Parshas Lech Lecha: The Extra Hoo

 As a child, one of the most exciting ideas to learn is that every person has a unique fingerprint. Even when we are young, our psyche ponders our place in the world, our role in the universe, and learning that our fingerprints are completely our own – even if one is an identical twin – is an affirmation to our uniqueness. Fingerprints are a physical expression of an important fact, that each one of us has a unique neshama.

 

The essence of human life is that we are a combination of goof and neshama, the physical and the spiritual, and this, perhaps, has significance when one reads Bereishis 13:1. “And Avram went up from Mitzrayim - he and his wife and all that was to him - and with Lot, to the Negev/South.” The grammar in this pasuk leaves much to question for its seeming redundancy. Avram went up – he and his wife. Why does the pasuk add the pronoun hoo/he, when it already states his action? Why are Avram and Lot named, but not Sarai?

 

Each one of these people had a journey that impacted them on every level. Avram came to Mitzrayim and became a man of great wealth and influence. There in what was considered the epitome of civilization in the ancient world, Avram gained material wealth and associated power. For most people, being so well treated and honored by Pharoah would be seen as the epitome of success. But Avram was able to look beyond the material gains of Mitzrayim and recognize that returning to Eretz Canaan was the truly upward path. Avram, when leaving Mitzrayim, took both his physical self and his spiritual self.

 

Hoo v'eeshto – He and his wife. Why isn’t Sarai named. Certainly, their journey to Mitzrayim impacted her more than anyone else. She was physically taken to Pharoah, held captive and unsolicitedly wooed. But for Sarai, there was no attraction to life in Mitzrayim. There was no risk of her losing track of who she was and what her purpose was. According to Bereishis Rabba, Avram put her in a box to protect her on their way into Mitzrayim, and while that may not have kept her from the soldiers’ notice, she went down to Mitzrayim spiritually protected. Thus when they went up she was the same partner she had always been; she was the match to Avram’s “hoo.”

 

Lot, on the other hand, left Mitzrayim with his name and his wealth. He didn’t change for the better not did he adhere to principles. Lot went with Avram when Avram went up because he had to, but he, his deeper essence, did not ascend. Lot just followed.

 

Parshas Lech Lecha is a parsha very much about being and journeying. Who we are and where we are matter, as does where we are heading. And all of that can be understood on the two distinct plains of existence. We may live in a place that is spiritually unhealthy, but we ourselves do not have to become spiritually unhealthy. It is easy to be like Lot and lose yourself to physical comfort and material enrichment. It is inspirational to look to Sarai and know that even in times of mortal danger one can maintain one’s spiritual dominance. But it is to Avram that klal Yisrael looks to demonstrate how we must emulate our ancestors. He accepted success but always remembered the importance of his relationship with Hashem. He did not shun wealth, but later, when he saw how wealth effected his nephew, he was able to prioritize proper conduct over material ease.

 

 This week’s parsha starts out with Lech Lecha, those famous words that can be translated as “Go for yourself.” Each of us is on a unique journey through this world. And each of us must strive to make certain that we are not just a name, not just the physical manifestation of ourselves, but that we bring with us our neshamos, that we go up as we go forward.

 Wishing you all a beautiful Shabbas.

 

Shadows of Avraham's Path

 This week’s parsha is Parshas Lech Lecha. The things that I will write are probably ideas that others are writing this week, ideas that are frequently tide to this parsha, and ideas that we all need to hear again to strengthen us in this time of unfathomable hate.

It is stated in tradition that everything that happened to our forefathers – to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov – is a map of what will happen to Bnei Yisrael over and over throughout history. In Parshas Lech Lecha, Hashem promised Avraham Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) and had him walk it to make himself familiar with the land that was promised to him for the future. This was the beginning of our people’s love for this land.

History is here. Avraham had to leave the land because of famine, but he came right back.

Avraham brought all of his resources to the Promised Land, and the land flourished. The Jewish people returned to the Promised Land in 1948 and took a wasteland and made it an agricultural and technological wonder.

Avraham’s nephew Lot benefitted from Avraham’s success but undermined that connection by letting his sheep eat in the wrong pastures. The text says that Avraham said to Lot that the land was not big enough for them to dwell together and tradition tells us that Lot stole by grazing his sheep on the property of others. Perhaps one could also wonder if by grazing his sheep on the land of others he wasn’t denuding the property, destroying its environment and productivity. Israel walked out of Gaza, for the sake of peace, and left behind economically successful settlements. The land was now denuded. The agricultural villages that were fully functional and now empty, were destroyed; their greenhouses laid waste.

One could say that Lot then made a bad choice as he moved to Sodom. Before Sodom reached its epitome of debasement and needed to be overturned, it was the center of a great war. This war is known as the war of the five kings and the four kings. Avraham heard his nephew was in trouble – kidnapped by the victors along with the conquered kings - and he went, without hesitation, to rescue him. He didn’t just rescue Lot. He rescued all of the kings as well and brought stability to the land. After the war, the king of Sodom offered Avraham all of the spoils of the war, and Avraham refused.

