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Shana Tova. When we wish each other a good year on Rosh Hashanah, its significance is both simpler and deeper than it appears. The topics which I will discuss today are directly related to the events that are unfolding precisely at this time for our people and our heritage. These words of Torah are dedicated to the memory of the holy souls who lost their lives during the riots. May the wounded be granted a complete recovery.

Rosh Hashana carries a dual message. The day is devoted entirely to the Kingship of the Almighty in the world. There are no personal requests and prayers on Rosh Hashanah - the individual does not pray for himself. In fact, the entire nation does not pray for itself. Our appeals are directed to a greater process, one that pertains to the entire universe. According to the Midrash, our sages maintain that if the other nations were aware how many sacrifices we offer up for them, perhaps they would finally understand our place in the world. On this day, as we focus upon the dominion of the Almighty upon the entire world, these riots and disturbances are exceptionally momentous, especially in the light of the Torah readings for both days of Rosh Hashanah. The first day deals with the birth of Isaac, followed on the second day by the binding of Isaac. But this is only partially accurate. The description of Isaac's birth takes up only 7 out of the 35 verses that make up the Torah reading, so it can't really be said that it is the main subject of the portion. The birth of Isaac is followed directly by the banishment of Ishmael, and it is this episode that takes up most of the narrative, ending with the arrival of Avimelech, Phichol and the rest of the Philistines, who make a covenant with Abraham.

On the second day of Rosh Hashanah, Abraham sets out with Isaac and the lads. Our sages tell us that they were Ishmael and Eliezer. They remain behind with the ass while Abraham and Isaac ascend to Mt. Moriah, and it is there that our uniqueness is revealed. In order to comprehend the tensions between Ishmael, Isaac, and our patriarch Abraham, who is father to them both, we must understand what lies at the core of this story. The birth of Isaac brought in its wake the banishment of Ishmael. Sarah says to Abraham: "Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac." The Minhat Ani interprets her words as: "I see that when the time comes to divide the inheritance, the son of this bondwoman will never agree to share with my son Isaac." Why was the bondwoman banished? Because the son of the bondwoman cannot inherit together with Isaac - they will not become a nation.

Out of the tension of these two portions comes a basic element of Rosh Hashanah. I want to explore the Isaac-Ishmael relationship on a deeper level. In these difficult hours we must ask ourselves what we should be doing, what is our role? Harav Kook wrote that at times of great conflict in the world a messianic power awakens. Our task is to study these matters in greater depth.

The Rambam, in his Iggeret Teman, wrote to the Jews in Teman who found themselves in very difficult circumstances, warning them that they were caught in the battle of the Philistines: "For so long as we pursue their peace, they pursue us with stress and battle, as King David of blessed memory said, I am for peace but ... they are for war."

At the end of Parashat Balak, Balaam says the following: "Come, and I will advise you what this people shall do to your people at the end of days." He speaks of Amalek and Zim, and then, unexpectedly, he utters this strange lament: "Alas who shall live when the Lord does these things?" His 'alas' is probably more of an 'oy', a deep, broken sigh. In Pirke Rabbi Eliezer it is written as follows: "Balaam said, Of the seventy tongues that the Holy One, Blessed be He, gave to the world, he only gave His Name to one, that of Israel." He then goes on to say: "Since the Almighty made Ishmael's name equal to that of Israel, alas, who shall live in his days? As it is written, Alas who shall live when the Lord does these things?"

What is meant by "Who shall live in his days?" We continue: "Rabbi Ishmael says, In the end of days, Ishmael is destined to do fifteen things in the Land, and they are: they will measure the land with ropes; they will turn cemeteries into rubbish tips and pasture for their flocks; and they will measure upon the hilltops; falsehood will increase; truth will be persecuted; the law will depart from Israel; iniquity will increase in Israel ..." A strange feature of this list is that, even without understanding everything here, we can see that some of the items are not connected to what Ishmael is doing to Israel. If iniquity has increased in Israel, the problem is Israel's. If the law has departed from Israel, what does that have to do with Ishmael? "The Rock of Dominion will be blemished; they will rebuild the destroyed cities, and plant gardens and orchards. They will restore the breached walls of the Holy Temple and erect a building in the Temple." These are the words of Rabbi Eliezer, written hundreds of years ago. 'Alas who shall live when the Lord does these things?' - who will be alive during these difficult times? This is an emotional outburst. It is not easy to study these words because of their emotional underpinnings, especially during these difficult days. And it is precisely for this reason that we must explore them deeply in order to grasp the exact point that is being made here. We must clearly understand the nature of the argument and the dispute. We must understand their deeper significance, not only their surface meaning.

