Chaos

 Noach

Gen. 6:9-11:32

 

Précis: The story of Noah (Hebrew: Noach) and the Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals. It rains for forty days and nights. Noah and his family are saved, and afterward leave the Ark, build an altar, and make sacrifices to God. God sets a rainbow as a promise not to destroy mankind again.  

Gen. 6:13 “The earth became corrupt before God; the earth was filled with chaos. When God saw how corrupt the earth was, for all flesh had corrupted its ways on earth, God said to Noah, ‘I have decided to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with lawlessness because of them: I am about to destroy them with the earth.’”

             What were the sins of humanity which justified its destruction? Ibn Ezra defines  "chaos" (in Hebrew, “hamas”) as thievery, oppression and rape. Cassuto suggests “hamas” is cold-blooded, unscrupulous actions motivated by greed and hate. Both commentators agree: hamas merited all of humanity’s destruction except for Noah and his family.

            But was everyone else guilty? This bothered our Sages. One response, however, has meaning today. All of humanity was to be destroyed because no one had opposed the hamas in which they dwelt. From this, we learn that we become complicit in evil when we fail to oppose it.

            Israel is at war with the almost ironically named terror organization Hamas, and all war inevitably results in harm to the innocent. We regret the loss of life necessitated to eliminate Hamas, but  we recognize that the failure of Israel to do so endangers not only Israel, but all of the peoples of the Middle East.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Bereshit

Gen. 1:1 - 6:8

 

Précis: The first Book of the Torah, Bereshit (Genesis, literally “in the beginning” or “When God began to create”) begins with the familiar story of creation. The world is created in six days and God rests on the seventh. The stories of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are included, as is the story of Cain and Abel.

 

Gen 1:5 “And God called the Light “Day” and the Dark “Night.” And there was evening and morning, a first day.”

Dividing night from day is an elemental part of Creation. There is light and there is darkness. These are, and always have been, metaphors for good and evil.

            What we witnessed in Israel last Shabbat is the epitome of evil. I merely state the obvious: there is evil in this world, and nowhere is it better exemplified than by Hamas, which murdered young and old, men and women, children and their mothers and grandparents. There is also evil in those who suggest somehow that this is Israel's fault.

            Those who object to Israel's retaliation against the evil that has been committed don't seem to understand (or care) that a failure to retaliate leaves those who committed the atrocities unpunished. Even worse are those who celebrate the wanton terror of this despicable group, who use human shields of their own people, and who have abducted an untold number of civilians from many nations, threatening to kill them should Israel dare  seek justice. 

            Dr. Erica Brown, Vice-Provost of Yeshiva University Sacks-Herenstein Center, today quoted Rabbi Sacks (z'l) as follows:

            

 “Though Israel has had to fight many wars, from the very beginning it sought peace. The Hebrew language has two words for strength: koach and gevurah. Koach is the strength you need to win a war. Gevurah is the courage you need to make peace. Israel has shown both kinds of strength. But peace is a duet, not a solo. It cannot be made by one side alone. If it could, it would have been made long ago.”

 

Am Yisrael Chai!