Lech L'cha

Parsha Lech L'cha marks a new course and path in the life of Avraham and those who left with him. His break from his father's house and the land of his birth has parallels in some other cultures, while being connected to the historic cultures of his time. Drawing from anthropology, archeology, and traditional sources, this paper seeks to explore Avraham's beginning as a follower of G-d breaking from the religion of his native land.

Genesis 11:25-12:6 is the main focus of this paper:

After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and begot sons and daughters. When Terah had lived 70 years, he begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Now this is the line of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot. Haran died in the lifetime of his father Terah, in his native land, Ur of the Chaldeans. Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives, the name of Abram’s wife being Sarai and that of Nahor’s wife Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. Now Sarai was barren, she had no child.

Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan; but when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah came to 205 years; and Terah died in Haran.

The L-RD said to Abram, "Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you And curse him that curses you; And all the families of the earth Shall bless themselves by you."

Abram went forth as the L-RD had commanded him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran; and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the site of Shechem, at the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.¹

Before discussing these passages in depth, drawing from archeology, history, and traditional sources, a discussion of parallels from other cultures is useful. The specific examples chosen come from the Irish, the Choctaw, and the Anishinaabe (Chippewa/Ojibwe).

The Irish have a legend of how the Milesians, those who followed Miled or Milesius, of a Celtic group in North-Western Spain, came to Ireland, "the Isle of Destiny". They tell that Moshe himself told the original ancestor of all Gaels, Gaodhal Glas, of this "Isle of Destiny". Alternately, they saw this Isle in a dream. Hearing of Ireland, possibly from sea faring traders, Miled sent his uncle there as scout. Unfortunately for his uncle, the Tuatha De Danann (followers of the "goddess" Dana) were already living there, having conquered the first Celtic inhabitants known as the Firbolg, suspected the reason for his coming, and killed him. While back in Spain, Miled died, "his eight sons, with their mother, Socta, their families and followers, at length set out on their venturous voyage to their Isle of Destiny." ² This event was also sung in a song titled "The Coming of the Milesians" by someone named Moore:

They came from a land beyond the sea,
And now o'er the western main
Set sail in their good ships, gallantly,
From the sunny lands of Spain,
"Oh, where's the isle we've seen in dreams.
Our destin'd home or grave?"
Thus sang they, as by morning beams,
They swept the Atlantic wave...³

While the Milesians followed a dream or some say a prophecy, the Choctaw followed a pole given to them be "Sun Father " from their old home to their new home in what is now the state of Mississippi. The group left was known as the Okla, and became the Choctaw and the Chickasaw, the Chickasaw eventually settling a bit north and slightly east of the Choctaw. Choctaw legend states that the Okla, or people, were created on a beach by the western sea, likely the Pacific Ocean. Hatakni was, in some ways the Adam of Choctaw legend, in that he was the very first Choctaw created. The longer legend has peoples emerge from under the water. The go onto the beach to dry under the sun. "Father Sun" watches and eventually the person he names Hatakni is the first to dry out and walk. He is the first of the "the people".⁴

Hatakni was also the one to receive the "sacred pole" that would lead the people to their "promised land" far to the east. Only by having the faith to follow the pole would the people prove themselves worthy to be the "chosen people" of "Sun Father". Furthermore, to the Okla, the sacred pole was to be "an eternal sign of [his] promise" to them. A golden sun disk also being evidence of their covenant with the "Sun Father". The journey to their promised land was to take, according to some, 43 years, and in the process, those lead by Chiksa and those lead by Chahta would become separated not too far from their goal. Chahta's group was with Hatakni, and thus ended up in the land promised to this group when the pole, always bending when stuck in the earth to point the way, stood straight.⁵

The Anishinaabe once lived north and east of their current land, near a sea. Likely this sea was the Hudson Bay. They believe in a single Creator and some helpers that I am told are similar to angels.⁶ A portion of a legend about the origin of corn is illustrative of these beliefs:

...Each young Indian boy looked forward to the time of finding the secret Spirit who would be his guide through his life. Each boy sought to learn his spirit name and what special power would be given him by his Guardian Spirit...

"I believe the Chief of the Sky Spirits guide all things and it is to him I owe all things." he thought to himself "I wonder if Chief Sky Spirit can make it easier for all Indians to acquire enough food without hunting animals every day to eat."

"I must try to find a way in my dreams," he pondered. He stayed on his bed the third day of fasting, because he felt weak and faint. Sometimes he thought that he was going to die. He dreamed that he saw a strong, handsome young man coming down from the sky, advancing towards him. He was richly dressed in green and yellow colours. He wore a plume of waving feathers on his head. His every movement was graceful.