Two readings on Rosh Hashanah. Sarah gives birth to a son, who is named Isaac. It must be remembered that Isaac and Ishmael are not two ordinary brothers. The Almighty tells Abraham that he has great news - Sarah will bear a son. Abraham is overjoyed, but he immediately connects the joy with Ishmael - "And Abraham said to the Almighty, may Ishmael live before you." It is in fact Abraham who prays for Ishmael's life. After receiving the glad tidings of Isaac's birth, Abraham doesn't take Hagar because he wants to do, but because Sarah insists on it, on three separate occasions. "I pray of you, go in to my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her." It is she who tells him to take her handmaiden and let her bear his child. The text does not read: "And Abraham took Hagar," but "And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid... and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife." She takes her maidservant and elevates her to the status of Abraham's wife. But from the time that Hagar conceived, "her mistress was despised in her eyes" and the tension began to build.

These two children, Isaac and Ishmael, are the only two children in the entire Torah whose names were determined by the Almighty even before they were born. Ishmael was the first to be circumcised, at the age of thirteen. When did this even take place? "In the selfsame day..." According to Hazal, Ishmael was circumcised on Yom Kippur, the same day when, also according to Hazal, Isaac was bound and offered as a sacrifice.

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, Abraham is instructed to do whatever Sarah tells him, so he sends Hagar away. Note the similarities between this text and the description of the binding of Isaac: "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting in on her shoulder, and the child; and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat down opposite him, a good way off, as it were a bowshot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lifted her voice and wept." Hagar wept but God heard the voice of Ishmael. "And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise and hold him in your hand, for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad to drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt."

Now let's compare the two: "And Abraham rose up early in the morning" - it was early in the morning that Abraham and Isaac took leave of Sarah. "And God opened her eyes" - "And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked..." We recall the words of the angel to Abraham: "Abraham, Abraham, do not lay your hand upon the lad." How did the angel bless Abraham? "I will bless you and multiply your seed."

Hagar was banished by Abraham to the same place she had fled to earlier. There, too, she was approached by an angel, who said: "... Return to your mistress and submit yourself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said to her, I will multiply your seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. And the angel of the Lord said to her, Behold you are with child, and will bear a son, and shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction. He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand will be against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren. And she called the name of the Lord that spoke to her, You, O Lord, see me; for she said, Have I also here looked after Him that sees me. Wherefore the well was called Be'er Lahai Roi."

What name does Abraham bestow upon the site of the binding of Isaac? "And Abraham called the name of that place Adonai-Jireh - as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen."

Let's take a closer look at the narrative: "And he said, Do not lay your hand upon the lad, neither do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Adonai-Jireh - as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen... And the angel of the Lord ... said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, from me, that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies."

What was foretold for Ishmael? "His hand will be against every man, and every man's hand will be against him" while for Isaac it is written "and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt in Beersheba." What about Isaac - where did he go? He doesn't appear here - Isaac has vanished! Hazal maintain that he went to the tents of Shem and Ever. I don't understand the explanation. All I know is that if Isaac has disappeared, we must look for him in the next verse where he is mentioned, at the end of Chapter 24, verse 62. We find him at the well Be'er Lahai Roi, the same well which was referred to in the episode of Hagar and Ishmael. It is here that Eliezer finds him when he returns with Rebecca from Bethuel and Laban, where Abraham sent him. We looked for Isaac at the funeral of Sarah, but he was not to be found.

Remember the two young men who were instructed by Abraham "Remain here with the ass, I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come back to you." They didn't come back, however - Abraham returned alone. Who were they? Eliezer and Ishmael. Abraham rejoined them at the foot of Mt. Moriah, while Isaac encountered them at Be'er Lahai Roi. There he met Eliezer who brought him Rebecca, and Ishmael who dwelt there with Hagar.

