(יג) וימת הרן על פני תרח אביו - רבי חייא בר בריה דרב אדא דיפו: תרח עובד צלמים היה, חד זמן נפיק לאתר הושיב לאברהם מוכר תחתיו. הוה אתי בר אינש בעי דיזבן והוה אמר לו: בר כמה שנין את? והוה אמר לו: בר חמשין או שיתין. והוה אמר לו: ווי ליה לההוא גברא דהוה בר שיתין, ובעי למסגד לבר יומי?! והוה מתבייש והולך לו. חד זמן אתא חד איתתא טעינה בידה חדא פינך דסולת. אמרה ליה: הא לך קרב קודמיהון. קם נסיב בוקלסא בידיה, ותבריהון לכולהון פסיליא, ויהב בוקלסא בידא דרבה דהוה ביניהון. כיון דאתא אבוה אמר לו: מאן עביד להון כדין? אמר לו: מה נכפר מינך, אתת חדא איתתא טעינה לה חדא פינך דסולת, ואמרת לי הא לך קריב קודמיהון, קריבת לקדמיהון הוה דין אמר: אנא איכול קדמאי! ודין אמר אנא איכול קדמאי! קם הדין רבה דהוה ביניהון, נסב בוקלסא ותברינון. אמר לו: מה אתה מפלה בי, וידעין אנון?! אמר לו: ולא ישמעו אזניך מה שפיך אומר?!
נסביה ומסריה לנמרוד. אמר לו: נסגוד לנורא! אמר לו אברהם: ונסגוד למיא, דמטפין נורא. אמר לו נמרוד: נסגוד למיא! אמר לו: אם כן נסגוד לעננא, דטעין מיא. אמר לו: נסגוד לעננא! אמר לו: אם כן נסגוד לרוחא, דמבדר עננא. אמר לו: נסגוד לרוחא! אמר לו: ונסגוד לבר אינשא, דסביל רוחא. אמר לו: מילין את משתעי! אני, איני משתחוה אלא לאור, הרי אני משליכך בתוכו, ויבא אלוה שאתה משתחוה לו ויצילך הימנו. הוה תמן. הרן קאים פלוג, אמר: מה נפשך, אם נצח אברהם, אנא אמר: מן דאברהם אנא, ואם נצח נמרוד, אנא אמר: דנמרוד אנא. כיון שירד אברהם לכבשן האש וניצול, אמרין ליה: דמאן את? אמר להון: מן אברהם אנא. נטלוהו והשליכוהו לאור ונחמרו בני מעיו ויצא ומת על פני תרח אביו, הה"ד (שם יב) וימת הרן על פני תרח וגו':
(13) "And Haran died in the presence of his father Terah" (Gen. 11:28). Rabbi Hiyya the grandson of Rabbi Adda of Yaffo [said]: Terah was a worshipper of idols. One time he had to travel to a place, and he left Abraham in charge of his store. When a man would come in to buy [idols], Abraham would ask: How old are you? They would reply: fifty or sixty. Abraham would then respond: Woe to him who is sixty years old and worships something made today - the customer would be embarrassed, and would leave. A woman entered carrying a dish full of flour. She said to him: this is for you, offer it before them. Abraham took a club in his hands and broke all of the idols, and placed the club in the hands of the biggest idol. When his father returned, he asked: who did all of this? Abraham replied: I can't hide it from you - a woman came carrying a dish of flour and told me to offer it before them. I did, and one of them said 'I will eat it first,' and another said 'I will eat it first.' The biggest one rose, took a club, and smashed the rest of them. Terah said: what, do you think you can trick me? They don't have cognition! Abraham said: Do your ears hear what your mouth is saying?
Terah took Abraham and passed him off to [King] Nimrod. They said [to the king]: let us worship the fire. Abraham said to them: [rather] let us worship water, for it extinguishes fire. Nimrod agreed: let us worship water. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship the clouds, which provide water. Nimrod agreed: let us worship the clouds. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship the winds that scatter the clouds. Nimrod agreed: let us worship the winds. Abraham continued: if so, let us worship humans who are filled with wind [air]. Nimrod replied: You're just speaking words - I only worship fire. I will throw you into it, and the God you worship can save you from it. Haran was hidden and was of two minds, saying [to himself]: if Abraham is victorious, I will say I am with Abraham, and if Nimrod is victorious, I will say I am with Nimrod. When Abraham was through into the fiery furnace and saved, they asked him [Haran]: who are you with? He replied: I am with Abraham. They took him and threw him into the fire, and his insides burned up and he died before his father Terah, as it says: "And Haran died in the [lit.] on the face of his father Terah" (Gen. 11:28).
The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of the Sefat Emet, Rabbi Yehudah Leib Alter of Ger, translated and interpreted by Arthur Green (Philadelphia: JPS, 1998), 289-90.
S’fat Emet: “You shall love YHWH your God" (Deut. 6:5). The Midrash quotes: "Whom do I have in heaven; I desire none alongside you in earth" (Ps. 73:25). This means one should want nothing but God.
“With all your soul"—"with every single soul-breath that God has created in you." And the meaning of "be-khol levavekha" is not "with all your heart," as most people interpret it. But rather, we need to become aware that each feeling we have is only the life-force that comes from God. "A person does not bang his finger below unless it is decreed from above"; we are but "the axe in the woodchopper's hand."
This is the meaning of "YHWH is one." It goes beyond the fact that there is just one God; there is YI-IWH and nothing else. Every thing that exists is only His blessed life, but it is hidden. The same is true of His blessed will. Therefore, the love of God has to be in every feeling a person has. This is "all your heart.” (5:18)
Green: Here we have the mystical claim of Hasidism in its most undiluted form. Since nothing but God is real, we should both seek and find nothing but God in all of our lives. Every feeling and emotion, every want and desire, come from nowhere other than the being and will of God. To worship God with "all your heart" requires recognizing this truth and living in response to it.
How would we begin to make this teaching real in our religious and emotional lives? It would require two steps: a great opening and a great directing. The first step is one of radical self-acceptance and inclusion. "I will stop fighting off my thoughts, stop picking and choosing among my desires. All of them, even those I like least, have their root in God, for there is no other root." The second step is that of directing and uplifting each of these thoughts and desires. Try addressing each of your desires this way: "The game is up, O desire. You can't fool me any more. I know that you too come from God, even if in fallen form. Now I will take you back to your root, using the energy you arouse in me to give to God in yet a more whole way."
This teaching does not answer for us the critical question of which desires or emotions we may act upon, celebrating God's presence in the fulfillment of desire, and which we must hold back, worshipping God with transformed desire alone. The spiritual life requires a proper balancing between these two; it is the critical role of halakhah—whether the old or a new form—to offer us guidance as to where those lines are drawn.
(25) Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And beside Thee I desire none upon earth.
- see Deuteronomy Rabbah 2:32
(6) Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Hallelujah.
- see Deuteronomy Rabbah 2:37