INTERNAL GROWTH AND BEHAVIOR

CHAYE’I SARA_GENESIS XXIII-XXV:18

The Tora omits the details of the spiritual development of the first patriarch Avraham. In previous chapters, we were informed that he had received the Divine mandate of Lech Lecha: the instruction to leave his parents’ home to create a new nation in a Promised Land that would be shown to him. There are those who say that Lech Lecha was an imperative for the patriarch to know himself and the direction of the journey was Lecha: “yourself.”

What would be the mission of this nascent nation? The immediate answer is that it will have to be Or LaGoyim, a light unto the nations. How does one accomplish this task? The answer will be given through the narratives of Bereshit, the revelation at Sinai, and the conquest of the Promised Land after the Exodus from Egypt.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Rabbi Israel Salanter created the Musar movement, whose purpose was the search for the ethical perfection of the individual. One of his much-quoted sayings is: “In the beginning, I wanted to perfect the world and, as the task was very difficult, I decided to take care of myself.”

Months ago, Rabbi Yehuda Amital, of the famed Yeshiva Har Etzion of Israel, used this quote to propose the opposite, a misrepresentation used by many: “At first I decided to perfect myself and since it was a very difficult task, I decided to undertake the improvement of the world.” There is no doubt that there are examples of individuals and societies who follow Amital’s bold judgment, want to change the world and the credentials they show are summed up in the inability to bring about substantive change in their own society. 

In the case of the patriarch, the double task was posed: individual change – that is, his transition from the idolatry he had observed in his paternal home to monotheism – and the mission of spreading this message to the rest of humanity.

The Talmud records the testimony of Rabbi Akiva when asked why God had not created an already circumcised man if his desire was the practice of circumcision. According to Rabbi Akiva, the world God created is not perfect, nor is the man. Man’s task is to improve the world and perfect himself. Therefore, the practice of Brit Milá serves to remind the person of this task ahead, to work on his emotions and intellect, and bend his passions to tone his soul and spirit.

The name of the patriarch, who was originally called Avram, undergoes a transformation with the addition of the letter “he” and becomes Avraham: Av hamon goyim, the father of multitudes. Now this name points to a global mission. Avraham’s interest will be humanity, to which he must carry the message of the existence of One God. 

The case of the first matriarch is similar. At first, her name was Sarai. The ending with the letter “yod” – which in Hebrew means possession – perhaps alludes to her task of purifying her own being, focusing on her spiritual development. When a noun is transformed with the letter “yod” at the end, it means “mine,” as in the case of the word “shulchan” and “shuljani” (“table,” and “my table,” respectively). The name Sarai also changes: the “yod” is deleted at the end and replaced by the “he“. In this way, her name is transformed into Sarah, to symbolically become Em hamon goyim, the mother of multitudes.

The task of the patriarchs had a double aspect: the personal ingredient and the universal mission. It is clear that to be “Or LaGoyim“, a light unto the nations, requires first personal improvement, the spiritual growth of the individual so that, through his behavior and teachings, he can be a transforming factor of society.