Again, we hear Lech Lecha. It comes twice in the Chumash, once at the beginning of last week’s Parasha and again at the end here. And again, Hashem is not quite specific. Which mountain Avraham is supposed to find is left til later. Like last week, a touch of indeterminacy. Again, like last week, it’s about what’s inside of him. But it’s also about dealing with the indeterminacy of the unknown.
The Mishna in Avot tells us that Avraham passed 10 tests but it does not name them. The Akeida is the only one the Torah identifies as a test, so it gives us a real sense of what they all were. The tests involved more than acute difficulties like the tribulations that beset most people. For example, nobody counts the sudden death of his wife Sara following the Akeida. Avraham’s stalwart faith could withstand those types of misfortune. Nor do they list tests which burnished his strengths: Taking care of guests while aching from the pain of a Bris is not a test, for the will to reach out despite obstacles was natural for him.
Instead, the tests were focused challenges to Avraham’s natural and instinctive virtues. Those virtues under most circumstances fortified his ability to connect with Hashem. The most prominent was his rational approach to the world. Avraham’s original connection to Hashem comes from a logical conclusion borne of his observational powers. Look at this world, he said. There is no way it can exist without a Creator and a purpose. That’s a magnificent first step. Humans must begin with their own logic. That’s why we have a brain. R’ Dr. Moshe Tendler, the great-great-uncle of the Bas Mitzva girl, originally made a name for himself by announcing to the world that there cannot by definition be any contradiction between the Torah and the observations of the natural world. They were both the handiwork of the same Deity. It might not be easy to figure out how they converge -- they might be incommensurate systems -- but they cannot destroy each other. That is what Avraham’s original observations taught him.
But the tests took him beyond all of that. They demanded that he hone his sense of how to deal with that which is not logical. He never believed because it was absurd, as one Church father put it. That is not our way. But the tests show that the incomprehensible does not have to debilitate us.
For example, as soon as he reaches the land of Kanaan, he is forced to leave because of a famine. He has walked up and down the land, and is now ready to fill it up with those who are willing to follow him. Instead, he has to leave and accept an indefinite postponement of his mission.
Later, he must distort the truth in order to protect himself and his family from depraved hosts in Egypt or G’rar. Calling Sara his sister is not a bald-faced lie. He is not just her husband but also her uncle. He calls his nephew Lot a “brother.” But it’s a distortion which goes against his nature.
Then he must, it seems, mutilate himself and his household in a way that will strike his neighbors as barbaric. He has been dedicated for decades to reaching out. Now he will do something that will alienate the surrounding society.
Finally, he will show that he is willing to sacrifice his son. He has preached against human sacrifice. Moreover, he waited a century for this son.
In short, the tests bring Avraham Avinu up against the inexplicable. In overcoming these tests, he showed that he did not follow Hashem only because it made sense. This is the reason that the word for test (Nisayon) comes from the same root as miracle (Nes). Both require a nullification of the normal rational rules. It is also the same root as the word “flag,” because ultimately this is what Avraham is demonstrating to the world.
This is the faith of a parent (an Av), of someone who does not see the full development of things but is willing to start out anyway. This level of attachment to Hashem goes beyond that of anyone who will follow. As Hashem will say toward the beginning of Shemot (Vaera), Moshe Rabenu does not seem capable of this level.
Trials do not always bring out the best in us. We request each morning that Hashem not bring us to trials (Nisayon) and that he not demean us (Bizayon). The two are juxtaposed because, unfortunately, for many of us, a test brings us to indignity. It is our charge to follow Avraham, whose ability to forge ahead in the face of the inexplicable ennobled him, and inspired his descendents to strive for nobility in spite of any test.
Congregation Emek Beracha 4102 El Camino Real Palo Alto, CA 94306
