BUT GOD PLAGUED PHARAOH WITH GREAT PLAGUES,

AND ALSO HIS HOUSEHOLD, BECAUSE OF SARAI, AVRAM’S WIFE

(Bereishit 12:17)

 

 

THE STORY OF AVRAM, SARAI, AND PHARAOH -

P’SHAT AND DRASH, MORALITY AND JUSTICE

 

“But God plagued Pharaoh with great plagues” – Pharaoh alone with great plagues. “And his household” – He sent plagues also upon his household, but not great ones, as with Pharaoh. This, so that they see that the righteous woman alone was spared, and that they realize that it was all because of [their treatment of] her, so that they repent of their wicked ways. (Sforno, ibid. ibid.)

“Because of Sarai, Avram’s wife” [Translator’s note: the Hebrew for ‘because of’ is ‘al devar’. “Al devar’ can be literally translated as “on the word of”] Did we not yet know that Sarai was the wife of Avram? And furthermore, what was Pharaoh’s transgression – he was led to believe that she was Avram’s sister?! And regarding Rashi’s commentary: “Sarai ordered the angel ‘Smite!’ and he smote” – the passage does not mention “smite”. Therefore it seems to me that even though in public Sarah declared “I am his sister”, to Pharaoh she divulged the truth, that she was Avram’s wife, thinking that the king who sits on the throne of justice will do no evil. Pharaoh, however, paid no attention, saying that “I believe your first declaration”. Therefore did God plague him “al devar Sarai” – because of Sarai’s word, and what was her word? “The wife of Avram” for she told him “I am Avram’s wife”, and Pharaoh told Avram, “Why did you tell me she is my sister”; I would have believed you – but not her, for I thought that perhaps she told me so in order to avoid cohabitation without matrimony. (Kli Yakar, Bereishit Ibid., ibid.)

Rabbi Saadya Gaon z”l’s opinion regarding the words “and He plagued” – was that He was going to bring, not that he actually brought, for if otherwise, we would find Pharaoh being punished unjustly; the courtiers had brought her to his palace, and he did not touch her, and did not sin with her at all, and since he did not sin, why a punishment? (Rabeinu Bahaye, Bereishit ibid., ibid.)

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha said: Sarah was Pharaoh’s wife; in his love for her, he wrote in her ketuba (a commitment of) all his wealth, silver and gold, servants and lands. And he wrote for her the Land of Goshen as an estate; therefore the Children of Israel [later] dwelt in the Land of Goshen, in the land of their mother Sarah, and he also inscribed that Hagar, his daughter through his concubine, be her maidservant.

And from where do we know that Hagar was Pharaoh’s daughter through his concubine? For it is written, “And Sarai, the wife of Avram, did not bear him children, and she had an Egyptian maidservant and her name was Hagar.” And Pharaoh awoke in the morning, and he was frightened by the fact that he could not approach her, so he called for Avraham and said to him “Here is your wife before you’ and all [payment promised] in her ketuba. Take it and leave, do not tarry in this land, as is written “Now here is your wife, take her and leave, and Pharaoh put men in charge of him” to prevent him from coming to the land of Canaan, “Dwell in the land of the Philistines to rest there” and Avraham left.   (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 26)

 

 

THE LAUGH OF THE BELIEVER

Yair Eldan

 

Our parasha is laden with information about our father Avraham, who was – according to the Torah and Midrash – the archetype of the believer, so much so that the Midrash sees him as potentially the first man:

“Avraham, our father, was worthy of being created before Adam, the first man, but The Holy One, Blessed Be He said: If I create Avraham first, and then the generations degenerate, who will come and rehabilitate [civilization]? But I shall create Adam first; should he fail, Avraham will come and rectify.”

A reading of the parasha, however, hardly reveals a single attribute which consistently characterizes Avraham as a believer, one which would enable us to sketch the image of the ideal believer as conceived by the Torah. On the one hand, Avraham is highly pragmatic, not hesitating to go down to Egypt during famine, or to separate from Lot in a most rational fashion – “If you go left, I will turn right, and if right, I shall go left.” On the other hand, he leaves his land and his father’s home immediately upon receiving the order from The Holy One, Blessed Be He. He pragmatically orders his wife to lie, and abandons her to the lust of the Egyptians in order to save his own life; yet, without hesitation, he circumcises himself and his household. On the one hand, he wonders – with common sense – “How shall I know that I am to possess it” – and on the other hand he fulfills the Covenant between the Pieces. He is hospitable and generous, he is willing to sacrifice his life for the sake of Lot, yet in the same breath he puts the fate of his son’s mother into the hands of his vengeful wife.

