Election Special: Sandwiches and Caves; Chayei Sarah

I’m sure each of us has our story, like from 9/11: “Where were you when…?”

But this time it was about what felt to us like the most significant election in U.S. history. 

Many of us heaved a sigh of relief, shouted for joy, banged pots, jumped up and down, danced in the streets. 

And shed a lot of tears.

I know I did. I didn’t even know how much grief I was holding in while I was holding it together. 

This week’s Torah reading begins with grief. Sarah has just died, and Abraham, his life partner, must bury her. They’re not home for some reason, and I guess it’s too far to ship her body (no modern amenities). 

After much negotiation with the locals, Abraham settles on a cave for her burial site, and when the mourning period is over, he sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac “back home”. 

The terms are very specific: Isaac is not allowed, under any circumstances, to go back and live with the girl if she does not agree to come. The servant swears under oath and with the threat of a curse (hand under master’s thigh--a serious vow indeed) to bring a woman back with him. 

Naturally, the servant worries that he will not be successful. Abraham promises that an angel of God will lead the way and make his quest successful. 

We could easily read this injunction as Abraham saying, “My family and my people are superior to these locals; we need to keep our bloodline pure.” 

This would be a normal and correct reading.

Yet, there’s another way of looking at it. Abraham is the beginning of our people’s making its way away from many gods, towards the Oneness of God, away from separation, towards Unification. 

With this comes the understanding that we are all equal. That humanity is One. And though he is just getting this message and barely beginning to understand what this means, he will not allow his family to go back there. Whatever good comes from his place of birth must come to a new land. 

Abraham represents our continued struggle with separation vs. Unity. 

We have just come through---wait a minute, have we yet??---a very trying period. I’m going to venture and guess that the past weeks, months, and years, have involved the highest stress we’ve experienced as a race---the human race---globally since the beginning of time. 

Between a pandemic and a leader who---oh, there’s no need for me to repeat what everyone hears and repeats constantly...

So, yes, many of us collectively heaved a sigh of relief this past Saturday. 

But many of us did not.

And the grief is not gone. 

These past four years, and the pandemic, have exposed the sickness that is in our country and our world.  

And it didn’t take long after the initial celebration for me to realize that I want to start saying that the incumbent lost, not that Biden won. 

Because what does that winning mean? So many votes that went to Biden were protest votes--against something we don’t want, like Abraham not wanting Isaac to go back. The not-going-back doesn’t really represent a change from the (previous) status quo, in Abraham’s case or our present situation.  

There’s been so much talk of our “divided country” and the need to come together, to “unify” us. 

But is unification of our country really what we’re looking for at the present moment? 

Sure--if unification means that racism and bigotry disappear and everyone wakes up to the fact that we are all equal, then yes, we don’t want a “divided country”. 

But if unification means working together with those who have no interest in your welfare and literally want you dead, well, that’s not the kind of unification we’re after. 

As I heard a political analyst and writer on the NPR show, On the Media, this past Sunday say, why would you work together with someone who wants to destroy you? This is not to say we shouldn’t be hopeful, but it doesn’t bode well for the kind of change we’re after.  

It’s an age-old problem, this thing that Abraham teaches us about: those people are different and they’re not good enough for my son. 

But there’s something positive there as well. In sending for a wife from “back home,” Abraham shows a willingness to find something of his past to bring into the future. Rebecca, Isaac’s future wife, knows this instinctively when she agrees without hesitation to leave her home and go forth to a new place and a new life; the servant’s quest is successful.

We, too, must find and bring forward what’s good from the past, like the age-old wisdom of ancient cultures that’s been lost.

I find it interesting that the Torah reading of the week is sandwiched with a cave; Sarah is buried in a cave at the beginning, and Abraham is buried with her there at the end of the parsha. 

We also are not out of the cave yet. We can’t fool ourselves. We definitely can’t go back to where we were--there’s really no going back---and too many people have come out for change, real change, during these past four years. But there are still so many people who aren’t getting the message of Unification with a big “u”. We’re still in the dark. 

After Sarah’s death and after Isaac is married off, Abraham marries again and has five more children. We also learn of Ishmael’s future generations. These children are named, and the line continues with grandchildren into the future. 

Life goes on and we keep moving forward, on the path to Oneness that Abraham set us on when he smashed the idols. 

And in the same way we prayed during this trying period, whether out of habit or really believing the Universe could hear us, perhaps we can stretch ourselves and believe there are angels accompanying us along the way, just as they did for Abraham’s servant, toward success on our quest.