"I have been sent to you," said the sky-visitor. 'The Sky Chief who made all things in the sky and upon the earth intends for me to be your Guardian Spirit and I have come to test you."⁷

This Chief Sky Spirit, who created all things in the sky (heaven?) and earth, is also called the Creator. The Creator, in one of the seven prophecies given to the Anishinaabe, told them to go to a land that they would be shown, a land where food grew upon the water. Leaving as the Creator said, they made their way west and south, to Minnesota, Wisconsin, and neighboring states, a land where wild rice grows upon the water.⁸

All three of these stories have something in common with the recounting in Genesis of Avraham's journey from Haran to Canaan; they are all tellings of how that particular people ended up in what became their land. Lech L'cha tells how we came to Canaan and how Canaan came to be our land. In this, it is indeed like the three migration legends I have recounted, yet it is different also. The Irish migration legend seems to not be connected to religion at all. The Choctaw legend clearly has religious overtones, but it is more in keeping with Terach leaving Ur and going to Haran than Avraham leaving Haran. Ur and Haran were both centers of worship of the "god" moon Sin. Of course, in the Choctaw telling, they go to an entirely new land, not one already populated by worshipers of their "Sun Father". Despite the presence of a covenant with the people, the Choctaw telling still seems closer to the story of Terach because there is no change in the religion or culture of the people. Abraham, on the other hand, follows a new way and a culture different from Terach's in its religious and behavioral aspects. The story of the Anishinaabe, as it was recounted to me, has a few more parallels. Involving the Creator bringing them to their land, it tells nothing of the radical break Avraham made with his father's beliefs.

The Tradition tells us in the Midrash, that Terach was an idol worshipper. Nothing in the text contradicts this, and the religious climate in Mesopotamia at the time makes it highly likely that this was in fact the case. Could it be that Terach left Ur when Sin was replaced or overthrown there by another of the "gods" such as Marduk or Ishtar? It is interesting to note that while Avraham was born in Ur, he is never referred to as a Chaldean. Perhaps, then, Terach was going back to the land of his or his father's birth when he took the family to Haran. Whatever the reason, Terach picked up the family and took them to Haran, without a single word from G-d telling him to do so.

Avraham, says the Midrash, discovered on his own that there is but One G-d who created the sun, the moon, and the stars that the other Mesopotamians worshiped as "gods" as well everything else in the universe:

Terah hid Abram in a cave high on a mountain. There the lad grew up alone, with none to teach or guide him. Yet he learned for himself the greatest truth of existence -- of G-d who rules the world. One night the boy had gazed up at the stars, and marveled, "How beautiful are the moon and the stars! They must be gods." He bowed low before them, and worshiped.

The night passed, and the sun rose. "The warmth and light of the sun," Abram observed, "have driven away the moon and the stars. Surely the sun is god over all!" He bowed low to the sun.

Clouds came and hid the light of the sun; then a wind drove the clouds before it. Abram realized that all these were but part of the world and its wonders. "There must be a ruler over all the world." he pondered, "over the sun, the moon and the constellations, over all the creatures of the earth. I shall worship only the Creator and Ruler of the universe."

Abram bowed before the unseen G-d, and spoke a prayer in his heart. Suddenly a voice answered, saying, "Here am I, My son."⁹

The Torah has G-d speak to Avraham, telling him to leave Haran, where He did not speak to Terach before he left Ur. Avraham's belief in HaShem is clear from his obedient response. He left his father's house with his wife, nephew, and all the people he had gathered.

Haran is referred to as the land of Avraham's nativity, despite Ur being called the land of Terach's nativity. Later, Torah calls Yaacov (or alternately Lavan) an Aramean. Haran was an Aramean city, Ur was called Chaldean. Perhaps Avraham and Terach's other children were Arameans as their later relatives Lavan and Rivka were.

Avraham makes a break with his past. He follows HaShem's directions and leaves the land of his father. In addition to showing his obedience to G-d, leaving what was familiar to him in Haran may have also enabled Avraham to escape the pressures that would likely be exerted by family members to follow their ways and "gods" and not those of HaShem. Thus he leaves his father's house not only physically, but also spiritually. Avraham, in his journey, is a spiritual pioneer as well.

The Torah's accounting of the life and journey of Avraham fits into the history and archeology of the time in the area quite well. As mentioned earlier, Terach goes from one center of Sin worship to another, making the Midrash of him as an idol worshiper plausible. Nahum Sarna, in the JPS commentary of Genesis, points out that many of those in Terach's family were named after Mesopotamian deities. Terach's name, he speculates, may be connected with "yareach," moon. His daughter (and Nahor's wife) Milcah is connected to "Malcah" meaning queen. He speculates that this may be connected to Ishtar, who had the Akkadian "malkatu" as a title. Interestingly, Ishtar was supposed to be the daughter of Sin.¹⁰

