kiruv.com

Chumash Series

Teaching Materials

Goal: Seeing how important it is to become independent of the ideas, habits, beliefs, which have formed you. This is important for two reasons:

1. It is important because it is a crucial element of being good. Without this trait it is impossible to grow, learn, or to do teshuva.
2. It is crucially important for students’ progress toward observance that they be willing to change, to separate themselves emotionally from the expectations of friends and family, and to live and believe in ways foreign to themselves and to others.

Secondary goal: Beginning to undermine the confidence of secular student that they are reasonable and we the religious are fanatics. Instead they begin to recognize the many ways in which their own lives are unexamined.
Tertiary goal: Building credibility for the Torah and teaching students to appreciate its brilliance and relevance.
II. Beginning to learn:
1. Give them an introduction to what they are about to read including the following elements:

1. Abraham was the first Jew. Before him there were no Jews.
2. Abraham did not grow up as a Jew. He lived in the part of the world, which is now Iraq in a society that was idolatrous.
3. Led by his perception of the order and beauty of the world Abraham came to the conclusion that there must be a G-d.
4. Abraham taught his contemporaries that idolatry was false. Because this was threatening to the society in which Abraham lived he was persecuted.
5. It is after all of these events, which are not recorded in the text of the Torah but are reported by the Talmud, that the story we are about to read occurs.

Ask someone to read aloud Genesis 12,1--12,9
Ask them "why do you think G-d told Avraham to leave behind his land, country, and family?
After you ask the question don't jump. Don't be afraid of the silence. Sit and wait quietly until someone responds.
There are two possible directions in which the class' response may go:

1. G-d is testing Avraham. If they suggest that G-d is testing Avraham you question why G-d would test him. They will say because "He wants to see if Avraham really trusts Him. You will want to point out that G-d already knows who Avraham is and that the point of a test is not for G-d but for Avraham, giving Avraham the opportunity to grow and realize his potential. This is very important because you are beginning to underline the idea that G-d loves us and everything that He does is for our good.

Then ask "Fine it's a test, but why test him in this way?"

1. Sometimes the class will jump straight to this point. Someone will suggest that G-d wants Avraham to start fresh in a new place. You ask why that's so important. After you have given them a chance to suggest explanations here is the place for your own mini-lecture.
1. Point out that G-d's command to Avraham is repetitive: "Leave your land, your birthplace, your father's house." If you leave your land you definitely leave your father's house. Explain that the intent of the command is not only that Avraham should physically leave these behind, but that he should leave them emotionally and psychologically as well.  In geographic terms, Avraham is making the most drastic change by leaving his land.  However, in his journey for emotional and psychological independence, it is most difficult to leave home. 
2. Point out that we are shaped by many factors: We are Jews, late 20th century, upper middle class, educated etc. All of these have made us who we are. If we want to be ourselves we have to strip these elements away.

Illustrations:

1. Everyone knows that fashion changes rapidly. Men's clothing, women's hemlines are continually changing. People's beliefs and values also change very rapidly. Before the Civil War everyone south of the Mason-Dixon line was pro-slavery and everyone north of the Mason-Dixon line was anti-slavery. It isn't that bad people go south and good people go north. In the industrial north where slavery was not necessary economically everyone was convinced that slavery was evil. In the south where slavery was the foundation of the economy good and honest people were convinced that slavery moral.
2. 40 years ago abortion was considered murder. Now it's taken for granted that enlightened people are pro-choice.
3. Final and most powerful example: There was an experiment done at Yale University some years ago by Dr. Stanley Milgrom. Dr. Milgrom told the experiment's subjects they were participating in an experiment on how punishment affected people's ability to learn. They were introduced to a man who they were told would attempt to memorize a list of words (in fact this man was Milgrom's collaborator in the experiment.) Every time this man made a mistake in memorization the real subject of the experiment was asked to push a button giving increasingly strong electric shocks (in fact of course no actual shock was given.) The great majority of subjects continued to give electric shocks to the point where they believed they had killed the student.

Punch line: The experiment demonstrates that you don't have to be evil or sadistic to put people into gas chambers. You have to be completely normal and just not be independent enough to ask whether what you're doing is moral or not. G-d's command to Avraham was to become independent.

Follow-up: G-d tells Avraham if he follows his command he will be a blessing to the world. The Jewish people have been a blessing to the world because they have given the world the idea of conscience. The Jews are continually championing the rights of the underdogs and of the downtrodden.

Follow-up 2: This is the traditional understanding of anti-Semitism. People hate the Jews because they represent conscience. In a collection of some his conversations called Table Talk Hitler is quoted saying: "The struggle for world-domination is between me and the Jews. All else is meaningless. The Jews have inflicted two wounds on the world. Circumcision for the body and conscience for the soul. I come to free mankind from their shackles.

Follow-up 3: Unless you examine what you believe and why you believe it, it will be an accident whether you turn out to be a good or an evil man. Even if circumstances don't put you into a position of great evil see Follow-up4.

Follow-up 4: In every line of work there are common business practices which are totally taken for granted and yet everyone knows they're wrong: lying, taking home office supplies, personal calls on office time and office phones etc. etc. illustrate from whatever your line of work and ask students for examples from their own experience.

III. Questions your class may ask:
a. What is the difference between blindly following your society and blindly following G-d? Don't people justify the most awful and immoral things by saying they're doing G-d's will?

Answer: (1) You are absolutely right. Everyone is obligated to consider how they know that what they believe is right. It's an obligation for orthodox Jews just as much as it's an obligation for Christians or for people who are secular. This is an extremely important point because it demonstrates that we are open minded, reasonable, and self-critical. (2) An independent person doesn't insist on doing what he wants to do. He does what is right, whoever told him to do it, or even if it goes against what everyone tells him. Someone who insists on constantly disobeying his father for example isn't independent at all because he needs to constantly assert his freedom to do what he wants. If there is a G-d an independent person would listen to G-d. Whether in fact there is a G-d or not is another question.

 

Rabbi Nachum Braverman studied philosophy at Yale University. For many years he served as Educational Director of Aish HaTorah Los Angeles, and is now Executive Director of Aish HaTorah's Jerusalem Fund for the Western Region. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children.