Rabbi Heller's Blog

The Shabbat of October 27-28, Conservative synagogues around the world are observing Solidarity Shabbat in support of our brethren in Israel.  Please wear blue and white to services, and see https://www.masortisolidarityshabbat.org/  for more resources.

I’ve gotten requests for my sermon from last shabbat.  You can find it (and other sermons) at https://www.bnaitorah.org/sermons      

Sunday night we will be hosting a community-wide study opportunity with Ken Stein.  See the end of this post for details

Monday night there is a community-wide event in support of families of the hostages.  See https://jewishatlanta.org/event/israel-solidarity-bring-them-home/ for details.

As we enter Shabbat this week, over 200 Jewish captives are still held in Gaza, many of them elderly, women and babies stolen away from their homes.  As part of our Solidarity Shabbat, we will be marking an empty seat to keep them in our hearts for safe return.  On the one hand,  I am heartened by statements of support that I and our community continue to receive, whether from senior government leaders or strangers in the street.  On the other,  in many places, whatever sympathy might have been elicited is being overshadowed by old tropes and blood libels.  Pro-terror protestors are making their voices and lies heard in cities worldwide, college campuses, local governments, and on social media.  They have often dropped the pretense that this is merely about Israel, as their protests invoke anti-Semitic slurs and Nazi symbols and they threaten violence against Jews. This week’s Torah portion includes two stories that offer some insight and inspiration in troubled times.  In both cases, Abram (having not yet earned his full name) must respond to the fact that his loved ones have been taken captive, but his approaches and the results are different.

The first time is in Genesis chapter 12, as Abram is entering Egypt.  Abram has barely established himself in Canaan as a stateless, status-less wanderer.  He knows that the Egyptian society is lawless, and that there is a chance that Sarah will be taken from him. He responds meekly- concealing his relationship with Sarah and allowing Pharaoh to do as he pleases. While Sarah is captive in Pharaoh’s palace, Abram is enriched. Eventually God intervenes and Pharaoh realizes the injustice of his actions and releases Sarah.

We see a very different Abram in Chapter 14.  He and his nephew, Lot, have separated due to harsh conflict within the family, but then Lot is caught up in a war between the kings of Canaan and the kings of the East, and taken captive.  Abram, responds in an uncharacteristically aggressive way.  Putting aside family differences, Abram musters over 300 trained warriors to enter the battle and pursues the enemy until they are defeated, saving his nephew.  As the fog of war clears, Abram is offered the opportunity to take of the spoils, but refuses, insisting that he will take nothing other than what is owed to his allies.

It would be nice to be able to follow Abram’s first approach, and wait for salvation to come from abroad or above, bringing rewards, however long it takes.   Unfortunately, we know from past history that the world will not intervene. Hamas held Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier, for five years. Israel finally secured his release in a deal which freed many convicted terrorists, including 280 who had been imprisoned the murder of Israelis, and some who helped plan the murderous attacks of October 7.  Ironically, even when Abram follows the first approach, Pharaoh confronts Abram with accusations that he is somehow the aggressor: “What have you done to us?”

The second approach, of active response, bears fewer up front rewards. Abram stands up for his nephew despite their differences, just as Israelis have united and, for the moment, put aside their serious internal divisions and conflicts.  The rules of war are that “to the victor go the spoils” but Abram is not enriched despite having expended effort and putting lives at risk, and having saved hundreds of residents of Sodom. At the end, though, Melchizedek blesses Abram. 

Israel faces difficult choices as to how to help those who are spending this Shabbat held in Hamas terror tunnels. I am normally a fan of negotiation and peace when possible, but the captors have not changed their desires, goals and means.  The risks of negotiation- emboldening the enemy, freeing those who have promised to kill again, are quite real. The risks involved in a military response are certainly high, both for Israel’s soldiers and for Palestinian civilians that Hamas uses as human shields.

Hamas' goals here are clear.  The Torah tells us that a “refugee” informs Abram about his nephew’s capture.  Our sages suggest that this is an important detail- the refugee was an enemy king who hoped that Abram would be drawn into battle and killed so that he could then take Sarah and Abrams possessions. Similarly, Hamas’s strategy in taking these hostages is to draw Israel into a ground war where it would be at a disadvantage both on the urban battlefield and in the battlefield of public opinion. 

Israel is unlikely to win in the battle of public opinion. Many in the world do not care whether Israel’s captives are ever returned, alive or dead, and have already prejudged that any attempt to defeat the captors will be  “disproportionate.”  These chapters of Genesis teach us that, those who hate us like Pharaoh will curse us no matter what, and those who serve righteousness, like Melchizedek, will bless, irrespectively.  We must live by our own values, and recall God’s promise that those who bless us will be blessed, and those who curse us will be cursed.

More about Sunday night: