Vayera: Love + Knowledge =

despair..... or joy?

One would have to search deeply to find a parasha as chock-full of material as Vayera. I’m not talking about everyday kind of content either: this parasha explores the depth of Hashem’s relationship with Avraham, the births of Ishmael and his subsequent banishment, the birth of Yitzchak and his subsequent near- death experience, the adventures of Lot, interactions with Philistine king Avimelech, and a slew of different situations that reflect the idea of biblical justice.

One small introductory point which I might be able to return to later: it seems that the relationship between Hashem and Avraham as characterized by love. Although Hashem never explicitly expresses love for Avraham in the Torah, we do find it in N’vi’im (Prophets), even in last week’s haftarah from Isaiah: Avraham ohavi - Avraham who I love. In fact, we cannot find Hashem expressing love for any individual person in the Tanach aside from that statement in Isaiah, and a similar one expressing love for all the Avot (Forefathers), and one other instance that I will refer to in a moment.

To me, it feels right that Avraham’s relationship with Hashem is uniquely love-based. There are moments of intimacy between them - like Hashem drawing Avram outside in last week’s parasha and indicating that Avram’s seed would be as numerous as the stars in the sky - where Hashem seems emotionally attuned to Avraham’s emotional state. There is the scene in this week’s parasha where we are privy to Hashem’s thoughts as he wonders if He should consult with or at least apprise Avraham of the projected fate of Sdom and Amora, and where Hashem ruminates on the specific qualities of Avraham that endeared him to Hashem. There is Hashem’s insistence that it will be a child born of Sarah and Avraham that will carry on the spiritual mission of the family.

How interesting it is to compare the Hashem/Avraham relationship to that of Hashem and Moshe. While there are moments of intimacy between them, I sense that the foundation of the relationship is one of appreciation, trust, and respect more than love. They have much more in the way of dialogue and cooperation between them, but I don’t see the tenderness that is found in Hashem’s relationship with Avraham. Moshe’s intimacy with Hashem takes place on a unique level of communication (face-to-face, with Hashem’s will expressed clearly, not in riddles or visions that need to be closely interpreted), through Moshe’s role as a servant of Hashem (eved Hashem) and empowered messenger, a performer of miracles for enhancing Hashem’s greatness. Moshe seems like an exceptional student raised to the level of prophet and lawgiver, a partner of Hashem for guiding the people to growing in to their mission. Hashem’s understanding of Moshe expressed by the phrase yedaticha beshem“ - I know you by name - is not an external superficial knowledge, but deep and individual, parallel to Hashem revealing His name - Y-H-V-H - to Moshe, a name that the Avot did not experience, though they seem to have known it.

The difference is clear to me in this parasha, when Hashem asks Himself, so to speak, if He should hide from Avraham what is about to happen to Sdom and Amora, as if not divulging this plan would in a sense be a betrayal of their relationship. After reminding Himself (so to speak) of Avraham’s promised destiny, He reveals that He knows Avraham, knows him not in terms of an essence but in terms of his values and deeds and how those Avraham will transmit faithfully to his descendants, so that Hashem may fulfill what Hashem has promised him. And then Hashem unburdens Himself (sts) to Avraham, speaking of the sins of the cities and what shall befall them if the stories of their deeds are verified. It is a revelation based on trust.

Avraham does not immediately intervene. HE WAITS UNTIL THE TWO ANGELS HAVE DEPARTED, and Avraham and Hashem are alone. One does not reprove one’s friend in front of others - I have to say that this is a mostly overlooked moment: the desire for truth and justice does not void the medium of sensitivity and love.

“You would really sweep away the righteous together with the evil? What if there were 50 righteous people in the city, you would really destroy it and not relent for the sake of the 50 righteous who live there? God forbid you should do such a thing and kill the righteous along with the evil and not differentiate between them, God forbid! The judge of all will not act justly?”

He is amazing.

Last year I emphasized that Avraham was not interested here is applying tzedek/mishpat (just law - as in justice/law) to the situation. He immediately shifts the conversation not to extracting the righteous and punishing the evil, but saving the whole city for the sake of the few just people who reside there. That, I said, was not tzedek but tzedaka, a type of justice that allows for tikkun (restoration of goodness, not simply the destruction of evil). His entire presentation is based on the assumption that Hashem shares this idea, that this is the only way of approaching the issue. And Hashem implicitly accepts Avraham’s terms.

We can compare this to the conversation between Hashem and Moshe after the sin of the golden calf.

Hashem spoke to Moses, “Hurry down, for your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted basely.

They have been quick to turn aside from the way that I enjoined upon them. They have made themselves a molten calf and bowed low to it and sacrificed to it, saying: ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’”

Hashem further said to Moses, “I see that this is a stiffnecked people. Now, let Me be, that My anger may blaze forth against them and that I may destroy them, and make of you a great nation.”

