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Dear SHA Community,
Our parasha teaches that the Land of Israel experienced a severe famine after Avram arrived and that he decided to travel with his wife, Sarai, to Egypt in search of food.
Knowing Egypt’s reputation as a decadent and corrupt society, Avram plans a ruse. Avram and Sarai will present themselves as brother and sister. Should a powerful Egyptian take an interest in Sarai, Avram would be seen as a facilitator instead of a rival. Once in Egypt, Avram’s concern came to fruition and Sarai was noticed for her beauty. Sarai is taken to Paroh and, only by the grace of G-d’s Providence, Sarai escapes Paroh’s clutches unscathed.
Our commentators debate the appropriateness of Avram’s decision to go to Egypt in search of food. Nachmanides argues that Avram sinned, albeit inadvertently. He knew how morally decrepit Egyptian society was at that time. He should never have left Canaan and been forced to create a ruse.
Gershonides argues that Avram acted appropriately. Gershonides reinforces his position by making recourse to a general principle in decision making: whenever a person sees that a harmful situation is imminently approaching, he or she should quickly evaluate whether there are ways to mitigate the harm and choose those alternate avenues. Gershonides emphasizes that a person should act with great alacrity in working to mitigate harm – to not be negligent and lazy. Gershonides argues that by going to Egypt to escape the famine, Avram was acting with great diligence and that he was therefore blameless.
On the surface, Ralbag’s point of emphasis seems obvious - choose the path of less harm. However, we often see in our own experiences and in our own lives that people often do not act with the forethought that is characterized by Avram’s choice to go to Egypt.
Some people are often deluded by the impression that what they see in front of them will remain unchanged – the way that things are today will be the way that they will be tomorrow. Some people often do not try to mitigate harm because they do not truly believe that a risk of harm exists. Some people prioritize the information that they receive from their five senses or from their experience over other, new and unfamiliar information.
The Torah and Midrash characterize Avram as a decisive man and a man of action. By traveling to Egypt to escape the famine, Avram models the importance of validating and acting on knowledge of a truth that is beyond the ken of one’s five senses. Avram broke the idols of his father, Terach, when he saw the truth of monotheism. On Hashem’s command, Avram left his birthplace and moved to a land unknown to him. Later in his life, Avraham left with great alacrity on a mission to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Avram models belief in the truth of ideas to the degree of acting on the reality of a predictable future that has not yet arrived.
This is an incredibly important lesson for us at this point in time. Israel is in a precarious situation and our brothers and sisters in the IDF are particularly in danger. In America, we are witnessing a dramatic increase in reports of antisemitism. Let us learn from Avram’s example to identify truths, make reasoned predictions and then act resolutely to minimize the harm that may come to us in the future.
Please scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to see events in support of Israel.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Owen
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