Vayeira – The dynamic Jew

There is a famous story with the נועם אלימלך that contains a very powerful message which ties into this week’s פרשה and what it means to be a Jew.

R’ Elimelech of Lizhensk and his brother R’ Zishe were thrown into a jail in Russia, likely for nothing other than being Jewish. In those days jail was nothing more than a bare room deep in a cellar. The only thing the inmates were given to go to the bathroom was a pail in the corner. Came the first morning they were there and R’ Elimelech starts to cry. He tells his brother, today is the first day of my life that I won’t be able to daven to Hashem. R’ Zishe tells him, ok so what’s the big deal? The same שלחן ערוך that told you to daven yesterday tells you that today you are not allowed to daven. You are connecting to Hashem just as thoroughly as you have in the past, the only difference is that today you are using a different route to get there. Immediately R’ Elimelech starts singing ecstatically. He just understood that he has a whole new way of connecting to Hashem. All the inmates join in the singing and start making a ruckus. The guard comes down and screams “TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON! WHY ARE YOU ALL SINGING AND DANCING?!” One of the inmates starts explaining to him that these two Jews here are happy since they have discovered a way to connect to their God through the bucket in the corner. The guard smugly says, I’ll show them! He marches over to the corner, grabs the bucket and throws it out of the room. R’ Zishe turns to his brother and says, now you can daven brother.

The ending of the story is great, but the main point of the story is something deep and profound that I think אברהם אבינו expresses in this week’s פרשה.

Most of us are raised thinking that Judaism and connection to Hashem looks a certain way. There are certain מצות that we are meant to do and there is a way to do them. And this is a very legitimate thought, since it is based on the fact that the מצות are the way that we connect to Hashem. When we daven we connect to Hashem, but sometimes we are in a circumstance where we can’t daven. This is something that bothers us and makes us feel like unfortunately we were not able to connect to Hashem. However, the deeper understanding is that even when we can’t daven, if the thing that is stopping us from davening is halacha, then we have a gained a connection with Hashem just as much as we do when we actually daven.

An example of this that I saw first-hand was at Camp Simcha. Every child there is in a status of חולי שיש בו סכנה and if they have any need, you are obligated to break Shabbos to tend that need. If they need a certain machine, you turn it on. If they need to see, you turn on the light. If they can’t operate their electric wheelchair, you do it for him. And it was interesting to watch so many people have such a hard time with this, trying to not really be מחלל שבת. But what they explained to us, so many times, is that at Camp Simcha the way to keep Shabbos is often by breaking Shabbos. This was a concept that I never really understood until I heard this story. The same Hashem that said זכור ושמור said to turn on the light for a חולי שיש בו סכנה.

I think the logic behind this is that Hashem is Infinite, and therefore, there is no specific way to connect to Hashem which would limit any other legitimate ways to connect. The famous adage, רחמנא ליבא בעי, tells us that all Hashem wants is for our hearts to be in the game. He wants us to care and do whatever halacha tells us at that moment. To live in the now. Each moment that presents itself during one’s day can be navigated through halacha and be an opportunity to connect to Hashem. Sometimes that is through davening and at times that is through not davening.

In last week’s פרשה, Avraham tells Lot, let’s not fight, rather let’s go our separate ways. If you go to the left, I will go to the right, and if you go to the right, I will go to the left. Avraham understood the concept of being dynamic and knew that he would be able to connect to Hashem and continue growing regardless of whether he was going to the right or to the left. The specific direction doesn’t matter, since Hashem is Everywhere, in a way that it is possible to connect to Him anywhere and everywhere. And in fact, had Lot chosen to go to the right then Avraham would have gone left, to סדום, which is something that he was very much aware of when he made that offer to Lot. And he was fine with that. Because you can connect to Hashem in סדום too.

If you think about the עקידה in this week’s פרשה, first Hashem tells Avraham slaughter your son, then at the last moment He says no don’t touch him. What?? Which way am I supposed to connect with you? By killing my son or not by killing my son? The answer is that Hashem has an infinite number of ways to connect, and sometimes they are opposite of each other.

The mission of a Jew is to be dynamic and realize that we have one God who is Infinite and with whom you can connect from no matter where you are. And when you find yourself in a situation where halacha tells you not to do a mitzva, that’s the same exact halacha that says to do the mitzva in the usual circumstance.

The גמרא in מגילה tells a story about a מלאך who came to יהושע in middle of the night while he was holding down the siege on יריחו to inform him that he had done two עבירות. #1 he had not brought the קרבן תמיד the night before and #2 right now at night you are not actively engaged in war, and you and your camp should be learning Torah. Yehoshua asks which עבירה are you coming for? Which one is worse? And the מלאך says עתה באתי, I am coming for now. The simple understanding is that the מלאך is coming for the עבירה which יהושע is doing now, i.e. not learning. But תוספות there says something very cryptic, he quotes the Pasuk ועתה כתבו לכם את השירה הזאת, and says that the Torah is called עתה, now, and this is what the מלאך meant when he said עתה באתי. I never understood that תוספות. Why is the Torah nicknamed “now”?

I think the answer lies in this theme. The Torah is a dynamic, living entity which presents opportunities to connect with Hashem to the same caliber through different actions, depending on the scenario you find yourself in. It’s the world of עתה, of living in “the now” and realizing that your connection to Hashem is so deep and so large that it is not dependent on any specific actions, rather on your willingness to commit yourself to both daven to Hashem and sometimes to not daven.

And isn’t it interesting that we find the concept of עתה in the עקידה. עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה. Now I know that you are someone who fears God, now, after you have shown that you can agree to both slaughter your son, and then change direction on a dime listen to My word to not slaughter him, now I know that you fear God.