Our forefathers’ legacy

How are we Jews looked upon by the rest of the world?

On Shavuot, we will recite Yizkor, the memorial prayer for our loved ones. We will also remember our martyrs.

Just the other week, we read a verse in the Torah at the end of the terrible curses, the rebuke, which casts important light on this subject.

“I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and also My covenant with Isaac, and also My covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land.”

There is a puzzling nuance in this verse. The term “zechirah”, the word for remembering is mentioned in connection with Jacob and with Abraham, but not with Isaac. It says only, “and also My covenant with Isaac”, but the word “remember” isn’t used in connection with Isaac. Why?

The great Biblical commentator, Rashi, offers a profoundly powerful insight. Quoting the Midrash, Rashi says, “Because in the case of Isaac, ‘remembering’ isn’t necessary. Because the ashes of Isaac always appear before Me, gathered up, and placed on the altar.”

Isaac was meant to be the sacrificial ram in the famous story of the Akedah, the Binding of Isaac. He was already on the altar, about to be sacrificed, and only at the eleventh hour did G-d reveal to Abraham that it was only a test of faith. So whether it’s the ashes of the ram that was eventually offered up in place of Isaac, or it’s the act of martyrdom that Isaac was prepared for, either way, those symbolic “ashes on the altar” remain forever in the consciousness of the Almighty.

What does Abraham represent? Abraham was the paragon of chesed, the prince of kindness and compassion. His tent was open on all four sides. He fed every stranger that passed his way with abundant hospitality. Even when he was recuperating from surgery after his bris, he was still running around and feeding those three visitors a lavish banquet.

The children of Abraham inherited those genes. The Jewish people take in everybody. The Arabs deliberately keep their displaced brothers in refugee camps to use as a bargaining tool for their own political gain, while Israel has taken in and absorbed millions of displaced Jews from Arab countries, the former Soviet Union, and Ethiopia.

And Jews are, by far, the most charitable people on earth. Look at our communal charities, our aged homes, our schools, and our welfare institutions.

Yet the world refuses to acknowledge this blatantly obvious reality. As far as the world is concerned, Jews are still greedy Shylocks and moneylenders. And how often do we hear the accusation that “Jews only look after their own?” What a big lie that is! I wish Jewish philanthropists gave to Jewish charities what they give to non-Jewish charities.

And so, G-d tells us, you, the world, refuse to acknowledge all the unparalleled generosity of my Jews? Don’t worry, I will remember Abraham. “And also My covenant with Abraham will I remember.”

Likewise, when it comes to Jacob. What does Jacob represent? Torah. Scholarship. Academic achievement. For 22 years, Jacob studied in the pre-Sinai yeshiva of Shem and Eber. And the children of Jacob became known as the People of the Book for good reason. With all the frightening Jewish ignorance around the world, we can be gratified that there are more people studying Torah in Israel today than at any time in our entire history.

And our scholastic achievements in other realms, in science and technology for example, are no less remarkable. We all know that the number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners is totally disproportionate. Jews, who make up roughly 0.2% of the world’s population, account for 23% of the world’s Nobel Prize winners! But does the world acknowledge these scholars, these brilliant professors, and researchers as Jews? Never!

Once upon a time, Israel’s only export was Jaffa oranges. Today, thank G-d, Israel has become a world leader in medicine, technology, defence systems, security, agriculture, and more. Does the world remember this? Do the nations give us credit for our academic and scientific successes?

Again, the Almighty tells us have no fear. “I will remember My covenant with Jacob.”

But Isaac? Isaac represents the martyr. Isaac’s symbolic ashes stand before my eyes every single day, says G-d.

Isaac, the martyr, the world does acknowledge. Indeed, the world reaffirms his status of victimhood every single day. The ashes of Auschwitz are still simmering! European antisemitism is at its highest since World War II, and in the United States, it has risen exponentially. In Paris, it’s dangerous to walk in the streets as an identifiable Jew. And now even Washington, DC isn’t safe either!

Does a week go by that Israel isn’t subjected to terror by Hamas or a new player, the Houthis, or their lone wolves, or threats of annihilation by the mad men of Tehran? Is there an Israeli family that hasn’t lost a father, son, brother, or family member in its wars of self-defence or in terror atrocities?

When it comes to Isaac, the martyr, the sacrificial lamb, no reminders are necessary.

But despite the world, we will continue to be the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We will continue to do chesed and tzedakah, and to be the loving, generous, descendants of our compassionate founding father, Abraham. And we will continue to be the children of Jacob, the People of the Book, the students of Torah.

And despite those who seek to impose martyrdom upon us, we will raise our children with a sense of Jewish pride that doesn’t crumble at every act of terrorism, racism, or Jew-hatred. We will ensure that our children grow up feeling not frightened, but faithful; not crushed, but courageous; not victimised, but victorious and proud to be the children of Abraham, Jacob … and Isaac!

• Rabbi Yossy Goldman is life rabbi emeritus at Sydenham Shul, and the president of the South African Rabbinical Association.