"Am I mean to understand this story literally," my chavrusa asked. He was referring to a comment in the Gemara which said that when Avraham went to fight the Four Kings he only took his servant Eliezer with him. God put Avraham on his right side and as Avraham tossed dirt it turned into arrows, when he tossed straw it turned into spears.
I responded to him that it is possible to take it allegorically. The word עפר, dirt, was used by Avraham himself in the Torah as an expression of humility. Perhaps the point the Gemara is making is to say that it was his humility that ensured his victory. However, I pointed out that the difficulty with that understanding is from the continuation of the Gemara, which certainly appeared to be taking the story quite literally.
The Gemara had gone on to tell of Nachum Ish GamZu who was famous for saying גם זו לטובה, this too is for the best. He was once sent by the Sages in Palestine to Rome in order to meet with the Caesar. He was sent with a chest full of jewels to offer the Caesar. He stopped one night at an inn and was asked what was in the chest, he answered truthfully. That night some of the locals came and stole the Jews and refilled the chest with dirt. Unknowingly, he continued on to Rome where he presented the chest to the Caesar. Upon opening the chest and discovering the dirt, the Caesar ordered that Nachum be executed. His response was "this, too, is for the best." Eliyahu HaNavi appeared in the guise of one of the king's guards and suggested that this dirt was the same dirt that Avraham Avinu had used. There were two provinces which the Caesar's armies had been having difficulty capturing. They brought the dirt there and sure enough it turned into arrows and spears and they were victorious. In reward the Caesar allowed Nachum to fill a chest from the king's treasury. On the way back to Palestine he stopped in the same inn. When the people heard what had occurred they filled up another chest from the same dirt and brought it to Rome, claiming to the Caesar that it would have the same effect as Nachum's dirt. It didn't and they were executed.
There are many questions that can be asked of this story. But for my present purposes the issue this raised for me is that it certainly seemed like the Gemara was taking what had happened with Avraham quite literally, and saying the miracle repeated itself. Was there any other way of understanding the story?
Rabbi Chaim ben Bezalel, the relatively unknown brother of the Maharal of Prague, offers the following approach. (Disclaimer here. I only saw this quoted second hand. This is possibly just my interpretation, or reinterpretation of what he said.) He understands, as I had suggested that the story with Avraham was allegorical; the dirt is a metaphor for his humility, and that his success was born of his humility. He then takes the beginning of the story with Nachum Ish Gam Zu literally. He suggests that when Nachum realized that the dirt was stolen, he said "This, too, is for the best," and then proceeded to try to figure out how to make the best of the situation. What message was God sending him with the jewels being stolen?
Jewels represent glory and majesty, as opposed to the humility represented by dirt. He decided that the message was that the Jews should not be approaching the Caesar by trying to impress him with how wealthy and powerful they were, but rather to use an approach of humility with the king. When he then heard that the king was having difficulty with capturing two provinces, he suggested to the king that rather than using the strong handed tactics he had been using to subdue them, perhaps a better approach would be one of humility in reaching out to them. The king changed his tactics, and was victorious.
There are a number of other points that I wish to extrapolate from this story, see my next post.
I responded to him that it is possible to take it allegorically. The word עפר, dirt, was used by Avraham himself in the Torah as an expression of humility. Perhaps the point the Gemara is making is to say that it was his humility that ensured his victory. However, I pointed out that the difficulty with that understanding is from the continuation of the Gemara, which certainly appeared to be taking the story quite literally.
There are many questions that can be asked of this story. But for my present purposes the issue this raised for me is that it certainly seemed like the Gemara was taking what had happened with Avraham quite literally, and saying the miracle repeated itself. Was there any other way of understanding the story?
Rabbi Chaim ben Bezalel, the relatively unknown brother of the Maharal of Prague, offers the following approach. (Disclaimer here. I only saw this quoted second hand. This is possibly just my interpretation, or reinterpretation of what he said.) He understands, as I had suggested that the story with Avraham was allegorical; the dirt is a metaphor for his humility, and that his success was born of his humility. He then takes the beginning of the story with Nachum Ish Gam Zu literally. He suggests that when Nachum realized that the dirt was stolen, he said "This, too, is for the best," and then proceeded to try to figure out how to make the best of the situation. What message was God sending him with the jewels being stolen?
Jewels represent glory and majesty, as opposed to the humility represented by dirt. He decided that the message was that the Jews should not be approaching the Caesar by trying to impress him with how wealthy and powerful they were, but rather to use an approach of humility with the king. When he then heard that the king was having difficulty with capturing two provinces, he suggested to the king that rather than using the strong handed tactics he had been using to subdue them, perhaps a better approach would be one of humility in reaching out to them. The king changed his tactics, and was victorious.
There are a number of other points that I wish to extrapolate from this story, see my next post.
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