ספר בראשית

Everything that has been handed down to us about Avram ‎suggests that he was unwavering in his faith in G’d from his very ‎youth, and certainly did not have any theological relapses. ‎Nachmanides stated with absolute certainty, basing himself on ‎Genesis 25,8 that Avram had always considered anything that ‎happened to him as being G’d’s desire and meant for his own ‎good. Nachmanides understood this as being the meaning of the ‎words: ‎זקן ושבע ימים‎, “of old age, satisfied and satisfied in years.” ‎Contrary to most people, who are described in Kohelet ‎Rabbah, 5,9 as leaving behind many unfulfilled aspirations ‎when they die, Avraham died fully fulfilled. In Baba Batra ‎‎117, as well as in Sanhedrin 91 the meaning of the word ‎מורשה‎ is discussed, there being different opinions of how the ‎distribution of the ancestral plots in the Land of Israel was ‎determined by lottery; if the lottery only applied to the tribal ‎allocations, or to families. The discussion also concerns whether ‎only Jews who partook in the Exodus or their offspring were ‎allocated land, or whether the allocation included Jews who had ‎lived before that period, including Avram, Yitzchok, etc. Avram’s ‎question of ‎במה אדע כי אירשנה‎, meant: “how will I know that I ‎personally will be included in the distribution of the land at that ‎time? He knew that he would not inherit a plot of land in Israel as ‎part of his father Terach’s merit, as he had been the first convert ‎to Judaism, something that was confirmed in Sukkah 49. ‎Since he did not endure slavery in Egypt as did the generation of ‎the Exodus, he was not sure that he would qualify at the time of ‎the distribution.Avram’s question had been triggered by G’d ‎saying to him:, ‎לתת לך את הארץ הזאת לרשתה‎, “to give to you this ‎land in order to inherit it.” (15,7) Avram wanted to know if he ‎would live long enough to take part in the distribution of the ‎land in Joshua’s time, or how he was to understand the words: ‎לתת לך‎, “to give to you.” The Talmud in Sukkah 49 quotes ‎psalms 47,10 where we encounter the expression ‎עם אלוקי אברהם‎, ‎‎“the nation that worships the G’d of Avraham”; a sage raised ‎question whether G’d perhaps is not also the G’d of the people of ‎Yitzchok and the G’d of the people of Yaakov.” The answer given ‎is that Avraham was the first convert from which the Jewish ‎people developed, so that he enjoys a special status. As a reward, ‎G’d gave the land of Israel especially to him. Avraham wanted to ‎know if, since the land of Israel becomes a ‎מורשה‎, his share would ‎be due to his father bequeathing it to him. The term ‎ירש‎, “to ‎inherit,” always implies that one inherits from a father. If ‎Avram’s question had been ‎במה אדע כי תתן לי‎, “how will I know ‎that You give it to me,” it would have been inappropriate, of ‎course. G’d had spoken about “giving;” Avram asked only about ‎the hereditary aspect, ‎אירשנה‎.We will deal with the expression ‎במה אדע‎, somewhat later in this paragraph.‎ When G’d introduced His reply to Avram’s question with the ‎words: ‎ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך‎, “you must truly realize that your ‎descendants will be strangers, etc.,” this can best be understood ‎when referring to a commentary by the Zohar I 87 on the ‎verse: (Genesis 2,4)‎אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ‏‎. The letter ‎ה‎ in ‎smaller script in the middle of this word alerts the reader not to ‎read the word as a single word, but as ‎באברהם ברא‎, i.e. G’d created ‎the universe on account of, or with the eventual assistance of ‎Avraham.” Had G’d not foreseen that someone like Avram will be ‎born, He would not have considered it worth His while to create ‎the human race. The fact that Avraham, on his own, without ‎prompting, would proclaim the name of the Creator, made it ‎worth G’d’s while to put up with all the sins man would commit. ‎Avraham would be the one to acquaint his peers with the concept ‎that G’d is One, is unique, is in charge of the universe and yet had ‎granted the creatures he made in His image freedom of choice to ‎choose their own path in life. The fact that this Avraham would ‎sire a Yitzchok, and Yitzchok in turn would sire a Yaakov who ‎raised 12 sons who would form the nucleus of the Jewish nation, a ‎nation of priests, made it all worthwhile for G’d. When the Jewish ‎people collectively accepted G’d’s Torah, without critically ‎examining what was written therein first, this was a crowning ‎moment not only for the Jewish people, but it enabled G’d to ‎converse with a mortal human being, Moses, as if he were on His ‎own level, i.e. ‎פנים אל פנים‎, face to face.