Shmooze News December 6, 2025
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Avoiding Destiny Doesn’t Make It Go Away
In this week’s parashah, after Yaakov’s struggle with the angel of Eisav, he walks away limping. One of the classic commentators, Rashbam (R’ Shmuel ben Meir, 12th century, grandson of Rashi), asks what did Yaakov do to warrant such suffering and injury? His answer is very eye-opening.
Rashbam explains that Yaakov made a mistake. He was on the road toward Eisav, but at the last minute, he decided to take a detour to avoid that encounter. As the verse says, he got up that night and took his two wives, his two handmaids, and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok (Bereishis 32:23). He was running away. Hashem had promised Yaakov that He would watch over him, but nevertheless, Yaakov ran away from this destined meeting. And for that he was punished.
Rashbam notes that we find the same outcome in other instances where individuals tried to sidestep the path set for them by Hashem. For example, at the burning bush, when Hashem instructed Moshe regarding his upcoming mission, Moshe demurred and said, “Please my Master, send through whomever You will send!” (Shemos 4:13). And immediately after the pasuk says, the wrath of Hashem burned against Moshe (ibid v. 14), to the point that his life was endangered, for we find shortly afterward that it says, It was on the way, in the lodging, that Hashem encountered him and sought to kill him (v. 24). All this because Moshe tried to avoid the mission Hashem sent his way.
Similarly, we find regarding the prophet Yonah, who was sent to prophecy to Ninveh that he too sought to run away from his mission. He boarded a ship going in the opposite direction, was tossed overboard and swallowed by the large sea creature, causing him great suffering. Ultimately, he was spat up onto dry land and sent back on his way to fulfill what he was sent to do originally.
And so it was with Yaakov. He had to solve the outstanding and unresolved tension between him and his brother Eisav. He had to create a precedent from which his descendants would learn how to interact with the physical and spiritual descendants of Eisav throughout our long years of exile under their domain. Hashem had promised Yaakov that it would work out well. There was nothing to run away from. But Yaakov ran away. He attempted to miss his meeting with destiny, ultimately to his own detriment (Rashbam, Bereishis 32:29).
Hashem sends each of us on our unique mission in this world. Attempting to avoid that mission does not make the mission go away. It just makes the path to get there more complicated and challenging (see Shaar Hatziyun Orach Chaim 622 #5). Life has a way of presenting our mission to us in unmistakable ways. The challenge is to embrace that destiny head on, even when – or better yet, especially when it feels easier to run the other way.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom / Good Shabbos
Rabbi Moskovitz
Shmooze News November 29, 2025
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On a Lonely Sacred Hilltop
Our parasha begins with Yaakov leaving home for an uncertain future. He is on the run from his brother who sought to kill him. He was left penniless, (see Rashi, Bereishis 29:11; cf. R’ S.R. Hirsch 27:10). And he was about to leave behind his homeland to enter a personal exile on foreign soil. There he lay on that lonely sacred hilltop with nothing but a cold stone to place beneath his head. In the midst of what must have been an extremely emotional and challenging time, Yaakov dreamt his prophetic dream.
He saw the ladder upon which angels were going up and down. And most importantly he saw וְהִנֵּה ה' נִצָּב עָלָיו, behold Hashem was standing above him (Bereishis 28:13, translation follows R’ S.R. Hirsch as per one opinion in Bereishis Rabbah 69:3). The word נצב, nitzav, implies “standing with a purpose.” It indicates attention fixed upon that by which one is standing. In this global vision that included Hashem’s management of the world through His heavenly hosts, Yaakov was shown that for him in particular there was a different type of relationship; one of direct and personal hashgachah, Divine providence (see Ramban ad loc.). As dark and lonely as Yaakov’s world seemed at that moment, Hashem was communicating to him that he was not alone, for Hashem Himself was by Yaakov’s side, watching over him – then and always (R’ Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg 1785-1865, הכתב והקבלה; R’ S.R. Hirsch).
The message was not to Yaakov alone. It was not a message for one individual, but to the nation that he would found. According to one interpretation in the Midrash, the angels going up and down the ladder represented the arch angels of the nations that would control and subjugate the Jewish People at various times in our history. Accordingly, Yaakov saw the arch angel of Babylonia going up seventy rungs (corresponding to the seventy years of Babylonian subjugation) and then coming back down. Similarly, he saw the angel of Media/Persia rise fifty-two rungs and then descend, and the angel of Yavan/Greece go up one-hundred-and-eighty rungs and finally come down again. The last angel he saw was that of Edom/Rome which seemed to continue to rise without coming down. Yaakov feared that the final exile would never come to an end. Hashem then assured him that Edom too would come down, as it says (Ovadia 1:4), Even if you raise [your nest] like an eagle or if you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there — the word of Hashem (Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer Ch. 35).
