Is there a word For the day that no one remembers someone? Quotes their poems, enjoys the production of a life lived? Is that the day the person really dies And if so, what is the word to mark such moment?
‘Extinction’ is for a species Where only memory and fossils remain. But what when records are no more? Is that beyond Extinction?
And a star’s end is its collapse A singularity in which space and time lose ordinary meaning and light loses memory of itself at the cusp of the ‘Event Horizon.’
The Old Cemetery in Jerusalem rides the Event Horizon breaking from centuries of unchanted kaddishes echoing against a wall and sealed door. Will it bury itself forever or loosen the bounds of tenses, a ‘Memory Horizon’ with and without past, present and future?
Many Jews and fans of Jewish mysticism wear a red bendel, a wool thread tied around their wrists. They do so in the belief that the talisman will protect them from evil spirits. Some parents and grandparents even place the thread on small infants.
While available on Amazon, these bendels typically are originated from Israel, with the holy Jewish sites of the Old City of Jerusalem and the Tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem being the most popular points of origin.
Man near the Kotel in Jerusalem selling red bendels, July 2024 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
The actual significance of the red thread is more complex.
Marker Between Parties
The first mention of a red thread being affixed to a hand is found in the Jewish Bible, Genesis 38:27-30, when Tamar was giving birth to twins:
Afterward his brother came out, on whose hand was the crimson thread; he was named Zerah.
Because of the biblical tradition that the oldest male child was entitled to inherit the father’s fortune, it was important to distinguish between the two boys about to be born. The first to emerge was marked for special privilege.
A red thread was used for a very different occasion in the Book of Joshua 2:8-24. There, spies came to Jericho and stayed with a woman. She saved the spies by lowering them out of her window to exit the city with a promise of being saved once the Jews came to destroy the city. She marked her house with a crimson cord:
The men answered her, “Our lives are pledged for yours, even to death! If you do not disclose this mission of ours, we will show you true loyalty when GOD gives us the land.”
She said to them, “Make for the hills, so that the pursuers may not come upon you. Stay there in hiding three days, until the pursuers return; then go your way.”
[unless,] when we invade the country, you tie this length of crimson cord to the window through which you let us down. Bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your family together in your house;
and if anyone ventures outside the doors of your house, their blood will be on their head, and we shall be clear. But if a hand is laid on anyone who remains in the house with you, their blood shall be on our heads.
She replied, “Let it be as you say.” She sent them on their way, and they left; and she tied the crimson cord to the window.
The red crimson cord served as both a marker to differentiate between the woman’s household from the rest of Jericho, as well as a sign of the pledge made between the woman and the spies. Tying the red thread consecrated the promise between the woman and the spies for special treatment.
The red thread for the woman of Jericho was an echo of the Jews use of red blood on their doorposts on the evening of the plague of the death of the firstborn in Egypt: save the inhabitants of this household differently than the slaughter that will come for everyone else.
Knot As Symbol Of Unique Bond
The idea of using a knot to symbolize a specialized bond can be found in marriage. The expression “tie the knot” is thought of coming from Celtic or Renaissance tradition of when spouses hands were tied during the wedding ceremony.
In Judaism, tzizit have knots which attest to the bond between God and Jews. As conveyed in Numbers 15:38-14:
Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of יהוה and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. Thus you shall be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God. I יהוה am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, your God.
While tzizit have a blue cord rather than red, the idea of a knotted cord symbolizes a bond based on an oath is captured in the text above. In looking at the fringes, people “recall all of the commandments” that God gave to the Jewish people to observe.
Blue Versus Red
Blue is used throughout the Middle East to ward off the evil eye. Buildings are often painted or adorned in blue for good luck.
Blue tiles adorn wall of courtyard of Marrakesh SynagogueSynagogue in Marrakesh, Morocco
Like the tzizit, blue is used to connect with God. It is a connection that is meant to ward off evil temptations and spirits which is NOT based on exclusion. It is a color which everyone and every building is encouraged to wear and adorn oneself.
The red bendel is exclusionary and symbol of a particular pledge. It is meant to differentiate between those wearing it and those who do not. It is a device meant to highlight a special promise made for those who wear it, to the exclusion of those who do not.
