Parashat Lech Lecha

The third portion of the week, “Le’ch Le’cha,” begins – and therefore is named after – the unforgettable words spoken by God to his first chosen son, Avram: “Go, go away from your country, from your home-land, from your father’s home, to the land that I will show you.”

Note the fascinating deductive textual move here – from the general (“your country”) to the specific (your “father’s home”); from the easiest to accept, to the hardest to acknowledge. The same move repeats itself, almost to the letter, with the second “Le’ch Le’cha” story, the more famous of the two, the one about the Ak’eda (the sacrifice of Itzchak). [Next week, we’ll examine in short the question of why God required to try Avraham with such a test of faith after it was already established that Avraham “believed in God” – the first-ever to do so (Gen. 15:6).] The Ak’eda story, if you may recall, begins also with God command to Avraham (his name was changed by then from Avram):

Take your son, your only son [recall that Avraham has already had two sons at the time],the one that you have loved, the one named Itzchak, and go, go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him on one of the mountains that I will point to you.

Again, we see the textual move here from the more general, or open to interpretation (“your son”), to the particular, or very specific (“Itzchak”), and from the easiest to acknowledge to the hardest to accept. We can also see the repeated request to leave – “Le’ch Le’cha” – from that familiar, loved, and steady place (be it a physical or a mental place), to the place to which God will direct you.

Many studies have been conducted, and many rivers of ink have been pored on Avraham’s test of faith. But less consideration was devoted to the earlier portion in the life of the Father of the Jewish People, or the first Jewish person ever. Today I want to say a few words about this earlier stage in Abraham’s life.

  What Type of Person Was Avraham?

The (first) Father of the Jewish People – much like his modern-day disciple, the Father of our Nation, a General and our First President – can easily be said to have two separate personalities. The first is told from father to son, carried in classrooms all over the land, and is so well entrenched in our culture that mere questioning it is easily considered heresy (for the modern-day equivalent, try to openly question the veracity of the story of Washington and the Cherry Tree, which many serious historian doubt). Along side these “Sunday School” versions, however, lies the actual text. And that’s where things get more interesting. Let us review these versions two in turn.

Avraham – The Official Version

Our sages made a considerable effort to paint the first real Jewish person, the father of the entire Jewish nation, not only in the best light possible, but also in a way fitting the holiest of hollies. Since the text is scant in details on Avraham’s background – we meet him when he’s already 75 years old (Gen. 12:4) – they came up with some of their own.

The Rambam (Maimonides), for example, tells us how Avram, after initially being brought up in a society that centered around idol worshiping, went through a philosophical metamorphosis and realized that all the people around him were wrong to assume that there could be no one single god, or that events in the world may occur independently without a cause or a power source. Following this impressive thought experiment, Avram began voicing his new opinions, taking issue with people around him, and ultimately began to physically destroy statues of idol gods – calling on everyone around him to worship only the one true God. [Rambam, Book of Science, Part IV.]

Others have followed suit. Legend has it that Avram, who worked at his father’s shop, used to constantly break many of the gods’ images that were sold there, and kept asking people not to buy them. In addition, he used to talk to the clients, asking them to return from their wrong ways, and attempted to turn their hearts to the only real one God. [See Nechama Leibovitz, Notes on Be’Reshit, at 80 (Hebrew)].

Even the text itself – as it is mostly remembered – tells us a story of a great person who always listened to his God, was willing to leave his homeland for Him, and even to sacrifice his own beloved son. Overall, Avram’s image represents the ideal Jewish role-model we should all aspire to become.

So much for the Sunday-School version. A closer examination of the text, however, reveals quite a different person. 

