Avram-the-Leader
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Re Tanakh versions:
Throughout this site I may use any of three versions of the Tanakh: 1. “Jewish
Publication Society” (JPS-1917), 2. “Mechon-Mamre.org” (MEC), and 3. “Sefaria.org” (SEF), three brilliant versions, However, the
JPS-1917 is my preferred version!
Colour coded
details of our beloved TaNaKh:
1. Torah = History & Law, 2. Nevi’im = The Prophets. 3. *Ketuvim = all other Writings.
*The Ketuvim - Includes, Poetical
books - Psalms, Proverbs, Job, the Megillot, or Scrolls - Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations of
Jeremiah, Ecclesiastes, and Esther, prophecy of Daniel, and history
of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles I & II.
Please Note: Some
alterations or (additions) have been made relating to ‘Names’ and ‘Attributes’
of אֱלֹהִים - Elohim (God), having been corrected
like it once was pre the “Masoretic Text”.
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Remember the following truth from our beloved Torah!
“Ye shall NOT ADD TO THE WORD which
I command you, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH FROM
IT, that ye may keep the commandments of אֱלֹהֵיכֶם יְהוָה - the LORD your Eloleichem,
which I command you”. Davarim - Deuteronomy 4:2. (JPS-1917).
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With Rabbi, Dr. Reuven Ben
Avraham-Goossens, PhD.
During our very early history of humanity
there is in the Torah a series of rather sad events. In his goodness, אֱלֹהִים - Elohim gave us human beings a blessed freedom,
which sadly they misused terribly. Of course, as I have covered before, first
there was ‘Adam and Eve who ate the forbidden fruit’. That was followed by
‘Cain murdered Abel’. And sadly all this occurred within what we may call a
relatively short time. Long before the Flood became, it was due to sin and
violence, and all flesh perverting its way on the earth. ‘אֱלֹהִים - Elohim created order’ but tragically ‘humans
created nothing but chaoses. Then, even after the
Flood, humanity continued in their evil way, such as in the form of the
“And they said: ‘Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth’”. Genesis 11:4. (JPS-1917 version).
Humans failed to respond to אֱלֹהִים - Elohim, and then we arrive at a point where Avram enters the picture. We are not quite sure, at the beginning, what it is that Avram is summoned to do. We know he is commanded to leave his land, birthplace and father’s house and travel “to the land I will show you,”
“Now יְהוָה - the LORD said unto Avram: ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee’”. Genesis 12:1.
However, what is he to do when he gets there, we do not know. On this the Torah was rather silent on what Avram’s mission would be? What made him so special? What makes him more than a good man in a very bad age, as was Noah who was still alive during Avram’s earlier life! What makes Avram a leader and the father of a nation of leaders?
To decode that mystery we have to recall what the Torah has been signalling long before to this point. Perhaps the key theme is a failure of compete responsibility amongst the people. ‘Adam and Eve’ lacked personal responsibility. Adam says, “It wasn’t me; it was the woman” Eve says, “It wasn’t me, it was the voice in the tree” It seemed that they completly deny being the story tellers of their own stories, as if they did not understand either their freedom or the responsibility Adam had in the garden.
Then Cain does not deny personal responsibility. He does not say, “It was not me. It was Abel’s fault for provoking me.” Instead he denies moral responsibility: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Noah fails the test of collective responsibility. He is a man of virtue in an age of vice and evil, but he makes no impact on his contemporaries. He saves his family (and the animals) but no one else. According to the plain reading of the text, he would not even try.
If we understand this, we understand Avram.
He exercises personal responsibility. In parashat ‘Lech Lecha’, a quarrel breaks out between Avram’s herdsmen and
those of his nephew
“And Abram said unto
Note that Avram passes no judgment. He does
not ask whose fault the argument was. He does not ask who will gain from any
particular outcome. He gives
In the next chapter of Genesis we are told
about a local war, as a result of which
This is a strange passage for it depicts
Avram very differently from the nomadic shepherd we see elsewhere. The passage
is best understood in the context of the story of Cain. Abraham shows
he is his brother’s (or brother’s son’s) keeper. He immediately
understands the nature of moral responsibility. Despite the fact that
Then, in the week’s ‘Parsha of Vayera’, comes the great moment: a human being challenges אֱלֹהִים - Elohim Himself for the very first time. אֱלֹהִים - Elohim is about to pass judgment on Sodom. Avram, fearing that this will mean that the city will be destroyed, says:
“And Abraham drew near, and said: ‘Wilt Thou indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city; wilt Thou indeed sweep away and not forgive the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do justly?’” Genesis 18:23-25.
