This Parsha is filled with so many incredible stories.
This Parsha is filled with so many incredible stories. Avraham, just circumcised at the age of 99, goes out of his way to welcome and feed three visitors. Their hospitality creates the opening for Sarah and Avraham to give birth to Isaac a year later. We learn how Avraham argues with God to save the corrupt city of Sodom. Also, Lot, his nephew, through his own act of hospitality, is able to escape destruction. In another story, we see how family can hurt each other.. We witness the birth of Isaac and the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from the tent of Sarah. We see how Abraham and God provide for their needs. Finally, we learn of the Akedah, how Abraham brings his son Isaac up to a high place, Moriah (My Teacher is God). And at the very end of the Parsha we learn of the birth of Rebecca, the future matriarch who will marry Isaac and is responsible for preserving the heritage that follows.
So here I am, with Diane, in ancient Canaan, in the city where Abraham takes Yitzchak up to Moriah. Here we are not that far from Beersheva and numerous other places mentioned in the Parsha.
We’re here, near Moriah, for our son Dani’s wedding. His bride, Chana, grew up in Hungary and made Aliyah some four years ago. Her twin sister lives in Tel Aviv. Chana, like Dani, was drawn to the spiritual life and community that an Orthodox community provides.
We have been offered hospitality by a number of friends and are presently quarantining in Ira Kerem’s apartment near the beautiful promenade, Tayelet, overlooking the old and new cities of Jerusalem, and the magnificent views of mountains to the east.
Our friend, Ira, a founder of the Kosher Kitchen Collective in Silver Spring in the 70’s, spent the day, not only providing for us, but also cooking for those in need as a part of a food reclamation project in Jerusalem. I was reminded of how we used to bring Kosher meals to the elderly and those home bound back in the Kosher Kitchen days. Some 46 years later, he and a number of Israeli men and women, reclaim, sort and distribute unsaleable bruised fruits and vegetables that would have been thrown away. These mitzvot are our holy connectors, from one generation to another. Welcoming guests, feeding the hungry, providing for those in need and raising up the next generation is our way of life.
Here are a few photos below.
Blessings from Jerusalem,
Reb David