Seeing the Future
Shmuel Herzfeld
An acquaintance of mine, Lee, at The American Bible Association told me the following story. The man is a Christian fully versed in the text of the Bible. It happened that he took his four-year-old son camping. Lee intended to take his son up to a hill, in the middle of a valley, so that they could watch the sunrise together and pray. They set out before dawn, and as they reached the dewy grass, Lee’s son looked up at him and said, “Daddy: Are we going to MountMoriah?”
Lee told me that he had never even studied that story with his son. Yet, somehow this little boy had internalized the story of the Akedah; the story in which God commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac upon MountMoriah, and only at the very last second does an angel call out to Abraham and say, “stop.”
This story evokes many different images—including some that are highly difficult from an ethical perspective. Today, I want to focus on the image of a four year old looking up at his father and asking for precise directions.
This four year old was ready to do exactly what his father said. I have a four year old. They don’t always listen; they sometimes misbehave. But, they do hang on every word you say. They believe everything you tell them. They look at their parents almost the way we look at God, as our all-knowing, protector.
This relationship of young-child to parent is in many ways the relationship between man and God described in the Akedah.
Rabbi Mordechai Breuer notes that a central point of the Akedah is that at every step along the story God tells Avraham exactly what to do. The story is filled with references to the fact that God will give Avraham precise directions.
God tells Avraham to go on a journey towards a mountain, asher omar elekhah, eventually, “I will tell you where it is.” Eventually, Avraham sees the place from afar, va-yar et ha-makom mei-rachok. Actually, the Midrash tells us that Avraham couldn’t find the place on his own. God had to show Avraham the place by tying a cloud to the mountain. At every step along the way God tells Avraham how to act
Isaac asks, “Where is the sheep for the sacrifice?” Abraham’s answer is consistent, “God will show us the sheep.” “Elokim yireh-lo et ha-seh.”
That line sums up the relationship between God and Avrahm as described in the Akedah. It is a theological relationship that requires man to totally depend upon God. Indeed, after Avraham at the direction of God refrains from sacrificing Isaac, he sacrifices a ram that God has placed before him. Avraham then calls the place, “Hashem Yireh,” God will show us everything. Avraham would not act without direct instructions from God.
This theology argues that only God can show us the way in this world. Humans should not innovate too much. Even though Avraham knew how evil it was to kill a child he still obeyed because it was the word of God.
Just like four year old needs to totally rely upon their parents, so too did Avraham need to rely upon God. The analogy to a four-year-old makes sense because even though Avrahm was very old, he was just starting a new nation.
This theology of total dependence upon God was vital when we were first beginning our history as a nation. We needed total guidance. We needed God to hold our hand and show us exactly what to do. At that time, all God asked of us was that we follow God’s commandments.
Four year olds eventually grow up. They move out of the house. They get a job. They accomplish great feats. They don’t do that by having total reliance on their parents. They do that only by moving beyond the teachings of their parents.
Abraham was a great fearer of God, but there is a reason why he is not listed as the Messiah. There is a reason why he didn’t build the Temple or become King of all Israel.
When we were ready to really glorify God’s name we needed to elevate our relationship. We needed a more mature relationship. We needed to go beyond the literal commandments. We needed to move beyond, “Hashem yireh,” and see for ourselves.
The Akedah took place on MountMoriah the very place where the Temple was built (2 Chronicles 3:1.) Unlike the Akedah which was a Divine initiative, the Temple was a human initiative. David came to God, and said I want to build a Temple for You, to glorify Your name. (2 Samuel 7: 3). The text says that David came with his dreams to Natan the Navi. Va-yomer ha-melekh el natan, “Re-eh nah anokihi yoshev be-beit arazim ve-aron ha-elokim yoshev be-tokh ha-yeriah. Look for yourself. Envision the future. We can do better. We can build on the simple commandments that God has given us. We can build a palace for God.”
As the Jewish people celebrated their finest moment—the building of the Temple, it was no longer, Hashem Yireh, God will show us; instead it was, reh nah, lets look for ourselves.
David was asking permission to build upon God’s world; to go beyond the present reality and to envision a future possibility. If we want to achieve greatness with our lives—and we should all strive for greatness—then, like David, we need to dream. We need to see the future; dream about the possibilities of what we can accomplish.
Unfortunately for David, God didn’t allow David to see his dream come true, but he did allow his son, Solomon, to build the Temple. But the point is David went to the same place as Avraham, MountMoriah—Hashem Yireh, aplace where God told us what to see--and David transformed it. David began to see for himself; David set forth his own vision.
David’s vision teaches that the greatest glorification of God’ name is to see that which has not yet been created. God describes his relationship with Solomon in 2 Samuel 7 as, “Ani Eheyeh lo le-av, ve-hu ye-hiyeh li-le-ven, I will be to him like a father and he will be to me like a son.” Ha-kol adam mitkane, we are jealous of everyone except for our children. The Bible is teaching that God wants this father-child relationship. He wants us to be like a son moving beyond the confines of a home and creating something new.
David’s vision requires us too, to show initiative in our relationship with God; we have to reach out to God, not wait for God to reach out to us. We have to build, not wait for God to build for us.
We have to make our own destiny. If it’s not visible, we have to create it
This is what excited me about the opportunity to be the rabbi of this great congregation. It is true, there are not 1000 families here…yet. But, I’ll tell you what is here. The way the shul was described to me by the members when I came was as a place filled with potential. Our President, Hal Brodsky spoke that Shabbat on which I came to visit—there were maybe fifteen people in the room for morning services--about a place that would be filled to the rafters with children; a place filled with religious life; a place filled with potential.
(Now there are some people filled with potential their whole life. Debbie Jonas, wife of the very successful CEO of IDT, Howard Jonas once told me the following story about her husband. It seems Howard used to get into trouble in school. So much so, that all the teachers used to tell his father. “Your son has a lot of potential….” Finally, one time, Howard’s father said, “I am tired of hearing about how much potential he has. I think he only has potential to convince people that he has potential.”)
To be able to see, what is not yet there….that is the greatest sanctification of God’s name. That is the greatest act of Godliness.
There is one verse from the Torah that encapsulates this idea and symbolizes the essence of Rosh Hashanah. The verse is recited before we pray the silent amidah on Rosh Hashanah night.Tiku bachodesh shofar ba-kesah le-yom chageinu. Blast the shofar, be-kesah, on the day of our holiday.
What does kesah mean? Tosafot in Rosh Hashanah (8b) offers two distinct interpretations. It can mean covered or not visible; i.e. this is the only holiday celebrated when the month is not visible; it is the only biblical holiday where there is not a full moon. It can also mean “the appointed time” as seen from the Talmud in Sanhedrin (96b) that God promises us that he will come to redeem us in an appointed time. Explains Tosafot, Rosh Hashanah is the appointed time that God will redeem us.
We can combine these two explanations. Our future is not always visible to us. Very often its brightness is covered. We don’t see it. But we must imagine what can be. So even though we don’t see our redemption, we are promised that our time will come.
The future of this congregation is so bright. For the past couple of years our moon has been covered as it waned. But we can envision what’s there; we can go beyond the reality of the present; we can imagine that in just a few short years this Synagogue will be the center of Jewish life in the DC area. In just a few short years we will create the reality of our vision. Shannah Tovah.