Parshat Lech Lecha - 5764

“...father of a multitude of nations.” (Bereshit 17:4)

There is an incident that occurs in Parashat Balak that has always struck me as extremely humorous, if it would not be so tragic. It is when the heathen prophet Bilaam is on his way, he thinks, to curse the Jewish people, in flagrant disregard of HaShem’s explicit instruction to him to refrain from that activity. On the way, HaShem sends an angel that Bilaam’s donkey can see, but the great Bilaam who claims (BaMidbar 24:4) to see visions of HaShem, cannot. The angel blocks the path three times and the terrified donkey stops moving three times, prompting Bilaam to beat her. HaShem then opens the mouth of the donkey (BaMidbar 22:28), and she addresses Bilaam with words of rebuke. Finally, HaShem opens the eyes of Bilaam, and he is allowed to see the angel who has blocked his path. Nevertheless, after all this and despite all this, Bilaam continues towards his rendezvous with Balak and with the People of Israel.

Mel Gibson of Hollywood “fame,” is producing a movie called “The Passion,” on which he has spent $25 million dollars of his own money, that depicts Jews, in no uncertain terms, as christ-killers. On October 24, 2003, Jennifer Fermino, wrote in the NY Post Online Edition, “Mel Gibson had better hope G-d isn’t a movie critic – the actor who plays Jesus in his new film was struck by lightning during production, as was an assistant director... Star Jim Caviezel and Jan Michelini were hit during filming on location outside Rome,... ‘I’m about a hundred feet away from them, when I glance over and see lightning coming out of Caviezel’s ears...The main bolt hit Caviezel and one of its forks hit Michelini’s umbrella.’ ” G-d doesn’t confide in me, but if I were either of these fellows, or in fact Gibson, I would reconsider my roles in the production of this movie.

It seems that around the world, flames of anti-Semitism are being fanned, with Israel and the Jewish People demonized as the leading villains.

In this week’s Parashah, HaShem makes a Covenant with Avram and tells him, “Go before Me, and maintain your innocence” (Bereshit 17:1). HaShem continues (Bereshit 17:4), “Behold I make My Covenant with you, and you will be the father of a multitude if nations.” And in Bereshit 17:10, the specifics of the Covenant are elaborated, “...Every male among you shall be circumcised.”

In next week’s Parashah, Vayera, Avraham demonstrates how seriously he takes his responsibility as the “father of a multitude of nations.” When HaShem reveals to him His intention to destroy Sodom and Amora because of their terrible collective evil, Avraham debates this decision with his Maker (Bereshit 18:25), “It would be a desecration of Your Name to do that, to bring death upon the righteous with the wicked ... Would the Supreme Judge of all the World not do Justice?”

At the “Brit Milah,” the father makes the blessing “Blessed are You, HaShem, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and has commanded us to bring him into the Covenant of Avraham, our forefather.”

Would that Bilaam and Gibson and others who carry hatred in their hearts for the Jewish People, look clearly at the behavior of our forefather, Avraham, and obey the not very subtle warnings with which HaShem has provided them, and (in the case of Gibson; for Bilaam it’s too late) reconsider their actions.

I heard recently from a person of considerable insight that the signal event of the twentieth century was the end of the Exile of Europe. He was probably right, but its end certainly did not come in the manner of the Exodus from Egypt, described by the Torah in VaYikra 26:13 as “And I led you in the spirit of ‘kommemiut’ (freedom of will and dignity).” We pray at the Feast of “Brit Milah” that HaShem will allow our Final Redemption to occur with “Kommemiut:”

“Betroth her again and drive her out no more;
Let her sunlight rise, and let the shadows flee” (from the poem “Yom leYabashah” by Yehudah HaLevi)

Rabbi Pinchas Frankel
Rabbi Frankel is an Educational Coordinator at the OU

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