D'var Torah

I remember when I’d have to stay home from school because of illness and I would watch the daytime soap operas. Remember “As the World Turns” or “General Hospital”? While I don’t remember much about them specifically, I do recall that they were full of unbelievable, dramatic storylines, with multiple plots, conflicts, revelations, and unexpected calamities.

When I looked at this week’s Torah portion, Vayeira (Genesis 18:1-22:24), from the URJ’s Torah Study page on their website (www.reformjudaism.org) I thought I was reading the script of one of those 1970’s soaps.  Check out this summary of “plot lines” in this parasha, as enumerated by the URJ:

• Abraham welcomes three visitors, who announce that Sarah will soon have a son.
• Abraham argues with God about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Lot's home is attacked by the people of Sodom. Lot and his two daughters escape as the cities are being destroyed. Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt.
• Lot impregnates his daughters, and they bear children who become the founders of the nations Moab and Ammon.
• Abimelech, king of Gerar, takes Sarah as his wife after Abraham claims that she is his sister.
• Isaac is born, circumcised, and weaned. Hagar and her son, Ishmael, are sent away; an angel saves their lives.
• God tests Abraham, instructing him to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah.

Oh my! What turmoil for Abraham and Sarah, the main characters. Just like a soap opera, there is an emphasis on family relationships, abuse, criminal activity, incest, sexual drama and emotional and moral conflicts. And while all of this would put these characters in therapy for years, the results of this powerful and twisting Torah portion is the Jewish people that has survived melania from this origin story. Our origin story is about a people whose pain made them resilient; a people whose biblical tests of faith cultivated their modern faith; a people who suffered from injustices made them a people who fight for justice. Our most enduring rituals, Brit Milah and Bar Mitzvah, come from this Torah portion. Our tenets of Judaism allowing us to argue with God and wrestle with our spirituality have their origins in this portion.

It's a soap opera indeed, with twisted plots and edge-of-your-seat story lines. But it’s a reminder that we are a people who have endured challenge after challenge, trauma after trauma, from our biblical stories like this one to our modern day stories of near extermination and present day antisemitism. In each age, with each plot line, we have survived with strength and resilience, tenacity and determination. May it continue to be so.

Shabbat Shalom,
Cantor Michael Shochet