Parshat Bereshit - 5761 The
First RASHI As we again
find ourselves in a desperate struggle with the descendants of Yishmael, who
contest, even flatly deny any
validity to the Jewish claim to "Eretz Yisrael," and tragically,
many among us are unable to refute them, it is important that we begin the
study of the "Chumash"
from the very beginning - the first Chapter, the first Verse, the first RASHI. But first,
let us remind ourselves who RASHI, known as the Master Commentator, Rabbi
Shlomo Yitzchaki was, where and when
he lived? He lived in France
and flourished at the end of the eleventh century, the time of the First
Crusade. At that time,
thousands of Christian troops traveled from
Europe to the Middle East, where they contested with the forces of
Islam over supremacy and control over the Holy Land.
On their way, the Crusaders picked up extra "piety points"
by killing as many Jews as
possible, and destroying their communities.
It was in the midst of this terror and fear that RASHI and the "Baalei
Tosafot," mainly his sons-in-law (he only had scholarly daughters), his grandchildren and his great grandchildren debated ideas of the
Torah, in a spirit of serenity and tranquility, such that they gave the
impression that there was nothing amiss with the world. Never did it
enter the minds of the Christians or the Muslims that it might indeed be the
Jews who had the strongest case for supremacy in the Holy Land of Israel. In his first
comment on the Torah, RASHI quotes Rabbi Yitzchak as asking in the Midrash (Tanchuma
Yashan 11, on "Tehilim"/Psalms 111:6) the following, "Why
does the Torah begin where it does? Should
it not begin where the Jewish People are given their first communal Mitzvah,
Sanctification of the New Moon at the beginning of each month?
That Mitzvah is based on the verse, 'This month shall be for you the
beginning of the months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the
year (Shemot 12;2).' " Rabbi
Yitzchak, in the Midrash,
answers, "It was to teach the world the principle stated by "David
HaMelech," King David, in "Tehilim"/Psalms 111:6; namely, 'He
has declared to His People the power of His works.' So that if the nations
of the world say to Israel, 'You are thieves, for you took possession of the
land of the Seven Nations by force,' they will be able to answer, 'All the
world belongs to G-d. He
Created it, and gave it to whomever He wished.
It was His Will that it first be allocated to those Nations, and it
was by His Will that (when they sinned) that it be taken from them and given
to us.' " But this
understanding of Rabbi Yitzchak is incomplete, for the Muslims can argue,
"Just as He gave it to you once, so He has now determined to take it
from you and give it to us." So
we must look more closely at Rabbi Yitzchak's words, and we see that he
meant much more than the simple statement above.
He was saying, "Why do we need the whole Book of Bereshit and
the beginning of the Book of Shemot?" If we look at the text carefully,
it will become obvious that HaShem
as it were "took an oath" to the "Avot," the Forefathers
of the Jewish People, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, that the Land of Israel
would ultimately belong to their descendants, the Jewish People. The Torah
begins the discussion of the lives of the "Avot" with Avraham.
HaShem said to the Founding Father of our People, "Go forth from your land,
from your birthplace, and from your father's
house, to the Land that I will show you. (Bereshit 12:1)"
"And
Avram passed through the Land, till the Place of Shechem (recently "in
the news" as the location of the now-destroyed Tomb of Yosef), till
Elon Moreh (also "in the news" as the home of a rabbi and
scholar recently killed), and the Canaanite
Nations were still present in the Land." (Bereshit 12:6)
"And
HaShem appeared to Avram, and He said, 'To
your descendants (or, literally, your seed - the Hebrew term is "le-zaracha")
will I give this Land' …" (Bereshit 12:7). The major
thrust of this essay will be to
determine who is meant by, or called, "zaracha," in relation
to Avraham. It is the crucial term and, as we shall see, it recurs multiple
times (I will not cite all the occurrences). After
Avraham separates from his nephew, Lot, HaShem speaks to Avram, saying, in
Bereshit 13:14-15, "…Lift
up your eyes from the place where you are and look northward and southward
and eastward and westward." "For
all the Land that you see, In Chapter
15 of Bereshit we find the account of the "Brit bein HaBetarim,"
the "Covenant among the Pieces," that follows hard upon Avraham's
response to HaShem's promise to reward him greatly, by saying, with deep
sadness, in Bereshit 15:2, "L-rd
G-d, what can You give me, insofar as I am childless?" In the beginning of that fearful covenant, which was a sign for Avraham that he would indeed have children, and that they would inherit "Eretz Yisrael," the "Land of Israel," HaShem says to Avram, in Bereshit 15:13, "Know
with certainty that your descendants
("zaracha") will be strangers in a strange land, and they will
be made to serve as slaves, and that they will be persecuted for four
hundred years." And the
account of the Covenant continues, in Bereshit 15:17-18, "But,
as the sun set, and thick darkness descended, a vision of a smoking furnace,
and a torch of fire passed among the pieces." "On
that day, G-d established a Covenant with Avram, saying 'To your seed ("le-zaracha"), I have given this Land, from
the River of Egypt till the great river, the Euphrates."
