Taking Responsibility

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 reaches 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. 13:8-10 “And Abram said to Lot, ‘Let there be no strife between us, and between my herdsmen and yours. Is not the whole land before us? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, I will take the right; if you the right, I will take the left.’”

 

 

(2022) Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (z’l), writing in Covenant and Conversation (11/4/20) ​uses these cited verses to describe the unique character of Abraham. The early history of humanity as set forth in the previous chapters of Genesis describe a series of disappointments. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Cain murdered Abel. Shortly thereafter, the world before the Flood became dominated by violence and was destroyed. Even after the Flood, humanity, in the form of the builders of Babel, were guilty of hubris.

And then Abraham enters the picture, and is “called” to undertake a mission to somewhere unmentioned, and for purposes not explained. Why Abraham? Sacks suggests that prior to his story, the key theme is a failure of responsibility by human beings. Adam blames Eve, and she blames the snake. Cain denies responsibility by asking “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Noah fails the test of responsibility as well by not trying to save anyone other than his immediate family.       

On the other hand, Abraham repeatedly displays personal responsibility. In the verses cited above, Abraham does not blame Lot. He sees a problem and acts. And when Lot is soon thereafter endangered, Abraham gathers a force, and rescues Lot.  In effect, he shows that he is indeed his “brother’s keeper.” And in next week’s reading, Abraham argues with God about the fate of Sodom. Abraham was to become the role model who refused the status quo and challenged it. Abraham was “called” to become the role model and initiator of a new faith, one that would not defend the status quo but to challenge it.
            He was, Sacks concludes, not a “conventional leader.” He was not a king, and there was no nation for him to lead. But he took responsibility. He acted; he didn’t wait for others to act. Judaism is God’s call to personal responsibility, one which we must heed, as Abraham did.

 

Confounded Speech

 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 a 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.”

            Here is the familiar story of humanity’s decision to build a tower toward heaven. The Sages seemed to believe that God’s decision to “confound their speech” was to make it impossible for them to be unified and to challenge God’s will. In effect, confounding of speech became the basis for division among the people “scattered across the face of the earth.”

            Is that not where we find ourselves today in America? We may speak the same language, but we don’t comprehend what or how the other person can possibly believe it. The divisions in our society are greater than at any time in my memory (and that includes school integration in the 50’s, VietNam and civil rights struggle in the 60’s, the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 70’s, and etc.). Virtually every issue is now political, and “facts” seem to require quotation marks. Some commentators suggest we have not been so divided since the 1850’s, which of course led to the Civil War.

            And yet. We have just completed a season of hope that atonement can be achieved for harms done, and that there is hope for the future, despite the looming calamities of climate change, income inequality, racial animus, antisemitism, and war. Indeed, this parasha ends with the introduction of Abraham, selected by God to transform humanity. We must pray and take action for such a transformation, because surely it has happened before and must happen again.