This Dvar Torah was sponsored by Philippe Bloch, Jonathan Cohen and Bradley Saenger to express their hakarot hatov to Rabbi Ganz for teaching them Sefer Chesbon Hanefesh in a weekly class that lasted over a year at the Young Israel of Brookline. Parshat Lech Lecha is also the anniversary of Philippe's bar mitzvah.
PARSHAT LECH LECHA - HOW TO BE ADMIRED AND LOVED
Parshat Lech Lecha begins with a momentous revelation to Avraham (Abraham). The Almighty commanded him to take leave of the land where he always lived and to move permanently to the Land of Israel. G-d then enumerated several blessings that would accrue to Avraham as a result of his move.
One of the blessings bestowed was that, “In you will be blessed all of the nations of the world” (Parshat Lech Lecha 12:3). When read alone and without commentary, these words are hard to understand. What is being said? What is meant by, “In you will be blessed…?” The Commentary of Rashi (ibid.) explains that the text is saying that when a person comes to bless his son, he will say, “May you be like Avraham.”
Hashem (G-d) was bestowing a comprehensive blessing upon Avraham. This, however, can be a complicated and (for humans, a) tongue-tying experience. To illustrate with an example from the mundane let us imagine a small town high school basketball star who was going off to a college with a nationally famous basketball team. The local coach, who had worked for years with his star player, wanted to wish him much success. He might have therefore said, “I hope that you will develop into a great team player and a great defensive player with terrific shot-blocking, rebounding, and ball-stealing skills. In addition, I hope that you will become an outstanding offensive player, a great ball-handler, passer, outside shooter, and inside shooter.” These are clumsy and very long-winded best wishes.
A more concise and elegant way to make the same point would be to simply say, “I hope that you will develop into the next Michael Jordan.” Because Michael Jordan was one of the greatest players of all time, he is the paradigm of an expert basketball player.
Rashi’s words can now be understood. The Almighty’s actual blessing was that instead of attempting to bless their children in a long and complicated fashion, all people, Jew and Gentile alike, will simply say, “May you be like Avraham.” This is how people will bless their children. In order to evoke this blessing , Avraham would, by necessity, be so outstanding a person that he would embody and represent the aspirations of all people for their own beloved children. This was the essence of Hashem’s blessing. It was G-ds way of expressing the Avraham would become the kind of person who would command this respect and admiration from all who came in contact with him.
When further contemplating these words of Rashi, a most interesting observation emerges. It is easy to see why a Torah-observant Jew would desire a child like Avraham. Avraham was the great forefather whose merit Jews still invoke in their daily prayers 3,700 years after passing. But would a unobservant Jew desire a child like Avraham? Seemingly, when Jews chose a different lifestyle and are successful at what they do, they aspire for their children to be like them. Happy and highly regarded professionals or businesspersons would therefore likely encourage their children to pursue similar careers. Experientially, Jewish outreach workers report that many secular Jewish parents strongly object when their children chose a more observant lifestyle. How then can it be said that these people would want their children to be like Avraham?
What makes this even harder to understand is that the blessing was that all peoples would desire children like Avraham – even Gentiles. This is indicated by the words of the Bible itself: “In you will be blessed all of the nations of the world.” According to Rashi, this means that people from all nations will bless their children by wishing that they will be like Avraham. However difficult it is to explain why non-observant Jews would want ‘Avrahams’ for children, it is even harder to imagine that this could be true of Gentile parents.
In Pirkei Avot 2:1 it is written, “All of your actions are written in a book.” The explanation of many commentators is simply that G-d records all human actions, and they are before Him. One of the classical commentators (the author does not remember which one and does not have access to a library at the moment of this writing) explains this to mean that one’s actions are etched into one’s own heart, i.e. one’s personality. This is not an esoteric concept. In fact, the face of a G-dless person who lives a depraved life is very different from that of one who is honest with money, faithful to spouse and family and who attends regular religious services. The latter has a certain ‘glow’ or wholesomeness of appearance that the former will never have and will never be able to imitate.
Just as a wholesome lifestyle leads to a wholesome countenance, a ‘super-wholesome’ or sanctified lifestyle begets an ever greater aura of appearance. The author had the privilege of speaking on a number of occasions with Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, of blessed memory, who died in 1986. Rabbi Feinstein was considered by many Torah observing Jews to be the preeminent Torah scholar of his time. He radiated extreme friendliness and kindness toward all humans, humility, knowledge of Torah, and fear of G-d - all at the same time. One was irresistibly drawn to him with feelings of love, admiration, and a certain measure of awe. One can only imagine that Avraham evoked the same response from others – but infinitely more so.
