that reflects your vision and values, your beliefs and convictions. Even if you begin by making it out of air; having to stand up against the world and fight for what you believe is true. If you can build such a house, if you’re Sukkah will reflect your beliefs, it won’t be a flag hanging, “from the firmament, from the star,” and will empower you, as it did me, to live above the stars; to create your own destiny.

“Your little booth here may be a little flimsy, but it is no weaker than the house I built that began, “out of air.”

Abraham bids me a farewell and goes on to his next visit.

I sit alone in my sukkah and reflect on his message.

Is this, my small booth, a reflection of my beliefs?

Am I able to look through the empty spaces in my roof toward the heavens and see myself lifted as was my special guest, above the stars?

Am I willing to live a life in which I can shape my destiny?

I am ready. I am ready to build such a house, such a life.

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Almost forty years before this week’s portion of Vayeilech, “And we (Moshe) walked,”    God began revelation by saying, “Thus shalt you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel,” understood as an instruction to teach each person in the manner with which he or she could relate. Strangely, we never find Moshe speaking to each individual in this personalized manner. Rather, “Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which God commanded him.”

And God said to Moses: “Go, Lech, to the people,” reminiscent of His first charge to Abraham, “Go from your country, Lech Lecha,” and, again, we find that Moshe seems to do something other than what God commanded, “And Moses went down from the mount to the people,” he did not Lech, go, but ‘went down.’

Until this week’s portion, Vayeilech, “And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.” It seems that on this, the final day of Moshe’s life, he fulfilled the Lech of long ago, and the personalized instruction first commanded at Sinai, because Vayeilech is understood as Moshe going to each family to offer personalized words of farewell.

Abraham too ends the significant part of his life as patriarch with a Lech: “And He said: ‘Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go, lech lecha, into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you of’.”

Moshe could not fulfill the personalized Lech until the end of his life, when he could go to each person with an individual message. The commandment of Sinai was to take them on a journey that would culminate in this sense of Lech, a personalized message that would allow each his or her individual journey with God.

We read of Abraham’s ultimate Lech on the second day of Rosh Hashanah, because his journey too was one that would serve as an example of walking with God, journeying through life with God; the real challenge and blessing of Rosh Hashanah: Discover your own personal journey through life.

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We’ve been rewinding through the family’s history to better understand why things move at Fast Forward. We’re searching to figure out Joseph’s Menu.

I believe the key to this story to be the definition of “Hebrews,” the people with whom it was loathsome for the Egyptians to eat, even when meat was not on the menu. We usually associate Hebrew, or, Ivri, with Abraham who “came from the other side of the river (Rashi, Genesis 14:13 s.v. ‘HaIvri’),” and who, “Vaya’avor Avram ba’aretz,” “Abram passed into the land (Genesis 12:6),” a man who could pass through the land and insert his ideas on his way. Of course, there is that famous verse included in the Haggadah, “I took your forefather Abraham from beyond the river, mei’ever haNahar (Joshua 24:3).”

Jacob did some Ivri work: “When he took them and had them cross over the stream (32:24),” just before his life defining wrestling match with Esau’s angel.

Of course, we could not have the definitive Covenant Between the Pieces, with its prediction of the slavery in Egypt, without some Ivri action: “There was a smoky furnace and a torch of fire which passed between these pieces (15:17),” alluding, in part, to, you guessed it; leaving Egypt!

Since we are already rewinding; let’s go back even further in history to the Tower of Babel: “And to Shem, also to him were born; he was the ancestor of all those who lived on the other side (Genesis 10:21).” Shem even has a grandson named Eiver, the one with whom he establishes his famous Yeshiva at which both Isaac and Jacob studied. Eiver is also the man who prophesied that the population of the earth would be divided (Rashi, Genesis 10:25),” as a result of, “They said to one another (11:3), the same phrase usually used for Simeon and Levi (37:19, 42:21), in this case referring to Egypt (Rashi)!” [We will soon see that these are not simply interpolations] There was a split between Egypt and the Ivrim going back all the way to the Tower.

Why not go back even farther to the scene in the naked Noah’s tent, when Noah curses Canaan, and displaces his oldest son Ham, the father of Egypt (10:6), and gives the birthright of the firstborn – sound familiar? – to Shem, “The ancestor of all the Ivrim!”

