CHOOSING ABRAHAM’S FAMILY, THE 1ST PROTO-JEWS RELOCATING THEM TO CANAAN, THEIR PROPENSITY FOR ABSTRACT THOUGHT,HASHEM’S PLAN

 

 CHOOSING ABRAHAM’S FAMILY, THE 1^ST PROTO-JEWS

RELOCATING THEM TO CANAAN

 THEIR PROPENSITY FOR ABSTRACT THOUGHT

HASHEM’S PLAN

Hashem no doubt has a plan to make Himself known to the world at large.  In order to implement His plan, Hashem requires a select group of trailblazers who will transmit His Message.  Like it or not we Jews inherited this task, but how did it all begin?

Why did God choose Abraham’s family to be the founders of monotheism and of the Jewish nation?  What traits did this special family possess that singled them out to be the first leaders of the Jewish nation?

The answer to the first questions begins with the dawn of humanity, 100’s of thousands of years before Abraham and his family.  It has to do with the connection between the first human beings and abstract thought, putting two and two together.

The answer to the second question is a no-brainer.  Abraham’s family are not passive; they movers and shakers.  The Patriarchs and Matriarchs are not complacent individuals, in that they will not stand for the status quo and will make sacrifices in order to achieve their goal.  Moreover, They are innovators willing to break new ground.

This leads us to a more difficult question: Is there something in their DNA, their biological heritage and perhaps something in their cultural heritage that gives rise to the individuals chosen by Hashem to be our Fathers and Mothers,  אבות ואמהות ?

ABSTRACT THOUGHT IN THE FRST HUMAN BEINGS

Abstract thought is the basis of innovation and creativity.

Innovation, initiative and intelligence are keys to this endeavor.  It has been so throughout 50,000 years of modern human existence.  Abstract thought is a defining characteristic of human beings.  It is also the characteristic that defines Abraham’s family.

The ability to think outside our immediate cultural setting and surroundings, beyond basic needs like eating, sleeping and reproducing, is indicative of a higher degree of thought. Without this ability to consider the implications of an abstract idea we would not have developed intricate tool use, complex cultures and unique social behavior that define humanity to this day.

For the first modern human beings abstract thought meant putting two and two together as in if we attach a pointed stone to a stick, we get a weapon, a spear for hunting and protection. 

If we go back further in time, maybe 500,000 years, preparing food with fire is an activity unique to a predecessor of modern humans who were called Homo erectus humans.

The ability to form hypotheses using abstract thought and test them in physical form characterizes scientific thinking; abstract thought also goes hand in hand with the development of technical innovation, language, art and culture, in the progression of human behavior through time.

Abraham’s call to leave, in my view has something to do with an expression of abstract reasoning, a hallmark of our fellow coreligionists.  Signs of abstract reasoning as expressed in the Bible are the concept of monotheism and of the Sabbath:

Monotheism -, Abraham, somehow or other 4,000 years ago, put together that the world was governed by one deity, a supreme deity. This is the revolutionary concept.  What makes this leap in abstract thought even more amazing is that in contrast to how “gods” were perceived at that time, Abraham’s God was invisible and incorporeal.

Sabbath - About 500 years after Abraham, at Mt. Sinai, God commanded His people, recently freed from centuries of slavery, where they were worked like animals, to take one day off a week.  He called this day the Sabbath, an unheard of abstract concept then and to some extent even now.  The people hearing the command had to have the capacity to receive it, to get their “arms” around it; all of which requires abstract reasoning capability

SUMERIANS

Terach, Abraham and family started their journey from the city of Ur ( אור), their birthplace,  about 4,000 years ago.  Ur was a city-state and part of the ancient civilization of Sumer. Interesting enough אור or Ur means “light”.  Could it be that the inhabitants of Ur were “enlightened People”? 

Here is an archaeological rendering of the metropolis of Ur: 

Some facts about Sumer and the Sumerians that relate to Abraham and his family:

The Sumerian language has no demonstrable genetic relationship with other languages.  It did not descend from a common ancestor language.  Sumerian is unique.

At the time of Abraham, people in Sumer also spoke Akkadian, a Semitic language and they wrote in cuneiform.

Sumer may be derived from the Hebrew word “Shinar”, שִׁנְעָר.

The word Shinar begins with the letter Shin that has a dot on the right: שׁ and makes the Sh sound.

If that dot on the right is moved to the left, we get the Hebrew letter Sin שׂ, which makes an S sound.

The second letter of Shinar is a Nun, and it is often interchanged with the letter Mem, making the Mem sound.

Sumer is mentioned in the Book of Genesis at 11:1-2 when the descendants of the Flood come to Sumer and shortly thereafter in the text build the Tower of Babel.

 

וַיְהִי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, שָׂפָה אֶחָת, וּדְבָרִים, אֲחָדִים

וַיְהִי, בְּנָסְעָם מִקֶּדֶם; וַיִּמְצְאוּ בִקְעָה בְּאֶרֶץ שִׁנְעָר, וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׁם

“And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there”.

 

SUMERIANS AND ABSTRACT THOUGHT

The Sumerians were great innovators. Among other things, Way back, 5,000 years ago they are credited with creating time and writing.