This encounter between Isaac and Ishmael must be carefully examined. Sarah told Abraham: "The son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, with Isaac." Abraham cannot understand this. He is therefore instructed by the Almighty: "In all that Sarah has said to you, hearken to her voice." The midrashim refer to this as the ninth test with which Abraham was tested, and perhaps the most difficult of them all, since it is written: "And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son."

Ishmael is the son of Avraham Avinu and Hagar the Egyptian. Just like Lot, Abraham's nephew, it is difficult for him to keep from straying. Ishmael has the strength of Abraham. There is something I must point out here before we continue. At the end of Chapter 16 we read: "And the angel of the Lord said to her, Return to your mistress ... Behold you are with child ... and you shall call his name Ishmael, because the Lord has heard your affliction." I mentioned previously that these are the only two children who were named by the Almighty before they were born. Then we read: "And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called his son's name, which Hagar bore, Ishmael." Who named him? Abraham. Yet God instructed Hagar to call him by that name. God told Hagar the name of her son, but she realized that for the child to have the strength of Abraham, he must receive his strength directly from Abraham. As regards the naming of Isaac, God told Abraham: "Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac." I want to discuss the concept of 'kol' (all). What is meant by "his hand will be against every man ('kol' in Hebrew), and the hand of every man will be against him"? We read that "God blessed Abraham 'bakol.' Avraham Avinu is the model par excellence of 'kol' - he has everything - he is continuously connected to the Almighty. Isaac has 'mikol' and Jacob has 'kol' as compared to his brother Esau, who has 'rov' (most). "Avraham - bakol; Yitzhak - mikol; Ya'akov - kol." The blessing of 'kol' is the source of the very special strength of the forefathers. The Sfat Emet writes: 'he was a wild man, and his strength stemmed from the fact that 'yad kol bo' - he was linked to the same source that blessed Abraham 'bakol.' We will return to this later, but for now we should keep in mind that with the help of God, 'yad kol bo.' Those who have received the blessing of our fathers - 'bakol, mikol, kol' -they alone can prevail over Ishmael.

Ishmael preceded Isaac in order of birth, he was circumcised before Isaac, and he was the first to be blessed by Abraham. He was the first to be named by Abraham with the name bestowed upon him by the Almighty. Abraham had other sons and daughters but none of them received their names from God, in fact their names aren't mentioned, they are unimportant. The Zohar Hakadosh relates a story: R' Yossi and R' Hiye were walking together. R' Yossi asked R' Hiye - why are you silent? R' Hiye sighed and began to weep. Then he said, Sarah was barren, she had no children, and she gave Hagar to Abraham. Woe that Ishmael is born to Hagar. R' Yossi asked, then why do you weep? After him was born Isaac. R' Hiye said to him, Why do you ask why I weep, when we both of us know why. This I have hard from R' Shimon Bar Yochai. Hagar merited this, that she acquired great powers, and she passed on these powers to Ishmael to inherit them from Abraham.

The Zohar continues: What did the Almighty do? He removed the children of Ishmael from the upper reaches of their holy land and gave them instead this portion of the holy land, by virtue of the circumcision. The children of Ishmael are destined to rule in the holy land for a long time. Just as the circumcision was incomplete, they will rule not from perfection and completeness but from strength. They will delay the return of the children of Israel to their place, until they become reconciled to the use of their rights.

In the gemara we find a lengthy debate on dreams - their meaning, and the significance of each symbol in dreams. In that context it is written: "He who beholds Ishmael in a dream, it is a sign that his prayer was heard." Why? Because Ishmael exemplifies the strength of prayer, as it is written: "And I hearkened to Ishmael." "But only if he perceives Ishmael the son of Abraham, not if he beholds any figure."