People may tie a red bendel to their wrists in the hope of warding off the evil eye, but that would only happen if they accept a particular commandment in exchange for God’s blessing. In these troubled times, some commandments about rescuing the hostages and dealing with members of the community fairly should be embraced as described in Leviticus 19:16-19:
While Judaism is described as one of the three great monotheistic religions in the western world, it is a fraction of the size of Christianity and Islam. While Christianity and Islam are universalistic religions which forced or coerced conversions over centuries, Judaism is a particular religion with no such tenet. Consequently, Christians and Muslims number roughly 2.4 billion and 1.9 billion, respectively, spread around the world, while Jews number only about 15 million, found principally in Israel and the United States.
The scale differential is enormous. Consider that if only 10% of Muslims are radical antisemites willing to kill Jews, the 190 million Islamists would be 12 times the entire Jewish population.
There are about 50 Muslim-majority countries in the world, and only a single Jewish-majority country. Even in countries without a Muslim majority, the number of Muslims are growing quickly and dwarf Jews.
The result is that Muslims can voice antisemitic things without fear of reprisals. In Muslim-majority countries, the Quran and Islamic teachings are beyond reproach under blasphemy laws but not non-Islamic faiths. Jews and Judaism can be mocked without any repercussions.
Deborah Samuel was killed and burned by mob after she was accused of blasphemy at Shehu Shagari school in Sokoto, Nigeria
That is becoming more true in Western non-Muslim majority countries as well. People are terrified about drawing a picture of the Islamic prophet Muhammed out of fear of being killed, but will comfortably mock the small minority Jewish population and Judaism aloud publicly.
The sheer size of the Christian and Muslim population and number of Muslim-majority countries, coupled with fear of crossing radical extremists produces a disproportionate volume of hate speech. Whether at the U.N., social media or on college campuses, Islamic privilege insulates the large religions in a way that does not exist for Jews and Judaism.
Some resolutions have been put forward at global bodies which try to afford religious protections.
Many of the sponsors of the resolutions have been Islamic countries. Their desire to protect the sanctity of Islamic holy texts and prophets globally is part of the reason there have been almost no incidents of radical Islamists burning Jewish holy books. Islamists also don’t insult Jewish prophets such as Moses, as Islamists also view them as prophets.
Instead, Islamists come for Jews and the Jewish State. They mock the Holocaust as a fair target of Jewish history, not of Judaism. They state that Jews have no history in the land of Israel, which, while undermining the basic text of the Bible, is viewed as only insulting Jews as people and not the religion itself.
This divide is another element in the disproportionality of hate speech: an intrinsic part of modern antisemitism is to divorce Jews from Judaism. It allows Judaism to be placed among the three great monotheistic religions, even while there are a paltry number of Jews compared to Christians and Muslims. The gap between the understanding of religion and people inflates the fictitious “power” of the handful of Jews, a source of significant hate speech.
On April 11, 2016, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said “One of the key warning signs of genocide is the spread of hate speech in public discourse and the media…. And every day, the seeds of future massacres and genocides are being planted… It is essential that Governments, the judiciary and civil society stand firm against hate speech and those who incite division and violence.”
The U.N., social media platforms and antisemitic politicians are themselves enabling and spreading antisemitic hate speech. Everyone can feel the temperature rising for Jews but few are willing to condemn the vile slander.
Jews are a small minority-minority facing a disproportionate number of hate crimes in the United States every year. They also face a disproportionate amount of hate speech, protected by free speech laws in the West, and indifference in the East and global South.
Four university presidents of America’s leading academic institutions came to the United States capital to address a congressional hearing on antisemitism on college campuses. Most failed to satisfactorily answer a very simple question: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate the school’s code of conduct?” As private institutions, the question had nothing to do with free speech, and in framing the question about “the genocide of Jews”, there was no debate about what “intifada” or “Free Palestine” meant.
The answers should have been clear and unambiguous, just as if the question were about students shouting to drown gay people or lynch Blacks.
Not long after America’s theoretically best-and-brightest failed Morality 101, campuses around the country actually began calling for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of America. Right in New York City, the capital of Diaspora Jewry, people called for a repeat of the October 7 massacres, to kill Zionists and Israeli businesses and to run Jewish organizations out of the public square.
Pamphlet from New York University anti-Israel encampment
Somehow, this has caught New Yorkers and Americans off guard, as if October 8th happened from thin air. As if there had not been antisemitism and anti-Zionism in the United States. As though the situation for American Jews was at perfection on October 6.
This dynamic recalls the story of the Jews in Persia 2,500 years ago, as told in the Book of Esther. Hints about the current tragedy are laid out in how the story is chanted in synagogues.
