Abraham - the founder of Judaism - founds a new NATION

Use this search feature to quickly find the information you're looking for:

Abraham is the founder of Judaism. Even though he is a privet person, never the less he is the father of the Jewish nation.

So if we carefully examine the way he appears on the historical stage, we can learn a lot about the nature of the Jewish nation.

Abraham - founder of Judaism - appears in the bible right after the story about the generation of separation.

In that generation - the world divided into 70 different nations.
It seems to be that the fact that humanity is divided - is a positive thing. We see that God prevents all humanity uniting into one cosmo political entity - that's the story about the Tower of Babel.

Of course, the problem with separation and differences is that hostility might grow between cultures - and then we get wars.
That most probably was the motivation to build the Tower of Babel - to prevent moral downfall of humanity, as accord in the previous generation and brought the Great Flood.

The people who were building the Tower of Babel wanted to avoid violence, but actually acted in a different kind of violence - forcing everyone to be the same.

So God wanted the world to be separated. Doesn't he know that this will cause wars?

Of course he knows. That is why he creates the solution for this problem: the creation of another nation. This nation's role is to coordinate between all nations - and to unite them together.

We're talking here about unity - where every nation expresses its unique identity. We are not talking about uniformity where nations' identities are erased.

Abraham - Founder of Judaism

Unity gives the freedom to grow and express differently, but also to work for the same goal. This is what the founder of Judaism should create.

that is the background of Abraham's appearance. The bachground of him being the founder of Judaism. A new nation. Not a new religion.

Where did Abraham come from?

In the Torah he is described as a Hebrew man. He belonged to the Hebrew nation.

Who was this Hebrew nation, and where did it disappear?

The Hebrew people were the descendents of Ever. Who was the son of Shem. Who was the son of Noah [yea - that one from the ark].

We know that Ever was a prophet. Prophecy existed among the first Hebrew people.

It can be said, that Prophecy is the national talent of the Jewish nation. Just as Organization is the national talent of the Germans or Accuracy is the national talent of the Swiss nation.

True, other nations had prophets too, but this is not their characteristic feature. You can find some organized Jews...

Another fact we know about Ever is that he named his son Peleg - reminding him that the world separated in his days.

We see that this event disturbed him a lot. This issue has to do with the basis of the Jewish nation.

Where did the original Hebrew nation live on earth?

This fact is clearly mentioned in the Torah. When Joseph was sold and brought to Egypt - a few generations later - he claims that he was stolen from the land of the Hebrews.

That means that the land of the Hebrews is the land of Kena'an - the land that God promised to Abraham - founder of Judaism.

If that's the case, what the Torah describes is really weird:
Terah - Abraham's father - takes the entire family and leave Ur Kasdim in order to get to the land of Kena'an. Ur Kasdim was most probably in the area of Kurdistan, near the city Kuta.

That is way far from the original Hebrew land, and this is the only Hebrew family we hear about in the Torah.

What are they doing in Ur Kasdim? Why aren't they in Kena'an any more? Where did the Hebrew nation disappear?

A clue to what happened is what's described about Terah's family: They were exiled. They were immigrants.

It seems to be that the entire Hebrew nation was exiled - and therefore has vanished from human history.

And so, right from the beginning of Jewish history, the Jewish identity is described as an exiled identity which yearns to go back to its roots.

Terah decides that he has to go back to his homeland.

But he gets stuck on the way - and settles down in Haran.

Let's meet now the family of Abraham - founder of Judaism:

Terah - the father of the family.

He had three sons: Abraham, Nahor and Horan.

According to the Jewish sages - Horan was burned by the people of Ur Kasdim.
This is the first time that a third of the Jewish nation is extinct in the crematoriums.

The persecutions and killing cause Terah to leave Ur Kasdim in order to go back home - to the Hebrews' land - now the land of Kena'an. Actually, Terah is the first secular Zionist in Jewish history.

The Torah says that Terah leaves Ur Kasdim with Abraham, and stops at Haran.

We know that Horan is dead. Where is Nahor - the third brother?

Well, he arrived at Haran much earlier. He decided that if the Hebrew nation is persecuted in Ur kasdim - there is no reason to stay there.

He does not want to go back to the land of Kena'an either - because Kena'an is there now. He likes it in Haran. It's nice and safe. Why move?

Here we can identify four figures in Terah's family:

Terah - the secular Zionist. He wants to go back to his homeland.
Horan - the victim of the holocaust.
Nahor - the Cosmo-Politic Jew - mingling with the nations.
Abraham - the religious Zionist. the one who combines nationality with religion - he should be the founder on Judaism.

Out of these four figures - the Jewish nation is born. All of the Jewish nation's complexes appear within the first steps of the nation.

Now we have to ask - what stands behind God's decision to send Abraham to be the founder of Judaism?

This is the answer:

Religion sanctifies a single person's life. By fulfilling certain rules - a person becomes a holy man. Religion can turn a person to be a better person, a moral person and a nicer person.

But religion does not sanctify the state. Religion does not deal with the political force - many times a very violet force.

That was Noah's mistake. He sanctified himself - but the rest of the world was destroyed.

Leaving the national and political forces out side of religion - transmits a message of weakness and surrender to the evil forces of the world.

Political actions - that's what really makes history, and if this force stays out side the holiness - evil will rise.

God's plan was to create a unique and holy nation - a Cosmo-politic nation, that will know to fix the world by sanctifying the national and political forces.

That's exactly what Abraham - founder of Judaism - intends to do: he is going to create the nation that will combine all nations.

In order to help the whole world - he created one new nation.

This process - even though it's taking over 4000 years... will eventually be completed.