It is so tempting to talk about the story of Noah. After all, this is the Torah portion named after him. Two thirds of the entire
parashah consist of the flood story, the Ark, and the familiar, classic depictions of all those animals packed into one, little (or maybe not so little…) boat. But what about the other third? One of the things I love about our triennial cycle of reading, is that some years our chanting focuses on lesser-known stories, and I see it as a great opportunity to zero in on those instead. If you want to read about Noah and the Flood, feel free to
browse my posts from previous years. It’s a great story, and it has this particularly ancient, primordial feel to it. More than many of the other stories of the Tanach. But that’s not our topic for today. Instead, right now, I want to know; who the heck is Terach??
Terach is the ninth-generation descendant of Noah, which also means the 19th descendant of Adam and Eve. Pretty impressive lineage… The Torah spends a whopping seven verses on Terach at the very end of our
parashah, and then never mentions him again, even at the start of next week’s Torah portion, Lech Lecha. Why is this surprising? Because he’s the father of Abraham. Some of you may be familiar with a rabbinic midrash that suggests
Terach owned an idol shop, and Abraham’s (then “Abram’s”) first act of monotheistic devotion was to smash all the idols in his father’s store. How can I put this delicately? That story is… nice. Not Biblical in the slightest, nor is there any evidence in the text to corroborate it - at all - but it’s… fine. Oh, and of the seven verses that mention Terach - basically in the entire Torah - six talk about his birth, how old he was, who his children were, and that he died. So he’s only actually active in ONE verse. And hopefully this won’t surprise you; that verse says nothing about idols… or a shop.
What it *does* say is quite fascinating, at least in my opinion. Genesis 11:31 states: “Terach took his son, Abram, his grandson, Lot, the son of Haran [who had died], and his daughter-in-law, Sarai, the wife of his son, Abram, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they had come as far as Haran, they settled there.” There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, it does seem a remarkable coincidence that Terach settled in a place that had the same name as his deceased son. The text tells us nothing about that… but it sure does seem remarkable. Second, what about the third son, Nahor? He stays in
Ur of the Chaldeans (likely modern-day Iraq), and will briefly reappear eleven chapters later, as the grandfather of Rebecca, who marries Isaac. But otherwise, he’s never mentioned, and we certainly don’t know why he stayed back when the rest of the family migrated. And third, WHY did they leave? We have no idea. Was it due to a famine, political unrest, a blood feud; who knows? Picking up and resettling in the ancient world was a pretty big deal, especially if Terach’s ancestors had remained in one place for potentially NINE generations… since the Great Flood!
Regardless, this one verse is actually quite significant to us, to all the descendants of Abraham and the inheritors of the Abrahamic faiths. Because the next Torah portion will tell us that God came to Abram and told him to leave Haran and continue his father’s intended journey to Canaan; what will soon become The Promised Land. Could Abram have embarked on that odyssey on his own, from Ur of the Chaldeans, if his father hadn’t made the first leg of the journey for them? And don’t we all acknowledge the importance of parental modeling, so maybe Abram’s inspiration to even CONSIDER leaving his home in the first place came from his father’s bold precedent? In typical rabbinic fashion, our Biblical commentators found it helpful to criticize Terach, in order to make Abraham look greater. Do I need or want to do the same thing? No, not in the slightest. Our parents provide important clues to who we are, in all aspects of our lives. Sometimes we follow their example, while other times we make choices purposely different from theirs, to make a very declarative point for ourselves and others to see. But however you choose to view it, our parents and ancestors are very much a part of who we were, are, and may yet become.
As we set off on our own path to get to know Abraham and Sarah once again, let us not forget about where he (and they) came from. We don’t need to put Terach down. After all, he did give us Abraham, and where would ANY of us be without him??? So thanks, Terach. And sorry about the shop.
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