The story of Joseph, Jacob, the brothers, Egypt and Pharaoh – the saga of the Egyptians versus the Ivrim goes way back in history! This, as the battle over the birthright, is the battle for supremacy; the course of humanity. A battle that began in the internal struggle of the first “outsider;” Adam outside the Garden of Eden. No wonder we need The Master of Memory to guide us!

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What was Abraham thinking? He was already famous as the person who defeated the Four Kings in battle. Abraham could not simply choose to settle anywhere without being perceived as a potential threat. Yet, he wants to move away from Sodom because the area has been devastated and he cannot spread his message of God. Did he believe that he could settle down, even temporarily, in Gerar, the land of the Philistines, without making Avimelech nervous? Abraham knew that his arrival would catch the king’s attention.

Abraham had no reason to be intimidated by Avimelech, and the Philistine King was probably desperate to establish peaceful relationships with this powerful personality. He had reason to want Abraham’s “sister” as a wife. What better way to form a bond with Abraham?

People were already nervous. A major commercial area, Sodom and her sister cities, had been destroyed, reminiscent in everyone’s mind of Noah’s Flood. When Abraham traveled, everyone knew. Reporters researched his background and probably uncovered the story of Pharaoh and Sarah. Avimelech had good reason to assume that Abraham, secure and strong, wouldn’t pull the same “sister” trick. What was Abraham thinking when he settled in Gerar? …when he presented Sarah as his sister?

The only hint we have of Abraham’s thinking is when he justifies his lie by saying, “There is no fear of the Lord in this place (20:11).” Abraham was the perfect person to consult about the Divine destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Avimelech’s first question should have been about the devastation, not peace treaties! The King had good reason to suspect that marrying Abraham’s sister wouldn’t help: Sodom was destroyed despite the fact that Abraham’s nephew, Lot, lived there. Avimelech doesn’t mention the terrifying destruction of Sodom. It’s as if he took it all in stride. Avimelech wasn’t paying attention. He learned nothing from Sodom. Abraham knew that there was no fear of the Lord in this place.

He suspected that Avimelech was someone who refused to learn from the past, so he pulled the same “sister” trick he had famously pulled in Egypt. He was right! Avimelech ignored all the press reports and chose to move ahead with his own agenda. Avimelech’s lack of fear of the Lord indicated a person who did not pay attention to the past. He would ignore Abraham’s great military victory.

Avimelech eventually considers the past: “At that time, Abimelech and Phicol, general of his legion, said to Abraham, ‘The Lord is with you in all that you do.” Rashi explains that they referred to Abraham’s victory over the Four Kings. “At that time,” only after Abraham exiled his son Yishmael, did Avimelech consider Abraham’s victory. Only then did Avimelech and his general consider the Lord. Why?

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“Good people strengthen themselves ceaselessly (Confucius).” My back is aching more than usual, and it’s my fault. I knew that if I would shovel the snow that fell over Shabbat  two weeks ago that my body would hurt. I was being a good person, as I cleared the snow (when my wife wasn’t watching) so that my wife could reach her car.

Then, my older neighbor, a doctor, mentioned to me that he exercises all year so that he can shovel the snow without hurting himself. I have not been regularly exercising to prepare for the winter, or even to strengthen my muscles to support my constantly aching back. I have not been ceaselessly strengthening myself; does that mean that I am not being the good person described by Confucius? Probably.

If I have to exercise to prepare for shoveling snow, I certainly have to exercise to be ready to be tested by God. I’ve been wondering whether this Spiritual Workout is what our Sages mean when they describe Abraham as tested ten times: The ten times that Israel tested God in the desert, are actually nine plus one that was more than the previous tests combined. The first nine tests were “tests” of how far Israel could go in testing God; they were all preparation for the tenth test. Abraham’s first nine tests were a spiritual workout, all meant to prepare him for the tenth and only test that truly mattered.

“He looked and saw the place from a distance,” can also mean that Abraham looked back on how far he had traveled through life to arrive at this test. He understood that all that preceded this moment was a complex workout to prepare him for the Akeidah.

We all feel tested by God, but I wonder how often we consider whether the immediate test is part of a spiritual workout, or the defining test. Failing a workout test, as the Ramban suggests Abraham did, is not a failure; it is a learning experience to train me for the defining test. The difference matters.