That story, retold on the holiday of Purim, began to unfold around the year 483BCE. The Jewish exile had come to a close with most Jews having returned to the land of Israel after the First Temple was destroyed one hundred years earlier. Still, many Jews decided to remain in the Persian kingdom in the Jewish diaspora, as their lives had become quite good.
As laid out in chapter three, there was an opportunist named Haman who saw that the laws of the land were capricious. In that backdrop, he saw a wealthy, non-conformist community that was easy prey and offered the king 10,000 talents of silver in exchange for the fate of the Jews. Every single Jew – from infants to the elderly – were to be exterminated, leaving no heir for Haman to consider as he stole the lives and property from every unsuspecting Jew, yielding himself multiples of the 10,000 talents of silver.
The edict against the Jews was not made in secret. It was put in public in every province and every language. At the end of the chapter, the text states that the king and Haman sat down together “but the city of Shushan (the capital) was bewildered.”
The Book of Esther is sung in a unique set of happy cantillations, but there are a few parts that are read in an unhappy melody used for the Book of Lamentations. One would imagine that the entirety of chapter three describing the condemnation of the country’s Jews for annihilation would be read in the sad tune, but it is not. Only those last few words “the city of Shushan was bewildered” are sung in the sad melody.
Why? Why would the rabbis leave the call to annihilate Jews in a happy tune but the dumbfoundedness of Jews and non-Jews of Shushan emphasized in tragic song?
There are a few explanations.
Some suggest that the Persian Jews should have moved back to the land of Israel. That foreign laws turning on Jews should not be shocking. The Persian Jews had deluded themselves that they were living in the heart of civilization in a protected lifestyle. It was that delusion and failure to return to the holy land that was the tragedy; the new antisemitic edicts were to be expected.
Another approach builds on that theme. Jews had become trained to only think of antisemitism in a certain way: the blocking of particular rituals like kosher, observing the Sabbath and circumcision. If those were practices were not infringed upon, the general breakdown of a legal framework in the country was ignored.
These ideas are familiar to Jews in America today.
American Jews were trained to think of society as not inherently antisemitic because their synagogues got built and they attained corporate success. While they saw the reports that Jews suffered the greatest number of hate crimes, it was generally dismissed as being a problem for the outwardly devout, while those focused on just living and working with their heads down would do just fine.
Jews ignored politicians saying that wealth is in the hands of the “wrong people.” They didn’t complain when edicts for DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) specifically excluded Jews and promoted other minorities. Jews observed themselves being systematically removed from positions of power and joined the celebration; diversity replaced meritocracy, seemingly in line with “social justice” and “tikkun olam“, even if not universally fair.
Somehow, it never dawned on American Jews that they were facing a threat as they watched a legal and financial system which was based on fairness and hard work in which they participated and excelled, being trashed as inherently racist. Jews nodded approval that a proper response to the War on Terror on a couple of Muslim-majority countries was to facilitate billions of dollars and tens of thousands of students and professors from other Muslim-majority countries into leading American universities. They did not consider that the curricula was being gutted to vilify America, capitalism, Jews and the Jewish State.
America and American Jews – like Persia and Persian Jews 2,500 years ago – were duped into believing that antisemitism was only about Jewish customs and ignored the reality that the seeds of antisemitism are planted when a legal framework that protects EVERYONE is dismantled in favor of a select few. More specifically, laws that excluded Jews in favor of people of preference.
To be bewildered is to be caught off guard, a horribly sad situation for a people who have thousands of years of history from which to learn.
Kosher food is eaten by Jews and non-Jews. Some Jews don’t eat kosher food and prefer non-kosher items. But “kosher” is definitely Jewish, as defined in the Bible outlining which foods are permissible and not permissible for Jews.
Many Jewish men get circumcised at eight days old in a “bris.” A small percentage of Jewish boys are not circumcised because the parents do not like the custom. But a “bris” is definitely Jewish, a commandment laid out in the Bible.
Many Jewish homes have a menorah as do many synagogues. They are lit on the holiday of Chanukah per rabbinic tradition. Some Jews do not own or light a menorah, but it is definitely a Jewish religious article.
Religious married Jewish women go to a ritual bath, a “mikvah,” once a month. Most Jewish women are not Orthodox or do not have regular menstrual cycles and do not visit the mikvah. But a mikvah is definitely a Jewish bath and has been for thousands of years.
Roughly 45% of world Jewry lives in the land of Israel, while the majority do not live there. But the land of Israel is central to Judaism, the “promised land” to the Jewish forefathers of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. It is central to the Jewish Bible and for Jews for 3,700 years.
