Triumph of Survival - Section I

As Rav Hirsch said about the difference between the Jewish outlook and the Christian one: "Christianity is a religion invented by humanity to describe God, while Judaism is a religion created by God to describe humanity."

The Sages saw the Flood not as a punishment, but rather as the means by which God gave humanity a chance to realign its values and goals. It was the salvation because humankind was so overcome with violence and lack of respect for other human beings - with acts of robbery, thuggery, women being regularly assaulted without any consequence, children being abused - that if God had not brought the Flood, humanity would have destroyed itself. The Flood actually saved humankind from itself. Maimonides says that when it looks like there is no hope- that's when God intervenes. Back in the early days of civilization, the intervention was through the Flood. Then God promised that there would never again be a flood, another intervention of such a magnitude. If human beings come to the state that they're going to destroy the world as we know it, God will certainly intervene. How the intervention will come is unknown to us,

God could have made Abraham the first person instead of Adam, If so, civilization would not have needed saving; it wouldn't have sunk to the depths of tyranny of paganism. However, God put Abraham, so to speak, after civilization fell apart for a reason, the Sages of the Jewish tradition teach. It is more difficult to save a civilization than create it. It is more difficult to turn it around in the middle than start in the beginning. Even in the midst of a civilization that is inherently pagan and evil, one person can make an enormous difference. God saved Abraham to impress upon us that even in the midst of a failure, it can be turned around. Therefore, no one should despair at any moment in human history (or personal history), because we see what Abraham did.

Because of his blindness Isaac unwittingly gave the blessings for material well-being to Jacob, not Esau. When Esau entered right after Jacob departed and Isaac realized the mistake, "He trembled greatly." He was terrified. He was frightened beyond words. The Midrash says that he was more frightened than the time when he was on the altar. What was the real source of his terror? The rabbis say that when Esau came into the room Isaac smelled the smell of Gehinnom. This was more than just a physical smell. Jacob, who was wearing goat skins which is about as offensive a smell as there is, smelled like the "Garden of Eden," or Paradise, the rabbis say These were not physical smells. Rather it was the inner fragrance they gave off; their inner worth. No amount of cologne could mask the inner, moral stench that was Esau. That was the "terror" that Isaac felt. He finally understood who Esau was. Reality hit him. God revealed it to him. This was more frightening than what happened to him at the Akeidah. He saw the cruelty. He saw the murders. He saw the wars, the crusades, the pogroms, the holocausts Esau would commit. And that appalled Isaac. How could that be part of his son? He had blinded himself to the possibility. Now the truth was finally revealed. It was the hardest reality to swallow. His son Esau was to be excluded from the Jewish people. As painful as that is, it has repeated itself in Jewish history. That is the pattern

The first lesson we derive from Jacob's life is that there are no guarantees regarding children. Isaac and Rebecca were capable of having a son like Esau no less than they were capable of having a son like Jacob

A truth in life we sometimes have to accept: Sometimes, you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. In a time of trouble and disaster, whatever you do is wrong. There is always room for a complaint against you. Often history puts us into situations where there are no right answers. Unless one is sophisticated enough to realize this truth, one is constantly frustrated

In Judaism, we can deal with questions that begin with “what” and “how" and "when" and "where," but "why" is a different matter. There is a story about the philosophy professor at the Sorbonne who was giving his final lecture. He wrote on the board, "There is only one question: Why?" Then he continued, "And there are only two right answers: 'Because' and 'Why not?""