“The Lord said to Abram: Go you, from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1).
“The Lord said to Abram: Go you, from your land…” – Rabbi Yitzḥak began: “Listen, daughter, see, and incline your ear. Forget your people and your father’s house” (Psalms 45:11). Rabbi Yitzḥak said: This is analogous to one who was passing from place to place, and saw a building with a [candle] burning in it. He said: ‘Is it possible that this building has no one in charge of it?’ The owner of the building looked out at him and said: ‘I am the owner of the building.’ So, because Abraham our patriarch was saying: ‘Is it possible that this world is without someone in charge?’ The Holy One blessed be God looked at him and said to him: ‘I am the owner of the world.’ “The king will desire your beauty, as he is your master” (Psalms 45:12) – to show your beauty in the world. “And bow to him” (Psalms 45:12) – that is, “the Lord said to Abram.”
This midrash paints a picture of divine relationship that emerges from a place of shock and indignation. God shows up in the world because Abraham demands it. The world without God’s presence is untenable, it will burn itself out. Abraham won’t let that happen. He holds God accountable, reminding God that the ruler of the universe needs to act like it.
Abraham understands that the world needs God, and so he devotes the rest of his life to being an agent of God’s blessing...
There is another common, but opposite way to read this midrash about Abrahm’s encounter with the burning building. The Hebrew word doleket can be translated not only as “aflame,” but also as “aglow.” It is possible that this midrash is teaching us to find God not by looking directly at the parts of our world that burn, but by focusing our attention on the parts luminescent with beauty and wonder. In this reading, Abraham is the master of mindfulness. He is the first to notice divine blessing manifest in the world and offer God credit.
In his writings, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel teaches this midrash both ways — sometimes giving voice to our pain and outrage, and at others to our wonder and beauty. To get through this moment in Jewish history, we are going to need both... this world that is on fire is also aglow with light.
Aflame and Aglow | My Jewish Learning
(5) Thus said the ETERNAL God,
Who created the heavens and stretched them out,
Who spread out the earth and what it brings forth,
Who gave breath to the people upon it
And life to those who walk thereon:
(6) I GOD, in My grace, have summoned you,
And I have grasped you by the hand.
I created you, and appointed you
A covenant people, a light of nations
(7) Opening eyes deprived of light,
Rescuing prisoners from confinement,
From the dungeon those who sit in darkness.