Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father)

     On Monday we spent our class talking Avraham Avinu (Abraham our father). We began by talking about his call from Hashem (Genesis 12) and whether or not we thought it was a literal call or more of a gut feeling or inspiration. The students offered a number of interesting suggestions for what kind of man they thought Abraham must have been, which I hope they'll share in the comments. I also asked them if they think they go with their gut/inspiration, and, if so, if that's a good thing.
     Moving forward in Avraham's life we see that he travels along derekh hahar (the mountain road) to arrive at Shechem (near modern day Nablus in the West Bank). Whereas most of the modern Israeli population is located on the coastal plain, traditionally it's the mountainous interior where most Jews lived. This is an important fact to keep in mind when we talk about giving up land for peace. The Tanakh tells us that Avraham avinu, the founder of our people, lived in the area that, if there's a two state solution, will one day be a part of Palestine.
     He then continues down into Egypt where he curiously refers to his wife Sarah as his "sister". After giving the students a chance to think of reasons why he might do this I told them about the Nuzi documents, documents found in modern day Iraq that mention a legal principle in which the sister-wife is the most important wife. But if we accept that explanation then there are other incongruities in the story (and my understanding is that the most recent evidence suggests that sister-wife explanation might be flawed). For example, if this was a well-known status, why were the Egyptians angry when they found out about it? Understanding the Tanakh is rarely simple. Solving one problem often creates another.
     We then talked about one of Avraham's most well-known brits (covenants), his circumcision. As with every covenant there are two sides; Avraham promises to walk in Hashem's ways and God promises to give Avraham the land of Canaan and make him the father of a great nation. The physical sign for this brit is circumcision (brit milah in Hebrew).
     Perhaps more interesting than the brit milah itself is what happens afterward. Avraham is sitting in his tent, talking to Hashem when three strangers walk up. Avraham immediately rises to greet them (after just getting circumcised as an old man no less!), completely ignoring Hashem. In these few short verses we learn a number of things (and see how the Tanakh is simultaneously an incredible piece of literature and an instruction manual for how to live your life). First, we see Avraham ignore Hashem (who is in the middle of bikur holim, visiting the sick) for the sake of three strangers. In Judaism we divide the 613 mitzvot (commandments) in a number of ways: do/don't do, understand (don't murder) and can't understand (keeping kosher), etc. In Avraham's behavior we see one of the most important divisions, the difference between mitzvot ben adam l'makom (commandments that deal with the relationship between humans and god) and mitzvot ben adam l'chavero (commandments that deal with the relationship between humans). Unlike other religions of the time (and perhaps even of our own time) in Judaism the interactions between people are more important than those between people and Hashem. As I'm sure many of you are aware on Yom Kippur Jews are expected to apologize to the person we wronged, not ask forgiveness from Hashem.
Another interesting mitzva we see demonstrated here is "welcoming the strangers." Even today in desert cultures the idea of hospitality is incredibly important. Given the difficulty of traveling in the desert--little food, even less water--hospitality may well save your life. So while Avraham is making the effort toward his guests in this case, he may well be the needy one next time. Not only is "welcoming the guest" a lovely value, it's a clear reminder of the fact that Am Yisrael began in a desert landscape as nomads.
     Having learned a bit about what kind of man the founder of Am Yisrael is we arrived to what, in my opinion, is the most challenging aspect of the Avraham story. Hashem tells Avraham he's going to destroy Sodom and Gemorrah. Avraham, unhappy with this decision, argues with Hashem, questioning whether Hashem will destroy the righteous together with the wicked. Avraham negotiates with Hashem over how many righteous people need to be present to make the towns worth saving, starting with 50 and eventually talking Hashem down to ten. What chutzpah! A few verses later Hashem commands Avraham to sacrifice his only son, Yitzchak, and Avraham doesn't make a peep. For me, this is a difficult series of events to try and understand. We know that Avraham is willing to argue with Hashem, but doesn't try to save his only son. Is Avraham willing to argue for the public good, but not for his personal happiness? Is God testing Avraham? If so, what's the test? Is it, as tradition teaches, a test of Avraham's faith? Is it a test to see whether Avraham understands that Judaism is a truly different religion that doesn't demand human sacrifice? Is Avraham testing God? How do you think this episode affects Avraham's relationship with God? His relationship with Yitzchak? How do you think this event affects Yitzchak? I look forward to hearing all your suggestions in the comments. 

Gezer: Who Were the Canaanites?

