Power of Midrash ~Aggadic Midrashim IV ~ Avram and Sarai, beginnings

And these are the generations of Terach, Terach begot Avram etc. (Gen. 11:27) - said Rabbi Aba Bar Kahana: whoever has their name doubled has a place in the world to come and in this world. They answered to him: behold, it is written 'And these are the generations of Terach, Terach' and he has in this world and in the world to come?! This is surprising! He answered: this does not disprove, since Rabbi Yudan said in the name of Rabbi Aba Bar Kahana: "And you will go to your fathers in peace" (Gen. 15:15) they announced to him that his father has a place in the world to come. "You shall be buried at a ripe old age"(Gen. 15:15) they announced to him that Ishmael would do teshuvah.

(1) Ad-nai said to Abram, "Go you forth from your land, etc." (Gen 12:1) - Rabbi Yitzchak opened with "Take heed, lass, and note, incline your ear: forget your people and your father’s house [and let the king be aroused by your beauty; since he is your lord bow to him]" (Ps. 45:11-12) Rabbi Itzchak said: this may be compared to a man who was traveling from place to place when he saw a bira doleket/castle aglow/lit up (full of light/in flames). He said, "Is it possible that this castle lacks a person to look after/control/administer it? The owner of the building looked out and said, “I am the owner of the castle.” Similarly, because Abraham our father said, "Is it possible that this world has no one to look after it?," the Holy Blessed One looked out and said to him, “I am the Master of the Universe.” "and let the king be aroused by your beauty; since he is your lord" - to make you beautiful in the world; "and bow to him" (Ps 45:12) - this is "And Ad-nai said to Avram".

(2) "Adonai said to Avram." (Gen. 12:1) Rabbi Berechiah opened: "Your ointments yield a sweet fragrance, your name is like finest oil," (Song 1:3). Said Rabbi Berechiah, "To what was Avraham analogized? To a flask of balsam liquid with a closely fitting lid, resting in a corner, and whose aroma was not wafted; once it was moved, its aroma was wafted. Thus said the Holy One of Blessing, to Avraham: Move yourself from one place to another, and your name will be enlarged in the world. "

"And Ad-nai said to Avram" (Gen. 12:1): Rabbi Berachiah opened with "We have a little sister, who has no breasts, [what shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?]" (Song of Songs 8:8) - 'we have a little sister [achot]' this is Avraham who befriended [icha] all the people in the world. Bar Kapara said: as one who sews [ache] together the rent. 'Small' - that even when he was small he was able to do mitzvot and good deeds. 'Who has no breasts' - who had no breasts to feed him mitzvot and good deeds. 'What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for' - on the day that Nimrod decreed that Avraham should go down to the fiery furnace. "If she be a wall, we will build upon it [a silver battlement; if she be a door, we will panel it in cedar.]" (Song of Songs 8:9) - if he holds words as a wall, we will be build upon it. "If she be a door [delet], we will panel it" - if he is poor [dal] in mitzvot and good deeds we will panel [natzur] it in cedar. Just as this drawing [tzurah] exists only for an hour, so I only help him for an hour. [Avraham] said to God: 'Master of the Universe! "I am a wall [my breasts are like its towers, then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace." (Song of Songs 8:10)] I stand as firm as a wall; 'my breasts are like towers' these are Chananiah, Mishael and Azaria; 'then I became in his eyes as one who finds peace' - that entered in peace and came out in peace.

And Ad-nai said to Avram: go forth (Gen 12:1) - "Wisdom is more of a stronghold to a wise man more than ten magnates that a city may contain" (Ecclesiastes 7:19) - more than the ten generations from Noach to Avraham, and in all of them God did not spoke even with one person - "And Ad-nai said to Avram: go forth."

(5) Rabbi Azaria opened: "We tried to cure Babylon but she was incurable. Let us leave her and go,each to his own land" (Jer. 51:9). "We tried to cure Babylon" - in the generation of Enosh. "But she was incurable" - in the generation of the flood. "Let us leave her and go" - in the generation of the dispersion. "Each to his own land" - "Adonai said to Avram, 'Go forth.'"

