Egypt

          I wish to discuss two totally unrelated midrashim today, connected only by their connection to Avraham's trip down to Egypt.  The second one is actually about Egypt, but for the first one, the trip is merely the background to discuss Avraham's relationship with Sara, a topic to which the midrash returned a number of times.

1. Avraham and Sara - I: Sara's beauty

          We have already seen that the midrash presents Avraham and Sara as a partnership, most prominently in the "coin," the "monitin" of Avraham, a couple on each side of the coin (39,11), and elsewhere.  This relates to their activities vis a vis the outside world and the way they fulfilled their role as initiators of the worship of God in the world.  This does not tell us much about their relationship to each other however.  The main parasha which directly opens a window on their relationship is the complex of stories surrounding Hagar/Yishmael (and, of course, we will eventually treat that parasha in the midrash as well).  The story we are examining today does not directly tell us much - but the midrash here will give us insights.

"And when he came close to coming to Egypt" - He has been with her for so many years and now he says, "Behold I now know that you are a beautiful woman"?? (The explanation is that) generally on a journey a person looks bad, but she maintained her beauty. 

R. Zeira said in the name of R. Simon: (Avraham said): We have traveled throughout Aram Naharayim and Aram Nachor, and did not see a woman as beautiful as you.  Now that we are entering a land of ugly and swarthy people, "say that you are my sister…" (40,4).

          Avraham tells Sara that she is a beautiful woman.  Basically, the midrash is asking how he knew, given the understanding of the word "hinei" ("behold") as indicating a sudden and present perception of something new and striking.  The midrash then offers two answers, either that her beauty was disclosed as possessing a unique quality, or that the fact of the beauty has become suddenly more important and, by comparison, more noticeable.

a.       Underlying these answers is an assumption of the midrash, that Avraham is not expected to be commenting on his wife's beauty at all, or perhaps, not even to be noticing it.  The midrash is not only explaining why Avraham noticed her beauty, but also placing it in a context other than that of merely superficial beauty.  The first midrash points out a special quality of her beauty, an almost spiritual quality.  Traveling has a detrimental effect on one's outward appearance (remember, several weeks on a camel).  If Sara's appearance is unchanged, it is because her beauty is somehow reflecting a deeper, more inner, reality.  Inner beauty, impervious to wind and sand, is indicative of a spiritual purity, an inner quality of character.

          Since neither the Torah nor the Sages attribute beauty to all pious and righteous women, you might ask just what kind of character is meant to be reflected in this kind of beauty.  The answer, I think, is found in the famous midrash quoted by Rashi at the beginning of Chayei Sara.  When Sara dies, she is "one hundred years, and twenty years, and seven years" old.  The repetition of "years" elicits this comment from the midrash.  "Twenty years old like seven years old in terms of beauty; one hundred like twenty in terms of sin"  (58,1).  The commentators immediately point out the variant reading of this midrash - "One hundred years old like twenty for beauty; twenty like seven for sin," which makes a lot more sense.  In any event, what the midrash means is that Sara preserved a youthfulness about her, an innocence of youth, throughout her life.  The Rav, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt"l, once put it this way:

Who was Sara? The answer is she was a very strange girl.  She was a seven-year-old innocent child even when she was twenty.  And even when she was ripe in years, she was still a twenty-year-old lady.  Maturity did not destroy the child.  She grew up, developed, and matured.  As an adult, she might have reached the greatest intellectual heights, but this development did not destroy her experiences of childhood.  She retained within her personality the young bold outlook of a youthful girl of twenty.  She was a bold, daring and responsible person who, miraculously, did not allow the maturity of the adult in her to squash the inherent enthusiasm of an innocent child ("Insights into Chayei Sara", 1973).

We actually have already seen a variant on this theme - the aforementioned "monitin" of Avraham and Sara, an elderly couple on one side, two young people on the other.  There is a particular spiritual quality of youth, a freshness, an openness and appreciation of the wonder of the world, which the Sages claim that Sara preserved throughout her life.  This "beauty," an inner quality unaffected by the superficial effects of a long and arduous journey, is what I think they are pointing out in Avraham's discovery about his wife as they enter Egypt. 

