Please note that this D'var Torah was shared at our Friday night Kabbalat Shabbat minyan; it is still relevant for several weeks to come in terms of the text we continue to read and for our lives in thinking about what we fight for, the faith that motivates us, and why.
We live in an age of too many words, too many versions of stories we may not know much about and too many pulls on our intellect, emotions and sanity in trying to figure out what exactly is going on. What is the real story and not fabricated versions of what has happened? Further, is there even such a thing as a completely TRUE distillation of events or is every narrative filtered through various lenses as we try to decipher its meanings and the elements of its various threads? And what are the lessons of those stories that explain why we keep telling them over and over again? This is precisely the work of Biblical commentary when we look at these stories of our Torah that form the foundation of the story that we have inherited, continue to tell and will pass on as our legacy to those to come. And we have some difficult components of this week’s telling of Lech Lecha to be sure.
Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman Girondi or Nachmanides does not having any qualms about calling the Patriarchs and Matriarchs to task for deeds that are less than honorable. In commenting about this week’s Parsha’s narrative, particularly those events chronicled in 12:11 ff regarding how Avram acts when he realizes that the Egyptians may kill him because of his beautiful Sarah, Nachmanides teaches as follows:
Know that Avram our father unintentionally committed a great sin by bringing his righteous wife to a stumbling block of sin on account of his fear for his life. He should have trusted that God would save him and his wife and all his belongings, for God surely has the power to help and to save. … It was because of this deed that the exile in the land of Egypt at the hand of Pharaoh was decreed for his children.
Later in Chapter 16, when Sarai comes complaining to Avram about Hagar and Avram tells her to do with her maidservant as she sees fit, Nachmanides is none too pleased with her either, as he explains
Our mother Sarai transgressed by causing this affliction in sending Hagar away as did Avram by allowing her to do so. So God heard Hagar’s cries and gave her a son who would be a wild man to afflict the seed of Avram and Sarai with all kinds of trouble.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks points out that we must understand the context of this thinking as Nachmanides unpacks the text for us. Where does it come from? In Ramban’s own age (1194 – 1270), Jews were subject to attack by radical Islamist, the Almodhads, who ended what we know as the tolerant rule of the Umayyads and the Golden Age of Spain. Ramban and his contemporaries were clearly suffering and no doubt were put in the situation of having to make forced choices amongst alternatives that were not favorable or perhaps, even honorable. It may well have been this reality of his historical context that provided the overlay for how he saw, perhaps, justified Jewish suffering as a result of these missteps of those who birthed nations to come.
Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel (1437–1508) was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, and commentator who looks at these events a bit differently. He suggests that Avram would have been willing to save Sarai with sacrificing his life; but he realized that Sarai would have been abducted anyway if he was no longer alive. Therefore, he may have realized that allowing himself to be killed for her sake as her husband would have been futile and thus claimed she was his sister. Abarbanel compares this to Aaron and the Egel HaMasecha – if he had not allowed the people to do what they wanted, they would have killed him and then done what they pleased, so what would be the point? Again, Abarbanel lived at a time when the Jewish people were often under attack and thus subjected to forced choices. Maybe for him the lesson is how does one decide in such impossible situtions in which there are choiceless or forced choices?
A bit later in the narrative (18: 12ff) when Sarah and Avraham are told they shall have a son of their own, Sarah laughs, and again many commentators have a really hard time justifying this action. Abarbanel asks where is Avraham’s and Sarah’s faith in God. Here he compares them to Noach whom God tells to build an ark and to save his family and he does not ask any questions but rather does all that God tells him to do in exactly the way God tells him to do it. While Rashi and others claim that this very difference is the source of why we consider Avraham and Sarah better role models of so much as they are worried about others, serving guests, negotiating for the people of Sodom and Amora while Noach just worries about his family; Abarbanel shows us that something else is going on here. Where is the faith in God that Avraham and Sarah are to have? Why are they not able to call upon it when it matters the most in their personal lives?
