The Nefesh of Made in Charan
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5775
We read in the beginning of the parsha of Avraham’s journey to the land of Israel.
בראשית פרק יב
ד) וַיֵּ֣לֶךְ אַבְרָ֗ם כַּאֲשֶׁ֨ר דִּבֶּ֤ר אֵלָיו֙ יְקֹוָ֔ק וַיֵּ֥לֶךְ אִתּ֖וֹ ל֑וֹט וְאַבְרָ֗ם בֶּן־חָמֵ֤שׁ שָׁנִים֙ וְשִׁבְעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה בְּצֵאת֖וֹ מֵחָרָֽן
ה) וַיִּקַּ֣ח אַבְרָם֩ אֶת־שָׂרַ֨י אִשְׁתּ֜וֹ וְאֶת־ל֣וֹט בֶּן־אָחִ֗יו וְאֶת־כָּל־רְכוּשָׁם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר רָכָ֔שׁוּ וְאֶת־הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂ֣וּ בְחָרָ֑ן וַיֵּצְא֗וּ לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ אַ֥רְצָה כְּנָֽעַן
4. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken to him; and Lot went with him; and Abram was seventy five years old when he departed from Haran.
5. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go to the land of Canaan; and to the land of Canaan they came.
It is Avraham and Lot and Sarai and their property and the “souls that they made in charan”.
הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂ֣וּ בְחָרָ֑ן
What does it mean to make a soul?
Whose souls are being made?
Who is doing the making?
The simplest way to read the psukim is offered by rashi as the “simple meaning of the text” ופשוטו של מקרא. The souls refer to the slaves and maidservants and the word “made” simply means “acquired”.
The verse then reads that Avraham, Sarai and Lot traveled with their possessions and servants.
Eben Ezra reads the verse this way as well.
This is a wonderful example of a text that has a peshat meaning but seems to be begging for another interpretation. Eved and Amah are the words that mean servant and maidservant. Why not simply use them? They are found elsewhere in Bereishit! Why use the term soul and verb made? What else could that teach us?
Rashi quotes the Midrash that explains that the souls refer to the converts taught by Avraham and Sarah, אברהם מגייר את האנשים, ושרה מגיירת הנשים and that the word “made” teaches us that when you bring someone closer to God it is as if you have created them!
How did they do it? How did Avraham and Sarah do it? My curiosity was peaked. How should we do that? How do we bring people closer to Judaism? How do we instill that within our own children?
The Radak suggests that they approached people and gave them reasons to believe in and serve God.
Parenthetically he also suggests that it might have been Avraham and Lot, not Avraham and Sarah.
Calling out to people and convincing them to believe is a very tough task. It seems that we should do more and that we need more. To be fair to the Radak he understood that Avraham didn’t have anything else. He couldn’t give a chumash class because there was no chumash. So he used philosophy and his observations of the world as detailed in the Midrashim.
What about us? Today?
The chizkuni explains that the “souls that they made in charan” is actually the beginning of Matan Torah and references a beautiful idea in the Gemara in Avoda zara.
The Gemara (9a) writes in the name of Tana Devei Eliyahu that there will be 6,000 years in the world. The first two thousand years are to be void;9 the next two thousand years are the period of the Torah, and the following two thousand years are the period of the Messiah. Through our many sins a number of these have already passed [and the Messiah is not yet].
The Gemara notes a problem with that calculation. It is actually 2.448 years from Adam to Sinai. How could anyone say that there will be two thousand years of Torah?
That view, answers the Gemara believes that you start counting the age of Torah from Avraham, as it says, “souls that they made in charan”, that is the beginning of Matan Torah!
But you will argue – no Torah was given! How is this Matan Torah? I think that the answer is – Matan Torah comprised two elements, God’s revelation and the giving of the Torah.
Our Gemara makes two important points:
- Avraham brought people to God, he helped reveal God in and to the world and in that sense it had an aspect of Matan Torah.
- The implication is that our way of bringing God into the world and our world is through the learning of Torah.
For us learning and teaching Torah is one important way that we follow in the footsteps of Avraham and Sarah in bringing God into the world.
One last point before I conclude from another piece in the Gemara commenting on our verse. In the Gemara in Sanhedrin (99b) Reish Lakish teaches us that:
כל המלמד את בן חבירו תורה מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו עשאו, שנאמר ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן
If you teach you friends son Torah it is as if you have created him as it says, “the souls that they made in charan”
Learning Torah is a creative activity with transformative powers. It impacts and affects us in profound ways.
