Abram Ha'Ivri - Connected or alone?

As my family embark on our journey to a mountain in the north, Parshat Lech L'cha has particular resonances for me this year.  We know what we are leaving, but we do not know what the future holds.  We are making plans as best we can, but trusting in God that he will show us the way.

It has always struck me that the midrashic interpretation of Abram's title of העברי - the Hebrew - is much more well known then the plain sense meaning.  If you ask your typical Jew, even those well educated, what the plain sense meaning of this title is, they will quote the midrash brought down in the name of Rabbi Yehuda:

כל העולם כולו מעבר אחד, והוא מעבר אחד

"The whole world on one side, and he [Abram] on the other"

However, the pshat or plain-sense meaning is that he was called עברי (Ivri) because he was a descendent of עבר (Ever) - the great-grandson of Shem (Noah's son).  Once this is pointed out, it seems quite obvious.

It seems to me that the midrashic interpretation and the pshat point to two opposite but complementary aspects of Abram's character and journey.  On the one hand, Abram is unique in his time.  He is separated out from all others to found a new nation under God.  He is the iconoclast who first confronts the idolatry in his father's house then leaves to be on his own in Canaan.  He is the עברי - on one side, when all the world is on the other.  This is the aspect that Rabbi Mishael Zion is talking about in his Dvar Torah this week on the BYFI website.

On the other hand, Abram is the עברי - the descendant of עבר, who continues to be deeply connected to the rest of the עברי family who remain in Haran.  Although he could easily have interpreted the command of לך לך - Go for yourself - as לך לבדך - Go by yourself - this does not even occur to him, as he takes his wife, nephew and household with him.  He maintains a connection with his family, and makes sure that his son and grandson maintain that connection, even marrying within the family.  As Menachem Leibtag points out, Abram is not singled out by the אלה תולדות - these are the generations - structure of the book of Genesis, but his father Terach is. Abram's brothers are not rejected from the covenant, but brought in through their daughters and granddaughters who are chosen to be the foremothers of the Israelite people.

Abram is both alone and connected, leaving home but not disconnecting from his family.  All of us who have made aliya can appreciate the difficulty of this dichotomy.  I feel it strongly as we make our next step north.  Forging one's own path while remaining deeply connected to the world is the challenge of Abram.

Shabbat Shalom