The Mishna in Ethics of our Fathers (5:4) states that the holy One, blessed be He, tested Avraham, our patriarch, ten times. It is part of a group of aphorisms involving the number ten. After that there are aphorisms grouped around seven then four. The repetition of the same number makes the material enjoyable and easier to remember.
Rabbi Judah the Prince (c. 135 to 217 CE) did not enumerate the incidents that happened to Abraham when he redacted the standard Mishna that is in our hands today. Maimonides does enumerate the ten trials using events explicit in the Chumash in the order in which they occur. The prime commentary on the Mishnah, the Bartenura, also gives chronological listing. However, and unlike the Rambam, he starts with the Midrash about Abraham being thrown into the fiery furnace as a child in Or Casdim, even though it is not in the Chumash. In its place Maimonides lists the difficulties Abraham encountered when he married Sarah's servant Hagar. Also different the Rambam lists the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael not as one but two trials and he omits the vision of the exiles.
The trials listed by the Bartenura are the same as those listed "Avot (Fathers) of Rabbi Nathan", which was compiled c. 700-900 CE from material contemporary to but omitted by Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. It is grouped differently though. It starts with "Lech l'cha" (לך לך), meaning leave everything and go to the holy land and then the famine that forced Abraham to leave the land of Israel. Next it mentions two trials involving Abraham's sons, referring to the the near sacrifice of Yitzchak And the expulsion of Ishmael. Next are the two trials involving Sarah referring to seizures by Pharaoh and Avimelech. Finally four are listed: the war of the four Kings against the five kings, the nightmare vision of the tragedies strikingly the people of Israel, being thrown into the fiery furnace in Ur Casdim, and the circumcision.
It comes out with the listing of Maimonides there are two trials involving Hagar. Therefore one can picture three pairs in the center involving Abraham's sons and two wives. This is easy to remember. Lech lecha and the famine are also easy to remember because they occur right at the beginning of parshas Lech Lecha and both involve leaving important places. The test of circumcision is also easy to remember. That leaves the test of the war of Sedom. That one is a bit difficult, but if one considers that it was basically about Abraham's nephew Lot, it will come. In addition the chronology upon thought comes. Also the process is fun and gives a person something to think about.
Personally I consider the nightmare vision as a test because I know how powerful dreams and hallucinations can be. The expulsion of Ishmael and Hagar I see as the same test not two. I don't consider the fiery furnace as a test because, according to my reading of the Midrash, for Abraham the whole thing was a rambunctious joke. It's also not in the Chumash. How well I'll remember this in six months is an open question. In any case this is the way to learn as it says in a delightful passage in the Talmud, "Make mnemonic signs [simanim aseh - סימנין עשה] to remember the Torah and acquire it", (Shabbos 104a).
לע"נ האמא מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז ניסן תשנ"ח
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment