Dvar Torah
Looking For God In All The Wrong Places
At the conclusion of last week’s Torah portion, Noach, we are informed of the birth Avram, that Avram took a wife Sarai and that together with Avram’s father, Terach, and his nephew, Lot, they set out from Ur Kasdim to Canaan. In the Torah’s typical fashion of condensing time, this week’s reading of parshat Lech Lecha opens with God charging Avram with a task, “Go for yourself from your land… to the land that I will show you.” (12:1) Verse 4 tells us that at this time Avram is 75 years old. Later in the parsha, Avram has his name changed by God to Avraham. Wait a minute! What happened between the end of Noach and the beginning of Lech Lecha?
Ethical Behavior vs. Etiquette
After the flood, Noach, his family and all the animals that were with him on the Ark were told to leave it and resume their existence on the earth. The Torah records that Noach first offers sacrifices to Hashem in gratitude for saving him and his family. Next we see Noach planting vineyards. What results helps us learn important lessons about the difference between etiquette and ethical behavior.
And Now for the Rest of the Story
As we begin the annual cycle of reading the Torah, it is most important to understand that the written Torah, also know as the Five Books of Moshe or Chumash, actually came after the Oral Law (Torah She-Ba’al Peh). In fact, the Torah was not completed (according to Rashi) or even started (according to Maimonides) before the last month of Moshe’s life forty years after the Revelation at Mt Sinai. The great 19th century German rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch used the following analogy: the Torah is to the Oral Law as notes are to attending a full lecture.
Alone With God
The Hebrew month of Tishrei is chock full of holidays, Yomim Tovim, each with their own unique and specifically mandated mitzvot. The goal of these special mitzvoth is to ingrain in us ideas that are necessary for human perfection. But the Torah has no unique mitzvah for us to perform on Shemini Atzeret,which we will celebrate on Monday. Why?
Testimony of Heaven and Earth
“Give ear, O’ heavens and I will speak; and may the earth hear the words of my mouth.” In this opening line of Parshat Ha’azinu, Moses calls the heavens and earth to serve as witnesses against Israel when we sin and to testify in favor of Israel when we follow the Torah.