I think I’ll go exercise…

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It was the third day after Abraham was circumcised and he was in pain. So how do we explain what he does? He saw men approaching his tent. He ran to greet them and bowed before them. He ran to tell Sarah to make cakes, and again ran to take a calf to be slaughtered for a meal. He then carried the meal to the men and stood by them as they ate, in case they needed something else.

Wait a minute. What about the pain? Did it magically disappear?

The answer is one I experienced years ago. I was visiting a friend in the hospital, and he was in bad shape. During the first 20 minutes of my visit, he was in discomfort and hardly spoke. I was distressed. But then I asked if he wanted to hear an idea I had on the Torah reading. After saying my part, he began, in an animated voice, telling me his thoughts on the Torah reading. He became a different person. After 5 minutes, his wife looked at me in astonishment, and I gave her the same look. This was the antidote. He was focused on something he was passionate about, and he ignored or did not notice his discomfort.

Abraham did the same thing. The story also teaches us how to visit the sick and be helpful. Engage them in something that is their passion, and they will be their own pain killers.

I only notice them on Shabbat, up toward the ceiling; spiders. There’s nothing I can do about them because of Shabbat. I may not kill them, or even trap them to move them outside. I may not even plan to kill them after Shabbat, because one may not plan on Shabbat to do something that is forbidden on Shabbat.

I suspect that these spiders have spent so much time in the house listening to shiurim that they are experts in the laws of Shabbat. The spiders disappear immediately after Havdalah. They know that they are perfectly safe from me on Shabbat and Jewish festivals; yes, they also come out on those days, although, they avoid the living room on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur where we hold services. The spiders in my house are familiar with Halachah, respectful of prayer, and committed to test my observance.

I could, of course, determine that they are poisonous, finding justification to trap them, but they remain in one place all day and pose no threat. Perhaps they know even more Jewish law than I suspect. How sad that my biggest temptation to violate Shabbat has to do with spiders! The real test is not even the desire to kill them, but how they occupy my mind all day, disturb my peace. I have trouble maintaining my concentration for 25 hours because of tiny, albeit smart, spiders. I wonder how Abraham remained focused for 72 hours while headed to Moriah to offer Isaac to God.  The Midrash describes Satan as appearing as a huge river on the way, but I suspect that it was not a huge hindrance, but a series of minor distractions along the way, something such as, well, spiders. Abraham managed his spiders much better than do I.

Satan’s distractions were not intended to stop Abraham from offering Isaac, but from being able to make every moment of the three day trip part of the offering. I can attend prayers, properly celebrate the Shabbat meals, and still have hours of non-Shabbat, distracted from the nature of the day. You see, even when I am frustrated by spiders, I am thinking about Shabbat; how to apply her laws to the situation. The challenge is to focus even the most trivial concerns around Shabbat. Abraham could have remained in contact with his financial advisor even while traveling to Moriah, but he left his iPhone at home. He wanted to use every moment of the trip as part of his offering.

We tend to think of the Evil Inclination’s challenges as huge rivers and mountains and forget that he will take advantage of our concern for the big tests to distract us in small ways…with spiders.

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“Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations (George Bernard Shaw).”

This week we are introduced to the story of a man who changed history; he was a traveller, he insisted that marriages remain within the extended family, he was willing to sacrifice his child to his god:

“This is the account of Terah’s family line. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.  While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.  Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. Now Sarai was childless because she was not able to conceive.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran (Genesis 11:27-32).” The Midrash adds that Terah was born circumcised. It all sounds like someone else we know.

Terach’s son, Abraham, certainly managed to do all his father did, and to do it all in his own way. However, when Joshua, towards the end of his life, renews the covenant between God and Israel in Shechem, he indicates that Terach’s role is more than fathering Abraham:

“Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt (Joshua 24:1-4).” We mention Terach as part of the Haggadah story. There seems to be more to him than we assume.

In a portion that includes the tale of the Tower of Babel, when all were united, we are introduced to a man who wants to make his own way: As soon as his children were married, “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.” Terach wanted to light a torch that would, “burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” Something happened. Terach stopped. “But when they came to Harran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Harran.” Terach wanted to make his own mark on the world, but he knew only that. He did not know what mark to make. He stopped in Harran, and there he died.

