LECH L'CHA 5779
FACTS ON THE GROUND
October 18, 2018
9 Cheshvan 5779
… the Canaanites were then in the land [Genesis 12:6].
Abraham heeds God's command to go forth to the land that "I will show you." The destination was Canaan. The land God promised would be the eternal possession of Abraham and his descendants. The Torah, however, seemingly in passing, notes that "the Canaanites were then in the land." Regardless of the Divine assurance to Abraham, their presence was the proverbial "facts on the ground."
The Canaanites remain in the Promised Land during Abraham's life and for many generations thereafter. Following their disappearance, they were succeeded by other indigenous populations. The Promised Land was never a land without a people waiting to be reunited with the Jewish people. The early Zionists contended with this reality, and to this day it is a "fact on the ground" in Israel.
All of us are faced with facts on the grounds that are woven into the fabric of every life. They impact upon our aspirations and hopes. Our genetic makeup is passed on to us by our parents and forbears. Genes determine whether we will be short or tall, brown- or blue-eyed. Our DNA links us to our past and to those who will follow us. We do not come into this world with a tabula rasa, a blank slate. From the moment we are formed in the womb, nature begins its entries into our tabula, our slate.
Once brought into this world, nurture begins to shape us. A popular routine of many stand up comediennes is to bemoan that, when dealing with their own children, they discover to their dismay, "I sound like my mother."
The quest for maturity and independence is a legitimate life's goal. We desperately seek to shape our own identities, but, in reality, none of us is a tabula rasa, upon which we alone make entries. How our parents raise us invariably has an impact. We internalize many of their values, hopefully, many more positive than negative, that affect our perspectives on life and influence many of our decisions. Their entries on our slates are augmented by those of grandparents, other family members, teachers and friends.
The Canaanites are thus always in the land. We live with, and are shaped by, nature and nurture. These are the facts on the ground that influence our behavior, impact upon the shape of our lives and define its quality. May we be fortunate with the entries of our parents, mentors and contemporaries on our slates. May we also be blessed with the wisdom to add helpful entries on the slates of our children and grandchildren as they transition through their lives.
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From the holy city of Jerusalem, my best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach, a Shabbat have peace and blessing.
Rabbi Arnold M Goodman
NOAH 5779
OH THAT INNER VOICE
October 11, 2018
2 Cheshvan 5779
Noah was the righteous man in a violent generation that frustrated God and was swept away in the great flood. Four verses record that he did everything God commanded including building the ark in which Noah, together with his wife, three sons and their wives, survived the flood. It was clearly God's intention that those aboard the ark, the humans and the animals, would ultimately rebuild and repopulate the world.
When the waters finally receded and Noah could emerge from the ark, he made no move to exit. Perhaps it dawned upon him that rebuilding the world was an awesome responsibility and a virtually impossible task. God snapped him out of his reverie with a sharp command "come out of the ark." He was to lead his family and the surviving menagerie into a world that awaited rebuilding and rehabilitation. We are not told whether Noah succeeded in meeting this challenge, and the last we hear of him is when, in a drunken stupor, he curses Ham, his middle son.
For many commentators, being held up as the righteous man in his generation, damned Noah with faint praise. Compared to his neighbors, he emerged as a saint, but showing no disregard for others was hardly a redeeming factor. Unlike Abraham, who sought to ameliorate God's intent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and Moses' success in saving his generation following the episode of the Golden Calf, Noah failed to challenge God's decision to destroy all of humanity. Entering the ark as the torrential rains began, Noah may have mused, "Apres moi, le deluge." With his safety assured, he may have breathed a sigh of relief that he and his family were spared.
This portrait of Noah is of a man who faithfully follows God's orders without challenging Him. He lacks that inner voice, the voice of conscience that could motivate him to challenge the divine plan to destroy all.
In the ark, Noah finds refuge and safety. He is much like the well-to-do man in the fur coat who, in the dead of winter, is content to wrap himself in his warm garment rather than lighting a fire to help warm others.
Would his contemporaries have listened to him and changed their behavior? There is no way of knowing, but people of conscience can never still that persistent and challenging inner voice.
Heidi Heitkemp , an incumbent Senator from South Dakota, is running for reelection in a Republican state. Even with Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation assured by the Republican majority, she still cast a nay vote. Most observers believe that she has now placed the last nail in her proverbial coffin. Although aware of the probable consequences of her vote, it was, for her, a moral decision.
In her own words:
"In 2000, when I was running for governor, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. And it was serious. You know, my doctor afterwards told me, 'You have a 28% chance of living ten years.' That was 18 years ago. And so, I tell young people, I say, 'You have to have two accounts. You have a bank account. But you also have a time account. What are you gonna do with your time?' Do I have work that I wanna continue to do? Absolutely. Do I wanna compromise my principles and my conscience for that job? No. And do I wanna compromise the Supreme Court for that job? No."
She cast off that fur coat and kindled the flame that may well consume her re-election chances. It was that inner voice that motivated her Senate vote. Noah apparently lacked that pesky inner voice that demands moral clarity. What about each of us?
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From the holy city of Jerusalem, my best wishes for a Shabbat Shalom u'Mevorach, a Shabbat have peace and blessing.
Rabbi Arnold M Goodman
