Every Challenge is Not a Trial
Avraham’s ten tests
The passage above records Hashem’s first command to Avraham.[1] Hashem instructs Avraham to leave his homeland, birthplace, and his father’s home and to travel to a land that Hashem will reveal to him.[2] Our Sages in Masechet Avot tell us that Hashem subjected Avraham to ten tests and that he met each of these challenges.[3] In this mishne, the Sages do not identify the tests.[4] This has led to some discussion among the commentaries regarding their identity. Maimonides and others include within their lists of the ten tests the above command.[5] This position is not easily understood. In order to appreciate the problem in this position more information about Avraham’s life is needed.
The persecution of Avraham
The Torah reveals virtually nothing regarding Avraham’s life prior to the command in the above passage. However, our Sages had an important tradition regarding Avraham’s earlier life. This tradition was regarded by the Sages as factual and not merely a legend.[6] Rashi records this tradition in his commentary on the Torah.
While still living in his birthplace, Ur Khasdim, Avraham recognized the folly of idolatry. He responded to this realization by shattering his father’s idols. Terach reported Avraham to the king – Nimrod. Nimrod condemned Avraham to death for his apostasy and decreed that he be thrown into a fiery furnace. Miraculously, the fire did not harm Avraham and he emerged from the furnace unscathed.[7]
Avraham was not welcome in Ur Khasdim. He was regarded as a heretic and agitator. Leaving Ur Khasdim or further distancing himself from the territory under its influence should have been Avraham’s own response to the hostility he experienced there. How was leaving or distancing himself from Ur Khasdim – his land and the place of his birth – one of Avraham’s trials?
And Avaham took Sari his wife, and Lote his nephew, and all of their property that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Charan. And they went forth to the Land of Cana’an. And they came to the Land of Cana’an. (Sefer Bereshiet 12:5)
Avraham’s followers
In the above passage, Avraham responds to Hashem’s command and embarks upon his journey. He sets forth to the Land of Cana’an. With him he takes his wife and nephew and the people that they had acquired in Charan. Who are these people? Rashi comments that the simplest interpretation of the passage is that it refers to the servants that they had acquired. Rashi notes an alternative interpretation of the passage. These people were followers that he and Sarah[8] had instructed in Charan. In other words, Avraham and Sarah shared their discovery of Hashem with the people of their community. They were active teachers and they succeeded in persuading others to abandon idolatry and to return to the worship of Hashem. This tradition was regarded by the Sages as factual and not as mere legend. In fact, according to Unkelus, this alternative interpretation is the proper translation of the passage.[9]
The mission of Avraham and Sarah
Let us further consider the behavior of Avraham and Sarah. They rediscovered knowledge that had been lost to humanity. All of humanity was committed to the worship of idols. Avraham was able to think past the conventional wisdom of his era and evaluate his culture’s beliefs and its worldview. He pierced through the barrier of prevailing ignorance and recognized that all of humanity was participating in a collective delusion. He shared his discovery with his wife Sarah and she – like Avraham – rejected the religion and perspective universally embraced by humanity. She and Avraham stood apart from humanity and society.
This accomplishment is remarkable in itself. However, the unique courage of Avraham and Sarah is even more evident in the mission that they undertook. Avraham and Sarah translated their recognition of Hashem into an initiative to transform humanity. They confronted the false beliefs of their era and decried their falsehood. This required enormous courage.
Motivations for teaching others about Hashem
Why did Avraham and Sarah feel it necessary to confront society and decry the falsehood of its beliefs? One explanation is that Avraham and Sarah were humanitarians. They recognized that the views of their society were primitive and misleading. They reflected a failure on the part of humanity to understand its world. Understanding had been replaced by a fanciful set of delusions. The advancement of humanity required eliminating this barrier of deception. Avraham and Sarah were devoted not only to changing the religious beliefs of their peers; their objective was to reform the worldview of humanity. They would free humanity from the shackles imposed upon it by primitivism and superstition. They would liberate human intelligence and its innate yearning for truth.[10]
Maimonides suggests that Avraham and Sarah had another motivation. They were driven by their love of Hashem. Maimonides explains that a characteristic of one who loves Hashem is this intense desire to share with others knowledge of Hashem’s existence and sovereignty.[11]
Understanding the nature of the commitment shared by Avraham and Sarah will provide us with an important insight into the nature of this trial. But first we must consider one addition problem in the parasha.
And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will enlarge your reputation, and you will be blessed. (Sefer Beresheit 12:2)
Avraham is blessed by Hashem
In addition to commanding Avraham to travel to a new land, Hashem reveals to Avraham his destiny. He will establish a great nation. His reputation will prosper. He will be blessed. Why would Avraham wish to be the founder of a great nation? It seems even more absurd that he should be concerned with his reputation. He had cared little about his reputation when he rejected the prevailing religious doctrines and replaced them a new heretical set of beliefs.
The above analysis provides a response to these questions. Avraham was motivated by his compassion for his fellow human-beings and by his love of Hashem. He and Sarah had undertaken a mission. They had devoted themselves to battling ignorance, primitivism, and idolatry. They were committed to reintroducing humanity to worship of the one G-d. The great nation that Hashem foretold was not merely a people descendant of Avraham; Hashem told Avraham that he would found a nation that would embrace his religious outlook and worldview. Hashem told Avraham that He would advance his reputation. He was not speaking of a reputation as a powerful leader or as a wealthy merchant. He was telling Avraham that he would be recognized by humanity as a religious luminary and as a source of wisdom and enlightenment. These were tidings that were meaningful to Avraham. Hashem was telling Avraham that he and Sarah will succeed in their life-mission.