Jews visiting the Jewish Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem
Whether a person keeps kosher, had a bris, visits a mikvah, lights a menorah, or lives in the land of Israel, has nothing to do with those items being integral parts of Judaism. Similarly, a person may never read the Talmud, but such action is irrelevant to the tractates inherently being a fabric of Jewish tradition.
So when a Jewish person says Jews shouldn’t live in Israel, it doesn’t negate that the land of Israel is central to Judaism; it just means that that particular person doesn’t believe it.
The next time you see members of Neturei Karta yelling that Zionism is terrible and the Jewish State should be destroyed, whisper in their ears that you are working to ban kosher meat and circumcision in America, as a gentle reminder that just because they may not appreciate how some people express their Judaism, they shouldn’t fight to ban it for others.
Members of ultra-Orthodox Neturei Karta protesting a march combating antisemitism, January 2020 (photo: First One Through)
The land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount are deeply Jewish locations and have been for thousands of years. It makes absolutely no difference what any Jew or non-Jew says, and whether they are one side or the other of the Israeli-Hamas war. Parading “AsAJews” who fight against Zionism before cameras does nothing to negate the reality that Israel is an essential component of Judaism, much like keeping kosher and a bris.
The magnification of fringe anti-Jewish views held by Jews is a noxious tool used by Jew-haters to splinter the beleaguered minority-minority to become easier fodder for extinction. Shame on the media for making a deliberate point of doing so in these days of toxic antisemitism.
People debate the meaning of the phrase “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free.” Many believe it to be a genocidal chant to destroy the Jewish State of Israel and kill the Jews living there, echoing the stated intentions of the political-terrorist group Hamas. Others have said that it is simply a call for all people to live in the area to be free, in a democratic binational state (although neither Israelis nor Palestinian Arabs want such outcome according to polls).
Perhaps an easy way to decipher whether people yelling “Free Palestine” are pro-Hamas or pro-Palestinian is to ask their opinion about whether all people should have dignity and rights in the land. Specifically, do they support Jews being able to pray openly in mass at their holiest site of the Jewish Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem? Would they further support rebuilding a Jewish Temple on the site?
Currently, Jews are denied the basic human right to pray at their holiest site because radical Islamists like Hamas demand that the site be a purely Islamic site. If the chanters want to disassociate themselves from the genocidal charter, and advocate for mutual dignity and rights, they should add another chant “All over the Temple Mount, Jewish prayer will abound!”
Failure to actively support full Jewish rights throughout the Old City of Jerusalem and especially on the Temple Mount, marks the chanters of “Free Palestine” as backers of a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization and supporting the destruction of an ally. Those people should face the full ramifications of supporting such genocidal killers.
The riders of the sugar storm went to Brooklyn again this year, focused on Flatbush. We started at Schreiber’s which is usually at the end of the trip, because we picked up an important taster who had just flown in from Israel into JFK Airport after ten days of volunteering after the horrible October 7 massacre. We hoped the sugar would alleviate the jet lag and stress.
All of the bakeries we tried were good, as this was our fifth year going to Brooklyn, and have eliminated those bakeries which did not score at least a “6” in the overall ranking in the past. We were sugared out after five locations, so did not make it to some favorites like Ostrovitsky’s.
Schreiber’s Homestyle Bakery, 3008 Avenue M
Per tradition, we immediately picked up Schreiber’s lace cookies which are amazing. We grabbed dairy cheese sufganiyot from the back of the store to bring to a niece who said they were amazing. We sampled the pareve selection which were just mediocre. The pistachio one only had pistachios on the outside but no pistachio flavor inside. The dough was too heavy without a lot of flavor. Overall a 6.
Pistachio donut from Schreiber’s
As we debated our scores outside of the bakery (note the filling flavor started as a ‘3’ and settled on a ‘5’ after everyone’s input), a local came over and asked our thoughts on the top bakeries in the neighborhood. It seems that other people are also doing the crawl.
Schreiber’s bakery kicked off the scoring for Hanukkah 2023
Kaff Bakery 1906 Avenue M
Kaff was a new addition to the crawl. We were impressed that several sefaradi people were picking up jelly donuts, as their bakeries do not have a tradition of making the holiday treats. Each one said that Kaff was a favorite but we were disappointed. While the lotus donut was packed with filling, it was not smooth and creamy, and was overly sweet (for me). Fellow travelers loved them which gave a more balanced overall score of ‘7’.
