AND GOD SAID TO AVRAM:

GO YOU FORTH FROM YOUR LAND

AND FROM YOUR BIRTHPLACE

AND FROM THE HOUSE OF YOUR FATHER

TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU.

 

 

"TO THE LAND WHICH I WILL SHOW YOU" - FAITH, REVELATION AND RESPONSIBILITY

 

 "To the land which I will show you" - He did not designate a specific place. This is a trial within a trial; does a person go without knowing whither he is going? What did he do? Avram took his clothing and his wife, and went as He had spoken to him.

 (Tanchuma, Parashat Lech Lecha, 3)

 

"Which I will show you" has the numerical equivalent (Gematriya) of "Ba'ananim" - "in the clouds". This is to teach that the clouds went before him, showing him the way.

 (Baal HaTurim, ibid., ibid.)

 

"Which I will show you" - a transitive verb, i.e., He will reveal that which is hidden in Avraham's heart to others... according to this, Avraham will be revealed and will be the one seen to others.

 (Meshech Chochma, Bereishit 12:1)

 

"To the land which I will show you" - this does not refer to the Land of Canaan in general, because he was already aware of the special quality of the Land, and longed for it, as is written, above "to go to the land of Canaan", but the meaning is that within that Land He will show him in which direction to turn... one should also know that the meaning of "which I will show you" is not that he will actually be told [his point of destination]; it is rather like "on one of the mountains which I will tell you" , there was no specific instruction; he saw a cloud above him. Similarly the meaning here is that it will show him in what direction to travel."

 (Haamek Davar, ibid., ibid.)

 

 

 "The Seed of Abraham My Beloved"

Yehonatan Chipman

 

With Abraham's appearance on the stage of history, the Bible narrows its focus from the history of Humankind as a whole to that of the family of Abraham and of the Jewish nation that ultimately emerged therefrom. The Abrahamic portions of the Torah are thus a suitable occasion to consider issues involved in Jewish chosenness and the tension between universality and particularity in Jewish thought.

The usual presentations of mahshevet Yisrael - Jewish thought or philosophy - in the context of public discourse of the religious-Zionist community in Israel typically emphasize those texts and thinkers who stress Jewish uniqueness and the transcendent meaning of Jewish history - from Yehudah Halevi, through the Maharal of Prague, and concluding with a particular reading of Rav Kook. There is an emphasis on a mystical, almost biological proclivity of the Jewish people towards spirituality and connection with God, uniquely present both in the people as a whole and in the individual Jews who compose it-from the Kuzari's "inyan elohi" ("Divine element") through to the Tanya's "nefesh elohi."

Many modern, educated Jews find such an approach deeply troubling. We have grown up in the environment of Western culture and civilization; we have acquired a love for the art, literature, music, and thought of the nexus within which we were raised; our experience of the Gentile world has by and large not been that of the drunken Cossack pogromist, the Crusader, or the Roman centurion, but of ordinary, by-and-large decent human beings, who exhibit the same degree of sensitivity, intelligence, refinement, and even nobility as encountered within Jewry.

But there are in fact no less significant universal tendencies in Judaism. Interestingly, Rav Kook, perhaps the seminal figure in religious Zionist thought, embraces both the universal and the particular. He is widely seen as a source for the neo- or quasi-mystical interpretation of Zionism and the settlement of Eretz Yisrael, and is even invoked as an authority against withdrawal from territories in the West Bank and Gaza. But there is also another side to Rav Kook: the unitive mystic, who saw the entire cosmos as the field of Divine revelation, and envisioned Zionism, not only as the return of the Jewish people to their geographical homeland, but as providing opportunity for the development of the fullness of the human personality in the new, redeemed Jewish culture to be created in Eretz Yisrael, without the neurotic, constricting, suffocating forces of Galut.

Rav Soloveitchik is another case in point for the tension between these emphases. He certainly spoke often, and eloquently, of behirat Am Yisrael, of the mystery of Jewish existence, but at least as often his teaching focused on the religious individual and on the existential situation of humankind as such. His wonderful midrash on the two accounts of the creation of man, "The Lonely Man of Faith," is a case in point. The choice by many Israeli schools of the Zionist essays in Hamesh Derashot, such as Kol Dodi Dofek, as almost the only texts of the Rav taught, seems tendentious and distorted.

In Maimonides, the central figure of medieval Jewish philosophy and halakhah, we encounter a profoundly universalist thinker, who hardly addresses himself at all to issues of Jewish particularity or "the meaning of Jewish history"; certainly, the subject is of little importance to the main structure of his thought.

