We always learn that the story of Avram begins with this week’s פרשה, with Hashem telling him to leave חרן and go to ארץ כנען. But why would Avram be chosen? There were many צדיקים that came from Shem, why would our nation begin with Avram specifically? The Torah doesn’t seem to give us any specific reasons, yet we know that Hashem chose Avram and that he was given the opportunity to bear the greatest nation to walk the Earth.
In truth, Avram’s story begins at the end of last week’s פרשה. At the end of the long list of generations from נח to Avram the Torah gives us a brief history of Avram and his family, and there are several hints in those few Pesukim about why he was the progenitor of our nation. I will outline the Pesukim in Hebrew and translate.
Pasuk 27- ואלה תולדות תרח תרח הוליד את אברם את נחור ואת הרן והרן הוליד את לוט. And these are the generations of תרח, תרח gave birth to Avram, נחור, and Haran, and Haran gave birth to Lot.
Pasuk 28- וימת הרן על פני תרח אביו בארץ מולדתו באור כשדים. And Haran died in the lifetime of תרח his father in the land where he was born in אור כשדים.
Pasuk 29- ויקח אברם ונחור להם נשים שם אשת אברם שרי ושם אשת נחור מלכה בת הרן אבי מלכה ואבי יסכה. And Avram and נחור took wives for themselves, Avram’s wife’s name was Sarai and נחור’s wife’s name was מלכה, the daughter of Haran, who was the father of מלכה and יסכה.
Pasuk 30- ותהי שרי עקרה אין לה ולד. And Sarai was barren, she could not have children
Pasuk 31- ויקח תרח את אברם בנו ואת לוט בן הרן בן בנו ואת שרי כלתו אשת אברם בנו ויצאו אתם מאור כשדים ללכת ארצה כנען ויבאו עד חרן וישבו שם. And תרח took Avram his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, who was his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Avram his son, and he left with them from אור כשדים to go to the ארץ כנען and they came to חרן and they settled there.
This is all we know about our first forefather before he is chosen by Hashem and commanded “לך לך”, and at first glance this just seems like the story about a family and their travels, but with some help from Chazal and some inferences we can get a better picture into who Avram was and why he was chosen.
We need to start with רש”י who says that יסכה was another name for Sarai. What this means is that Avram and נחור married יסכה and מלכה, the two sisters who were the daughters of their brother Haran. And the way the Pesukim read it seems as though the death of Haran prompts Avram and נחור to marry his daughters. They felt the responsibility to take their deceased brother’s children who now had no one to fend for them, under their wing. They take his daughters as wives and Avram adopts Lot as a son and takes care of him. What is also interesting is that the Torah doesn’t tell us explicitly that Avram married his niece, we need to read the lineage carefully and know the Chazal that יסכה is Sarai, and then we will know that Avram was takin his family under his wing. I think this means that Avram didn’t do this as a public act and was not looking for attention, he was simply doing what he knew was the right thing to do and those who looked into the matter found out. As the Pesukim continue, Avram stays with Sarai even though she is barren and can’t have children, he is more interested in protecting his family than he is in carrying on his own name and family. And the last Pasuk in this narrative tells us that תרח picked up his entire family and moved from their home in אור כשדים to go to ארץ כנען. They happened to get stuck in חרן and they never made it there, but their original destination was ארץ כנען. The Torah doesn’t give any reasons for why they were relocating, and I didn’t see any medrashim so all we have is speculation.
I would like to propose that תרח was taking his family to ארץ כנען in order to take back the land that was rightfully theirs. When the מבול was over, נח divided the world among his 3 sons and he gave the land that we now know as Israel to Shem, from whose family תרח and Avram came from. The Pasuk says that when Avram defeated the 4 kings and there was a victory feast one of the participants was מלכי צדק who Chazal tell us was Shem and he was then the king of what would become ירושלים, so we see that the land was his. Yet, at the beginning of the פרשה when Avram receives his commandment to go to ארץ כנען it says, והכנעני אז בארץ, and רש”י explains that even though it was given to Shem the families of כנען were waging war to take it away from Shem. I think that the intention was correct to make it to ארץ כנען and win the land back, and something happened with תרח along that way that made them stop in חרן and never complete their mission.
But Avram never lost sight of that dream and vision, and when Hashem said I want you to go to the land that I will show you, to ארץ כנען, Avram jumped up, happy and ready to continue and finish that journey which he had begun with his father so many years prior.
I think it is these characteristics which set the framework for Avram’s life and journey. I think the prerequisite which Avram met which prompted Hashem to choose him to be the one to head the nation which would perfect the world was the fact that he was willing to take care of his family when they were in need, even at detriment to himself, and that he did so quietly and without flare and without calling attention to himself. And as his descendants, our job in the world is to look out for those in need to give to them and not for self-promotion.
One more interesting thing to add, when Avram’s name is changed to Avraham, רש”י explains that originally, he was אב ארם, the father of Aram (his hometown), and he then became אב המון גוים, the father of multitudes of nations (which we see in fact that today he is). רש”י addresses the question of why the “ר” is still there since his new mission of אב המון גוים, doesn’t have a “ר” in there, and says that the “ר” never moved from its place. I think this means that Avraham, as great as he became and as global of a figure he became, never forget his beginnings and never forgot his family or any other small person that needed help. I think this is our mission as Jews and this is what gave us the ability to be the Jewish nation.