“All other civilizations rise and fall. The faith of Avraham survives." - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks
“Lech Lecha,” this week’s Parashah depicts Avraham, the first forefather of the Jewish
People, as one of the most revolutionary figures in all of human history. He is unique in
the Torah and in world history because he represents a new kind of human being, one who
has transformed the relationship between G-d and humanity, between faith and ethics,
between individual and the world. Avraham stood against almost every value that his
surrounding cultures accepted as natural.
In order to fully appreciate Avraham’s unique contribution to world civilization, one needs to see him in the context of the world he was reared in, the Ancient Near East.
Avraham was born into a world that was idolatrous and polytheistic. The dominant theology in Mesopotamia, more precisely Ur of Chaldees, the birthplace of Avraham, was paganism. Though the Torah does not discuss the early years of Avraham, Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah 38:13) paints Avraham’s father, Terach, as an idol merchant. Midrash tells us that even as a youth, Avraham challenged this system by breaking the effigies in his father’s shop to demonstrate their powerlessness.
Avraham’s Mesopotamia was highly developed. Cities like Ur and Haran were centers of commerce, astronomy and administration. However, as the Torah’s earlier chapters, especially the one narrating the experience of the Tower of Babel, show, moral decay, violence and injustice were widespread. Humanity was seeking greatness without G-d.
The Ancient Near Eastern society also believed that humans were at the mercy of fate and the will of the gods. Kings and priests claimed divine or semi-divine authority and ordinary people had little spiritual agency. Empires were built on power, conquest and heirarchy. Against this setting, Avraham refused to worship power and introduced a cultural and moral landscape by emphasizing a unique, personal relationship with a one moral and invisible G-d who governs the world. Avraham founded what Rabbi Meir Bier terms as “Ethical Monotheism.”
Some may argue that other righteous and monotheistic people, such as Noach, preceded Avraham. “Noach,” suggests Rabbi Bier, “isolated himself from the corrupt and immoral surroundings, and when G-d decided to destroy that civilization, he saved only himself and his family. Avraham, on the other hand,” notes Bier, “proactively and positively elevated the spiritual sensitivity and the theology of those around him, spearheading a spiritual revolution of monotheism.”
Lord Rabbi Sacks takes this point one step further. “The story of Avraham,” he asserts, “can only be understood against the backdrop of the story of Noach.” G-d, notes Sacks, told both Noach and Avraham in advance that he was about to bring punishment to the world. In Bresheet 6:13, G-d says to Noach, “I am going to put an end to all people for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” Similarly, in Bresheet 18:17-21, the Lord says, “Shall I hide from Avraham what I am about to do?....The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached Me.”
Noach did not protest and did as G-d commanded him. He accepted the verdict. Avraham, as we learn later in the Parashat Veyera, challenges G-d and tries to negotiate the Sodom and Gomorrah's potential salvation.
Avraham’s vision, moral integrity, and rejection of the traditional values of his upbringing undoubtedly earned him the title of a revolutionary. Yet, in my view, none of these achievements would have been possible without the defining qualities that guided his every step, his unwavering courage and faith.
The worldview of the Ancient Near Eastern societies, where Avraham was reared, was rooted in tribe and land. People’s identities were tied to family, tribe and geography. When G-d calls upon Avraham and tells him “Lech lecha- Go forth from your land, your birthplace and your father’s house to the land that I will show you,” (Bresheet 12:1), He does not tell him what his mission is nor his destination. G-d is directing him to break away from that entire worldview, from the comforts of his home, from the wealth he has accumulated, and create a new identity and face the unknown.
Nonetheless, Avraham responds to G-d’s call with complete trust and without any hesitation. He believes before there is proof. Avraham’s faith is not inherited, it is chosen. It is his pure faith, universal vision and moral courage which makes him the prototype of a seeker, the first spiritual pioneer and sets him on his journey from paganism to ethical monotheism, from self-interest to covenantal responsibility, paving the path for the Jewish People and for all humanity.
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