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October 17, 1953

Jerusalem's 3000th Anniversary (1953)

Lech Lecha
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Outline

The Kings' War (1956)

I. Story in Sidra of a war in the ancient Near East – 4 vs. 5 Kings. One side had captured Lot, cousin of Abraham, + conquered others. Abraham, loyal to his weaker + inferior cousin, comes to the aid of the underdog + wins the war for them. One of those he had saved – King Sodom – approaches Abraham + asks him to return the Sodein captives whom the others had previously carried away. Give me the people, says the King of Sodom, + you may keep the booty. To which Abraham answers – I don't want anyone to say
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The Abraham Within Us (1969)

The Jewish tradition does not promise us that we or our children will survive as Jews. Unfortunately, we simply cannot have blind faith that Jewishness will remain with us forever. Indeed, in our millennial Jewish history, entire communities have disappeared – beginning with the Ten Tribes, the majority of our people, in Biblical days, and on throughout the various countries of our dispersion. We have no guarantees that any specific family or community will remain Jewish forever.Indeed, a measure of the losses we sustained, whether by decimation or assimilation, is a calculation by Prof. Salo Baron, which recently was brought to my attention, that had all Jewish communities of the past survived intact, there would today be a world Jewish population of some 200 million!However, the Jewish tradition does bear us one promise: that Israel as a people will survive – and not only survive but thrive and flourish and return to its ancient vocation as the am Hashem, the people of God. This is the inner meaning of the concepts of the Messiah and the eternity of Torah and the eternity of the people of Israel.This means, on the one hand, that we cannot take the future of ourselves and our children for granted and blithely assume that our Jewishness will be effortlessly perpetuated. On the other hand, it tells us never to despair of the future of the Jewish people and of Judaism itself. Thus, with effort and with a little bit of סייעתא דשמיא, with some divine help and grace, we can achieve a successful integration of our lives and the lives of our families into the destiny of kelal Yisrael.This concept of Jewish survival is implicit in our Sidra which tells us of the origins of our people in the person of Abraham. In the very first revelation, the Lord blesses Abraham and concludes with two words that are rather remarkable, והֶיֵה ברכה, “and be thou a blessing.” The Talmud was intrigued by this expression, noticing that it does not say, “and be blessed,” but: “and be thou a bless…
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The Shield of Abraham (1967)

In the very first revelation to Abraham, God promises the patriarch: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and be thou a blessing.” The Talmud (Pes. 117b) identified the four elements in this verse in a most unusual yet familiar way. The benediction, they said, refers to the Shemoneh Esreh prayer, and the promise was that henceforth and for all time the Name of God was to be linked with Abraham, with his son, and with his grandson. So the Rabbis said: ve’e’eskha le’goy gadol, zehu she’omrim Elokei Avraham, “And I will make of thee a great nation” refers to the expression, “The God of Abraham.” Va-avarekhekha, zehu she’omrim Elokei Yitzhak. “And I will make thee” refers to the expression, “The God of Isaac.” And va-agadlah shemekha, “I will make thy name great,” refers to the expression Elokei Yaakov, “The God of Jacob.” Thus it is that in the very beginning of our Shemoneh Esreh we bless God Who is Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzhak, and Elokei Yaakov – God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.However, there is yet a fourth element in that promise, the final one, namely: ve’heyeh berakhah, “And be thou a blessing.” What does this mean? To this the Talmud gave the following answer: Veyakhol yihu hotmin be’khulan, one might think that because the Name of God is linked to all three patriarchs, that therefore the climax of the blessing, its hatimah or seal, would similarly include all three patriarchs. Therefore God says to Abraham, ve’heyeh berakhah, “Be thou a blessing,” to indicate that bekha hotmin, the seal or climax of the blessing would mention only the name of Abraham and not the name of his son Isaac or his grandson Jacob. Thus it is that the seal of the first blessing of the nineteen of the Shemoneh Esreh is: magen Avraham, “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, Shield of Abraham.”What a strange remark! We can understand Abraham’s joy at knowing that his child and grandchild would, like him, be bound up with the divine Name. W…
Lech Lecha