Rabbi's Corner

In this week's parashah, Parashat Va-Eira, we read the following: "And I will bring you into the land concerning which I raised My hand to give to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya'akov; and I will give it to you for a morasha: I am Hashem."  (Shemot 6:8)  Not too long ago my wife and I decided to update our wills.  Of course, every parent would like to leave an inheritance to their children and grandchildren and (Barukh Hashem) great grandchildren.  Some parents work their entire lives denying themselves everything in order to amass a huge nest-egg to leave as an inheritance.  Others live in frustration that they will not leave a sizable "will and testament."  Just what does our Torah have to say about this?

Our Torah has two Hebrew words that relate to leaving a bequest to those who survive us: morasha and yerusha.  The word morasha first appears in this week's parashah and does not appear again until the last parashah of the Torah, Parashat Vezot HaBerakhah.  The word morasha is usually translated to mean "heritage" while the word yerusha is usually translated to mean "inheritance."  Yerusha is usually used for everything except for the Torah and Israel.  Note that Webster's Dictionary translates the word "heritage" as "property that is or can be inherited."  This makes the words "heritage" and "inheritance" synonymous.  The Hebrew of the Torah does not do this, and, in fact, comes up with four possible distinctions in the meaning between morasha and yerusha.  I want to concentrate on one distinction only, because I feel it speaks to generation after generation of our people.

A yerusha (inheritance) is usually a substantive object whereas a morasha can be an abstract idea or ideal.  There is a Yiddish folk song in which the singer laments that while his friends' wealthy parents gave them automobiles, his parents could only give him good wishes: "Go with G-d!"  While his friends' parents gave them cash, his parents could only gave him aphorisms: "Zai a mentsch!" ("Be a good person!")  However, eventually the automobiles and the cash of his friends were quickly dissipated while the words of his parents remained with him so that he could pass them on to the next generation.

Truth be told: an inheritance pales in comparison to a heritage.  The question to be asked is this: What will you leave your children and grandchildren and great grandchildren - a transitory inheritance or the magnificent heritage of Judaism and the Jewish People?