Lech Lecha parsha: Covenant of family

While there is unanimity among Jewish religious thinkers that the primary covenant, Brit Sinai, took place at Sinai, there is disagreement about its precursor.

In his Kol Dodi Dofek, Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik argues that the foundational covenant is Brit Mitzrayim, the covenant formed through the Egyptian bondage, first alluded to in the covenant of the pieces. There, God tells Abraham that his seed will be slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years (Genesis 15:13, 14).

Rabbi Soloveitchik identifies this covenant as the covenant of fate forged through the Jewish People’s shared suffering. “Fate signifies in the life of the nation… existence of compulsion.” In simple terms, even if a Jew doesn’t wish to identify as a Jew, he or she will be so labeled by the enemy. For the anti-Semite, there is no distinction between the observant and the less observant. Such divisions are irrelevant. What counts is that you’re a Jew. If so, you’re the enemy. This commonality equalizes and unites all Jews.

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hakohen Kook sees the precursor to Brit Sinai differently. In his view, the foundational covenant stems from an inner, soulful superiority intrinsic to Jews – what he calls brit Avot (the covenant of the patriarchs), established in the covenant of the pieces (15:18). Brit Avot, says Rabbi Kook, is “the higher soulfulness that Jews possess” (Iggerot Hare’iyah, n.565).

These two brilliant, saintly rabbis are my revered teachers. And yet, I struggle with both their positions. Rooting covenant in suffering poses the danger that Judaism will be misunderstood as primarily reactive, focused on victimhood, fighting forces wishing to annihilate us. At the same time, anchoring covenant in the theory of soul superiority flies in the face of the Torah’s primary teaching that all human beings are of equal value – all created in the image of God.

My humble sense is that the foundational covenant is that of family, found as well in the covenant of the pieces, which is bracketed by God’s promise that Abraham and Sarah will be the first patriarch and matriarch of the Jewish People. Covenantal heirship will come from them (Genesis 15:4; 17:19).

It is from the family of Abraham and Sarah that the nation of Israel is born at Sinai. There – at the covenant established at Sinai – we are given the mandate to bring ethical monotheism into the world (Exodus 19:5, 6).

From this perspective, the nation of Israel is also the family of Israel, as brit Sinai emerges from and remains forever linked to what can be called brit mishpachah (the covenant of family). As a loving family, the nation becomes closer than ever, consisting of brothers and sisters caring unconditionally for each other and ultimately for the larger family of humankind – mishpechot amim (Psalms 96:7).

Candle lighting:

Lech Lecha parsha

October 27 at 6:26 p.m.