Parashat Lech Lecha - the journey from yesterday till tomorrow (5 min read)

רפואה מן התורה

 Healing from the Torah

     This past Shabbat we had a brief discussion during our Torah study about Noah being described as, צדיק תמים היה בדרהיו, “righteous and unblemished he was in his generation.” In particular the word תמים was discussed. In modern Hebrew תמים (tamim) can mean “innocent, blameless or upright.” In Biblical Hebrew תמים can mean “God-fearing, unblemished” and is often translated as “perfect,” yet it can also mean “innocent”  The word for innocent in Biblical Hebrew is זכו (zachu), which can also mean “free or pure,” whereas in modern Hebrew it can mean not only innocent but also to “vindicate or exonerate.”  The words, though similar, are also slightly different.  In Biblical Hebrew the word carries with it more of a tone of spiritual and moral uprightness based on the ways of God, and in modern Hebrew, it’s more so a legal verdict.  That is very simple of course, but to the point. I think this matters as we begin to look at the life of Abraham.  Prior to Abraham we learned that Adam found out that there were consequences to the choices he made. With Noah we learned that he did not allow the higher values of his God-given soul to lead him as he encountered the power of his world.  And now Abram (later to be called Abraham) appears to represent a man, as we shall see, who aspires to live as one who is “righteous and unblemished” while seeking to conquer his own humanity.

     “Righteous and unblemished,” and some translations even say “perfect,” in many ways represent all the stories that we read about the people of God. Regarding Noah that designation has to be held in juxtaposition with “his generation” as opposed to being a man who was mistake free and/or infallible.  This is how the writers of the Torah understood Noah and I say the same is so for Abram.  Perhaps one difference between Noah and Abram is that Noah has no real voice, either with his short comings or emotive reactions, whereas Abram is more interactive and proactive as part of the story itself.  Abram’s story begins in Lech Lecha, Genesis 12:1-17:27, where God tells Abram and his family to leave their homeland.  Abram along the way makes some poor choices and the results are mixed.  In one part of the story Abram tells Pharaoh that his wife was his sister, because he feared that they might kill him so Pharaoh could have her,  although in the end he left Egypt with riches instead. In another part of the story he takes Hagar, his wife’s manservant, and has a son with her because he and Sarai could not conceive.  That however does not turn out so well, and Abram suffers the pain of a father, having to tell Hagar and his son Ishmael to leave. 
     In each case it was how he responded that should be noted.  When Abram and his family left Egypt it says, בְּשֵׁ֥ם יְהֹוָֽה וַיִּקְרָ֥א שָׁ֛ם אַבְרָ֖ם בָּרִֽאשֹׁנָ֑ה, hence it was the first time that "Abram called on the name of the Lord” by building an altar.  Why did this time happen now? Abram realized how fortunate he was to be alive after leaving Egypt with the gain of wealth, and despite his error, he gives thanks to God.  Likewise, after the birth of Ishmael, Abram would learn that his choice not to wait on God resulted in a divided home and the displeasure of his wife.  Abram questions God unlike Noah, or Adam before him, because he wants to know how his offspring can inherit a land if he has no seed?  When God makes him a promise of a seed Abram takes matters into his own hands. Like the riches he took from Egypt he and Sarai would have a son even in their old age.   In both cases, Abram acted, and he realized his error or undeserved good fortune by responding with thanks to God.  What can this teach us?

     This was God’s man, a man who was human but sought the right way even after he fell short.  So when he left his homeland the first thing God says to him in this narrative is, “And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will aggrandize your name, and [you shall] be a blessing.”  We read in a Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 39) about a traveler who entered a city and saw a building on fire, only to wonder who would take care of it, with the owner appearing to take responsibility for the flames. Abram asks the same of his world, only to have God say that he is the caregiver of the world, and in Abram the world be cared for.  How is Abram a caregiver for the world?  The mystics teach that Abram was not just physically leaving his past behind him but spiritually was walking into something new.  Maimonides writes that “and [you shall] be a blessing” means that like Abram all the families of the world will be blessed.  It could be that Abram was a blessing by becoming the first Jew, being the first to embrace monotheism, being the forerunner to Israel, teaching us about the acts of hospitality or standing up for justice.  But in another Midrash, Targum Yonathan, we learn that Abram was not just to leave his place of birth but to “separate” from it and never return.   The commonality between Adam, Noah and Abram is that they all made mistakes and had to make a choice how to respond.  The difference is that only Abram responded to a God inspired way by choosing to separate from the ills of his past in order to enter a new future.  That was a voice that we have not encountered before.

     Abram (exalted father) became Abraham (father of many) because his blessing would be for all who will follow.  In Abram we are invited to separate from out past and seek a new tomorrow guided by the ways of Torah in how we connect to our spirituality, values and ethics.   We are human, like Noah and Adam, but what will make us “righteous and unblemished” is when we, like Abraham, choose to live as normal people in progress through our higher values.