Avraham – The Textual Version

Much like the last portion (No’ach), our portion actually begins a few verses prior to its official (textual) starting-point. There (Gen. 11:31-33) we find some interesting details. For example, it turns out that Avram’s father, Terach, was already on his way to leave his own homeland and to travel to Can’an, with Avram his son, and without any divine intervention (or calling) – all well before God was ever revealed to Avram and ordered him to “leave his homeland.” More accurately, the text tells us specifically that Avram’s father traveled with his son Avram, his grandson Lot, and Sarai (Avram’s wife). All four of them went from Ur-Kasdim (their “homeland”) to Cna’an – the famous land known today as Israel. To be sure, they never arrived there; instead, they settled in a place called “Haran,” apparently outside Cna’an. (Gen. 11:31-32).  But the most important point here is that the entire journey is made with no mention of God; not a word about a promised land; no religious components at all. Unfortunately at this point the father dies. And it is only then that our story (and the Sunday-School image) begin to emerge.

This time, however, it is God who asks Avram to “Go, go away from your country,” etc. But, interestingly, Avram is no longer there; in fact, by the time God calls on him to make the most famous journey in Jewish history – a journey many Jews will repeat, in various way, for thousands of years to come – Avram is no longer in his own homeland; in fact, he’s already half way between his country and Israel, in Haran; the divine order, therefore, seems less difficult to follow than initially appears.

Once Avram arrives at the promised-land, “the Lord appeared to Avram and said: I will give this country to your offspring.” (Gen. 12:7). One would think Avram would stay in that country for a little while longer; it has been, after all, a long journey, and the entire place was promised to him by God. But only three verses later, right after the divine promise was made, Avram leaves Israel and goes “down” (a word used until today to describe people immigrating from Israel –“yordim”) to Egypt, to acquire some food as the famine in Israel at the time was quite severe (12:10). So much for pragmatic Zionism.

Next, once arriving at Egypt, Avram presents his wife – his very, very beautiful wife, as the text reminds us time and again (see, e.g., 12:14-15)– as his sister, for fear he would be killed and she would be taken away. The ploy works: Avram received considerable fortune from the Egyptian king for Sarai [Gen. 12:16] and the king, in return, is severely punished for even thinking of touching a married woman (of whom, of course, the king knew nothing about). Somehow, in a bizarre twist of faith, Pharaoh does not kill Avram when he discovers the ruse – he doesn’t even take his fortunes back! – but rather simply tells Avram to “take [the money] and leave!” [Gen. 12:19]

Apart from these clues regarding Avram’s pragmatic nature, the text also supplies great clues about our Avram’s extraordinary sense of strategic thinking. For example, when sensing that a major business dispute is about to break with his cousin, Avram does not use strong-arm tactics or pulls rank as the senior partner. On the contrary: Avram does what seems unthinkable today – he lets the junior member of the family have the right of first choice (or right of first refusal, if you will):

“And Avram said to Lot: Let there be no quarrel between you and me, and between my shepherds and yours, for we are brothers; since the entire country is in front of you, let us separate – if left you choose I will turn right; and if right, I will turn left.” 

(Gen. 13:8) This seemingly “cowardly” strategic move (as it may be viewed today by some of Wall-Street’s risk-loving dealmakers) brought Avram an immediate relief for his shepherds and herds (in the short term), several years of business prosperity (in the intermediate term), and an important ally on the West bank (in the long term). Care to change your mind, financial-market “sharks”?

Later this line of thinking manifests itself again, when Avram – who just won decisively a series of wars against the local kings – is asked by one of the defeated kings to bring back that king’s men, and in return to keep the victory spoils. Avram’s now-famous answer may surprise those who don’t know him well:

“But Avram said to the king of Sodom . . . I will not take so much as a thread or a shoe-string of what is yours; you shall not say, ‘It is I who made Avram rich.’” 

(Gen. 14:22-24) Again, Avram gains a great strategic ally, and prevents future wars from that front by acting (seemingly) in an altruistic fashion.

There are many more clues as to Avram’s unique, and very complex nature. In two weeks we shall discuss his magnificent negotiations techniques that enabled him to be the first, apparently, to actually purchase – and own -- real estate property while being a foreign resident in the Land of Israel.

Importantly, the textual analysis above is not meant to disrespect the image of our First Father, or to demean him. On the contrary: It only comes to supplement and enrich his well known – though somewhat simplistic – image as it appears in folklore and our memory. Both Avraham and the reader, I believe, would end up gaining by this perspective.

Shabbat Shalom,

Doron