Menachem Mendel Bluming Muses: Mention the Matriarchs!


“Rabbi, why do the matriarchs not get mentioned as often as the patriarchs in our prayers?” Bluming was asked recently by a congregant. After all, our Sages teach that they were, in spiritual stature, even greater than our patriarchs reflected in G-d’s commanding Abraham to listen to everything that Sarah tells him. “Yet” Menachem Mendel Bluming was asked, we pray by speaking of G-d as the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob rather than our matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah!”

“Here's one thought of many”, Bluming responded.
There is something unique about our forefathers, something the mothers did not have.
They were an unbroken chain.

Abraham's son was Isaac. Isaac's son was Jacob. That's three generations of commitment to Judaism. Abraham was the first Jew. Isaac was the first to be born Jewish. And Jacob was the first grandchild to follow the Jewish path.
The mothers were all first generation Jews. The fathers were a continuum of holiness.

This is profoundly significant. When faith survives for three consecutive generations, it leaves a permanent mark. Until then, it is still precarious. Abraham's path was followed by only one of his sons, Isaac, not Ishmael. Isaac's legacy was passed on to Jacob, but not to Esau. It was Jacob, the third generation, who bequeathed his spiritual heritage to all of his children.

There have been many visionaries, saints and revolutionaries throughout history who have walked the world's stage with big ideas to change humanity. But Abraham was the first to make it into a family business. And that is what made his revolution an eternal one.

So we mention the patriarchs in our prayers with the hope that our descendants too, continue the precious unbroken chain. Here we are, four thousand years later, still praying to the same G-d as they did. All because of one man who not only lived a meaningful life, but taught it to his children and grandchildren.

Menachem Mendel Bluming and Rabbi Moss

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