In the Jewish tradition, there’s a beautiful and deeply meaningful custom of studying Torah in honor or memory of an individual. At our weekly Shabbat morning Torah study, and many of our adult learning classes we invite students to dedicate their learning reflecting that practice.
As the war in Gaza enters its third week, I dedicate the Torah that I’ll be sharing to the victims of the terrorist attack, in memory of those who were killed, in solidarity with those who were taken hostage, and in honor of those who are risking their lives to protect the citizens of Israel. For the entire Torah portion click here.
No sooner do Abram and Sarai (in Gen 12, their names are not yet changed) enter the promised land then they depart for Egypt because of a famine in Canaan. Sound familiar? It should; that’s the very same reason that Jacob and his sons head to Egypt and are welcomed by Joseph. The brothers’ relocation results in hundreds of years of enslavement, as the Torah tells it.
While enroute to Egypt, Abram instructs Sarai to tell the Egyptians that she’s Abram’s sister so that “it may go well with me…that I shall remain alive.” How are we to understand the sudden journey and the strange request? A Qumran scroll source imagines that Abram had an obscure dream (believed to come from God) while on the way. Sarai interprets the meaning and she, herself, suggests the sister/wife ruse. Before Pharaoh can violate Sarai he and his household are stricken with plagues (sound familiar?), and he immediately deduces that his dangerous liaison with Sarai is the cause.
There are three sister/wife ruses in the Torah. Abraham does it again with Abimelech, who is saved when God alone speaks to the Philistine king. (Gen 20) Later, Isaac passes Rebekah off as his sister to another king, also named Abimelech. (Gen 26)
Here again, modern Biblical scholarship provides a compelling analysis. The motif of the sister/wife deception is a theme that is used in all three cases to convey a deeper principle. While context doesn’t allow interpretation of the other two, the pharaonic deception is a form of Biblical foreshadowing. Abram and Sarai are the progenitors of the nation, as such events in their lives prefigure those of the people that will rise from them. Phrases in this story parallel the later story of the Exodus. A famine drives them south (just like Jacob and crew), Pharaoh is plagued to bring Sarai’s release, Abram and Sarai are sent away וַיְשַׁלְּחוּ אֹתוֹ –“and he sent (va-yi SHLACH-u) him away” (Moses says: “SHALACH et Ami — Let my people go!”) with words that parallel the Israelite’s later release. Additional words in the tale parallel other important Biblical passages. (For a detailed analysis, click here.)
Mark Twain said, “History never repeats itself, but the kaleidoscopic combinations of the pictured present often seem to be constructed out of the broken fragments of antique legends.” Just as this Biblical story seems to be drawn from components of other stories, so, too, is our framework for understanding our present. Drawing on our own memories, those of others, and our knowledge of historical events we make sense of our own present using building blocks from the past.
