YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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Understanding Midrash

Shiur #11

Brit - Introduction

	The break in the story of Avraham, the point at which Avraham no longer turns outward, is the aftermath of the war of the kings. The explanation of the negative side, why Avraham's efforts to lead the local populace to the path of God fail, we discussed several weeks ago. The immediate step after the war is that section called the "Brit Bein Habetarim," and there we find the positive side, the refocusing of Avraham inward, towards his creation of the family-nation we call Israel.

A. Destiny

"Avraham said: Behold You have not granted me children" - R. Shmuel b. R. Yitzchak said: "My star presses me and says to me, Avram, you will not have children." 
The Holy One, Blessed Be He, said to him: Behold, as you have spoken. Avram will not have children, Avraham will have children. Sarai your wife will not bear children, Sara will bear children. (44,10)

	There are two points here. The first is simply the inference of God's answer; namely that Avraham's future - his fathering of Yitzchak and the entire Jewish people - involves a recreation of his person. We actually encountered this idea many weeks ago, on the verse "I will make you a great nation." The midrash commented, "It is not written 'I shall grant you,' or 'give you,' but 'make you;' when I make you a new creature, then you will multiply and reproduce" (39,11). I do not wish to return to this point now, especially as we shall soon examine a more radical version of God's answer. I think that the more interesting point, for now, is Avraham's side of the conversation, or, more exactly, the dialogue being described. After many years in the service of God, after being told by God that he has nothing to fear for God protects him, Avraham turns to God and says: Yes, I am protected, but where is the future? I am bound by fate to be fruitless, for my destiny (star) decrees that I cannot bear children.

	I wish to remind you what we have seen more than once in the past about Avraham's relationship with God according to the midrash. An essential element is that Avraham does not receive direction from God, but rather strikes out on his own and receives reassurance only after making the right decision. The previous parasha, the attack on the four kings, is a striking example of that, where Avraham sets out on a perilous adventure without any command or advice from God, but only because he knows that it is the right thing to do. 

	Remembering this, that Avraham's most striking characteristic was his being able to strike out into the dark, alone, ahead of God, his present near-despair is all the more striking. I do not mean to imply that Avraham is abandoning that characteristic. There is nothing in the text of the Torah or the midrash to suggest it. On the contrary, the midrash is highlighting the fact that Avraham has struck out against the evil represented by the four kings despite the fact that he is at present incapable of seeing how the promise that God made him can be fulfilled. Since Avraham has dedicated his life to acting in this world, he is unable, at this point, to see how he can transcend the basic laws of nature. His insight into "the stars," to the rules which do in fact govern his life, indicates that he is simply incapable of having children. Destiny cannot be changed. But if that is true, then even though he is still willing and committed to fighting for the sanctification of God's name in this world, he cannot achieve within his own life that degree of triumph that he is trying to implement in the world. This cry of his, then, before God who has told him "not to fear," is a sudden opening of the repressed tension between Avraham's goals and efforts and his personal fulfillment.

	God's answer appears, at first glance, to be magical, replying to the astrological aspects of Avraham's protest but not to its essence. "The Holy One, Blessed Be He, said to him: Behold, as you have spoken. Avram will not have children, Avraham will have children." It sounds as though God is granting the basic point Avraham has raised, but arguing that Avraham's reading of the astrological chart is faulty, since he entered the wrong name. If you put in the wrong data, your computer outputs a wrong answer. "Your real name," God tells him, "happens to be Avraham, although you may have not known that."

	As I pointed out in the first shiur about the war of the kings, the Sages see in a name an indication of the essence of that individual. Add to this what we know, that God is He who changes Avraham's name, and the significance of God's response is something very different and far more significant. God is telling Avraham that the destiny of Man, and his essential personality as well, are not immutable. 

	On the one hand, this answer does indeed agree with Avraham's assertion that there is such a thing as destiny, the fiat of the laws of the nature. On the other hand, God explains to Avraham that this destiny is rooted and derived from one's personality. Finally, one's personality can be changed, one can become (with the help of God) a new person - and hence one with a new destiny. This is part of the covenant of Avraham (and hence part of the foundation of the Jewish people) - nature and destiny exist, but ultimately they are rooted not in blind fate but in ourselves, who we are and who we shall become.

