AS FOR ISHMAEL, I HAVE

HEEDED YOU. I HEREBY BLESS HIM. I WILL MAKE HIM FERTILE AND EXCEEDINGLY

NUMEROUS. HE SHALL B THE FATHER OF TWELVE CHIEFTAINS, AND I WILL MAKE OF HIM A

GREAT NATION.

 (Bereishit

17:20)

Promises Fulfilled by a Certain Time, and Promises which are Dependent

upon Fulfillment of the Covenant

We see that the fulfillment

of this promise to them was delayed for 2,333 years (according to the

traditional chronology, the period from Abraham's circumcision until the spread

of Islam in the world, as marked by Mohammed's flight from Mecca),

and the delay was not dependent upon their sins. They waited all those years

until [the promise] finally arrived and was fulfilled, and then the kingdom

became powerful in their hands.

We, who have lost our

sovereignty due to our sins, its appointed time being set at 1,335 years (according to Daniel 12:12), should be all the more confident of His promise,

and not despair.

(Rabeinu Hananel on Bereishit 17:20)

Has the Danger

Passed?

Pinchas Leiser

Sometimes,

when an individual or a society experiences a traumatic event, it serves as a

kind of "immunization" against the recurrence of similar events in

the future. On the other hand, there are some situations in which a barrier is

broken, making possible what had previously been unthinkable and increasing the

possibility of a recurrence.

The RaMBaM (Hilkhot

Teshuva 2:1) formulates the criterion for complete repentance in these

words:

What

is complete repentance? It is when an opportunity arrives in which he (the

repentant) can repeat his transgression, but he withholds and does not act

ability."

If

so, it may happen that that the traumatic event can serve as a protective

factor, if the society which endured the trauma underwent a process of repentance.

Certain

questions must be asked:

Did

the murder of Yitzhak Rabin, which was, without a doubt, an event which shocked

the vast majority of the state's population, set off a process of contemplation

and moral introspection?

Who

must perform moral self-inspection?

Anyone

who is aware of the world around him, who sees the writing on the wall (both

literally and figuratively), who listens to the warnings of the defense

establishment, cannot ignore the feeling that that which was thought to be

impossible a decade ago has become possible and even likely. A

language of protest no less violent than that of a decade ago and death-threats

against public figures who take responsibility for decisions with which some

people disagree underline the violent and intolerant atmosphere of public

discourse in Israel. To our dismay, it may be assumed that the calculation of

the probability of an additional political assassination in Israel

will produce discouraging results.

Who,

then, must perform moral self-inspection?

The Gemara (Yoma 23a)

tells of a Kohen who was murdered in the Temple

out of "religious fervor" and competition over performance of the

role of terumat hadeshen on the altar. The Talmud states:

The

Rabbis taught: There was an incident involving two priests who were similar to

each other and who were running and ascending the ramp [of the altar]. One of

them entered the space of four cubits around the other – he took a knife and

stabbed him in the heart. Rabbi Zadok stood on the

steps of the hall and said: Our brothers, the House of Israel, listen! It says:

If someone slain is found in the land… your elders and magistrates shall

go out… (Devarim

21:1,2). On whose behalf shall we bring the eglah

arufa (broken-necked calf)? For the city or for the Temple?

The

whole assembled public began to cry.

The

boy's father came and saw that he was still in his death-throws. He said: He is

your atonement, my son is still convulsing, and the knife has not been made

ritually impure.

This

teaches us that they were more concerned with the ritual purity of objects than

they were with blood shed.

Rabbi

Zadok's penetrating question, "On whose behalf

shall we bring the eglah arufa (broken-necked calf)? For the city or for

the Temple?" may be viewed as

very relevant to our day. Does responsibility for the actions which occur

outside of the beit midrash of those who frequent the

beit midrash still impinge upon the beit midrash, requiring that the beit

midrash inspect itself? Or is it a matter of the "city," meaning that

the mood in the street influences the beit midrash?

It is

interesting to note that the Gemara does not offer an unambiguous answer to

Rabbi Zadok's question. It does not state that the Temple

blames the city or vis-versa. Rather, the entire

public began to cry.

Apparently,

at first, everyone was shocked by what had occurred within the Temple's walls,

and all feel guilty and responsible.

It

could be that a similar thing is happening in Israeli society – or at least in

most of Israeli society – if the tendency to blame others had not taken over

(as the celebrated French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre said, "Hell is

other people."). But, before the shiva had even been completed,

each "camp" began demanding that the other engage in self-reckoning.

