Rabbi Doniel Staum, LMSW
Rabbi, Kehillat New Hempstead
Rebbe/Guidance Counselor – ASHAR
Principal – Ohr Naftoli- New Windsor
Stam
Torah is lovingly dedicated to the memory of my Savta, Mrs. Minnie Staum,
Shprintza bas Avrohom Yitzchok, whose yahrtzeit is this Friday, 17 MarCheshvan.
STAM
TORAH
PARSHAS
VAYERA 5776
“UNDER THE TREE”
The great scholar and ethicist, Rabbi
Yisroel Lipkin of Salant zt’l, was once in the home of an assimilated Jew in Vienna . The man’s daughter
was an adroit and accomplished pianist, and had achieved much distinction for
her musical talent.
While they were conversing the daughter
entered and joined the conversation. She asked Rabbi Salanter, “We are always
recounting and speaking about miracles that transpired centuries ago. If G-d is
so omnipotent why doesn’t He perform such miracles today?”
Rabbi Salanter diverted the question and
the conversation continued. Sometime later the man began to brag about the many
awards his daughter had received and the many symphonies and recitals she had
been part of. She was well known among musical experts as one of the most
brilliant pianists in all of Austria .
After the man finished listing his
daughters accomplishments, Rabbi Salanter nonchalantly replied, “I don’t
believe you!” The man was stunned, “I beg your pardon, Rabbi?” Rabbi Salanter
continued, “I am sure she knows how to play the piano but I do not believe that
she is really all that good. In fact, I doubt that she really has much talent
at all. If she really has any talent let her play and prove herself.”
The young woman was indignant. “I should
play for you to prove myself? Listen here Rabbi, many of the greatest musicians
in the world agree that my playing is exemplary. The diplomas and award hanging
here on the wall attest to that. After they have given their approval, I surely
do not need to prove myself to a Rabbi who has an amateurish appreciation of
music at best.”
Rabbi Salanter turned to the woman and
replied, “Listen to what you yourself just said. You have proven yourself to
the greatest musical aficionados and so you feel no need to prove yourself to a
lone skeptic. G-d revealed Himself to our forefathers and established for them
the basic tenets of our faith. Do you honestly expect Him to come ‘play the
piano’ for one skeptic in Vienna ?”
Avrohom Avinu was a celebrity in his time.
Despite the travails and challenges he consistently encountered, he became an
affluent and wealthy person, and was incredibly influential in attracting
myriads to his monotheistic preaching.
After his saga with Avimelech, Avrohom
settled in the land of the Philistines for a lengthy period of time. The Torah
relates[1],
“ויטע
אשל בבאר שבע ויקרא שם בשם ה' קל עולם - He planted an ‘Eshel’[2]
in Be’er Sheva, and there he proclaimed the Name of Hashem, G-d of the
Universe.”
Why does the Torah bother to relate about
Avrohom’s planting? Furthermore, what does his planting have to do with his
proclaiming about G-d?
Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt’l explained
that Avrohom taught the masses about G-d through his planting! He would
call attention to the miracles of nature and use that to prove the existence of
G-d. The flowering and growth of the tree, the withering and falling of its
leaves in autumn, the rebirth of its buds and leaves in the spring, the
miraculous growth of a fruit tree from dirt and sunlight, the process of
osmosis and photosynthesis, etc. Organic life, revealed through the most basic
processes of nature, is the greatest testament to an Almighty Creator.
Avrohom’s greatness was that he did not only perceive G-d in the supernatural
and miraculous, but he was able to perceive G-d in the mundane ‘supernatural’
processes of nature.
“In our obtuse society, man cannot see the
infinite, the Creator, nor can he sense Providence .
He thinks that all there is on earth is the little that physics, chemistry, and
biology have described, and this knowledge is enough to understand the
universe… The problem of modern man lies not in his quest for knowledge, but
rather in his hubris. He carries an air of arrogance, considering himself an
all-capable superhuman, not being able to admit that he knows little and
understands less.”[3]
Earlier, the Torah describes Avrohom’s
encounter with the three angels. On the third day after his circumcision,
Avrohom sat at the doorway of his tent exposed to the intense desert heat,
searching and pining for visitors with whom he could perform acts of kindness. Suddenly,
he saw three figures in the distance. Forgetting his pain, Avrohom bolted
towards them and implored them to stop at his tent. Assuming they were
idolatrous nomads he asked them to first wash their feet, before sitting down
to a delectable meal.
