Random Thoughts on Lech Lecha

1) Isn't it interesting how in the passuk immediately after HaShem grants Avram the powers of active and passive blessing, he is joined by Lot, a person whose name in Aramaic means curse? (And Lot himself was an Aramean by birth, making it even more significant). Rashi on 13:14 points out that Lot was not a rasha at this point, as HaShem was still "on speaking terms" with Avram a few pesukim later, but it's still curious how Lot got such a name and what its greater significance may be.

2) Although when HaShem commanded Avram to traverse the land along its length and width he merely shifted his tent ~20 miles south from between Beth-el and Ha-ai to Chevron, it may be that he fulfilled the former part of the command when he later pursued the forces of Kedarlaomer to Dan (14:14) and when he settled in what he would later call Be'er Sheva (21:31), and that he fulfilled the latter part of the command through his activities with Sodom, near what would later become the Dead Sea, and with Gerar, near the western coast.

3) When the 5 cities rebelled against Kedarlaomer, why did he react by first smiting the Refaim, Zuzim, Emim, Chorim, inhabitants of S'deih HaAmaleki, and Emori of Chatz'tzon Tamar who ostensibly were not part of the battle? Perhaps the 5 cities had turned to these nations for help in their rebellion (The Refaim and Emim are listed in Devarim 2 as having been mighty, giant nations).

4) What's the significance of Malkitzedek and Avram's usages of the term "Keil Elyon" to refer to HaShem following the War of the 4 Kings? This seems to have been the first time that "HaShem's army" took to the field against other armies, as opposed to His fighting against nations through supernatural means, so perhaps now He could effectively be called the "highest Power", having been compared to the other powers on their own terms.

Lech Lecha: Chazak!

I've heard many people poke fun at Avraham Fried's famous song "Chazak", which comes from this week's haftarah. The song is taken primarily from Yeshaya 41:6, which states: "איש את רעהו יעזרו ולאחיו יאמר חזק" - "Each man helps his friend, and to his brother says, 'Be strong!'" The alleged irony is that the context of the passuk in the haftara is the idolatrous nations preparing for war against HaShem by constructing their idols.

It should be pointed out, though, that Avraham Fried's choice of this passuk is probably based on Midrash Rabbah (I have written down 44:8, but according to this edition, it's 43:3), which expounds the episode as a reference to Avraham's battle against the four kings. I recall the specific passuk in question as being expounded as a reference to Malkitzedek and Avraham, but I don't see this in the Midrash Rabbah.

If one wishes to point out an irony in a song, one would do better to look at the Shabbos song of "Yom Shabbason", in which the second part of the chorus, "V'sham yanuchu yegi'ei cho'ach" - "And there shall rest the weary", is taken from Iyov 3:17, where Iyov uses the pronoun "sham" to refer to the grave.

Lech Lecha 1 - Rejected Heirs

One of the underlying subplots of P' Lech Lecha seems to be Avraham's "failed heirs". By this term, I refer to the people who seem to be in a position to carry on the Abrahamic legacy, but, for one reason or another, fade out of the scene.

1) "The souls they made in Charan". Rashi quotes two opinions on who these people are, whether they are servants whom Avraham and Sarah (and Lot) had acquired or whether they are people whom they brought closer to the way of God. Although the second is somewhat less literal, perhaps Rashi suggested it due to the difficulty of why these people warranted mentioning. The fact that God promised Avraham that he would be blessed implies that he was not so startlingly wealthy upon his departure from Charan that he would have such a large retinue of servants who would warrant mention on their own. Nonetheless, these people are never mentioned after the original departure from Charan. Perhaps at some point in Avraham's journey within Canaan, they abandoned Avraham.

2) Lot. The only member of Avraham's traveling party leaving Charan who merited mention on his own. Even if we allow that he chose to leave his homeland with his grandfather, uncle, and sister rather than staying with his other uncle and sister, when the family split a second time, why did Lot choose to continue traveling, rather than to stay with his grandfather? If we are to look upon Avraham as any sort of a giant for his choice to leave everything that he knew in favor of following God's word, one must also allocate praise to Lot, who put his trust in the prophet of God at the same cost. Nonetheless, in chapter 13, Lot gets into a politicoeconomic argument with his uncle, which causes him to finally cut his ties to the family. Lot has a somewhat heroic, albeit very significantly flawed, role in ch. 19 in S'dom, in which he shows his allegiance to the Abrahamic ideal of hospitality, but shows a mindboggling callousness towards his daughters' safety. The last we hear of him is as the ancestor of two other nations, whose origin story is less-than-reputable. Even more shockingly, these nations become known for their shunning of the idea of hospitality (Devarim 23:4-5), which raises certain questions about the legacy that Lot passed on to them. It always struck me as interesting that Lot's name is Aramaic for "curse", which creates the possibility of Lot being a sort of bizzaro-Avraham.

3) Damasek Eliezer. Avraham openly acknowledges his status as leading candidate for heir in ch. 15, but God promises that he will not be the ultimate heir.

4)Yishma'el.
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This post has been sitting in my draft pile for a while now, and I'm not going to be thinking any more about it until next year, so I hereby throw it up onto my blog, half-written, perhaps to be added to next year.