Terach was not his son, Abraham, who did know how he wanted to change the world, and yet, he is still remembered, because even an unfulfilled desire to move out on his own, to make a mark on the world, was sufficient to inspire Abraham to become the Patriarch of Israel.

Terach’s torch still burns in the souls of his descendants motivating them to move ahead and attempt to light their own torch. It was Abraham who taught us how to fuel the torch, and directed us in how to move without stopping in Harran.

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I’m still receiving questions about Halacha’s perspective on the deal to free Gilad Shalit. The answer is, “I’m not sure.” My question is, “Why are you asking now rather than five years ago?”

People are still asking me about the Halacha regarding the community’s response to sex abuse stories from a few years ago. My response is, “Rather than wait for the next tragic case, we should formulate a thorough Halachic system before we again are forced to face the issue.”

I am often asked to rule on complex business arrangements when partners are arguing. My response always begins, “Did you consult a Halachic authority before negotiating the terms of your partnership?”

When couples come to ask for Halachic guidance for their relationship, I ask, “Did you study the laws of marriage before you married?”

Why do we wait until after the fact to consult Halacha?

This is an ancient issue: We find no indication of Noah, during the 120 years he was working on the Ark, and the next year spent inside the Ark, asking God or even considering what he should do after the Flood. How does someone spend more than a century preparing for a Flood not plan for life afterward?

The Midrash teaches that Noah took a vine from the Garden of Eden to plant after the Flood, which is not planning anything other than attempting to recreate the world as it was before. The verse describes Noah as, “The man of the earth (9:20),” another Adam. Perhaps Noah believed that he, described by God as, “Righteous before Me (7:1),” could succeed where Adam failed. How does a man who believes and even plans to be the successful Adam end up, “drunk, and he uncovered himself within his tent”? The only thing at which Noah succeeds in contributing to the future is blessing and cursing his children. (Which, of course, raises the question of how does a failed Noah offer blessings that shape the future of mankind?) If Noah possessed such power, imagine what he could have accomplished with more planning, with guidance from God.

“But I will establish My covenant with you (6:18).” “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your offspring after you (9:9).” God repeatedly speaks to Noach of the future, and yet, Noah does not respond with forward thinking. It’s as if Noah is stuck in his role of saving the remnant of the past and is unwilling, perhaps unable to plan. A person who is constantly looking at his previous roles, preserving the past, will not learn how to use the very strengths that allow him to save the world to build a new one. And that, is where the issue of when do we consult Halacha, comes into play.

The same people who wait to ask for Halachic guidance about negotiating with Hamas, responding to sexual abuse allegations, dealing with business conflict, and guidance in relationships, will ask about Shabbat, Kashrut and Family Purity, before a question arises. They approach Halacha that doesn’t challenge them to rethink all they are doing. They hesitate to ask Halacha about how to plan, how to challenge their perceptions, and how to recreate their world.

Couples will come to a rabbi to resolve a conflict about an offer of a new job that will demand more hours at work, allowing less time at home (a serious Halachic issue), after the job has been offered, rather than discuss the question before the husband starts looking for another job. Their decision that he has to look for another job has been made. They have made up their minds, and are unaware or unwilling to submit their decision to a Halachic perspective. They want to protect their decision from being challenged. Halacha is perceived as interference. They are willing to, “Walk with God 6:9),” as did Noah, unwilling to, “Walk before Me (17:1),” as did Abraham. They are interested in keeping their marriage steady. They do not hear Halacha’s call to make marriage extraordinary.

Halacha can be used to “walk with,” to help a person keep his life on a steady course, or it can be used to, “Walk before Me,” to consider new ways to approach life. When we examine a government’s decisions after they are made, we are sending a message that Halacha is another voice of criticism. We are failing to project Halacha as a vision of how we can approach future issues.

The question is not about the Halachic justification of the deal for Gilad. We dare not send him the message that his freedom was bought at the expense of Torah. Our challenge is to formulate a Halachic response that offers a serious option for the future. Abraham, the one who, “Walk(ed) before Me,” is the man of Halacha. Noah was not. He was a great man who saved the world, but he did not know how to build a new one.

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