Lead Tidbit
We are human beings
From next week's sedra Lech L'cha and on throughout the whole Torah, we
read about the Jewish People. Its Avot and Imahot. The family from which it came. Experiences, good times, bad times. The Jewish People. Of course we also find parts of the Torah that deal with Yishmael and Eisav and Bil'am and Balak. But all that relates to the Jewish People. We read the Torah with pride here and embarrassment there. With awe and fear and love. But we read it as Jews. The Torah is the story of the People of Israel.

Except for the first two sedras of B'reishit and No'ach. The Jewish People don't exist yet. The family that became the Jewish People doesn't exist yet. Even the progenitor of the Jewish People, the first Jew, Avraham Avinu doesn't come into the picture until the very end of Parshat No'ach. This gives us the important opportunity to begin our study of the Torah as human beings. And that is important, because in addition to being Jewish, we are also human beings. Many individuals and nations throughout the history of the world refused to see us as that; and many of our own people also do not appreciate the fact that we are human beings in addition to being Jews.

Talmud Yerushalmi tells us that when Rabbi Akiva said that "Love thy fellow (Jew) as you would love yourself" is a KLAL GADOL BATORAH, a major principle of the Torah, Ben Azzai replied that "This is the Book of the Descendants of Man" is even a greater principle.

In the Zichronot bracha of Rosh HaShana Musaf, we speak of Avraham Yitzchak, Yaakov, and the Tribes of Israel. But we also include No'ach. We remember, and G-d remembers, that we are His Chosen People, and that we are also created in His Image, as are all human beings.

Each of us must strive to be the best possible Jew... and the best person..