In all likelihood, anyone who knew Rabbi Feinstein personally would want the same for their own child, irrespective of their own lifestyle. In fact, it would have been almost impossible to NOT wish the same for one’s own child.
This explains the words of Rashi. Avraham was blessed by G-d that he would be consummately refined, accomplished, and sanctified. As a result, all human beings who knew him personally, Jew and Gentile alike, would bless their own progeny that they turn out that way.
The extent to which people pursue the sincere and wholesome observance and study of Torah and fear of G-d will correlate directly to the extent that their personalities are truly respected, admired, and loved by all people of the world.
These ideas also say a great deal about what the Torah considers to be a ‘holy man.’ One often hears descriptions of ascetic ‘holy people’ who deny themselves earthly pleasures and spend their time communicating with The Almighty. Many would likely react to such types by thinking, “They may indeed be truly holy. But I would not be pleased if my child ended up that way.”
The Torah is teaching that the sign of truly sanctified individuals is when ALL people respond when meeting them by thinking, “I wish that my own beloved children would turn out that way.” And to repeat, ALL PEOPLE includes observant and non-observant Jews and Gentiles as well.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Based on the concept of Rashi and Pirkei Avot, any individual who who embodies the character traits that we aspire to and which inspires others, to that person will humans want others to be. Your example of Michael Jordan proves the point. But Michael Jordan is only the paradigm of a great basketball player. Someone who is fanatic about soccer would never bestow the Michael Jordan blessing on their son; they would envoke Pele. Similarly, a physicist might want to bless their child to be like Neils Bohr, but would never think of using Michael Jordan or Pele; to use them would almost be blasphemous (sp?). I think the specialness of the blessing to Avraham is that even people who have no connection to him or Judaism, even they will recognize that he is the paradigm of mankind, a complete person (who just happens to also be the paradigm of Jewish service to G-d).
ReplyDeleteBut if my understanding is correct, then Avraham's service to our G-d is not a key point. Could not someone bless their child to be like Avraham - and have that blessing apply to the child's devotion to Jesus or some other god? How do we see that the paradigm that Avraham establishes is connected specifically to our G-d? Or maybe the blessing has nothing to do with Judaism and is just a statement of the greatness of Avraham as a person. He happens to be Jewish, but that is not really relevant. I think you say as much in your second to last paragraph. "Avraham was blessed by G-d that he would be consummately refined, accomplished, and sanctified." There is no mention of his devotion to the G-d of the Jews.
If I am understandng your point, I agree. When a Gentile wishes his child, "May you be like Avraham," that might be a way of saying, "I hope that you will develop into a consummately fine Christain."
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, Avraham was a person whose personal greatness was the largely the product of his devotion to Hashem and his Torah. The Talmud writes hat Hashem taught Avraham His Torah and that Avraham constantly studied it and observed its every requirement, even rabbinic mitzvot such as Eruv Tavshillin. The fact that this type of person can represent the yearnings of Gentiles for their children says a great deal. It shows what a lifetime of Torah can and should do to one's personality.
I'm not certain I agree with this point -- Avraham was not a consummate basketball player! He might have perfected his character traits but "the complete man"? There is an implicit judgment here about what traits are to be desirable. If one wants a basketball player as a son, the blessing of Avraham is not relevant (or at least secondary to that objective).
ReplyDeletePerhaps one could say "May you be like Michael Jordan but with Avraham's personality"
Avraham was certainly not a star basketball player. Had he spent that much time on the sport, he would not have developed as he did into a righteous prophet that spread monotheism throughout an idolatrous world. Hence, best wishes for great success at basketball would indeed entail saying, “May you be like Michael Jordan.”
ReplyDeleteThe point of the Rashi is that the first choice of all people for that which they love most – their own children – is that their child should be like Avraham. This includes Jews, Gentiles, and even those for whom basketball is central to their lives. This, notwithstanding the fact that Avraham did not play basketball.
This Dvar contained the sentence. “Rabbi Feinstein was probably considered by most Torah observing Jews to be the preeminent Torah scholar of his time.”
ReplyDeleteOne of the readers took exception and wrote me an email questioning whether this was in fact the case. The writer (who is a dear friend) sought to avoid stirring up discord, and therefore emailed me privately. That sentence in the article itself was therefore corrected. It now reads, “Rabbi Feinstein was considered by many Torah observing Jews to be the preeminent Torah scholar of his time.”
I also took this opportunity to add two additional at the end of the Dvar.