D’Var Torah: ROSH HASHANAH 5787 • Genesis 21–22 • DAY 1,070
Updated: 2 days ago
BLESSING AND SACRIFICE
וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרָה צְחֹק עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים
“Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me.’” - Genesis 21:6
A Rosh Hashanah D'var Torah
As we welcome Shabbas and Rosh Hashanah, it is Day 1,070 since the atrocities of October 7.
Tonight, the Jewish world enters a new year.
But before we turn the page, America remembers.
Today marks twenty-five years since September 11, 2001.
Twenty-five years since 19 Islamic terrorists hijacked airplanes and struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while another hijacked plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
Twenty-five years since nearly 3,000 people were murdered.
Twenty-five years since firefighters, police officers, first responders and ordinary citizens ran toward danger.
Never Forget.
And now - Rosh Hashanah.
Judaism does not ask us to forget tragedy in order to move forward. It asks us to remember - and then renew.
Because even after unimaginable loss, life must continue.
Children are born. Families grow. Nations rebuild. People laugh again. People dance again.
And this Rosh Hashanah, the Torah gives us perhaps the most extraordinary expression of that tension:
Blessing and Sacrifice.
THIS WEEK AT A GLANCE
SEPTEMBER 11 • 25 YEARS LATER
For a generation of Americans, there is a world before September 11, 2001 - and a world after it. Nearly 3,000 people began an ordinary Tuesday morning and never came home.
We remember those who were murdered.
We remember those who ran toward the burning buildings while others were running out.
We remember the families who carried the loss forward.
But twenty-five years later, memory must ask something of us.
What exactly are we remembering?
Not only what America lost.
What America had.
Freedom. Security. Family. Opportunity. The seemingly ordinary privilege of waking up in the morning believing that the people we love will come home that night.
September 11 reminds us how quickly a blessing can reveal its value when someone tries to take it away.
Which brings us directly to this Rosh Hashanah's Torah reading.
BRIDGE TO THE TORAH
Genesis 21 begins with something Abraham and Sarah had waited almost a lifetime to experience.
A child.
Sarah had been barren. Abraham was old. The promise seemed impossible.
And then Isaac is born.
Sarah says:
צְחֹק עָשָׂה לִי אֱלֹהִים
“God has made laughter for me.” - Genesis 21:6
His name - Yitzchak, Isaac - comes from the Hebrew root for laughter.
He is more than a child.
He is continuity.
He is covenant.
He is the future.
He is the fulfillment of a promise that Abraham and Sarah had waited decades to see fulfilled.
And then we turn to Genesis 22.
The laughter stops.
God calls Abraham:
אַבְרָהָם
Abraham.
And Abraham answers:
הִנֵּנִי
“Here I am.” - Genesis 22:1
Then comes the command:
קַח־נָא אֶת־בִּנְךָ אֶת־יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר־אָהַבְתָּ אֶת־יִצְחָק
“Take your son, your only one, whom you love - Isaac…” - Genesis 22:2
The language is almost unbearable in its specificity.
Your son.
Your only one.
Whom you love.
Isaac.
The same Isaac who represents Abraham's future is now placed upon the altar.
The Torah takes us, almost without warning, from one of its greatest moments of joy to one of its most terrifying demands.
From blessing
to sacrifice.
Because sometimes the things that bring us the greatest joy are also the things we are called upon to sacrifice most to protect.
TORAH LESSONS FOR TODAY
1. NEVER FORGET THE GIFT
Judaism is filled with memory.
We remember slavery and exile. Destruction and persecution. The Holocaust. October 7. And this week, as Americans, September 11.
But Judaism does not teach us to experience life only through suffering.
Last week, Moses commanded us: “Choose life.”
And choosing life means recognizing the life - and the blessings - we have been given.
Yitzchak means laughter.
There is joy.
There is family.
There are children and grandchildren.
There is freedom.
There is America.
And after two thousand years of exile, there is once again a sovereign Jewish State of Israel.
These are not small things.
They are blessings.
Rosh Hashanah naturally directs our attention toward what we want from the coming year.
Health. Happiness. Prosperity. Peace.
But perhaps before asking Hashem for what we still want, we should stop and recognize what we have already been given.
Sarah waited almost a lifetime for Isaac.
And when he finally arrived, she laughed.
