Vayera 2018
"The signature of God is truth."
-Talmud Shabbat 55a
"It is better to be kind than to be right."
-Anne Lamont
In this week's Parsha, Vayera, the Master of the Universe tells a lie:
"Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?'"
In actuality, what Sarah said in a previous verse was: "And Sarah laughed to herself, saying, 'Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment - with my husband so old?'"
From here the Talmud derives the following principal (Bava Metzia 87a):
"The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Peace is of such great importance that even the Holy One, Blessed be He, altered the truth for the sake of preserving peace, as it is stated: 'And Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, for, my husband is old,' and it is written: 'And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sarah laugh, saying: Shall I bear a child, when I am old?'"
We live in an era in which expressing one's opinion, arguing with others, and being right, drives the culture. Ideology is gone and has been replaced with identity. However, there is little identity to be had in our post-modern world in which everything has been deconstructed and everything is fluid: race, religion, country, gender. All that is left is the thin, artificial, identity of partisanism. Not a partisanism that is practiced in service of a higher, deeply held value, but a partisanism that has become an end, and an identity, in itself; a way of pretending we have the truth. Not a truth that is deeply thought through, but a truth of defensive answers. In actuality, we know very little about our world and ourselves. Instead of defensively trying to be right, what we should be doing is genuinely asking questions, and putting others before ourselves.
Though truth is God's signature, in our parsha, God teaches us that peace is a greater value. In Shul at Kesher, as we stand before God and before ultimate values, we do a great job of leaving politics outside, and seeing the infinite picture. May we continue to do so, and to be a model for our world.
