A Famine in the Land – What’s the Point? | Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Beit Midrash

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Parashat Hashavua

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A natural disaster in ancient times was, for many reasons, too heavy a burden to manage. Therefore, as Jews who believe in Divine Providence, whenever the Torah tells of something like a difficult famine, we should ask why it happened.

In some cases, the answer is quite clear. We can presume that the famine at the time of Yaakov and his sons, which caused the family to go down to Egypt, was a punishment for the sale of Yosef as a slave to Egypt.

The famine in the beginning of Megillat Rut was apparently the outcome of a national sin at that time. We have discussed in the past that under the leadership of Elimelech and his sons, Bnei Yisrael gave up hope of completing the acquisition of the Land and the establishment of a united Jewish state. Thus, they lost hope of liberation and encouraged intermarriage, which endangered the continued existence of Am Yisrael.

What was behind the famine at the beginning of Avraham’s attempt to establish his home in the Land of C’na’an? A few opinions in the midrash posit that it was in order to test Avraham’s belief in Hashem. The Radak (to Bereishit 12:10) points out how easy it could have been for Avraham to have questioned Hashem based on His promise – "The families of the Land will be blessed in you" (ibid. 3). Here, after all, as soon as Avraham came to the Land, its inhabitants started suffering tremendously!

Da’at Zekeinim MiBaalei HaTosafot takes a totally different approach. Hashem told Avraham: "You shall be a blessing" (ibid. 2). Da’at Zekeinim saw this as a commandment. Avraham’s task was to get people everywhere he went to recognize Hashem and bless Him. Indeed, the Torah tells us that Avraham did this, as it says: "He called out in the Name of Hashem" (ibid. 8). According to this approach, the famine was a punishment to the people of the Land who did not sufficiently adopt Avraham as their mentor, despite Hashem’s commandment.

We will take a new approach based on the direction of the Radak and midrashim, connecting it all to the divine command in the beginning of the parasha: "Leave your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house, and go to the land I will show you" (ibid. 1). Rashi (Bereishit 11:28) says that Avraham’s brother, Haran, died because of his father. Terach complained to Nimrod about the destruction of his idols, Avraham was defiant, and Haran "sat on the fence," waiting to see if Avraham would survive. When Avraham did, Haran supported him, but he was not deserving of a miracle to save him. When the crisis between Avraham and Nimrod boiled over, Hashem commanded Avraham to leave his father’s house and go to a new land, the Land of C’na’an, named for the fourth son of Cham, who was a relative of Nimrod.

The famine, which forced Avraham to Egypt, was a further test for Avraham. Nimrod was the firstborn of Cham’s firstborn, Kush. Nimrod, a heretic, was born and bred in Egypt, before moving to Mesopotamia and conquering many lands. Leaving Eretz C’na’an and going to the more pagan land of Egypt, made things more difficult for Avraham’s attempt to build a community of believers, but he succeeded anyway.

We pray that Hashem will not give us difficult tests. May we fully follow the path of our patriarch Avraham, the father of the believers.

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Parashat Hashavua