Parshat Lech Lecha: Was Avraham Deserving?

My question in the title of this post stems from my amazement at how little we have actually learnt about our first Patriarch, Avraham, thus far in the Torah.  At the end of last week’s parsha he is introduced (“When Terach had lived 70 years, he begot Avraham, Nachor, and Haran.”) and, without any further ado, Parshat Lech Lecha begins: 

And the Lord said to Avram, Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

I will make of you a great nation,

And I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

And you shall be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you

And curse him that curses you;

And all the families of the earth

                Shall bless themselves by you. (Bereishit 12:1-3)

For what reason did Avraham deserve this blessing?  The Torah lacks any explanation. 

This parsha continues to include God giving Avraham the land of Canaan (“I will assign this land to your offspring.”); God promising Avraham his offspring will be as numerous as the dust of the earth (13:15-17); Avraham being blessed by King Melchitzedek (14:18-20); God comforting Avraham with his protection (15:1); and God blessing him with two sons, Ishmael and then Isaac, both of whom will be great nations. 

To Avraham’s credit, he follows the direction of the Lord when he is directed to move from land to land and he built alters dedicated to God; he dealt honestly in business (with Lot) and with those he defeated in war (with the King of Sodom) and he respects his wife, Sarai.  But there does not appear to be a cause-and-effect between these positive traits and God’s blessings bestowed upon Avraham.  Chronologically, in any case, the blessings began before any of Avraham’s actions were recounted.  Indeed, Avraham’s “ten trials” to prove his devotion to God only came later, culminating in the Akeidah (binding of Isaac).  Wouldn’t it make sense for God to test Avraham and then choose him for such numerous blessings?  So how are we to understand the reasons Avraham was selected to be the father of monotheism, the founder of many nations?

I think situations such as this – where the text clearly has “gaps” – is the best case for the Oral Torah and that there must have always been an oral tradition to accompany the Torah.  Without it, it is nearly impossible to understand what is written in many areas of the Torah.  The oral tradition fills in the gaps between Parshat Noach and Parshat Lech Lecha, between Avraham’s birth and the first time he is blessed by God.  The midrashim give us the stories that detail portions of Avraham’s life when he grew up with his father Terach, his uncle Lot and his brother Haran.  They espouse how he came to worship God when the majority of the world was idolatrous; how he treated people with respect and dignity when others did the opposite.  But Rabbi Ya’akov Love points out that nearly all of Avraham’s actions have negative aspects to them.  When he leaves Canaan for Egypt, Ramban comments: “Also, his leaving the land, about which he was originally commanded [to live in], because of the famine is a sin…God would save him from death in a famine.”  When Avraham call his wife his “sister” to save himself, “Know that our father Avraham sinned a great sin inadvertently in putting his righteous wife in danger of sin in fear of his own life” (Ramban).  When Avraham goes to war and then learns about the 210 years of slavery his descendents will endure, it is because Avraham “drafted Torah scholars for war” (Rabbi Elazar).  Alternatively, “because he kept people from entering the shelter of the Shechina” (Rabbi Yochanan).  Or perhaps, for “allowing the king of Sodom to take human beings [as captives]” (Rashi).  And for good measure, Sarai was forced to endure watching her maidservant Hagar have a child with her husband because “when [Avraham] prayed to God saying, what will you give me if I am childless?, [he] prayed only for [himself].  [He] should have prayed for both of [them]” (Bereishit Rabbah 45:5). 

It seems Avraham is a man with many faults.  Or, perhaps, it is because he was such a tzadik (righteous man) that we are being taught even the righteous have flaws.  Even with their flaws, however, they had the ability to be a boon to mankind.  And even with our flaws, we must strive to overcome them in every way possible. 