Who is called the "seed of Avraham?" The matter
is decided with finality by HaShem in the following verses (Bereshit 17:
15-21): "And
the L-rd said to Avraham, 'Sarai your wife will no longer be called by that
name; her name shall rather be Sarah." "And I
will bless her and I will give to you from
her a son; I will further
bless her that nations and kings will descend from her." "And
Avraham fell upon his face and laughed; He said in his heart, 'Shall a
hundred year old man beget children? And,
as far as Sarah, can a ninety year old woman give birth?' " "And
Avraham said to G-d, 'It would be enough if Yishmael would live before you.'
" "And
G-d said, 'But Sarah your wife will indeed bear you a son, and you shall call his name Yitzchak; and I will establish My
Covenant with him for an Eternal
Covenant, and with his descendants
("le-zarro") after him.' " "As far
as Yishmael, I have heard your request; behold I will bless him and make him
fruitful and increase him greatly; he will give rise to twelve kings, and be
a great nation." "But
My Covenant I will establish with Yitzchak, to whom Sarah will give
birth at this season, next year." And again,
when Avraham makes a joyous celebration on the day that Yitzchak is weaned,
Sarah sees Yishmael laughing derisively and says, in a Spirit of Prophecy (Bereshit
21:10), "Send
this handmaiden away; for this son of a handmaiden will not inherit together
with my son, with Yitzchak." Avraham
reacts with pain (Bereshit 21:11), But HaShem
tells Avraham to listen to his wife, who, according to the Midrash, is his
superior in Prophecy (Bereshit 21:12), "Let
the matter of the boy and the handmaiden not grieve you; Rather, do whatever
Sarah tells you to do, for it is in
Yitzchak that your seed will be called.' " The
following verse (Bereshit 21:13) is significant, and revealing, "And I
will make the son of the handmaiden into a great nation, for he is your seed ("zaracha"). In truth, it
cannot be denied that biologically, Yishmael is in fact the son of Avraham.
But the distinction between Yitzchak and Yishmael is that about
Yitzchak, HaShem says that in him, "your seed will
be called." The
descendants of Yishmael were unpleasant people, to say the least. That is why the Angel described him in Bereshit 16:12 in this
manner, "And he shall be a wild donkey of a man; his hand against
everyone, and everyone's hand against him; and wherever his brothers dwell,
he shall also be." RASHI
comments on this description, based on the Midrash Tanchuma to Shemot 1,
that "His hand is against everyone" means that he is a thief in
general, and the thief in
particular, in connection with the Holy Land.
"Everyone's hand is against him" means that everyone hates
him because of the fear and terror he instills in his neighbors. Yishmael
falls far short of the level reached by Yitzchak. That is why,
when Avraham went with Yitzchak, Yishmael and Eliezer to the site of the
"Akeidah," where HaShem had commanded Avraham to sacrifice
Yitzchak, Yitzchak was able to perceive the "anan kashur al hahar,"
the Cloud of Glory identifying the Temple Mount, while Yishmael and Eliezer
were unable to. That is why
they remained behind with the donkey, because, as CHAZAL
say, they had shown themselves, in the area of spiritual sensitivity, to be
in the category of "a nation that resembles a donkey."
Rabbi Pinchas Frankel |