Prior to the Sumerians, a day began with the sunrise and ended with the sunset. People went to work from when the sun was positioned at a certain height in the morning sky and returned to their homes when it set.

It was the Sumerians who divided the day from the night by time, by increments of sixty-second minutes and sixty-minute hours which made up twelve hours of night and the twelve hours of the day

Cuneiform writing is said to be also of Sumerian in origin. Egyptian hieroglyphs came into existence a little after Sumerian cuneiform script .  it is probable that the general idea of expressing words of a language in writing was brought to Egypt from the Sumerians.

Here is an example of cuneiform.

 

Other examples of Sumerian technology and the Sumerian legacy include: the wheel, arithmetic and geometry, irrigation, formal schools, mapping the stars, first known codified legal system, mail delivery, war chariots, and beer.

Since beer drinking is very personal to me😁, let’s expand on this subject: Beer brewing was very important to the Sumerians. It was referenced in an epic poem called the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest known pieces of literature in human history. 

In the poem one of the characters was introduced to beer and told: "Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land... He drank the beer-seven jugs! and became expansive and sang with joy!"

Clearly, when Hashem wanted to select a people to advance the concept of monotheism, the abstract thinking Sumerians made for a good choice.

 

 PROTO – JEWS LIVING IN CANAAN

 Remember that when they started out Abraham and his family are not Jews.  The phrase in Devarim 26:5 carries some weight:

אֹבֵד אָבִי  אֲרַמִּי, My Father was a wandering Aramean. 

 Actually we are not just talking about Jews or for that matter Hebrews or Israelites.  What we are talking about is a particular Aramean or maybe an Akkadian Sumerian family.  They are what I think to be a very special family, Proto-Jews, who show a propensity for abstract reasoning.

 From an anthropological point of view, God notwithstanding, it all has to do with Abraham and family’s propensity for abstract reasoning or abstract thought. 

 Monotheism 

 Abraham 4,000 years ago, living amongst the Arameans in Charran, put together that the world was governed by one deity, a supreme deity. Monotheism was a revolutionary concept.  What makes this leap in abstract thought even more amazing is that in contrast to how “gods” were perceived at that time, Abraham’s God was invisible and incorporeal.  In contrast this is how the Canaanites depicted their “El”.   For them, El was the supreme god, the father of mankind and all creatures. And he also fathered many gods.

 In Genesis 11:where the genealogy is laid out, Abram is described as a descendant of Eber, עֵבֶר‎ from which perhaps the designation Hebrew is derived.  This raises a question:  What character traits were exhibited by the Proto-Jews that distinguished them from the bulk of Sumerian society?

 As best as I can see, Sumerian society was lax when it came to sexual norms and conventions.  This is not a value judgment, but a fact.  Compared to the “Thou Shall Nots” set out in the Chumash, Sumerian society was fast and loose. 

 From what we know when it comes to sexual intimacy, patience and the ability to forgo is highly regarded. Witness what is considered positive behavior:

Jacob waiting 7 years before marrying Rachel.

Joseph not giving in to Potiphar’s wife’s demands.

 In contrast, consider these negative behaviors:

Lot being intimate with his daughters, Reuven's loss of standing when he cohabited with Billah, the punishment David and Bathsheba, 

 The analogy is not 100%, but points us in a certain direction.  And in regard to the standards of morality for the descendants of the Proto-Jews in Talmudic and modern times, the same high standard holds true.

 Historically Jews have been isolated, originally by geography, then by culture and religion.  All of which leads to inbreeding and a resultant preponderance of mutant gene expression.  It is not a wild speculation that throughout Jewish history, Jews married, if not a close relative, then within their tribes or villages or with a fellow Jew.   If there is a 4,000 year history of inbreeding, then there should be evidence of some sort of mutant gene expression.

 That having said, our ancestors married close relatives: Abraham married his niece Sarah; Isaac married his cousin Rebecca, as did Jacob marry his cousins Rachel and Leah.  Even Moses’ father Avram married Jochebed his aunt.

 It would appear that the Jewish population at large has a unique gene pool.  I am of the opinion that our proto-Jewish ancestors through inbreeding developed into a special population, ands aided by culture, developed into an extraordinary genetic population.

 This was all part of Hashem’s plan.

 

WHY WERE THE PROTO-JEWS DESTINED TO LIVE IN CANAAN?

I conjecture that as part of Hashem’s plan for us Jews, that we were destined to be called the “People of the Book”.

 Cuneiform writing was made up of 600 characters and does not lend itself to be bound in a book.  Cuneiform characters were inscribed in a soft clay tablet and then baked, the tablet becoming hard like a giving the tablet or a cylinder. 

 Schleping a 600 character tablet or cylinder does work, but using a 22 letter alphabet works even better. Such an alphabet and writing system existed in northern Canaan, and in my opinion was the major reason for Hashem sending us there.

 

In Summary:

 Abraham’s family 4,000 years ago was tasked with bringing the heretofore unknown concept of monotheism to the world at large.  They were Sumerians, a people known for incredible innovations such as the invention of writing, an example of abstract thinking where symbols represent words.  Abraham’s family were trail blazers. 

There are Jews today who carry on this legacy. They are the ones who have left their homes and have come to Israel, making Aliyah. For these individuals it is a mark of persons who think out of the box and is emblematic of Hashem’s plan.