      At the end of class on Thursday, when we discussed the development of civilization in the ancient Near East we briefly mentioned Avraham Avinu (Abraham Our Father, the first Jew). The first thing we see with Avraham is that Hashem tells him "Lech Lcha" (which the students are reading for homework tonight), instructing him to pick up, leave his home in Mesopotamia, and go to Canaan (also the inspiration for an excellent Debbie Friedman song). We looked at the route he took and the places he visited, and saw that, given the population and movement patterns in this region it seems like quite a reasonable story (at least in that particular aspect).  Having established that Avraham was coming to Canaan we set out to explore Gezer and try to understand the Canaanites who dwelt there.
     The first place we stopped was an overview, from which we could see the entire surrounding area. This lookout was an excellent place to see the main geographic features of Israel. Next to the Mediterranean Sea is the coastal plain, where the majority of Israel's population resides today (though not in the past). Moving east the land slowly starts to rise into the the Shfeyla (foothills). As you continue toward Jerusalem (east) the land continues to rise into the Judean Mountains before falling abruptly into the Jordan Valley (which includes features such as the Kinerret, Jordan River and Dead Sea). Here's a picture:

     Gezer is a little bit south of Tel Aviv near where the Shfeyla meets the coastal plain. By using their knowledge of Israel's location between Mesopotamia and Egypt and seeing the geography the students realized that Gezer was right on a major north-south trade route (it's possible I gave some hints in that direction). Actually, Gezer is at the junction of Derekh Hayam (the coastal highway referred to above) and the Yafo-Jerusalem highway, the historic road that is one of Israel's main East-West roads. Given its location at a major international junction, Gezer was an important center of trade, which is probably one of the main reasons a settlement developed here. From our lookout we could also see the surrounding area is widely used for agriculture, telling us the land is fertile, another reason we might expect a people to live here. 

While trade and fertile land are important, in Israel the most important issue for establishing a settlement is always water. As opposed to Egypt and Mesopotamia where a large part of their water needs are met by rivers, in Israel rain and springs are the primary sources. Unfortunately, in Gezer's case there was water nearby, but not within the city. This is a big problem since it means they'd be susceptible to a siege by an enemy army (they'd run out of water). To solve this the Canaanites who lived there built a huge tunnel, from which they could safely bring water into the city, even under siege.

archaeologists digging out the water tunnel

     Speaking of armies, as a major trade center at the junction of two significant roads the residents of Gezer certainly knew their city would be eyed by ambitious foreign rulers. To prevent this they built a massive wall 16 feet thick around the entire city. The one entrance point, a gate, was protected by an even thicker tower. The students were all amazed at the organizational and technological prowess demonstrated by the incredible size of the water tunnel, wall and tower. The Canaanites were nothing to sneeze at.

     Before continuing our exploration of Canaanite culture I want to explain briefly how archaeologists determine the location of places as old as Gezer and study them, which I did with the students throughout the course of the tiyul. First of all, they use the Tanakh and other sources to give them an idea what they're looking for and where. Then, they look for the flat-topped hill called a tel, which is a basically an artificial hill caused by many layers of civilization laying one on top of the other. You can see tel Gezer's funny flat-topped shape in this aerial view:

     Archaeologists also look to local names for hints as to where ancient settlements might have been. In our case the area of Tel Gezer was known as "El Jazzar" a likely Arabization of it's biblical (or even pre-biblical) name. In most instances even if you've found somewhere that fills a settlement's four basic needs (water, food, trade and defense), looks like a tel and has a modern name similar to something we see in the Tanakh, it's still quite difficult to identify it 100%. With Gezer, by sheer good fortune, archaeologists found a number of boundary stones around the tel which clearly proclaim the area as Gezer. Having identified the tel, rather than haphazardly digging the discovers dig what's called a "trench", a long, narrow hole that goes all the way down to the very bottom level of civilization. Ideally, this gives them an overview of how many layers there are, when they're from, and some idea of how important the site will be. 

     Having touched on a few of the tools in an archaeologist's tool box, let's return to the Canaanites. Given the immense size and impressive engineering of the tel's structures the students were quite impressed by the Canaanites. When we compare their lifestyle with the tent-dwelling wandering of Avraham Avinu, almost every student agreed Gezer would be a lot nicer place to live (I may have pointed out the Abraham's goat skin tent probably didn't smell all that great). The last part of Canaanite culture we learned about was their religion. In discussing Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies we mentioned that religion played an important role in establishing the organization required in "civilization". The same is true for the Canaanites. In their polytheistic religion gods behave and seek the same pleasures as men. That means that in order for the ancient Canaanites to curry favor with the gods (for example, to get them to give the proper amount of rain at the proper time) they appealed to their appetite, by giving them burnt offerings, their thirst, by giving them wine, and their sexual needs, through the use of temple prostitutes (both male and female). If, after ALL that the gods still couldn't be cajoled into helping, there is evidence that suggests that the Canaanites sacrificed their children in the basin by the monoliths pictured below.  (As with any academic argument there are dissenting opinions. Anyone who's curious feel free to be in touch and I'll point you in the right direction) 

     While the students understood the Canaanite mindset--that you have to give the gods your most valuable possession--it was still tough for them to internalize that someone could do something so terrible. Can you see the Canaanites' viewpoint? Do you think you could do something like that if you were brought up in that culture? Is there a parallel to modern western culture (materially rich but morally problematic)? Tomorrow we'll be looking at Akedat Yitzhak (the sacrifice of Isaac) and seeing how it compares with what we saw at Gezer.