Parashat Hashavua: Bereshit

וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל־קַיִן אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יָדַעְתִּי הֲשֹׁמֵר אָחִי אָנֹכִי׃

GOD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

I have always loved the fact that the Hebrew words for the High Holidays, the Yamim Nora’im, can mean both the awesome days and the awful days.

This Wednesday was an awesome, awful day at Heschel. I don’t need to explain to anyone what was awful about it.  So let me tell you a bit about the awesome part.  Across the school, people came together to comfort one another.  Teachers and students worked together with love, dedication and creativity, to craft ceremonies in three different divisions, plus a morning gathering for adults.  

In this week’s parasha, we read God’s questions to Cain, “where is your brother?” His famous reply is: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Another way of reading these words is “I was not aware that I was supposed to be my brother’s keeper.”  

By contrast, in our Lower School ceremony, we shared the stories of Rami and Oz Davidan, who together saved almost 1000 lives by driving people to safety, risking their own lives every time they returned to the Nova festival or Moshav Patish to collect more people. When Oz was interviewed about his actions, he said, “These are our values as Israelis. If someone is in danger, you help them. If you can reach out your hand to your brother or sister, you do it.”

May we teach our children to do the same.

Rabbi Anne Ebersman