Spiritual and
Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach;
SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE BEREISHIT STORIES 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. "These are the Generations
of Yitschak" [1] Does Yitschak, who inherits everything from Avraham the founder, follow the familiar pattern of inheritors? Or does he rather fulfill the answer of Menachem Mendel of Kotsk to his father's complaint that his son should follow the same Rebbe as he: "This is My God and I will glorify Him, comes before, I will praise the God of my father"? Actually, all three Patriarchs complement and supplement each other, add a different element and an essential perspective to that unity that is Israel, the Abrahamic Nation. "Nachliel, Matana and Bamot (Bamidbar 21:19); Avraham is Nachliel, God is my portion, Yitschak is Matana, God is My gift, and Yaakov is Bamot, My High Place" (Shem Mi Shmuel). Avraham, of his own volition, had found the Godliness that had been covered by the ten generations from Noah, recognized his Creator, and spread his Chesed throughout society. Yitchak was the Din and G'vura that would consolidate his kindness through strength and define his goodness with judgment. It is an error to ridicule or underestimate the strength and the qualities needed to consolidate the achievements or teachings of a founder. How many powerful dynasties have been frittered away by weak or self-indulgent inheritors, how many trees have failed to grow under the branches of mighty oaks and how many great ideas have petered out in swamps and wastelands? In contrast, while Avraham is the first 'baal teshuva', Yitschak is the first tzadik ben tzadik. Avraham inspired and taught many disciples while Yitschak devoted himself to educating a single one, Yaakov. Perhaps, as some comment, the many fled from before Yitschak's Din and G'vura, yet rather it would be that Avraham, through his spiritual gifts that he gave to Yishmael and the sons of the concubines spread his message to many nations, while Yitschak concentrated on the particularistic mission of the Jewish Nation; nationalism in contrast to universalism. "At the Akeida, Avraham was obeying a commandment of God's, but what was the obligation of Yitschak? He was an adult and could have easily refused to go, since he had no such command; it was his 'kibud Av' that guided him" (Haameik Davar). It was the final test that Avraham had to face, however, in the Zichronot portion of the musaf of Rosh Hashana we ask that G-d should remember the Akeida of Yitschak to his children. "When Hashem will say to Avraham: 'Your children have sinned', [Avraham will answer] 'let them be wiped out in Kiddush Hashem. So Hashem will say the same to Yaakov hoping that he will pray for mercy; Yaakov will say: 'Let them be wiped out in Kiddush Hashem'. Yitschak will answer: 'The extent of their sins is small. If You endure all their sins, it is well but if not, let half be on You and half on me, and if You wish them all to be on me, I have already offered myself as a sacrifice before You'" (Shabbat 89b). At the Akeida, Avraham had shown his unswerving and unquestioning love and obedience for God, but it was Yitschak who was the unblemished offering on the altar. Avraham left the sanctity of the Holy Land whereas Hashem, during the drought that came in his day as it had in the days of Avraham, told him not to leave it. Yaakov went out of Eretz Yisrael in search of his wife whereas Avraham forbade Eliezer to take Yitschak to Haran. As the unblemished offering he was not to be subject to the impurity of chutz la'aretz. Avraham, as he told the people of Hevron, was an alien in their midst, nevertheless with his riches and spiritual-moral stature, had achieved the respect and honor of a Prince of G-d amongst them. He wandered throughout the Land for many years and only once was he exposed to jealousy and enmity at the hands of the people, and even that was soon disallowed by Avimelech. However, the 400 years destiny foretold in the 'brit bein habetarim' (B'reishit 15:13) commenced with the birth of Yitschak, who even though he never experienced slavery [avdut] or oppression [inuy], nevertheless suffered, without leaving the Land, the condition of stateless alien ship that is geirut. Yet the bond with G-d was preserved, a manifestation of the brit Avraham vouchsafed in the brit Yitschak; TZADIK BEN TZADIK This is the 120th installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times” [The
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