Parshat Chayei Sarah 1

Rabbi Shmuel Kagan

Who is a hero?

Rabbi Shmuel Kagan

Or Zarua, Mizrachi Young Adults

Someone who is brave, committed, makes a tremendous contribution to the community? These are characteristics of a hero and this is what we have read about in the last two sedras when we encounter Avraham our forefather.

The tumultuous journey towards the Land of Israel we heard about in Lech Lecha, the existential struggle to bear children with his wife Sarah, Avraham’s attempted salvation of the cities of Sdom and Gemorah, and the climax of the saga taking place in Parshat Vayera has the flames consuming the ram on top of Mount Moriah, while Yitzchak stands with his father thinking “this could have been me”/

The Akeidat Yitzchak where Avraham showed his courageous and trusting nature by binding his son to an alter at G-d’s request, would have been a fitting final scene in the life of our hero, Avraham!

Nevertheless, the story does not end there. Our last portrait of Avraham is of a man eulogising his beloved wife while burying her on a plot of negotiated land in the country he would bequeath to his children.

Avraham then sets to the “mundane” task of finding a wife for his son and then is occupied with marrying again and starting a new family. In this week’s sedra of Chayei Sarah, we see Avraham as the family man. He retires from his life as a warrior, a prince and a revolutionary. He ends his eventful tenure tending to his home, rather than tending to his “flock”.

The community is in great need of heroes – those who are willing to swim against the current and stand up for and contribute to something bigger than themselves and further reaching than their families. People often argue that they don’t have time, but we need to share our time between ourselves and others.

Nonetheless, our families need heroes as well – parents who will make time for their children and children who will honour and serve their parents. This form of mundane heroism is often more difficult than the first, as our names are not etched into brass plaques or honoured at banquets.

Dads don’t make much profit from educating their kids and moms don’t get much fame from cleaning up after their toddlers.

Avraham is both the father of many nations and the aba of a family. It is interesting that the Torah ends off its description of the founder of the Jewish people and the propagator of monotheism and morality, the quintessential iconoclast, as a man involved in the mundane business of allotting inheritance.

The Torah is teaching us we need to have balance. We must always extend our circle of influence while not forgetting about the core. We must find meaning in the ordinary and envision great things behind the small.

How can we do so much for others, and treat them with generosity and charm, while we are inpatient and cruel in the privacy of our home?

Pirkei Avot (Chapter 1:14) summarised it as such: “If I won’t be there for me (and my family) who will be? And if I am only for myself what am I?” That is a true hero and that was Avraham our forefather!