Rabbi Soloveitchik explained that there was
a deeper significance to Avrohom asking them to wash their feet. The average
mortal assumes that existence and creation is only as intricate as his eyes
could see and his senses could appreciate. Avrohom assumed that these nomads
were no different; that they could see no further than the dust of their own
feet.
He asked them to wash their hands and feet,
and to wash away their juvenile understanding of the world. “Let some water be
brought and wash your feet, and recline beneath the tree.[4]”
Avrohom requested that they make themselves comfortable under the tree, for it
was the tree that was the basis of his teaching. As they settled comfortably,
Avrohom would challenge them to consider the beauty of the tree, eventually
extending beyond the treetop to the heavens, the stars, and ultimately to the
vast expanse of the universe.
Man’s purpose in general and a Jew’s
mission in particular, is to recognize the G-d of the universe through the
leaves of the Eshel!
Ramban writes:[5]
“Through recalling the great clear miracles a person acknowledges the hidden
miracles (of everyday life) which are the foundation of the entire Torah. For a
person has no share in the Torah of our teacher Moshe until he believes that
all our affairs and experiences are miracles; that there is no element of
nature, or ‘ordinary course of the world’, whether regarding the community or
the individual.”
Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt’l was legendary for
studying and preaching about the wonders of creation, and the love and
connection to G-d that one can feel through such analysis and thought. He gave
numerous lectures about the wonders of oranges, apples, elephants, and flies.
He related that, when he was a student
learning in the famed Slobodka Yeshiva in Lithuania , during the summer break
he often went on excursions and hikes in the nearby mountains. On one occasion
he sat and stared at a flower for over an hour. He reported that it was the
most spiritual experience he ever had in his life.
G-d does not need to prove Himself to us.
The legacy of Avrohom, the progenitor of Klal Yisroel, is to seek out G-d in
the mundane. One who can recognize the miraculous in the mundane realizes that
all of life is supernatural. Conversely, one who fails to see the divine hand
in the mundane may very well fail to appreciate the supernatural.
Avrohom merited many miracles during his
lifetime, including emerging from a blazing furnace alive and fighting off a
four-nation army almost singlehandedly. But none of that occurred until Avrohom
recognized that there was a Creator through sheer logic and pondering.
The
Medrash[6]
writes, “G-d said to Avram, 'Go for yourself from your land'" (Bereishis 12:1). Rabbi Yitzchok said: This may be compared to
one who was passing from place to place and saw a (birah dolekes)
fortress illuminated/burning. He said, "Will you say this fortress has no
governor (manhig)? The master (ba'al) of the fortress peeped out
(hetziz) at him, and he said to him, "I am the master of the
fortress."
“Thus, because our father Avraham would
say, "Can one say this world has no governor?" The Holy One, blessed
is He, peeked out at him and said to him, "I am the Master of the world”.”
The Kotzker Rebbe once commented that he cannot
comprehend how people do not become believers in G-d, simply from the words of
Birchas Hamazon[7],
which discuss how G-d provides for the entire world.
The Chiddushei HaRim[8]
added, “And I don’t understand how people do not become believers from the food
they are eating itself.” If one focuses on the texture, taste, and aesthetic
beauty of his food, he cannot help but be overwhelmed by the graciousness and
goodness of G-d.
As
the descendants of Avrohom it is incumbent upon us to seek out G-d in every
facet of nature and life. G-d can be found everywhere, but only to one who
searches for Him.
“He planted an ‘Eshel’[9]
in Be’er Sheva”
"I am the master of the fortress”
[1] Bereishis
21:34
[2] Rashi
quotes a dispute between Rav and Shmuel whether the ‘Eshel’ was an orchard,
whose fruits Avrohom served to the wayfarers, or an inn for lodging, in which
he maintained a supply of fruit for wayfayers.
[3] Derashot
Harav
[4] Bereishis
18:4
[5] Shemos 13:17 ; this lengthy Ramban contains numerous
fundamental concepts relating to the basic faith of a Jew.
[6] Bereishis Rabbah 39:1
[7] Grace After
Meals
[8] Rabbi
Yitzchok Meir Alter zt’l, the first Gerrer Rebbe, and a contemporary of the
Kotzker Rebbe/
[9] Rashi
quotes a dispute between Rav and Shmuel whether the ‘Eshel’ was an orchard,
whose fruits Avrohom served to the wayfarers, or an inn for lodging, in which
he maintained a supply of fruit for wayfayers.