This commentary is by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, z”l, from the book: The Torah Commentary of Rabbi Shlomo Calebach, Urim Publications. His commentary on the weekly portion of the Torah is so deep and heart-felt that I felt compelled to share one of ten of his commentaries on this weeks parasha(portion) Vayera. The commentary is for all to hear, listen to and with an open heart, receive the message of love that Shlomo was able to convey. I am so fortunate to have had a number of opportunities to be with him and to receive his Love and Torah.
You know my darling friends, G-d made a covenant with Avraham and not with Noach. There are so many holy teachings on this which have so much to say, but I would like to share one more Torah’le with you.
When Avraham received those three holy guests, who he thought were pagans but turned out to be angels, Avraham Avinu was not stingy. He slaughtered three oxen just for the three guests in order to give each of them a tongue. The deepest question is when it comes to water he says ” Yukach na me’at mayim” (Breeshis 18:4), take a little water to wash your feet. Suddenly Avraham is stingy and he says, ” Save the energy, just take a little bit of water.”
All the holy rabbis are talking about it, let me tell you my most humble Torah. The deepest question in the world is what do you think is stronger? Do you think the world and its temptations are stronger, or do you think the Torah and Yiddishkeit are stronger? What do you think is stronger, the six days of the week or Shabbos? Do you think the whole world is stronger or do you think that little Israel is stronger?
When you think of it on a simple scientific level, on a Greek level, then you say “You must be joking. Yidden? A little country? Avraham Avinu, one Yiddele and his wife Sarah are stronger than the world? The Torah? I appreciate it, I think it is sweet and it has a lot of nice teachings. I was reading Reader’s Digest last week and a well-known professor told a chassidishe story which comes to prove that the Torah is good, but that’s about it.”
I want you to know something. Do you know why Noach didn’t try to turn on the people of his generation? Noach really felt the temptatioins of the world are stronger than Yiddishkeit. Noach did not believe in doing teshuvah because he says that you simply can’t. The only way you keep yourself above water is if you never started anything wrong. From the moment you were born until you die you have to be holy. If God forbid you get involved in the world there is no more going back because the temptation is too strong, the magnetism is too strong.
Why did God give a son like Yitzchak to Avraham but not to Noach?
When the angels come to Avraham, they let him know about Sdom and about having Yitzchak. So everybody is asking what does the destruction of Sdom haver to do with having a son like Yitzchak? The answer is very, very simple. What are you teaching your children? Are you telling your children, “Try to be a Jew but I want you to know that the world is much stronger than Yiddishkeit, so try to keep away from the world.” Or are you teaching your children, ” The world is so beautiful, the trees and fields are beautiful. The Torah, Shabbos, Yerushalayim is infinitely a zillion times stronger than anything in the world.”
You know what Avraham says to God? “Sdom is os heavy and strong, the lowest most perverted city in the world. Give me fifty Rebbes, I will go in there and make Baal Shewm Tovs out of them. You think I am afraid of Sdom, you think the Torah is not stronger than Sdom?” Noach mamesh believed that the world was stronger even though he was a holy man, but if someone is perverted and into the world there is no more going back.
So I said a gevalt Torah. ” Ein mayim ela Torah,” water is Torah (Bava Kama 82) Avraham Avinu says to the pagans, “Do you know how much you need in order to become a mentsch in this world? ‘Yukach na me”at mayim,’ a little bit of water. ‘Me”at, one word of the Torah can turn your insides over a thousand times. Not only is the whole Torah stronger than the world, even one letter of the Torah is stronger. Yukach na me”at, all you need is one drop of water.”
Some of us think we know so little, but do you know one letter? Do you know an aleph or a beis? That is enough, you are stronger than the world. Some Yidden walk around worried about Israel, but they are only a little worried because God wants them to pray. Inside they are not afraid because gevalt. Eretz Yisrael is mamesh stronger. The little sheep is mamesh stronger than the seventy wolves. Gevalt, are we strong, gevalt, are we strong, GEVALT, ARE WE STRONG!
When the spies came back they said, “We can’t conquer the land, they are stronger than us” (Bamidbar 14:31). Do you see what came from that? Our Sages teach us that this happened on Tish B”Av. Gevalt, talking like that is the end of all Yiddishkeit.
What kind of Torah are you learning if you don’t believe that the Torah is stronger than the world?
I want to bless you, friends. Please, I’m begging you and me. Let it be clear to us what the Ribbono Shel Olam gave us is the storngest dynamite in the world, the strongest atomic power. One letter of the Torah is the strongest nuclear power, one Shabbos…one Shabbos.
