Rabbi's Message

What does it mean to have everything?  Is it about possessions?  Status?  Power?  Today it can feel like everyone wants everything.  There is little will to compromise in our politics, ideologies, and beliefs, along with a troubling unwillingness to look beyond parochial interests to work for the common good.  In this environment, perfect becomes the enemy of the good.  We become gridlocked and pulled apart.  When we only settle for everything, we often end up with nothing.  But perhaps we misunderstand what it means to have everything.  And we very well might be, at least according to one commentary on our Torah reading this week, Hayyei Sarah.  At the beginning of our parashah we read that Abraham is blessed "baKol", "with everything." What does it mean to be blessed "with everything"?

Ibn Ezra, the 12th-century Spanish commentator, takes the straightforward approach, saying that “everything” means that Abraham was blessed with long life, happiness, honor, and children. All good things that we often associate with having everything.  But is this really everything?  It is not, says the 19th-century Hasidic commentator Kedushat Levi.  He says that a true tzadik, a truly righteous person like Abraham, prays not only for himself but also for others. A person has who everything, says the Kedushat Levi, is someone who sees beyond his own needs and the needs of his family.  This person also sees and works to fulfill the needs of others.  We are truly blessed with everything when we can see the bigger picture.

When we realize that we cannot have everything while others are lacking, this is an especially important lesson as we approach Thanksgiving, the most Jewish of secular holidays.  The great 12th-century rabbi Maimonides taught that whenever we have a holiday meal, we have to also do what we can to help those in need and also have food for the holiday.  That’s why, as you prepare for next week, making a donation to places like the Betsy & Peter Fischer Food Pantry at JFCS is a wonderful way to express our gratitude for our blessings. It is not that Abraham was blessed "baKol" with everything, but rather that everything, and everyone, was blessed by Abraham's kindness, care, and generosity.   If we want to have everything, then we need to be able to transcend our own narrow interests for the pursuit of the common good.  Perhaps, then, the fact that Abraham didn’t have everything is actually what enabled him to have everything.  In other words, by helping others, Abraham enriched his own life. This is why Abraham was blessed “with everything.”  

May we be as well.