Comfort from a Raven

“Our love is stronger than their hate.”  I heard these powerful words from my colleague Rabbi Shneor Ashkkenazi.  We persevere, and we will always persevere, because despite our differences, despite our occasional strife, deep down we are a people who love each other.  And that is stronger than any enemy or any threat to our existence.

The first ever terrorist attack is recorded in this week’s Parsha, as we begin the new cycle of Torah reading.  25% of the population of the world was destroyed when Kayin (Cain), one of only four people in existence, killed his brother Hevel (Abel) after a small argument.  The Midrash (Pirkei DeRabbi Elazar 21) tells a story that Adam and Chava (Eve) were sitting and crying after Hevel was killed, not knowing what to do.  Then a raven came along and buried the body of a dead raven, so Adam and Chava followed suit and buried Hevel.

This Midrash needs a deeper look.  How could Adam and Chava not know what to do with Hevel’s body?  Hashem had told them previously “you are earth and shall return to the earth.”  It does not seem so hard to figure out how to bury a body.  And why a raven specifically and not some other animal?

82 years ago, at the height of the Holocaust, the Rebbe was involved in the founding of the Chabad burial society in New York.  He had escaped Europe, had family members murdered by the Nazis, and was suffering the pain of the vicious murder of millions of our people.  He spoke about this Midrash at that event, and shared a powerful message.

He said that Adam and Chava were not simply mourning, and questioning what to do with Hevel’s body.  They were wondering how to continue, what kind of world was this?  For a small argument one brother murders another - their own son.  How does one live in such a world?  Hashem showed them that although there is indeed evil in the world, at the same time there is goodness and kindness.  

Burial, the Rebbe said, is the act of ultimate kindness, because the recipient will never be able to pay the favor back.  More so when it was the raven.  The raven is a cruel bird that abandons its young and does not feed them.   In this cruel world, Hashem showed them, there is also kindness.  They now knew what they needed to do, and they buried the body of Hevel.

 

This is how we respond to hatred and evil.  Yes, we mourn and we grieve, but we also look for goodness and focus on acts of kindness and love.  The hatred is horrible, but the love is real and true.  Look at how the Jewish people, despite real differences, have come together.  Jews all over the world are feeling this pain as if it was their own.  Because it is.  Deep down in our core there is true love for one another.  And this love is stronger than any hate, and we will therefore endure.

You have probably read many messages of love from many rabbis.  This is the Jewish response throughout the ages, to show love for one another, to give Tzedakah, to help and encourage one another, to bring light and goodness to the world through strengthening our observance of practical Mitzvot.

We survived Haman and all the others like him before, and we will survive these vicious enemies too.  May Hashem bless the soldiers of Tzahal in their courageous and dangerous fight.  May our efforts to connect to Hashem and to each other bring them strength and encouragement.  May our enemies’ diabolical plans around the world be thwarted, and may we see true peace in Israel and around the world.

Click here for the list of the ten Mitzvot in the Rebbe’s Mitzvah campaign, as practical suggestions of Mitzvot you can connect to or strengthen.  People are feeling a need to “do something.”  This is a way to really make a difference, and it is with this positive, practical approach that we can move forward with faith that Am Yisrael Chai!

I am moved by this letter from a Chabad soldier whose family I am close to.  https://www.chabad.org/6121274

 

One more thing… Please consider joining us this Friday for a Solidarity Shabbat Dinner.  You can register at http://www.chabadpaloalto.com/Shabbat.