[The usual effect of age on spiritual development is expressed by Chazal in a famous midrash concerning King Shlomo and his literary output.  As is known, Shlomo wrote three books in Tanakh, the Song of Songs (a song of love), the Book of Proverbs (a book of wisdom) and Kohelet (Ecclesiastes, a book which, among other things, expresses a not insignificant amount of weary cynicism).  The Sages state that they were written in that order, as a man when he is young writes of love, in his mature age he expresses wisdom, and when he is old he writes, "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." It is precisely that natural development that I believe Chazal are declaring that Sara avoided.]

b.       The second midrash is easier to interpret.  The midrash is simply telling us that Avraham normally has no reason to remark on the physical beauty of his wife at all.  But this is not because he has not noticed it.  On the contrary, he is quite aware that in all their travels, he never met a woman as beautiful.  But apparently, it is not something that he would comment on in the course of a conversation with her.  Its place here is practical - as they enter Egypt, her beauty becomes a source of danger, since what is for Avraham a fact that does not upset his true relationship with her, for the Egyptians, who are not used to beauty, is a disturbance and an unusual attraction which will lead to trouble. 

          I do not think this means that Avraham is ignorant of his wife's beauty.  On the contrary, he is aware of it, and in fact is aware that it is unique.  The point is that he does not think much about it.  It is not, for him, the basis for their relationship.  The midrash contrasts the difference between the effect of her beauty on Avraham and on the Egyptians.  For Avraham, it is merely one more factor within a total personal relationship.  However, for the Egyptians it will upset the equilibrium and will be a cause of sin.

B.  Avraham and Sara - II: Who is the boss?

R. Pinchas in the name of R. Abun said: There were two individuals who were primary and made themselves secondary, and they became secondary - Avraham and Barak. 

Barak - "And she (Devora) sent and called Barak ben Avinoam from Kadesh Naftali and said to him: Behold HaShem the God of Israel has commanded you to bring to Mt. Tavor and take ten thousand ….  But Barak said to her: If you come with me I shall go, but if you do not come with me I shall not go" (Judges, ch. 4).

R. Yehuda and R. Nechemia. 

R. Yehuda explained: "If you go with me" to Kadesh, "I shall go with you" to Chatzor; but if you do not go with me to Kadesh I will not go with you to Chatzor.

R. Nechemia explained: "If you come with me" in song, "I will come with you" to war; but if you do not come with me in song I will not come with you in war. 

"And she said: I will go with you; but ("efes") you will not have glory on the path you are taking."

R. Reuven said: She said to him, Do you think that the glory of song has been granted only to you?!

And he became secondary (as is written), "Devora and Barak ben Avinoam sang…."

Avraham was primary (as is written), "And Avraham took his wife Sarai…." He made himself secondary (as is written), "Say please that you are my sister…." And he became secondary to her - And he (Par'o) benefited Avraham because of her" (Bereishit 13,16). 

          The understanding of what transpires between Barak and Devora is not clear according to either interpretation in the midrash, but from the comment of R. Reuven, followed by the quote of the opening line of the "Song of Devora," it is clear that Barak saw Devora as being primary in war, while believing that he would be primary in song.  The result of this apparent mistake (since he was meant to be primary in war, as is clear from God's command to him to lead the war) was that even in song he became secondary to Devora.  (The exact interpretation of what happens in Chatzor and Kadesh according to the first interpretation is even less clear, but for our purpose - understanding the case with Avraham - one of the interpretations is sufficient as a basis for comparison.)

[Please - think about the midrash about Devora and Barak.  Just a few possible questions to consider:

1.  What is the explanation of R. Yehuda all about? What does "Kadesh" (the home of Barak) supposed to symbolize?

2.  Why does Barak imagine, in the second explanation, that Devora should be first in war?

3.  Who, in the final analysis, was "first in war?"

Send in your answers.]

