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Parshas Haazinu - To Laugh Amidst the Chaos

By Rabbi Zvi Teichman

Posted on 10/11/19

Parshas HaShavua Divrei Torah sponsored by
Dr. Shapsy Tajerstein, DPM - Podiatry Care.
(410) 788-6633

We are taught that in the merit of Avraham Avinu welcoming the three weary travelers to ‘set a spell’ under the shade of his tree, his descendants were blessed with the mitzva of Sukkah.


Imagine for a moment the backdrop of this story. Avraham was bleeding profusely and in debilitating pain. The bull he sought to prepare for his guests suddenly ran away and he went to chase it. The enticing aroma from the bread his wife Sara was preparing, was never served as it became impure due to discovering she was menstruant.


Despite all the erupting chaos they enter an island of tranquility as they recline beneath the cool shade of the tree.


It is precisely this ability to be calm amidst the storm that Sukkah represents. One who lives in G-d’s embrace deflects the stress. (Rav Yitzchok Lasry)


During Shacharis of Yom Kippur we read a piyut entitled Asher Ometz Tehilasecha. It describes the force of Your praise as expressed effortlessly by the angels on high, in contrast to the praise You desire from the mouths of mortals who must cry out in supplication.


‘Yet You desire praise from those of limited life spans, who have forgotten goodness..., whose souls are aggrieved, and this is Your glory!’


Esther Schlesinger, the bereaved Savta of Dvir Sorek hy’d, a remarkably vibrant and inspired  19 year old Hesder student, who was murdered by a terrorist on his way to Yeshiva just two months ago, was asked for her response to the tragedy.


Mrs. Schlesinger was five years old when she was part of a group the Nazis routed from their hideout, spraying them with bullets and then piling the ‘corpses’ on a wagon to be discarded like trash. She recalls how the wagon driver stopped with his ‘wares’ to grab a drink from a local tavern. A passing stranger observed her movement and begged her not to succumb, retrieving her and bringing her to an impromptu hospital that removed a bullet from her skull that was just two millimeters from her brain.


She went on to survive and make aliyah and rebuild her life in our holy land. She later lost a half-brother at the hands of an arab employee who sought to prove to his family that he truly hated Jews.


“My role as a grandmother is to worry that my family continues ‘litzchok ulehishtolel’, to laugh amidst the chaos, that Dvir doesn’t simply become a lifeless monument, that is not who he was or would desire!”


This is the legacy of Avraham and Sarah, to laugh amidst the chaos. This is the mission of Sukkos. We ensconce ourselves in the Sukkah taking leave of our worries, fears and challenges, entering the embrace of His loving and joyous shade.


...and this is Your Glory!




B’Ahava,


Chag Kasher V’Sameach,


Zvi Yehuda Teichman