Sunday, October 6, 2013

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: LECH LECHA: WHAT IS A JEW?

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: LECH LECHA: WHAT IS A JEW?
 

"Goin' To A Go-Go"

 
Rabbi Arthur Segal
 
 
Synoptic Abstract

Our parasha continues with the tales of Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people. This portion relates God's call to Abraham, his journey to Canaan, his trip with Sarah to Egypt, his return to Canaan and his nephew Lot's parting, Lot being taken captive and Abraham's rescue of Lot, God's covenant with Abraham, the birth of Hagar's son Ishmael, the commandment of circumcision, and God's promise to ninety-year-old Sarah that she will give birth to a child with her 100-year-old husband, Abraham. This is the parasha that begins it all as far as Jews are concerned. Here are the seeds of the present day Arab-Jew land dispute.

 

This parasha's title takes its name from God's command to Abraham: "Lech Lecha!" (Go for yourself!). This sums up the choice that each of us has with our birthright of Judaism. As adults, no one is forcing Judaism upon us. No one is forcing us to live an ethical life. No one is demanding that we study Torah or read these or other D'varim. We have freedom of choice. We decide for ourselves to go or to do, or not to go or not to do. This is no different than the choice that Abraham had to make some 3,500 years ago.

 

The story of Abraham is the story of his trials. Mishna Pirkei Avot (5:3) says that "our patriarch Abraham was tested with ten tests and he withstood them all to show how great was our Patriarch Abraham's love for God." What were these ten tests?

1.      In Ur, King Nimrod threw Abraham into a fiery furnace when his father, Terach, complained about his destroying the idols (Gen. 11:26). If you turn to this verse in last week's portion you will see no mention of this. The Talmudic sages are quoting the Midrash story of how little Abraham broke his father's idol. The Midrash says his father was an idol maker.

2.      He had to leave his homeland to settle in Canaan (Gen. 12:01).

3.      He had to move from Canaan to Egypt due to famine (Gen. 12:10).

4.      Sarah, his wife, was taken to Pharaoh's palace as a potential wife of Pharaoh. Abraham asked Sarah to call herself his sister to spare his life. The sages say that this was not a lie because Sarah was Haran's daughter and Haran was Abraham's brother. Therefore, Sarah was Abraham's niece, which the sages say is close enough to be called a sister. But the Torah says that Haran had two daughters. They were Milcah and Iscah and Milcha married Nahor, Abraham's other brother. "Aha!" say the sages. Iscah is just another name for Sarah. The potential problem of our father Abraham lying to save himself and passing off his wife as a virgin sister is solved.

5.      The war with the kings to free his nephew Lot (Gen. 14:01-24).

6.      The covenant where Abraham was told of his children being promised the land of Canaan, but also of being enslaved and going into exile (Gen. 5:7-21).

7.      Abraham undergoing self-circumcision at the age of ninety-nine years (Gen. 17:24).

8.      Expelling his wife Hagar from his home (Gen. 21:10-14).

9.      Expelling his son Ishmael from his home (Gen. 21:10-14).

10.  The Akeidah – the binding of Abraham's son Isaac to be a sacrificial offering to God (Gen. 22:1-19).

How would we fare if we had these tests today? Do any of our lives' tests compare to these?

 

The Mishna calls these tests "neis." The Hebrew word for tests is "bechinah." Neis also means "banner." It is used in Psalm 60:6, "You gave those who fear a banner to raise themselves." The sages say a banner is something raised high to show its beauty. When we pass some of life's tests, we are lifted into a higher sphere so that we can go on to bigger tests. This is why we say "yasher koach" after a bimah honor. We wish people to "go from strength to strength." The Mishna's passage could be read: "And God exalted Abraham" instead of "God tested Abraham."

The last three of these ten tests take place in next week's parasha and will be discussed then. Nachmanides (the Ramban, Moshe ben Nahman Gerondi, 1194, Spain), comments on the second test; that of leaving one's home and known surroundings to search for a better life. I think of all of our grandparents, great-grandparents, or those even farther back, who left their homes in Europe to resettle here in the United States of America.  The only emotions that come to me, as a soft third generation American-Jew, is great alarm and fear, until I learned to have a personal trusting and faithful relationship with God.

Ramban says that one is never given trials that he cannot deal with effectively, and that a person has free choice and he must find the wisdom and strength to choose correctly. If he chooses correctly, he grows as a person. He is not rewarded by Heaven for his successes. Success is his reward. As the parasha's title suggests, we do good things for ourselves and because it is the right choice to make. We do not do good in hope of reward from above.

What does it mean to be a Jew? We have a hint of this complex answer in Genesis 14:13. For the first time, Abraham is called an "Ivri." Some Torah scholars say this refers to Abraham being descended from Eber, which was six generations removed from Abraham. Would a fugitive from a battle in Sodom coming to tell Abraham that his nephew Lot was taken prisoner know Abraham's lineage this closely? Especially when they were then in Canaan and Eber and his kin lived in what is now Iraq? There are very few of us who can name our ancestors six-times removed, and there are still fewer strangers who could do so.

 

Abraham indeed was an Ivri. The word is derived from "Ivar," meaning "the other side." Literally, Abraham did come from the other side of the Euphrates River. Our Talmudic rabbis interpret it much differently. Abraham was on one side of a moral and spiritual divide, according to Rabbi Nosson Scherman. The rest of the known world was on the other side. Jews must be ready to endure isolation sometimes when we stand up for what is morally right, even when our voices seem small and unimportant. It is pleasant to be popular and win the approval of others. Too often we bend our own principles to avoid making waves. Abraham and Sarah, Rabbi Scherman continues, were given the challenge to be Ivri, and move to the other side.

 
When God appeared to Abraham, renamed him from his old name of Avram, and gave him the commandment of circumcision, He called Himself El Shaddai (Gen. 17:01). This name of God means, "Who is sufficient." As Jews we need to realize that we can do without popularity if it means standing up for justice and ethics. It is interesting that God called Himself "sufficient" at the time He ordered brit milah (the covenant of circumcision). The brit is a symbol that we can do without sometimes, and that less can be more than sufficient if we stand up for what is right and just, even if it puts us on the other side. Perhaps this is a good definition of what it means to be Jewish, and a descendant of Abraham, the first Ivri and the first Hebrew.
 
Shabbat Shalom,
 
If visiting SC's Low Country, contact us for a Shabbat meal, in our home by the sea, our beth yam.
Maker of Shalom (Oseh Shalom) help make us deserving of Shalom beyond all human comprehension 
 
 
 
 

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THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW

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GREAT IS PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD BAVLI TRACTATE DEREK ERETZ ZUTA

THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1

LOVE PEACE AND PURSUE PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 2



THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A PATH OF TRANSFORMATION FOR THE MODERN JEW


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A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD


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GREAT IS PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD BAVLI TRACTATE DEREK ERETZ ZUTA


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THE PATH AND WISDOM FOR LIVING AT PEACE WITH OTHERS: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 1


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LOVE PEACE AND PURSUE PEACE: A MODERN COMMENTARY ON TALMUD TRACTATES DEREK ERETZ ZUTA AND RABBAH: VOL. 2


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Posted by Rabbi Arthur Segal at 10:58 AM