	"The fault lies not in our stars but in ourselves."

B. Nature and Supernatural

	The midrash continues and extends this message of freedom from destiny one major step forward.

"And He took him outside" - R. Yehoshua of Sachnin in the name of R. Levi said: Did he take him outside of the world, that the verse states "He took him outside?" Rather, He pointed out to him the courtyards of the stars.
R. Yehuda said in the name of R. Yochanan: He raised him above the dome of the heavens. This is what He said to him: "Look ("habet") please heavenward;" and "habet" means "from above down." 
Rabbanan said: "You are a prophet and not an astrologer," as is written, "return now the wife of the man (Avraham), for he is a prophet." (44,12)

	The first of these comments is unclear and requires elucidation. As is often the case, where one version of a midrash is cryptic, another version will have a fuller text that makes it clear. In this case, we have a related midrash found in Bemidbar Rabba (2,12).

Avraham saw in his star that he was not destined to bear children. What did God do at that time. R. Yehuda b. R. Simon said in the name of R. Chanin in the name of R. Yochanan: God raised him above the dome of the heaven and said to him: From that same star that you see that you will not bear children I shall show you that you will bear children, as is written, "He took him outside and said, look please heavenward."

	Avraham has seen his destiny in the stars. The stars represent destiny, unbending fate, and not only because of the belief in astrology. The stars are apparently unchanging, immutable. If they have power over men's lives, then their fate is fixed, immovable, and unbending. The midrash is explaining that it is not by chance that God uses the stars as a measure of the number of Avraham's descendants. The very stars that have decreed Avraham's barrenness are the source of his fecundity. 

	This second-level metaphoric interpretation of the metaphor of the stars is an expression of God's humbling the mighty stars. The stars have decreed Avraham's barrenness, so God sends those very stars to bear the message of his innumerable children. You might say that the stars are sent to eat crow.

	This is the meaning of all three midrashim in this section. It is not merely that Avraham's fate can be changed. The stars have no power over Avraham at all. Avraham is not subject to them, he is not bound by "fate," by blind destiny, written at birth and engraved in stone. His life depends on his relationship with God, on the covenant that is about to be signed, and on the promise that he received many years before. 

	Avraham's mind is oppressed, held captive in restricting chains, by his belief that he is subject to an unbending fate. God, in the words of R. Yehuda in the second comment of this midrash, takes him OUT OF THE WORLD, out of the world of causation and nature, and places him ABOVE the stars. "Look down at the stars," He says to him, for they are below you. This is an integral part of the covenant between God and Avraham, and is the source from which his descendants, the Jewish people, derive. 

	Being above the stars is not an expression of world-supremacy or, God forbid, domination. The stars are not the world here, but the forces of destiny and fate. Avraham is being liberated by being taken "out," out of the chains of natural, unspiritual existence. When he looked UP at the stars, his future was bleak and even hopeless; being taught to look DOWN at the stars opens before him the future, gives him the power of freedom, of creativity, of growth and ultimately of reproduction, the greatest creativity of all. The result - Israel - is born from the freedom from the stars, and that freedom is its defining characteristic.

	The Sages sum this principle up in one pithy sentence: "Ein mazal l'Yisrael" (TB Shabbat 156a). This is sometimes mistranslated as "There is no LUCK for Israel," but the word "mazal" means a star, in the astrological sense. The twelve zodiac constellations are called "mazalot" in rabbinic literature. The sages are saying that mazalot, stars of power, do not exist for Israel, but only God, in direct providence. 

	The third comment of this midrash, that of Rabbanan, basically makes the same point, though, in terms of the relationship between God and Avraham, it does so in a sharper manner. God here is practically rebuking Avraham - What do you think you are? An astrologer?! Why are you even bothering with the stars, they have nothing to do with you.

	What this midrash makes more explicit than the previous is the connection, or rather the opposition, between the stars and God. Astrology is contrasted with prophecy. An astrologer reads the stars, a prophet reads and listens to God. The stars dictate to the astrologer, God speaks to the prophet. One who has prophecy has no need for the stars, nor is he subject to him, BECAUSE he is subject directly to God. It is the connection with God, in other words, the covenant, that liberates Avraham from the subjugation of blind fate. 

