Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
I’m standing in Jerusalem at the dramatic overlook of the Old City and the Temple Mount – Har Habayit in Hebrew and Haram el-Sharif in Arabic. The Gold Dome of the Rock in the distance is a Moslem Shrine built at the end of the 7th century to mark the place of the prophet Mohammed’s night journey to the site where Bet HaMikdash – the Temple, had stood before its destruction by the Romans in the 1st century. For Jews, Har Habayit – The Temple Mount, is our axis mundi, the spiritual center of the world, towards which all our prayers have been directed for thousands of years.
It is a beautiful yet enigmatic place, considered the site of the Akeda – Abraham’s binding of Isaac.
We just read the Torah Portion that begins with the commandment to Abraham: Lech Lecha. Go forth. The medieval commentator Rashi sees the emphatic “Lecha” as meaning “for your benefit and good”. If we accept this interpretation, Abraham heard a call, and left the home of his youth on a journey to an unknown place upon a vague, though spectacular promise for the future.
In this week’s Torah portion, Vayera, it is many years later. Abraham and Sarah live in Hebron, about 40 miles South of Jerusalem, when he is called with the same words “Lech Lecha”, but this time he is told exactly where he is going and why – to the Land of Moriah, the same spot where the Temple and Dome of the Rock would later be built, to sacrifice his son Isaac. The journey that began years earlier for Abraham’s benefit is ominously transformed, and the extra, emphatic word, “Lecha” has a different meaning. Abraham is told to look into himself in order to summon the strength for this final test.
The Israeli writer Meir Shalev notes that the key word in the story is “love”. “Take your son, your only son who you love…” and that this is the first time the word “love” appears in the Torah. We immediately learn something about love – that Abraham loves his son Isaac and not his other son, Ishmael…Here, as in life, love is frequently the source of jealousy and conflict.
Also, the form of the verb “love” in Hebrew “ahavta” begs the comparison with Ve’ahavtah – And you shall love the Lord your God, a central tenet of Jewish faith recited in the Shma Yisrael. The Torah never commands us to love our children. For most of us, that is not a challenge, but loving God is.
To return to our story, it is at the point at which I am standing that the Bible says, “And on the 3rd day he looked up and saw the place from afar”. Here Abraham leaves his two young servants, and continues on together with Isaac. They arrive at the spot. Isaac calls out “Father” – Abraham answers “Here I am, my son”. Isaac asks, “here is the fire and the wood, where is the Ram for sacrifice? Abraham answers, “God will provide the Ram for the sacrifice: my son…”. ”My son” (“Bni” in Hebrew), is the final word spoken between them in the Torah.
The ram is sacrificed. Isaac is saved. Relief! Ours is a merciful God. Abraham survives the test and returns to the place where I’m standing and gathers his two young servants for the journey home. But wait – what’s wrong with this picture? Abraham returns to them ALONE. Isaac isn’t there. So where did Isaac go? Not with the father who was ready to kill him. And where will Abraham go from here? He returns South…but not to Hebron. Instead he goes to Beer Sheva. Why not go home to Sarah, his wife, in Hebron? Perhaps because he can’t face her with what he has done, and perhaps because she has heard and can no longer trust him. The “happy ending” leaves Abraham’s family, as well as all believers in a just God, shattered.
Sacrifice, self-discovery, love and tragedy. As with Abraham, the lesson is that all meaningful spiritual journeys, come with a caveat: “Lech Lecha”. Shavua tov from Schechter in Jerusalem!
Eitan Cooper is the former Executive Vice President of The Schechter Institutes. From January 1, 2024, he is a part-time consultant at Schechter. Since coming to Schechter in 2000, he has served in various capacities, including TALI Outreach Coordinator and Vice President for Development. Mr. Cooper holds a BA from the University of Chicago and an MA from the Hebrew University. He is a graduate of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and a licensed Israeli tour guide.
Eitan and Anita Cooper made Aliya from the United States in 1983, and are proud parents and grandparents to their growing Israeli family.