(6) Rabbi Azaria, in the name of Rabbi Acha, opened with: "You love righteousness and hate wickedness; rightly has God, your God, chosen to anoint you with oil of gladness over all your peers." (Ps. 45:8) Rabbi Azaria explained this verse with Avraham: in the moment when Avraham Avinu stood to ask for compassion for the people of Sodom, what is written there? "Far be it from You to do such a thing, to bring death upon the innocent as well as the guilty, so that [innocent and guilty fare alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"] said Rabbi Acha: You swore and said that you wouldn't bring a flood to the world, and you renege on your vow? This is surprising! A flood of water You don't bring, but a flood of fire You do, in that case you haven't fulfilled Your vow. Said Rabbi Levi: "The Judge of all earth will not deal justly?!" If You desire the earth, there is no strict judgment, if you desire strict judgment there is no world, and how can you try to hold the rope by both ends? You want the earth and You want strict judgment, You can only have one of them, and if You don't cancel it a little bit the world can't stand. The Holy One of Blessing said to him: Avraham, You love righteousness and hate wickedness; rightly has God, your God, chosen to anoint you with oil of gladness over all your peers." What is 'over your peers'? From Noach to you there are ten generations, and from them I didn't speak to a single one, only with you.

(6) Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nehemia [disagreed]. Rabbi Yehuda said: "Get yourself out" (Gen. 12:1) ['lech' is written] twice, once from Aram Naharayim and once from Aram Nachor. Rabbi Nehemia said: "Get yourself out" ['lech' is written twice, once from Aram Naharayim and from Aram Nachor and once because God flew him [Abraham] from the between the Pieces and brought him to Haran, as it is written: "Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your warfare" (Psalms 110:3), I was with you when you were in my service going down to the fiery furnace. "In the day of your warfare" at the time when you gathered for me all of the soldiers and the inhabitants. "In adornments of holiness" (ibid.) from the adornments of the world I sanctified You. "From the womb of the dawn" (ibid.) from the womb of the world You free me to [serve] You. "Yours is the dew of your youth" (ibid.) since Abraham our Father was afraid, and said: 'Suppose that there is sin in me, since I worshiped idols all those years.' The Holy Blessed One replied: "Yours is the dew of your youth," just as the dew evaporates, so do your sins; just as the dew is a symbol of blessing forever, so are you a symbol of blessing forever, as it is written: "And I said: 'Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest." (Psalms 55:7) Why "like a dove"? Rabbi Azariah in the name of Rabbi Yudan said: Because all of the flyers, when they tire they rest on rocks or on trees, but this dove, when it flies and tires, it jumps with one of its wings and flies with the other. "Lo, then would I wander far off" (Psalms 55:8), wanderings, movement after movement. "I would lodge in the wilderness Selah" (ibid.), it is better to lodge in the wilderness of the Land of Israel and not to lodge in the castles of outside Israel, and if you wish to say that Abraham was not glad about the word of God [and therefore did not leave for Israel immediately], but why did he not leave? Because he had not yet inherited. Once he had inherited "And Abraham went just as God has spoken to him, and Lot went with him" (Gen. 12:4). Rabbi Levi said: at the time that Abraham was walking about Aram Naharayim and Aram Nahor, he saw [people] eating and drinking and lazing about. He said: if only I have no portion of this land. Once he arrived at the promontory of Tyre, he saw [people] engaged in hoeing at hoeing time and weeding at weeding time. He said: if only I have a portion in this land. The Blessed Holy One said to him: "To your offspring I will give this land." (Gen. 12:7)

(10) Rabbi Berechiah said, in the name of Rabbi Nechemiah: there was a king going from place to place, and a pearl fell from his head, the king stood and made his servants stand there, gathered the sand in piles and brought sieves. He did not find it in the first, nor in the second, he found it in the third, and they said: the king found his pearl! So said the Holy One of Blessing: What need did I have to distinguish Shem, Arpachshad, Shelach, Ever, Peleg, Re'u, Serug, Nachor, Terach? It was all for you. "And You found his heart truthful in front of You" (Nechemiah 9:8). So too the Holy One of Blessing said to David: What need did I have to distinguish Peretz, Chetzron, Ram, Aminadav, Nachshon, Salmon, Boaz, Oved, Ishay, David? Wasn't it for you? "I found David My servant, with My holy oil I annointed him" (Ps. 89:21)

“And the souls that they had made in Haran.” Said Rabbi Elazar ben Zimra: Even if every creature on earth conspired to create (out of nothing) even one mosquito, they could not give it a soul--and you say “ the souls that they had made.” Therefore (they must be) they must be those who lived with them and converted. And it it meant “converted” why did it say “made?” In order to teach you that each one who brings an idol worshipper and converts him, it is as though he created him. And why did it say “that they made” rather than “that he made?” Said Rav Huna: Abraham would convert the men, and Sarah would convert the women.