And throughout it all, וְהִנֵּה ה' נִצָּב עָלָיו, behold Hashem was standing above him. Other nations may come and go, but there is one nation that is for keeps. Our oppressors will rise and fall, but Hashem will never let go of His watchful and loving gaze over His people (Seforno, Bereishis 28:12).
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom / Good Shabbos
Rabbi Moskovitz
Shmooze News November 22, 2025
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Who Named the Well and Why?
In this week’s parasha, we have the naming of the city of Be’er Sheva. In short, Avimelech, the king of Gerar, who had previously driven Yitzchak out of his land, now came to Yitzchak with his entourage to forge a convent. Yitzchak made for them a feast and they ate and drank. They awoke early in the morning and swore to one another (Bereishis 26:30-31). Later that day, the servants of Yitzchak informed him that they had successfully dug a well and found water. He then named that well, as the verse says, וַיִּקְרָ֥א אֹתָ֖הּ שִׁבְעָ֑ה עַל־כֵּ֤ן שֵׁם־הָעִיר֙ בְּאֵ֣ר שֶׁ֔בַע עַ֖ד הַיּ֥וֹם הַזֶּֽה, And he named it Shiva; therefore, the name of the city is Be’er-Sheva until this very day (ibid. v. 33). Rashi explains that the word “Shiva” is related to Shevu’ah, oath, for Yitzchak named the well after the covenant they had been sworn into earlier that day.
The problem is that a few chapters earlier we were told that it was Avraham who had given the well this name. Avraham too made a covenant of peace with an earlier Avimelech at that same spot. And so the pasuk there says, עַל־כֵּ֗ן קָרָ֛א לַמָּק֥וֹם הַה֖וּא בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע כִּ֛י שָׁ֥ם נִשְׁבְּע֖וּ שְׁנֵיהֶֽם, Therefore that place was called Be’er-shavah because there the two of them took an oath (Ibid 21:31).
Who named the well?
Ramban suggests that this is just an example of an earlier verse in the parashah which relates, And Yitzchak dug anew the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Avraham his father and the Philistines had stopped them up after Avraham’s death; and he called them by the same names that his father had called them (ibid. 26:18). The original Be’er Sheva of Avraham was destroyed by the local Philistines. It was then restored by Yitzchak who gave it its original name.
Others suggest that when Avimelech drove Yitzchak out of the land, the original peace treaty forged by his ancestor with Avraham had become null. Accordingly, the well over which that treaty was ratified had become lost. When the treaty was reforged, and the well redug, the well’s name stuck. That is why the verse now stresses that therefore, the name of the city is Be’er-Sheva until this very day – i.e., due to the renaming of the well after the treaty was reinstated (Meshech Chochmah).
One very interesting approach is that of Seforno, who explains that well was actually not renamed by its old name, but was in fact given a new name. He explains that the word “Sheva” is not related to shevuah (oath), but to sheva (seven). This was the seventh well dug by Yitzchak and his servants, for he had previously redug three of Avraham’s old wells, plus he dug the wells named Esek, Sitnah, and Rechovot. Therefore, he named this last well Be’er Sheva, meaning, “The Seventh Well.”
This explains why when Avraham names the well he calls it בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁבַע, Be’er Shava (with a kametz under the shin), meaning “Oath Well.” While when Yitzchak names the well, he pronounces it differently. He referred to it as בְּאֵ֣ר שֶׁ֔בַע, Be’er Sheva (with a segol under the shin), “The Seventh Well.” It is this later name that we continue to use. And so the verse concludes, therefore, the name of the city is Be’er-Sheva until this very day.
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom / Good Shabbos
Rabbi Moskovitz
Shmooze News November 15, 2025
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Shabbos Mevarchim Chodesh Kislev
Rosh Chodesh will be Friday.
A Miracle Happened at That Well
In this week’s parashah, Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, is sent by his master to find an appropriate wife for Yitzchak. Upon reaching his destination, Eliezer stands by the well and davens to Hashem and says, “Let it be that the maiden to whom I shall say, ‘Please tip over your jug so I may drink,’ and who replies, ‘Drink, and I will even water your camels,’ her will You have designated for Your servant, for Isaac” (Bereishis 24:14). Upon concluding his prayer, he sees Rivka approaching the well, and the pasuk says, וַיָּ֥רָץ הָעֶ֖בֶד לִקְרָאתָ֑הּ, the servant ran towards her (ibid. v.17).
