Abraham, the Sages were convinced, was a greater religious hero than Noah. We hear this in the famous dispute among the Sages about the phrase that Noah was “perfect in his generations,” meaning relative to his generations: “In his generations” – Some of our Sages interpret this favourably: if he had lived in a generation of righteous people, he would have been…
One of the most striking features about Judaism in comparison with, say, Christianity or Islam, is that it is impossible to answer the question: Who is the central character of the drama of faith? In both of the other Abrahamic monotheisms the answer is obvious. In Judaism, it is anything but. Is it Abraham, the founder of the covenantal family?…
…resentments of this world are brought about by people obsessed by the past and who, like Lot’s wife, are unable to move on. There is no good ending to this kind of story, only more tears and more tragedy. The way of Abraham in Chayei Sarah is different. First build the future. Only then can you mourn the past. …
…him, shene’emar ‘va’chai,’ since the Torah says ‘he shall live.’ Avid lei mide detevei lei chiyuta, act so that he can actually live there. In other words, as Rambam explains, asei lo k’dei she’yichye, provide him what he needs to live. Va’chaye b’alei chokhmah u’mevaksheha belo Talmud k’mita chashuvim. And for those who seek wisdom, to be without learning, without…
…and he has only one child who will continue the covenant, Isaac, who is currently unmarried. Neither promise has been fulfilled. Hence the extraordinary detail of the two main stories in Chayei Sarah: the purchase of land and the finding of a wife for Isaac. There is a moral here, and the Torah slows down the speed of the narrative…
…also a Sacks Scholar. A Closer Look Delving deeper into the thoughts shared by Rabbi Sacks on Chayei Sarah, Dr. Bitton shares her own reflections on the main piece of the week. What was your main takeaway from ‘A Call from the Future’? The key idea is that one of the most powerful ways to confront a tragic and painful…
In the long chapter of Genesis 24, we read of how Abraham instructed his servant to travel to Aram-Naharaim where the rest of his family was located, to choose and bring back a wife for Isaac, his son. It is an extraordinary passage. Isaac takes no part in the process. We do not read that his father consulted him; that he…
On 11 August 2017, the world’s oldest man passed away, just a month short of his 114th birthday – making him one of the ten longest-lived men since modern record-keeping began. If you knew nothing else about him than this, you would be justified in thinking that he had led a peaceful life, spared of fear, grief and danger. The…