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By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
 SAN DIEGO--Although Abraham journeyed to Eretz Yisrael, God did not gift him the land. Instead, God promised that Abraham's descendants would inherit it. Upon hearing God's promise, Abraham responded: "How shall I know that I [my descendants] am to possess it?" (Genesis 15:8)
Abraham's question and God's answer puzzled our sages. First, Abraham is considered a man of great faith. If so, why is he questioning God's word? Second, how does God's reply, "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not their own," (Gen. 15:13 ) answer Abraham's question?
Rabbi Elimelech of Grodzisk proposed an answer to the first problem. There is no question that Abraham was a man of great faith. However, Abraham wondered whether his children would be as faithful as he. The question that Abraham asked God is not about the land but about his progeny: "How shall I know that they [my descendants] will inherit it [my faith in You]?"
Rabbi Shmuel Mohliver (1824-1891) explained the second problem. Rabbi Moliver lived during a horrible time in which the Jews of Russia wanted to flee to Eretz Yisrael to escape the violence and pogroms. He said that Abraham's concern was not God fulfilling the promise about the land, but rather Abraham
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worried that the time would come when Jews would become so comfortable in the lands of their exile that they would no longer desire to make aliyah to eretz yisrael.
Therefore God assured Abraham, "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not their own." That is, know that in the future your ancestors will find themselves all over the world but life for them will never be easy. They will never be accepted by the nations and cultures in which they live and will always long to return to their ancestral homeland.
Despite these divine assurances, if Abraham knew what would happen to his descendants living in the United States he should have been very worried! The Jews of America increasingly exhibit a lack of faith, observance, and Jewish commitment. They often are only Jewish in name and not values or lifestyle.
We also live in a country in which anti-Semitism has been held
in check and perhaps because of it, aliyah to Israel continues to decline.
Our challenge as American Jews is to adhere to Jewish values, Jewish religion, and commitment to Israel, despite our feeling at ease and at home here. While we received the gift of Judaism and our Jewish heritage as an unearned benefit; preserving, strengthening, and passing it onto future generations is completely within our hands.
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