A close reading of Rambam's presentation of the Patriarch Abraham is illuminating in this respect. In Hilkhot Avodah Zarah 1.3, he describes Abraham as an individual who discovered the unity of God and the folly of idolatry after a process of pondering and philosophical speculation, and whose main activity was as polemicist and teacher. The following is Maimonides' description of Abraham's activity in disseminating the new idea:

He arose and began to cry out in a loud voice to the entire world and to make known to them that there is one God over the entire world, and that He alone ought to be worshipped. And he went about and cried out and gathered people, going from city to city and from kingdom to kingdom, until he entered the land of Canaan; and he called out there, as is said: "And he called there in the name of the Lord, the eternal God" [Gen 21:33]. Once the people had gathered to him and inquired about his words, he made it known to each one according to his understanding until he had brought him to the true path; and thus he gathered thousands and tens of thousands, and these were the people of the House of Abraham, and he implanted this great principle in their hearts, and composed books, and made it known to his son Isaac. And Isaac sat and taught and admonished the people. And Isaac made it known to Jacob, and appointed him to teach, and Jacob sat and taught and strengthened all those who were attached to him. And Jacob our father taught all his sons, and separated Levi, appointing him as head, and placed him in the yeshivah to teach the way of the Lord and to observe the commandment of Abraham. And he commanded his sons that there always be one appointed from among the sons of Levi, so that the teaching not be forgotten. And this matter became stronger among the sons of Jacob and those that were attached to them, and there came to be in the world a nation that knows the Lord. But after Israel had been in Egypt for many days, they backslid and learned from their deeds and began to worship idols like them, except for the tribe of Levi who stood firm in the commandment of the fathers, so that the tribe of Levi never worshipped idols. And the great principle that Abraham had instilled was nearly uprooted, and the children of Jacob nearly returned to the errors of the world. But because of God's love for us and His keeping the oath He made to Abraham our Father, He sent Moses our Teacher, the teacher of all the prophets. And once Moses our Teacher prophesied, and God choose Israel as His heritage, He crowned them with the commandments and made known to them the way of His service, including the laws pertaining to idolatry and all those who err after it.

Note: the descendants of Abraham are not distinguished by any innate or inborn spiritual qualities, but only by their adherence to the idea of God's unity, which they received through the education established by Abraham. Their function in the dissemination of the monotheistic idea is an instrumental one; even their election as the chosen of God, at the Sinai revelation, does not seem to be related to their special nature, but to their own commitment to this idea.

 Similarly, in the final chapter of Hilkhot Teshuvah, Abraham is shown as the paradigm of intense, disinterested love of God:

One who serves [God] out of love, engages in Torah and in commandments and walks in the paths of wisdom, not because of any thing in the world, nor because of fear of the evil [punishment] nor in order to gain benefit, but he performs the truth because it is true, and in the end [he] shall enjoy the good because of it. And this level is a very high level, and not every sage merits to it. And such was the level of Abraham our Father, who was called by the Holy One blessed be He "His beloved," because he only served out of love... (Teshuvah 10.2)

This universalist tendency comes to the fore in other passages in the Yad ha-Hazakah and in his other writings as well. In Yesodei ha-Torah 7-8, Maimonides speaks of prophecy as a gift potentially available to all human beings-not to Jews alone, and not confined to the Land of Israel (as against Kuzari and his school of thought). Prophecy is acquired, partly in a natural way, through the cultivation of ethical, intellectual and spiritual qualities, and partly through Divine inspiration-but in any event it is not unique to Jews.

In Chapter 8 he describes the role of Moses. Here Maimonides minimizes the people's role at Mount Sinai, focusing upon Moses' role as receiver, transmitter, and teacher of the Torah. Hence the characteristic term he uses for the Torah, nevuato shel Moshe Rabbenu ("the prophecy of Moses our Teacher").

* * * * *

I would like to conclude with a few remarks on the application of these ideas to our current situation. Particularly in these difficult and insecure times, it is tempting to seek transcendent theological meaning in our suffering and ongoing insecurity. Recent events-the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe; the virulent anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment in the Muslim world; the sense that Israel seems to be at the epicenter of major world conflicts; the approaching war of the United States against Sadaam Hussein's Iraq, with the memories it evokes of the '91 war when Israel was totally non-combatant and nevertheless subject to attack (a scenario that may well be repeated)-all point in a similar direction. All these factors easily evoke sentiments of "a nation that dwells alone" and mystical, messianic interpretations of current events. For many people these events also place in question the dream of classical Zionism that a state of our own would lead to "normal" relations between Jews and the rest of the world, making us "a nation among nations."

