Avraham and Sarah

Dear friends, 

this year I would like to do something different. I am going to write interesting tidbits on the parsha of the week. This week, I will be sending out three blog posts, because I missed Bereishis and Noah, and I want them to be in order. 

Enjoy. 

Yitzi     

Print         Lech Lecha 

Avraham was born 300 years after the flood, he was the 10th generation from Noah. Noah lived 350 years  after the flood, so it is certain that Avraham saw him. He actually studied at his yeshiva (Torah Academy), later known as the yeshiva of Shem and Ever, the son and great grandson of Noah. 

When Avraham was born, it was a time of Idol worship. The city he was born in, was ruled by Nimrod, the ruler of most of civilization. Nimrod was the first ruler of people after the flood, he was a very powerful leader and he was black. Idol worship was a way of controlling the minds of the people, only free thinkers believed in Hashem and they were scoffed at and persecuted. Nimrod saw believers of Hashem as a threat to his power and he would deal with them harshly. 

Avraham's father was Terach, an important man, and he had an Idol business. 

When Avraham was born, Nimrod's astrologers advised him to have the baby killed, because he was going to be a threat to his rule. Terach switched another baby in place of Avraham and his mother hid him in a cave. 

When Avraham was 3 years old, he recognized that Idol worship was silly, and he went on a search for G-d and came to the conclusion that He couldn't be anything in the world, He had to be greater than the world. 

When he got older, he went to study in the yeshiva of Noah, Shem and Ever. When he was forty he returned to Babel and started to teach about Hashem. He was treading a dangerous path. Everything came to a head with one story. 

Avraham's father, Terach, asked him to watch his business, the Idols. When his father left, he took an ax and smashed all the Idols except for the largest one and he placed the ax in the largest one's hand. When his father returned, he asked Avraham, "what happened?" Avraham told him that he brought some food for the Idols and they started to fight over the food. The big one took the ax, smashed all of the other Idols and took the food for himself. 

His father was fuming, "You know that Idols can't do anything, you did this." Avraham replied, "if Idols can't do anything, why do you serve them?" It was a clear demonstration of the fallacy of Idol worship. Word spread quickly and Nimrod had Avraham thrown into a blazing furnace. Hashem made a miracle and the inside of the furnace turned into a garden for him. When he was taken out of the furnace, his brother Haran proclaimed his belief in Hashem, and Nimrod had Haran thrown into the furnace, and he burned to death. 

Haran had two daughters Milka and Yiska. Avraham married Yiska, who was also called Sarai, and Hashem later changed her name to Sarah. 

Sarah or Sarai, means a minister, Yiska, or in English, Jessica, comes from the word nesicha, which means a princess. Sarah was extremely beautiful, graceful and dignified, like a minister and a princess. (interesting to note that Sarah Jessica is a common name) 

She kept the laws of purity, mikva, and because of that, there was always a cloud of Hashem's presence hovering above her tent. She kept the mitzvah of challah, and her bread was blessed because of it. Only a little bit of it filled you up and satisfied you (like lembas). And she kept the mitzvah of lighting Shabbat candles and a miracle would occur, they would continue to burn all week, until it was time to light them again. 

These Mitzvos are really special to Jewish women, who are all daughters of Sarah, our mother. 

Noah

print   

Why was Noah called Noah? 

Noah's father had a prophecy that Noah would make life easier for people. One of the translations of Noah is easy. How did Noah make life easier for people? Until the time of Noah working a field was very difficult, because there weren't many tools. Noah invented the plow, making a field easier to work. 

How big was Noah's Ark? 

The Torah tells us that it was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. 

How big is a cubit? 

The normal cubit is 5 hands (a hand is approximately 4 inches) so it is approximately 20 inches (50 cm). 

In the Temple in Jerusalem, a cubit was 6 hands, approximately 2 feet (60 cm).

We are told that on the Ark the light of Moshiach shined, it was a holy and miraculous place like the Temple. So perhaps the cubits were Temple cubits. 

If so the Ark was approximately 600 feet (180 m) long, 100 feet (30 m) wide, and 60 feet (18 m) high. It was about as long as two football fields. It was very big. 

The Ark had three floors. On the top floor lived Noah's family. On the middle floor were the animals. And on the bottom floor was food storage and waste. There was enough room for every floor to be almost 20 feet (6 m) high, tall enough for a giraffe. 

On the Ark, Hashem commanded Noah, his family and the animals not to have reproductive relations, so no animals or people were born on the Ark. The raven disobeyed the command, that is why Noah sent the raven out of the Ark first, he banished the raven from the Ark because of his sin. Being that the female raven was already expecting, Noah didn't fear for the species. However, Hashem commanded Noah to continue taking care of the raven, because the raven would prove its usefulness in the future. In fact, when Elijah the prophet was hiding from the wicked king Ahab and Queen jezebel, who wanted to kill him, in the cave on Mount Sinai, ravens would bring him food. 

