Say Something …

Say something … yes! There are times when we should hold our tongues. There are times when we should speak up. There are times when not saying something is disastrous. This weekend, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah–a major holiday that marks the beginning of a new year and kicks off the ten days of awe leading up to Yom Kippur. This year all of the High Holiday services on are online with many segments having been pre-recorded. Last year, I was honored to provide the d’var Torah at the Rosh Hashanah second day service. The Torah passage on this day is the same each year: the Akedah or the Binding of Isaac. It’s a familiar biblical story for both Jews and Christians. Abraham is instructed by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac. In preparation for my first Jewish “sermon,” I read the passage, consulted several Talmudic sources and ultimately found my inspiration in the song by Great Big World featuring Christina Aguilera … Say Something. My plan was to play the song before speaking, but the Rabbi told me that using technology in that way was not permitted. So, I decided to sing it. This was my contribution to the service.

A year later, it seems just as important to me that we say something. Our country is in crisis. A pandemic, fires, hurricanes, melting icecaps and gyres of garbage in our oceans provide the apocalyptic background to the cacophony of anger, violence, racism and division that is ripping our society apart. Conspiracies, lies, deep fakes, police brutality and hate come at us from every direction. If now is not the time, when will it be time to say something?

“Say Something”

A Drash on Genesis 22, verses 7 & 8

Rosh Hashanah, 2^nd day service

“Say something, I’m giving up on you – I’m sorry that I couldn’t get to you – Anywhere, I would’ve followed you – Say something, I’m giving up on you.”  The lyrics from this song sung by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera could well have been uttered by Isaac but they are not recorded in the Torah portion for today, Va-yera, Genesis Chapter 22.  Every time I listen to it, this heartfelt plea put to music brings me nearly to tears.  The plea is desperate, full of bafflement and bewilderment.  We are brought to a moment where utter commitment, longing for love and understanding teeters on a precipice.  Rescue is at hand but it is not provided:  Say something!

In our Torah portion for today, commonly known as the Akedah, God commands Abraham to sacrifice the child born to him and Sara after many years of waiting and longing.  The story defies easy interpretation, but one thing stands out to me with startling clarity:  the lack of dialogue between Abraham and Isaac, father and son.

Once Abraham and Isaac leave the servants behind and head toward the high ground in the distance, there is one recorded exchange between the two individuals.  Verses 7 and 8 read, “Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, ‘Father!’  And he answered, ‘Yes, my son.’ And he said, ‘Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?’  And Abraham said, ‘God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them walked on together.”  That’s it!  Once they arrive at the site for the sacrifice, Abraham goes about making preparations that include binding Isaac and placing him on top of the wood, but nothing more is said.  Does this seem as strange to you as it does to me?

Say something!

As you might expect, the sages have something to say about this.  Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim of Luntshits (1550-1619) states in Kli Yakar, a commentary to the Torah, that:

Suspecting that Avraham intended to sacrifice him and not realizing that it was Hashem’s command, Yitzchak tested him to see whether he still responded to the name ‘Father.’  By responding, “Here I am, my son,” the Rabbi says that Abraham reassured Isaac that he was still his loving father.  Isaacs’s response, “But where is the lamb,” should be understood to mean that, if Abraham still loved him, what was he planning to offer?  By saying that, “God will show the lamb,” Abraham hinted at the fact that Isaac was indeed to be the offering, but it was Hashem who had chosen him.

Rabbi Bahya ben Asher, 1255-1340 comments in Rabbeinu Bahya that the words “Yitzchak said to Avraham” are understood to mean that Samuel came to Avraham and challenged him: “what kind of father are you? Are you really going to slaughter a son who has been born to you when you were already one hundred years old?”  Avraham answered “nevertheless.” Thereupon Samuel addressed Yitzchak saying: “you son of a disappointed mother! He is going to slaughter you!” Yitzchak answered: “nevertheless.”  Rabbi Asher goes on to say that, hearing Abraham’s response, “God will select the lamb for the offering my son,” Isaac understood that he had been chosen to be the “lamb.”  And, in spite of this realization, the Torah continues: “they continued to walk together;”  in other words, they were of one mind.  According to this point of view, we are to understand that the release of the information that Isaac was going to be the victim did not drive a wedge between his relations with his father.

With all due respect to these learned Rabbis, my response is, “Let’s get real!”  How  do these views which suggest that Isaac internalized Abraham’s love for him in that moment and that Abraham and Isaac were of one accord, of one mind, square with the fact that Abraham and Isaac never speak with each other again following the Akedah?  I would like to suggest this morning that we should understand that a father and dearly beloved son missed an opportunity for open and honest conversation about a matter of nothing less than life and death … the loss of that opportunity being the last chance for a father/son dialogue.  If Abraham and Isaac remained estranged from one another from that moment forward, the fact that Isaac was going to be the victim did drive a wedge between his relations with his father.

Say something!

If there ever was a more powerful illustration of the need to speak words of understanding and a failure to do so, I don’t know what it is, and therein lies a profound lesson that we need to absorb as we head into the ten days of teshuva that lie between where we find ourselves today and Yom Kippur.  If opportunities to heal a relationship, speak a word of encouragement, affirm something true and good or speak out against something that is clearly wrong present themselves before us, we need to, “Say something.”

This is much easier said than done.  Moments of total anguish can often seem to be beyond words, yet a failure to open our mouths can result in a complete and utter breach.  Worse they can cause someone to give up, to stumble and fall, just as they are, as stated in the lyrics of the song by A Great Big World, “learning to love, just starting to crawl.”

One of the most difficult conversations that I have faced involved telling my mother, a devout Christian raised in the Dutch Reformed tradition, that Judaism had grabbed my soul and had brought me to the point where I wanted to convert, leaving Christianity and my religious upbringing behind.  It took over a year for me to broach that conversation and say something.  Without the help of the Rabbi, the encouragement from the people in this community who I had come to know and love, the support of my spouse, my daughters and my sister, I could not have done it.  From my mother’s perspective, I knew that my conversion represented the sacrifice of the core beliefs and faith that hold her worldview together.  But, it was absolutely necessary to …

Say something!

My friends, let’s not depend on wise people to come along after us to read meaning and intent into the silences of our lives—the silences which demand that we summon our courage and say something.  Let us repent of our silence in the face of suffering and injustice.  In the year to come, let us resolve to say something in those moments when our words can make the difference between life and death.

Will you set an intention with me?

Eternal One, the source of Life, help us to overcome our reluctance to say something when it is most needed.  Creator, who brought creation into being by saying something, help us bring the words You place on our hearts into the world.  Awesome One, strengthen our will to speak words of light into the darkness and ignite the scattered divine sparks.  Forgive us for our silence.  Help us to say something.