I have often said that there is very little in this world - and certainly the next - that we understand with full clarity or certainty. It is just beyond our scope.
Included in that observation is the mysterious, oblique Brit Beyn Ha'b'tarim (Covenant Between the Pieces) found in this week's sedra. Seeking reassurance he will inherit the Land of Israel, as G-d has promised, Avraham is told to set up a mizbeyach (altar) and offer a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon. All the animals are split in two, but the birds are left whole and not divided.
Rashi suggests that the animal offerings are allusions to various kingdoms (Persia, Greece, Medea), which would ultimately be torn asunder, but the birds - especially the dove - represent Israel, which shall live forever and cannot be severed from G-d.
Rabbi Simon Dolgin, quoting the Midrash (ShHaShRaba) gives three reasons why Israel is like a dove:
1) Just as the dove maintains its nest even after its fledglings have been removed, so Israel maintains its laws and festivals even after the Temple has been destroyed. We hold a Pesach seder, live in sukkot, our Kohanim bless the nation, etc. The dove Israel is eternally faithful to G-d.
2) Just as the dove may fly far away, but always returns to its nest, so Israel may be dispersed to every corner of the planet, yet struggles to return to its home in Eretz Yisrael. The dove Israel is eternally faithful to our Land.
3) "Says Rabbi Azarya: Why did King David pray, 'Oh, that I would have the wings of a dove to be able to fly away and rest?' Because all other birds, when tired, come to rest on a tree or a rock. But when the dove grows weary, she keeps on flying, using one wing at a time, resting the other."
Since we began as a nation, the Jewish People has not known rest for any significant period of time. We have experienced famine, and war, and exile, and redemption, and dispersion, and oppression, and affluence, and pogrom, and ingathering. On and on, without rest or respite.
Other nations, like other birds, stop when they are tired. Israel, the dove, persists on its journey. If one wing is tired, the other takes over. If one segment of Am Yisrael is destroyed, another carries on. The dove Israel is eternally faithful to its mission as a Chosen Nation.
May Hashem allow the little dove to finish its journey at last, and come to rest in its holy nest, in Yerushalayim.
Included in that observation is the mysterious, oblique Brit Beyn Ha'b'tarim (Covenant Between the Pieces) found in this week's sedra. Seeking reassurance he will inherit the Land of Israel, as G-d has promised, Avraham is told to set up a mizbeyach (altar) and offer a heifer, a goat, a ram, a dove and a pigeon. All the animals are split in two, but the birds are left whole and not divided.
Rashi suggests that the animal offerings are allusions to various kingdoms (Persia, Greece, Medea), which would ultimately be torn asunder, but the birds - especially the dove - represent Israel, which shall live forever and cannot be severed from G-d.
Rabbi Simon Dolgin, quoting the Midrash (ShHaShRaba) gives three reasons why Israel is like a dove:
1) Just as the dove maintains its nest even after its fledglings have been removed, so Israel maintains its laws and festivals even after the Temple has been destroyed. We hold a Pesach seder, live in sukkot, our Kohanim bless the nation, etc. The dove Israel is eternally faithful to G-d.
2) Just as the dove may fly far away, but always returns to its nest, so Israel may be dispersed to every corner of the planet, yet struggles to return to its home in Eretz Yisrael. The dove Israel is eternally faithful to our Land.
3) "Says Rabbi Azarya: Why did King David pray, 'Oh, that I would have the wings of a dove to be able to fly away and rest?' Because all other birds, when tired, come to rest on a tree or a rock. But when the dove grows weary, she keeps on flying, using one wing at a time, resting the other."
Since we began as a nation, the Jewish People has not known rest for any significant period of time. We have experienced famine, and war, and exile, and redemption, and dispersion, and oppression, and affluence, and pogrom, and ingathering. On and on, without rest or respite.
Other nations, like other birds, stop when they are tired. Israel, the dove, persists on its journey. If one wing is tired, the other takes over. If one segment of Am Yisrael is destroyed, another carries on. The dove Israel is eternally faithful to its mission as a Chosen Nation.
May Hashem allow the little dove to finish its journey at last, and come to rest in its holy nest, in Yerushalayim.