Avraham and God's Selflessness (Plus: How Did Malkitzedek Survive?)

Q. I understand the righteousness that was attributed to Abraham because he trusted HaShem. I understand that righteousness is a state of selflessness. But I don’t understand, in Ashrei, how HaShem is described as “righteous in all His ways.”

A. Nice to hear from you. I assume you are referring to Genesis 15:6, a verse whose exact meaning is obscure. I happen to like what Ramban says on this verse: Avram thought that God would give him children because of God's own inherent kindness and not because of anything that he did to deserve it. In this reading, Avraham credited God with righteousness, not the other way around.

Even in the usual understanding of things, how do you conclude that righteousness is selflessness? All of these words (tzaddik, tzedaka) come from the root TzDK, which means justice. When we give a needy person money, it's not called “tzedakah” because it's selfless, it's because it's just.

So, isn't God just in all His ways? The alternative is that He is sometimes unfair, which I do not believe to be the case.

While I haven't heard that TzDK implies selflessness, I have no problem with it as applied to God. He gives us literally everything and there's absolutely nothing that He needs from us. Isn't that the very definition of selflessness?

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Q. How did Melchizedek survive the deluge since he didn't go into the Ark?

A. Thanks for your question. The Midrash identifies Melchizedek with Shem, the son of Noah (in which case Melchizedek would have been a title, like "Pharaoh"). If Melchizedek was Shem, then he indeed was on the ark.

Rabbi Jack's book Ask Rabbi Jack is available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.