Rabbi Yaakov Beasley also has an interesting answer based on Rabbi Yoel ben Nun to the question of why Avraham was chosen with no background narrative: “If the Torah were to give a reason why Avraham was chosen before our parsha, it would appear that the act of Hashem’s choosing Avraham was a onetime act based on his earlier actions.  Instead, the act of choosing was a continuous process, granting additional significance to every action Avraham takes in Sefer Bereishit.”  This is just one example in Judaism where the eternal takes precedence over the ephemeral.  Avraham’s life and the blessings bestowed unto him by God did not end with his death.  They have carried forward not just throughout Avraham’s life and each of his “ten trials,” but also from generation to generation Avraham has been a blessing to us.  Most prominently on Pesach we are called upon to view ourselves – not in theory but in actuality – as the individuals God led from slavery to freedom during the Exodus from Egypt.  In Parshat Lech Lecha it is Avraham who God chose: I will bless you…and you shall be a blessing.  But today it is us who God has blessed…and we also have the opportunity to be a blessing.  We are made of dust, but endowed with a breath of the Divine that has given us this privilege.  It is our responsibility to use this gift to the best of our ability, as did Avraham. 

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Noach: "A Mighty Hunter Before the Lord

Similar to last week’s parsha, this week we have plenty of stories (Noah’s ark, the Tower of Babel) which are interspersed with genealogy.  Last week we were taken from Adam to Noah and this week from Noah to Avraham.  For the most part the Torah goes through the lineage without any breaks, but there are a few exceptions.  Last week, there was a brief insight into Lemech (with his wives and children) and then Enoch.  The Torah cannot be interrupting its flow without reason.  For each of the times it pauses there must be something significant for us to learn.  This week, the most notable break from the lineage is with Nimrod:

And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; wherefore it is said: “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinnar.  (Bereishit 10:9-11)

[Aside: Did Terry Brooks base the name of the Shannara trilogy on the biblical Shinnar?  I hope so.]

 In last week’s parsha we have Tuval-Cain (one of Lemech’s sons):

And Zillah, she also bore Tuval-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron; and the sister of Tuval-cain was Na’amah. (4:22)

A midrash explains that Tuval-cain was a hunter and would take his blind father hunting.  While this is not portrayed directly in a negative way, it leads to negative consequences during an accident that kills both his ancestor Cain and Tuval-cain himself.  Yet in this week’s parsha, I am inclined to read of Nimrod as a hero, someone special.  He is glorified as a “hunter before the Lord.”  But Jewish tradition remembers him quite differently.  Why?

After Nimrod is introduced the kingdom of Babel was established.  We are most familiar with Babel from the story that comes next in the Torah: the Tower of Babel that resulted from the collaboration of men to build a tower that would reach the heavens.  The people said to one another, God has no right to choose the upper world for Himself, and to leave the lower world for us.  Therefore, we will build a tower with an idol on top holding a sword, so that it may seem as if it intended a war with God (Genesis Rabbah 38:7).  This is viewed as a very negative quest to build a structure that is God-defying.  But still, it appears to me that the first mention of Babel is quite the opposite.  The city may not have been dedicated to God, but it was at least established under Nimrod who was a man of God.  Its mention seems to be meant to show just how great Nimrod was.  Jewish commentaries, however, bear this out differently.  The city started off with Nimrod “hunter before the Lord” and subsequently the Torah does not mention Nimrod again.  But Rashi explains that Nimrod “hunted” the minds of men to turn them away from God and was the progenitor of the Tower of Babel.  Midrash Rabbah relates a shocking turn away from God in the face of his descendent Abraham:

He [Avraham] was given over to Nimrod.  [Nimrod] told him: Worship the Fire! Avraham said to him: Shall I then worship the water, which puts off the fire! Nimrod told him: Worship the water! [Avraham] said to him: If so, shall I worship the cloud, which carries the water? [Nimrod] told him: Worship the cloud! [Avraham] said to him: If so, shall I worship the wind, which scatters the clouds? [Nimrod] said to him: Worship the wind! [Avraham] said to him: And shall we worship the human, who withstands the wind? Said [Nimrod] to him: You pile words upon words, I bow to none but the fire - in it shall I throw you, and let the God to whom you bow come and save you from it!

