The Story of Terach and Avraham

In class this week, we learned about Terach. He was the father of Avraham, Haran, and Nachor. They were all descendants of Shem, the son of Noach. When they are first mentioned in the Torah, their names are simply recorded in a genealogy list. This symbolizes that they were not chosen by G-d. We hear about them again a few pesukim later, but this time in an actual story. Radak's original question on this was, "Why does the Torah repeat the names if they are written in the pesukim before?" The answer is that the first time the names are mentioned, it is simply a genealogy list. The second time they are mentioned, it is to tell us the story of Terach's life: the death of Haran, his move to Charan, and his death. Rashi also has a question about this story. He questions why the passuk says that Haran "died on the hands of his father" and whether "Ur Kasdim" was Haran's birthplace or the fiery pit that he died in. He gives three answers for these two questions. The first answer is that the phrase "on the hands of his father" is simply referring to the fact that Haran died before his father. Since this answer does not address the second question at all, Rashi gives another answer. The second answer is that Terach indirectly caused his son's death because HE was the one who brought Avraham to Nimrod. He explains the story that we all know of Avraham in the fiery pit. To clarify his point, he says that Haran died "in his birthplace, in a fiery pit". Rashi finds fault with this answer because it does not answer the obvious question: if this story of the fiery pit is so important, why is it only implied in the text? Therefore, Rashi gives a third answer. He quotes מנחם בן סרוק in his interpretation of the word "אור". He says that "אור" means valley, and in the context, it means in the valley of כשדים. The death of Haran was an event that occurred in Terach's lifetime and it took place in the valley of כשדים. This answer satisfies Rashi because it explains what the passuk is referring to and it completely wipes the story of the fiery pit out of the equation.

Just to conclude, I would like to add that regardless of what the "true story" is, we need to understand that Avraham's childhood and family helped shape who he became. Regardless of whether the story of the fiery pit actually happened, Avraham's father worshipped idols. His brother died. Avraham was the first person to recognize Hashem as the one and only G-d. If he had not come from a world of idol-worshipers, why would his revelations about Hashem have been significant?