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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).
Celebrating Abraham’s transition from activism to naivete is ideal, argues Prof. Moshe Benovitz
One of the strangest things about the Abraham stories in Genesis, is the fact that everything seems to happen twice, once in this week’s parashah Lekh Lekha, and again in next week’s parashah, Vayera:
*Sarai, Abraham’s wife, is taken by Pharaoh king of Egypt in this week’s Torah portion, and by Abimelech king of Gerar in next week’s Torah portion.
*Lot and the people of Sodom get into trouble both this week and next week. This week Abraham saves them all from defeat in war, and next week Lot is saved while Sodom is destroyed.
*Sarai mistreats her handmaiden Hagar, who then flees to the desert, in this week’s parashah, and Sarah expels Hagar and her son from the household in next week’s parashah, and Hagar once again flees to the desert.
*Isaac’s birth is foretold this week, and Abraham laughs; it is foretold again next week, and Sarah laughs.
*Abraham is commanded to take a sharp instrument and circumcise himself and his son Ishmael this week, and he is commanded to take a knife and slaughter his son Isaac next week.
A careful reading reveals an important difference between the plot of the stories in this week’s parashah Lekh Lekha, and their parallels in next week parashah Vayera: Abram takes the initiative and is proactive this week, while next week the parallel events happen without his direct intervention, and in some case in complete contravention of his own instincts:
*Abram sells Sarai to Pharaoh, and it is clear that he is a party to the deal. But Sarah is taken by Abimelech next week on Abimelech’s initiative and without compensation. Only when giving Sarah back to Abraham does Abimelech compensate her and Abraham.
*Abram acts heroically in taking military action against Sodom’s enemies this week. Next week God sends angels to save Lot and destroy Sodom without Abraham’s direct intervention, after an unsuccessful attempt by Abram to save Lot and Sodom through prayer.
*Abram gives Sarai carte blanche to treat Hagar however she likes in this week’s parashah. In next week’s parashah God and Sarah collaborate in expelling Hagar despite Abraham’s objection.
*Abraham laughs when told of Isaac’s birth this week; he pointedly does not laugh next week. Sarah does.
*Abraham circumcises himself and his son this week; he ultimately refrains from sacrificing his son next week.
I would like to suggest that at the end of this week’s parashah God expresses reservations about Abraham’s pro-active personality, and that is why he urges him to
הִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ לְפָנַ֖י וֶהְיֵ֥ה תָמִֽים
“walk before me and be tamim.” (Genesis 17:1)
The word tamim is variously interpreted, but I think it should be understood in the sense used in Modern Hebrew. Tamim means naïve. Be tamim, says God to Abraham. Be naïve, be childlike, be passive. You need not always take the initiative, sometimes you can allow yourself to take it easy and go with the flow.
As Rashi interprets the commandment in Deuteronomy, “Be tamim with the Lord your God.” Rashi says, “Whatever befalls you accept with temimut, equanimity, and then you will be with God and become his portion.”
I see the events of next week’s parashah as corrective experiences, in a spirit of naivete.
The transition from activism to naivete is apparent in Abraham’s life, but the ultimate ideal of temimut, naivete, is achieved by his son Isaac, whom the Rabbis term an “olah temimah” (literally: a perfect whole offering, “perfect” being the same word in Hebrew as tamim, naïve).
Isaac experiences life as it befalls him, without challenging it. He goes out to meditate in nature, and accepts his children as they are.
This is the ideal in my view.
May we all be blessed with God’s blessing to Abraham, “Walk before me and be tamim.”
Shavua Tov from Schechter
Moshe Benovitz is Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. He is the author of Kol Nidre: Studies in the Development of Rabbinic Votive Institutions (Atlanta 1998) and several volumes of comprehensive critical commentary on sections of the Talmud, as well as numerous scholarly articles on various aspects of Talmudic scholarship and rabbinic history, including oaths and vows, liturgy, and Jewish festivals.