Raba lectured: (Job 29:13) "The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and the heart of the widow I caused to sing for joy", i.e., "The blessing of him was ready to perish came upon me": Job used to rob a field belonging to orphans, improve it, and return it to them; "and the heart of the widow ceased to sing for joy": if there was a widow whom no one wished to marry, he put his name upon her, saying that she was his relative, and then it was easy for her to marry." (Job 6:2) "Oh, that my vexation could be truly weighed, and calamity, etc." Raba said: Dust [should have been put] into Job's mouth, for he makes himself a comrade of Heaven! (Job 9:33) "There is no one who can decide between us, who could lay his hand upon us both." Raba said: Dust [should have been put] into Job's mouth, for has ever a slave rebuked his master?! (Job 31:1) "A covenant had I made with my eyes. How, then, should I fix my look on a virgin?" Raba said: He had not looked only upon strange women, but Abraham had not looked even at his own wife; as it is written (Gen. 12:11) "Now I know that thou art a woman of handsome appearance" from which it is to be inferred that before that time he did not know it! (Job 7:9) "As the cloud vanishes and passes away, so will he that goes down to the other world not come up again." Raba said: "From this we see that Job denied resurrection.

And Abram and all his people went down to the land of Egypt to escape from the famine, and ‎when they came to the river of Egypt they tarried there for several days in order to gain rest ‎after their long journey. And one day Abram was walking with Sarai his wife by the bank of the ‎river and behold Abram saw the image of Sarai upon the face of the waters. And Abram by ‎reason of his piety, and Sarai’s modesty, never saw her face before. And now when Abram ‎saw the face of his wife, and behold she was very beautiful, Abram said unto Sarai: Behold my ‎wife now I see how exceedingly beautiful you are, and after the Lord has created you with ‎such fair looks, I do greatly fear the Egyptians, lest they might kill me and take you away, for ‎verily there is no fear of God in that place. But do this to me, and say that ‎you are my sister to everybody that might question you concerning me, that it may be well ‎with me, and we may live and not die. And Abram ordered all the men that came along with ‎him into Egypt from the famine, and also to Lot his brother's son, saying: When the Egyptians ‎inquire of you anything concerning Sarai, tell them: She is the sister of Abram. And Abram did not ‎yet feel satisfied, and he was lacking confidence in God concerning Egypt, therefore he took ‎Sarai and placed her into a box, and hid the box under the various tools and vessels which he ‎had with him; for he was in very great fear of the Egyptian people, and their wickedness. And ‎Abram and all his people arose and left the river, and they passed over into the land of Egypt. ‎And when they came to the gates of the city, the guards of the city surrounded Abram, saying: ‎Give tithes to the king from everything that you have with you, and only then you can ‎enter the city. And Abram and all his men did accordingly, and all of them came into the city. ‎And when they came into the city they took along the chest, and when they carried the chest ‎with Sarai in it, the Egyptians surrounded the men saying: What is it that you have in this ‎chest? Open it and let us see what it contains so that we may get the tenth part for ‎the king. And Abram said: I will give you whatever you demand but I will never open this chest. ‎And the princes of Pharaoh said: This box contains pearls and precious stones, and a tenth ‎part thereof belongs to the king. And Abram replied: I will pay you any amount you demand, ‎yet I will not open this chest. And the officers surrounded Abram, and they opened the box by ‎force and behold there was a beautiful woman within it.‎ And when the officers of Pharaoh saw Sarai they were astounded at her beauty, and all the officers and servants of Pharaoh came around to see her, because she was very beautiful And the officers ran and told Pharaoh all the things that they saw, and praised Sarai to the king, and Pharaoh sent and took her and the woman came in front of the king.