Temple Beth Emeth v'Or Progressive Shaari Zedek Saturday Morning "Children's" Service version:
In this week’s Torah portion, G-d
strikes a covenant with Avram-Avraham to be his Shield and protector, and that
of all Avram-Avraham’s children, for eternity. As part of the formation of the
covenant, G-d instructs Avram that he and Sarai must change their names to
Avraham and Sarah. Now that our first patriarch and matriarch are officially
named as such, Avraham and Sarah are promised that they and their seed will
inherit the land of Avraham’s sojournings. Avraham is told that G-d’s covenant
will continue with him through Yitzchak’s line, but he is reassured that
Ishmael will also become a great nation. It is sometimes suspected in the
Akidah story, that Yitzchak is the son Avraham truly loves, as it says, “Take
your son, your only one, whom you love, Yitzchak, and take him for a burnt
offering,” although Midrash tells us that the reason G-d must say “Your son,
your only one, whom you love, Yitzchak,” is because in between these lines, are
Avraham’s responses we do not get to see, “I have two sons, this is the only
son of his mother, and this is the only son of his mother, I love them both, oh
okay you mean Yitzchak, why didn’t you just say so?”
Even without this Midrash, Avraham’s concern and love for Ishmael
is clear here in Lech-L’cha, and it is obvious that it is important to him that
all his seed inherit their fair share of land, and receive their own lives and
blessings. When G-d tells Avraham that Sarah will become pregnant and give
birth the Yitzchak, Avraham says, “If only that Ishmael should live!” Although
he is of course thrilled for his true wife to have a child, he does not want
Yitzchak to completely supplant or replace Ishmael. G-d assures Avraham that
Ishmael will too be blessed and will also be the father of a great nation, but,
the covenant remains with Yitzchak, and with it, the land of Avraham’s
sojournings. Surely, though, the great nation of Ishmael must have a place of
its own too, nearby enough to visit Grandpa Avraham?
As descendants of Avraham and Sarah,
we have a responsibility, then, to treat one another as brothers and sisters, or
at the very least as close cousins. We have the responsibility to respect
everyone’s right to their fair share of land and their own lives and blessings.
Earlier in the portion, Avraham and Lot realize they are trying to share a plot
of land too small to sustain each of their families and herds and all of their
households. So, Avraham suggests to Lot that he take his wealth elsewhere; the
entire land is before him for his choosing. This shows a keen understanding of
natural resources and sustainability, as well as a concern for Shalom in the
Home. These days, we have many more people trying to share such resources and
the entire land is not before us. Pretty much all inhabitable land is inhabited
at this point. As such, the fighting, as with between the herdsmen of Avraham
and Lot, continues over these precious resources and land space. Is that how
brothers and sisters and cousins should behave? So rather than move to a place
that can sustain our individual possessions, or continue fighting, better we
should reassess and share those possessions, particularly in the land that
Avraham’s descendants were promised.
May we all find a way to live in
harmony with each other and our land, to share our possessions, our precious
land and water resources, and behave as if we are all equally children of
Abraham and Sarah. Amen and Shabbat Shalom.
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