Parshat Lech-Lecha

11 Cheshvan 5756
Saturday, November 4, 1995

Guest Rabbi:
Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak M. Goodman
Young Israel of Far Rockaway, New York


These items are (expanded) selections from my volume on Chumash B'reishit "There Shall be Light" (Feldheim).

The "Truth" about Shabbat

A well-known expression in Midrashim is that "the seal [chosamo] of G-d is truth (emet)". Since the Hebrew term chosam has the meaning of "conclusion", this seems to hint at the idea that emet might be found at the conclusion of significant statements. We find in the Midrash Rabbah (Ch.1) that "the opening of Your word is emet", followed by the first phrase in the Torah. Indeed, at the beginning and the end of the creation account, this seal is to be found. The first three words in Torah [b'reishiT barA E-lokiM] and the last three words in the creation account [barA E-lokiM l'aasoT] end with the three consonants of emet [A/M/T]. (If one is disturbed that in the opening phrase they are not in order, one can still argue that it might be read as "in the beginning [barA E-lokiM l'aasoT...]", forming emet in correct order with the second through fourth words.) Examining the entire text of the creation in between these two emet indicators, we find several other phrases which contain this seal of emet in perfect order. In (1:4) "[vayar(A) E-lokiM eT] (haor)" - and G-d saw the light that it was good; (1:21) "[vayivrA E-lokiM eT] (hataninim)" - and G-d created the sea-serpents; (1:27) "[vayivrA E-lokiM eT] (haadam)" - and G-d created man; (1:31) "[vayar(A) E-lokiM eT] (kol asher asah)" - and G-d saw all that He had made...it was very good.

It appears that the seal of emet was placed at very strategic places for good reasons. Whenever an exceptionally creative act took place, which we would consider [YAISH MAI-AYIN] Ex Nihilo (something from nothing), the additional stamp of "emet" is utilized. The very first emet is for the creation of matter itself; the second for the creation of energy (light); the third for the beginning of biological life; the fourth for the creation of man who, due to the presence of a soul, is a new creation again; and the fifth for the summary of the entire process of creation!

However, why did a sixth emet appear in the final verse dealing with the sanctity of the Sabbath (2:3)?

I would like to suggest a sermonic type of response. If the previous seals of emet came to strengthen our faith in the creative Ex Nihilo process, perhaps the final emet came to tell us that we, too, might seek to participate in such creation, in the way we treat the sanctity of the Sabbath. Rather than think of the Sabbath as a do-nothing day for sleeping and lounging, we should actively create a great day of Torah and sanctity, to make something out of a day of seemingly no activity. How neatly this fits into the very words that spell out "emet" at this juncture -- "which G-d created to do" -- this unusually awkward phrase which has led to numerous interpretations now gains still another meaning with this approach: G-d created the Sabbath for us to do, or to make something beautiful and holy of it. Unfortunate are those who think of Shabbat as a day to catch their breath for the following six days of strenuous activity. Fortunate are those who find the Shabbat to be the greatest day of activity for them, in terms of their spiritual growth and progress. As we indeed find in Exodus (31:16) "And the children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to 'make' the Sabbath [V'shomru. . . La'Asot Et HaShabbat]..."

Writing on the Horn of an Ox-?

And the earth was desolate and chaos [Tohu VaVohu] and darkness (was) upon the firmament. The Midrash Rabbah comments in the name of Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish that "desolate" [Tohu] represents Babylon (Bavel), "chaos" [Bohu] represents Medea, and darkness is Greece (in the Antiochus era), who darkened our eyes with their evil decrees saying "write on the horn of the ox [Kitvu Lachem al Keren Shel Shor] that you have no part of the G-d of Israel". The "horn of the ox" reference is quite obscure and several interpretations have been given. Here are Rav Yitzchok Yaakov Reines' and Rav Leib Gurewitz's marvelous explanations:

1) In Psalm 94, King David laments over the persecution that the wicked inflict upon Israel, and upon widows and orphans (...they murder orphans; and say, "G-d does not see nor...understand...). In these verses David foresaw with his Holy Spirit our long bitter exile and the two types of suffering we would endure. A) The Babylonians would overrun our land and possessions, but their goal would be to increase their assets and power. With such enemies there is at least a boundary to their pillage - when they gain no further advantage they cease the killing. B) Others will persecute and murder purely for hatred of G-d, Israel, and the Torah, even when no benefit is derived in the conquest and
destruction. Such enemies know no bounds for their violence, since it serves their "purpose" of degrading Israel and G-d (as Hitler did even to the detriment of his own war effort and troop movements). Of this type, King David writes, "They say G-d does not see...", i.e. their entire intent is to prove that G-d does not see; this is their real goal. Such hatred was true of the Greeks, when they forbade our observance of Milah and Shabbat etc., for they gained nothing personal here, just seeking to uproot Judaism. Now - our Chazal (Baba Kama, 2:) divided the damage done by an ox into three categories: "horn", "tooth", and "foot" [Keren - Shain - Regel]. Under "horn", they included all activity in which the ox has malicious intent with no gain or pleasure for itself. Thus, in our Midrash, when Chazal wanted to describe the terrible galut in which enemies like the Greeks seek to destroy our faith, and attack out of pure hatred, they picture the enemy as saying, "write on the horn of an ox...", symbolizing that their intent is on this level of destruction for its own sake - what worse darkness is there?? Thus "darkness is Greece"!

Rav Leib Gurevitz Z"l of the Gateshead Yeshiva told of his experience, when he visited a museum showing ancient Greek artifacts, hoping to learn something of
value in connection with the many Talmudic references to the Greeks. He came upon a description of an ancient Greek invention: they sometimes had a problem with mothers who could not nurse their new-born babies for medical reasons, or who had died in childbirth, and they searched for a kind of baby bottle with a narrow mouth. They devised one by hollowing-out horns of large animals (like an ox) and using them as a bottle for infants, by puncturing the narrow end. He suddenly understood the (real?) intent of this Midrash: The Greeks were obsessed with wiping out the very concept of our Jewish G-d from the land of Israel. Knowing some human psychology, they decided that the time to begin to accomplish this goal is with small infants, since the Jewish adult is quite obstinate. Thus they decreed that every "ox-horn" (i.e. every baby bottle) must proclaim the denial of G-d; therefore Chazal call the Greeks "darkness".

This "Greek psychology" should teach us a powerful lesson in the Chinuch of our children, and how important are early formative years for developing Ahavat HaShem, Ahavat Torah, and Ahavat Yisroel, in their impressionable hearts.

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