Alternatively, one may try to explain Israel's problems in the Middle East in socio-economic and historical terms. There are profound and crucial issues of interpretation involved, with principled differences from which radically divergent world-views and conclusions may be derived. Is the Palestinian problem at heart a "normal" national-qua-socio-economic conflict, capable of solution through compromise and trust-building, or is it an epic religio-cultural conflict, so deeply rooted as to be virtually irresolvable? It is quite natural that the observer may vacillate between different understandings of the difficult situation in which we find ourselves, and waver between hope and despair. But even in this frightening and uncertain situation, it is important to maintain a rational understanding, grounded in reality and in the particulars of the situation, alongside a general faith in the Divine guiding hand.

Such a position also finds support in Maimonides. In Guide III:12 he points out that numerous mishaps in life are brought about by natural causation, and that the religious person must consider the process of Divine Providence as operating by and large within the overarching framework of natural causality. The murderous hatred felt toward us by a large sector of the Palestinian population cannot be explained merely by quoting the Rabbinic dictum, "Halakha: Esau hates Jacob." A mystical or deterministic interpretation of this sort ignores the social and historical context of thirty-five years of rule by one people over another, and can only feed religious fanaticism on both sides of the fence. Such an approach is a disservice, not only to the population of millions of human beings living under what they perceive as "conquest," but also to ourselves, in that it obscures the clarity of our own understanding of what is going on around us and the possibility, slight as it may be, of taking steps that might possibly change the situation for the better.

We might do best to conclude this discussion with Amos' definition of the true implication of Israel's election: "You alone have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore, I shall hold you accountable for all your iniquities" (3:2).

Rabbi Jonathan Chipman is a translator by profession, and a scholar in Jewish studies. He write a weekly sheet (in English) on the portion of the week and the Haftara, titled "Hitsei Yehonatan". (Anyone interested in ordering a sample of subscription can write via email to: yonarand@internet-zahav.net.)

 

 

 

REMEMBER - DO NOT FORGET...

Jewish culture is one of remembering; the Torah commands us to remember the Shabbat, to sanctify it; in the Shabbat Kiddush we recall both the Exodus from Egypt and the Creation of the World. The Exodus from Egypt is mentioned at every step we take, in relation to every festival, in tephillin and mezuzot and in just about every mitzva possible. We are commanded to remember that which Amalek did to us, and also to erase its memory, and on many other occasions we are ordered to remember. Even in modern times, we commemorate the memory of the Shoah with a special day, and on the eve of Independence Day, we observe the Day of Memorial for those who fell in Israel's wars.

     Ever since that accursed and abominable night seven years ago, Motsei Shabbat Lech Lecha, 12 Marchesvan, when a Prime Minister of Israel was assassinated by a young Jew in the name of a warped religious belief, Israeli society has an additional day of remembrance. In the perspective of time, a number of questions arise: What do we remember? What are we supposed to remember, and to what purpose are we to foster the memory?

The most appropriate Biblical association is without doubt the murder of Gedaliah ben Achikam by Yishmael ben Netanya. Our member, Professor Uriel Simon, in his eye-opening "Seek Justice and Pursue It," describes, in the chapter "The Anatomy of Self-destruction", the atmosphere which made that murder possible. Uriel Simon sums up the chapter in three penetrating sentences:

 "During the 2000 years of our exile, we were "merciful people, sons of merciful people", incapable of murder. But upon having returned to our land, we again possess the weapons - and our souls have the ability - to shed blood. "The Fast of Gedaliah" is intended to enable us to look squarely at the horrors of the past, so that we can gather the strength to prevent them in the present."

 ("Seek Peace and Pursue It", p. 224).

It is legitimate that every person or group emphasize those aspects of Yitchak Rabin's personality or "legacy" which it chooses to remember, but it is important that Israeli society as a whole internalize the awareness that the Zionist decision to return to Eretz Yisrael and to establish an independent Jewish state presents us with a heavy responsibility, with a wealth of opportunity, but also with a considerable danger of self-destruction.

The Malbim, commenting on a midrash Halacha from the Sifri dealing with the egla arufa - the broken-neck heifer - determines that the right to leave Egypt was made contingent upon there never being murderers in Jewish society:

"Whom you redeemed­ - On this condition did You redeem us - that there be no murderers in our midst. (Sifri, Parashat Shofetim, 4). Andour Sages explained that this teaches that this is the condition for His redeeming us, that there never be found murderers among us, and now that murderers are found, we see retroactively that those who exited Egypt were not deserving of redemption, and all the miracles performed on their behalf were unnecessary...

Do we understand the meaning of

the duty to remember and to remind?

                                                                    Pinchas Leiser - Editor

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

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