(1) Now God said to Abram: ‘Go forth from your land, and from your birthplace, and your father's house to the land that I will show you. (2) And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. (3) And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you, and all the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.
- What does God promise to Abram in this passage?
- What is required of Abram?
- From this passage, why does God choose Abram over/above someone else?
"וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וְגוֹ'".... אמר רבי יצחק משל לאחד שהיה עובר ממקום למקום וראה בירה אחת דולקת אמר תאמר שהבירה זו בלא מנהיג? הציץ עליו בעל הבירה אמר לו: "אני הוא בעל הבירה."
כך לפי שהיה אבינו אברהם אומר תאמר שהעולם הזה בלא מנהיג? הציץ עליו הקב"ה ואמר לו: "אני הוא בעל העולם."
הוי "וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל אַבְרָם לך לך וגו'"
And God said to Abram: "Go you forth from your land…" ….Rabbi Itzhak illustrated this with an example of a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a building (birah) aglow (doleket). He said, "Is it possible that no one is in charge here?" The owner of the building peaked out at him and said: “I am in charge of the building.”
So too our Patriarch Abraham [once] said: “Is it possible that no one is in charge of the world" [Then] the Holy Blessed One peaked out and said to him, “I am the Owner of the Universe.”
....Thus, "God said to Avraham, Go forth..."
- What do you think is the underlying purpose of Abraham's question in this midrash/
- How does your understanding of the text change if we define birah differently or doleket differently?
- How can this midrash help us to answer the question "what is the Jewish mission" statement?
"The judge of all earth shall not do justice. If you want the world to exist, there cannot be strict justice. If you want strict justice, the world cannot exist. You are trying to hold the rope by both ends. You want both the world and strict justice. If you do not let strict justice go, there will be no world."
Rabbi Rueven Hammer, The Torah Revolution, pg. 38
(11th Century, France)
What did Abraham see when it says birah doleket? He "saw heaven and earth. He saw the sun by day, and the moon by night, and stars shining. He thought, ‘Is it possible that such a great thing could be without a guide?' Whereupon God looked out at him and announced, ‘I am the owner of the world.'"
(18th Century, Belarus)
"When Abraham saw that the wicked were setting the world on fire, he began to doubt in his heart: 'Perhaps there is no one who looks after this world. Immediately, God appeared to him and said, ‘I am the owner of the world.'"
(21st Century, England)
"The faith of Abraham begins in the refusal to accept either answer, for both contain a truth, and between them there is a contradiction . . . The first says that if evil exists, God does not exist. The second says that if God exists, evil does not exist. But supposing both exist? Supposing there are both the palace and the flames?" There is a magnificent palace, and yet it is in flames. Abram, the paradigmatic Jew, is simultaneously grateful and indignant.
(19-20th Century, England)
"What we need is not the cold acceptance of the world as a compromise, but some way in which we can heartily hate and heartily love it. We do not want joy and anger to neutralize each other . . . We have to feel the universe at once to be an ogre's castle, to be stormed, and yet as our own cottage, to which we can return at evening."
And Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “After the Lord your God shall you walk, and Him shall you fear, and His commandments shall you keep, and unto His voice shall you hearken, and Him shall you serve, and unto Him shall you cleave” (Deuteronomy 13:5)? But is it actually possible for a person to follow the Divine Presence? But hasn’t it already been stated: “For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God” (Deuteronomy 4:24), and one cannot approach fire.
He explains: Rather, the meaning is that one should follow the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be He. He provides several examples. Just as He clothes the naked, as it is written: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), so too, should you clothe the naked. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, visits the sick, as it is written with regard to God’s appearing to Abraham following his circumcision: “And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1), so too, should you visit the sick. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, consoles mourners, as it is written: “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son” (Genesis 25:11), so too, should you console mourners. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be He, buried the dead, as it is written: “And he was buried in the valley in the land of Moab” (Deuteronomy 34:6), so too, should you bury the dead.