It’s a lonely time for the Jew. We’ve come to discover that for all of the world’s progress, hatred for the Jew is alive. The places and people who have helped us have an illusion of comfort, have shown that there isn’t much substance there.

Take a deep breath and open yourself up to what I’m about to share…

Although this situation is quite uncomfortable to say the least, it is rooted in the founding of our People and we can find comfort there.

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At the beginning of this Parsha, Hashem tells Abraham to Lech Lecha, go forth from your land, etc. to the land I will show you. (I.e., Israel). He arrives in Israel and a famine occurs in the land and Avraham travels with Sara to Egypt to be able to provide sustenance for him and his wife.

He arrives in Egypt and Sara is taken to the house of Pharaoh where a miracle occurs and she is not harmed. Pharaoh sends Abraham and Sara back to Israel laden with goods and they are now wealthy.

The Torah says that that “Abraham went up from Egypt”. Then the Torah adds, “and he went on his journeys”, a sentence that seems extra since the Torah already told us that “Abraham went up from Egypt”.

The commentators tell us that Abraham went back to all the places of lodging that they went on their way down to Egypt to pay off the credit extended to him (to pay his debts).

That’s the story.

The question; if Abraham was penniless why would anyone give him free lodging? Why would anyone provide credit for someone who was alone in the world as a believer in a monotheistic G-d?

The answer shared by the commentators (thank you Rabbi Shais Taub for this idea) will shed light on our Jewish mandate since the beginning of time and for navigating this loneliness.

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Abraham was truly alone in this world. He and Sara were the only believers in one G-d. On the word of this G-d that they professed to believe in, they did the unthinkable, they packed up and blindly moved to Israel.

Imagine when their new neighbors, fervent idol worshippers asked them why they moved to Israel and they said that the One and Only G-d told them to do so, imagine how that information was received?

They must have been scorned, laughed at and ridiculed.

Then a famine strikes. It becomes proof to their neighbors that Abraham and Sara were nuts in their belief. How could this one G-d that you believe in, send you to Israel only to be confronted with this famine? Why isn’t He here taking care of you?

(The word Hebrew comes from the word Ivri, Ivri means the other side. Simply because they came from the other side of the Jordan river. The Midrash tells us however, that Abraham and Sara were on one side of the world in their belief in One G-d and the rest of the world was on the other.)

On Abraham and Sara’s journey south, the notion that the Jew was alone in the world was reaffirmed at every stop when people asked where are you from, where are you going, and their answer and ridicule repeated itself over and over again. Simply put it was a desecration of G-d’s name and the loneliness in this world for the two of them would have been intense.

Their faith however was strong, and they knew they were on this journey to bring light into the world, to bring G-dliness into the world, to change the world to recognize the difference between good and evil and to recognize that this world is not a jungle without a leader.

Their faith was proved true with the miracle that occurred to them in Egypt and the great wealth they received there (a promise from Hashem at the beginning of the Portion, as part of the blessings they would receive for their dedication and sacrifice listening to Hashems word.)

They returned to all the places they had traveled on the way down, all the places where G-d’s name was not honored, and demonstrated that Hashem was alive, Hashem Elokay Yisroel Melech, Tthe G-d of Israel is the King, Hashem Echad, G-d is One and Am Yisroel Chai, the Jewish People are alive, ie. They are living and living eternally because of their connection with the Living G-d.

***

My friends we are living in the same lonely times that our forefathers did. Not only are we abused and murdered, we are ridiculed by the supposed elite of the world, by countries and institutions that profess to be the torch bearers of goodness and light.

Like Abraham and Sara, we must anchor ourselves in our belief in Hashem, in the truth of our mission of goodness and light and in the eternality of our People.

It is lonely, but let us take comfort in Hashem, let us take comfort in our People, and be grateful that there are good people in the world who have the clarity of the distinction between good and evil.

Gather your family together this evening at sunset (6:32 in Atlanta), light the Shabbos candles, sing the Friday night prayers and dance as a family (the soldiers have asked us to be dance for them as they cannot), make the Kiddush on the wine, Hamotzi on the Challah and join together in harmony, find your comfort in our families, our tradition and the presence of Hashem and holiness. More on Friday night traditions.

And finally, like our great grandfather and mother, Avraham and Sara, let us take action, positive powerful actions of goodness and Mitzvah in this world to actually shift the balance from negative to positive, from darkness to light.

AMEN!

Good Shabbos! Rabbi Eliyahu Schusterman

Ps. There are terribly misguided souls out there who have lost clarity between light and dark, good and evil. Sadly, even among our own people. 1. Don’t bring that information into your body. Save your energy for the positive actions that we need to engage in in bringing light into the world. There are many more positive actions and positive stories than negative, focus on those. Bring those into your body and being. 2. Help eliminate the negativity that they believe in by bringing so much light into the world that the darkness has nowhere to go but to be eliminated.