Avraham v. Emily Post
Posted by Dena Weiss on October 29, 2007 | Tags: Vayera
-- Dena Weiss
Alexander Schmemann, an American Orthodox theologian of the past century, suggested that the sin of Adam and Chava (in his view, “original sin”), was that they began to look at the world as sacred and profane, as tov v’ra, as opposed to viewing the entire world as a gift of life and blessing,
The sin was that he thought of God in terms of religion; i.e. opposing Him to life…The fall is not that he preferred world to God, distorted the balance between the spiritual and material, but that he made the world material. (Schmemann, Alexander. For the Life of the World: Sacraments and orthodoxy. St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press. Crestwood, NY. 1973. pg.18.)
Matthew Myer Boulton clarified this for me by explaining that the sin of the nachash was not that he convinced Chava to eat from the tree. We know that this is impossible, divrei harebbi v’divrei hatalmid mi shom’im! (My words, not his). Chava was responsible to know her own responsibility, to know what her limits are; maybe the nachash should have minded his own business, but that in itself is not a reason for HaShem to take away his legs and have people step on his head.
Prof. Boulton explained that the sin of the nachash was merely in that he made the suggestion to Chava. By introducing the possibility of disobeying God, talking about God in the third person, that made it seem like God was not there. By tinkering with the details of the commandment and explaining God’s reasoning, “talking behind God’s back,” kav’yachol, the nachash introduced the notion of profanity, crude materiality, a realm where God is absent. They were in the Garden, there was no back to God, until the nachash spoke behind it. Logically, Chava should have asked God what the real story was with this tree, but she didn’t, and when she and Adam hide from God, it becomes clear that the nachash, on Boulton’s reading, has won.
In the very beginning of this week’s Parsha, HaShem appears to Avraham, and Avraham appears to be kind of rude. The pasuk says, HaShem appeared to Avraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat by the entrance of his tent in the heat if the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to met them, and bowed low to the ground. He said, “My L/lord, if I find favor with you do not pass by your servant.” (Gen. 18: 1-3. NSRV with emendations).
Here God has come to visit Avraham (possibly because he has just made Avraham circumcise himself, or possibly just to say hi) and Avraham sees some people in the distance. Avraham goes to inquire about them, and pretty much leaves HaShem in the dust. The medrash and meforshim spend some time arguing about whether the Adoni, of “My L/lord, if I find favor with you do not pass by your servant” has Avraham speaking to God or to his guests. It makes sense that Avraham would be addressing God whom he appears to have just dissed and is therefore asking not to leave, but it is also narratively sound that he is making conversation with his new and exciting visitors.
I like the idea of saying that Avraham is asking God’s forbearance, that Avraham is addressing God with the Adoni, and that this is his way of putting God on hold. However, if that were the case, it would make more sense to put that pasuk there before Avraham goes to greet his new guests. It isn’t very classy to ask for permission to do something after you’ve already done it. As it is now, Avraham looks up, runs from the tent entrance, and then launches into his brief, but somewhat contested Adoni speech.
It’s possible, though, that when Avraham says Adoni he is talking to his guests and to God at the same time.
What is it exactly that enabled Avraham to tear himself away from the great theophany of the first pasuk? Only to run to meet three randoms he saw walking up to his tent? Avraham may have been able to break himself of the nachash’s distinction between the sacred and the profane. He didn’t feel like he was no longer in God’s presence when he was on his way to greet his potential guests. When he addresses God after he goes to do a mitzvah or while he goes to do a mitzvah, he is still comfortable doing so in the second person. Maybe Avraham holds this concept and it’s ok for him to break off a conversation with HaShem to take care of something important. Avraham trusts that Omnipresence means that God will be there when he comes back and Omniscience means that God knows where and why he has left. And maybe, just maybe, when he says Adoni to one of his guests, he is referring to HaShem as well, an understanding that he and God have going that neither would find disrespectful.
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Dena WeissJoined: October 29, 2007 Dena Weiss is a Harvard Divinity School Student. Divrei Torah (1) |
