Flying 101
Rabbi Yosef Benarroch

I trust that everyone had a wonderful "Sedder". This week I want to continue one of the themes that we read about in the "Haggadah". One of the high points of the "Haggadah" is the well known prayer "Vehi Sheh-amdah". This year it could perhaps be one of the most relevant prayers we recited at the "Sedder". In that prayer we state the following, "And it endured for our ancestors and for us. For (in our history) not only one person stood to destroy us, rather in every generation there are those who attempt to eradicate us. But the Holy One blessed be He saves us from their hands" (from the Haggadah text).

All those present at the "Sedder" sing this moving prayer in unison. How relevant these words are to us today with the great rise in anti-Semitism throughout the world. Moments before I wrote these words I read about the bombing in a Montreal Jewish day school.

Lets analyze the "Vehi Sheh-amdah" prayer. Referring back to its text, what is the "It" that this prayer is referring to? What is "It" that stood for so many thousands of years protecting the Jewish nation from its enemies? The answer to that question can be found in the section of the "Haggadah" that directly precedes the "Vehi Sheh-amdah". There we read about the promise and the covenant that G-d made with Abraham. The "It" refers to that promise and covenant.

The story takes place in Genesis chapter 15. In that story G-d appears to Abraham and promises him that his descendents will be as numerous as the stars in heaven. He promises Abraham that his descendents will inherit the land of Israel and that G-d will always walk with the Jewish nation. To finalize the covenant Hashem asks Abraham to, "Take a heifer of three years, and a goat of three years, and a ram of three years, and a turtledove and a pigeon. And he (Abraham) took all these and he divided them in half and laid each half against the other. But the bird he did not divide. And an eagle came down upon the carcasses…And when the sun went down a deep sleep fell over Abraham and with it a horror of great darkness fell upon him" (Bereshit 15:9-12).
After this scene we read the words of the "Haggadah" where G-d tells Abraham that his descendents will journey to Egypt and they will be enslaved there for 400 years and in the end G-d will judge their oppressors and the Jewish nation will leave Egypt with great wealth. This is the backdrop to the famous "Vehi Sheh-amdah" prayer.

I wish to concentrate on one small aspect of that story. What was it that was so frightening to Abraham? What is the symbolism of the various animals he saw? Why did he cut in half all the animals except the birds?

I would suggest that in this vision the bird that Abraham sees represents the Jewish nation. Indeed all the other animals die but the bird lives. Abraham is being told that the Jewish nation will live on as the bird lived. But why then was Abraham filled with such horror?

Because even though in the bird Abraham saw the survival of the Jewish nation, he also saw the exiles of the Jewish people. Of all animals the bird is the one least connected to a place. Birds fly high in the sky and they migrate from one place to the next. True Abraham saw the survival of the Jewish nation but he also saw that this nation would be a nation of wandering Jews. In every generation there would be those who would hunt this bird (the Jewish people), and in every generation they would have to migrate to a new place never being able to call one place home for too long. This thought filled Abraham with a great fear.

But then came G-d's promise to Abraham. The eagle would not destroy the bird. True the bird migrates and as such the Jewish nation will endure many exiles. But of all animals the bird has another great quality. Remember the bird in this story is not any bird it is a pigeon. Because of all birds the one who no matter how far it gets from its home and no matter how many times it migrates, the pigeon will always find its original home and return to it. By showing Abraham a pigeon Hashem promises Abraham that no matter what happens to the Jewish nation in the end they will return to their home. No matter how long the exile will last the Jewish people will eventually return to the Land of Israel.

Indeed there are many ways that the Jewish people can be compared to a bird. We must never be satisfied with a regular existence. We must always seek to fly as high as we can. We must never just be focused on this world but reach up to the world of the spirit. Most important of all we must never forget where we came from and where our real home is. That is the message of "Vehi Sheh-amdah" and what we should be feeling on Pesah.

Today we can see just how true G-d's promise to Abraham was. We can look back and see all the exiles and migrations of the Jewish people in the last two thousand years. We can see pogroms and inquisitions and holocausts and endless journeys. But we can also see how Hashem has not forsaken us. He has protected us throughout those exiles and as a good homing pigeon we have returned to our home in the Land of Israel.

In our family when we read the ten plagues we have a custom that the father pours a bit of wine into a bucket while another person simultaneously pours water into the same bucket as each plague is recited. I suspect the origin of that custom was to recreate the Nile River turning into blood. But I will never forget what my grandmother would say after the recitation of the final plague. Our custom was that each person would empty the rest of their wine and water into the bucket at which point my grandmother would say "and that is for all the enemies of the Jewish nation".

Indeed "Vehi Sheh-amdah" is a prayer in which we say to all of our enemies that we are here to stay. No power can destroy us for we have the greatest weapon of all on our side, "G-d's promise". "It" has stood the test of time. The Jewish peoples return to the Land of Israel and our ability to build this country in its short 55-year history are a testament to that promise.

A few days ago a friend of mine sent me an e-mail which detailed some of the amazing accomplishments of the State of Israel during the past 55 years. As I read the facts mentioned in that e-mail I could not help but be reminded of "Vehi Sheh-amdah". I want to conclude my words today with just a few of the facts that were mentioned in that e-mail. For those who wish the entire list please let me know and I will send it.

• The cell phone was developed in Israel by Israelis working in the Israeli branch of Motorola, which has its largest development center in Israel.
• Israel's $100 billion economy is larger than all of its immediate neighbors combined. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of home computers per capita.
• Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world.
• Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other nation by a large margin - 109 per 10,000 people -- as well as one of the highest per capita rates of patents filed.
• With more than 3,000 high-tech companies and startups, Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies in the world -- apart from the Silicon Valley, U.S.
• Twenty-four per cent of Israel's workforce holds university degrees -- ranking third in the industrialized world, after the United States and Holland - and 12 per cent hold advanced degrees.
• When Golda Meir was elected Prime Minister of Israel in 1969, she became the world's second elected female leader in modern times.
• Relative to its population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. Immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom, and economic opportunity.
• Israel has the world's second highest per capita of new books.
• Israel leads the world in the number of scientists and technicians in the workforce, with 145 per 10,000, as opposed to 85 in the U.S., over 70 in Japan, and less than 60 in Germany. With over 25% of its work force employed in technical professions. Israel places first in this category as well.
• All the above while engaged in regular wars with an implacable enemy that seeks its destruction, and an economy continuously under strain by having to spend more per capita on its own protection than any other country on earth