Haran [Avraham's brother] was standing there. He said [to himself]: what shall I do? If Avraham wins, I shall say: "I am of Avraham's [followers]", if Nimrod wins I shall say "I am of Nimrod's [followers]". When Avraham went into the furnace and survived, Haran was asked: "Whose [follower] are you?" and he answered: I am Avraham's! [Then] they took him and threw him into the furnace, and his belly opened and he died and predeceased Terach, his father.

How is it that Nimrod, who appears to be a positive figure in the Torah, has become the model villain in Judaism?  Rabbi Mordecai Elon has a similar question: How does [Rashi] come to the firm conclusion that Nimrod was wicked?  Furthermore, the words “before the Lord” always appear in a positive sense.  It is said of Hannah, “And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord.”  Yet in the text before us we read “a might hunter before the Lord” – how can we reconcile the two?

Of all the commentators on the Torah that I have encountered, Rabbi Elon is placed right at the top and he certainly did not disappoint me this week.  [Recommended reading: http://www.elon.org/shiur_english/noach60.htm]   I am not going to completely relate his answer to our question here, but I would like to expound upon a portion of it:

There is a gemarra (Chullin 89a) that states:

God said to Israel: I desire you because even when I affect you greatly, you humble yourselves before Me.  I gave greatness to Avraham who said, I am dust; to Moses and Aharon who said, what are we?; to David who said, I am a worm, not a man.  But idolaters are not like this.  I gave greatness to Nimrod who said, let us build a city; to Pharaoh who said, who is this God?; to Sennacherib who said ,who of all the gods of the lands…; to Nebuchadnezzar who said, I will raise upon my throne; to Hiram, king of Tyre, who said, I sat on the throne of God in the heart of the seas.

God gives greatness to many, but we all do something different with it.  Our patriarchs, the guests who we invited into our Sukkah just a couple weeks ago, were humbled by the blessings God bestowed upon them.  Others were not so.  And yet it still seems odd that Nimrod, who was “a might hunter before the Lord,” is placed amongst the obviously evil rulers such as Pharaoh.  Rabbi Elon clarifies in noting that later in the Torah, Nimrod appears in the guise of Amraphel, King of Shinar, and goes to war against Avraham.  The spark of the battle is idolatry, but Rabbi Elon says:

It was a war over diametrically opposed perceptions of the world.  Nimrod rules.  Nowhere is it written that he spoke like Sennacherib, Pharaoh, or Nebuchadnezzar.  But in the end it was apparent that King Nimrod joined the black list of kings who thought they were god.  Pharaoh told his people that the Nile was god, but it took someone as perceptive as Moses to observe that when Pharaoh came to worship at the Nile he was in reality worshiping his own reflected image. 

Nimrod was not as directly defiant of God as others, but just as dangerous through his manipulative ways.  He didn’t espouse himself as a god, but he used his vast kingdom to make the statement for him.  The Tower of Babel was then to be the centerpiece representing his almighty-ness.  But like Moses did with Pharaoh, Avraham was able to see through Nimrod’s façade of being a strong leader.  As Rabbi Elon sums it up, based on another midrash:

Avraham says to the people who built the Tower of Babel: You have abandoned a world with both God and man at its center – because man has the ability to reveal God to the whole world, but only if He stands at the center together with man.  But instead you decided to build a Tower, so that you could make a name for yourself.  I cannot be part of such a Tower, with its ‘head in the heavens’, while around it people continue to dream of a new world order, always in a difference guise.  As Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch states: You abandoned a strong tower named God – and you lost everything.

What was meant to replace God and show the dominance of man in actuality exposed mankind as fallible.  God created a world for mankind and that world was left imperfect, in order to allow us to be His partner in continuing and perfecting creation.  We were given the godly gift of free choice and creativity.  With this comes the ability to choose if we use those for positive or negative, to reveal God to the whole world or build a tower…with its ‘head in the heavens’.  Nimrod chose wrong.  Avraham provides the model for withstanding the influence of those who would willingly lead us down the same path as Nimrod. 

Shabbat Shalom.

Parshat Bereishit: The Beginning

Bereishit bara Elokim et ha’shamayim v’et’ha’aretz.  

The well-known opening verse of the Torah is commonly translated as “In the beginning, God created heaved and earth.”  So when I began reading the JPS Tanakh this week I was immediately struck by its translation with “When God began to create heaven and earth.”  Both are accurate as the prefix letter bet can alternatively mean in, at, or with (in both Biblical and modern Hebrew, I believe).  Yet the alternative translation offered by JPS does lead to a different portrayal of the origin of the universe.  When one says “in the beginning God created” it implies that, quite simply, this was the beginning of all existence notwithstanding God’s eternal nature.  In the case of “when God began to create” it implies that there was indeed something before, that God existed and exists ad infinitum.  The Torah merely picks up when God decides to end His own solitude through creation.  God’s existence prior to the creation of light and darkness is not in question, it is merely not necessary to be included in the Torah which was and is designed for the use of man.  [I am not particularly interested in the science-Torah relation, but this “when” would mark the Big Bang according to many religious scientists who have written on the subject.]

And so, with the beginning of a new Torah cycle I hope to begin a full year of Torah lishma – studying Torah for its own sake in the hope that each week it can speak to me in a new way and each week I can grow as a Jew and a person.  I am far from a “Torah scholar,” so-to-speak, but I believe one of the best ways to approach any new subject matter is to strive to find your own chiddush.  As Rav Solovetchik stressed, every individual is required to create their own chidushei Torah, new insights into Torah.  A friend recently questioned me on what, in fact, did this term mean.  He proposed that it was not the creation of a “new” idea that no one else had thought of or had not been written down before.  Rather, someone may claim a thought as their own chidush when they come to it on their own, regardless of whether it is in fact “new” in the literal sense.  After all, ayn kol chadash tachat ha’shemesh – there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9).  With this in mind, I believe one of the most prominent ways to attain “new” insights is through reading source text (the Torah in this case) on its own terms, and without any commentators, to see the impact it has on us.  After doing so the Sages, classic commentators, modern writers, and generations of Jewish thinkers can strengthen, transform, mold, and perhaps even contradict or deny our own thoughts.  But without the initial effort, the thoughts cannot be claimed as our own and I find it hard to claim that I have truly “toiled in Torah.” 

So here is a thought on Bereishit:

The “Original Sin” as it has been named, has many elements to it and I think we can learn from them all.  Upon Eve’s first being approached by the snake and asked if God has really commanded her to not eat of the Tree of Knowledge, she responds: “Of the fruit of the trees of that garden we may eat, but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die’” (Bereishit 3:2-3).  While we all know that she later faltered and disobeyed God’s command, we can see from the way she initially responded by recognizing the many fruits which God had provided for her, that she was not inclined to sin.  Rather, it was the snake’s ability to convince her that led to sin. 

Yet, no matter how much one may resist temptation, upon faltering, punishment is necessary.  God’s rhetorical “Hast thou eaten of the tree…What is this you have done!”  is greeted by Adam blaming Eve and Eve, in turn, blaming the snake.  It seems that human nature has not changed much over the years – blaming someone else is always the easiest option.  But God is not as easily fooled and curses all three guilty parties.  It is Eve’s curse that I would like to look at though:

And to the woman He said: I will make most severe your pangs in childbearing; in pain shall you bear children.  Yet your urge shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you.  (3:16)

Juxtaposed to a statement not twenty verses earlier, after God had created Eve as Adam’s helpmate, this is quite interesting:

Then the man said [of Eve]: “This one at last is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.  This one shall be called Isha (Woman), for from Ish (Man) was she taken.”  Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, so that they become one flesh. (2:23-24)

On the one hand Adam is to cling to Eve; on the other Eve is to urge for Adam.  And this is what is necessary for a healthy marriage.  It is necessary for both man and woman to need and desire each other.  It is not enough for a man to leave his parents and cling to a woman; she must reciprocate his affection with her own.  Perhaps for this reason, it is not until this point that the Torah mentions that “man knew his wife Eve.”  It should be noted that there are many midrashim and rabbinic commentaries that propose Adam and Eve did in fact have quite a fine sex-life prior to their sin and expulsion from the garden.  However, it is only after this mutual dependency and reliance on each other was created, that Adam and Eve form a union meant to fulfill the first commandment given: pru ur’vu – be fruitful and multiply.

