Shabbos Parashas Noach - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Noach - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

Now these are the chronicles of Terach: Terach begot Avram, Nachor and Haran;

and Haran begot Lot. [Bereishis 11:27]

We are generally given to believe that Terach was not a tzaddik. We know he sold

idols for a living. We know he did not complete the trip to Canaan with his family. The

Midrash tells us that Terach was the one who turned Avram in to king Nimrod, who

then threw him into the furnace. The implication is that he was one of the non-Toradic

masses. But is this true? Was Terach a good guy or a bad guy?

The first indications that he might have indeed been on the good side of the ledger

come in our verse. Not only does he get billed with his own "chronicles", but his name

is repeated here. In Bereishis Rabbah [38:12], we read on our verse, "R'Abba bar

Kahana said: Whoever has his name thus repeated has a portion in this world and in

the world to come." Bad guys don't get such a portion. What else do we know about

this relatively obscure figure, Terach?

We could say that "Terach begot Avram" in our verse is relevant, that Terach must

have earned merit merely for producing such a son. But we see other similar cases,

where either a bad father has a good son, or vice versa. We know that parents are

not punished for their children's sins, nor are children for their parents' sins. To be

rewarded with the world to come merely for having a good son seems a stretch.

Although interesting, this clause does not seem to be the complete answer.

Verse 31 has some points for us. "Terach took his son Avram, and Lot, the son of Haran,

his grandson, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of Avram his son, and they

departed with them from Ur-Kasdim to go to the land of Canaan; they arrived at Charan

and they settled there."

G-d speaks to Avram in a vision, and says, get out of Ur-Kasdim and go where I tell

you to go. Avram tells his father Terach, who packs up and says, okay, let's go. How

many idol worshipers would have done similarly under the circumstances? We see

here that "Terach took his son Avram" as well as the rest of his family. This sounds

like Terach had a strong belief in G-d.

Ramban and others argue that in verse 31, the phrase "they departed with them"

indicates that Lot and Sarai went with Terach and Avram, as opposed to with Terach

as sole leader, as the beginning of the verse indicates, "Terach took". This means

they did not believe Terach was worth following, but only Avram could get them to go.

Rashi reads it the other way: "Terach and Avram departed with Lot and Sarai," meaning

that the father and son were together bringing the family along on their joint journey.

Ramban also attributes a different purpose to Terach's journey than to Avram's journey.

Terach, according to Ramban, just wanted to get away from Nimrod, while Avram wanted

to go to where G-d would tell him. Once they reached Charan, Terach's purpose was

fulfilled, thus he saw no reason to continue with Avram. Terach was happy with Charan,

because it was far enough from Nimrod, yet closer to wherever Avram would end up,

therefore he did not continue when the others left town, but "settled there."

Verse 32 tells us that Terach died at age 205. Ramban goes through the math, and

determines that he was well over 140 at the point of our verse. Could it be that Terach

had just had all the traveling he could manage, stayed and bid his family success?

Bereishis Rabbah also cites G-d's promise to Avram that he will one day go to his

fathers in peace. We know that Avram is destined for the world to come, so this is an

indication that Terach would be there waiting for him. How? R'Abba bar Kahana

compared Terach to Ishmael through a number of verses, to show that just as Ishmael

repented immediately before his death, so did Terach.

What we can learn from all this is manifold. It reinforces our understanding of the power

of repentance. It proves that although one may not be able to complete the journey (or

mitzvah), one is still obligated to begin it. It proves that faith is not always rewarded in

this world, but will be rewarded at some point in some way, even if we cannot now

foresee what that may be. The path ahead may be different for each of us, but for each

of us, there exists a path to the world to come.