Abraham’s First Test
Dying for a noble cause is not the highest form of sacrifice. Living with and for a higher purpose is the most noble sacrifice. LECHA LECHA
First Test Omitted!
Abraham, our sages tell us, was tested by G- d. ten times The first time Abraham was tested, the Midrash relates, was when he defied the order of King Nimrod to bow down to an idol. Rather than submit to Nimrod’s decree Abraham was thrown into a fiery furnace. Miraculously, Abraham was spared from a horrible death that he was prepared to endure for the sake of his firm belief in one G-d. This test is often referred to by the location where it occurred: Ur Kasdim.
Yet, incredible as it was for a young lad to be prepared to die for his faith, the Torah does not mention this test explicitly. The first test recounted by the Torah is one that is seemingly far less spectacular.
This week’s Torah portion of Lech Lecha begins with G-d’s command to Abraham to LECHA leave his country, his birth place and his father’s home and go to an unknown destination. Abraham complied willingly.
The question that begs to be asked is why does the Torah not begin with what seems to be a far more dramatic display of faith and dedication: the test of Ur Kasdim? Isn’t one’s preparedness to die for a cause greater than one’s agreement to depart from his homeland?
Paradigm for Descendants
By telling us about Abraham’s tests, the Torah thereby instructs us how we ought to and can behave. Abraham’s life is a paradigm for the lives of his descendants.
If the Torah would have highlighted Abraham’s first and spectacular display of self-sacrifice, it would have instructed us to pursue a life of sacrifice and martyrdom. Abraham’s example would have set the tone for a life of struggle and defiance. As noble and praiseworthy – and necessary – as these traits are, they do not represent Abraham’s primary legacy to the Jewish people.
LECHA
Choose Life!
The Torah instructs us “V’chai bahem-and you shall live by them.” The Talmud observes, “You shall live by them and not die by them.” The primary objective of Judaism is to find ways of bringing the Divine plan to fruition by living a Jewish life to the maximum.
From the days of Abraham onward, the Jewish people have been charged with an immense responsibility. It is our task to make the world hospitable to G-d. Abraham did so by following G-d’s instructions as to where he should live, what he should do and so on.
Does living a Jewish life require self-sacrifice and martyrdom?
Occasionally yes? But, we should not confuse a one-time radical response to a tyrant who wishes to force people to betray their faith, with an ongoing need to implement Jewish values within the parameters of an otherwise secular world.
To be sure, Abraham was prepared – and every Jew should be prepared – to die for his or her religion. But, the goal and objective of our efforts should not be martyrdom and death, but bringing the full extent of LECHA Judaism’s philosophy of life to the widest possible audience.
Abraham is known for his hospitality, his kindness, his concern for others and his love for G-d. We too, must emulate Abraham’s example of living with Judaism and enabling Judaism to enliven us.
The Jewish religion’s belief that Torah and life are not incompatible is dramatized by Judaism’s belief that in the ultimate stage of the Messianic Age, we will live forever, body and soul. If dying for a cause was our goal, the ultimate experience of the future would be for the soul without a body. The fact that the ultimate reward will be for a reconstituted body proves that all along our objective was to live as a Jew.
Those who died as Jews are held in high esteem because these individuals enabled and empowered us to live as Jews.
And where did this thrust for life all begin?
It began with Abraham who started this process, of demonstrating how to live with faith and kindness by going to extremes in making life righteous and G-dly.
LECHA
Abraham’s pioneering work in this direction was institutionalized and legislated at Sinai with the giving of the Torah. This even created the framework for implementing a system that would synthesize the spiritual and the physical.
The Messianic Age is when all of the ideals of the Torah will be concretized. Then we will experience the fusion of the spiritual and physical without compromising either. Indeed, we will experience unprecedented G- dly energy within the framework of a totally physical existence.
LECHA
LECHA
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Lech Lecha by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
