Lech Lecha: Brothers

This year, I cannot ignore the events occurring in the land promised to Abraham and his descendants.

The current war is between  nations that came to a territory some considered promised to them by the Gd that appears in the parsha.

וַיֵּרָ֤א יְ

אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לְזַ֨רְעֲךָ֔ אֶתֵּ֖ן אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֑את

 

And the Lord appeared to Avram, and said, To thy seed will I give this land:

 

The story plays out that Abraham has two possible heirs. In this week’s parsha, Hagar bears a son to Abraham: Ishmael.  In our version of the story, Ishmael is cruelly banished (next week’s parsha) and Sarah’s son, Isaac, becomes the (sole?) heir of this Promised Land.  Is the current battle playing out this competition? This story is one of the roots.

 

 The stories of Abraham begin the definition of the Hebrews as a special and separate people.  Gd tells Abraham:

לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃

Now the Lord said to Avram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will show thee:

 

Abraham, and all of his descendants, are told to go to a new land. They invade an inhabited district. From the perspective of a citizen in a prosperous land, this is a crime. This is, at least, illegal immigration - and possibly an attack. The state has an obligation to defend against such an action. Build a wall.

The(illegal) immigrants’ perspective is desperation. I am most familiar, viscerally, with the odyssey of my parents’ generation. They were disenfranchised by the land of their birth, the land that their ancestors had inhabited for generations.  They were left to persecution by their enemies, both foreign and domestic. There is no doubt about the life and death stakes, since their kin were decimated by murders that were justified purely based on their affiliation with Abraham and Sarah. To die, trying to escape, was the nobler alternative. Can these people be blamed for creating a state to protect them and their seed from a continuation of this effort at extermination?  In the land some say was promised to their ancestors?

When Gd told Abram to go forth, Gd was establishing Abraham and his offspring, as foreign invaders. This status has never left the Jew, in all the lands of the dispersion. To some, this alien status follows the Jew into Israel, into Tel Aviv. It comes from the Bible.

The characters in these Bible stories: Abraham, Sarah, Lot, Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac- are so distant that I question the significance of an actual biological relationship.  It is the affiliation with them that characterizes a person or group. To the outsider, it is a combination of declarations and actions.

When Hamas massacred 1,400 persons in Israel – noncombatants, children and the elderly – they declared their allegiance to the heritage of the Nazis. They became a threat to the seed of Jacob.

When António Guterres said that Hamas’ crime had not been done “in a vacuum,” he was right in a sense that the Jews understand. The massacre was done in a context that would allow its justification. Guterres’ comment demonstrated the antisemitism that fills the space.

In our world, every space has been conquered, often many times by several tribes. The invader label, the immigrant designation is a populist convenience.

When Abraham dies, Ishmael and Isaac bury their common father together. Half brothers can get along  together. It is in the Bible.

Noach: War

Noach: War

This week’s events: the cruel murder and kidnap of Israelis by an organized and armed brigade from Gaza followed by a mobilization by the IDF, a siege of Gaza and an exchange of Israeli bombs for Gazan missiles dominates my thoughts.  The weekly parsha helps me contextualize.

 

This week’s parsha is Noah.  Several famous narratives come together and diverge to make up this chapter: Noah builds the ark.  The flood destroys all land animals, including people. Noah stratifies his sons, enslaving one to another. The potential unity of the world is shattered by the diversification language  at the tower of Babel.

How do these stories relate to this horrible week?

The story of the flood informs us that terrible weeks occasionally occur, and we can survive them. Not everyone survives, but it is the survivors who tell the story. The story survives.

The realization that catastrophe will probably occur again motivates building an ark, following the model of Noah. The state of Israel was intended (by many) as an ark for the Jews. After millennia of persecution as a stateless people, Israel would protect the Jews from enemies The attack by the organized Hamas thugs justified the need for a state to protect a people who have unappeasable enemies. Israel is the ark.

Israel caused the displacement of people who had occupied that land for centuries.  The resolution of these issues remains a painful process. The attack did not contribute to the solution. It added to suspicion and hatred and sadness.

The story of the curse of Ham, father of Canaan is difficult.  It turns brother against brother.  It justifies the enslavement of one people by another. It tells me that I do not understand the world this came from. I do not understand the world I live in, either. I look away from enslavement that is accompanied by a paycheck. I choose not to see bondage to social and economic systems. I want to grow out of this story.

 

וַיְהִ֥י כׇל־הָאָ֖רֶץ שָׂפָ֣ה אֶחָ֑ת וּדְבָרִ֖ים אֲחָדִֽים׃

Everyone on earth had the same language and the same words.

Before the tower of Babel, people understood one another.  They wanted to remain unified.  That is why they built the tower

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר וּמִגְדָּל֙ וְרֹאשׁ֣וֹ בַשָּׁמַ֔יִם וְנַֽעֲשֶׂה־לָּ֖נוּ שֵׁ֑ם פֶּן־נָפ֖וּץ עַל־פְּנֵ֥י כׇל־הָאָֽרֶץ׃

And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.”

