Lekh Lekha

The parsha for last week is Lekh Lekha (לן לן) which essentially narrates the departure of Avram from 'Ur to Charan and then to K'naan (Canaan). Well the name implies the meaning of 'Get Out!' (though not that harsh but close...). I have jotted down several important points pertaining to this Parsha, the earlier part that is, because of the apparent blurriness I encountered when I studied the text. Subsequently, I think that this is a charitable thing to do i.e. helping others in their studies.

Before Departure

A lot of scholars address the problem of mentioning the death of Terach even before he passed away. This took place in Genesis 11.32 when the verse explicitly state the death of Terach in Charan. He live for 205 years and when Avram left his father's presence in Charan, Terach was 145 years old but why the mentioning of his death so soon? Rashi, as always, have his say.

According to the great commentator, he told us that,

'The idolaters are considered dead even though they are still alive and the righteous are considered alive even though they had passed away,'

What a profound statement. Rashi, earlier, explained that the mentioning of the death of Avram's Father prematurely is to 'conceal' the fact that Avram left his father during his Golden Age lest others will say that Avram left his father when he needed care the most i.e. during his old days.

However, in my opinion, things look quite differently (bear in my mind, it is my opinion again..)

It seems to me that the sudden mentioning of the death of Terach in Charan is due to the verse Gen 12.1. The continuity of the verses (from the end of Parsha Noach to Parsha Lekh Lekha) seems to be abrupt and it gave an impression that 'things are not going the way they should'. Why I say so? If you follow the narrative closely, you will see that HaShem Did Not Tell Terach, Avram and Lot to left for the Land of K'naan. They travelled at their own initiative to the land; this is what we get from Gen 11.31. However, at the beginning of Chapter 12, one sees that it is under HaShem's Command that Avram left his father's house. This seems odd and contradictory to the whole understanding but a close examination of the text will shed some light.

Firstly, the sudden mentioning of the death of Terach in Charan can only means one thing. Terach did not sojourn with Avram to the land of K'naan and he settled in Charan for the next 60 years after Avram's departure.

Secondly, the verse from Gen 12.1 read thus:

'Now HaShem said unto Abram: 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show thee'

Notice the sentence 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house'. This obviously implies that Avram have to get out from his home country (Ur), from his kindreds, and from his father's (which is in Charan).

The conclusion is at the end of the eleventh chapter of Genesis, it is solely by Terach's initiative that they wanted to move away to the land of K'naan and after some predicament, did not proceed further than Charan. However, after HaShem'S Intervention, it is apparent that this has become a commandment to leave his station to a new land where HaShem will Show him. If this is not the case, why will HaShem mentioned two places at the same time? The sentence seems to me as though as Avram can no longer go back to Ur, his kindreds, and his father's house.

One commentator gave the reason for their expulsion from Ur. The behaviour of Avram since he is a youth is very apparent to us. A well-known midrash states that he broke all the idols his father sold and blame it to the biggest idols. Well, with this behaviour at hand, I do not feel strange that they will be expelled. This is the reason why G-d Chooses Avram and Avram discovered G-d even though HaShem Have Not Revealed Himself to Avram yet.