Simchat Torah: V'zot HaBracha

This week we conclude the annual Torah cycle with V'zot haBracha and with it the end of a year in which I set out to read, study, and write about the weekly parsha as we progressed through the annual cycle.  My main intent was personal.  Like many other Jews raised in non-Orthodox households, for me growing up the Torah was something that provided stories in Sunday School, was read but not understood during weekly Shabbat services, and finally ends your Jewish-education  upon  reading from it at your bar/bat mitzvah.  For some reason (thank God!) I was one of the few but growing number of Jews that pursued Jewish education further, and I have come to realize that the Torah has the ability to be (and is) much, much more.  So this past year, for the first time, I read the entire Torah, in the order it was meant to be read throughout the Jewish calendar year.  Unfortunately I was not able to devote as much time to it as I originally intended and my blog fizzled out around the middle of Vayikra (Leviticus).   So now, I begin the 5773 Torah cycle with the renewed intent to read, study, and write on each parsha over the next year.  First, to finish 5772 on a positive note, here are my thoughts on V’zot Habracha, which will be read as we complete the Torah cycle on Simchat Torah this coming week:

The beginning of this parsha is laid out very similar to Vayechi.  In the last part of Bereshit (Genesis) we see Jacob blessing his twelve sons.  In the last part of the entire Torah it is Moses' turn to bless the twelve tribes, who descended from Jacob's twelve sons.  But Moshe only blesses eleven of the tribes.  

Shimon was missing.  

In Bereshit 49:5-7, Shimon and Levi are blessed together by Jacob; but in Devarim 33 8-11, Levi is blessed alone and Shimon not at all.  By looking at Jacob's blessing and the progression of the two tribes throughout the Torah we can understand Moses' "oversight."  Jacob blesses:

Shimon and Levi are a pair; their weapons are tools of lawlessness.  Let not my person be included in their council, let not my being be counted in their assembly.  For when angry they slay men and when pleased they maim oxen.  Cursed be their anger so fierce, and their wrath so relentless.  I will divide them in Jacob, scatter them in Israel.

Ya'akov's blessing is more of a warning than anything else, but the critical tone is that of a father who is disappointed in the actions of his children.  Jacob is scolding them in the hope that they will change their ways; he is dividing them so that they cannot influence each other in their negative ways.  (I am reminded of my dad separating me and my sister in different parts of the house as children when we were in trouble.)

Levi's descendants go on to improve themselves and get blessed as such; they are given a special role in the Temple.  Moses praises them for following "[God's] precepts alone."  Shimon's descendents did not heed Jacob's warning but continued to disintegrate.  They were the main perpetrators of sexually immorality and idol worship with the daughters of Moab.  For their un-remediated actions they are not deserving of a blessing.  They failed to heed Jacob’s warning.  

On Simchat Torah, on the heels of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, we as Jews are given the special privilege to rejoice in the blessing of the Torah, with the Torah.  As we dance with the Torah we should not just have the physical joy associated with the community-wide singing and dancing with the Torah scrolls; we should also remember the blessings within the Torah, heed the curses, and make sure they we do not let our New Year resolutions “fall through the cracks” like Shimon seems to have. 

Rosh Hashana 2012

A few years ago on Rosh Hashana, when I was still “raw” so-to-speak in my newfound religious way of life (not that I am currently or ever will be “stable” or that one ever should be, as Judaism urges us to “toil in Torah,” to constantly struggle with God, to question Him and ourselves, and to continually grow), my mom attended services with me and commented/asked about a topic that hits the core of Judaism.  She was somewhat bothered by the numerous prayers where we call upon Hashem as our only true source of strength, the only One in whom we can have complete faith, the only One in whom we can confide every ounce of our being without fear, to the exclusion of the reliability of our fellow man.  