This was a remarkable speech. By what right does a mere mortal challenge אֱלֹהִים - Elohim Himself? The short answer is that אֱלֹהִים - Elohim Himself signalled that he should. Listen carefully to the text:
“And יְהוָה - the LORD said: ‘Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty
nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known
him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him,
that they may keep the way of יְהוָה - the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that יְהוָה - the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him’. And יְהוָה - the LORD said: ‘Verily, the cry of
Those words, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” are a clear hint that אֱלֹהִים - Elohim wants Abraham to respond; otherwise why would He have said them?
The story of Abraham can only be understood against the backdrop of the story of Noah. There too, אֱלֹהִים - Elohim told Noah in advance that he was about to bring punishment to the world.
“And אֱלֹהִים - Elohim said unto Noah: ‘The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth’”. Genesis 6:13.
Noah did not protest. To the contrary, we are told three times that Noah “did as אֱלֹהִים - Elohim commanded him” (Genesis 6:22; 7:5; 7:9). Noah accepted the verdict. However, Avram challenged it.
The people of
But a question remains. Why did אֱלֹהִים - Elohim call on Avram to challenge Him? Was there anything he knew that אֱלֹהִים - Elohim did not know? Of course that idea is absurd. The answer is this: Avram was to become the role model and initiator of a new faith, one that would not defend the human status quo but challenge it!
Avram had to have the courage to challenge אֱלֹהִים - Elohim if his descendants were to challenge human rulers, as ‘Moses’ and the ‘Prophets did’. Hebrews do not accept the world that is. They challenge it in the name of the world that ought to be. This is a critical turning point in human history: the birth of the world’s first faith of protest, the emergence of a faith that challenges the world instead of accepting it.
Avram was not a conventional leader. He did not rule a nation. There was as yet no nation for him to lead. But he was the role model of leadership as we understand it and remember he was the very first to be named as being a Hebrew. He took responsibility. He acted; he did not wait for others to act. Of Noah, the Torah says, “he walked with אֱלֹהִים - Elohim” (Gen. 6:9). But to Abraham, אֱלֹהִים - Elohim says, “Walk before Me,” (Gen. 17:1), meaning: ‘be a leader’. ‘Walk ahead’. ‘Take personal responsibility’. ‘Take moral responsibility’. Take collective responsibility’.
Having been named ‘Hebrews’; that is אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s call for us to take responsibility!
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Please Note: “hebraicstudies” links are located down
the page!
This site was originally created, for those
who desired to return to our blessed and wonderful faith. Thus be wise and work
on your faith and pray at least two or three times a day (if possible) and
always seek our beloved אֱלֹהִים - Elohim’s guidance,
for His love is always with us, especially when we seek Him, blessed be He!
However this site has become very much a teaching site with hundreds of
studies!
Remember
what אֱלֹהִים -
Elohim, blessed be He, said the following through a number of our
prophets...
“The More Torah, the More Life”,
For Elohim is the One who
gave us our ... “Life!”
May the שָׁלוֹם - Shalom = Peace
of צְבָאוֹת- יְהוָה= the LORD of hosts, be with
you, and please always uphold our blessed שַׁבָּת - Shabbat, as well as
the מוֹעֲדִים - Mo’a’dim - Feasts, and continue saying your
daily תְּפִלָּה - Tefeelah’s - Prayers and
regular בְּרָכָה - Be’ra’chah’s - blessings before food
and drinks, etc!
שָׁלוֹם
עֲלֵיכֶם - Shalom
Aleichem - Peace be with you!
Enter ...