OUR DESTINY

   As we continue to read the  Parshiot of Baraisheet, we become more impressed with our Patriarchs and our Matriarchs and how they lived with great morals and excellent ethics, encouraging us to emulate their way of life.

   Carlyle wrote “The history of the world is the biography of great men!”

   Our minds turn to Avraham, who is not only the first Jew, but our historical prototype. His experiences and actions foreshadow critical patterns in the history of the Jewish People.  Avraham is our spiritual leader and our emulating figure when it comes to acts of Chesed and unquestionable loyalty to Hashem and to our Judaic way of life.

  The true personality of Avraham came to the fore as he faced בני חת and uttered those memorable words ; “ גר ותושב אנכי עמכם"

“ I am an alien and a resident among you.” Avraham was declaring who he was to his community and to all his neighbors. He realized that he was a Resident in his role as part of the society where he dwelled, concerned for its welfare, and yet always remained a Ger, a stranger, aloof from the ills and the ethical and social abominations that existed. This is the legacy that Avraham has bequeathed to his progenitors and remains our motto of life.  This is the lesson that sustains the Jewish People, until today.  This is our Hallmark. We are to be 'A' Part of the society in which we live, but at all times remain apart from its denigrating propensities.  

    At all times we are to emphasize that as Toshavim, we need not compromise our beliefs and principles.  We must gather encouragement from the way Avraham lived his life. Yes, the culture of the world may grant us sophistication and give us the necessary tools and skills to survive and prosper, yet it must never capture our souls or conquer our hearts. These must always remain pure and Torah oriented. Toshav and Ger are to be a precarious balance to yield but never to surrender.

    Permit me to conclude with a quote from Elie Wiesel, “To be born a Jew is an accident.  To live as a Jew is an achievement.  To live joyously as a Jew is a blessing.”

      To be a Jew is to accept out destiny.

    

           שבת שלום