To be honest, I don’t remember what I said when she asked how I felt and I doubt I would answer the same today.  But if I was asked again today, here is how I would (and I suppose, am) responding:

As we prepare for Rosh Hashana during the month of Elul (the last month of the year), we recite Psalm 27 every morning and evening.  This psalm states: For though my father and mother have forsaken me, the Lord will take me in.  Teach me Thy way, O Lord! And lead me in an even path, because of them that lie in wait for me.  God is always there for us, He is more reliable than even our parents, spouses and siblings, who are the people we trust the most!  When Hannah was barren and so desperately wanted a child, it was God in whom she confided, God in whom she found solace, and God who was capable of answering her heartfelt pleas.  When Hagar and Ishmael were cast out of Avraham and Sarah’s house, it was God who heard baby Ishmael’s plea when his own mother had abandoned him, it was God who saved him from dying of thirst in the desert.  When the Jews stood at the sea with the Egyptians in pursuit, it was God in whom Nachshon ben Aminadav placed his trust, God who parted the sea and saved the Jewish people.  

So too for us today, it is God to whom we can turn at any moment and for any reason.  When our families are going through a tough time, a loved one becomes ill or passes away, or we are just dealing with a difficult time…others can always sympathize and can offer support, but only God can understand your innermost thoughts and feelings.  In our typically day-to-day life though, how often do we actually notice God’s presence?  For many of us, we don’t feel as if “mundane” prayers make any inroads in our own life or in God’s will in running our life.  And yet as Jews we are required to pray three times daily.  Rabbi Nachman reminds us why:

Even if many days and years pass and it seems as if you have accomplished nothing with your prayers and conversations with God, don’t give up!  Every single word makes an impression.  Water wears away stone (Job 14:19).  It may seem that water dripping on hard stone could not make any impression, yet when water drips on stone continuously for many years, it can literally wear a hole in the stone.  We actually see this. 

Even if your heart is like stone and it seems that your words of prayer are making no impression at all, still, as the days and years pass, your heart of stone will also be softened, for water wears away stone. 

With this realization in mind we must be hopeful that our prayers have made but a small dent in our hearts this year and that we have removed even but one of the very outermost klippot (shells) that block us from connecting with God.  And at this time of year, as the Gates of Heaven are opened and God is waiting for us to turn to Him and waiting to greet us for a new beginning and a new year, hopefully our drops can become heavier, our prayers can become stronger, and our hearts can become softer. 

I find Rabbi Hirsch’s words helpful:

Seek God not in the harmony of the planets, in the thunder of the universe, in the interaction of the physical elements, or in the revolutionary upheavals which change the destinies of nations – but in your own small human individuality.

The stars must move along paths which were assigned to them by the Creator.  The interactions of physical elements and the conflicts of nations are governed by the immutable laws of nature which God established at the time of Creation.  But for those whose hearts yearn for God, whose minds seek Him, God, with His almighty power of creation, remains unfailingly willing at each moment to shape a new world, a new life and a fresh new future.

The formation of nature is complete but the creation of mortals, the planting, care, maturation, the development of human and Godly attributes of man, are continuously unfolding miracles of creation which put all human wisdom to shame and defy all calculations. 

So no, I am not bothered by our prayer book’s calling to place our faith in God over, but not to the exclusion of, man.  God is a personal God, not an abstract, distant, theoretical God that I can only turn to in times of need.  It is God to whom I can turn at any moment – whether in grief or joy.  Yes, I also have friends and family in whom I can and do confide and yes, that human element is oftentimes necessary and comforting.  But it is only God who truly understands each and every innermost thought and feeling.

Shanah Tova u’Metuka!  Have a happy and sweet new year!