The promise of continuity of seed, which is received by Avraham and Sarah in similar fashion, is perhaps the criteria for understanding Avraham’s personality as a believer. Avraham and Sara have already despaired of bringing a child into the world. Avraham is certain that Eliezer will inherit him, and the Torah tells us clearly that “Sarah had stopped having the periods of women.” Avraham’s reaction to The Holy One’s promise of a son is twofold, with each reaction contradicting the other. His reaction to God’s promise that “none but your very own issue shall be your heir” is “he put his trust in the Lord”. His reaction to the promise that Sarah will bear a son (two chapters later) is “Avraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?” In a manner so typical of him, Avraham turns to The Holy One, Blessed Be He, and says: “O that Yishmael might live by Your favor!” and The Holy One, Blessed Be He, calmly answers Avraham’s undisguised lack of trust with “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son.” 

Sarah’s reaction is ostensibly similar to Avraham’s. When Sara overhears the tidings of the messengers/angels that “I will return to you next year, and your wife Sarah shall have a son!” she laughs to herself: “Now that I am withered, am I to have enjoyment – with my husband so old?” Sarah’s more reserved lack of trust (her laugh, in contrast to Avraham’s vocal laugh, was inward) is met with a stern response by The Holy One, Blessed Be He. Sarah denies that she laughed, and The Holy One, Blessed Be He is ‘forced’ to rule that she lied, and that indeed she did laugh. One cannot but sense Sarah’s embarrassment and the harshness of God’s reprimand, as compared with the straightforward way in which He dealt with Avraham following Avraham’s reaction.

This test of faith can teach us about the attribute which typified Avraham as a believer, earning him The Holy One’s fondness. Avraham laughs aloud upon hearing God’s promise; and therefore he has reserves of faith of the strongest kind, and about him is it written, “And he trusted in God.” Avraham is a man of truth, without any contradiction between inner feeling and outward behavior; he knows himself and recognizes his weaknesses. In other words, the same person who asks of his wife “Say that you are my sister” can also be capable of a receptiveness to a high level of faith, or of a willingness to sacrifice his life for another. Sarah, on the other hand, is the object of God’s criticism because she has not reached such a self-awareness. Unlike Avraham who laughed aloud, Sarah laughed inwardly. Later, as is usual in cases of repression, she denies ever having laughed. Her inner laugh is the voice of intense yearning for a child. This longing, silenced and suppressed for years, bursts out when she hears the promise of realization of her life’s desire. This repression causes her to morally falter with regards to her maidservant, Hagar, and in her relations with her husband (“The wrong done me is your fault,… Lord decide between you and me!”). Sarah’s laugh at what had been repressed within her – essentially different from Avraham’s spontaneous laugh – indicated for The Holy One, Blessed Be He, that Sarah lacked the capacity and the readiness for faith, ergo, His criticism.

According to the above, the prototype of the believer has a high degree of personal integrity. This “to thine own self be true” is a condition for closeness to the Holy One, Blessed Be He, but it can also lead to ethical decay and immoral behavior (such as the delivery of Hagar into the hands of Sarah, or Sarah into the hands of the Egyptians). But the Torah does not accept this quasi-Hassidic picture of the believer. Avraham, with natural aptitude for making decisions at the right moment, combines the dimension of faith with a dimension of questioning and criticism. In this light, one should contemplate his question “How shall I know that am I going to possess it?” and his vocal laughter at hearing about Yitzhak. This also sets perspective for evaluating the persistent bargaining with The Holy One, Blessed Be He, to dissuade him from overturning Sodom.

