What does it mean that Abraham was the First Jew? We all learned that in Hebrew School, but what does that mean? And what was special about the guy? Let's see what we can glean from the text...
--Jew is a misnomer. It is connected to Yehudi, Judah
--Abraham is leaving his land. His customs and norms behind. He was an Iconoclast.
--Think about those that leave their father's land. Kind of American. Rugged Individualism.
--Abraham is the first to have dialogue with God. It seems like God is initiating, but perhaps it came after a long mulling.
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.
--Promises are being made. There must have been something he did. Was he just chosen from nothing?
--Abraham must have brought somthing great to the table of humanity.
--Monotheism, perhaps. Ethical and moral culture.
--There's something that brought us from him to us
And curse the one who curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you.”
--All the nations of the land: truth be told, the Jewish people/culture are very ensconsed in the humanity. We are either hated or loved but we are not quiet (or Iceland)....
He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all the ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed, and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other peoples have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality? (Mark Twain
וַיִּקַּ֣ח אַבְרָם֩ אֶת־שָׂרַ֨י אִשְׁתּ֜וֹ וְאֶת־ל֣וֹט בֶּן־אָחִ֗יו וְאֶת־כׇּל־רְכוּשָׁם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר רָכָ֔שׁוּ וְאֶת־הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂ֣וּ בְחָרָ֑ן וַיֵּצְא֗וּ לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ אַ֥רְצָה כְּנָֽעַן׃
Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan,
Nefesh means Soul, the way you wold say "not a soul here." But the word also has conotations of the spiritual soul, as in Abraham was inerested in the spiritual realm more so than the physical. And that he (and Sarah) were communal people, they reach out and helped people find themselves.
אשר עשו בחרן. שֶׁהִכְנִיסָן תַּחַת כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה; אַבְרָהָם מְגַיֵּר אֶת הָאֲנָשִׁים וְשָׂרָה מְגַיֶּרֶת הַנָּשִׁים, וּמַעֲלֶה עֲלֵיהֶם הַכָּתוּב כְּאִלּוּ עֲשָׂאוּם; וּפְשׁוּטוֹ שֶׁל מִקְרָא עֲבָדִים וּשְׁפָחוֹת שֶׁקָּנוּ לָהֶם, כְּמוֹ עָשָׂה אֵת כָּל הַכָּבֹד הַזֶּה (שם ל"א), וְיִשְׂרָאֵל עֹשֶׂה חָיִל (במדבר כד יח), לְשׁוֹן קוֹנֶה וְכוֹנֵס:
אשר עשו בחרן [THE SOULS] THAT THEY HAD GOTTEN (literally, made) IN HARAN — The souls which he had brought beneath the sheltering wings of the Shechinah. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women and Scripture accounts it unto them as if they had made them (Genesis Rabbah 39:14). However, the real sense of the text is that it refers to the men-servants and to the maidservants whom they had acquired for themselves. The word “עשה” is used here as (in Genesis 31:1), “he has acquired (עשה) all this wealth”, and (Numbers 24:8), “And Israel acquires (עושה) wealth” — an expression for acquiring and amassing.
וַיֵּרָ֤א יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לְזַ֨רְעֲךָ֔ אֶתֵּ֖ן אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֑את וַיִּ֤בֶן שָׁם֙ מִזְבֵּ֔חַ לַיהֹוָ֖ה הַנִּרְאֶ֥ה אֵלָֽיו׃
יהוה appeared to Abram and said, “I will assign this land to your offspring.” And he built an altar there to יהוה who had appeared to him.
וַיַּעְתֵּ֨ק מִשָּׁ֜ם הָהָ֗רָה מִקֶּ֛דֶם לְבֵֽית־אֵ֖ל וַיֵּ֣ט אׇהֳלֹ֑ה בֵּֽית־אֵ֤ל מִיָּם֙ וְהָעַ֣י מִקֶּ֔דֶם וַיִּֽבֶן־שָׁ֤ם מִזְבֵּ֙חַ֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה וַיִּקְרָ֖א בְּשֵׁ֥ם יְהֹוָֽה׃
From there he moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and he built there an altar to יהוה and invoked יהוה by name.
