Abraham

Biblical Figures

Abraham is the father of the Jewish people and husband to Sarah. God sent him from his homeland to the land of Canaan and promised to make him a great nation, through whom the nations would be blessed. Once in Canaan, he built up a large household. The covenant that would lead to the birth of the Jewish people continued through his younger son, Isaac.

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Father of a Nation

LITURGY

Abraham, patriarch of the Jewish people, emerged from a world of idolatry and established a covenant with God. The Passover Haggadah’s account of Israel’s descent into Egypt recounts their national origins and frames Jewish history as the fulfillment of that initial covenant between Abraham and God.

מִתְּחִלָּה IN THE BEGINNING,
our ancestors were idol worshippers.
BUT NOW
the Omnipresent has drawn us close in His service;
as it is said:
“Joshua said to all the people,
‘This is what the LORD God of Israel has said:
Beyond the river your ancestors always dwelled –
Terah the father of Abraham, the father of Nahor –
and they served other gods. But I took your father Abraham from beyond the river,
and I led him all the way across the land of Canaan,
and I multiplied his offspring and gave him Isaac…

Pesach Haggadah, Magid, In the Beginning Our Fathers Were Idol Worshipers 1-3

A Covenantal Bond

TANAKH

Abraham’s relationship with God is one of covenant. The book of Genesis describes the terms of this covenant, along the account of God changing Abraham’s name, the mark of his new identity as the “father of many nations.”

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, יהוה appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Walk in My ways and be blameless. I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will make you exceedingly numerous.” Abram threw himself on his face; and God spoke to him further, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. And you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I make you the father of a multitude of nations…

Genesis 17:1-8

The First Monotheist

MIDRASH

The Torah never really explains why God chose Abraham. The ancient midrash on the book of Genesis from the land of Israel, Bereshit Rabbah, addresses this gap in the narrative with an account of a young Abraham rejecting his own family’s gods at great personal expense.

“Haran died in the presence of Teraḥ his father in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans” (Genesis 11:28).
“Haran died during the lifetime of Teraḥ his father” – Rabbi Ḥiyya grandson of Rav Ada of Yafo: Teraḥ was an idol worshipper [and a seller of idols]. One time, he went away to some place, and he installed Abraham as salesman in his stead. A person would come seeking to buy. He [Abraham] would say to him: ‘How old are you?’ He would say to him: ‘Fifty or sixty years old.’ He would say to him: ‘Woe to this man who is sixty years old and seeks to prostrate himself before…

Bereshit Rabbah 38:13

Virtue or Obedience?

JEWISH THOUGHT

Was Abraham driven to follow God's directives because he understood them as in line with his own values, or did he follow God with the unquestioning commitment of an obedient servant? Isaac ben Moses Arama, in his late fifteenth-century book of sermons, Akeidat Yitzchak, explains Abraham's relationship with God in light of this question.

(1) Although Abraham had lived a life of ever increasing dedication to G-d and His presumed laws, all of this had been achieved by him employing his mental faculties and natural good traits. Specific commands enabling Abraham to demonstrate that his actions were motivated by obedience to G-d’s will had been lacking. Until this point, Abraham had assumed that G-d’s laws would not conflict with the human mind, i.e. that when such commands would be issued, they would automatically be comprehensible and make sense to him…

Akeidat Yitzchak 18:1:13

To Be Abraham’s Children

HALAKHAH

What does it mean to carry on Abraham's legacy? Rambam, in his twelfth-century legal code, the Mishneh Torah, points to one particular mitzvah (commandment) as exemplifying Abraham’s values.

We are obligated to be careful with regard to the mitzvah of charity to a greater extent than all [other] positive commandments, because charity is an identifying mark for a righteous person, a descendant of Abraham, our patriarch, as [Genesis 18:19] states: "I have known him, because he commands his children... to perform charity." The throne of Israel will not be established, nor will the true faith stand except through charity, as [Isaiah 54:14] states: "You shall be established through righteousness." And Israel will be redeemed solely through charity, as [ibid…

Mishneh Torah, Gifts to the Poor 10:1

Covenant of the Flesh

TALMUD

Circumcision, which began with Abraham, serves as a symbol of the covenantal relationship between God and the people of Israel. The Babylonian Talmud in tractate Nedarim highlights the importance of Abraham’s circumcision.

It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: Great is the mitzva of circumcision, for there is no one who was engaged in mitzvot like Abraham our Patriarch, and yet he was called wholehearted only due to the mitzva of circumcision, as it is stated: “Walk before Me and you should be wholehearted” (Genesis 17:1), and it is written in the next verse: “And I will make My covenant between Me and you” (Genesis 17:2), and Abraham was then commanded with regard to circumcision…

Nedarim 32a:5

Leap of Faith

COMMENTARY

Abraham chooses to abandon his family and his entire world in order to follow God to a land he has never seen. Rashi, the renowned eleventh-century northern French biblical commentator, elaborates on the significance of the three parts of God’s promise.

