by Bruce Feiler
This perpetual stream of Abrahamic ideals has existed just under the surface of the world for as long as humans have told themselves stories. And every generation—at moments of joy and crisis—tapped into the same source. Each generation chose an Abraham for itself.
And we can, too. We can tap into the same underground stream and draw out a figure for our times. We can summon our own savior from the sands, and in so doing bring ourselves closer to God. We can, like Abraham, leave behind our native places—our comfortable, even doctrinaire traditions—and set out for an unknown location, whose dimensions may be known only to God but whose mandate is to be a place where God’s blessing is promised to all.
In short, we can create Abraham Number Two Hundred Forty-one.
And we must.
So what should our Abraham look like? For starters, he should look like us. He should be a creature of the modern world, informed by our number-crunching mentality—the number of people killed, the number of people under occupation, 1948, 1967, 56.6 K, 9-11. He should be a student of our time, knowing like a savvy, modern-day Zelig that a lot of other people bearing his name are running around the world wreaking havoc in his honor.
But most of all he should embody the timeless values he’s represented for four millennia. The Abraham I crave is God-fearing but also God-not-fearing. This Abraham is a wanderer, a man of the frontier, who’s prepared to leave the comfort of his family for the sake of the family he wants to create, and who admits that he can’t do this alone but needs a partnership with God in order to realize himself more fully. And this Abraham, having given his life over to God, is then prepared to challenge God, in order that God might more fully realize himself and renew his commitment to protect humankind.
The Abraham I long for would be a bridge between humanity and the divine, who demonstrates the example of what it means to be faithful but who also delivers to us God’s blessing on earth. And this Abraham conveys God’s grace through his children, through Ishmael, through Isaac, and who then has so much hallowedness left over that he doles some out to all the members of his household, and then to the children of his second wife. And this Abraham is perceptive enough to know that his children will not always embrace the fullness of God’s blessing, they will not endlessly dance “Kumbaya” around the campfire, they will fight, murder, fly planes into buildings, send bombs into schools, and generally try to squander God’s generosity.
But this Abraham believes—against all belief—that his children still crave God. They still need the comfort of some thing greater than themselves, still hold on to some gleam of humanity, still dream of a moment when they stand alongside one another and pray for their lost father and for the legacy of peace among the nations that was his initial mandate from heaven.
This Abraham is not Jew, Christian, or Muslim. He is not flawless; he’s not a saint. But he is himself, the best vessel we’ve got, the father of all.
This Abraham won’t be the only Abraham. He won’t be the last Abraham. But he is an Abraham for today.
I choose him.
Blessings
* * *
I WOULD LIKE to thank the dozens of people who appear by name in this book for taking time out of their lives to discuss these often sensitive topics with openness, honesty, and candor. Avner Goren helped design this journey and nursed many of its ideas to fruition. For help in the Middle East, I am also grateful to Asnat Cohen, Smadar Goren, Yossi Klein Halevi, Edith Sabbagh, Rabbi Barnea Selavan, and Jonathan Steinberg. In the United States, I received advice and guidance from the Reverend Thomas Breidenthal, Rabbi Abraham Cohen, Adela Collins, John Esposito, Robert Franklin, Melvin Meyer, Robin and Shimon Neustein, Sarah Bowen Savant, and Elsie Stern.
David Black is my friend, counselor, and professional partner. We are joined by the remarkable team of Leigh Ann Eliseo, Gary Morris, Susan Raihofer, Jason Sacher, and Joy Tutela.
Trish Grader committed deeply to this project and helped shape its intellectual and emotional course. Jane Friedman, Cathy Hemming, and Michael Morrison have been steadfast in their support and unwavering in their commitment. Lisa Gallagher and many talented people at HarperCollins/William Morrow have worked tirelessly on my behalf and given me the home I long craved. Debbie Stier and Sharyn Rosenblum, along with DeeDee DeBartlo, Tara Brown, and Claire Greenspan are dedicated and delightful professionals. Special thanks to Betty Lew, Sarah Durand, and Angela Tedesco.
