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October 31, 2003/Cheshvan 5 5764, Vol. 56, No. 6
Noach sets the stage for Abraham's journey
Torah study
RABBI NEIL GILLMAN
Noach/Genesis 6:9-11:32
Note the closing words of the weekly portion, particularly in the narrative portions of the Torah. The decision as to where to break up the narrative usually reflects the idea that one scene of the biblical drama had come to a close and that a new one was about to begin.
The closing words of last week's portion are a particularly fruitful example. Its last four verses, Genesis 6:5-8, detail five separate themes. First, God realizes that the world God had created and had called "very good" is now "evil all the time." God now regrets the creation of humanity. God then determines to "blot out" all of creation - people, creeping things, beasts and birds.
But we don't end on that note. The concluding verse of the portion is: "But Noah found favor with the Lord." (Genesis 6:8) It is customary to end the weekly reading on a positive note. The bitter aftertaste of God's despair over creation is dispelled and we enter the new week with hope.
Now note the closing verses of this week's portion, the conclusion of a genealogy that marks the 10 generations between Noah and Abraham. Genealogies in the Torah narrative are typically structuring devices. They help us keep track of where we are in the scheme of history. This genealogy leads us first to Terach, Abraham's father, and then to Abraham. In the two closing verses of the portion, Terach takes his family and departs from Ur to travel to Canaan, but he stops in Haran, where Terach dies.
So much for concluding on a positive note. But what the sages considered to be the positive note was surely the story of the birth of Abram and Sarai, Abram's wife (who after the accepting of the covenant became Abraham and Sarah). Abraham's birth parallels Noah's birth; both represent hope and renewal. And the very next verse following Terach's death, the first verse of Lech Lecha, is God's command to Abraham to go forth to the Promised Land. With that verse, the history of Israel begins. The break in the narrative after Terach's death is then totally appropriate.
Now read these last few verses in the context of the rest of the genealogy. Our information regarding the earlier eight generations is minimal. But of Terach, we are told of his son Haran's death, the names of his two remaining sons' wives, and finally, of his decision to uproot his family to travel to Canaan, his settling in Haran and his death.
Why so much detail? Even more interesting, the commentaries inform us that according to biblical chronology, Terach lived an additional 65 years after Abram's departure for Canaan. This clearly contradicts the narrative, which has him dying before God's call to Abram. The Torah flouts its chronology to bring the pre-patriarchal period to a close before beginning the Abraham story.
Why the detail about the stopover in Haran? Why does Terach not travel directly to Canaan? In fact, why does he leave Ur in the first place? Why didn't God command Abram while he was still in Ur?
Terach does not fare well in midrashic literature. We are told that he worshipped pagan gods, and we are all familiar with the popular story that Abraham smashed his father's idols. But the Torah is non-judgmental about Terach and tells us nothing about his spiritual life.
Could we not then interpret Terach's decision to uproot his family from the pagan culture of Ur to represent his own, belated recognition of the failure of paganism - a recognition which Abraham brought to fruition? Terach could only go part of the way. He could only reach Haran, the first step in the journey. The rest was his son's destiny.
Rabbi Neil Gillman is professor of Jewish philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
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