Thursday, November 13, 2014
Parshas Chayei Sarah: Passing the Torch of Torah
9:59 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
"Now Avraham was old, well on in years, and Hashem blessed Avraham with everything" (Genesis 24:1)
Rashi explains that the world "bekol" in gematriya (taking the letters and putting a number equivalent to them) is the same as "ben" or son and now that he has a son, he has to find him a wife. Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l in Derash Moshe asks that the Torah tells us explicitly that he had a son without any hints so why does the Torah here have to give a hint that he has been blessed with a son?
Even though Avraham was blessed with everything including a son, he knew that if there were no future generations to guard the Torah and keep like it is supposed to be kept, all the goodness, wealth and good deeds aren't worth very much unless there is a future continuation! Therefore when he is blessed with everything which represents a son, once he sees that he has future generations that will come from him, then all of his actions and righteousness will have been for the benefit of the future generations.
This is an important lesson for us to learn. Not only do our actions matter and how we interact with others but we have to show our children the importance of what we do in keeping the Torah. When they see our enthusiasm in doing G-d's will, it will have a positive effect that they will want to continue in the same path.
The test of what we do is what our offspring look like. This means we have to give over to them to the best of our ability of the importance of guarding the Torah. Even when things are difficult or we are having a hard time, we nonetheless have to show them how much we enjoy it!
As other so-called movements in Judaism will tell you that the Torah has to change and there must be innovations for Judaism to be relevant in the "modern world". Tthe results of these actions are disastrous. Even without the philosophical questions that they may have, how does their beliefs transcend to their kids?
With a skyrocketing intermarriage rate together with a lack of proper Jewish education for most, the results are catastrophic! if their brand of Torah does not trickle down to their kids on any level then the next generation becomes weaker and will eventually disappear into spiritual oblivion!
The future generations are the ones who will get the message either for good or bad which will result in whether the Torah will continue to be observed or not. Hitler, may his name be blotted out, killed over one and a half million children. This is a hard thing to fathom.
He did so because he understood that if there was no one to teach in the future Judaism will die. It has to perpetuated in the best way possible and if it cannot be passed down to the next generation, then the philosophy of those parents and their ideals are all for nought.
Avraham understood that he had to find a wife for Yitzchak because of the importance of passing the ideas of Torah to the next generation!
Shabbat Shalom
Rashi explains that the world "bekol" in gematriya (taking the letters and putting a number equivalent to them) is the same as "ben" or son and now that he has a son, he has to find him a wife. Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l in Derash Moshe asks that the Torah tells us explicitly that he had a son without any hints so why does the Torah here have to give a hint that he has been blessed with a son?
Even though Avraham was blessed with everything including a son, he knew that if there were no future generations to guard the Torah and keep like it is supposed to be kept, all the goodness, wealth and good deeds aren't worth very much unless there is a future continuation! Therefore when he is blessed with everything which represents a son, once he sees that he has future generations that will come from him, then all of his actions and righteousness will have been for the benefit of the future generations.
This is an important lesson for us to learn. Not only do our actions matter and how we interact with others but we have to show our children the importance of what we do in keeping the Torah. When they see our enthusiasm in doing G-d's will, it will have a positive effect that they will want to continue in the same path.
The test of what we do is what our offspring look like. This means we have to give over to them to the best of our ability of the importance of guarding the Torah. Even when things are difficult or we are having a hard time, we nonetheless have to show them how much we enjoy it!
As other so-called movements in Judaism will tell you that the Torah has to change and there must be innovations for Judaism to be relevant in the "modern world". Tthe results of these actions are disastrous. Even without the philosophical questions that they may have, how does their beliefs transcend to their kids?
With a skyrocketing intermarriage rate together with a lack of proper Jewish education for most, the results are catastrophic! if their brand of Torah does not trickle down to their kids on any level then the next generation becomes weaker and will eventually disappear into spiritual oblivion!
The future generations are the ones who will get the message either for good or bad which will result in whether the Torah will continue to be observed or not. Hitler, may his name be blotted out, killed over one and a half million children. This is a hard thing to fathom.
He did so because he understood that if there was no one to teach in the future Judaism will die. It has to perpetuated in the best way possible and if it cannot be passed down to the next generation, then the philosophy of those parents and their ideals are all for nought.
Avraham understood that he had to find a wife for Yitzchak because of the importance of passing the ideas of Torah to the next generation!
Shabbat Shalom
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