Parashat Hashavua - Ki Tavo
Who is included in our stories, and who includes us in theirs? This week in Ki Tavo we read that, as part of the formula recited when bringing first fruits to the Temple, we are instructed to say, “I report this day to the Lord your God that I have arrived to the land that the Lord promised, to our ancestors to give to us / הִגַּ֤דְתִּי הַיּוֹם֙ לַיהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ כִּי־בָ֙אתִי֙ אֶל־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נִשְׁבַּ֧ע יְהֹוָ֛ה לַאֲבֹתֵ֖ינוּ לָ֥תֶת לָֽנוּ.” (Deut. 26:3) In her commentary, Nechama Leibowitz addresses the question of someone who is not born Jewish: Can they still say “our ancestors / לַאֲבֹתֵ֖ינוּ?” The answer from Maimonides (12th century Spain, Egypt), she says, is emphatically yes: When God told Avraham, “‘I have made you a father to a multitude of nations’ (Gen. 17:5), he became the father of all in the world who enter beneath the shelter of the Divine Presence / אַב הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם נְתַתִּיךָ" (בראשית יז, ה) - הֲרֵי הוּא אָב כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ שֶׁנִּכְנָסִין תַּחַת כַּנְפֵי הַשְּׁכִינָה.” (Bikkurim 4:3) In other words, upon accepting God, one not only changes who they are from that moment forward, but for all time; instantly, their roots reach back even to the beginning of monotheism, and their ancestry is Jewish. Incredible!
How did Avraham earn this honor? Maimonides explains further in a letter to Ovadiah, a convert to Judaism: “It was Avraham our father who taught all humanity… He brought many children under the wings of the Divine Presence, teaching and instructing them… Consequently, everyone who accepts Judaism until the end of all generations and whoever acknowledges the unity of the Holy Blessed One, as laid down in the Torah, is a disciple of Avraham our father, may peace be upon him.” (Leibowitz, Devarim, 266)
This message is a beautiful and inclusive message for anyone who chooses to be Jewish; what of those who don’t? Here too, Maimonides offers language to Ovadiah that is open and accepting: “Neither let your ancestry be esteemed lightly by you. If we trace our ancestry to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, yours can be traced to the One who spoke and the world came into being.” (267) Though one could conclude that the openness of Maimonides here is because he is addressing someone who has converted, it also seems totally reasonable to understand his language as applicable beyond this specific circumstance. All of us, he is saying, are God’s people, and must be accepted and respected as such.
And there are, of course, other ways to be inspired by Avraham’s openness and acceptance of others. His pleas on behalf of Sdom and Amorah are well known. (Gen. 18) Actually, from the very beginning – our very beginning – the appellation of “ivri / Hebrew” already signals how we must relate to others. While the most concrete understanding of this is that Avraham was a descendant of “Ever / עבר,” there is a profound association here with the word “avar / crossing / עבר” and “me’ever / from across / מעבר.” (Gen. Rabbah 42:8) Avraham, we are told, is from “across the river.” This could be a powerful physical symbol of his spiritual move away from others without looking back, never to cross that river again. As a people, though, we don’t stop crossing that river; we don’t stay forever separated from others. Rather, time and again in Tanach, our ancestors go back and forth across that physical and proverbial river.
At a time when so many seem increasingly insular in ways that diminish each of us individually and can cause harm to all of us, may we follow the example of Avraham as portrayed by Maimonides, of openness and acceptance, and may embrace the role of the Ivri, always balancing a knowledge and appreciation of who we are with a readiness to cross any river necessary to encounter others.
Shabbat shalom,
Rabbi Jack Nahmod
Middle School Judaic Studies Head
Rabbinic Advisor