But Moses implored his God Hashem, saying, “Let not Your anger, Hashem, blaze forth against Your people, whom You delivered from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. Let not the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he delivered them, only to kill them off in the mountains and annihilate them from the face of the earth.’ Turn from Your blazing anger, and renounce the plan to punish Your people. Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, how You swore to them by Your Self and said to them: I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring this whole land of which I spoke, to possess forever.”

And Hashem renounced the punishment planned for God’s people.

First, Hashem takes the sin of the golden calf much more personally than he does the unnamed sins of Sdom and Amora. There is an element of betrayal and anger here that we do not see in the narrative in Bresheet. Just as Avraham paused before engaging Hashem in dialogue designed to lower the bar for the salvation of Sdom and Amora, Moshe also hesitates before pleading the case for Israel, Commentators attribute Moshe’s delay in being struck dumb by the overwhelming task of trying to mitigate the sin of the people and persuading Hashem from destroying them. Only after Hashem continues to speak and proposes raising up a new nation out of Moshe does Moshe intercede for the nation. We already examined the reason that Avrahahm delayed speech, but when he talks, he takes a similar but different tack than Moshe.

Moshe moves quickly to advance the idea that destroying Israel reflects badly upon Hashem. His argument doesn’t cleave to a specific logic - here You have saved this people just to destroy them in the mountains. In fact, the salvation of Israel from Egypt was full of wonders and miracles, and certainly Hashem would not annihilate Israel in the desert for no reason. Still, Moshe’s argument is centered on the idea of inducing Hashem to preserve His good name throughout the world. And, of course, Hashem’s responsibility to fulfill the promise Hashem made to the Avot to multiply their seed and bring them into the land of Israel. Moshe’s defense was made up of two points: preserving Your name among the nations, and preserving your promise to our forefathers.

Avraham’s approach is quite different. He seems less concerned about public relations and more concerned about making sure Hashem and he were on the same page when it came down to defining justice in the world. Could you imagine a situation where Hashem responded “I am doing justice by judging these cities to be worthy of annihilation.”? And what would Avraham say in response? You are not the God I thought you were? Certainly, how Hashem responds to this question is a defining moment in their relationship. The point here is that Avraham was not afraid to ask it, and he put his inquiry in perhaps the most pointed way possible: the Judge of all will not do justly? One must have a great deal of trust in a relationship to address Hashem like that. And Avraham has that trust, because his relationship with Hashem to that point has be in the language of love. It assumes not just that God loves Avraham, but that Avraham’s understanding of justice and tzedakah reflects God’s own heart, so Avraham has standing to remind God of it. Amazing.

There is, as I indicated about, one other individual for whom Hashem expressed love, and that was Shlomo Hamelech.

David consoled his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and lay with her. She bore a son and she named him Shlomo. Hashem loved him, and sent a message through the prophet Nathan; and he was named Yedidiah (Hashem’s friend) at Hashem’s behest.

So where do we see Hashem’s love expressed in Shlomo’s life?

We don’t really see Shlomo until he becomes king. He seems bright, aware of dangers left over from his father’s time, involved in organizing his kingdom for shared responsibility and efficiency. We can note his humility in Giv’on, where after sacrificing a thousand bullocks to Hashem, Shlomo experiences a dreamlike visitation where Hashem offers him riches, or long life, or peace. Shlomo asked instead for wisdom to guide the nation, and Hashem grants him that along with the other three. His wisdom is on display for all to see in the case of the two prostitutes.

Shlomo is a glorious king. His knack for organization, his emphasis on economic development and international trade, his fame - all of these attainments are dwarfed by the construction of the Bet Hamikdash, the Temple in Jerusalem. He seems to be the perfect integration of master of the physical world and servant of the spiritual world. His speech at the dedication of the Bet Hamikdash is a work of humility and resolve, sophisticated in its universal message and acknowledgment of Hashem’s sovereignty over all the earth. If it is an expression of love, its subject is the relationship between Hashem and the nation of Israel.

But do we see that his relationship with Hashem is love? We certainly see his early life as king marked with success after success. Is this necessarily an expression of Hashem’s love? With Avraham, we see that Hashem tries the one he loves. Shlomo’s life is characterized by success in almost every field we pitiful humans have in judging the favor of Hashem. Is the underlying angst of love a missing component in Shlomo’s relationship with Hashem? Is Shlomo’s life too good?

Three books of the Tanach are attributed to Shlomo’s authorship: Shir Ha-shirim, Mishle (Proverbs), and Kohelet. The first book is about love. Various readings apply it to the simply meaning of the very physical sensual love of a young couple breathing passion and desire, or perhaps it is a metaphor for the love between Hashem and Israel, or even the love of the nation for the land of Israel. As one of my teachers responded when i asked about this, he said, “in the end, love is love.” Avraham’s relationship with Hashem was an expression of his wellspring of love for his family, his destiny, the land of Israel, strangers who find their way to his tent. His absolutely over-the-top act of hospitality (I do not think that this was unusual for Avraham - it was simply an expression of his innermost self. We all know people like that. As my hevruta said, every new person met is an opportunity to observe the mitzvah of loving one’s fellow as one’s self.), his determination to find a way to save the cities of Sdom and Amora, his willingness to believe in the promises of Hashem even when having children is no longer a physical possibility - all of this is just Avraham. The love for Hashem that he expresses is the foundational relationship between Hashem and the nation that grows out of Avraham.

