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(Chayei Sarah)
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Today is Election Day. Voting is one of the ways we accept responsibility for the world we share. For all the fraught nature of our politics, it is a blessing to live in a country where we can make our voices heard and help shape its future. And from within a Jewish understanding of moral obligation, the ability to make a difference calls us to act.
As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught, what is needed is not a leap of faith, but “a leap of action.” If we care about the future, we must do something to help build it.
Chayei Sarah is framed by the deaths of Sarah and Abraham. Between those bookends, Abraham confronts his own mortality and the urgency of ensuring that the next generation has stable footing. He calls upon his trusted servant, traditionally identified as Eliezer, and sends him to find a partner for Isaac. The task follows the binding of Isaac, a story after which the Torah records no further conversation between Abraham and his son. Much has changed. Abraham cannot know exactly what the future will hold, but he knows that he must entrust someone with an essential mission.
When the servant arrives at a well, he prays for guidance. But he does more than ask God to make things turn out well. He specifically names what he is looking for. The woman who offers him water and also draws water for his camels will be the one he understands to be right for Isaac. Rebecca appears. She responds with extraordinary generosity and wonderous strength, drawing water again and again until the camels have had enough. Her kindness is not a vague sentiment. It is expressed through effort, attention, and action.
The servant’s prayer reminds us of a valuable lesson this Election Day: our hopes for the future need clarity. It is not enough to say that we want things to get better. We must be able to name what our communities need, what we expect of those who seek to lead, and how we will hold them accountable.
On Election Day, we are called to choose people we trust with a sacred responsibility: to serve the public. We need leaders who can articulate a vision and a plan, who understand the weight of their mission, and who lead with clarity and kindness. We need leaders who see the whole community and understand that they are sent to serve by the people.
The Jewish community has helped build this country. Our families have served in its armed forces and contributed to every sector of American life. We belong here, and we have both the right and the obligation to participate fully in shaping its future.
If you have not yet voted, please make a plan to do so. If you have already voted, consider whether someone you know needs help getting to the polls.
And let us bless this country with a good next day, and with a future in which no one is targeted for being who they are; where Jews can stand proud, safe, and secure as full participants in American life; and where vulnerable people are not left behind.
That future will take work. May we choose leaders who know that this is their work, and may we never forget that it is our work, too.
Rabbi Menachem Creditor
Today is Election Day. Voting is one of the ways we accept responsibility for the world we share. For all the fraught nature of our politics, it is a blessing to live in a country where we can make our voices heard and help shape its future. And from within a Jewish understanding of moral obligation, the ability to make a difference calls us to act.
As Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel taught, what is needed is not a leap of faith, but “a leap of action.” If we care about the future, we must do something to help build it.
Chayei Sarah is framed by the deaths of Sarah and Abraham. Between those bookends, Abraham confronts his own mortality and the urgency of ensuring that the next generation has stable footing. He calls upon his trusted servant, traditionally identified as Eliezer, and sends him to find a partner for Isaac. The task follows the binding of Isaac, a story after which the Torah records no further conversation between Abraham and his son. Much has changed. Abraham cannot know exactly what the future will hold, but he knows that he must entrust someone with an essential mission.
When the servant arrives at a well, he prays for guidance. But he does more than ask God to make things turn out well. He specifically names what he is looking for. The woman who offers him water and also draws water for his camels will be the one he understands to be right for Isaac. Rebecca appears. She responds with extraordinary generosity and wonderous strength, drawing water again and again until the camels have had enough. Her kindness is not a vague sentiment. It is expressed through effort, attention, and action.
The servant’s prayer reminds us of a valuable lesson this Election Day: our hopes for the future need clarity. It is not enough to say that we want things to get better. We must be able to name what our communities need, what we expect of those who seek to lead, and how we will hold them accountable.
On Election Day, we are called to choose people we trust with a sacred responsibility: to serve the public. We need leaders who can articulate a vision and a plan, who understand the weight of their mission, and who lead with clarity and kindness. We need leaders who see the whole community and understand that they are sent to serve by the people.
The Jewish community has helped build this country. Our families have served in its armed forces and contributed to every sector of American life. We belong here, and we have both the right and the obligation to participate fully in shaping its future.
If you have not yet voted, please make a plan to do so. If you have already voted, consider whether someone you know needs help getting to the polls.
And let us bless this country with a good next day, and with a future in which no one is targeted for being who they are; where Jews can stand proud, safe, and secure as full participants in American life; and where vulnerable people are not left behind.
That future will take work. May we choose leaders who know that this is their work, and may we never forget that it is our work, too.
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