In this week’s reading, it is Avram who is chosen as the primary vehicle for this mission.
Two things set Avram apart. First, before he comes to the land, he works with Sarah. Second, they make nephashot (animating souls) together. Avram works with another person – but not by their agreeing to abandon or destroy their individuality (as we saw in Bavel). And Avram and Sarah make souls; the animating souls that represent physical and spiritual potential in this world.
They dedicate themselves to giving others the opportunity to grow.
This is why Hashem’s promise is so appealing: “I will bless those who bless you and curse (arar) those who curse (klal) you and the families of the world will bless themselves in you.” To bless is to increase spiritual potential. Avram is to be an enabler of blessing – a route by which others can spiritually grow. And what of those who curse Avram – who try to limit his spiritual potential? They are arar. This also means cursed, but a very specific kind of curse – those who are arar serve as an example for others. Their curses also enable spiritual growth.
Avram’s road is not a simple one. Hashem does not make everything glorious for him. If he wanted the world to be perfect, he would have made it that way. Avram must deal with the real world and with real choices and challenges. He must demonstrate and establish his ability to grow when surrounded by imperfection.
So when famine drives Avram to Egypt, he decides to allow Sarai to be taken into Pharaoh’s house. Pharaoh acts like a son of elohim – a son of the powerful who might thus imagine himself to be divine. He is a man who takes his choice from among the daughters of man; and Sarai is such a choice. In this exchange, Egypt is cursed with great plagues. It is possible that the plagues do not occur for generations. It is later that the greatest of Pharaohs; a man who inherits his power from Joseph and a man who imagines himself to be a god, is crushed by Hashem. He is arar; he is made an example of.
In this case, Avraham’s choices are limited and he chooses as well as he can – ultimately, Hashem protects both him and Sarai.
Then, when a dispute arises among the shepherds of Avram and Lot, Avram sends Lot away. He does not want a quarrel to damage his connection to his nephew. Discord is a negative force in relationships and Avram sends Lot away to avoid poisoning their connection.
Soon after comes the wars of the kings. A distant king, Kedarlaomer, conquers local kings. They rebel and that distant king comes back. But before attacking the rebels, he attacks many other peoples. Notable among them is Amalek. Only after he wrecks tremendous ruin does S’dom come out to fight him. S’dom is defeated and Kedarlaomer takes Lot, a fatal mistake. It is then that Avram, a man who seems to live outside the domains of the powerful and their states, gets involved. With his 300 soldiers, he strikes the great king and defeats him.
While Avram shares a mission with Sarai, and they become the most influential couple in human history, he is driven to defend Lot against all odds. It is Lot who he seems to love.
So why is Avram afraid? After all, he has defeated Kedarlaomer.
Perhaps he is afraid because he killed when he was supposed to enable others? Perhaps it is contrary to his mission, and so perhaps he is afraid that he will lose his relationship to G-d and the tremendous power to enable others that it represents. But Avram lives in the world after the flood – murderers are no longer given a free pass.