My grandfather, Rabbi Herbert Bomzer, asked an interesting and compelling question on this week’s parsha, Lech Lecha.
It says in Genesis 12:5, “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had made in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan.”
Rashi explains the clause “and the souls that they had made (asu)” as meaning the people “they had brought under the wings of the Shechina. Abraham converted the men and Sarah converted the women.”
Rabbi Bomzer asked, What happened to the souls, the proselytes whom Abraham and Sarah persuaded to join them? We find no trace of them or their descendants in the generation of Isaac. We have no evidence of large followings of Abraham and Sarah, of monotheists in the world. Did they drop out on the way to Canaan? What happened?
My grandfather suggested one answer, and I think with it we can find some important lessons. He writes that people were attracted to Abraham because of his emphasis on justice and mercy. At almost every instance in Abraham’s story, we find his ultimate lovingkindness and interest in divine mercy. This attracts many people, for it is a universal value, an appreciation for the right and the good.
But Abraham, and especially Isaac, understood that justice and mercy are not the only aspect to being faithful and religious monotheists. Sometimes sacrifices must be made. Money and time are expended on our families, education must be given to our children, and indeed, our history found Jews being asked to make some of the most ultimate sacrifices for their religion - their lives. This turns people away.
It’s easy to sign up for a religion that asks us to be nice, because everyone believes being nice is a nice thing to be. But can we sign up for a religion that demands we be nice, that makes us give up what we would like for others? That asks us to be nice to God just as much as our fellow man? That’s tough stuff. It’s hard to do. So these converts didn’t travel to Canaan. They dropped out, and forgot their teachings of ethical monotheism.
My grandfather believed that the secret to Jewish survival is sacrifice, in compromise for a higher ideal. He quoted his teacher, Rabbi JB Soloveitchik, that the story of Isaac’s sacrifice at the akeida teaches that although God abhors human sacrifice, He demands spiritual self-sacrifice, meaning obedience and self-discipline in the eternal word of God.
I’d like to take this one step forward. The suggestion is that the people they converted in Haran stayed for a short time with them on their travels to Canaan, and then suddenly balked at the idea of demands placed on them, causing them to leave Abraham and his way of life. The question is, what was Abraham and Sarah’s reaction to the abandonment of their followers? What do we know of how their program changed in the face of a mass exodus from their movement?
As I pondered this question a few days ago, I realized that there was someone there, besides Abraham and Sarah, who later decided to leave them. And that was Lot. Lot stuck with them, continued to follow them, until the next chapter, 13. What happens with Lot? Does he stick to the program? Does he believe in sacrifice too? A most curious thing causes Lot to leave Abraham.
In chapter 13, disputes arose with sharing land, and resources, between Abraham and Lot. So Abraham sacrificed. He compromised land because his religious ideals demanded this of him. He told Lot he should take half the land of Canaan. It is my belief that the way he says it tells us exactly Abraham’s change in program and teachings after the loss of his followers.
What he says is, “Please let there be no quarrel between me and between you and between my herdsmen and between your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not all the land before you? Please part from me; if you go left, I will go right, and if you go right, I will go left.”
Meaning, let us split the land of Canaan so that we can live peacefully. But he specifies his right and his left. Why?
Onkelos does something funny here. Onkelos is the ancient translator of the Torah into Aramaic, and is in most chumashim today next to the Hebrew text. There is a mitzvah to read his translation with the Parsha every week, and this is mentioned by the Talmud, so its really a rabbinically-approved translation.
Usually, Onkelos translates the words of the Torah from Hebrew to Aramaic. But sometimes, he deviates from this strict translation, and many people have tried to figure out what Onkelos’s rules were for his translation, why he translated one way in this place and another in that.
So if you look at Onkelos here, he translates “right”, as in the right side of Abraham, as “south,” and “left” as “north.” Instead of Abraham saying, go to the right or left of the land, Onkelos changes it to "go to the south or north of the land." Why does he do that? Did Onkelos know which way Abraham was facing, such that he knew which way was to the right and to the left of Abraham? That would be kinda ridiculous.
Someone told me that ancient maps didn’t assume that north was up. Instead, they had east as up, and therefore the left side of the map was north, and the right side was south. This is supported by the fact the the Torah often uses left and right as other names for north and south. So if you look at Psalm 89:13, it says “North and right,” as a poetic way of saying “North and south.” And there are many other verses like that.
The problem is that Onkelos is not always consistent. There are other times in the Torah when right and left are used as directions, yet Onkelos translates them as just right and left, instead of north and south. For example, in Eliezer’s retelling to Laban of how he wants to marry off Abraham’s son to Rebecca, he says in Genesis 24 that if Laban is not interested, “Let me know, and I will turn to my right or to my left.” You might expect Onkelos to translate these to “south and north,” but keeps it the same. So why here does Onkelos understand Abraham as saying “go north and I’ll go south,” etc, if he could have stayed consistent and just written left and right.
Rabbi Dr. Rafael Posen, in his book Parshegen, suggests that when someone talks about the right and left, they usually mean right and left relative to themselves. This would lead a reader of the Torah to understand Abraham as saying east and west. But Onkelos saw something in Abraham’s words, says Rabbi Posen. Onkelos saw that Abraham was trying to hint to Lot not to go east or west, but to choose between north and south. The reason he didn’t want the choice to be between east and west is because Sodom is to the east, as we find soon enough. So Onkelos emphasizes to the reader that Abraham wanted Lot to choose land, but not an area that which would make him falter. Sodom was a wicked place, and Abraham wanted to encourage Lot to try to maintain Abraham’s program of ethical monotheism. So Abraham said, in Onkelos’ translation, only pick between north and south. But please not between east and west, for Sodom will be too much of a challenge.
But Lot couldn’t help it. The Torah says that he looked over at Sodom, and saw a paradise. He couldn’t sacrifice his opportunity to live in such a place. He probably promised Abraham, “Don’t worry! I can deal with it.” In fact, in a later story discussing the destruction of Sodom, he does let the angels coming to warn him into his home, having learned the hospitality and good morality from Abraham. It appears he indeed continued to be religious, but the milieu of Sodom inevitably took a toll and his offspring were more cruel than him.
So we find an answer to our question. Abraham learned that he had to make it easier for his followers. He was willing to give land to Lot, and a lot of it, to give him an easier time. But he also knew that one’s surroundings affect them greatly. The people from Haran went back to Haran. He didn’t want the same thing to happen to Lot. So he told Lot, in a gentle way, why don’t you pick between north and south? In that way, Lot would stay away from bad surroundings, and maintain his religious faith.
But it was not to be. Abraham saw another failure before him, another follower who left the fold. The pain this probably caused him was likely terrible. But he continued on, with lessons in hand, and granting us a few lessons as well.
Morality and goodness, justice and mercy, need to go together with willingness for sacrifice and self-discipline, in order to last. But we don’t need to make it so hard for ourselves. If we can, surround ourselves with good people, and those whom we look up to, and we can stay strong and help each other. Let us join together and see each other as partners in a bond for religious growth and happiness. Let us unite and gain the blessings of Abraham of good children, good wealth, and blessings for all. Amen.
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