Holy Star Wars!

Holy Star Wars!

After almost a month of sacred readings of Star Wars, I have been thinking a lot about how to ensure that my writings are as accessible to a...

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Greatness Pt. 1

Lech L’cha (Genesis 12:1-17:27)/ Episode III: Revenge of the Sith PART 1
Translation from http://www.sefaria.org/Genesis.12.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en


Greatness Pt. 1


“The LORD said to Abram…/ ‘I will make of you a great nation, And I will bless you; I will make your name great, And you shall be a blessing./ I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses you; And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.’ ” (Gen 12:1-3). A great nation and a great name. What makes a nation great? What makes a name great? And why does greatness have to come with such a heavy price for anybody who does not recognize that greatness?

Later in this week's portion, there is a scene where Abram and his wife Sarai are already settled in Canaan, the promised land where God had instructed them to go and settle, but a great famine strikes and they are forced to go to Egypt in search of food. Here he concocts a plan to trick the Pharaoh into providing them food whereby Abram has to pretend his wife is actually his sister in order to trick the Pharaoh into marrying Sarai. Aside from the troubling nature of the deal itself, which is quite troubling, the most horrendous aspect of this deal is that for his wife's marriage to the Pharaoh, Abram received an enormous dowry. Abram, the father of our people, sold his wife to the Pharaoh of Egypt to feed himself and the rest of his camp. It was only by the grace of God that Pharaoh reneged on his agreement with Abram and returned Sarai to him without demanding his dowry back.

The way I am choosing to interoperate this story is that Abram, knowing in full that his wife could not conceive, saw her as disposable and not integral to fulfilling the mission God bestowed upon him. Sarai was not consulted about the exchange, she was simply objectified and sold off like the slaves Abram would receive from Pharaoh in return. Our first bout of wealth as a people was based on a ruse, a dirty deal, and a great shame. Is this the foundation of a great nation? Is this the foundation of a great name?

Farther on we read a story of a great war that resulted in the eventual kidnapping and ransacking of Abram’s nephew Lot and his tribe. As retribution for these actions, Abram immediately commits to amassing an army and invading the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot and his people had been dwelling. Abram vanquished these foes with no remorse and not a thought towards diplomacy. Power and retribution. Are these the qualities of a great nation and a great name? The story concludes when the King of Sodom give Abram permission to keep some of the spoils of war and Abram rejects it, wanting only to bask in the redemption he feels in his victory and not to give the King of Sodom any power over him. He wants to move on from the war and not allow its repercussions to linger. Does this noble act compensate for the destruction that was wrought in order to reach it? Does this act of humility make for greatness?

Abram, who has his name changed to Abraham as this parsha closes, will go on to commit numerous more morally vague acts in his life. He bore a child with a servant of his and cast them both out into the wilderness, he nearly sacrifices his own son, and he bargains with God in order to try to save the wicked denizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, in spite of his personal history with them. So how is it that such a deeply flawed man, who has committed so many, good, terrible, and morally questionable acts can come to be the forefather of a great nation and a great name? It is because greatness is not born of a single man. Greatness is the sum of all of the Hebrews and all of the Israelites and all of the Jewish people and the greatness that together they can create. Abraham’s flaws were great and the stories of the founding of our nation are filed with troubling morality. But what is unquestionable is his commitment to the cause of greatness.

Abraham may have made many mistakes that should be illuminated and left unjustified, and so is the story of our own nation Western nations. There can be no forgiveness, rationalization, or even praise for utilizing the tactics Abraham did to give the Jewish people a chance at greatness, and yet we must recognize these atrocities for what they are and achieve greatness through how we rectify and triumph over the injustices they caused on our path there. Our history in the United States, just as with Abraham, was build on a foundation of slavery, genocide, and the profits of war. These are not crimes that should ever be brushed off as history, but rather calls to action on how to progress from there.


Let us be grateful to our forefathers for the opportunity to achieve greatness they provided us with, but never forget the sins they perpetrated on our behalves. Let us not succumb to the same evils in our time that they thought were necessary then. This chance for greatness required the sacrifices of so many, and the onus is upon us not to put that sacrifice to waste. What makes a great nation and a great name is the sum of us all. Abram and God set our path into motion. It is our job now to bring us to greatness.

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