Torah: Genesis 12:1 to 17:27
Haftarah: Isaiah 40:27 to 41:16
The Lord said to Abram:
“Go from [lech l'chah] your country, your people and your father’s household,
to the land I will show you.
I will make you into a great nation,
and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.”
Genesis 12: 1-3
Ramara asked me to write this D'var Torah, but I approach it with knowledge of my own inadequecy. For, since we last read this Torah portion last year, the greatest modern commentator of these lines has been taken from us, and nothing I type in cyber space can compare to the beauty of her song.
But I shall try, and in doing so dedicate this diary to Debbie Friedman's memory.
Why did God choose Abram to "go from [lech l'chah]" his country, his people, his father's household, to a land, an unspecified land, where God would show him? The rabbis filled in this detail missing from the Biblical text:
Terah, the father of Abraham and Haran, was a dealer in idols as well as a worshipper of them. Once when he was away he gave Abraham his stock of graven images to sell in his absence. In the course of the day an elderly man came to make a purchase. Abraham asked him his age, and the man gave it as between fifty and sixty years. Abraham taunted him with want of sound sense in calling the work of another man's hand, produced perhaps in a few hours, his god; the man laid the words of Abraham to heart and gave up idol worship.
Again a woman came with a handful of fine flour to offer to Terah's idols, which were now in charge of Abraham. He took a stick and broke all the images except the largest one, in the hand of which he placed the stick which had worked this wholesale destruction. When his father returned and saw the havoc committed on his gods and property he demanded an explanation from his son whom he had left in charge. Abraham mockingly explained that when an offering of fine flour was brought to these divinities they quarrelled with each other as to who should be the recipient, when at last the biggest of them, being angry at the altercation, took up a stick to chastise the offenders, and in so doing broke them all up. Terah, so far from being satisfied with this explanation, understood it as a piece of mockery, and when he learnt also of the customers whom Abraham had lost him during his management he became very incensed, and drove Abraham out of his house and handed him over to Nimrod.
Nimrod suggested to Abraham that since he had refused to worship his father's idols because of their want of power, he should worship fire, which is very powerful: Abraham pointed out that water has power over fire. 'Well,' said Nimrod, 'let us declare water god.' 'But,' replied Abraham,' the clouds absorb the water and even they are dispersed by the wind.' 'Then let us declare the wind our god.' 'Bear in mind,' continued Abraham, 'that man is stronger than wind, and can resist it and stand against it.' Nimrod, becoming weary of arguing with Abraham, decided to cast him before his god--fire--and challenged Abraham's deliverance by the God of Abraham, but God saved him out of the fiery furnace.
Genesis Rabbah 38. (Note: Every Jewish child sent to religious school learns about little Abram smashing his daddy's idols. I have talked to Jews who left their faith but remember this story from their childhood and are amazed to learn it's not in the Bible.)
Later in this week's Torah portion, we read:
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.
I am your shield,
your very great reward.
But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless . . . .
He [God] took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15: 1-2, 5-6. And God fulfilled His promise to Abram:
And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Genesis 16: 15-16. In chapter 17 of Genesis, God told Abram that his name would no longer be Abram, but Abraham, and that Abraham, and all of his male descendants, were to be circumcised when they were eight days old. This week's Torah reading concludes:
On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, and his son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day.
Genesis 17: 23-26. Next week we shall read about the birth of Abraham's second son, Isaac. The Bible alludes to, and the rabbinical literature details, considerable sibling rivalry between these two half brothers. (Indeed, so much of Genesis focuses on sibling rivalry and sibling enmity: Cain and Abel; Ishmael and Isaac; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers.) Shortly after the birth of Isaac, Ishmael and his mother, Hagar, are banished, and Ishmael almost dies of thirst and hunger. Genesis 21: 9-21. But, despite this abusive treatment from his dad and stepmother, in two weeks we shall read:
Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. Then Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people. His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite.
Genesis 25: 7-9. The Talmud recounts:
"The Lord had blessed Abraham in all things." [Genesis 24: 1]. What is meant by 'in all things'? . . . One explanation is that Ishmael repented while he [Abraham] was still alive. . . . And how do we know that Ishmael repented while Abraham was still alive? — From the discussion which took place between Rabina and Rabbi Hama ben [the son of] Buzi when they were once sitting before Raba while he was dozing. . . . Raba awoke and heard them [discussing Ishmael's repentence]. Children, he said, this is what Rabbi Johanan has said: Ishmael repented in the lifetime of his father. We know this because it says, "And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him." But perhaps the text arranges them in the order of their wisdom? If that were so, then why in the verse "And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him [Isaac]" [Genesis 35:29] are they not arranged in the order of their wisdom? What we have to say is that the fact of the text placing Isaac first shows that Ishmael made way for him [honoring his brother] and from the fact that he made way for him we infer that he repented in Abraham's lifetime.
Baba Batra 16b.
Just as Ishmael repented for "mocking" [KJV] or "playing" [Etz Hayim] [Genesis 21:9] as a 13 year boy, can we imagine that Abraham reciprocated and repented for banishing and almost killing his son Ishmael? We can also glean from the text of Genesis 25: 7-9 that, when they buried their father, Ishmael and Isaac forgave one another and lived the balance of their lives in brotherly love. May the offspring of Ishmael, and the offspring of Isaac, learn that the land which God showed to our father Abraham, and to which Abraham walked at God's command, must be shared between us, that the extremists and hate mongers among us be exposed for the extremists and hate mongers they are, and that peace and brotherly love will prevail in the land of Israel-Palestine. This was the vision of Debbie Friedman, we must work so we, or at least our children, will live to see this day.
Shabbat Shalom