The Last Laugh and the Laugh That Lasts
The Messianic Age is an age of joy. Joy is serious business; it does not happen when we are passive. We must proactively engage in joy now as a way of preparing ourselves for the future. LECHA LECHA
THE LAST LAUGH AND THE LAUGH THAT
LASTS
“He Will Laugh”
When G-d informed Abraham that his wife Sarah will bear him a son, He immediately tells him that he will be should name him Yitzchak-Isaac saying:
Your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall call him Yitzchak.
Rashi informs us that the name Yitzchak is because of the laughter. The selection of this name was clearly G-d’s way of saying that Isaac’s miraculous birth—when Abraham was ninety and Sarah a hundred—would certainly evoke laughter and unparalleled joy.
However, the name Yitzchak does not mean laughter or joy. It is written in the future tense and should be translated literally as: “he will laugh.”
Two questions arise upon reflection.
LECHA
First, why did G-d have to tell him a year before the child was born what he should name him?
Second, why is the future tense used for his name? He could have been called “tzchok,” which simply means laughter.
Third, it is not clear who will laugh? Was it Isaac that would laugh? Or perhaps it refers to everyone who will hear about this miraculous event, as Sarah exclaimed, upon giving birth to Isaac: “whoever shall hear will laugh.”
A Response to the Cynics
A simple way of answering these questions is that Isaac would laugh at those cynics who declared the Abrahamic cause dead. With no heir to Abraham’s legacy of spreading monotheism, justice and righteousness, all of Abraham’s contributions will disappear. Thus Abraham’s very life’s work, for which he was willing to sacrifice his life, was called into question.
G-d thus says to Abraham, when your wife Sarah will bear you a child, he will be the next link in the chain of your tradition, and LECHA he will keep it alive and well.
Thus, Isaac will laugh at those critics and cynics because he will demonstrate the fallacy of their thinking.
We too are confronted with cynical remarks from our detractors, and frequently we may harbor these sentiments ourselves. Of what avail are our efforts today, when the changing world of tomorrow will no longer accept our Jewish values.
The birth of Isaac and his naming was intended not just for that generation but for all times. Whenever we have a foreboding sense of doom, whenever we become pessimistic about our Jewish future, G-d says to us in effect: “Yitzchak!” You will yet have the last laugh. You, the Jewish people and your teachings and values that we inherited from our ancestors going all the way back to Abraham, will endure.
No Degeneration
There is yet a deeper dimension to all this. Some pessimists might concede that the Jewish people will survive and some version of the original Torah will be preserved. But, LECHA whatever will be salvaged will in no way come close to the glory of the past. What we will have is a adulterated and compromised Jewish existence.
To these “moderate” pessimists G-d declares: Yitzchak! He will laugh. The Jewish people and the Jewish way of life will not degenerate G-d forbid, it will not be diminished in any way. On the contrary, the greatest joy and excitement is yet to come.
Yitzchak’s name with its message of the future is echoed in the Psalm:
Then our mouths will be filled with laughter.
Referring to the future Messianic Age, the Divinely inspired Psalmist assures us that our future will not only guaranteed, but it will be guaranteed to be one of joy and exhilaration.
Judaism is not a Sit-Back-and-Wait-for-all-the- Fun-to-Unfold Religion.
However, G-d informed Abraham about the birth of his son in conjunction with the commandment to circumcise himself and his children. The connection between the birth of Yitzchak and Abraham’s circumcision was LECHA intended to eliminate any notion of complacency. By linking the glorious future of the Jewish people, “Yitzchak, he will laugh,” to Abraham’s circumcision it underscores that Judaism is not a sit-back-and-wait-for-all-thefun-to-unfold religion.
Judaism demands of us to be active participants in the process of making the future joyous and glorious by removing all the impediments to our true Jewish souls.
Furthermore, the fact that circumcision is performed on the procreative organ symbolizes that our involvement is crucial for the future.
It also conveys the message that we must impart to our children and their children the same unadulterated Jewish beliefs, feelings and practices, absent all the obstructions that come from the outside. As soon as we water down the Judaism of the past generation, the child is deprived of some of the joy, the Yitzchak of being Jewish.
Joy in the Present
There is also another message in the naming of Yitzchak. Although the laughter and LECHA unbridled joy is intended for the future Messianic Age, we nevertheless have to prepare for it by increasing in our own joy in these last moments of exile.
While our Sages asked us to restrict our joy upon the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash and the dispersion of the Jewish people in the Diaspora, since the advent of the Ba’al Shem Tov and the inception of the Chassidic movement, the emphasis on denying our joy has greatly diminished. In fact, the Chassidic movement brought back intense and demonstrable joy.
Why has this emphasis changed in recent history?
There can be two apparently contradictory answers that parallel the two reasons why the mystical Chassidic teachings, which were concealed for millennia, were exposed, revealed and popularized in recent times.
We Need it Now More than Ever!
First, it is because we have so suffered, both physically and spiritually, in our stay in exile, we could not have survived if we didn’t get a boost of the energizing teachings of LECHA Chassidus which ignited our collective soul and awakened us from our Galus induced stupor.
The Alter Rebbe provided a famous parable to this situation. Chassidus is likened to the crown jewel of the king which the king allowed its removal and its destruction to help save the life of his son, the crown prince from death.
Chassidus is G-d’s most treasured possession and He allowed it to be squandered so that one drop of it may enter our system and revive us.
Similarly, with respect to joy; our exile conditions have become so harsh that under the yoke of exile pressures we are in danger of being depressed, demoralized, crushed and incapable of coping with Galus conditions.
Only overt, unmitigated hoy coupled with the life sustaining and positive teachings of Chassidus can we survive.
A Taste of the Future
Second, as we stand poised to enter into the Messianic Age, when all the barriers to G-dly knowledge will be removed, it is crucial that LECHA we get a taste of that G-dly knowledge now. Therefore, the teachings of Chassidus, a taste of Moshiach’s teachings, were revealed in the present day and age, as we stand on the threshold of the Final Redemption.
There is a custom to taste the food of Shabbos before the Shabbos. The Messianic Age, which is likened to Shabbos, is no exception to this rule. We must savor the taste of the future in the present eve of Shabbos period.
Similarly, with regard to joy. Granted it is only in the future when our mouths will be filled with laughter, but to be prepared for such unmitigated joy we must get a taste of that joy in the present day, as we ready ourselves to march jubilantly into the Messianic Age, with Moshiach at our head.
LECHA
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Lech Lecha by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