And there's that story of Sarah and Abraham claiming she's her sister... What's that all about?
There are no heroes in the Torah. All are falible and all are human.
Another episode of invoking God and caling out in his name, AKA prayer...
A moral story. Abraham was ready to compromise...left his ego at home..
Perhaps a prelude and a promonition to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Also an allusion to te
הֲלֹ֤א כׇל־הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הִפָּ֥רֶד נָ֖א מֵעָלָ֑י אִם־הַשְּׂמֹ֣אל וְאֵימִ֔נָה וְאִם־הַיָּמִ֖ין וְאַשְׂמְאִֽילָה׃
Is not the whole land before you? Let us separate: if you go north, I will go south; and if you go south, I will go north.”
Morality and Good and Evil enter the picture, all a leadup to the Revelation at Sinai, where a clear path of good over evil was put forth.
Back to the Land...and the promsie that it will be gifted to Abraham and his descendents
A tale of the nobility of Abraham, the he didn't want to take any reward for his actions in helping, and also instructing a tale of metrialism. Who makes us Rich but God....
“Fear not, Abram,
I am a shield to you;
Your reward shall be very great.”
The language indicates that perhaps it's the mystery that is the secret of the Jews, not their numbers, which have never been great.
[Then in the vision, God] took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them”—continuing, “So shall your offspring be.”
WHAT IS A JEW? Tolstoy
This question is not as strange as it may seem at first glance. Let’s examine this free creature that was insulated and oppressed, trampled on and pursued, burned and drowned by all the rulers and the nations, but is nevertheless living and thriving in spite of the whole world.
What is a Jew that did not succumb to any worldly temptations offered by his oppressors and persecutors so that he would renounce his religion and abandon the faith of his fathers?
A Jew is a sacred being who procured an eternal fire from the heavens and with it illuminated the earth and those who live on it. He is the spring and the source from which the rest of the nations drew their religions and beliefs.
A Jew is a pioneer of culture. From time immemorial, ignorance was impossible in the Holy Land, even more so than nowadays in civilized Europe. Moreover, at the time when the life and death of a human being was worth nothing, Rabbi Akiva spoke against the death penalty which is now considered to be an acceptable punishment in the most civilized countries.
A Jew is a pioneer of freedom. Back in primitive times, when the nation was divided into two classes, masters and slaves, Moses’ teaching forbid holding a person as a slave for more than six years.
A Jew is a symbol of civil and religious tolerance. ‘So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt”. These words were uttered during distant, barbarian times when it was commonly acceptable among the nations to enslave each other.
In terms of tolerance, the Jewish religion is far from recruiting adherents. Quite the opposite, the Talmud prescribes that if a non-Jew wants to convert to the Jewish faith, then it has to be explained to him how difficult it is to be a Jew and that the righteous of other religions also inherit the heavenly kingdom. A Jew is a symbol of eternity.
The nation which neither slaughter nor torture could exterminate, which neither fire nor sword of civilizations were able to erase from the face of the earth, the nation which first proclaimed the word of the Lord, the nation which preserved the prophecy for so long and passed it on to the rest of humanity, such a nation cannot vanish.
A Jew is eternal; he is an embodiment of eternity.
From this week's Haftorah...
Why declare, O Israel,
“My way is hid from the LORD,
My cause is ignored by my God”?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is God from of old,
Creator of the earth from end to end,
He never grows faint or weary,
His wisdom cannot be fathomed.
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
Seed of Abraham My friend—
And called from its far corners,
To whom I said: You are My servant;
I chose you, I have not rejected you—
Be not frightened, for I am your God;
I strengthen you and I help you,
I uphold you with My victorious right hand.