Rabbi's Blog

It’s ironic that when preparing to sell a home, the tendency is to fix it up in order to make it look more beautiful, thereby hopefully increasing its value. Renovations are set into motion, new carpeting and flooring are laid, landscaping and exterior lighting are improved, and a general overall facelift of the house and property are completed. At this point the owner sometimes looks at his house and remarks at how beautiful it is and ponders why he should he sell it now that so much has been done to improve it. Others will move forward and sell the property, never really knowing for certain whether the improvements were actually responsible for the sale of the house. One thing we do know: the person selling his newly renovated home never experienced the pleasure of living in it. Instead, he lived, perhaps for many years, in a dumpy, run-down house, fixing it up only to sell it. People should learn to enjoy their homes, fixing them up for themselves, not just to increase value and salability.

 

Our son recently married. The transition from single bachelor to married man brings about a great transformation. One obvious change was the sudden need to upgrade his wardrobe which prior to his wedding consisted of one white shirt worn for the entire week to several new non-iron shirts for every day wear. We buy the new chosson and kallah complete new wardrobes so they can begin their new life fresh. Why is it that we put off spending money on ordinary maintenance and upkeep instead of allowing things to wear out or fall into disrepair only to over-compensate when things fall apart due to neglect or deferred maintenance? In Jewish communal life opportunities for dedications of buildings, classrooms, books, seforim and furniture are always available. I sometimes wonder what would be better: to dedicate something in memory of someone or to dedicate something in honor of someone? In my experience most of the dedications are in memory of someone. Very few dedications take place during someone’s lifetime. Most recently at Beth Jacob two new beautiful pieces of furniture - a Shulchan and an Amud - were dedicated in memory of different individuals. Schools, yeshivos, synagogues and many public institutions are either donated in memory or in honor of someone. How do people decide which to choose; is it a kind of nostalgia which causes us to look at the past while helping to shape the goals and aspirations of the future? Are we looking towards the future or are we looking back at the past? Both perspectives are equally important; the key is to appropriately assign the item to the time, place, person and situation. I would like to suggest that both the past and the future are key components for the survival of the Jewish people.

The idea of past and future is found in this week’s Parsha Chayei Sorah. In Bereishis 24:67 the Torah states: V’Yiveiehah Yitzchak HaOhelah Sorah Immo Vayikach Es Rivka VaThee Lo L’Isha VaYe’Ehaveha VaYinacheim Yitzchok Acharei Immo” - “And Yitzchok brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother. He took Rivka and she became his wife, and he loved her. And thus Isaac was consoled after his mother”. Rabbeinu B’Chaya says that this verse describes Yitzchok’s greatness in the fact that he refused to be comforted for his mother until he saw and married Rivka and was comforted because of her. There is a difficulty with this because the Rabbis teach us that eulogies are not appropriate twelve months after death - even for a Torah scholar. If so, how could Yitzchok continue to mourn and refuse comfort for an extended period?

Rabbeinu B’Chaya explains that the tent of Sorah was the resting place for God’s Shechina/presence. Our forefathers Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov were the chariots to the Shechina. They were the ones who could convey earthly things to Hashem and then carry the holiness of God to the world. Later on in history the significance of the Mishkan was that it became the receptacle for God’s Shechina which had been inaugurated at the tent of Sorah. There were three things in the tent of Sorah that were signs of the Shechina’s presence. The first sign was the candle that burned from erev Shabbos until the next erev Shabbos. The burning candle was the symbol of the Ner Maaravi, the western candle in the Mishkan which was never extinguished. The Gemara Shabbos 22b says this was the testimony that the Shechina rested on Israel. The second siman, sign, was found in the dough. As stated in the Gemara Chagiga 26b, the bread was always hot and fresh in the Mishkan, even one week later. The third symbol was the cloud which hovered over the tent, similar to the cloud that was seen over the Kapores - the Ark. It was only because Sorah was in a constant state of Tahara/purity that the Shechina remained; if she had become Tamei/impure the Shechina would not have been able to remain in the tent. The Gemara in Avoda Zara states that purity brings along ruach hakodesh - a divine spirit. When Sorah died, it was as if the Mishkan had been destroyed.

The reason that Yitzchok mourned for such a long time was not because of the death of his mother but rather for the destruction of the Mishkan, the holy Temple of its time. He was concerned that anyone who failed to mourn over the destruction of the Temple would not be worthy of rejoicing at its rebuilding. Therefore, when Rivka arrived it was as though the Beis HaMikdash had been rebuilt anew which, in turn, brought back the dwelling of Hashem’s presence. The word ‘VaYeehaveha’ means that the original love of his mother was aroused because he realized it was in her merit that the Shechina was there to begin with.

We can view the tent of Sorah as being dedicated in the memory of Yitzchok’s mother, while the ‘new’ tent, in the presence of Rivka, was dedicated in honor of Yitzchok’s wife. While this was the very same tent, it memorialized his mother while also honoring his wife. The lesson for the present generation is that we should look back and value and recognize our illustrious past and also look at the exact same ‘tent’ and look forward to our promising future. This will be the most meaningful dedication for all time!

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky