GEN842 Premodern rights do not hang in the air.  They are elements of a larger scheme of natural justice, which situates humanity in creation vis-à-vis God’s law, as articulated in Scripture and as implicit in the human frame and condition.  … Conceptually, we find a case in point with the Torah’s legislation for all Israelites’ undisturbed possession of their ancestral land: The communal right to the land God promised the nation, through their earliest ancestor, is institutionalized as a right of possession by all Israelites and their heirs, severally [this verse], 15:18, 24:7; Exodus 6:4, 34:24, Leviticus 25:18, 25:23-38.  In the vignettes of the Prophets, that right is transmuted into an arcadian vision paradigmatic of the reign of universal justice, when “nations shall not take up sword against nation … but every man shall sit, unmolested under his own vine or fig tree” Micah 4:3-4.  JHRHV 55

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GEN843 With ten trials was Abraham our Father proved. Pirkei Avot V:4  “For ten years he was imprisoned: three years in Cutha, and seven in Kardu … Then he was taken and cast into the fiery furnace. But the supreme king of glory stretched forth His right hand [so to speak] and rescued him from the fiery furnace; for Scripture sates [that He later told him] I am the Lord who brought you forth out of ur casdim, the fire of the Chaldees.” [this verse. Ramban to Genesis 11:28 sees in הוצאתיך, “brought you forth,” a connotation of freeing from prison.] Why was he imprisoned? In other sources [Ma’ase Abraham in Beth haMidrash I pp. 25-27; Sefer haYashar, Noah] we find the answer: With all the zeal, passion, and perseverance that a secular world attributes to Socrates, Abraham worked relentlessly to make others share his truth. He could not and would not let his fellow-man continue blindly in future idol worship. We know the Midrash’s story in which he smashed all his father’s idols. According to another account, he set fire to Nimrod’s idols Midrash haGadol, Genesis 11:28. But people fight against a new, disturbing truth. And when one of the key fighters was King Nimrod himself, Abraham found himself in prison soon enough. SINAI3 26-7

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GEN844 In a Jewish covenant, brit, the verb lichrot, to cut off, is used to describe the forging of a brit.  Nehemiah 9:8.  To forge a special covenant with Abraham (in addition to the brit milah), God commanded Abraham to cut the pieces of three animals in half [this verse].  What is the significance in cutting off in forming a brit? Only when each party “cuts off” something of himself, gives up some of his own identity, can this new unit, a new creation, emerge.   AMEMEI 159

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GEN845 There are some verses which lead people to fancy that God preordains and compels disobedience.  That is false and we shall explain these verses because people are often preoccupied with them.  One of them is His saying to Abraham: [this verse].  They said: “He preordained that the Egyptians would oppress the seed of Abraham.  Why then did He punish them, when they necessarily and inevitably enslaved them [the Hebrews] as He preordained?” The answer is that this is like the Exalted saying that some people born in the future will be sinful, some will be obedient, some virtuous, and some bad.  Now, this correct, but it does not necessarily follow from this statement that a given bad man is bad without fail, nor that a given virtuous man is virtuous without fail. Rather, whoever is bad I so by his own choice. If he wishes to be virtuous, he can be so; there is nothing preventing him.  Similarly, if any virtuous man wishes to, he can be bad; there is nothing preventing him.  The prediction is not about a particular individual, so that he could say: “It has been preordained for me.”  Rather, it is stated in a general way, and each individual remains able to exercise his choice upon his original inborn disposition.  Similarly, if any individual Egyptian who oppressed them and treated them unjustly had not wanted to oppress them, he had choice about that; for it was not preordained that a given individual would oppress them.  EWM 88-9

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GEN846 Ten plagues did the Holy, Blessed One bring upon the Egyptians in Egypt, and ten at the Sea.  Pirkei Avot V:5 … in the detailed study of the plagues lies a more fundamental purpose.  The liberation from Egypt is the very bedrock of our faith. As the Book of Kuzari [R. Judah haLevi, Kitab al Khazari I § 25] notes, the Almighty began the Ten Commandments, the blazing overwhelming charge from Sinai for all eternity, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”  Exodus 20:2; Deuteronomy 5:6.  He did not begin, “I am the Creator of the world and your Creator.” As their liberator from cruel slavery and a terrifying enemy, the Almighty was known to the Israelites, in their immediate experience. On such knowledge they could life in faith. God as Creator was an abstract, general concept that would not move them to fervor. We in turn celebrate the Passover seder every year, to retell and relive the liberation of the Egyptians, that it may become imbedded in us the more firmly as a solid foundation for our faith. At Rosh Hashanah, the traditional anniversary of the creation, we do not have a seder to recount the glories of a Creator who brought the world into existence. Rather, in the Sh’ma that we recite morning and evening, the third paragraph concludes, ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God.” Numbers 15:41 And for this reason, at the seder we are commanded to dwell on every detail, to tell at the greatest length about the liberation. Our purpose is not to lose ourselves in an evening of fond reminiscence and maudlin nostalgia about wonders and glories in our past. We simply reaffirm that our maker is a trustworthy liberator. He made a promise to Abraham: “Know, O know that your descendants will be alien in a land not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them four hundred year; but also that nation which they will serve shall I judge, and afterward they shall come out with great wealth.” [this verse]. The Haggadah affirms that He kept His word. SINAI3 52-3

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GEN848 See [[EXOD275]] Exodus 17:16 war DORFFDRAG 191-2

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GEN847 Pharaoh and his followers disobeyed by choice, with force or compulsion.  They oppressed the foreigners who were in their midst and treated them with sheer injustice.  As it is clear said: And he said to his people; Behold, the people of Israel…Come, let us deal shrewdly with them Exodus 1:9-10. This action was due to their choice and to the evil character of their thought; there was nothing compelling them to do it.  God punished them for it by preventing them from repenting so that the punishment which His justice required would befall them.  What prevented them from repentance was that they would not set [Israel] free. God explained this to [Pharaoh] and informed him that if He had only wanted to take [Israel] out [of Egypt], he would have exterminated [Pharaoh] and his followers, and they would have gone out.  But in addition to taking them out, He wanted to punish [Pharaoh] for oppressing them previously. As He had said at the very outset: [this verse].  It was not possible to punish them if they repented, so they were prevented from repenting and they continued holding [Israel]. This is what He says: Surely now I have put forth my hand…but because of this I have left you standing, etc. Exodus 9:15-16.  No disgrace need be attached to us because of our saying that God may punish an individual for not repenting, even though He leaves him no choice about repentance. For He, may He be exalted, knows the sins, and His wisdom and justice impose the extent of the punishment. He may punish in this world alone, He may punish in the other [world] alone, or He may punish in both realms. … He may prevent the choice of repentance so that a man does not at all incline toward it and is destroyed for his sin.  EWM 90-1

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GEN849 See [[GEN1159]] Genesis 24:1 blessed SINAI3 377

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GEN853 Since even good lives are filled with toil and turmoil, we remember our beloved dead by saying, after we mention their names, alav/aleha ha-shalom, peace be upon him/her. This is a hope that dates back to the Bible: “R. Levi b. Hita said: One who leaves a funeral should not say to the dead, ‘Go unto peace’ but, ‘Go in peace’ … because God said to Abraham, “You shall go to your fathers in peace’ [this verse]. Mo’ed Katan 29a. Particularly when someone has suffered protracted emotional adversity or physical pain, the release promised by the peace of death can almost be welcomed. As R. Meir taught: “When a righteous man departs from the world, three groups of angels warmly receive him with the greeting of shalom. The first says, ‘Let him enter in peace,’ the second says,  ‘Let him rest on his couch,’ and the third says, ‘Each one that walked in righteousness’ Isaiah 57:2” Numbers Rabbah 11:7. But even those whose lives have not been particularly troubled hope for an ultimate peace. So we read about Judah ha-Nasi: “As Rabbi was dying, he raised his fingers toward heaven and prayed, ‘Sovereign of the universe, it is revealed and known to you that I have labored in the study of Torah with all ten of my fingers and that I did not seek the benefits of this world with even the littlest of them. May it be Your will, therefore, that there be peace in my final resting place.’ A Heavenly Voice then proclaimed, ‘He shall enter into peace; they shall rest on their beds’ Isaiah 57:2” Ketubot 104a. To this day at funerals and memorial services we intone the El malei rahamin prayer, “God, full of compassion…” which in resounding conclusion appeals: May Adonai be his/her possession and may his/her repose be shalom.” BOROJMV 244

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GEN850 Great is peace, for even the dying need peace; as Scripture says, “But you will go to your fathers in peace” GOODSOC 226

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