It

could be that by not offering an answer the Gemara teaches us that there is no

unambiguous answer to Rabbi Zadok's question. Perhaps

every individual and group must inspect itself to see how it contributed to the

event, and what they must do to keep it from recurring.

The Gemara may also be hinting at an aspect of the public state

of mind that made the murder possible: its religious and moral order of

priorities.

The

father of the victim "saved" the knife from impurity by pulling it

from his son's body before his death , and the Gemara

concludes that "the ritual purity of objects" was more important to

them than bloodshed.

It

is likely that that as a community comprised both of religious and secular

members who hold varying political opinions, we must re-examine our religious

and ethical priorities – is the avoidance of bloodshed really our prime

concern?

If,

God-forbid, another political assassination occurs,

will we be able to honestly proclaim our hands did not shed this blood and

our eyes did not see?

Pinchas

Leiser, editor of Shabbat Shalom, is a psychologist

Forty Years Old or Three Years Old? A Process Springing from

Searching, or from Sudden Enlightenment?

… Abraham was forty

years old when he recognized his Creator. Having attained this knowledge, he

began to refute the inhabitants of Ur

of the Chaldees, arguing with them and saying to them, "The course that

you are following is not the way of truth." He broke the images and

commenced to instruct the people that it was not riht to serve any one but the God

of the universe, to whom alone it was proper to bow down, offer up sacrifices

and make libations, so that all human creatures might, in the future, know Him;

and that it was proper to destroy and shatter all the images, so hat the people

might not err like those who thought that there was no god but these images.

(RaMBaM Hilkhot Avodah Zara 1:2)

The RAVaD's

comment on "Abraham was forty years old when he recognized his Creator"

Abraham [the RAVaD]

said: There is an aggadah which states tat he was three years old, for it said,

Ekev [inasmuch] as Abraham obeyed Me (Bereishit

26:5) – the number of letters in the word ekev is three.

Conflict between Brothers Leads to Desecration of the Divine Name

The Canaanites and

Perizzites were then dwelling in the land: And the matter involved desecration

of the Divine Name, since they knew that Abraham and his household were great

and sanctified to the Name of God, and while the Canaanite and Perrizites were

living in peace amongst themselves there was conflict between Abraham and Lot.

This caused a desecration of the Name since it could be said that Abraham's

faith led to it. Eventually, Abraham could bear it no more.

(Ha-Amek Davar on Bereishit 13:7)

Sarai treated her harshly and she ran away from her

Our mother sinned in

this harsh treatment, as did Abraham by letting her do it, and God heard her

suffering and gave her a son who would be a wild-man in order to inflict all

kinds of suffering upon Abram and Sarah's descendents.

(RaMBaN on Bereishit 16:6)

The Ends do not Justify the Means

Know that Abraham our

father unintentionally committed a great sin by bringing his righteous wife to

a stumbling-block of sin on account of his fear for his life. He should have

trusted that God would sae him and his wife and all his belongings for God

surely has the power to help and to save. His leaving the Land, concerning

which he had been commanded from the beginning, on account of the famine, was

also a sin he committed, for in famine God would redeem him from death. It was

because of this deed that the exile in the land

of Egypt at the hand of Pharaoh was

decreed for his children. In the place of justice, there is wickedness and sin.

(RaMBaN on Bereishit 12:9, Chavel translation)

Even when Fighting a Just War, One is still Obligated to Consider its

Moral Price

Le'ahar

immediately after the preceding event; whilst aharei signifies a long

time afterwards. After these things: after this miracle has been wrought for

him in that he slew the kings and was in great anxiety, saying, "Perhaps I

have already received in this God-given victory reward for all my good deeds."

Therefore the Omnipresent said to him, fear not Avram, I am your shield against

punishment: for you shall not be punished on account of all these people whom

you have slain.. And as for your being anxious

regarding the receipt of any further reward, know that your reward will be

exceedingly great.

(Rashi on Bereishit 15: 1, Silberman translation)

David said to Solomon, "My

son, I wanted to build a House for the name of the Lord my God. But the word of

the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood on the earth in My sight. But you will have a son who will be a man of rest,

for I will give him rest from all his enemies on all sides; Solomon will be his

name and I shall confer peace and quiet on Israel

in his time. He will build a House for My name; he shall be a son to Me and I to him a father, and I will establish his throne of

kingship over Israel

forever.

(IChronicles 22:7-10)

You have shed much blood – while you have fought God's wars,

in any case it keeps you from building the House, just as it was prohibited to

use iron tools in building the altar, since iron is used for making instruments

of murder.

(Metzudat Tzion on I

Chronicles 22:8).