Kaff Bakery had a nice selection of donuts
Presser’s Kosher Bagels and Bakery, 1720 Ave. M
Presser’s donuts candidly did not look at all appetizing and we didn’t purchase any. Instead we tried the chocolate horn which had tasty chocolate but the dough was not as flaky as Weiss’s bakery.
Patis Bakery, 1716 Ave. M
Patis was almost completely sold out by the time we arrived around 11:00am. They had one variety – almond hazelnut – which was fantastic. Very buttery soft dough, good hazelnut filling and tasty toasted almonds on top. An ‘8.5’.
Almond hazelnut donut from Patis, Hanukkah 2023
Taste of Israel, 1322 Avenue M
Taste of Israel requires a pre-order some days in advance at (347) 554-8133. We highly recommend it. It was a new addition to the crawl and tied for top marks with Sesame. The dough is actually better than Sesame in terms of fluffiness and flavor, which is not always easy because it needs to contain the heavy filling. TOI mastered it. While the presentation is not as pretty as some of the other bakeries, the overall taste was terrific even when we ate them later at night. We went for Oreo and Halva; they also have lotus, caramel, custard, jelly and rosemary. A ‘9’.
Taste of Israel donuts ranked highest for dough, and also good flavor
Sesame – Flatbush, 1540 Coney Island Ave
Sesame did not disappoint. Unfortunately, the store has developed a reputation for excellence so is a bit packed but perhaps that’s sharing the joy of the holiday. We heard that the dairy varieties (marked with blue labels) were out of this world but mostly purchased pareve to bring to people for dinner. The pareve (marked with green labels) peanut butter was outstanding – a 10. White chocolate, which I do not usually like was very tasty. Pistachio, as always, was terrific as was the lemon. Sesame puts flavor into the fondant on top of the donut for a doubly amazing experience. We bought dozens to bring back to share with people. A solid ‘9’.
Sesame bakery donuts, Hanukkah 2023
Below is the overall scorecard for each bakery. We hope you enjoy them and Happy Chanuka!
The weekly parshas read from the Torah normally begin at the start of a chapter and conclude at the end of another chapter. It is extremely rare for any parsha to both start and end in the middle of chapters, which happens for the weekly reading of Vayetze (Genesis 28:10 – 32:3).
The reason for doing so has very much to do with the story told in Vayetze, as well as the stories which the rabbis wanted to separate at the start of Genesis chapter 28:1-9 in Parshat Toldot, and the story told afterward in Parshat Vayishlach, chapter 32:4-33.
Vayetze relays the story of Jacob leaving the land of Canaan to find a wife at Lavan, his mother’s brother’s house. When embarking, Jacob dreamt of a ladder going to the heavens with angels going up and coming down. God informed Jacob that he will be blessed with many children and that God would protect Jacob on his journey and bring him safely back to his land. At the end of the parsha, Jacob headed back to the land of Canaan with wives and eleven children, and met angels once again (Genesis 32:2-3). Angels are bookends of Vayetze, telling the story of Jacob marrying, and having many children and accumulating much cattle in his uncle’s house.
If one were to read Genesis straight through the chapters instead of with the breaks of the weekly portions, that story is less clear.
At the beginning of Genesis chapter 28 (1-5), Isaac instructed Jacob to not marry a local woman from Canaan and to visit his uncle’s house, seemingly consistent with the overall theme of Vayetze. However, 28:6-9 describes Esav’s overhearing Isaac’s command who subsequently embarked to marry his father’s brother’s daughter. Esav’s actions interrupted the focus on Jacob.
At the end of the parsha, the narrative also breaks around Esav. While Vayetze’s Genesis 32:2-3 has Jacob encountering angels and naming the location due to the holiness of the event as he did after his ladder dream, Vayishlach’s Genesis 32:4-7 has Jacob sending the angels off as mere messengers to scout out Esav’s intentions as he journeyed to return to Canaan. In one sentence, from 32:3 to 32:4, Jacob treated the malachim as holy people and then errand boys, which does not happen with the weekly parsha pause separating the sentences.
The neat angel bookends of Vayetze act as separators from Esav. While Jacob got married and returned with eleven children and a large flock, the difficult years were none-the-less realized as blessings. However, the stress of the world he left and to which he returned made the blessings harder to recognize, and maybe even finite.
Esav married Ishmael’s daughter and came to meet Jacob with an army of 400 men (32:7). While Jacob had been promised by God that his progeny would be numerous as he left Canaan, his brother Esav seemed to become even greater over that same time.