ואעשך לגוי גדול AND I WILL MAKE OF THEE A GREAT NATION —Since travelling is the cause of three things—it decreases (breaks up) family life, it reduces one’s wealth and lessens one’s renown, he therefore needed these three blessings: that God should promise him children, wealth and a great name (Genesis Rabbah 39:11). ואברכך AND I WILL BLESS THEE —with wealth (Genesis Rabbah 39:11). והיה ברכה AND BE THOU A BLESSING — Blessings are entrusted to you; hitherto they were in My power — I blessed Adam and Noah — but from now on you shall bless whomsoever you wish (Genesis Rabbah 39:11) Another…

Rashi on Genesis 12:2

God’s Confidant

COMMENTARY

Before God annihilated the city of Sodom, the Torah recounts that God considered whether to make these intentions known to Abraham, whose nephew resided there. Saadia Gaon (Rasag), in his tenth-century commentary on the Torah, understands God's decision to inform Abraham as testament to Abraham’s unique moral stature.

And it is stated with an expression of wondering: "Shall I conceal from Avraham?" And there are seven reasons for this. The first is because his children would multiply and inherit the plain and the cities, I mean to say Sodom and its satellites... And He stipulated about them that they would inherit it and dwell in it. Hence He said (Genesis 18:18), "Avraham is indeed to become a great nation." And [on account] of the destruction that He threatened about it [and he requested mercy upon it] in his prayer. And that is why He said, "and through him shall be blessed all the nations of the world…

Saadia Gaon on Genesis 18:17

Ishmael’s Father

MUSAR

How should a principled, kind person behave in the face of evil? Twentieth-century rabbi, Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, wonders how Abraham, a paragon of ethical behavior, could have banished his eldest son.

And it appears that [the following] can be said about this: Behold it is written in the Torah reading of Rosh Hashanah (Genesis 21:9-14), "Sarah saw that the son of Hagar, the Egyptian, whom she had born to Avraham, was jesting. She said to Avraham, 'Expel this slave-woman and her son, for the son of this slave-woman will not inherit with my son, with Yitzchak.' This thing was very wrong in the eyes of Avraham, on account of his son. And God said to Avraham, 'Do not consider this wrong in your eyes on account of the boy and your slave-woman…

Sichot Avodat Levi 78:8-9

Clinging to God’s Ways

MIDRASH

Not only did Abraham follow God’s call, he embodied the qualities with which God engages the world. The early medieval Midrash Tanchuma describes the centrality of chesed — that, is steadfast love — to God and Torah, and understands Abraham as its paragon.

[(Gen. 24:1:) NOW ABRAHAM WAS OLD.] This text is related (to Ps. 25:10): ALL THE PATHS OF THE LORD ARE STEADFAST LOVE AND TRUTH. The beginning of Torah is steadfast love, its middle is steadfast love, and its end is steadfast love. Its beginning is steadfast love in that he has rendered steadfast love to bridegrooms and brides. He rendered steadfast love to Adam and Eve, as stated (in Gen. 2:22): THEN GOD BUILT THE RIB < WHICH HE HAD TAKEN FROM THE MAN INTO A WOMAN >. R. Abbahu said: In Arabia they call the plaited coiffure a "building…

Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Chayei Sara 2:1

Abraham’s Tent

MUSAR

Hospitality is one of Abraham's characteristic virtues, and the Torah goes to great lengths to show the extent of Abraham's commitment to welcoming guests. Isaiah HaLevi Horovitz, in his seventeenth-century work, Shenei Luchot HaBerit, understands hospitality as a way of imitating God.

It is obvious to me that the מצוה of being hospitable to guests, (which is certainly included in the overall commandment to follow in G–d's footsteps), represents an additional virtue. The Torah has singled out this story of Abraham personally performing chores to entertain these strangers. It also alludes to the reward accruing to him, i.e. that everything he did personally for these guests, G–d later on personally did for Abraham's descendants, whereas whatever Abraham had designated to be done by someone else, G–d also performed for the Jewish people only by means of one of His agents…

Shenei Luchot HaBerit, Torah Shebikhtav, Vayera, Ner Mitzvah 4-5

Buried with Adam and Eve

KABBALAH

Abraham purchases a burial plot for his family upon the death of his wife Sarah, and later Jewish traditions identify that location as the burial ground of Adam and Eve as well. The Zohar, the central text of Jewish mysticism, sees in their shared burial ground a deeper link between Abraham and the first humans.