	This is made explicit in the proof-text - "return now the wife of the man (Avraham), for he is a prophet, AND WILL PRAY FOR YOU." Avimelekh is having a problem with the barrenness of the women in his household. His stars, apparently, have decreed barrenness for him. But Avraham is a prophet - and he can pray to God, and then the decree of the stars is irrelevant.

	This contrast between dominion of the stars and a direct relationship with God, between nature and providence, and between astrology and prophecy, is at the basis of a famous and oft-repeated comment of the Ramban to Devarim 2,19.

"Lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and see the sun, moon, and stars, all the host of the heavens, and you shall stumble and bow down to them and worship them, WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN TO ALL THE NATIONS UNDER THE HEAVENS."
I have already explained "whom God has given to all the nations under the heavens;" for each has a star and a sign ("cokhav u-mazal") and a particular prince, and above them are the archangels, as was said to Daniel - the prince of the kingdom of Persia and the prince of the kingdom of Greece. And because of this they make from them gods and worship them. And it is written, "But you God took and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to Him a people of portion, to this day." For you are God's portion, and He will not put over you a prince or assistant other than Himself…. And He did all this so that you will be His portion, and a treasure ("segula") from all the nations dedicated to His great Name.

C. Escape From Freedom

In the days of Yirmiyahu, Israel sought to be guided by that property (the stars), but God did not allow them. This is what is written, "Thus says God: Do not learn the ways of the nations and do not fear the signs of the heavens" (Jer. 10). Your father Avraham before you wished to be guided by this property and I did not allow him.
R. Levi said: When you have shoes on your feet, stomp on the thistles. All who are placed below them, fear them; but you who are above them, crush them.

	Is freedom from the stars and instead direct providence of God necessarily a good thing? We saw previously that the four kings were, according to the midrash, primarily interested in eliminating Avraham in order to reverse his bringing providence back to the world. They obviously preferred to live in a world without Divine Providence. But perhaps that was because they were evil, and providence would generally act to protect others from them and to counter their interest. The midrash states that it is not that simple. The Jews, in a later time, sought to return to the dominion of the stars. The time of Yirmiyahu was not a time when Israel was particularly powerful; on the contrary, they faced overwhelmingly powerful enemies and it would make sense for them to hope and pray for a miracle of salvation. What is more, the midrash claims that Avraham himself, in some sense, wished to live in the same way, but God refused. Why would Avraham want to live in bondage to blind fate?

	The answer is that it is extremely uncomfortable to live directly in the hands of the Living God. The world of nature and blind laws may be potentially dangerous, but it is at least predictable and regular. A rock is a rock and water is water. At some point, the man of providence finds himself yearning for "normalcy," a state less exalted but far more comfortable. As King David once exclaimed (Psalms 119):

O God, You have searched me and You know.
You know my sitting and rising; You comprehend my thoughts from afar.
You have confined me behind and before, and laid Your hand on me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; too high, I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from Your spirit, where can I flee Your face.
If I rise to the heavens, there You are; I lie down in Sheol, You are there.
I take wings of morning, dwell at the ends of the sea,
Even there Your hand leads me, and Your right arm holds me.
So I say, but the darkness shall cover me, and night be the light for me.
But even darkness is not dark for You, and night is light like day, darkness is the same as light.

	Thoughts like these cross the mind of the servant of God. For the people in the time of Yirmiyahu, they afforded an escape from the freedom of God, which to them seemed to be even more confining than nature. Perhaps if we could learn the rules and laws of nature, understand the ways of the stars, we could be masters of our own fate. The laws cannot be changed, but they can be mastered and put to one's advantage. To be without that firm foundation can feel like being bereft at sea, totally - at times with a feeling of too totally - dependent on the will of God.

	God does not permit the Jews to flee and return to the world of laws and fate. Just as Moshe replied when God suggested that he send an angel to lead the Jews instead of Himself - "If your countenance not go with us, do not take us from here," the answer is that it is better to suffer in God's hands than to "succeed" by working the laws of nature. That is the nature of the covenant, the "brit bein ha-betarim." 

Next shiur: The brit bein ha-betarim obviously demands an interpretation and the midrashim are complicated and varied. We shall examine only the tail end of the midrashim, on verse 15,17-18.
Bereishit Rabba 44,21-22