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The following is from the new translation of the commentary of Rav Samson
Raphael Hirsch on Bereishis 12: 10 - 13. He is discussing the question of
how Avraham could leave EY and put Sarah in danger. <br><br>
In light of this, I have to wonder why some think that all
"negatives" about our predecessors should be suppressed. What I
am talking about is the tendency of some to go so far as to deny that
certain things took place in the past if they do not jive with our
present view of what the religious world should look like. As I
have quipped more than once, "There are Holocaust deniers and there
are Orthodox deniers." <br><br>
YL<br><br>
RSRH quotes the Ramban <font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>“Our father
Avraham inadvertently committed<br>
a grave sin by placing his virtuous wife before a stumbling block<br>
of iniquity because of his fear of being killed . . . His leaving the
Land,<br>
about which he had been commanded, because of the famine was another<br>
sin he committed” — nevertheless, none of this<br>
would perplex us.<br><br>
The Torah does not seek to portray our great men<br>
as perfectly ideal figures; it deifies no man. It says of no one: “Here
you<br>
have the ideal; in this man the Divine assumes human form!” It does<br>
not set before us the life of any one person as the model from which<br>
we might learn what is good and right, what we must do and what we<br>
must refrain from doing. When the Torah wishes to put before us a<br>
model to emulate, it does not present a man, who is born of dust.<br>
Rather, God presents Himself as the model, saying: “Look upon Me!<br>
Emulate Me! Walk in My ways!” We are never to say: “This must be<br>
good and right, because so-and-so did it.” The Torah is not an
“anthology<br>
of good deeds.” It relates events not because they are necessarily<br>
worthy of emulation, but
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>because they took
place</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>.<br><br>
The Torah does not hide from us the faults, errors, and weaknesses<br>
of our great men, and this is precisely what gives its stories
credibility.<br>
The knowledge given us of their faults and weaknesses does not
detract<br>
from the stature of our great men; on the contrary, it adds to their<br>
stature and makes their life stories even more instructive. Had they<br>
been portrayed to us as shining models of perfection, flawless and<br>
unblemished, we would have assumed that they had been endowed<br>
with a higher nature, not given to us to attain. Had they been
portrayed<br>
free of passions and inner conflicts, their virtues would have
seemed<br>
to us as merely the consequence of their loftier nature, not
acquired<br>
by personal merit, and certainly no model we could ever hope to<br>
emulate.</font></body>
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