          Barak places Devora ahead of him in an area where he should not have.  As a consequence, even in the area where he thought - possibly correctly - that he should have been first, and one where he was willing to play the dominant role, he was "demoted" to a secondary, supporting, role.

          Now, what is happening with Avraham and Sara? Avraham tells Sara to say that she is his sister.  The midrash considers this a case of his "making himself secondary." The midrash understands that Avraham's primary concern is not saving Sara, but saving himself.  In fact, this is quite explicit in the preceding verse itself.  "Now when the Egyptians see you, and they will say she is his wife, and they will kill me and keep you alive" (12,12).  Sara's life is apparently secure; Avraham is trying to "hitch" his life to hers.

          Why is this a reversal of the proper relationship? (The midrash states that Avraham was primary and made himself secondary.) The midrash answers with the verse, "And Avraham took his wife Sarai…" (12,5).  In the original voyage, the metaphor which describes Avraham's life as a mission in the service of God, Avraham is clearly described as primary, "taking" Sara (and Lot as well) along with him.  Apparently, the LIFE of Avraham, his mission and "career," has been handed to him as the primary individual to whom God spoke.  The midrash considers it to be a mistake for him to be saving his life on Sara's coattails.  If God has sent him to Egypt, it is part of his journey and not a death trap. 

          Now it is true that God has not SENT Avraham to Egypt.  But, as we have already seen (shiur 1 & 2), God does not generally explicitly send Avraham or directly tell him exactly what to do.  Since we have already determined (in the previous shiur) that this descent to Egypt is a "test" by God, then Avraham has to make up his mind what it is he is meant to do - and if he decides to go to Egypt (knowing in advance the danger based on Sara's beauty), then he has in effect decided that this is part of God's plan for him.  By deciding that whatever he will accomplish in Egypt, he will accomplish through Sara, he has handed the reins to Sara.  The outcome is that this switch is permanent - he really becomes secondary to her, and not only in the matter of saving his life, but in other areas as well, the first being his material welfare.  "He benefited Avram for her sake, and he had sheep and cattle and donkeys and slaves and female-slaves, and asses and camels" (12,16). 

          The question, of course, is: Is this a one-time thing, or is the midrash claiming that the switch in roles is permanent, at least to some extent? We know the answer - as I mentioned in the beginning of the shiur, in a later series of stories, it is clearly Sara who takes the active, guiding, role, one confirmed by God: "What ever Sara tells you, listen to her voice" (21,12).  Our midrash is offering an explanation for what appears to be a dramatic change from the beginning of our parasha, where Sara is merely part of Avraham's entourage, and the later stories, where she is a dominant figure, leading Avraham and directing the outcome of the story.  Our midrash fingers a crucial moment where their relationship began to change, the place where she was responsible for Avraham's great material wealth.  This, in turn, is a result of his having relinquished responsibility for the outcome of that story and having handed it to her.  It is not easy, the midrash claims, to restrict such a change in relationship to only one episode.

[On a parenthetical but not trivial point, in my opinion this midrash is not necessarily being critical of Avraham.  It need not be considered a sin or a transgression to have acted as Avraham did.  The midrash is simply pointing out a change in the relationship between Avraham and Sara and searching for the pivotal point in that change.  Nor, of course, should the resulting change necessarily be seen as a punishment.  Having the benefit of a strong wife with her own qualities of leadership is not a punishment.  On the contrary, the verse which indicates that Avraham is now "secondary" is the one where he achieves great wealth.  As to whether that is true for the case of Barak as well I leave to you to decide.]

          I fully planned to continue this shiur with a discussion of the next section in the midrash (40,6), but we have run out of time.  We shall return to this midrash, which in any event is unconnected to the subject of the shiur, at a later date.

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Next shiur: War - 42,2-3 (the first part of 42,3, dealing with Avraham); 43,2