‎When G’d introduced His reply to Avram’s question with the ‎words: ‎ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך‎, “you must truly realize that your ‎descendants will be strangers, etc.,” this can best be understood ‎when referring to a commentary by the Zohar I 87 on the ‎verse: (Genesis 2,4)‎אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם ‏‎. The letter ‎ה‎ in ‎smaller script in the middle of this word alerts the reader not to ‎read the word as a single word, but as ‎באברהם ברא‎, i.e. G’d created ‎the universe on account of, or with the eventual assistance of ‎Avraham.” Had G’d not foreseen that someone like Avram will be ‎born, He would not have considered it worth His while to create ‎the human race. The fact that Avraham, on his own, without ‎prompting, would proclaim the name of the Creator, made it ‎worth G’d’s while to put up with all the sins man would commit. ‎Avraham would be the one to acquaint his peers with the concept ‎that G’d is One, is unique, is in charge of the universe and yet had ‎granted the creatures he made in His image freedom of choice to ‎choose their own path in life. The fact that this Avraham would ‎sire a Yitzchok, and Yitzchok in turn would sire a Yaakov who ‎raised 12 sons who would form the nucleus of the Jewish nation, a ‎nation of priests, made it all worthwhile for G’d. When the Jewish ‎people collectively accepted G’d’s Torah, without critically ‎examining what was written therein first, this was a crowning ‎moment not only for the Jewish people, but it enabled G’d to ‎converse with a mortal human being, Moses, as if he were on His ‎own level, i.e. ‎פנים אל פנים‎, face to face.Moses reminded the people in Deut. 5,4 how 40 years earlier, ‎when most of them had not yet been alive, G’d had addressed the ‎whole nation on the ‎פנים אל פנים‎ “face to face level,” [until the ‎people asked Moses to be their interpreter instead. Ed.] At that ‎time all creatures on earth were in awe of their Creator. When the ‎people had consecrated the Tabernacle in the desert as a “home” ‎for Hashem in the lower parts of the universe, G’d took delight in ‎the world He had created, as we know from Taanit 26 where ‎the Talmud understands Song of Songs 3,11 ‎ביום חתונתו וביום שמחת ‏לבו‎, “on His wedding day, the day when His heart rejoices,” as ‎referring to G’d’s feelings on the day of the revelation at Mount ‎Sinai, and the day when the Tabernacle was consecrated, ‎respectively. This is the kind of ‎נחת רוח‎, “pleasure, satisfaction,” ‎that man in the lower part of the universe can contribute to G’d ‎in the loftier spheres, in heaven. On both of these occasions the ‎joy was reciprocal, G’d showing that He can associate with ‎earthlings and take pleasure from this. The Israelites’ enthusiastic ‎response after the splitting of the sea and their miraculous and ‎escape from Pharaoh’s pursuing armies, was another occasion ‎when the reciprocal nature of the relationship between G’d and ‎His “chosen” people was demonstrated publicly. Nowadays, ‎almost 4000 years later, we recall these events and praise the Lord ‎every week when we pronounce the blessings over wine. Not a ‎day goes by without our giving thanks to the Lord for the Exodus ‎from Egypt‎.At the time when Avram lived, the world, i.e. the planet earth ‎and man on it, was still in a state of semi-collapse, its continued ‎existence far from assured, until Yitzchok and Yaakov continued ‎the work that Avram had started when he kept proclaiming the ‎power and goodness of the Creator. This assurance of the earth’s ‎continued existence was only confirmed with the creation of the ‎Jewish people, and this people’s leaving Egypt as G’d’s people, ‎after having slaughtered the Passover, and proven that they ‎considered the Creator as their highest authority.The Tur, commenting on why we mention the Exodus ‎of Egypt in the weekly Kiddush, as opposed to the ‎‎Kiddush on the festivals whose link to the Exodus is self-‎evident, explains that the Sabbath harbours within it the ‎כח ‏המוליד‎, the power that enables creatures to regenerate themselves ‎by producing offspring. This “power” is conditional on the ‎observance of the Sabbath (in some form). Terach, Avram’s ‎father, while able to produce physical offspring, was unable to ‎produce offspring equipped with the kind of soul that would be ‎active in spreading the message that G’d is the one and only ‎Creator. [I have not been able to find where the Tur writes ‎this, although he writes about man as well as most other living ‎creatures becoming endowed with the ability to procreate bodies ‎in his Torah commentary. (Genesis 2,3)