[Avodah] Telling the Truth About Great Men

[Rich, Joel]

 Rav Hirsh writes:

The Torah does not seek to portray our great men as perfectly ideal figures; it deifies no man. It says of no one: Here you have the ideal; in this man the Divine assumes human form! It does not set before us the life of any one person as the model from which we might learn what is good and right, what we must do and what we must refrain from doing. 
>>

IMVHO, the Malbim's excellent explanation of these events make a lot of sense even bederech pshat, thus allowing us to revert to the recognition that Avraham Avinu was indeed an unconditional - perfect - tzaddik.

SBA

_______________________________________________


Which came first the chicken or the egg?  (i.e. how do great men <and all of us> come to a general hashkafic approach and then marginalize or reinterpret the counter data points?)

KT
Joel Rich
THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE USE OF THE 
ADDRESSEE.  IT MAY CONTAIN PRIVILEGED OR CONFIDENTIAL 
INFORMATION THAT IS EXEMPT FROM DISCLOSURE.  Dissemination, 
distribution or copying of this message by anyone other than the addressee is 
strictly prohibited.  If you received this message in error, please notify us 
immediately by replying: "Received in error" and delete the message.  
Thank you.