The Maharal of Prague says that Ishmael does not belong to the four kingdoms - Medes, Babylonians, Persians and Edomites. According to the Maharal, Ishmael comes after them. He is not part of the four kingdoms because he has extremely powerful spiritual strength that he inherited from Abraham. Precisely for this reason he is probably the hardest and most threatening of them all. God heard the cries of the children of Israel concerning that which Ishmael was destined to inflict upon them. It is for this reason that we must learn to understand Ishmael. Ishmael has strength in the land - he has rights in the land. In a sense, Ishmael is the seismograph that asks one simple question: Who is most closely connected to the Covenant? For it is the one who has the closest connection to the Covenant that will merit to be here. In simple terms, this is the conflict and the quarrel between them. Or, to put it another way, he whose voice is loudest will prevail. Ishmael is not one of the four kingdoms. He continually tests us - both before and after our entry into the Land. Even if we forget where we came from, he remembers, and this is the key to victory or defeat.

Ishmael undergoes a very similar experience to that of Isaac. Despite the fact that in his case, there is no great message of 'Now I know that you fear the Lord', he, too, merits to establish a place, named Be'er Lahai Roi - where the Lord sees me - in the same way that Abraham and Isaac establish Hashem-jireh - the mount where the Lord is seen - Mt. Moriah. Ishmael is in effect in exile, always striving to move from 'the Lord sees me' to 'the Lord is seen,' notwithstanding the fact that he has no historical claim to it. He has no such claim, neither has he ever had such a claim - it is a fabrication! Yet he continually aspires to advance from Be'er Lahai Roi to Hashem-jireh and hold Mt. Moriah - and he has the strength to do so! "They will erect a building in the Palace and restore the breached walls of the Holy Temple." When will they have this strength? According to the Zohar, the sons of Ishmael will rule over the Holy Land when the land is empty of all values, when the land is bare of inner, spiritual, essential strength, when it lacks the strength of our covenant. That is the time when Ishmael fills the land, because there cannot be a vacuum, and that's when he has the strength to do so. He never ceases striving. Isaac has the duty to lead us to the Holy Temple, which will be a place of prayer for all nations, yet he goes to Be'er Lahai Roi in order to bring Ishmael there. When Isaac's children fail to lead, then Ishmael's strength is in the ascendant and he leads, because his strength, too, stems from Abraham.

At the binding of Isaac, both Abraham and Isaac discover some very basic truths. I don't believe Hagar did everything in her power to save Ishmael. The narrative depicts her pain, but I don't think it speaks of her in admiring terms. "... she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat down opposite him... for she said, Let me not see the death of the child." Is this a decent way to behave? I realize that it's a very emotional situation, but nevertheless... Yet a miracle occurred because 'God heard the voice of the lad.' The miracle occurred to Abraham and Isaac for an entirely different reason. Abraham didn't abandon Isaac, maintaining that he couldn't bear to see the death of his child. Abraham went to the altar with Isaac, he took up the knife, and even when an angel called to him from heaven with the words "Do not lay your hand upon the lad", he did not desist. He had to be told "Do not do anything to him; for now I know that you are a God-fearing man." Let's pay particular attention to the order in which the episode is described, concluding with "Your seed will possess the gate of his enemies." The parallel phrase in the tale of Ishmael is "His hand shall be against every man." Isaac succeeds in 'possessing the gate of his enemies.'

The words which form the title of this shiur - "And so too, O Lord, grant honor to Your people" - are taken from the liturgy of the High Holy Days. "... joy to your land and happiness to your city, the flourishing of your servant David ... and length of days to the anointed, the son of Jesse." But before this can come to pass there is another paragraph: "O Lord, bestow Your reverence upon Your creatures, Your awe upon those whom You have created, that all may fear You and all of creation will bow down before You." This is what Abraham taught through his sacrifice of Isaac. A nation that seeks honor must first ascertain what message it intends to impart. Sometimes the process is reversed, when the nation's striving is purely nationalistic and Zionistic - once the nation has returned to its land, it finally attains honor. When a nation has its own identity, that's when it can finally claim "... O Lord, grant honor to Your people, glory to those who revere You." When Your people and those who revere You are downtrodden and humiliated, it is definitely because at the outset they have not "bowed down before You." They don't know whence they came or where they are going - the main thing is to appear to have honor.

'Bestow Your reverence' comes before 'Grant honor'. What next? What comes after "Your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies?" It is immediately followed by "In your seed all the nations of the world shall be blessed." Do you want Israel to impact on the world, to influence other nations? Excellent! But first you must know who you are. After that your nation will acquire honor, because the world will respect you, once you know who you are. The world admires those who are sure of themselves, not those who stutter and stammer and don't yet know what they want. It is only when you know who you are, and the other nations respect you, that all the nations of the world will be blessed through you.