Any other military power who would have come to their aid would have demanded far more than the spoils of the immediate battle. Even then, however, Avraham knew that he had to refrain, that he had to show that he did this act of valour for its own sake. And this too is not so far from today. Jews spend a tremendous amount of time trying to convince the world of our motivations. Israel is constantly trying to convince an insidious media of a truth the media refuses to believe - that Bnai Yisrael just wants to dwell in our land in peace.

Parshas Lech Lecha ends in an interesting place, and I hope that we can all draw inspiration from it. Avraham - really then called Avram – reacts to Hashem once again promising the land by asking how that can be if he has no children. He calls out; he challenges. He feels the fear of expecting miracles from the impossible, from what seemed impossible. And Hashem answers him and transforms him.

We feel like we are in an impossible situation right now. We feel grateful for every positive word uttered, for every government that speaks out in support even as their populous buys in to delusion. Hashem was leading Avraham on a path, on a very specific path, and it seemed impossible to him at the time.

We are being flooded with information that makes it seem as if we have no control over our world right now. Everything has gone topsy turvey – and it has, because that feeling is true. We do not have control over the world; But Hashem does. And Hashem can do anything.

May we soon see an overturning of the craziness of the world. May their be peace and May Hashem send Moshiach soon.

You Are So Beautiful… To Me!

                The very first reference to personal beauty in the Torah is in Parshas Lech Lecha, and it has, perhaps, some interesting insights into a Torah healthy way of understanding placing importance on beauty. The first beautiful woman in the Torah is Sarai, and her beauty is one of the first things we learn about her other than her union with Avram and her family lineage. Sarai is not immediately described as beautiful, but rather, the fact of her beauty is a statement from her husband. “Behold, now I knew what a beautiful woman you are” (Bereishis 12:11).

                This verse is one that is frequently discussed. The commentaries use this pasuk to discuss Sarai’s great modesty or to offer a more detailed explanation of the true distinction of Sarai to the women of Egypt. Another Midrash suggests that Avram was noting that even after all of the difficult travels, she did not look haggard or distressed.  

Much of the commentary on this pasuk is based on the word “Na,” which is often translated as now. This is the source of the Midrash that this was the first time Avram looked closely at Sarai’s appearance – so modest were they. As fine as the message of modesty is, this commentary has raised many eyebrows, so to speak. They were married for years and never looked at each other? If we are meant to live our lives emulating the avos and eemahos, are we meant to teach our children that spouses should not really look at each other?

Perhaps this Midrash is telling us something far more subtle about relationships and communication. The word Na is often used to mean please, to create a gentle request, rather than as the word now. This changes the meaning, subtly – “Behold, please, I knew that you are a beautiful woman.” It is interesting to note that in the pasuk, the word knew is in the past tense, not the present (nor with the vav ha’hafuch that would make a past tense word present).

Avram is assuring his wife that he has always know she was beautiful. Now, however, he wants her to know that he finds her beautiful even as he is about to ask that she accept his obfuscation of their true relationship.  Avram’s opening words to his request are words of love and assurance, because, whether one likes it or not, the curse of Chava has left many, if not most, women with a need for words of reassurance from their spouse.

Or perhaps when the Midrash says that he had never looked at her fully, what it means – and what he is telling Sarai – is that throughout the time of their life together, he has always focused on her intelligence, her humor, her kindness… whichever of the many midos she excelled in. Avram knew Sarai as a complete person. She was beautiful to him for a thousand reasons, not just being comely. Now, however, that they are about to enter a world in which the physical is so valued, Avram reassures her that he has always found her beautiful as well.  

Three verses later, the Torah tells us that “When Avram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very beautiful the woman was” (12:14).  Avram was not just complimenting his wife. She was a truly beautiful woman. And the Egyptians were the type to make a great deal of her beauty, to overflow her with compliments. We know that Jewish tradition teaches that even a compliment can be a bribe…imagine how easy it is to lose oneself when put on a pedestal for something as superficial as one’s beauty. This would not happen while Sarai knew in her heart that Avram saw her as beautiful, that Avram who loved so many non-physical aspects of her being, also saw her as beautiful. His words were deeply fortifying.

Beauty in Parshas Lech Lecha, and in life, can be both a blessing and a curse.  To let the idealization of beauty be of too great an importance, to hear that one is beautiful too often from the world at large, and to be made much of for being beautiful by those who would take, can bring ruination. But knowing that those you love and trust see your beauty, can be stabilizing, can give strength. Knowing this, perhaps, the lesson that we learn is to share such words of assurance with the people about whom we most care.

