Rabbi Katz’s Drashah for Parshat Chayei Sarah November 14, 2020 - 27 Cheshvan 5781

I’d like to take the opportunity of this week’s drashah to memorialize two giants of which we lost this week, Rav Dovid Feinstein zt”l, and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, zt”l. While they each took very different paths to, and approaches for, their leadership of the jewish people, their influence will continue for all of us for years to come.

As Rabbi Sacks zt”l was wont to do, he once began a Dvar Torah for Parshat Balak with a Joke. Two Jews sat in a Viennese coffee shop arguing over which of two newspapers was better. In one, it spoke about how the Jews were assimilating and disappearing. In the other, it spoke about how the Jews controlled the banks, about how they ran Vienna. One then said to the other, ‘See, if you want the good news, you have to read the antisemitic one’.

While not antisemitism, this contrast of disappearing or distinguishing finds its way -albeit subtly- into our parshah as well. “Avraham said… I am but a stranger and sojourner with all of you… B’nei Cheit responded… You are a Prince of Gd among us” (23:3-6). In both descriptions, Avraham was separate from the rest. According to his own presentation, that distinction was one of insignificance, of one who doesn’t even have his own land, of being invisible. Bnei Cheit responded that his separatism wasn’t due to being less, but more. They saw him as being distinguished and deserving of honor, not being dismissed or disregarded.

This contrast also manifests itself when Yitzchak davens -and thereby institutes- Minchah. The pasuk describes how he “went out to speak in the field towards evening” (24:63). Along with Avraham and Ya’akov, Chazal (Brachot 26b) see this activity as one of the two paradigms on which we base our three tefillot nowadays. On the one hand, R’ Yose bar R’ Chaninah said that tefillah is based on the prayers of our forefathers. R’ Yehoshua ben Levi, on the other hand, thought they were based on the Korbanot of the Beit Hamikdash (more specifically, the Korban Tamid). In his book “Covenant & Conversation” for Bereishit, Rabbi Sacks explains that the Rabbis were really asking what kind of davening we use today: “To Patriarchs ​ ​ or Priests? To supplication or sacrifice? Is Jewish prayer the personal dialogue of the soul or the collective worship of the nation? In practice, it is both” (p. 131). He continues to explain how even today we have our silent shemoneh esrei, but then we repeat it publicly. Our souls have that intimate, private dialogue with Hashem, but we also have a representative (a la the Kohein) who speaks publicly on our behalf. For this reason, he explains (p. 132), we do not have a public form of prayer (repetition) for Ma’ariv. Whereas Ya’akov Avinu davened at night just like Avraham and Yitzchak (hence our silent Amidah), there was no formal, independent Korban Tamid at nighttime.

Even though he was seen as the successor of his illustrious father, Rav Moshe, R’ Dovid Feinstein was less known to the broader world because he lived with an unassuming modesty and humility. Despite also being a prominent address to send many she'elot like his father, he deliberately chose to speak his rulings, and not write them down. He rarely spoke at public forums. Rabbi Dr. J. David Bleich, Rosh at University and Law Professor at Cardozo Law School, described R’ Feinstein as “very much self-effacing, he didn’t seek the limelight”. His leadership was powerful, but private.

At the end of every Parshah in ’s Stone Chumash, one will find a comment from Rav Dovid Feinstein. He takes the numerical value of pesukim that week, its (numerically) corresponding word, and explains how it represents the Parshah in some way. This week, with 105 verses, the word for Chayei Sarah is “Yehoyada”. According to Rav Feinstein, it means “that G-d made His will known through Eliezer”. Even Eliezer, a character whose name is not even mentioned, the servant of Avraham, was the messenger for Hashem’s will. The most private individual in the Parshah, but the one with the most pivotal role.

In his eulogy for Rav Sacks, Rav Ephraim Mirvis, the current Chief Rabbi of England, referred to Rav Sacks in the same way that Bnei Cheit referred to Avraham- “A Prince of G-d”. A public face for the Jewish community of England and a voice for Jews around the world, Rav Sacks was a model of public leadership. His formality, his philosophical and historical sensitivity, and his inspiring oration represented and motivated all of us, even on the world stage.

If we return to Rav Sacks’ idea about prayer, we find that Yitzchak’s davening was different from either Avraham’s or Ya’akov’s. As opposed to the moment when Avraham instituted Shacharit (19:27) or when Ya’akov instituted Ma’ariv (28:11), Yitzchak wasn’t truly alone or in private. The Torah implies that when he went out to the field he was already visible to Rivkah and Eliezer (24:63-65). Yitzchak might have been davening privately, but he was doing so in public. In Rav Sacks’ words when describing this unique quality of Yitzchak’s prayer, “Our openness to G-d shapes and is shaped by our openness to other people. Love of G-d is, or should be, interwoven with our love for human beings” (p. 133). Perhaps we can understand, now, why Yitzchak instituted Minchah. Shacharit is said before we go out into the public world. Ma’ariv is said in the evening, after we’ve returned from the public world. Minchah, however, is recited in the middle of the day. It’s a moment when we’re challenged with balancing our private and public religious identities. It’s Yitzchak who teaches us how to fulfill our obligations in private while also being sensitive to the roles we play as religious Jews in public.

Rashi (24:67) quotes a Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 60:16) which explains that when Rivkah was brought into Sarah’s tent, certain qualities came back that hadn’t been there since her passing. One of these was the extended kindling of the Shabbos candles, which had been extinguished. In a Dvar Torah for Korach in 2013, Rav Sacks expressed an idea about candles which I was personally inspired by, and have shared a few times since. In describing how Moshe transmitted the mantle of leadership to Yehoshua, the Midrash says it was “like lighting one light from another.” Rav Sacks elaborated: “When we take a candle to light another candle, the light of the first is not diminished. Likewise, when we share our influence with others, we do not have less than before. Instead, the sum total of light is increased. Power, however, is different. It is like “pouring from one vessel to another.” The more we pour into the second, the less is left in the first”. Having influence is about sharing what we have for the betterment of others. It is not about having a certain position or leveraging it over others to accomplish a desired result. In this way, Rav Feinstein and Rav Sacks are more similar than they are different. While Rav Feinstein was a more private leader and Rabbi Sacks more public, they both provided our community invaluable influence.

The Jewish people lost two pillars of religious guidance and inspiration this past week, and on consecutive days. While they are remembered with a contrast of being a private vs. a public figure, we all really assume both of these roles in different ways and at different times in our own lives. Even private people find themselves representing the Jewish people in public- when they work in a secular office or when shopping at the supermarket. And, of course, even the most public of people must tend to their private families and personal relationship with Hashem. So while few of us have the opportunities or aspirations to become the next Rav Dovid Feinstein or Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, they nonetheless inspire our daily responsibilities- to “make Hashem’s will known” in both our private and public environments. We look to these two towering examples as models for our own influence. How will we extend the kindling of their light in the world? How can we make sure -even in our small way- that their candles are not extinguished?

Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Katz