Spirituality
TORAH PORTION
Eyeing Life With
Clarity, Gratitude
Shabbat Toldot: Genesis 25:19-28:9;
Malachi 1:1-2:7.
I
tinually by choosing not to engage,
n just one week, we might very
well find ourselves seated around not to encounter, not to comprehend,
not to see what is really there and
a table and loading down our
ultimately, to look the
stomachs with turkey,
other way.
sweet potatoes, cranber-
Our sages ask the follow-
ries and other colorful
ing question: "Why did the
and yummy fall foods.
Almighty create us with
Before or during the meal,
two eyes?" Their answer:
many of us will pause for
One eye is for looking out
a few moments in order
to see the world, and the
to perform the quintes-
other eye is so that we
sential American ritual of
might observe what is good
recounting the elements of
and right and proper in
our lives for which we are
order to cleave to it, as well
especially thankful.
Rabbi Joseph
what is evil and hurtful so
Perhaps we will pay
H. K rakoff
that we could avoid it.
tribute to our family, our
Specia I to the
Try this: We put our
friends, our jobs, and our
Jewis h News
hand over just one of our
health. But how many of
eyes, most of us can still
us will specifically men-
see pretty well with the other. This is
tion that we are grateful for our
how we know with certainty that the
vision and the ability to see clearly?
second eye is less for seeing out, and
In our weekly portion Toldot, the
more for seeing within ... gazing at
Torah is abundantly clear in telling
ourselves, our motiva-
us that Isaac was 100
tions and our behavior.
years old and suffering
For those of us going
from restricted vision,
around using only one
explaining that "his
of our eyes, may we
eyes were too dim to
learn this week from
see:' The loss of Isaac's
Isaac, Rebecca, Esau
vision is actually cru-
and Jacob that with
cial to the narrative
the
blessing of physical
itself.
eyesight,
God also gives
The rabbis suggest
us
the
sensitivity
to see
that Isaac's blindness
more
than
what
meets
occurred during his
the eye. May we no lon-
childhood and was
ger neglect this beauti-
caused by all of the
ful gift of vision for
idolatrous practices
which,
on
Thanksgiving
and every
committed by those around him.
other
day
of
the
year,
we
must come
One of my favorite midrashim on
to
see
and
experience
as
an abundant
the topic suggests that Isaac lost his
7
blessing
from
heaven.
sight when he was bound to the altar
by his father Abraham and nearly
Joseph H. Krakoff is a rabbi at
sacrificed, for at that moment the
angel's tears, as well as Abraham's, fell Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland
County.
straight into Isaac's eyes and clouded
them permanently.
The truth is many of us are very
Conversations
much like Isaac — we only see what
What are we most grateful for
we want to see, and we ignore every-
in our lives? Do we use our eyes
thing else. We make our decisions
to see the truth or only what
not always based on all the facts, but
we want to see? How can our
only on those facts that give us the
eyes help us see the world more
answers we wanted in the first place.
clearly?
And as such, we blind ourselves con-
. . . we only
see wh at we
want to see,
and we ignore
everything
else.
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November 19 2009
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