Sometimes the proper response to blessing is not analysis.
It is gratitude.
It is wonder.
It is joy.
Never become so accustomed to the blessing that you forget it is a blessing.
2. GREAT GIFTS SOMETIMES DEMAND GREAT SACRIFICE
The Akedah is so difficult precisely because Isaac is not incidental.
He is the blessing.
Abraham is not asked to surrender something meaningless.
He is asked to place upon the altar the thing most precious to him.
And Jewish history has repeatedly confronted us with this terrible paradox:
Sometimes blessing and sacrifice arrive together.
A Jewish homeland is an incomparable blessing.
Yet generations of Israelis have been asked to leave their families, put on a uniform and risk everything to defend it.
Freedom is an incomparable blessing.
Yet September 11 reminded America that freedom and security cannot simply be assumed.
Jewish identity is a blessing.
Yet for thousands of years, Jews have repeatedly been offered what appears to be an easier path:
Hide it.
Dilute it.
Abandon it.
Assimilate it away.
Perhaps then the hatred will disappear.
But antisemitism changes its language, its ideology and its geography - and returns.
Last week, the Torah placed before us:
“Life and death, blessing and curse.” - Deuteronomy 30:19
This week, perhaps we encounter an even more difficult truth.
The blessing itself may require sacrifice.
But there is an enormous difference between sacrificing for the blessing and sacrificing the blessing.
And the Akedah does not end with Isaac's death.
At the decisive moment, the angel calls to Abraham:
אַל־תִּשְׁלַח יָדְךָ אֶל־הַנַּעַר
“Do not raise your hand against the boy…” - Genesis 22:12
Abraham was prepared to sacrifice the blessing.
But Isaac was not sacrificed.
He came down from the mountain.
The covenant continued.
The future continued.
And so must we.
We do not sacrifice the blessing in order to appease the curse.
THE HEBREW WORDS OF THE WEEK
יִצְחָק • YITZCHAK - “HE WILL LAUGH”
Recognize the blessing.
הִנֵּנִי • HINENI — “HERE I AM”
Answer when protecting it requires something of us.
Jewish history is not only a history of tears.
We build. We rebuild. We begin again.
After everything - we still laugh.
STEWARDSHIP INSIGHT - PROTECT THE BLESSING
We inherit blessings we did not create.
We inherited Judaism.
We inherited Israel.
We inherited America.
We inherited freedoms, traditions, institutions and communities built and defended through sacrifices we did not personally make.
Someone protected these things before they belonged to us.
Now, for a time, they are ours.
That is stewardship.
Recognize the blessing.
Protect the blessing.
Strengthen it.
And eventually, hand it forward.
Because gratitude without responsibility is incomplete.
If something is truly precious, we must be willing to protect it.
FINAL TAKEAWAY
This Rosh Hashanah, the Torah takes us from laughter to the altar.
From Isaac's birth to the binding of Isaac.
From blessing to sacrifice.
Perhaps that is because a meaningful life inevitably contains both.
We will know joy.
We will know loss.
We will receive blessings.
We will be asked to make sacrifices.
We cannot always choose which arrives at our door.
But we can choose what we do with them.
Twenty-five years after September 11, we remember those who were taken from us and those who ran toward danger.
On Day 1,070 after October 7, the Jewish people continue to carry both blessing and sacrifice.
And tonight, we begin again.
A new year.
A new page.
Another opportunity to recognize what we have been given - and to protect what has been entrusted to us.
Never forget the gift.
Never take the blessing for granted.
And never sacrifice the blessing merely to appease the curse.
May Hashem protect the people of Israel and guard the courageous men and women of the IDF and the United States Military.
May He bring healing to the wounded, comfort to those who mourn, and protection to our families and communities.
May the coming year bring peace to Israel, strength to America, and greater understanding among all people of goodwill.
And as we enter a new year, may He grant all of us the courage to stand together, the wisdom to choose well, and the strength to move forward.
As Sarah discovered after waiting so many years for Yitzchak, may sorrow give way to joy.
May we laugh again.
May we dance again.
May you and your families be blessed with a sweet, healthy and meaningful New Year.
צֶדֶק צֶדֶק תִּרְדֹּף Justice. Justice shall you pursue
Shabbas Shalom. Shana Tova.
Am Yisrael Chai! 🍎🍯💙🇮🇱
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