Beth Middleworth is a marvel as a designer and a person.
For their indulgence and camaraderie, thanks to Ruth Reichl, Doc Willoughby, and especially Jane Lear, whose sensitivity and knowledge improved this manuscript tremendously.
Karen Lehrman graciously pushes me to higher standards. Ben Sherwood kindly allows me to travel alongside him on similar paths. For making our work as enjoyable as it is demanding, I am inspired by Karen Essex, David Shenk, and Joe Weisberg. Everlasting thanks also to Laura Benjamin, Susan Chumsky, Suzy Landa, Dana Sade, Lauren Schneider, Jeff Shumlin, Devon Spurgeon, Teresa Tritch, Jane von Mehren, and Bob Wunsch.
Only Linda Rottenberg will ever know the emotional, deeply learned, and profoundly personal wisdom she contributed to this experience. Thank you.
My family continues to indulge, support, and demand more of me—simultaneously. I travel on their shoulders and with their hearts in mine. Special tribute to my brother for personally keeping the red-pen business afloat.
For nearly twenty years I have been blessed with two friends of unrivaled intelligence and uncommon generosity. I met Jessica Korn and Max Stier in the same week, in the same place, exactly half my life ago, and nary a journey—and barely a week—has gone by since when I have not been ennobled by their humanity and goodwill. This book is dedicated to them.
Readings
* * *
ABRAHAM IS SURELY one of the most written about figures in history. I have tried to read widely in the vast literature compiled about him over the centuries. What follows is not a comprehensive bibliography, but a subjective, annotated list of sources I consulted, with special emphasis on ones I relied on most heavily.
First, a few notes. In keeping with long-standing academic custom and recent trends in popular writing, I have used the nonsectarian terms B.C.E. (Before the Common Era) and C.E. (Common Era) in lieu of the terms B.C. and A.D.
For the sake of consistency, all quotations from Genesis and the first five books of the Hebrew Bible come from The Torah: A Modern Commentary (New York, 1981), edited by W. Gunther Plaut. Quotations from the rest of the Hebrew Bible come from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures, the New JPS Translation (Philadelphia, 1985). Quotations from the New Testament come from The Holy Bible, the New Revised Standard Version, published by Oxford University Press (New York, 1989). Citations from the Koran come from the Penguin Books version, revised translation by N. J. Dawood (London, 1997).
The reference guides I consulted include the six-volume Anchor Bible Dictionary, as well as The Oxford Companion to the Bible, The Cambridge Companion to the Bible, and the Lutterworth Dictionary of the Bible.
ROCK OF ABRAHAM
I have drawn widely from several popular histories of Abraham, in particular Abraham by Karl-Josef Kuschel and Abraham on Trial by Carol Delaney. I was also aided by the anthologies Essays on the Patriarchal Narratives, edited by A. R. Millard and D. J. Wiseman; Abrahamic Faiths, edited by Paul Peachey, George McLean, and John Kromkowski; and Abraham and Family, edited by Herschel Shanks.
The Rock by Kanan Makiya is a magical novel that compiles many legends about the Haram al-Sharif. Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane and Myth and Reality are fascinating studies of the symbols of religion.
GOD OF ABRAHAM
Commentaries about Abraham’s early life are gathered in the splendid book The Bible as It Was by James Kugel and The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg. I continue to draw on the interpretative masterpieces God by Jack Miles and Genesis by Avivah Zornberg. I also enjoyed The First Father, Henry Hanoch Abramovitch’s psychol
ogical study of Abraham.
There are many helpful studies of Islam, including ones by Karen Armstrong, John Esposito, John Kaltner, and the incomparable Huston Smith, whose The World’s Religions is an indispensable guide.
CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM
The relationship between Isaac and Ishmael is explored masterfully in Texts of Terror by Phyllis Trible. I also consulted Women’s Bible Commentary, edited by Carol Newsom and Sharon Ringe.