Nechama Leibowitz has us ask WHY did God choose Avram? Clearly God is invested in all people and ultimately we all have one father, going back to the story of Creation. But what exactly is going on here? Why is Avraham instructed to leave all that he knows and go to the place that God will show him? Nechama states that no reason is given. We know why Noach was chosen – he showed himself to be worthy and followed God in every way. But Avraham – we do not know why he was chosen or that he should have been the one who was chosen, given the various choices and actions we see that made up the totality of his life. He protects and advocates on behalf of the people of Sodom and Amora but lies to save his life, potentially putting Sarah in danger. He welcomes guests to his home and rolls out the red carpet for them while showing readiness to sacrifice his son, replicating practices that no doubt he saw during his formative years. What lesson is there in his becoming Avraham Aveinu and in Sarah being Sarah Emeinu for us today? To be sure, we have all talked many times in different venues about how the Patriarchs and the Matriarchs are imperfect. We embrace the Jewish narrative of the Torah in which we see their doubts, their flaws, and their shortcomings. That being said, I want to suggest something else.
Perhaps it is their lack of faith or the expanse of that faith in God so repeatedly chronicled in this and in coming Parshiot that we are to take note of and watch. These chapters of our past may have their most probative value in showing us how God and our ancestors negotiate what faith looks like. It is not automatic, it is not unquestioning, it is not blind. Rather, it is hard work and requires working through a relationship even when there are difficulties that threaten to sever that relationship. Further, maybe these experiences provide a context for God to show us the breath and breadth of God’s capacity in instructing us that there is a reason for us to place our faith in God. Ultimately, Sarah is not raped or taken by the Pharaoh, Hagar and Yishmael are saved and Yitzchak is born. That being said, there are consequences – we will be slaves in Egypt, Yitzchak’s generations to come will be in conflict and Yitzchak will not laugh at every juncture in his life. My point is not to create artificial and untenable equations here, but rather to indicate the complication that is inherent in the trajectory of our lives and in the many chapters we live through, as well as the extent to which faith gets us through them.
We speak of the Ten Tests of Avraham. I like to point out that the Hebrew word for testing and experiencing is the same word, n-s-h, which is to say every experience we have is potentially a test. We constantly are called to “put our faith to the test” in our lives, finding ourselves in impossible situations with choiceless choices to be made. Perhaps this is one of, if not the most salient lesson that Avraham Aveinu and Sarah Emeinu bequeath to us. Further, these tests of faith most powerfully present when they involve the fate or have ramifications for the ones we love the most. We are willing to argue for a just cause for others, we are willing to acquiesce to the requests of others when it is not a matter of life or death for us as does Avraham when he and Lot come to a land that must be divided between them and their groups. It is when it is OUR LIFE or OUR PERSONAL DESTINY that our faith is most put to the test. It is here that Avraham and Sarah may not get the highest scores.
Pastor Rick Warren, an Evangelical Christian minister explains as follows:
The Bible also tells us that with every promise there is a condition. One of the conditions for this promise is that you have to trust God. The more you trust God, the more God is able to meet needs in your life.
So, how can you learn to trust God more so God can meet all of your needs? How can you learn to have greater faith?
You don’t get faith by sitting in a Bible study group or just talking about it. Faith is like a muscle; it develops by being used. The more you use your faith, the more it gets stretched. And the more it gets stretched, the more God is able to bless your life.
We call the circumstances that God creates to stretch our faith "trials."
Stretching our Faith by Trials – this is what happens to Avraham ten times in our narrative. And as Pastor Rick says, the more Avraham uses his faith, it gets stretched and honed and expands. Maybe this is the most salient lesson of Avraham Aveinu and Sarah Emeinu – yes, there is their imperfection, but here we are talking about something else. How far can you stretch and use your faith so that it expands to the point that God is always part of the equation as you make decisions? The degree to which we can do that will directly impact the place of faith in our lives and the ongoing relationship we craft through its presence with God and all those around us, and for this lesson taught we thank Avraham Aveinu and Sarah Emeinu.
Shabbat Shalom.
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