On Monday morning I participated in a conversation with middle-schoolers about the horrific events this past Shabbat in Pittsburgh. The students asked age-appropriate though somewhat predictable questions, which were nonetheless difficult to answer. “Why would someone hate us just because we have a different religion; almost everything we do is the same as most Americans.” After the session, I complimented the teacher who facilitated the discussion, assuming he must have put a lot of thought into it. He replied that he had actually not prepared at all, realizing ironically that he didn’t need to, because he had unfortunately had many similar conversations before.
To this point, we find a poignant text in the Passover Haggadah:
V’hi sheamdah l’avotenu v’lanu…
And this (promise) has stood for our ancestors as for us, for not only has one individual stood to wipe us out, but rather in every generation many have stood to destroy us, but the Holy One, Blessed be God has saved us from their hands.
The truism of anti-Semitism is indisputable, and largely outside of our control. What is in our control is our response. I am very proud of the MWJDS community and the greater Jewish community in its responses to this tragedy. We have grieved, we have honored the victims and we have gone on to live our lives with hope and with our faith intact.
Coincidentally (or not, since I believe Torah is always relevant) I found significant resonance with the quality of our collective response to this tragedy in this week’s Torah portion, Parshat Chayei Sarah. At the beginning of the parsha, Abraham loses his beloved Sarah. The text chronicles his grief, and then states that as soon as he got up from his mourning he immediately sought out an appropriate burial ground. Abraham goes to great length to ensure that the place he finds and purchases will be secured into the future. Once that is taken care of, Abraham sets off on a mission (with the help of his trusted servant Eliezer) to find a wife for his son. He tells him that this wife must not come from the community in which Abraham now resides, but from his own people. Rebekah’s family ties to Abraham turn out, though, not to be her most important quality. Rather it is her kindness in bringing water to both Eliezer and his camel that proved her worthiness to serve as the next link in the matrilineal chain. The chapter ends with the following statement:
And Isaac brought her to his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and shebecame his wife; and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
The comfort that has eluded Isaac is finally found in Rebekah, who represents both the past and the future. In her, Isaac is able to see the gifts of his mother and the hopes for his own children. I believe that connection across generations is the same promise referred to in the V’hi Sheamdah.
And so I leave you this week with a gift of hope in the form of a Youtube video of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir (including several MWJDS students) singing Yonatan Razel’s beautiful version of V’hi Sheamdah.
Shabbat shalom,
Rav-Hazzan Scott M. Sokol, PhD
Head of School, MetroWest Jewish Day School