A Biblical Promise to Us?

Lech Lecha

Gen. 12:1 -17:27

Précis: This parasha, “get you up” or “go yourself” (lech lecha) begins with “the call” of Abram to leave his home and depart for a new land. At God’s command, Abram and Sarai journey to Canaan. When famine strikes, they travel to Egypt, where Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s harem after Abram calls her his “sister,” but she escapes without harm. They then leave Egypt, with Abram now a rich man. To avoid family squabbles, Abram separates himself from his nephew Lot (who moves to Sodom), but Abram is forced to rescue Lot and reach a negotiated settlement with the locals. God promises him an heir. Because Sarai is barren, she offers Abram her servant (Hagar), and Hagar gives birth to a son, Ishmael. Abram is then promised a son through Sarai, to be his true heir. Abram’s name is changed to Abraham, and Sarai’s to Sarah, in recognition of the new Covenant with God, which is then symbolized by Abraham’s circumcision.

Gen. 12:6-7 “Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinths of Moreh. The Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your offspring.’”

             We read this week of the appearance of Abram (to be renamed Abraham), the Biblical progenitor of the Jewish People. We also observe in this parasha, in the verse cited above, God’s promise that Abram and his descendants would inherit the Land.

            Literalists will suggest that this provides a Biblical basis and justification for the modern State of Israel, a realization of God’s promise to the Jewish People. Indeed, parts of the Zionist Movement (particularly the Religious Zionists who believed that their assistance in the creation of a Jewish State would hasten the arrival of the Messiah), have made exactly that claim. Zionists of almost all stripes take note of the devotion to the Land by the Jewish People and its prayer for a new state during the centuries of the Exile.

            As noted by Hillel Ben Sasson (JTS, 11/11/16), one is tempted to adopt such an understanding, given the apparently miraculous re-establishment of a Jewish State 1,800 years after its destruction. But adopting such a view, he argues, while tempting, is also dangerous. It is dangerous in part because it can be a source of hubris which can cause forgetfulness: Israel came into being not only through the valiant Zionists who “built up” the Land, but also through the United Nations, which recognized the right of Israel to exist as a free and independent member of the family of nations.

            We can nevertheless connect the modern State with its Biblical predecessor on another level, and that is to be found in Abram’s life. As a newly arrived immigrant to Canaan, he travels as a nomad (and not as a landlord). He takes care to avoid quarrels with his new neighbors. Abram obtains land through purchase only after generous dealings with the local inhabitants. He demonstrates through his own actions (in his quarrel with God over the fate of Sodom) that he is a man of justice. Sasson argues that God’s promise of the Land as an inheritance was conditional: Abram was required to demonstrate a high moral character.

            When we read God’s promise of the Land to Abram and his successors as conditional, we should recognize that the modern State of Israel is also bound by the character traits of its founder, or as Sasson suggests, “independence, sovereignty, and power are a political and moral test, not a possession inherently belonging to the Jewish people.” We, the Jewish People of the galut, are tied to the Land of Israel, and are obligated to help Israel succeed in this test of character.

Can We Just Talk?

Noach

Gen. 6:9-11:32

Précis: The story of Noah (Hebrew: Noach) and the Flood appear in this parasha. Noah, called by God, builds the Ark and collects the animals. It rains for forty days and nights. Noah and his family are saved, and afterward leave the Ark, build an altar, and make sacrifices to God. God sets a rainbow as a promise not to destroy mankind again. Noah plants a vineyard, makes wine, and becomes drunk. An odd incident with sexual overtones takes place with his sons. The story of the Tower of Babel is included in this parasha, and it ends with a genealogy of the ancient peoples of the Bible, concluding with Abram.

Gen. 11:1-9 “All the earth had the same language…and as man migrated from the east they settled in the valley… and they said, ‘let us make bricks….and let us build a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered all over the earth.’ Adonai came down and said, ‘If, as one people with single voice this is how they have begun to act, then nothing will be out of their reach. Let us go down and confound their speech.’ Thus, Adonai scattered them across the face of the earth.”

            Our text does not provide a clear rationale for the scattering of the people nor for the loss of a common language. The Sages have proposed a host of explanations for Adonai’s actions: that humanity was wrong to challenge the supremacy of God, that they were presumptuously building a tower to prevent a repeat of the Flood, or that God punished them for failing to understand the reasons for the Flood.

            While the text is ambiguous as to cause, the result is clear and specific: the people’s “speech is impeded.” They lost the ability to communicate with each other and began to speak in their own individual languages, and were spread all over the globe.

            I don’t think that it a great leap from this text to the current status of American politics. It seems we have developed narrower and narrower groups who “speak the same language,” and that we have lost the ability to communicate with each other. People on both ends of the spectrum scratch their heads and say “How can they possibly believe that?” We no longer seem to be able to accept common facts, let alone disparate opinions.

            The destruction of the tower and the confounding of speech meant, for that time and place, the end of civilization. A new civilization would be needed, and 10 generations later, its progenitor, Abram, was born. In our time, the loss of the ability to communicate poses a real threat to our American civilization, which can be averted only by a restoration of civility and mutual communication. May it come in our time, and may it come in time.