Presumably there were other young women at the well aside from Rivka. Why, then, did he run specifically toward Rivka?
Our Sages say that Eliezer saw something special about Rivka. He saw that the water of the well miraculously rose toward her (Bereishis Rabbah 60:5, cited by Rashi). This behavior of the water is alluded to in the verses, for the pasuk at first notes וַתֵּ֣רֶד הָעַ֔יְנָה וַתְּמַלֵּ֥א כַדָּ֖הּ וַתָּֽעַל, She descended to the spring, filled her jug and ascended (ibid. v.16), without mentioning anything about “drawing” the water. However, later, when Rivka went back and forth to the well to water the camels, there the verse notes וַתָּ֥רָץ ע֛וֹד אֶל־הַבְּאֵ֖ר לִשְׁאֹ֑ב וַתִּשְׁאַ֖ב לְכָל־גְּמַלָּֽיו, she kept running to the well to draw [water], and she drew for all his camels (ibid. v. 20) (Ramban).
This then begs the question, if the water miraculously came up for the righteous Rivka the first time she went to the well, why did it not continue to do so on her subsequent trips?
The mefarshim explain that unlike her first trip to the well, which was for her own needs, Rivka’s later trips to and from the well was as an act of kindness for another. She was fulfilling a mitzvah. If she were to receive miraculous heavenly help to make her mitzvah easier, that would ultimately be toward her detriment. As our Sages say, לְפוּם צַעֲרָא אַגְרָא, according to the effort is the reward (Avos 5:26). That is, the beauty of a mitzvah is not measured simply by way of its outcome. Rather its beauty is a function of what the person who performs that mitzvah invests into it. The more of themselves that they put into that mitzvah, the more the mitzvah shines (אזנים לתורה; Kedushas Levi).
It is telling that even after witnessing the initial miracle of the water rising toward Rivka, Eliezer was still not convinced that she was the one for Yitzchak. Rather, he waited until she finished her herculean act of chessed, providing water for the group and the ten thirsty camels. Only after witnessing that, did he give her the engagement jewelry. A young woman for whom miracles are performed is impressive, but one who shines with the trait of chessed is for keeps!
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom / Good Shabbos
Rabbi Moskovitz
Shmooze News November 8, 2025
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The Baker, Sailor, and Nomad
This week’s parashah begins with Avraham being visited by the three malachim (angels), Gavri’el, Micha’el and Rapha’el. Our Sages tell us something very interesting about how these three malachim appeared to Avraham. The Midrash states says that אֶחָד נִדְמָה לוֹ בִּדְמוּת סָדָקִי, one appeared to him looking like a baker, וְאֶחָד נִדְמָה לוֹ בִּדְמוּת נָוָטִי, one appeared to him looking like a sailor, וְאֶחָד בִּדְמוּת עֲרָבִי, and one appeared to him looking like an Arabian desert nomad (Bereishis Rabbah 48:9). The angels could have taken on any human garb. Why then did they appear specifically as individuals in these professions?
Some suggest that these three malachim represented the various aspects of our world. For there is a Midrash (brought by Tosafos, Pesachim 94a, ד''ה כל) which states that [in rough terms] the world can be divided into three segments: One third inhabitable and settled lands, one third seas, and one third desert wilderness. Each angel then represented one of these thirds. The baker, who sells bread - the staff of life - represented the inhabited parts of the world. The sailor represented those parts of the world covered by the seas. And finally, the Arabian nomad represented the desert wilderness parts of the world.
These representatives of our world came to visit Avraham, and the verse notes, וַיִּשָּׂ֤א עֵינָיו֙ וַיַּ֔רְא וְהִנֵּה֙ שְׁלֹשָׁ֣ה אֲנָשִׁ֔ים, That Avraham lifted up his eyes and saw that these three men were נִצָּבִ֖ים עָלָ֑יו, lit. “standing upon him.” Just a few days earlier, Avraham had entered into the covenant of the bris, for himself and all his future descendants. And there and then, these angels had a message for him. The progression and future success of the world as a whole, was now “standing upon him.” The spiritual development of the world, which they represented, now rested upon Avraham’s very wide shoulders, and those of the child, Yitzchak, whose birth they were there to announce. The world, for the most part, had neglected the spiritual role demanded of all of humanity. Avraham, though, did not. He embraced that role and became the standard bearer for morality and spirituality for all of humanity. The fulfillment of the spiritual destiny of the world was now his to bring forward. A great responsibility for a giant among men!
Wishing you all a Shabbat Shalom / Good Shabbos
Rabbi Moskovitz