The articles in this column are transcriptions and adaptations of shiurim by Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik, zt”l. The Rav’s unique perspective on Chumash permeated many of the shiurim and lectures he presented at various venues over a 40-plus-year period. His words add an important perspective that makes the Chumash in particular, and our tradition in general, vibrant and relevant to our generation.
Dedicated in honor of the engagement of Benjy Kreitman and Aliza Friedman.
Parshas Chayei Sarah is a biography of the Sarah’s life and a paradigm for Jewish history and destiny. There were 2 covenants between Hashem and Bnei Yisrael. The first was the Patriarchal Covenant between Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Hashem. The second was the Sinaitic Covenant between Hashem and Moshe and Bnei Yisrael. The focus of the Sinaitic covenant is the contractual commitment to observe 613 mitzvos. What is the nature of the enigmatic Patriarchal Covenant? What does it demand from the Jew? What is its relevance to us today?
The Torah refers to the Patriarchal Covenant within the Sinaitic Covenant, Bris Rishonim. Apparently, they are complementary. The former is pre-requisite for the latter. The Sinaitic Covenant relates to human deed and performance, how to act as a member of the Covenantal Community. The Patriarchal Covenant addresses human personality and character as a whole, the essence of the I-awareness, teaching man who he should be. The Patriarchal Covenant tells the Jew how to appreciate the great experience of being a Jew, a member of the community.
The covenant was reached with two people: man and woman. From their first rendezvous, Hashem addressed Himself to both man and woman. Both were created together, only together were they called Adam and endowed with the greatest of gifts, their humanity within Tzelem Elokim. This dual human reality transcended the physiological sex differentiation and extended into the metaphysical level. The Biblical story of joint creation of man and woman in the image of Hashem, contradicts the perverse notion that Judaism ascribes an inferior status to women. At the same time, it also cuts away the false notion that there is no metaphysical distinction between man and woman. Man and woman differ existentially, but they do not differ in terms of values (axiological existence), as both share the image of God, their humanity. Hashem created a dual existence, man and woman, who complement each other. These two existential beings together represent one perfect destiny.
This complementary nature and unified destiny is the basis of the Covenantal Community. We observe this through the relationship of Abraham and Sarah. Both were equal parties to the covenant with Hashem. Indeed, at times we might be tempted to think that Sarah was the central figure.
The end of Lech Lecha demonstrated that the Covenantal Community required both Sarah and Abraham, man and woman. Abraham asks that Hashem pass the covenant on to Ishmael, resigning himself to remaining childless with Sarah. Hashem answers that Sarah, his wife, will bear him a child to be called Isaac, and this child, the product of both Sarah and Abraham, will be the recipient of the covenant. Ishmael cannot be the recipient of the covenant, because he represented only one side of the Covenantal Community, Abraham, but not Sarah.
Hashem notified Avram that effective immediately, his name is changed to Avraham. However, Hashem simply informed Abraham that Sarah’s name was already changed. Since the Covenantal Community required both Abraham and Sarah, it was impossible to change the name of one without automatically affecting the name of the other. Hashem simply informed Abraham that her name changed coincidentally with his. They were selected together, and only together could they achieve covenantal sanctity.