Avraham’s trial
Let us now reconsider our original question. How was Hashem’s command to Avraham to abandon his home and to travel to a new land a trial for him? Avraham was completely committed to his mission. Hashem indicated to Avraham through the tidings that He shared with him that this mission was indeed worthy. Yet, Hashem commanded Avraham to undertake a path completely in conflict with the pursuit of this mission!
Avraham and Sarah were achieving success in Charan. They had built a community of followers. This community had the potential to grow into a nation. How many of these disciples would follow Avraham to a new and unfamiliar land? Would they agree to relocate to an undeveloped pastoral land far from their homes? Could Avraham duplicate his success in this new land in which he would be an unknown foreigner? Hashem was demanding that Avraham place in jeopardy everything of value that he had accomplished.
Challenges and trials
The greatest test is not when we are confronted by the challenge of abandoning some objective or goal that is merely a delusion, or forsaking a comfort or indulgence. We are confronted with a real trial when we must abandon something of enormous importance. We may struggle to arrive at synagogue on time or to respond with generosity and sensitivity to those in need of charity. But these are not real trials. These challenges require only that we confront and overcome our delusions and shortcomings. A real trial is encountered when we are required to place in jeopardy values, or goals that are truly important or even sacred.[12] This was the trial that Avraham faced. Hashem required that he abandon what seemed to be the most direct road to achieving his goal of reforming humanity. He was to replace his strategy with an outlandish project – to journey to a strange unknown land. In short, he was directed to travel the most unlikely path toward achieving his goals.
[1] In the above passage Avraham is referred to as Avram. This was his name at the time he received the command recorded in the passage. Later in the parasha (17:5) Hashem bestows upon Avram the name Avraham. For the sake of simplicity, in this discussion, the name Avraham will be used throughout.
[2] The commentators debate the location at which Avraham received this command. The passage implies that Avraham was living in the place of his birth when he received the commandment. This position is upheld by Ibn Ezra. Gershonides accepts this position but does not base his opinion of the phrasing of the passage. He explains that the term molad’techa translated above as “your place of birth” should instead be translated as “your family”.
Rashi and others point out that in 11:31 Terach departs from Ur Khasdim – Avraham’s birthplace – and relocates to Charan. Avraham is in Terach’s party. Rashi therefore concludes that Avraham received the command described in the passage while in Charan.
[3] Mesechet Avot 5:3.
[4] The term nisayon is translated, in this discussion, as “test” or “trial”. These translations suggest that each of these episodes challenged Avraham’s commitment in some way. Indeed, Nachmanides suggests that each did present Avraham with a personal challenge. Rabbaynu David Kimchi (Radak) and others reject this interpretation of these trials. They interpret the trials as demonstrations. Through these trials Avraham’s true character and commitment were exhibited and demonstrated to future generations. Rashi seems to adopt this position.
[5] Rabbaynu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides) Commentary on the Mishne, Mesechet Avot 5:3.
[6] Maimonides makes reference to the episode. See: Rabbaynu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides) Mishne Torah, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 1:3. His treatment of the incident indicates that he did not regard it as legend. Rashi in his commentary on Avot 5:3 identifies this incident as one of the ten trial to which Avraham was subjected.
[7] Rabbaynu Shlomo ben Yitzchak (Rashi), Commentary on Sefer Beresheit 11:28.
[8] In the above passage Sarah is referred to as Sari. This was her name at the time of the departure from Charan. Later in the parasha (17:15) Hashem bestows upon Sari the name Sarah. For the sake of simplicity, in this discussion, the name Sarah will be used throughout.
[9] See Rabbaynu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides) Mishne Torah, Hilchot Avodat Kochavim 1:3. His treatment of the issue indicates that he did not regard it as legend.
[10] This interpretation of the motives of Avraham and Sarah may be implicit in the comment of Resh Lakish in Mesechet Sanhedrin 99b. There, he comments that one who teaches his peer Torah has created him. He supports his position with the text of our passage. Literally translated, the passage describes the disciples of Avraham and Sarah as the people they had made (asu) in Charan. Resh Lakish posits that through their instruction of these individuals, Avraham and Sarah remade them. In these comments, Resh Lakish suggests that the passage is alluding to the transformative capacity of knowledge. This may imply that the motives of Avraham and Sarah included this transformation and the advancement of humanity.
[11] Rabbaynu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides) Sefer HaMitzvot, Mitzvat Aseh 3.
[12] Shortly before the Second World War Rav Elchonan Wasserman visited the United States to raise funds for the support of yeshiva students in Europe. Rav Elchonan returned to Europe despite the growing danger. He encouraged his students to remain in Europe rather than secure visas for the United States or Palestine. Rav Elchonan was certain that the spiritual dangers his students would face in these countries were more severe than the danger then coalescing in Europe. In hindsight, we can conclude that Rav Elchonan’s calculations of these relative dangers were tragically flawed. However, at the time, the observant communities in the United States and in Palestine were small and in their nascent stage. He could not know that Torah observance would blossom in these communities and that both would become the homes of yeshivot that would be the heirs to the European tradition of Torah scholarship. Rav Elchonan was confronted with alternatives that posed a true trial. His sole consideration was the preservation of Torah and the spiritual lives of European yeshiva students. His trial was to choose between two paths – each of which seemed fraught with terrible dangers. Rav Elchonan was murdered by the Nazis and their Lithuanian collaborators on 12 Tammuz 1941.