Why Me?

By Rabbi Joshua (bewilderingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Parshas Lech Lecha begins with God's command to Avraham to uproot himself from his homeland and go to an unspecified land that God will reveal to him. God tells Avraham that upon doing so he will be made into a great nation and receive many blessings. As many commentators have pointed out, we are not told of any specific deed or character trait of Avraham in virtue which he should merit this special treatment by God. This is in sharp contrast with the beginning of last week's parsha, in which we are told that Noach was a righteous man and was therefore saved along with his family from the flood that destroyed the rest of mankind. We are also told, in parshas Bereishis, that Noach found favor in the eyes of God. We thus know something about Noach's character and virtue before we learn about the special treatment accorded to him by God, whereas we know virtually nothing about Avraham's deportment before being told of his singular mission. An explanation of this contrast will help us get to the core of Avraham's unique personality as the first of our Patriarchs.

Although many explanations have been advanced for the difference in presentation between Noach and Avraham, I would like to offer one that takes note of a further difference not often noticed. Besides the fact that the Torah tells us why Noach was saved and does not tell us why Avraham was chosen by God, the Torah records that Noach himself was told by God why he was being saved, while we find no mention of Avraham being informed by God why he was chosen. As we explained in our last message, although Noach was a tzaddik in regard to his relationship with God, his weakness was his failure to practice chesed, or benevolence, and to care for the fate of others. His experience in the ark, requiring him to constantly care for the needs of its inhabitants, was perhaps to serve as a training ground for his deportment upon leaving the ark and rebuilding the world. The new world was to be rebuilt on chesed, in accordance with the statement in Psalms 89, "The world is built on chesed." By choosing a vine as his first planting, rather than something more basic to existence, he failed in his calling, and ultimately debased himself, becoming drunk and lying exposed in his tent. The world would have to wait another ten generations before the appearance of a person who would have the force of personality to rebuild the world in the proper way. That person was Avraham.

The kabbalists tell us that it is the nature of God to do good, and He created the world in order that there be recipients of His goodness. Man's task in this world is to follow in the ways of God. Just as God bestows chesed simply because it is his nature to do so, so too should man bestow kindness upon God's creations simply because God created them to receive chesed. In this light, we can understand that as Avraham was called upon to uproot himself and begin a new life in another land where he would receive God's abundant blessings, he was given no reason for meriting these blessings. God was bestowing his chesed upon him for no specific given reason, so that Avraham would follow in this way and perform chesed toward others unconditionally, for no specific reason other than that they are created by God. In this way he would rebuild the world on secure ground, and, as the first of our Patriarchs, serve as a role model for future generations.