Be Like Avraham, Love Like Avraham

I’m a big Avraham fan.  (OK.  I’m a fan of all of our Biblical celebrities.)

Lech lecha.

Go.  Go for yourself.  Find your inner being.  Seek out a new path.

Ha-nefesh asher asu b’Charan – the souls Avraham and Sarah crafted in Charan.

Avraham and Sarah were the first outreach workers.  As Rambam wrote (Laws of Idolatry 1:3):

And thus Avraham went onward with his proclamations from city to city, and from government to government…When the people who congregated about him asked him concerning his preaching, he replied by imparting knowledge to each and every one according to his mentality…until there congregated about him thousands, even tens of thousands, and they became the people of Abraham's household, in whose heart he implanted this great cause… 

In 2009, I appeared in a documentary entitled Jerusalem: Center of the World to provide a rabbinic perspective on the history of Jerusalem.  In describing Avraham’s connection to the city, I called him, in a sense, the first mega-church preacher.  He was innovative and shared monotheism with the masses.

What was Avraham’s secret?  The Torah does not describe Avraham’s youth or any particular insights into how he developed his relationship with God.  The Midrash fills in some of the gaps – especially the idol store and the hammer account.  There are, however, a number of clues in Tanach.

One is in Isaiah 41:8, in which Avraham is described as: Avraham ohavi. This can be translated as, “Avraham my friend.”  I prefer: “Avraham, who loved me.”

Avraham loved God.  He was so full of love that it spilled over to others.  He loved God, so he loved people.

Avraham was full of love. He loved Sarah and Hagar.  He loved Yitzchak and Yishmael.  He loved Lot and Eliezer.

Sometimes, his love blinded him to the flaws of others, but it didn’t matter.  There is no such thing as too much love. 

Rabbi Rafi Feuerstein, a noted Israeli rabbi and educator, captured it well:

ומי שאוהב את אלוקים, זוכה ורואה את האור בכל דבר.

One who really loves God is able to see the light, the good, in everything.

Avraham loved God so much that he wanted others to experience what he experienced.  He shared this love with humanity.  Avraham possessed an ayin tova, a good eye, a positive outlook. (Avot 5:19)  Avraham had the right perspective.  He channeled his love for God through an ayin tova, to see the best in others and to seek out and connect with others.

We live in a world that desperately needs more of this connection.  It is so easy – especially when Covid keeps us apart or we have different views on who should be president – to be disconnected.  This disconnection is not by design or with any malice aforethought.  There is a lot that distracts us - cell phones, news, life - and not always a sense of fellowship for us to seek out others with an ayin tova like Avraham.

Rabbi Avrohom Pam, of blessed memory, was dean of Yeshiva Torah V’Da’as and a gentle soul.  Once, he was visiting a community as a guest speaker.  The rabbi sent to pick him up at the airport was anxious since they were running very late.

They moved rapidly past the gates, at which other flights were disembarking.  At one gate, there was a crowd as the arriving passengers were being welcomed warmly by friends and family.  Rav Pam stopped to watch the scene for a few moments, totally transfixed. The local rabbi tried to hurry him along.

In the car, the rabbi asked Rav Pam what it was about the airport scene that so fascinated him.  He answered:

The saddest of all human happenings is separation. And the most wonderful of all is reunion.  Whenever I see people, of whatever religion or background, who are joyfully coming together after a long separation, I feel spellbound, and I must stand by and witness that pure innocent joy as long as I can. 

A modern rabbi named Avraham appreciating the type of love modeled by the original Avraham.

The Torah (Bereishit 12:3) states that Avraham will be a source of blessing for all humanity.

וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה

All the families of the earth shall be blessed through you.

Rashi explains that the simplest was to understand this is:

אדם אומר לבנו תהא כאברהם

People will tell their children, “Be like Avraham." 

The people of the world will see blessing when more people act like Avraham.  It’s really quite simple.  Seek out God.  Love God.  Love people.  Repeat.

I say to my children: Be like Avraham.  Be motivated by love to connect to God and to people.  This will bring blessing to you.  This will bring blessing to us all.