This sheet on Genesis 24 was written by Hagit Bartuv for 929 and can also be found here
Abraham establishes in this chapter the detached, alienated identity motif of the Jewish people throughout the generations. He instructs his servant to find his son a wife who is not one of the daughters of the land of Canaan, "among whom I dwell" (Genesis 24:3), but rather "go to the land of my birth and get a wife for my son Isaac" (24:4), and "on no account may you take my son back there!" (24:6).
After years in which he lived in this land to which God sent him, he still does not call it "my land," and not only that, but he also makes sure that his son and his children afterwards will have a similarly complex identity in which they live in one country, are even born there, but at the same time yearn for another country, another people who remained in the homeland.
It is as if Abraham wants to ensure that this discomfort and insecurity will always be part of his sons' identity, whose roots would always be "in two different landscapes" (as Leah Goldberg put it), their hearts would always be torn between their homeland and God’s land, the Land of Israel. That is, they will never feel fully as if they belong.
Perhaps Abraham understands that in order to live a full life in a complex world, in order to remain sensitive to human complexity, in order to feel God's closeness, there is a need for something that is missing, lost, or given up.
True, this may weaken us and depress us, but it also forces us to find unexpected, unpaved and very authentic ways - to ourselves, to our family, to God.
After years in which he lived in this land to which God sent him, he still does not call it "my land," and not only that, but he also makes sure that his son and his children afterwards will have a similarly complex identity in which they live in one country, are even born there, but at the same time yearn for another country, another people who remained in the homeland.
It is as if Abraham wants to ensure that this discomfort and insecurity will always be part of his sons' identity, whose roots would always be "in two different landscapes" (as Leah Goldberg put it), their hearts would always be torn between their homeland and God’s land, the Land of Israel. That is, they will never feel fully as if they belong.
Perhaps Abraham understands that in order to live a full life in a complex world, in order to remain sensitive to human complexity, in order to feel God's closeness, there is a need for something that is missing, lost, or given up.
True, this may weaken us and depress us, but it also forces us to find unexpected, unpaved and very authentic ways - to ourselves, to our family, to God.
Hagit Bartuv is the project and content leader of the Srigim initiative on Israeli moshavim
929 is the number of chapters in the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, the formative text of the Jewish heritage. It is also the name of a cutting-edge project dedicated to creating a global Jewish conversation anchored in the Hebrew Bible. 929 English invites Jews everywhere to read and study Tanakh, one chapter a day, Sunday through Thursday together with a website with creative readings and pluralistic interpretations, including audio and video, by a wide range of writers, artists, rabbis, educators, scholars, students and more. As an outgrowth of the web-based platform, 929 English also offers classes, pop-up lectures, events and across North America. We invite you to learn along with us and be part of our dynamic community.
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