Upon learning of the large gap in power with his brother, Jacob became very frightened and prayed to God (32:8-13) seemingly thinking that his heavenly protection had ended. When Jacob next sends out messengers to meet Esav, they are no longer described as malachim, angels, but avadim, servants (32:17).
Jacob lost the ability to recognize angels as he approached his brother. When Jacob was next alone at night, he didn’t dream of angels on a ladder but wrestled with an ish, a man who is described by biblical commentators as an angel who renamed Jacob ‘Israel’ for prevailing in his fight with man and God. While Jacob should not have been scared of Esav as he had angels with him, he could no longer recognize them and fought them.
Jews today see their homes like Jacob as Vayetze Jews. Even in the face of family difficulties, a home is nevertheless a sanctuary in which we count our blessings and feel protected. It is when we compare ourselves to others and see their wealth and fear what they might do to us that we forget those blessings. We no longer see the angels and blessings they provide. So we demand that they serve our needs, and fight them thinking that they are strangers meant to do us harm.
And then we question the blessings we once enjoyed. Esav had no angels and yet prospered even more than Jacob. An unblessed life seemingly yielded greater rewards if one focuses purely on numbers.
Jacob produced a family which became a holy nation while Esav’s actions netted a massive army. During peace, it is easy to understand why Jacob’s descendants reach heights of thought and purity but in times of conflict, Esav’s army appears ready to conquer those achievements.
In a pre-October 7 world, Vayetze Jews imagined themselves blessed and protected in their home of homes, in their houses in Israel. The neat angel bookends of the parsha were the protective layer of building a home and family, and Vayetze Jews felt God’s blessings.
In the aftermath of the October 7 slaughter in which Arabs killed Jews in their homes in Israel, the Vayetze Jews were vanquished. We became Vayishlach Jews ready to fight man and God for the inhumanity inflicted on us.
Gustave Doré, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel (1855)
Is that our fate? Can the Jewish community become more?
Jews must internalize the text in the chapters and not just the parshas.
Esav DOES interfere with the story-telling of Jacob finding a wife. Esav does continue to build a family and army outside of Jacob’s Vayetze bubble. Jacob and the Vayetze Jew fail to internalize the outside world as they were self-absorbed which led to complacency. Jacob only saw angels’ blessings as partners for his activities in his home but did not use the gift for the fight to come outside.
We are both the Children of Jacob (Vayetze Jews) and the Children of Israel (Vayishlach Jews), and need to live lives focused internally and externally. Partnering with angels must extend beyond the bounds of angelic bookends and touch activities in everything we do. That is the pathway to true blessing and success inside and outside of our home and communities.
Abraham was now old, advanced in years, and ‘ה blessed Abraham in all things.
Abraham had just buried his wife and the Torah says that Abraham had everything. A strange phrase, as he just lost his spouse!
The Bible would then describe that Abraham sent out one of his trusted attendants to make sure that his son Isaac got a suitable spouse. The biblical commentator Rashi noted that the numerical value of the Hebrew word for with everything, בַּכֹּֽל, is the same as the numerical value in Hebrew of son, בֵּן. Rashi said that because God blessed Abraham with a son, Abraham needed to find him a wife.
Looking at the Haftorah section for the weekly portion of Chayei Sarah when this portion is read, could lead to a broader interpretation of this sentence.
The rabbis decided to match Chayeh Sarah with Kings 1, which starts with King David being very old. Sentences 1 to 4 describe David as being so old that he could not retain heat, so he was brought a young virgin who stayed with him to warm him. The passages were clear that the king was not intimate with her. A lot of detail to share that the king was very old and mostly stayed in bed.
The rest of the reading would describe King David setting Solomon to be his heir, instead of sons who competed for the role of king.
King David playing the Harp, by Peter Paul Rubens ca. 1616
The two biblical stories convey a message to be taken together.
As Abraham and King David approached the end of their lives, they had seemingly accomplished everything. They had finished having children and building their fortune. It was time to retire peacefully.
But they did not.
Abraham made sure that his son would marry an appropriate woman and be able to carry on the family’s good name. King David made sure the appropriate son would lead the kingdom.
The bible relates that each man did this when they were old and without an active companion. While they would have no more children – hence the bible making clear that the virgin brought to David remained a virgin – they still had an active role to play in directing their children and the course of Jewish history.
Rashi’s comment that Abraham had a son could be reread that Abraham was not going to have any more sons. He needed to focus on the future of the son he had.
It is a lesson for older people even today: you are more then just a link in a chain. The next generation continues to need your guidance to make sure important values and traditions are imparted.
First One Through 