{"id":83989,"date":"2024-11-01T16:40:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-01T21:40:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=83989"},"modified":"2024-11-01T16:40:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T21:40:49","slug":"person-in-the-parsha-lech-lecha-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/person-in-the-parsha-lech-lecha-12\/","title":{"rendered":"Person in the Parsha: Lech Lecha"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI TZVI HERSH WEINREB <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPersons Not <\/em>in the Parsha\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

I try to focus these weekly columns upon individuals who are barely mentioned in the weekly Torah portion. They often have an important, but insufficiently appreciated, role to play.<\/p>\n

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But that was last week\u2019s parsha<\/em>, Noach<\/em>. His name no longer appears in the Chumash. While he is certainly absent in this week\u2019s parsha, Lech Lecha<\/em>, I will attempt to demonstrate how he still plays a role in this week\u2019s Torah episode.<\/p>\n

I will also attempt to demonstrate that Avram, later renamed Avraham, albeit surely the dominant figure in this week\u2019s parsha<\/em>, is to some extent \u201cmissing\u201d therein.<\/p>\n

We already know quite a bit about Avram having read last week\u2019s Parshat<\/em> Noach<\/em>. There we \u201cmet\u201d his father Terach, his brothers Nachor and Haran, and his nephew\u2014Haran\u2019s son\u2014Lot. We also learn of Haran\u2019s premature demise, although we remain curiously ignorant of the circumstances of his death. We are told about the family\u2019s origins in a place called Ur Kasdim, the \u201cfiery furnace of the Chaldeans.\u201d We are introduced to Avram\u2019s wife, Sarei, and are alerted to her infertility issues.<\/p>\n

We then are informed of the plan, seemingly instigated by Terach, to embark upon a fateful journey, leaving Ur Kasdim to reach Canaan, but settling instead in a place called Charan. There, Terach, at age two hundred and fifty, dies.<\/p>\n

It is then, in the opening words of this week\u2019s Torah portion, that the Lord Himself enters center stage and commands Avram to leave all the above behind except for his wife Sarei and nephew Lot and head for \u201cthe land which I will show you,\u201d which we soon learn is Canaan. Avram is then a seventy-five-year-old!<\/p>\n

What is \u201cmissing?\u201d It is my graduate school education in the field of developmental psychology that prompts me to ask this question. Missing are the many intervening years between the young Avram, subordinate to his father\u2019s travel plans and struggling sympathetically with his young wife\u2019s infertility, and his first direct encounter, nay conversation, with the Master of the Universe.<\/p>\n

Missing are the reasons for his family\u2019s flight from Ur Kasdim, the circumstances of Haran\u2019s death, the significance of Terach\u2019s intention to move the family to Canaan, but especially the role of Avram in all this drama.<\/p>\n

Most glaringly, what is missing is even the slightest account of Avram\u2019s religious development. There is no mention of any relationship whatsoever with the One Above until the Lord\u2019s command that he leave behind his land, his birthplace, and his father\u2019s domicile.<\/p>\n

A critically important segment of Avram\u2019s youth, formative years, and maturation is missing. This gap is troublesome, and it is left to our Sages to fill in the \u201cmissing link,\u201d to tell us the \u201crest of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in the process, to expound upon the nature of the conflict between good and evil, in our case between Avram and, yes, Nimrod!<\/p>\n

Here, in my free translation from the Aramaic, is the gist of the passage in Bereshit<\/em> Rabbah<\/em> 38:19 which addresses some of these questions:<\/p>\n

Rabbi Chiya, the son of Rabbi Ada of Jaffa related: Terach was an idolater and dealt in the sale of idols. One day, he left the store in charge of his son Avram in his stead.<\/p>\n

Along came a customer eager to purchase an idol. Avram asked him, \u201cHow old are you?\u201d To which the customer responded, \u201cAlmost sixty!\u201d Avram retorted, \u201cA man almost sixty wishes to worship a day-old idol?!\u201d The customer was ashamed and quickly departed.<\/p>\n

Along came another customer, a woman this time. She brought with her a tray filled to the brim with fine flour. She asked Avram to distribute the flour as an offering to one of the idols on her behalf. She departed.<\/p>\n

Avram then grasped a sledgehammer and smashed all the idols except for the largest one to smithereens. He then placed the hammer in the hands of the intact largest idol.<\/p>\n

Father Terach then returned and exclaimed to Avram, \u201cWhat is all this wreckage?\u201d To which Avram responded, \u201cYou see, dear father, this woman came into the shop with a flour offering for the idols. Immediately each idol protested and demanded the entire offering for itself. So, the largest idol grasped the hammer it is now holding and smashed all the others to bits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terach was incredulous. \u201cStop mocking me, Avram,\u201d he retorted. \u201cYou darn well know that these idols are dumb, deaf, and powerless!\u201d To which Avram retorted, \u201cMay your ears take note of what your mouth just admitted!\u201d<\/p>\n

Terach then surrendered Avram to \u2026 NIMROD!<\/p>\n

The Midrash continues to report upon the great theological debate between Nimrod and Avram, during which the former tries to convince the latter to accept his idol, namely a fiery furnace. Avram naturally refuses and is thrown into the furnace. His brother Haran, standing by, is conflicted and hedges his bets. He says to himself, \u201cIf Avram is consumed by the flames, I\u2019ll side with Nimrod. If Avram emerges unscathed by the flames, I\u2019ll side with Avram.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avram emerges unharmed by the fire. Nimrod then orders Haran to worship the furnace or be tossed into it. Haran, siding now with Avram, refuses and is immediately cast into the furnace but is denied the divine miracle that saved Avram and dies in the fire.<\/p>\n

That is the gist of the Midrashic passage, a story which many of us, including myself, first heard from our kindergarten teachers. It took me until the fourth grade, as I recall, before it occurred to me to ask my teacher why such an important narrative, which explains so much about Avram\u2019s personal growth, faith, and courage, is omitted from the biblical text\u2014a question for which I\u2019ve yet to find a satisfactory answer, and challenge you, dear reader, to ask yourselves.<\/p>\n

We do take away from this Midrash a number of important conclusions about the development of religious belief and about good versus evil.<\/p>\n

We learn that Avram came to the idea of monotheism on his own, in part through careful observation of the folly of idolatry. It is because of his self-initiated search for truth that he drew close enough to the Almighty to gain access to His favor and direction.<\/p>\n

We learn again about the extremes of which tyrants are capable, which include the annihilation of those of their constituents who do not comply with their idolatrous demands.<\/p>\n

We learn of the futility, exemplified by Haran, of an ambivalent wishy-washy faith commitment, of betting on the \u201cwinner\u201d in the contest between belief systems.<\/p>\n

As always, we have only just begun our search for the full story of the Nimrods of the world and of our forefather\u2019s \u201cmissing years\u201d and ultimate transition from Avram to Avraham, the \u201cfather of many nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay tuned, and with the Lord\u2019s help we will encounter a fully grown Avraham and a different kind of enemy, in next week\u2019s torah portion, Vayera<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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