Mishle, of course, is a “Moshe” book, which is to say that it is a distillation of the antinomian love relationship into norms that regulate relations in family and society. In fact, this is the function of Torah. Tarah is not a behavioral straitjacket. It accounts for spontaneous human feelings that are sometimes natural and sometimes difficult to control and sometimes hurtful. Shlomo, during the years of his greatest wisdom and likely at the peak of his own personal greatness, writes this book of Proverbs in literary shorthand for imparting his lived experience of living well. Starting with the phrase “fear of Hashem is the beginning of knowledge,” Shlomo blends existential humility with pithy sayings that often have more substance to them than they might seem to on the surface.

Kohelet is perhaps Shlomo’s greatest work. The casual reader opens it, reads the first few chapters and is struck by the one of despair and ennui that one could easily associate with the latter years of Shlomo’s reign, when he seemed to be doing all he could to undermine his own most lasting accomplishments. After completing the construction of the Bet Hamikdash Hashem visits Shlomo a second time in a dream, validating Shlomo’s prayer and promising Hashem’s blessing if both he and his people follow the commandments. Hashem also warns Shlomo what could befall him and the people if they reject Hashem and worship other gods, which, at this point in Shlomo’s reign, does not seem likely. Shlomo embarks upon other building projects in his kingdom and his economic strength expands.

The queen of Sheba heard about the splendor of Shlomo’s court and came for a visit, attempting to confuse and stump Shlomo with clever questions and riddles, but he is equal to all of them. After experiencing life in Jerusalem (it is worth reading II Kings 10 to get a sense of Shlomo’s glory days), she says:

“The report I heard in my own land about you and your wisdom was true. But I did not believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes that not even the half had been told me; your wisdom and wealth surpass the reports that I heard. How fortunate are your people and how fortunate are these your courtiers, who are always in attendance on you and can hear your wisdom! Praised be the ETERNAL your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel. It is because of GOD’s everlasting love for Israel that you were made king—to administer justice and righteousness.”

She sees clearly: the success of the king and the success of the nation is a clear expression of Hashem’s love - not for Shlomo, but for Israel.

This was the height of Shlomo’s success, and from here his glory begins to disintegrate. We’ll not detail the story here, but it is all there in II Kings 11, if you are interested. In any case, if you are wondering about the context of Shlomo’s despair and depression, this is it. The love that was Avraham’s foundational connection to Hashem and the wisdom that was Moshe’s connection with Hashem seem to have led Shlomo to a dead-end. In his own eyes, nothing he could do or build would ever leave a lasting impact on the world. As the wealthiest, wisest, most successful king of Israel, he too would die and leave nothing behind. The love from Hashem for which he was named (Yedidya) and the wisdom for Hashem for which he asked and was granted led to aging king with 1000 wives, no love, and knowledge of his mortality.

One ingredient in the personalities of both Avraham and Moshe that seems to be missing in Shlomo is that of humility. Although Avraham was never describes as humble, his patience and faith mark him out as a person who “sacrificed himself,” in the words of the Talmudic sage R. Yitzchak Nafcha. Moshe was explicitly characterized as being exceedingly humble, more than anyone else. Although there are moments where Shlomo shows humility, there are often times of public performance, as in his dedication speech for the bet Hamikdash. One element that leads to doubt of Shlomo’s humility was the fact the he, alone from the kings who preceded him and many kings who came later, did not have a prophet to help guide his actions. Perhaps he believed that since Hashem spoke to him directly trice (although it was in dreams), he did not require a prophet. And with apologies for what might seem as midrashic stretch, rearranging the letters of Shlomo’s name yields “L’moshe” - like Moshe. It could be that Shlomo saw himself on a similar level to Moshe, and saw no need to subject himself to the advice of a prophet. Certainly, at least in his later years, Shlomo lost all ability to restrain himself and trampled on all the limitations the Torah places on kings in the book of D’varim

Yet that is not the final message of the book Kohelet. As I pointed out in the study on Kohelet, the book places a value on simha - deep joy - that stands in stark contrast to themes of disillusionment and despair. Keeping one’s life open to experiencing simha, knowing how to enjoy life and the pleasures of family and life and goodness provide one with a transcendent experience that bring understanding and meaning to life If that sounds too foreign an idea in light of our earlier descriptions of the book - open it up and read for yourself. It is as if the two elements of love and wisdom can lead to two different life stories: despair or joy. In his last book, Kohelet, Shlomo seems to want to place the ability to chose this end or that squarely on our own shoulders.

…a time for love and a time for hate (3:8)

A lover of money never has his fill of money, nor a lover of wealth his fill of income. (5:9)

Contrast with:

Enjoy happiness with a woman you love all the fleeting days of life that have been granted to you under the sun—all your fleeting days. For that alone is what you can get out of life and out of the means you acquire under the sun. (9:9)