Lavan's name too was connected to the "god" moon, Sin, being an epithet of that deity. Other names of the Patriarchal time fit well into the times, and do not appear later: "of thirty-eight names connected with the patriarchal family, no less than twenty-seven are never found again in the Bible. This fact, alone, makes it highly unlikely that the narratives are products of later inventiveness, and increases the probability that they reflect historic traditions actually derived from patriarchal times."¹¹

Archeology has further shown that much of the cultural background of the recounting of the lives of all three patriarchs fit in quite nicely with the situation of the time, and not with the situation there hundreds of years later. Kenneth Kitchen gives a number of important examples of this in his BAR article. He evaluates the historical price of slaves in the archeological record, comparing it to the price paid for Joseph, at the time of Moshe for compensation for a slave gored by an ox, and in the book of Kings. He finds that they do not correspond to the price during the time of the exile. Instead, they correspond quite well to the prices in the surrounding cultures at the time of the events recorded there. Mr. Kitchen then compares the structure of covenants during various periods with those in the Tanach. The covenant HaShem makes with Avraham fits only into the period in which it is set, matching in structure covenants from Mari and Leilan during that time. Further comparisons of the geo-political climate and the setting in Egypt at the time of Avraham's trip during the famine are similarly favorable. ¹²

An Egyptian document in ANET records the following group from Edom where were allowed to live in the delta: "We have finished letting the Bedouin tribes of Edom pass the fortress, to keep them alive and to keep their cattle alive."¹³ When Avraham goes down to Egypt due to the famine, he tells them that Sarah is his sister. While it turns out that this is true, in that Sarah is his half-sister, there is another way in which a man could claim his wife is his sister. Nuzi, on the Tigress river a bit north and east of Haran, a part of Hurrian society, had a legal designation of sister-wife. The "dual status of wife-sistership ... endowed her with superior privileges and protection, over and above those of an ordinary wife."¹⁴

None of the archeology cited here proves that Avraham existed and did what the Torah records, but it does show that he fits well into the landscape of the time, and not that of the later Israelite kings or the exile. Tradition teaches us that he made a major break with the religion of his father, recognizing HaShem and obeying His instructions. This religious change makes the Torah's re-telling of Avraham's journey and life different from the migration legends of other cultures, even while there are parallels. Avraham's life is also part of our history as a people, as it was he who started us on the road we still travel.

¹All quotes from the Tanakh, unless otherwise stated, from Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society) 1985

²Seumus MacManus, The Story of the Irish Race, (Old Greenwich, Connecticut: The Devin-Adair Company, 1966) 9.

³Ibid, p 9.

⁴ Len Green, Origins of the Choctaw People Retold from Old Legends, 1979-80. (special thanks to Randall Turner, a friend and a Choctaw, for sending these to me when he heard what I was working on for my paper).

⁵Ibid.

⁶Nachmanides, Ramban (Nachmanides): Commentary on the Torah, Rabbi Dr. Charles B. Chavel (New York: Shilo Publishing House, Inc., 1975) 50.

⁷"Father of Indian Corn", an Anishinaabe/Chippewa legend found at http://www.indians.org/welker/fathcorn.htm (linked from http://www.indians.org/welker/chippewa.htm)

⁸Told by an Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) medicine man to Rabbi Adler, retold in class during the Khol haMoed of Sukkot, 5758.

⁹Solomon Simon and Morrison David Bial, "vol, I, The Torah," The Rabbis' Bible, (New York: Behrman House, Inc., 1966) 24-25.

¹⁰Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis, (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989) 86-87.

¹¹Nahum M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis (New York: Schocken Books, 1966) 92-93.

¹²Kenneth Kitchen, "The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?" Biblical Archaeology Review March/April 1995: 48-57, 88.

¹³Nahum M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis (New York: Schocken Books, 1966) 102.

¹⁴Ibid, p 103

Rabbi Moshe Adler, re-telling the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) medicine man's story in class during the Khol haMoed of Sukkot, 5758.

"Father of Indian Corn", an Anishinaabe/Chippewa legend found at http://www.indians.org/welker/fathcorn.htm (linked from http://www.indians.org/welker/chippewa.htm)

Len Green, Origins of the Choctaw People Retold from Old Legends, 1979-80. (special thanks to Randall Turner, a friend and a Choctaw, for sending these to me when he heard what I was working on for my paper).

Kenneth Kitchen, "The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?" Biblical Archaeology Review March/April 1995.

Seumus MacManus, The Story of the Irish Race (Old Greenwich, Connecticut: The Devin-Adair Company, 1966).

Nahum M. Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989).

Nahum M. Sarna, Understanding Genesis (New York: Schocken Books, 1966).

Solomon Simon and Morrison David Bial, "vol, I, The Torah," The Rabbis' Bible, (New York: Behrman House, Inc., 1966).

Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures (Philadelphia, Jerusalem: Jewish Publication Society, 1985).

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