This year, for the first time, I became aware of the order in which our sages determined the liturgy for the High Holidays: First, 'Bestow Your reverence' - instruct us in our mission, teach us to fear the Almighty. Let us teach the world what our father Abraham taught, the basic concept of 'you have not withheld' - that everything, every single thing in the world, belongs to the Master of the Universe. Next comes 'Grant honor, praise to those who revere You, hope to those who seek You...' - when you speak, your utterances will be heeded and respected. We often ask why we are not understood - why should others understand us if we don't understand ourselves? How can we impart a clear and unequivocal message to the world if we have not formulated the basic concept of our purpose here? This progression runs parallel to 'your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies - all the nations of the world will be blessed.' All the nations of the world will acknowledge this. How will this come about? Here's the third section of the tefilah: After 'Grant honor' comes 'Then the righteous will see and rejoice, the upright will exult, and the just will sing with joy... and all wickedness will melt away like smoke, for You will remove the governance of evil from the earth.' Once this has come to pass, it will be natural for all the nations of the earth to be blessed... The great rejoicing will, as a natural consequence, lead to recognition from all other nations. Sometimes we mistakenly assume that if we fall in line with other nations we will be more acceptable. But what we're really doing is bowing to the lowest common denominator - lack of identity, lack of nationality, lack of everything! Then we will become more acceptable, it will be easier for us. But when there is no reverence, there is nobody to whom honor, praise or hope can be granted.

The order of the liturgy precisely mirrors the order of the Akedah - the binding of Isaac. I have never noticed it before! This is our attitude to Ishmael: from Mt. Moriah we can teach the entire world that 'the Lord is seen,' so long as we remember the Covenant. As soon as we forget it, a conditioned reflex kicks in and reminds us that another nation exists - another nation who also received its name from the Almighty, 'and his hand shall be against every man'. Sometimes it's difficult for us to say things because they are so utterly simple! We must pray for the strength to say simple things in a world that is so complicated. We must remind the nation to remember whence they came.

In times of war it is permitted to be angry, to become alarmed. That's natural. But we must define the issue over which the war is being waged. "The land upon which the eyes of the Almighty rest from the beginning of the year to the year's end." Our sages say that sometimes a year begins in hardship and poverty but ends in rejoicing. If there is a marked difference between the events of this Rosh Hashanah and the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War before musaf, a year that many of us remember only too well, we must keep this comparison in mind.

In many settlements a leaflet was circulated before musaf, instructing all men to keep their weapons with them, and women to make sure their children are close by. This is how the tefilah began in Neve Dekalim, in the settlements of Gush Katif and in many other places. There is one big difference: on Yom Kippur, the siren alerted us all, we were all involved. During the Rosh Hashanah services this year, some may have been of the opinion that the alarm was only meant for specific segments of the population. Not so! A proclamation was issued before musaf on Rosh Hashanah, and it makes no difference whether you heard it or not - all of us are part of it! It would appear, then, that Ishmael's purpose is to remind us of this, even though we try to persuade ourselves that we actually belong in this area or that region. Ishmael has power and strength and he lays claim to the very last places we expected, perhaps just so that we will finally wake up and remember the covenant by which God gave us this land. I agree entirely that, if not by virtue of the Covenant, we have no moral right at all to be here. Perhaps we need to be awakened, to be reminded of the basic issue over which war is being waged. Although the year begins in poverty and hardship we have the strength to change it, to make a tikkun, to raise ourselves and become elevated. This is our strength. If we truly believe, this is our real test - we must return to tefilah, to prayer, to faith and to the strength that keeps us here. In this way we will endure, we will get through this crisis, this difficult time.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote (Chapter 30): "And these are the words that the Lord spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus says the Lord: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not of peace. Ask now and see whether a man does travail with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but out of it shall he be saved." The Gera explains 'a time of trouble unto Jacob' as follows: the purpose of the trouble is to enable Jacob to understand that from his suffering he will find salvation. And then, "It shall come to pass on that day, says the Lord of Hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and will burst your bands; and strangers shall no more make him their bondman; but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them."