The unification that they sought is placed within an industrial context. Much is made of making bricks,

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־רֵעֵ֗הוּ הָ֚בָה נִלְבְּנָ֣ה לְבֵנִ֔ים וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה וַתְּהִ֨י לָהֶ֤ם הַלְּבֵנָה֙ לְאָ֔בֶן וְהַ֣חֵמָ֔ר הָיָ֥ה לָהֶ֖ם לַחֹֽמֶר׃

They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.—

 The production of bricks implies the existence of  brick makers and brick layers and transporters.  It implies a stratification of society: workers and bosses.    The world of the Tower of Babylon had evolved to this; but a unified world under this structure was intolerable. Peoples were separated by language, and this became nationality. Nationality became a basis for the generalization of hate to a people when elements of that people do horrific things. Nations became a way to defend and instruments of aggression.

 

The last story in the parsha is the migration of Abraham’s father toward Canaan.

יִּקַּ֨ח תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ וְאֶת־ל֤וֹט בֶּן־הָרָן֙ בֶּן־בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֵת֙ שָׂרַ֣י כַּלָּת֔וֹ אֵ֖שֶׁת אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֑וֹ וַיֵּצְא֨וּ אִתָּ֜ם מֵא֣וּר כַּשְׂדִּ֗ים לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ עַד־חָרָ֖ן וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם׃

 

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.

 

Terach felt the need to leave Ur Kasdim and he needed to take Abraham with him.  Ur Kasdim was dangerous, The government  ( or lack of order) there had resulted in the death of Terach’s son, Haran.

 

The early ancestors of the Jews are portrayed as stateless. People who had to leave their birthplace because they were not protected there.  The need to leave was so great, they had to go to new places as immigrants, where their rights would certainly be fewer and more laxly enforced. This aspect of the Jewish experience starts before Abraham... and continued.  The state of Israel was intended to be a haven.  The events of this week demonstrated that it is not perfect; they also reinforce its necessity.

 

  

Bereshith: Who is what 

Very soon in this origin story, we come upon the elements of drama: temptation, disobedience, punishment and death.  The woman is lured into eating the fruit that had been tempting her 

 

וַתֵּ֣רֶא הָֽאִשָּׁ֡ה כִּ֣י טוֹב֩ הָעֵ֨ץ לְמַאֲכָ֜ל וְכִ֧י תַֽאֲוָה־ה֣וּא לָעֵינַ֗יִם וְנֶחְמָ֤ד הָעֵץ֙ לְהַשְׂכִּ֔יל וַתִּקַּ֥ח מִפִּרְי֖וֹ וַתֹּאכַ֑ל וַתִּתֵּ֧ן גַּם־לְאִישָׁ֛הּ עִמָּ֖הּ וַיֹּאכַֽל׃

 

 

When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

 

What put the serpent up to leveraging Eve's misunderstanding into trespass?  Why didn't Gd intervene and clarify and prevent the fall?

 

Similar arguments can be made for the tragedy of Cain and Abel. Gd admonishes Cain when he is saddened by the rejection of his offering in the face of Abel's success. But Abel is not protected from the murder. Gd warns the emotionally unstable but allows the perpetrator to execute cruelty upon another person. The fall and the murder must occur, they cannot be prevented because they are the story; and the story is the important thing, not the happiness or the survival of the characters. The characters must exercise their free will. That is what moves the story along. The choices keep the interest of the reader.

 

These stories are illustrating the relationship between people and Gd.  Gd is the author of the story, we are the characters. There is a good deal of room for improvisation, but the story will go on.  The characters will come and go so that the tale can be told with drama and suspense and catharsis. 

 

The first Rashi  in the Torah is foundational. 

 

 

וּמַה טַּעַם פָּתַח בִּבְרֵאשִׁית? …מִשׁוּם כֹּחַ מַעֲשָׂיו…כָּל הָאָרֶץ שֶׁל הַקָּבָּ"ה הִיא, הוּא בְרָאָהּ

 

What is the reason, then, that it commences with the account of the Creation.. “He declared …the strength of His works…“All the earth belongs to the Holy One, blessed be He; He created it and gave it to whom He pleased.

I notice that this first chapter of Genesis designates Gd (the official, Onkelos translation is the double yod, the universal, single Gd) as Elo-im. This is the word that is also used by non-Hebrews, non-Israelites, throughout the Torah to identify the Great(est) Power, the Master. This section, addressed to all who will read the passage, is a declaration of a sentient creator.

 Gd’s delegation of territories to nations becomes a very big problem, especially for those (like Rashi, who lived in France) who feel, and are thought to be, displaced. It is certainly a problem now, in a land claimed (by some) in the name of (at least) two versions of the One Gd. Is this a pretext to move the plot forward?

 

The word עִצָּבוֹן֙, eetzavon, sandwiches the parsha.  It is part of the punishment of Eve

 

הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ עִצְּבוֹנֵ֣ךְ וְהֵֽרֹנֵ֔ךְ בְּעֶ֖צֶב תֵּֽלְדִ֣י בָנִ֑ים

I will greatly multiply the pain of thy childbearing; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;

And Adam:

בְּעִצָּבוֹן֙ תֹּֽאכְלֶ֔נָּה כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ׃

in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

 

In the last section of the parsha

 

וַיִּנָּ֣חֶם יְ  כִּֽי־עָשָׂ֥ה אֶת־הָֽאָדָ֖ם בָּאָ֑רֶץ וַיִּתְעַצֵּ֖ב אֶל־לִבּֽוֹ׃

And the Lrd repented that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.

 

This is how it begins. Humans bring regret: on themselves on the world that they use and consume, to the Lrd. Somehow, it all came from the tree, the עַצֵּ֖, etz, the crystal meth of opinion.