GEN782 Resh Lakish said: “If one teaches his neighbor’s son Torah, it is as if he made him, as it is written: ‘And the soul that they made in Charan’ Sanhedrin 99b TEMIMAH-GEN 57

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GEN783 When the time came to leave Haran for Canaan, we read that Abram and his wife Sarai took with them “the souls that they had made in Haran.”  And the Midrash asks eloquently, “If all who came into he world would gather to create even a single gnat, they could not instill life in it; yet Scripture speaks of the souls they had made!  [this verse] This rather means, then, the converts whom they brought into their faith … which teaches you that when someone brings an unbelieving outsider near [to God] and converts him, it is as if he created him …”  Genesis Rabbah 34:14 and other citations.  Abraham “created life”: he freed people from bonds of fear and superstition to find a sure path of faith and a confident, blessed life.  SINAI3 16

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GEN784 See [[DEUT308]] Deuteronomy 6:5 love CCCBM 15

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GEN785 Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch makes the following perceptive comment: “In the teachings of the Mishlei [Proverbs], there is great emphasis on opposing the vice of sloth and idleness, and on rousing us to energetic and industrious activity. They never cease to portray to the lazy person the ridiculous and absurd as well as the unfortunate consequences of his behavior.  Particularly interesting is the term רמיה repeatedly used in Mishlei to signify the opposite of industry.  This expression, which is usually found in an ethical connotation – meaning deceit --is here used in an economic context as the opposite of industry, thus meaning sloth, idleness, negligence, et. And in truth, the person who does not spend his life and the spiritual and physical powers which were bestowed upon him for their manifest purpose, does commit deceit. He betrays the sacred charge and opportunity entrusted to him; he betrays his maker, who grants him strength, by failing in the duty which is expected from him in return; and he betrays the world which his actions should benefit. Consequently, the vary air that a lazy person breathes can be considered theft.” From the Wisdom of Mishlei (Jerusalem: Feldheim, 1966, pp. 164 f.] Thus, the man of Torah is, indeed, productive, industrious, energetic, innovative, ambitious; he is very much an alive, vibrant member of the community. He has desires and aspirations. But these desires are not for materialistic acquisitions for their own sake, nor are they centered around the attainment of this–worldly pleasures. He yearns for spiritual fulfillment; he seeks to attain Torah knowledge and wisdom, both for himself and for others. And those materialistic benefits with which he is endowed by the Almighty – large of small –he regards as a blessing, which will aid him in the attainment of his spiritual goals, or which will make it possible for him to help others attain a richer appreciation of Torah values, and an enduring commitment to the pursuit of a Torah way of life. This approach is reminiscent of Avraham Avinu, who used all of his extensive resources to fulfill himself as a man of God. Also, wherever he went, he called out in the name of God. [this verse], thereby bringing others to a recognition of the God idea, and to an acceptance of His dominion over all creation.  [See Genesis 12:5, and Targum Onkelos, and see Torah Faith: The Thirteen Principles, pp 268 f. See also Sforno, on Genesis 12:4.] FENDEL 210-1.

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GEN786 A husband should take care of his wife’s needs before his own.  The word oholo (his tent) is written with the feminine suffix, the letter hai.  The Midrash [Genesis Rabbah 39:15] comments that this teaches us that Abraham first pitched the tent of his wife, and then his own (Rashi).  From here we see that when a husband needs to do something for himself and his wife, he should take care of his wife’s needs first.  PLYN 46

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GEN788 According to Ramban [Nachmanidies – AJL], Abraham should have stayed in Canaan; he should have had faith in God that He would sustain him despite the famine. Abraham’s decision to leave was not his only error; it also put Sarah in a position of moral hazard because, as a result of going to Egypt, she was forced to tell a lie. In saying that she was Abraham’s sister and not his wife, she was taken into Pharaoh’s herem where she might have been forced to commit an act of adultery. This is a very harsh judgment, made more so by Ramban’s further assertion that it was because of this lack of faith that Abraham’s children were sentenced to exile in Egypt centuries later.  SACKS 16

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GEN787 With ten trials was Abraham our Father proved. Pirkei Avot V:4.  “From the day that heaven and earth were created, no famine had ever come, until the days of Abraham – and then not in all countries, but only in Canaan – in order to test him, and to bring him down to Egypt; for it is stated: there was a famine in the land; so Abram when t down to Egypt.” [this verse. The verses which follow are ibid. 12:1-3, 7.]  Why was this a test? Consider: Before it tells of the famine, Scripture records what the Almighty told Abraham: “Go you out of your land … kindred … father’s house, to the land I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing … and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”  Soon afterward the Patriarch heard the Almighty’s words again: “To your progeny will I give this land.” So we find Abraham solemnly promised that he would give rise to a great nation, be blessed, etc. and the land of Canaan would belong to his descendants.  Yet soon after he arrives in the promised land, famine strikes it, and he must go to Egypt to live! What sort of fulfillment of the promise was this? How would we have reacted?  Scripture records not a word of protest or complaint by Abraham.  His faith unshaken, he continued trusting the Almighty, that every promise would yet be fulfilled, no matter what he faced now. To the Jewish people, such a test is familiar.  The promises and assurances of the Torah have not come true automatically.  Blessings and riches, wealth and fortune, have not always followed observance as readily as the Torah might have led us to hope.  But as Abraham withstood the trial, so must we.  The way of the Jew is never to lose hope or relinquish trust.  If we cannot have what we like, we must learn to like what we have.  But patiently, serenely, we are ever to accept, with the faith of our Patriarch, that every promise by God must come true in its own time.  SINAI3 31

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GEN789 See [[GEN396]] Genesis 3:13 duped FREUND 95-6

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GEN794 Since we know that Sarah was Abraham’s niece Genesis 11:29 and Rashi and nieces were also known at that time as “sisters,” Sarah did not really lie when she said that she was Abraham’s sister. It was not the entire truth (since she was also his wife), but even when she clearly could have legally made up any story [since in a case of life and death such as this, anything and everything is permitted to be said], she told a lie that had some truth in it.  AMEMEI 295

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GEN792 One of the highest values in Judaism, if not the highest value, is preservation of human life.  Therefore, if a Jew has to violate 610 of the 613 Mitzvot-commandments [N.B. -- Excepting only murder, adultery, idolatry - AJL], in order to save a life even in remote danger, he or she should do so.  Laws of the Foundation of Torah 5:1-2.  Among these 610 is the commandment to tell the truth.  Therefore, if a Jew must lie to save his or her life, one not only has permission to do so, but must lie in such a situation.  This Jewish law, of course, runs counter to the “categorical imperative” of Emanuel Kant, and shows that there are other values higher than telling the truth in Judaism.  AMJV 224

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