To
My Dear Students,
Esau,
in our Torah Portion Toldot, is famous
(or infamous) for one deed: carelessly selling
his birthright, his entire future, for the immediate
gratification of a bowl of soup. One deed
came to define who he was. As the proverb
says: "The reputation of a thousand
years may be determined by the conduct of one
hour."
During
the Revolutionary War, the court system in our
fledgling country was in chaos. In Virginia,
a militia officer took it upon himself to set
up a court to punish Americans still loyal to
England. He was not authorized to do so
and he was not actually a judge. In one
instance, he even handed down a sentence of death
by hanging.
That
one death sentence came to define him, earning
that officer a place in history. He would
never have imagined that the word that describes
the act of unauthorized execution would be named
for him. Judge Charles Lynch may have thought
twice if he knew that thousands of people would
be executed in a way that was named for his deed:
the lynch mob.
Our
actions often outlive us. Let us be careful
about our choices and decisions. How do
we want to be thought of now and in the future?
Shabbat
Shalom,
Your
Rabbi
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