There are any number of examinations of the binding and its relationship to the different religions, including The Akedah by Louis Berman and The Binding and Its Transformation in Judaism and Islam by Mishal Maswari Caspi and Sascha Benjamin Cohen. Shalom Spiegel’s pioneering study of the Jewish tradition that Abraham may have killed Isaac is The Last Trial. Reuven Firestone’s monumental work comparing Jewish and Islamic interpretive traditions is Journeys in Holy Lands.
For a close reading of the entire Abraham story and a singularly brilliant analysis of the relationship of Abraham to early Judaism and Christianity, I highly recommend Jon Levenson’s The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son.
PEOPLE OF ABRAHAM
Helpful examinations of early Judaism include A History of Israel by John Bright and Rebecca’s Children by Alan Segal. I have relied deeply on Philo’s Place in Judaism, Samuel Sandmel’s study of Abraham’s role in Jewish literature, as well as his extremely insightful survey A Jewish Understanding of the New Testament.
Abraham’s role in Christianity is discussed in depth in The Figure of Abraham in the Epistles of St. Paul by Roy Harrisville and Disinheriting the Jews by Jeffrey Siker. I have also benefited from studies of Paul made by E. P. Sanders, N. T. Wright, and C. K. Barrett.
Abraham’s role in Islam is discussed in The Seed of Abraham by Raphael Patai as well as The Hajj and Children of Abraham by F. E. Peters. I also referenced Peters’s three-volume Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Bernard Lewis has studied the relationship among the religions in many works; I have benefited tremendously from The Middle East, The Jews of Islam, and Semites and Anti-Semites.
BLOOD OF ABRAHAM
The relations among the religions in more recent decades have been explored by Karen Armstrong in The Battle for God and Samuel Huntington in The Clash of Civilizations. The interfaith movement is discussed in A Wider Faith by Marcus Braybrooke and One Earth Many Religions by Paul Knitter, as well as the benchmark study The Nature of Doctrine by George Lindbeck. Yossi Klein Halevi has written a delightful, personal account of worshiping among different faiths in Israel, At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden.
To continue the conversations begun with this project, more information is available and comments, inquiries, and observations are welcome at www.brucefeiler.com. That Abraham is still being discussed so widely today may be the best evidence of all that the promise of his blessing has enduring relevance—and the indomitable power to inspire.
About the Author
Bruce Feiler is the New York Times bestselling author of Walking the Bible, as well as four previous books of nonfiction. An award-winning author, journalist, and speaker, Feiler is a graduate of Yale and Cambridge Universities. He is a frequent contributor to NPR’s “All Things Considered”, a contributing editor for Gourmet, and has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, USA Today, Esquire, and Conde Nast Traveler. He lives in New York City.
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Books by Bruce Feiler
Under the Big Top A Season with the Circus
The Secrets of Happy Families "Improve Your Mornings, Tell Your Family History, Fight Smarter, Go Out and Play, and Much More"
Generation Freedom The Middle East Uprisings and the Remaking of the Modern World
The Council of Dads "A Story of Family, Friendship, and Learning How to Live"
America's Prophet How the Story of Moses Shaped America
Where God Was Born A Daring Adventure Through the Bible's Greatest Stories
Abraham A Journey to the Heart of Three Faiths
Walking the Bible A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses
Dreaming Out Loud "Garth Brooks, Wynonna Judd, Wade Hayes, and the Changing Face of Nashville"
Looking for Class Days and Nights at Oxford and Cambridge
Learning to Bow Inside the Heart of Japan
Walking the Bible A Photographic Journey
Credits
Designed by Cassandra J. Pappas
Jacket design by Beth Middleworth
Jacket photographs by Lee Harvey/Getty Images
Copyright
ABRAHAM. Copyright © 2002 by Bruce Feiler. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2002 ISBN: 9780061801839
Print edition first published in 2002 by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
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