Avraham Woke Up Early: a model of compassion

Jews have always responded to tragedy and triumph in similar ways, namely, understanding the events through a halachic prism. The recent war has resulted in the reproduction of halachic literature not seen in some time either condemning or praising the Israeli army’s careful consideration of the targets it picks in an effort to avoid civilian casualties sometimes at the cost of putting its soldiers—our brothers and sisters—in harms way.

I despise this literature. It is not good halachic analysis. For any serious halachic analysis you must first know the facts, without the facts any subsequent determination of halacha’s perspective is meaningless. There are clearly different circumstances. At some points the Israeli army makes the calculation that it is worthwhile in order to kill a terrorist to bomb a certain building even at the expense of murdering children and babies. At others, instead of bombing hospitals or school that we know are hiding terrorists and their supplies used to attack our people, our army decides not to engage in indiscriminate bombings but instead send our soldiers into harm’s way to minimize casualties. Blanked statements addressing these complex issues are simply a fool’s errand. Moreover, I am not sure how the sources used in the articles are at all relevant to the current situation. There are halachic descriptions of appropriate ways to engage in battle but how do we approach halachically terrorists who do not wear an army uniform and who hide behind babies and children? But it is even worse. Some of these arguments are written by Rabbanim whose students are soldiers are in the front lines. What purpose does it serve to issue opinion pieces that effectively encourage soldiers to disobey commands?

And so I will not partake in these discussions. Instead, today I want to focus on a much broader point. Today, I want to focus on the first Rashi in Chumush.

Rashi argues that the reason the Torah does not start with החודש הזה לכם, the first mitzva informing us that we are responsible with determining the months of the calendar year, and instead the Torah begins with Bereishit, is to teach us the importance of the values we can learn from the Avot and the formation of the Jewish people. Only after the values become a central component of our perspective can we hope to understand the halachic process introduced by החודש הזה לכם.

Arguably the defining quality of Avraham Avenu is revealed to us in this week’s parsha. When Noach is told that his generation will be wiped out, he does nothing, he does not beseech God for mercy on their behalf. Avraham on the other hand immediately starts bargaining with God to show mercy. Maybe just for the righteous, maybe for the wicked in merit of the righteous. But regardless he prayed.

However, I do not believe this prayer is the defining quality of Avraham Avenu. The defining quality is seen a few pseukim later. In the middle of the discussion of Lot’s escape there is one passuk about Avraham Avenu, וישכם אברהם בבוקר, Avraham woke up early and looked at the destruction of Sdom. The introductory phrase וישכם אברהם בבוקר is reserved for significant religious moments. Prior to Akeidat Yitzchak, we are told וישכם אברהם בבוקר. After God tells Avraham to listen to whatever Sara tells him regardless of his comfort level it again says וישכם אברהם בבוקר. Now, too, the passuk is informing us of a significant religious moment. וישכם אברהם בבוקר, Avraham woke up early looked at the utter destruction of Sdom and, I imagine, shed a tear. Avraham did not need to rely on the IDF that the cost of the collateral damage was worth the elimination of the evil, God himself told him that the destruction was warranted. And, yet, וישכם אברהם בבוקר, Avraham had a restless night and woke up early to see the destruction. In fact, he was so traumatized to the life lost that the next thing we are told Avraham does is moves away from Elon Moreh, presumably, so he does not need to view the destruction anymore.

Sometimes the decision the IDF must make is that we may need to sacrifice children and babies in an effort to eliminate a threat to our people. I am however certain that the commander who issues that call and the soldier who executes the order both suffer from וישכם אברהם בבוקר. They will never again sleep a restful night. Take the hospital as an example many of us can relate to. Terrorists attack us from within its walls and they store equipment there used to murder our families. BUT the patients there are just patients. They have no where else to go. No matter how much Israel begs international assistance to come take their patients, no one responds. The physicians there were warned to leave, Israel begged them to leave, but they are still there. We all know physicians. How many of them would abondan their patients even if it entails putting themselves in harm’s way?

We know how the slaughter of the few innocent civilians torments our people. We know that on college campuses and in the United Nations we will be condemned irrespective of how hard we try to protect those people, but that is not why we conduct ourselves in this matter. We do so because we follow the example set by Avraham Avenu. Even when completely and absolutely justified, even if God himself came down from Heaven and told us we must kill the Hamas terrorists even at the expense of children and babies, we still suffer from וישכם אברהם בבוקר.

And so, I herby offer us a challenge. Not an easy task at all. My 13 year old brother, who was in Israel at the start of the war and saw the raw emotional response of people who were firsthand witnesses to the utter destruction, at the start of this war asked me are all Arabs evil? I will not bore you with the detailed explanation that I gave him. With the differences between Arabs vs. Arab Muslims vs Arab Muslim Palestinians vs Arab Muslim Palestinians who support Hamas vs Arab Muslim Palestinians who are part of Hamas. But I issue us this one challenge: let us demonstrate the sensitivity of Avraham Avenu. We are not tasked with military strategy but we can chose our words carefully. I will gladly support anyone who yells from the rooftops that we must exterminate, destroy and annihilate every member of Hamas. But let us ensure we demonstrate the proper sympathy when in so doing children and babies must also get killed. Not just for our sake but for our children’s sake. Let us ensure that we always suffer from וישכם אברהם בבוקר.