On the Ark the light of Moshiach shined bright, therefore the animals got along. The animals of prey didn't attack other animals, as it says about the time of Moshiach, "The wolf will dwell with the lamb." 

Rashi tells us that one time, Noah was late to feed the lion, and it took a swipe at him, and hurt him. 

Lighting on the Ark 

The Ark had a stone called a tzoar, which gave off a bright light. Maybe the Arkenstone from the Hobbit, I find it amusing that he called it the ARKenstone. 

Question. tongue in cheek: Why didn't Noah allow the unicorns onto the Ark? 

Funny you ask. When the Jewish people were in the desert, they built the Mishkan (Tabernacle). One of the coverings of the Mishkan were made of tachash skin which was colorful. The animal is now extinct, some people say that it was a unicorn. So maybe he did let them on the Ark.  

Life on the Ark 

There is a conversation recorded in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 108b) between Eliezer the servant of Avraham and Shem son of Noah, where he asked Shem about life on the Ark. 

Eliezer asked him, "Where were you and what did you do to care for them while they were in the ark?” 

Shem said to him, "We experienced great suffering in the ark caring for the animals. Where there was a creature that one typically feeds during the day, we fed it during the day, and where there was a creature that one typically feeds at night, we fed it at night. 

"With regard to that chameleon, my father did not know what it eats. One day, my father was sitting and peeling a pomegranate. A worm fell from it and the chameleon ate it. From that point forward my father would knead bran with water, and when it became overrun with worms, the chameleon would eat it.” 

How about the Phoenix? 

Eliezer asked him, "Where were you and what did you do to care for them while they were in the ark?” 

Shem said to him, "We experienced great suffering in the ark caring for the animals. Where there was a creature that one typically feeds during the day, we fed it during the day, and where there was a creature that one typically feeds at night, we fed it at night. 

"With regard to that chameleon, my father did not know what it eats. One day, my father was sitting and peeling a pomegranate. A worm fell from it and the chameleon ate it. From that point forward my father would knead bran with water, and when it became overrun with worms, the chameleon would eat it.” 

How about the Phoenix? 

"Shem continued: With regard to the phoenix, my father found it lying in its compartment on the side of the ark. He said to the bird: Do you not want food? The bird said to him: I saw that you were busy, and I said I would not trouble you by requesting food. Noah said to the bird: May it be God’s will that you shall not die, and through that bird the verse was fulfilled, as it is stated: “And I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the phoenix” (Job 29:18 )." 

In Iyov (Job ad loc) the commentaries explain that when Chava ate from the tree of knowledge she had all the animals eat from it too. However, the phoenix was the only creature that refused to eat from the tree of knowledge. Therefore it lives forever. It also explains how it lives for a thousand years and the process of how it's reborn from its ashes. 

Adam And Chava, The Holy Image Of Hashem

Dear friends, 

this year I would like to do something different. I am going to write interesting tidbits on the parsha of the week. This week, I will be sending out three blog posts, because I missed Bereishis and Noah, and I want them to be in order. 

Enjoy.  

Yitzi 

__

print

Was the original man that Hashem created male or female? 

At first he was both, as the verse says, "And Hashem created the Adam, in the image of Hashem He created him, male and female He created them." And Rashi brings the Midrash, that at first he was both male and female together. Then Hashem split the Adam (pun intended), and they became two, a male and a female. The word for rib in Hebrew is tzela which also means a side. So when the Torah says that Hashem took a tzela from Adam and made Chava, it means that He separated the female side from the male side. 

If he was both, why does it say, "him?" Because in Hebrew there is no gender neutral, everything is either male or female, there is no word for "it," so it says, "him." 

You may ask, what does this have to do with the marriage of this new beautiful couple? 

To explain this, I will ask another question. The original Adam was created in the image of Hashem, and he was both male and female. So the true image of Hashem is female and male together. How are we then in the image of Hashem, if we are each only half? 

The answer. There are two levels of the image of Hashem. There is the individual, who is in the image of Hashem, either male or female. And then there is the holy image of Hashem, which is represented by a married couple together in harmony. That is perhaps why, in the blessings of the Sheva Brachos, we talk about the creation of Adam. It is the two halves of the Adam coming together. 

And this is a message to every bride and groom on their wedding day. 

Now you are finally whole, now is when your mission truly begins. And when you are in harmony, you are in the original image of Hashem, the holy image of Hashem, and you have a greater impact on this world. 

May your marriage always be in harmony, and may your home be a home for Hashem, with the light of Yiddishkeit and Chassidishkeit and may your togetherness be strong and impactful, and may it bring Moshiach closer. May he come soon.