By Alex Israel
Our parasha introduces us to two of our great forebears: Avrohom and Sarah. We term these characters Avot (patriarchs) and Imahot (matriarchs). They are exemplars in many ways – in their faith, their adherence to God, their hospitality, their moral sense. And after Avrohom and Sarah, we shall meet many other Biblical figures, who stand as towering icons, heroes of the Jewish consciousness: the other Avot and Imahot, Joseph and Judah, Miriam, Moses and Aharon and so forth.
We praise these figures for their virtues, but do we ever criticize them?
In our parasha, the biblical commentator Ramban, Nachmanides (1194-1270), finds fault with both Avrohom and Sarah for their moral failings. First, he blames Avrohom for claiming Sarah as his sister which then led to her being abducted by Pharaoh’s courtiers:
“Our father, Avrohom, committed a great sin unintentionally, in which he brought his righteous wife to stumble into transgression because of his fear of getting killed. He should have trusted God to have saved him, his wife and all that was his, as God has power to help and to save. Also his leaving the land due to famine – a land to which he had been commanded live - was a transgression that he committed, because God would have saved him from death even under conditions of famine...” (Ramban. 12:10)
In chapter 16, we read the story of Hagar, previously a maid in the home of Avrohom and Sarah, who gets pregnant with Avrohom’s child and then disrespects her mistress Sarah. Sarah responds by “oppressing” Hagar. Ramban writes:
“Our mother sinned in this oppression, and Avrohom too, in permitting her to do so. And God heard Hagar's oppression and gave her a son who would be a wild ass of a man to oppress the descendants of Avrohom and Sarah in all kinds of suffering.”
So, this is fascinating. Our religious role-models are held to a high moral standard. Rabbinic commentary is unflinching when it feels that our biblical heroes are involved in an ethical or religious infraction.
This is interesting because sometimes, religious figures are deemed so holy that they are perceived as flawless. Comments such as those made above by the Ramban might be seen as disparaging or belittling these biblical icons. Is it possibly wrong to subject the Imahot and Avot to moral scrutiny?
On this topic, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1800-1888) writes:
