Spiritual and Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach; SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE BEREISHIT STORIES
by Dr. Meir Tamari

These four books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible. One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical.

"Building Beit Yisrael" [4]
"Why was barrenness such a feature of the story of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs? In that way, the children who were born to them as a result of miracles, were disconnected from their physical ancestors. This was essential in order to severe the Jewish People from their pagan roots and to purge them of the evil characteristics of those generations. Avraham and Sarah were both barren in order, as a son, and as a granddaughter, to cleanse their seed from the inheritance of Terach. Yitschak, was not barren as the son of two tzaddikim needed no such cleansing, whereas Rivka was, since she was the daughter of Betuel, grandson of Terach. Now Rachel and Leah, the descendants of Terach through their father Lavan, were both barren and needed miracles to secure the final refinement" (Kochav MiYaakov). It is interesting to read that Rabbeinu Bachya notes that of all the children of Yaakov, the two terms 'conceived' and 'gave birth' follow closely, indicating swiftness of birth, within only seven months of pregnancy. The exceptions were the sons of Zilpa, owing to her extreme youth and Binyamin who was born on the way back from Haran. Alternatively, "Whenever the two terms appear together they signify a painless childbirth" (Midrash Tanchuma).

Anger, envy, pride etc. can be the impetus to great and good actions or can be the cause of much evil. "Rabbi Eleazar HaKapar taught, Envy, lust and the pursuit of honor drive a person from the world" (Avot 3:21). It is widely taught in Chassidic thought however, that there are no evil traits, only wrongful use of the traits that Hashem has given. "Speak to Elazar the son of Aharon, that he take up the fire-pans [of the congregation of Korach]… and let them be beaten, plates for a covering of the altar" (Bamidbar 17:15). The Admor of Kotsk said: "Their pride led them to want to serve as priests. When pride is used in God's service, it can even be transformed into a covering for His altar". In Biblical Hebrew, KIN'A, envy, does not have the same negative meaning as in Modern Hebrew, rather it has a same duality. "Kana when followed by words beginning with a BET as in VAT'KANEI RACHEL BAACHOTAH denotes a willingness to be like the one envied, without any anger or ill-will to them, as in the case of Rachel. However, when followed by ET thus relating to the person as in V'KINEI ET ISHTO, where a man warned his wife against infidelity or VAIKAN'U OTO P'LISHTIM, the Philistines were jealous of Yitschak, the man and not of his riches" (R' S. R. Hirsch, B'reishit 26:14; Bamidbar 25:11).

It is in this positive way that the Midrash understands Rachel. "The verse 'and Rachel became envious of her sister' comes to teach us that she envied the good deeds of her sister, saying that if she was not righteous then she would not have given birth to four sons" (B'reishit Rabba 71:6).

The next verse reads: "She said to Yaakov, Give me children - otherwise I am dead", " from this we learn that one who is childless may well be regarded as dead" (Nedarim 64b). Rabbi Eybeschutz finds an interesting halakhic explanation to these two verses. "Rambam writes that whereas all the prohibited marriages (Vayikra 19:11-17) are forbidden even after death, for example marriage to one's mother after the death of one's father, this is not the case with the prohibition against marrying one's late wife's sister. He explains that it is only with regard to two sisters that the Torah gave a reason for the injunction, jealousy, and since the jealousy disappeared with her death, now marriage with her sister is permitted. We have to say, in view of the above verse that there was jealousy between Leah and Rachel, the Midrash notwithstanding. So Rachel said that since Yaakov was not allowed to have married them both, he should give her children in order that she could overcome her jealousy, and the marriage would be permitted in accordance with the Rambam's ruling. Otherwise, the marriage to Leah would only be possible once she died when the jealousy would cease" (Divrei Yonatan).

"In the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai it is taught: From the day that the world was created, no one expressed their thanks until Leah came and said 'This time [after Leah gave birth to her fourth son] I will thank G-d'" (B'rachot 7b). Through prophecy, Leah knew that Yaakov was to have 12 sons; as there were four wives, each wife would thus have three sons. Since she had already given birth to three, she saw the 4th son as a gratuitous gift, something beyond her justified role, and for that she praised G-d. Her compassion is shown later when after her 6th child she was pregnant again. "She feared that if she bore a 7th, then her sister would be inferior to the two hand- maidens with their two sons each. So she prayed and G-d changed the sex of the child" (B'rachot 60a).

"Rachel gave her hand-maiden to her husband, expressing the hope that she would be built up thereby. By her taking the initiative she contributed to the later discord between the Tribes. Sarah had similarly sowed discord between Ishmael and Yitschak by her intervention with the Divine Providence when she gave Hagar to Avraham. Yitschak and Rivka tried to hasten the Divine process with their prayers and caused a rift between Eisav and Yaakov. Leah alone trusted completely in G-d and so did not try to affect His Providence. Therefore, only she could truly give thanks for the good she received as she had done for the bad" (Baal HaDiyukim).

"Now we understand why we bow at MODIM. The Midrash (B'reishit Rabba 71:5) tells us that Leah bequeathed this merit of praising Hashem, to her sons; Yehuda who said that Tamar was more righteous than he, and David who sang HODU, so did Daniel, Binyamin and Shaul. When benefits come as a result of one's actions there is no need for such thanks since they are earned benefits. However, Leah knew that she had done nothing to deserve G-d's gifts so she praised Him, as did Yehuda, whose name contains a DALET signifying a poverty of deeds. Usually we walk upright and straight resembling our Creator, but in MODIM we bow in recognition that what we receive is not a wage earned in justice but simply a gift from G-d "(Avraham of Sochochow, Avnei Nezer).

This is installment #135 in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times”

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