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CHAYEI SARAH READING

Rabbi Berel Wein

Our Role Today

Avraham and Sarah or Yitzchak and Rivka?

eath is not only tragic for biological offspring. Eventually, it is universal humanistic ideas, is a
those intimately affected. It only through Ya’akov that Avraham self-destructive viewpoint of the pur-
Dalso always poses problems of and Sarah continue and become the pose of Judaism.
succession and reorganization of the blessing G-d promised they would
family, company or institution. Avra- be. The world struggle that engaged Without Jews, there is no Judaism.
ham and Sarah, the founders of the Avraham and Sarah becomes a strug- Without Judaism, there is no true
Jewish nation, pass from the scene in gle within Avraham and Sarah’s family moral conscience left in the world.
this week’s parasha. They are suc- itself.
ceeded by Yitzchak and Rivka and in Therefore, it seems evident to me that
fact, the majority of the parasha con- It becomes abundantly clear that the the primary imperative of Jews today
cerns itself with how Yitzchak marries Jewish people’s main struggle will be is to strengthen and support Jewish
Rivka and how they establish their to consolidate itself and thus influence family life, Torah education and the
new home together. the world by osmosis, so to speak. State of Israel.
The time of Avraham and Sarah has
In personality, temperament and passed and new times require different We are in the generations of Yitzchak
action, Yitzchak and Rivka differ responses to the challenges of being a and Rivka and therefore we have to
markedly from Avraham and Sarah. blessing to all of humankind. husband our resources and build our-
Whereas Avraham and Sarah devoted selves first. As yet, we have not made
themselves to reaching as many out- There are those in the Jewish world good the population losses of the
siders as they could and were actively who are committed to “fixing the Holocaust 75 years ago! If the Jewish
engaged in spreading the idea of world” at the expense of Jewish tra- people will be strong and numerous,
monotheism in the surrounding soci- ditional life and Torah law. Yet the the age of Avraham and Sarah will
ety, Yitzchak and Rivka seem to take simple truth is that for the Jewish reemerge. The tasks of the consoli-
a more conservative approach. They people to be effective in influencing dation of Jewish life – as represented
attempted to consolidate what their the general society for good, we must by the lives of Yitzchak and Rivka –
forebears accomplished and to build be a strong and committed people. In should be the hallmark of our genera-
a family nation rather than trying to Shir HaShirim, King Solomon warns tion as well.
attract more strangers to their cause. us that “I have watched the vineyards
of others but I have neglected guard-
As we will see in next week’s para- ing my own vineyard.”
sha, Yitzchak and Rivka’s struggle is
an internal family one. How best to The attempted destruction and dele-
raise Eisav and Ya’akov and guarantee gitimization of the Jewish people or Rabbi Berel Wein is Senior Rabbi of Beit
the continuity of Avraham and Sar- the State of Israel – G-d forbid – in Knesset HaNassi in Jerusalem and Director
ah’s ideas and beliefs through their order to further fuzzy, do-good, of the Destiny Foundation.

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