Boxing ring or harmonious symphony?

At the end of last week’s Torah portion, Noah, we met the central character in the foundational stories of the Jewish nation: Abraham our patriarch. In this week’s portion, Lech Lecha, and in the upcoming weeks, we will read in the Torah about Abraham’s life, about the prominent events in which he was involved and the messages learned from these stories.

It is interesting that Abraham’s life story appears in the Torah from the middle. We first meet Abraham when he is 75 years old! What happened to him before that?

This question is significant not only historically but also to our understanding of the story. If God turned to him at the age of 75 and told him, “Go forth from your land... to the land that I will show you” and actually assigned him the mission of establishing the Jewish nation, he was undoubtedly worthy. Therefore, it is important to us to find out what Abraham did, what decisions he made and what dilemmas he faced, in order to understand what made him worthy of God choosing him.

From following various clues interspersed in the Abraham stories, and with the assistance of ancient traditions in the literature of our Sages, we know a bit about Abraham’s life in his first 75 years. He was born to a family of idol worshipers, and from a young age he searched for the true faith. Decades passed before Abraham discovered monotheism. This led to a full-fledged conflict between him and the idolatrous society of Ur Kasdim, where Abraham and his family resided.

An interesting description of this conflict appears in the midrash: “Terah took Abraham and passed him off to [King] Nimrod. They said [to the king], ‘Let us worship the fire.’ Abraham said to them, ‘[Rather] let us worship water, for it extinguishes fire.’ Nimrod agreed: ‘Let us worship water.’ Abraham continued: ‘If so, let us worship the clouds, which provide water.’ Nimrod agreed: ‘Let us worship the clouds.’ Abraham continued, ‘If so, let us worship the winds, which scatter the clouds.’ Nimrod agreed: ‘Let us worship the winds.’ Abraham continued: ‘If so, let us worship humans, who are filled with wind [air].’ Nimrod replied: ‘You’re just speaking words – I worship only fire. I will throw you into it, and the God you worship can save you from it.’

“Haran was hidden and was of two minds, saying [to himself]: If Abraham is victorious, I will say, ‘I am with Abraham,’ and if Nimrod is victorious, I will say, ‘I am with Nimrod.’ When Abraham was thrown into the fiery furnace and saved, they asked him [Haran]: ‘Who are you with?’ He replied, ‘I am with Abraham.’ They took him and threw him into the fire, and his insides burned up and he died before his father, Terah, as it says, ‘And Haran died in the face of his father, Terah’” (Genesis 11:28).

What so angered Nimrod, representing the entire idolatrous society in this story? What did Abraham discover that pulled the rug out from under the prevalent worldview?

The idolatrous society spoke in the language of power. It is no coincidence that destructive and violent fire is the first and last choice of the idol worshiper. As opposed to this, Abraham shows Nimrod one simple fact: Every power has a weak point. Water extinguishes fire. Clouds provide water. Wind scatters the clouds, and so forth. There is no power in nature that is absolute.

Abraham does not deal with the question of who is more powerful, but with questions of justice and morality. He looks at the idol-worshiping view and sees the chaos it leads to. If the world were managed by different competing powers, based on basic laws of nature, the more powerful would beat the weaker. But in monotheism, the world is not a boxing ring with different powers fighting one another. It is more like the integration of various powers with one guiding hand behind the scenes making sure of the precise and perfect harmony among all of nature’s powers. The basic law of nature is not “the strongest wins” but, rather, opposing forces intertwine until they form the perfect creation.

This is Abraham’s faith that so angered the idol worshipers. As far as they were concerned, Abraham was treating natural forces apathetically. As far as he was concerned, he wasn’t in a boxing ring but was listening to a perfect symphony being performed by opposing voices interwoven in a work of art.

Every power has a weak point... There is no power in nature that is absolute

(Pexels) ‘ABRAHAM WAS born to a family of idol worshipers and from a young age, he searched for the true faith.’