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Rabbi Mark Dratch
Remember!
he gripping, challenging transformative, monumental event, in Egypt and he was released from
story of the Binding of nothing seemed to have changed; prison. It is the day on which He
TYitzchak ends with strange life seemed to return to normal. remembers us. The great challenge
verses that appear to have little This epitomized Avraham’s fate for us on this Yom HaZikaron is to
importance, meaning or relevance, in the world in which he lived. No notice others and be sensitive to
certainly to the holy day of Rosh wonder he was called Ivri… all their circumstances.
Hashanah: “And it came to pass alone, from the other side.
after these things, that it was told to In determining when the night
Avraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, We can all relate to this has ended and the day has begun,
she has also born children to your phenomenon of being unnoticed. the rabbis offer many opinions.
brother Nachor; Utz his firstborn... It happens so often by others, by One suggests it is the time when
And Betuel fathered Rivka… And spouses, friends, parents, children, a person can distinguish between
his concubine, whose name was rabbis and congregations. People the white and blue threads of the
Reumah, she bore also Tevach, live lives and yet many do not tzitzit in natural light. Another,
Gacham, and...” (Genesis 22, 20-24). notice them or their problems or significant for us, is the time when
their troubles or their cares or their you can recognize your friend
And even if these verses are nightmares or their dreams. from a distance of four cubits. The
important to teach us of the birth night is when we cannot see each
of the future matriarch, why include We often misjudge and feel other. Darkness is when we cannot
them in the morning’s reading? misjudged. We often feel unnoticed recognize what others need, why
They appear to be an anticlimax, or abandoned by others. Perhaps others cry, who the other is. And the
filled with petty family gossip of one of the greatest of human dawn breaks when we begin to take
babies and concubines. Certainly, miseries is to feel unnoticed by notice. Light of day comes when we
they pale in comparison to the great G-d, unanswered, even deserted, become aware of each other's hopes
testimony of faith and sacrifice. especially at vulnerable moments and dreams and needs. It is when we
of loss or sickness or fear. This can look at the face of any man or
The Akeida should have shaken the problem is not mine or yours alone. woman and see that it is our sister
world at its very foundation. It is King David himself, in Psalms, or brother. Because if we cannot see
the only thing that people should pleads, “My G-d, my G-d, why have this, it is still night.
have talked about. They should you forsaken me? Why are you so
have rushed Avraham, asked him far from helping me, from the words May the night of indifference turn
questions, and listened to his take of my loud complaint?” “O my G-d, into a dawn of caring. May the
on how it affected him, the impact I cry in the daytime, but you do not darkness of indifference transform
the experience was to have on world hear; and in the night, and I have into the light of respect and
history, on relationships with G-d. no rest.” “Do not forsake me, O kindness. Or chadash al Tzion
Instead, he encountered a world L-rd! O my G-d, do not be far from ta’ir… May we merit a new light of
that was uninterested, unaffected, me!” “Cast me not off in the time care and respect dawn on Zion, on
unmoved. One of the greatest of old age; forsake me not when our families and on our community,
moments in spiritual history was my strength fails.” This longing and may we bathe in its brightness
trivialized into nothingness. A becomes the impetus for prayer… and warmth soon. Achievement,
world in which no one understood, remember me, notice me. success and peace for all of us, and
in which no one paid attention. for all mankind.
On Rosh Hashanah, G-d models
Or perhaps this was another for us the great capacity for
aspect of the great test of the remembering, for taking notice, for
Akeida: to be misunderstood, caring. It is the day on which G-d
unnoticed, and forgotten and yet remembered Sarah and Chana and Rabbi Mark Dratch is Executive Vice
to persevere. These verses seem to answered their prayers. It is the day President of the Rabbinical Council of
indicate that after this life-altering, on which G-d remembered Yosef America
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