Thought

Jewish World Review Nov. 16, 2001 / 1 Kislev, 5762

What is 'greatness'?




By Rabbi Hillel Goldberg


http://www.JewishWorldReview.com -- WHAT is the greatness of Abraham our Father? What, indeed, is greatness? A definition from Rabbi Yissachar Frand:

"And Moses grew up and went out to his brethren" (Ex. 2:11). Did Moses merely "grow up"? That is a loose rendering of the Hebrew, va-yigdal Moshe, "And Moses became great." A great person, like Moses, "went out to his brethren and saw their sufferings; and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man . . . so he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand."

Greatness is sensitivity to the needs of those around you. It is the capacity to see suffering and the courage to act.

In ancient times, the chief priest in the temple was designated a "great priest" (kohen gadol), not a "lead" or "first" priest (kohen rishon). Why? Once a year, the great priest effectuated atonement on behalf of all Jews -- he was sensitive to the needs of the entire people.

A story on greatness:

A Chassidic rebbe was in Siberia for seven years. One day, out of the blue, a hardened guard approached him and said: "Today, you are free. Just sign here." One problem. It was Shabbes, the Jewish Sabbath, (when writing is forbidden). The rebbe said, "I won't sign." The guard said, "Then you stay here another year!" Meanwhile, an old Jew, next to the rebbe, was also told, "Today, you are free. Just sign here." The old Jew was in a quandary. The rebbe didn't sign. How could he? So he refused. The rebbe turned to the old man and said: "Sign." The old Jew wouldn't. So the rebbe said, "Give me the pen. I'll sign for him!" And the rebbe did.

The guard was baffled by the turn of events. No one had refused to leave Siberia ever before. And here, the one man who did, would not violate the Shabbes by writing. But to help someone else leave, the same rebbe violated the Sabbath and signed.

"What's going on?" the guard demanded.

"Me? I made a calculation," said the rebbe. "I've been here seven years. I think I could survive another year. I feel up to it. So I have no right to violate the Shabbes. My life is not at stake. But this old Jew is weak. He wouldn't survive another year. So he has to sign, and if he won't, I must sign for him to save his life."

Amazed, the guard said: "For that, I am letting you both go."

That is greatness.

Sensitivity to others.

And the capacity to act.

Insight.

And responsiveness.

This is Abraham our Father.

Greatness -- sensitivity and action -- animate Abraham's entire life. Greatness underlies virtually every major episode in his life. Let's concentrate on four.

ONE: Commanded to leave his birthplace and father's house, Abraham brings with him "the souls that they made in Haran" (Gen. 12:5). Tradition understands these souls to be the people that Abraham and Sarah convert to belief in one G-d.

Think about the implications of this.

By analogy, find a rabbi today who can understand the nuances of human relationships and you have a rabbi who has no time. People are lined up outside his door and around the block. Marriages problems, sibling quarrels, parent-children issues: A rabbi today who can advise wisely and effectively is so much in demand that he must, at some point, cut off his availability.

Abraham never cuts himself off to others. Seekers after the one G-d include people whose families are rent. Some in the family follow Abraham's new religion, some do not. This teacher of a revolutionary faith must be available at all times. Nowhere does the Torah indicate that Abraham is anything but unstinting. He lives to 175, but the major episodes of his life are most brief. What is Abraham doing all those years? He is teaching, counseling, listening, perceiving, acting. Limitless in patience and virtually always available: this is Abraham's greatness.

TWO: Abraham founds the social conscience (tikkun olam). G-d is about to destroy the evildoers in Sodom and Gomorrah. Forcefully, if respectfully, Abraham challenges G-d: "Will You exterminate the righteous with the wicked? . . . Will the judge of the entire land not do justice?" Abraham asks G-d (Gen. 18:23, 25).

Note: To Abraham, the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah are not only strangers and evildoers. Their particular brand of evil is diametrically the opposite of his brand of good. Abraham stands for concern for others, they stand for selfishness. Abraham preaches ethics, they preach theft. Still, Abraham stands up for them. He hears even their cry. This is Abraham's greatness.

THREE: Observe Abraham's relationship with his wife, Sarah. This is a more delicate and difficult relationship than the one with strangers (converts and citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah). Here, too, Abraham shines.

Frustrated at her infertility, Sarah asks Abraham to bring another woman into their home. Sensitive to Sarah, Abraham accedes (Gen. 16:1-4). No sooner does Hagar come into their home than friction develops between her Sarah, and Sarah complains. Abraham is responsive; he tells Sarah to do with Hagar as she likes (Gen. 16:6).

Hagar feels oppressed and flees, then returns. Later, after her (and Abraham's) son Ishmael is born, Sarah wants Abraham to expel them both. Abraham is aggrieved (Gen. 21:11). After all, it is his own son he is being asked to expel. But, ever sensitive to Sarah, Abraham does not complain, let alone argue. Instead, Abraham takes his feelings to G-d, who instructs him, "Whatever Sarah tells you, heed her voice" (Gen. 22:12).

Based on this, Abraham does not merely "go along" with Sarah, feeling bitter inside but acceding to his wife for the sake of their marriage. No, Abraham finds a way to incorporate G-d's instruction such that he is accepting of Sarah. Abraham's marriage is always whole, due to his greatness (and, of course, due to Sarah's, but that is another story, as is Sarah's relation to Hagar and Ishmael).

FOUR: Abraham goes to war to rescue his nephew Lot. Other parties, neither Abraham nor Lot, are fighting each other. Lot, a non-combatant, is kidnapped by one side and held hostage. Abraham's greatness is not limited to a religious, social or psychological civilian context. Sensitive to his nephew in trouble, Abraham becomes a military man and rescues Lot.

Parenthetically, the capture of Lot, a non-combatant, is the world's first act of terrorism. Today, the US is at war to defeat a single individual and those he influences. Abraham saw deeper. Abraham went to war to rescue a single individual. He saw that to forestall terror, its very first instance must be met with force. That, too, is sensitivity.

Clearly, an interpretation of the major episodes in Abraham's life reveals his greatness -- his insight and responsiveness. Yet, when we put aside the interpretive lens and search for an authoritative, written source on Abraham's greatness, we are surprised. The midrash cites none of the episodes we have analyzed. Even Abraham's greatest challenge, G-d's command to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, is passed over. What is the greatness of Abraham? That he buried his wife Sarah and eulogized her (Bereishis Rabbah 58:9).

Rabbi Mordechai Shulman asks: Don't all people bury their dead? Did not even the pagans whom Abraham tried to reach with the message of one G-d bury their dead? Don't the lowest of the low do that? Yet, this is how the midrash identifies the greatness of Abraham. Rabbi Shulman explains: The greatness of Abraham was his simple, fundamental humanity.

I use this to illustrate an absolute contradiction to the Torah: domestic violence. The Torah's ideal husband is not the biggest earner, counselor, social activist or warrior. Rather, the ideal husband shows simple, basic decency. What is Abraham's greatness? Not his extraordinary sensitivity at times of crisis in his marriage, not his social conscience, not his religious leadership nor even his military heroism and strategic insight.

But his very essence.

His being -- the quality of his person.

The small, daily, expected, mundane acts that lead him to bury and eulogize his wife.

The greatness of Abraham our Father is the basic humanity of his life.


JWR contributor Rabbi Hillel Goldberg is the executive editor of the Intermountain Jewish News and the author of several books on Jewish themes. Comment by clicking here.


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© 2001, Rabbi Hillel Goldberg