Abraham and the dignified life

Jewish academic and Hebrew scholar Irene Lancaster explains the Jewish interpretation of Abraham and God’s covenant promise. 

There look like roughly two cultures – honour cultures and victim cultures. We now see each of those playing havoc in our country. 

This wasn’t all the time the case. In my youth probably the most obvious honour cultures were based far-off, in Sicily, or transported even further away, to the US – all of us watched the ‘Godfather’ movies emanating from Hollywood on the time. The closest we got here on this country was perhaps in studies of Shakespeare’s story of family feud – ‘Romeo and Juliet’ – conveniently set in Italian Verona!

Seventy years ago, victim culture also received short shrift. Service was encouraged in schools, and infrequently personified by devoted teachers and other members of society. 

Having said that, Jewish Holocaust survivors and refugees weren’t helped in any approach to settle in to this country. They didn’t receive therapy. Government funding was withheld and the Second Generation of survivor families were also left to fend for themselves. In many cases, English needed to be learned on the hoof and the lesson of gratitude was instilled into us every second of the day.

Gradually, nonetheless, when Tony Blair took over the reins, we suddenly became a ‘victim’ culture, seemingly overnight. The death of Princess Diana was of considerable assistance to Blair, as he dubbed her ‘the people’s princess’ and took every opportunity to challenge the stoic stance of the royal family.

On the day of Diana’s funeral, my daughter phoned from Tel Aviv to tell us she was OK. A bus had exploded in front of her, scattering body parts everywhere in the streets. This was just one in every of many such terrorist instances experienced by Israel during this era and ongoing. But, unlike here, Israelis picked themselves up and carried on with their lives.

I feel it’s fair to state that Queen Elizabeth, for all her faults, represented not ‘honour’ but dignity. Unlike honour, dignity can surprise with a sudden flash of humour. This is dry and self-deprecating irony – much missed by individuals who leave the country. Deep down, the Queen knew that it wasn’t about her – it was about what she tried her best to represent, having pledged her life to serve this country, this people and this manner of life.

In the last 30 years, nonetheless, the foremost institutions of this country have come to represent not dignity, but victimhood and honour, two sides of the identical coin – dignity tends to face barely apart.

Just before this time, from around 1966 to 1990, the Jewish community was represented by Chief Rabbi Immanuel Jacobovits and the Prime Minister was Margaret Thatcher. Whether you agreed with either of them or not, everyone knew they stood for something greater than themselves. Even the BBC told me how much they’d enjoyed working with Rabbi Jacobovits, because ‘he knew where he stood and didn’t mess you around.’ Now, alas, this isn’t any longer the case and spiritual leadership is unfortunately absent on this country, being reactive fairly than proactive.

This is probably not the place to dissect what has gone flawed; why religious leaders now not lead; why so many well-meaning rabbis and their flocks are emigrating to Israel in droves. 

All that is presaged in our Abraham stories, currently read at Shul within the Book of Bereshit (Genesis). Was Abraham an actual leader, or merely a follower?

Noah preceded Abraham. Noah was a great man, but that was it. He did what he was told and followed orders to the letter. He built the ark to the precise dimensions ordered by G-d and managed to avoid wasting his immediate family along with the animals.

Abraham, nonetheless, was different. He didn’t keep his head down and had a fiery personality which he needed to learn to maintain under control. From early childhood Abraham thought for himself, cementing monotheism. He realized that his father’s idols were pernicious and due to this fact destroyed them. 

In Judaism, Abraham is the primary Jew but he can be considered the unique forefather by Christians and Muslims i.e. by around half the world’s population.

However, Abraham was sorely tested by G-d. The Akeda (binding of Isaac) is just one in every of ten such tests involving Abraham.

Before that he destroyed his father’s wood idols, demonstrating that they were human constructs, subject to wear and tear like the remainder of us.

He was then instructed to go away his entire lifestyle – his country, his kindred and his father’s home (Genesis 12) and make his way into the unknown, charged with G-d’s mission. It wasn’t adequate to be a victim and to feel sorry for himself. It wasn’t seemly to rant and rage against his father’s idolatry. Abraham needed to make the very difficult decision to begin again, in a special Land ‘that I’ll show you.’

This form of behaviour was unheard of in the traditional world and will not be compatible with an ‘honour’ lifestyle. In giving up his nearest and dearest, the rebel Abraham was taking up G-d’s mission to the world. And what was G-d’s mission? Not to be a victim and never to espouse honour, but to spread G-d’s teaching of tips on how to live a quietly dignified life on this planet.

People haven’t understood that G-d’s promise to show Abraham’s descendents into ‘an important nation’ (Genesis 12:2) doesn’t mean that they will likely be an exceedingly populous, wealthy, or well-endowed nation. Rather they’re to display by example tips on how to live a life by which being a victim or putting on a permanently brave face i.e. either over- or under-emoting, has no place. Instead, dignity means battling with G-d’s mission in mind in any respect times, becoming the human being that G-d wants us to be. 

The Dalai Lama has stated that ‘the Jews have learned the key of survival in exile.’ In his own era, Abraham ‘made souls’. He didn’t use forceful conversionary tactics. He simply taught by example, leaving it as much as others to follow or not. In this he was assisted by his wife Sarah, who acted as each a help and a counterweight where vital.

En path to the Promised Land he encountered greed, lust and violence. He needed to take care of money matters, war where vital, and betrayal by his nephew Lot, who travelled with them. Abraham needed to handle the world’s jealousy, which continues to be with us. Abraham isn’t only a biblical figure: we are able to find our own reflection in Abraham.

In Genesis 17 Abraham and Sarah are given the additional letter ‘heh’ to their names. The letter ‘heh’ signifies openness going forward. It is certain on three sides, but is open on the left and this signifies an open attitude to the long run. The Jewish interpretation is that through Abraham and Sarah, G-d will bless the dignified Jewish people and thru the Jewish people all people will likely be blessed (Editor’s note: this differs from how Christians interpret this passage for themselves).

What the world needs now could be this openness to the blessing, the blessing which comes from G-d’s covenant with Abraham, the dignified person, regarded in Judaism as the primary Jew, and the forefather of each Christianity and Islam.