The Forefathers

Found 6 Search results

1. Calling Out in Hashem's Name

   Rabbi Yehuda Rock

   The forefathers all "call out in the name of God." This lesson analyzes the meaning and significance of this action.

2. Tanakh and Archaeology

   Part 3 - The Era of the Forefathers

   Rabbi Amnon Bazak

   The stories of the forefathers in and of themselves cannot be proved or disproved from an archaeological point of view. The main discussion in this regard therefore centers on the surrounding reality depicted in these narratives. The theme common to those who deny the reliability of the Torah's account of the era of the forefathers is that the Torah's description displays elements of anachronism, the projection of various phenomena dating from a later period to the period of the forefathers. Their claim is that these accounts in the Torah use facts and information which do not belong to the era that is described.

   Anachronistic claims regarding the domestication of camels, names of locations in the narratives and the appearance of ethnic groups are examined and refuted.

3. Tanakh and Archaeology

   Part 4 - The Era of the Forefathers (continued)

   Rabbi Amnon Bazak

   Many social and legal phenomena described in Sefer Bereishit conform to what we know today about the laws and practices of various peoples in the ancient Near East – even though the Torah, given at a later time, explicitly forbade some of these practices. The presentation of the forefathers as people who were active within a socio-legal framework that partly contravened the Torah, proves the familiarity of Sefer Bereishit with the world within which its characters functioned. It is also testimony to the authenticity and honesty of the biblical account, which makes no pretense of presenting the forefathers as operating in accordance with the laws of the Torah, which came later.

4. Ramban on Lekh Lekha: Fathers and Children - Maaseh Avot Siman LaBanim

   Rabbi Ezra Bick | 32 minutes

   In this week's shiur, we introduce and explore Ramban's interpretation of Chazal's comment that everything that happened in the stories of the Avot (forefathers), serve as a "siman" for the sons. What does "siman" mean? Ramban views this statement as saying that the actions of the forefathers affect future generations in a metaphysical way, such that future generations play out some aspect of the forefathers' actions and journeys, for better or for worse. But what about the Torah's concept that the "sins of the fathers shall not be visited on the sons"? Is there a real difference between punishments and "consequences"? 

5. What Mitzvot Did the Avot Keep?

   Rabbi Menachem Leibtag

   There are those who claim that the Avot kept the entire Torah - even the Oral Law and later Rabbinic prohibitions! Yet many students, when hearing this opinion, find it difficult to accept. In the following shiur, we discuss the pasuk that forms the source for this opinion; the debate among the commentators in regard to its interpretation; and an important lesson we can learn from this entire controversy.

6. Knowing the Name of God

   Rabbi Yehuda Rock

   The opening verse of our parasha is opaque and difficult to understand. The commentators have trouble with the factual assertion that "My Name Y-H-V-H I did not make known to them." A cursory review of Sefer Bereishit shows this not to be true: Avraham is told, "I am Y-H-V-H Who took you out of Ur Kasdim" (Bereishit 15:7), and Yaakov is told, "I am Y-H-V-H, the God of Avraham your father"

   Unquestionably, though, the simple meaning of the verse is that God did not reveal the Name Y-H-V-H to the forefathers. As noted above, this clearly contradicts the verses in Sefer Bereishit that tell us that God explicitly told the forefathers, "I am Y-H-V-H."

    This article will shed some light on the verse, both locally and in its broader context.