Avraham’s ‘standing’ before The Holy One, Blessed Be He (“And Avraham rose up in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord”) and negotiating the fate of Sodom is the source of the Midrash which credits Avraham with the institution of the Shaharit prayer. The complexity of the believer’s personality is expressed in all three prayers of the day, and the manner in which – according to the Midrash – they were instituted. Yaakov’s evening prayer is a result of the terrible loneliness which envelopes him as he flees Esav. Yaakov leaves his familiar and protective environment, setting out for the unknown. “He encountered a certain place” – the verb “encounter” (“pegiah”) connotes prayer.” The meeting with The Holy One, Blessed Be He, the reaching the place from the darkness of the soul where one meets with The Holy One, Blessed Be He (or with Satan) himself – this is the prayer referred to by Rabbi Ami: “One’s prayer is heard only if he puts his life in his hands.” This prayer is one extreme of faith, a faith which arrives intuitively, from a deep spiritual condition without admixture of reason; therefore, the evening prayer is, in the opinion of some, an optional prayer. (See the story of Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabban Gamliel, Berachoth 27. Rabbi Yehoshua, recognizing the eccentric spiritual potential hidden in this prayer and therefore prefers – as did Avraham – that it be optional, does not hesitate to prevaricate in order to prevent controversy before Rabban Gamliel.)

The opposite extreme of faith is to be found in the afternoon service (Mincha) established by Yitzhak. “Yitzhak went out to meditate in the field” – Yitzhak’s institution of the prayer evolved from contemplation of nature, in spiritual calm and through intellectual conclusions.

The main prayer of the day, the morning service (Shaharit) – attributed by the Midrash to Avraham our father – is a complex prayer. Avraham ‘stands’, confidently arguing with The Holy One, Blessed Be He, about the number of righteous persons in Sodom. He trust in The Holy One, Blessed Be He, but simultaneously he courageously confronts Him again and again. The place of the Shaharit service in Jewish life and the place of Avraham our father reveal the complexity of the man who believes according to the Torah – truthfulness to self, openness and truthfulness on one hand, and a dimension of rationality and moral criticism on the other. Yair Eldan is a lawyer

 

Memorial Thoughts for Motsei Shabbat “Lech Lecha”

This Tuesday, 12 Marheshvan, we will recall one of the most difficult moments experienced by Israeli society, six years ago, on Motsei Shabbat “Lech Lecha”.

Despite the difficult and violent atmosphere which enveloped our land during the period preceding the murder, few considered it possible that a Jew could murder the Prime Minister of Israel. Similarly, there were few who thought, until a month and a half ago, of the possibility of an act of terrorism which could so painfully strike at the symbols of America’s power.

To our great sorrow, we must admit to the difficult and painful fact that a large part of the most horrifying acts – the terrible desecration of God’s name by Baruch Goldstein on Purim, the murder of Rabin, the terrorists acts perpetrated by suicide terrorists, the acts of terror in New York and Washington – were carried out by persons acting out religious fervor, each in the name of his belief and his god. These persons also received support from people who define themselves as religious.

The Rishon L’Zion, Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Bakshi-Doron, once said that the most dangerous thing is to turn a state or political controversy into a religious conflict. Turning a conflict into a “holy war” prevents any possibility of compromise and of peaceful settlement of the conflict, and increases the chance of outbreak of violent zealousness.

We must remember and emphasize that people – regardless of religion, race, or gender – who are prepared to kill in the name of their religious belief are not religious people; they are idol worshippers. It is not for naught that the Midrash (Mekhilta Yitro) expounds the words “other gods”: they transform their worshippers into others. The god they worship is another, he is not The Holy One, Blessed Be He, a merciful and forgiving god. He is a blood-thirsty and cruel god, and subsequently, turns his believers into others like himself..

In Israeli society there are many differing opinions on a wide range of subjects affecting the desirable character of the State, e.g., the correct order of priorities in the Eretz Yisrael – Peace issue and relations with our neighbors and with our minorities. Until we learn to respect the opinions of those who think differently from us, to jointly respect legitimate methods of conducting conflicts and reaching decisions in controversial issues, to condemn acts of violent zealotry committed in the name of religious belief, we cannot discount the possibility of recurrence of what occurred on the twelfth of Marheshvan 5756.

It is hoped that the painful memory of that horrific act, and the memory of all which has happened to us and to the world in recent days, will help all of us to internalize this important truth and to reiterate it again and again, to our brothers, our children, our friends and our neighbors.

Pinhas Leiser – Editor

 

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator),

Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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