Vayera: How Would You Translate "Yashar"?

I’ve set two goals for myself in writing this year’s series of “Person in the Parsha” columns. One is to focus on a person who is barely mentioned in the parsha, as I’ve done in previous weeks with Nimrod. The other is to discuss the parameters of “Good” vs. “Evil,” as exemplified by the courage of the very young Avram vs. the murderous tyranny of King Nimrod.

This week’s Torah portion, Parshat Vayera (Genesis 18:1-22:24), has its share of minor characters, some quite villainous, one may say “sadistic,” like the population of Sodom and Gomorrah. Others, like Ishmael and Avimelech, upon whom I will reserve judgment for now because of the complexity of their moral standards.

But the outstanding personalities in this week’s parsha are clearly the man and woman now renamed by the Almighty as Avraham and Sarah. They are surely this week’s “stars.”

They are both precursors to millennia of heroes and heroines, all paragons of the “Good”, who deserve the title Yashar. Before defining the term, I must make you aware that the Bible itself refers to the Book of Genesis, Sefer Bereshit, as Sefer HaYashar. The Bible does so in Joshua 10:13 and again in Samuel II 1:18. You might wish to look up these verses and see for yourselves.

So, what does yashar mean? Some define it as “straight,” in the sense of a “straight line,” veering neither to the left nor to the right, geographically or morally. I prefer to define it as “upright,” as the verse in Kohelet, “The Lord made men yashar but they engaged in many schemes (Ecclesiastes 7:29).

Some of the “near-synonyms” which will give you a better idea of what I mean by upright are the following: virtuous, principled, worthy, trustworthy, rightful, correct, faithful, truthful. In short, a person of integrity.

Why would the Bible itself refer to Bereshit as the “Book of the Upright”? For the answer, we must consult the Talmud (Tractate Avodah Zarah 25a) which quotes the sage Rabbi Yochanan who asserts that it is named the “Book of the Yashar/Upright” because it “relates the story of Avraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were all yesharim/upright individuals.”

Who referred to our Patriarchs as “yesharim”? Of all people, Balaam! When asked by Balak to place a curse upon the people of Israel, he demurs and says, among other praises of the people he is asked to curse, “May I die the death of the yesharim/the upright (i.e. the Patriarchs), may my fate be like theirs.” (Numbers 23:10)

I urge you to recall the verse in Devarim which proclaims that the Almighty Himself is called yashar, as in Parshat Ha’azinu (Deuteronomy 32:4), “righteous and upright is He!”

What does it mean to be yashar, and how does Avraham earn this appellation?

For this, I must introduce you to Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, the nineteenth century sage who headed the famed yeshiva in Volozhin, Lithuania. He is known by the abbreviation of his full name, Netziv. He was a most prolific writer, and arguably his most famous work is his commentary on the Chumash entitled HaEmek Davar. He devotes his introduction to the Book of Bereshit to the definition of an ish yashar, an upright man.

He begins with a description of the faults of the generation of Jews just prior to the destruction of the Second Temple:

“In those days, the population contained many tzaddikim and chassidim [devout and pious folk] and those who toiled in Torah study. But they were not “upright” in their dealings with others. They held hatred in their hearts, one against the other, so that if they but suspected that another person was not as pious as they considered themselves to be, they accused him of being a Sadducee or an apikores, a sectarian or a heretic.

“In the extreme, this led even to murder and to every possible transgression. Thus was the Temple destroyed… For the Holy One Blessed Be He does not tolerate such “tzaddikim” … Even if such perversions are supposedly performed for the “sake of Heaven,” they bring about the erosion of the Creation and the ruin of civilization.

“It is to the credit of our Patriarchs that besides being tzaddikim and chassidim and lovers of the Almighty to the extent humanly possible, they were also yesharim! And so, they dealt humanely with other nationalities, and even with despicable idolaters. They dealt with them as peers and were concerned about their welfare because of their own universalist concerns.

“We see this clearly in the fact that Avraham extended himself to pray for Sodom. Even though he disdained the people of Sodom and their ruler because of their evil acts, he nevertheless wanted them to be spared.

“That is why Avraham is called av hamon goyim, father of the multitude of nations. Fathers desire the well-being of even their wayward sons.”

Netziv dedicates the rest of his introduction to the Book of Bereshit to justify why it is called the Sefer Hayshar/“the Book of the Upright.” He demonstrates how both Isaac and Jacob exhibited similar tolerance and sympathy toward individuals who were less than worthy. Examples include Isaac with Avimelech and Jacob with Laban, as we will soon read in future weekly Torah portions.

I close by sharing with you an account of my several experiences leading groups of tourists on trips to Eastern Europe. Among the highlights of all these trips were the visits to the graves of Jewish religious leaders, many of which date back five or six centuries. Before each such visit, I would select a text written by or about the person whose grave we were about to visit.

One of those graves was the final resting place of Netziv, who died brokenhearted after his beloved yeshiva in Volozhin was forced by the Russian government to close its doors. Soon after that tragic disappointment, in 1892, he spent time in Warsaw and passed away there. He was buried in the large cemetery there. The famed Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, who died several decades later, was buried next to him.

At the end of each of these journeys, I would ask the members of the group to comment upon their emotions and submit a written description of any life-changing experiences they may have had in the course of the weeklong adventure.

I still cherish those scraps of paper and remain amazed and inspired by how many of the participants reported with pride and sincerity that they found Netziv’s words greatly influential, if not actually life changing.

           I encourage you, dear reader, to try to read Netziv’s introduction in its eloquent original. Perhaps you too will be affected by it sufficiently to expand your attitudes towards others in your surroundings and to join the company of our treasured ancestors, the yesharim.