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July 2, 2009
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Abe Novick: Up, up, and aliya
July 1, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: The Road Taken
The Kosher Gourmet
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June 30, 2009
Rabbi Binyomin Ginsberg: What makes a great parent?
Caroline B. Glick: Ideologue-in-Chief
June 29, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist
by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Beware of 'Caveat Emptor'
Steven Emerson: ACLU pushing for more money for Hamas
June 26, 2009
Rabbi Yoni Posnick: Learn the secret to a healthy marriage from a scriptural villain
Caroline B. Glick: Barack Obama vs. International Law
June 25, 2009
Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf: The Absurd Power of Truth
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip:
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June 24, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Advancement of technology is a wake-up call for humanity
The Kosher Gourmet by Andrea Weigl: Summer on a stick: Making frozen treats can be easy, creative and fun
June 23, 2009
Martin M. Bodek: 'On Surnames': And so, We Begin
Caroline B. Glick: The Obama Effect
June 22, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Working for a corrupt firm
N. Richard Greenfield : Where are American Jews?
June 19, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Emotion v. intellect
Caroline B. Glick: Israel's rare opportunity
June 18, 2009
Jonathan Rosenblum: Sometimes it is more essential to define the nature of evil than good
Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkle's strip:
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June 17, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: The Language of Confusion
The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Nothing pleases Dad more than a thick, juicy onion-smothered steak. Add home-Baked Potato Chips and …
June 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Career v. Careersism
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's losing streak and Israel
Richard Z. Chesnoff: Palestinians: Never Missing an Opportunity …
June 15, 2009
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: How Judea and Samaria can become 'Palestine'
Daniel Pipes: Where Netanyahu's speech failed
June 12, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Some big thoughts about not acting so big
Caroline B. Glick:
Obama's High Commissioner
June 11, 2009
Victor Davis Hanson: Our historically challenged President
Mitch Albom: Beware the True Believers
Lewis Grossberger: What we learn from the new Hitler photos
June 10, 2009
Mort Zuckerman: What Obama and his advisors won't -- or refuse to -- grasp about Israel and the Muslim world
The Kosher Gourmet
by Steve Petusevsky Lotsa pasta: Tips, techniques and (amazing) taste
June 9, 2009
Anne Bayefsky: Obama's stunning offense to Israel and the Jewish people
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: America's first Muslim president?
June 8, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Merchant must take responsibility for careless shopper?
Mark Steyn: A superpower that feeds on mediocrity cannot survive for long on leftovers from the past
Richard Z. Chesnoff: How do you say 'kumbaya' in Arabic?
June 5, 2009
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: In quest of spirituality
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's Arabian dreams
Charles Krauthammer: The Settlements Myth
June 4, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The War Comes to Little Rock
The Kosher Gourmet
by Judy Hevrdejs: Splash it on! Tap your inner jazz musician and improvise when stirring up a vinaigrette
June 3, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. Should terrible teacher be exposed?
Jonathan Rosenblum: The Israel Lobby: Missing in Action
June 2, 2009
Dennis Prager: The Speech President Obama Won't Dare Give in Egypt
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Pressure on Israel raises war risk
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)
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Jewish World Review
Sept. 20, 2004
/5 Tishrei, 5764
Down but not out
By Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
On Rosh Hashanah Jews reach the zenith of spirituality. Realizing this, Judaism prepares them for what will inevitably come next
http://www.jewishworldreview.com |
The Torah reading of the second day of Rosh Hashana is the well-known story of Akeidas Yitzchak (the offering of Isaac by Abraham). Many explanations have been given as to why this portion should be read on Rosh Hashana. There is, however, a problem.
We would expect that the reading on Rosh Hashana would end with the final part of this dramatic story: "And Abraham returned to his lads and they went together to Beer Sheva, and Abraham stayed in Beer Sheva" (Gen. 22:19). Instead, the reading continues with a most unusual and, for Rosh Hashana, "irrelevant" story:
"And it came to pass after these events that the information was given to Abraham saying: 'See, Milcah, she, too, has born children unto your brother, Nachor: Utz, his firstborn, and Buz, his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram. And Chesed and Hazo and Pildosh and Yidlap and Bethuel. And Bethuel begat Rebecca ... (Gen. 23:20-24).
These verses seem to be of little importance and are, therefore, a matter of concern to the commentators. The problem is compounded when we realize that the sages included these verses in the reading of Rosh Hashana. Why did they not decide to end the reading with the earlier mentioned verse telling us that Abraham returned, after the Akeida, to Beer Sheva (See Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch ad loc) or even earlier with G-d's blessing to Abraham after he successfully passed the test of the Akeida:
"And through your seed all the nations of the Earth will bless themselves, as a result of you having obeyed My voice" (22:18). which would have been a most appropriate way to end the Rosh Hashana reading, bearing in mind that this is a blessing for all mankind which is very much in the spirit of the Rosh Hashana prayers?
Rabbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, z.l., of Boston is known to have commented that the sages may have included this story in the Rosh Hashana reading as a warning to all those who attend the synagogue prayers on the High Holidays. In his opinion, the inclusion of this portion is to draw attention to the fact that once the Akeida episode had come to an end "nothing had changed," and that commonplace life just continued as normal. An event such as the Akeida should have caused the world to shake on its foundations. It should have caused all those who heard about it to better their ways and start a new chapter, but nothing of this actually happened. Once back home, Abraham was not asked by his neighbors about this episode or how it affected his personality or what there was to be learned from such a shattering experience.
Instead, he was confronted with a world which was immune to religious experiences and had nothing to say other than that another few children were born, a world of religious irrelevance in which nothing else counted but the day to day family affairs. One of the greatest moments in man's history was as such completely trivialized into a spiritual nothingness.
This, Rabbi Soloveichick warns, is the danger that waits us all after Rosh Hashana. While we may be lifted up to the highest level of spiritual exaltation on the day itself, we are warned that "the day after" we may be back to our former lives without having changed an iota. Instead of asking ourselves and our fellowmen what Rosh Hashana did for us, many of us start to discuss the cantorial excellence (or failure) of the chazan (synagogue reader) or the ba'al tekia's (the one who blows the shofar) wonderful musical expertise or failure as a trumpeter. Similar expressions are common after Yom Kippur has ended. One question, possibly the most frequent, is, "Did you fast well?" If we would ask somebody to what extend he was affected by the Yom Kippur prayers, we would be seen as a iconoclast who has lost his religious balance.
We would however like to offer another approach, one that would emphasize the other side of the same coin. Perhaps the Torah reading on Rosh Hashana continues with the day to day affairs of Abraham family so as to inform us that after Abraham's Akeida experience (which took him to other worlds and transformed his personality in a most drastic way) Abraham did not lose the ground under his feet. He stayed a family man, dealing with the often petty things that life entails. He does not close himself up in a spiritual oasis, but participates in all human affairs. Neither does he become absentminded but stays alert to all matters human.
This also may be the message that we need to hear after an elevated Rosh Hashana experience. Even when we have been (hopefully) transformed by its holiness, we should not try to escape our daily duties and interests in our surroundings. The greatness of Abraham was that even after the experience of the Akeida his family was able to approach him and tell him that "Milcah (a distant relative) too has born children."
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JWR contributor Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo is a world-renowned lecturer and ambassador for
Judaism, the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Sephardic Heritage.
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© 2004, Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo
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