Monday, November 14, 2011

Haran in the Fiery Pit

If we take the meaning of the words "Vayamat Haran B'Ur Kasdim" to mean he died in a fiery pit, or a furnace, there is a story to explain why he was in the pit in the first place and why he died there.

Haran was the brother of Avraham and when Avraham is thrown in the furnace by Nimrod, Haran has the choice to either support Avraham or support Nimrod. He waits to see if Avraham will come out alive before he makes his choice. When Avraham comes out of the fiery furnace alive, Haran decids that Avraham's ally (HaShem) must be stronger than Nimrod. He therefore decides to support Avraham, knowing that he (Haran) will be thrown in the furnace as well, but he thinks that HaShem will save him too. Obviously, it doesn't go at all as he planned. He is thrown in the furnace, but he doesn't get out alive. He dies there. So that's how we can understand how Haran ended up dying in the "Ur Kasdim", if that's how we want to translate the words.
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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 14, 2011 at 11:02 AM

    I think this is one of those times when we see that we truly have free will. G-d truly lets us choose which way we want to go. He could have controlled Haran's decision and made him choose Avraham instead of Nimrod. Instead G-d let Haran choose and unfortunately suffer his consequences.

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  2. Alyssa WrubleNovember 14, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    I don't agree with Orly Alana Davis. Clearly G-d does give us free will, but I don't think that that is what is displayed in this story. With free will when we choose incorrectly we are punished. In this situation Haran chooses correctly and is still punished. What is being taught to us here is that we must be able to stand by our decisions and truly beleive in our choices. Haran chose Avraham because he was the winner, not because he truly believed in G-d.

    Also Mirel: on line 4, second paragraph, 5th word: *decidEs..(spelling mistake)

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  3. AnonymousNovember 14, 2011 at 11:19 AM

    I agree with Orly's statement above, however I would like to add another opinion. We know that Haran decided to follow Avraham, and this shows us something about human mindset. This world has become a very "dog eat dog" place. This causes people to follow those who they think are the strongest in order to survive. This is how B'nei Yisrael is so different from everyone else. We follow Hashem, no matter how weak He seems to the rest of the world.

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