Observe that when Abraham entered the cave for the first time he saw there a bright light, and as he advanced, the ground lifted, revealing to him two graves. Adam then arose in his true form, saw Abraham and smiled at him. (Abraham thereby knew that there he was destined to be buried.) Abraham then said to him: “Could you tell me, is there not a tent for me close to you?” Adam replied: “The Holy One buried me here, and from that time until now I have been lying hid like a corn seed in the ground, until thou camest into the world…

Zohar, Chayei Sara 15:105-110

Ten Generations and Ten Tests

MISHNAH

Abraham emerges after twenty generations of human history and endures significant hardship over the course of his life. Mishnah Avot, a work of ancient rabbinic ethics and wisdom from the land of Israel, offers an explanation of why Abraham is born at that particular moment, as well as the meaning of the challenges he faces.

[There were] ten generations from Adam to Noah, in order to make known what long-suffering is His; for all those generations kept on provoking Him, until He brought upon them the waters of the flood. [There were] ten generations from Noah to Abraham, in order to make known what long-suffering is His; for all those generations kept on provoking Him, until Abraham, came and received the reward of all of them. With ten trials was Abraham, our father (may he rest in peace), tried, and he withstood them all; to make known how great was the love of Abraham, our father (peace be upon him).

Pirkei Avot 5:2-3

Spirit of a Nomad

JEWISH THOUGHT

When Abraham hears God's call, he sets out for Canaan without hesitation. Erica Brown, in her contemporary book, Leadership in the Wilderness, points to Abraham’s willingness to embark on a journey as a model for the spirit of the Jewish people.

The need to keep moving, to allow oneself to be changed by the propulsion of a journey, is integral to the Jewish soul and spirit. Travel is the first act of the first Jew: “Now the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Get up and go out of your country, and from your family and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you’” (Gen. 12:1). Go and keep going. Part of the process of becoming a Jew was to take a journey. The charge that Abraham embraced as an individual was mimicked by an entire nation. To go where they had not been…

Leadership in the Wilderness; Authority and Anarchy in the Book of Numbers, Afterword; The Art of Wilderness Travel 29

Unity of the Divine Name

CHASIDUT

Jewish tradition affords mystical significance to the character of Abraham, and the moment when he was called by God. The Degel Machane Ephraim, a late eighteenth-century book of Chasidic teachings on the Torah, describes the kabbalistic meaning of both Abraham's name and God’s command to “go forth.”

And the Lord said to Avram, "Go for yourself, etc., to the land that I will show you": I heard about this from my master, my father, may his memory be blessed, who said in the name of his master, his father, the elder - his soul is in Eden - Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov, that the unification of the reading of Shema is hinted here. The numerical equivalent of, "Go (Lech) is the [same as] the 50 letters of the unification with the sacrifice of one's life (the first two sentences of Shema contain 49 letters and the person's life counts as an additional letter)…

Degel Machaneh Ephraim, Lech Lecha 1

Written in the Stars

MUSAR

As the father of the Jewish people, Abraham’s covenant with God included promises about the fate of Abraham’s descendants. The fourteenth-century Menorat HaMaor, a work of ethical teachings, imagines Abraham as an astrologer, privy to visions of the future.

Our father Abraham lowered himself, so the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him greatness. And that is to the one to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, first said, “Ask.” Rabbi Yonatan said, “There are three to whom the Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘Ask.’” Rabbi Acha said they are four - Abraham, Solomon, Achaz and the messianic king. Abraham, from where [do we know it]? As it is written (Genesis 15:2), ‘And [he] said, “My Lord God, what will You give me?’” He would not have said, ‘What will You give me,’ unless He had said to him, ‘Ask…

Menorat HaMaor, iv; On Humility, Great is Humility 20

Witness to Babel

MIDRASH

According to many midrashic texts, Abraham had demonstrated unprecedented ethical sensibility long before God spoke to him. Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer links Abraham to the story of the Tower of Babel and provides a vivid picture of the society from which Abraham emerged.

Rabbi Phineas said: There were no stones there where-with to build the city and the tower. What did they do? They baked bricks and burnt them like a builder (would do), until they built it seven mils high, and it had ascents on its east and west. (The labourers) who took up the bricks went up on the eastern (ascent), and those who descended went down on the western (descent). If a man fell and died they paid no heed to him, but if a brick fell they || sat down and wept, and said: Woe is us ! when will another one come in its stead?…

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 24:6-7

Abraham’s Final Blessing

TOSEFTA

Though God promises Abraham great reward for his devotion, the biblical account does not go into detail about the end of Abraham’s life. The Tosefta, an ancient collection of laws and teachings, in tractate Kiddushin offers various possible understandings of the reward that Abraham received and imagines his relationship with God in old age.

(Translated from the Ehrfurt manuscript:) Rabbi Nehorai says: I abandoned every trade in the world and taught my children only Torah, for they eat the reward of its labour in this world but the principal remains for them in the world to come, because every trade in the world only stands for a man in his youth when his strength is upon him, but if he becomes sick, old or has troubles, he will not be able to do work and in the end will die in famine. But Torah keeps him from all evil in his youth and gives him a future and hope in his old age…

Tosefta Kiddushin 5:14