Although I am not blogging the entire cycle this year (still waiting for suggestions on a good theme), I am still going to synagogue regularly and following the weekly parsha. This week's parsha introduces the patriarch Abraham, as he is commanded to leave his home and go to the land which G*d will give to him and his descendants.
Many rabbinical discussions speculate on what distinguished Abraham to merit this call. Some create legends out of whole cloth, suggesting that as a small child he saw the folly of idol worship. Others see him as an adult, observing the world and concluding that there must be a Creator. Some conclude that G*d calls each and every one of us, just as He called Adam in the Garden of Eden. It is up to us to respond appropriately.
I have an edition of the Torah which breaks the text thematically rather than strictly along Parsha lines. This edition clued me in to a much more organic explanation of Abraham's prophetic encounter. His childhood is not a total mystery, to be shrouded in legends. The end of Parshat Noah gives some extensive detail:
What do we know here? Abraham (then Abram) was the eldest of three sons. His youngest brother Haran died as a young father, leaving behind a son (Lot) and two daughters (Milcah and Iscah). Does Abram feel any guilt in this? As the eldest, does he feel responsible for the tragedy, or for its consequences? His middle brother marries his niece Milcah and (as we learn later) has 8 children with her, as well as 4 children by a concubine. In the meantime Abram marries his (as we later learn) half-sister Sarai, who turns out to be barren.
In the midst of all this, his aging father decides to uproot from the city of Ur and head towards Canaan. (Did he have a divine call in this? What did this trip mean to the father, who had buried his youngest son?) He takes with him his childless son and daughter-in-law, as well as his orphaned grandson Lot. Abram and Sarai develop a sort of foster-parenting relationship with Lot. Nahor and his large clan are left behind. How does this impact Abram? Disconnected from his familiar town, his friends, and his remaining brother and his family.
Terah, Abram, Sarai and Lot never do arrive in Canaan. They stop in Haran. In Hebrew this is spelled differently than the deceased brother's name, although this could be a transcription error, as the letters חָ and הָ are quite similar. It may well be that they named their stopping-point in his memory. Why do they stop? How does Terah feel about not making it to Canaan? How does Abram feel about this?
It is in this context that Abram hear's G*d's call:
G*d's promise does not come in a vacuum. G*d is promising to make right everything that went wrong in Abram's life. He will have progeny, he will be a blessing rather than a curse to others (still feeling guilty about his little brother....) and he will complete his father's mission by arriving in Canaan.
This, indeed, is a person with whom we can identify! Living through personal loss and disconnection, Abram sees in the divine an opportunity for deliverance. He seeks to create a meaning for his life that is greater than the everyday details of his existence. He has made a good living in Haran, but he is not settled. He needs more. He needs validation that there is a meaning and value to his losses.
And then G*d speaks to him.
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