Parshas Lech Lecha: The Influence of Atmosphere

What happened to Lot? What happened to the young man who seems to have been an enthusiastic member of his uncle’s caravan when they left Haran? What happened to he who was significant enough at that time to be listed among those who joined Avram? The question is not about his actual end, which we read about in next week’s parsha when he is led from Sodom by the angels and then drinks himself to a stupor in the mountains with his daughters. The question is about how Lot became, what some might say, a no-goodnick who makes the wrong decisions. For this question, it is apropos that most of his story is recorded in Parshas Lech Lecha, the parsha of journeying, for perhaps the record of his journey reveals the change in his standing.

 For some people, the impact of a journey is the travel. It is the action and the changing and the doing. For others, the impact of the journey is the places one goes and the people one meets. Two people can travel together and be on completely different journeys, and this was Avram and Lot.

 It is interesting to note that Lot began with wonderful intentions. The Beis Halevi (as quoted in Sefer Talelei Oros by Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rubin) explained why Bereishis 12:4 says that “Avram went…and Lot went with him,” but Bereishis 12:5 says “And Avram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot.” The Beis Halevi noted that when Lot initially asked to join Avram, Avram tried to discourage him.  “Only afterwards, when Abraham saw that Lot was firm in his resolve did he ‘take his nephew Lot with him.’ Only then did he welcome him into the inner circle of the Jewish people.”

 Lot’s location before the journey was with Avram in Haran. He could see the beauty of a life focused on something greater than himself and so he went with his uncle. It is telling, however, that the next time Lot is mentioned it is after Mitzrayim, after dwelling in the cosmopolitan capital of the world, the center of “culture” and wealth and all that goes with it.  Once again, the story of Lot reflects where he is coming from, which in this case was the court of Pharaoh.

 What happens to Lot next is rather famous – his flocks begin grazing on other people’s domains, Avram suggests that they separate, Lot heads to Sodom and becomes a man of influence who is captured and held for ransom during the war of the five kings and the four kings. This is Lot’s story, and it becomes obvious that after Mitzrayim, Lot’s journey is no longer aligned with Avram’s. His journey is no longer spiritually oriented, and this is, fascinatingly, reflected in a comparison of Bereishis 12:5, when they leave Haran, and Bereishis 13:1, when they leave Mitzrayim:

12:5 - Avram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the wealth that they had amassed, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran

13:1 - From Egypt, Avram went up into the Negev, with his wife and all that he possessed, together with Lot.

Note the variance between the two verses. When Avram and Lot left Haran, they were together (with Sarai), and the possessions were secondary. When they left Mitzrayim, Avram and Lot were separated by the possessions. This not only represents the division that grew between them, but Lot’s state of mind, his reluctance to leave.

 In studying Parshas Lech Lecha, we most often focus on Avram’s journey, because he is our forefather and Sefer Bereishis is a recording of the development of the Jewish people. But within Lech Lecha there are many other lessons for us to learn. “Go for yourself” - Go forward in your own personal journey of growth, make active choices. While you journey, however, be aware of where you go and with whom you spend time. It takes a person of spiritual greatness, like Avram and Sarai, to dwell in the palace of Pharaoh and come out unchanged, but we, Bnei Yisrael, carry-forth their spiritual inheritance, and we can persevere.  

 

 

 

 

Active Faith (Lech Lecha #3)

One interesting understandings of the name Yisrael is as He Who Wrestles with God. As the Torah clearly states, the Children of Israel are a stiff-necked people; we wrestle with God because basic, blind faith is not the foundation of our relationship with the Divine. The thirteen principles of faith, as enumerated by Maimonides, are referred to as Ani Ma’amin, which is usually translated as “I

believe.” But the grammar is a little awkward. On OU.org (from 2006), there is a definition of the term ma’amin that states that translating it as believe or one who believes is inaccurate because “the grammatical form is ‘hepheil,’ the ‘causative,’ rather than ‘pa’al,’ the ‘active,’ indicating a more pro-active verb. In other words, believing in something of a spiritual nature, requires an effort of the mind and the imagination of the individual, and is not merely a passive ‘act.’”

It may seem strange to speak of Yisrael, the name given to Yaakov after he wrestled with a Divine messenger, in a dvar Torah of Parshas Lech Lecha. Perhaps, however, it is the perfect spot, for does not any journey of achieving active belief begin with lech lecha – go for yourself. More than that, within the parsha and the journey of Avram, we see that even the greatest of believers has questions and seeks assurance.

In five separate instances in Parshas Lech Lecha, Hashem speaks to Avram and reassures him. The first appearance is the command of lech lecha, go for yourself. This was Hashem’s first direct communication with Avram. His second is shortly thereafter, when Avram and family arrive in Canaan and Hashem declares that “to your seed I will give this land” (12:7). These two promises are necessary since they are, in a way, explanatory of why Avram should make this journey and to confirm that this is the land he will inherit.

But when Avram finds his promised land suffering a dire famine, Hashem doesn't speak to him or offer a reassurance. Avram didn't need it. He was on a journey. There was no questioning from Avram because he was actively moving forward. He went to Egypt, and, for his hishtadlus (effort), he eventually saw the necessity of going to Egypt, to acquire wealth and to demonstrate Hashem’s direct protection of his family.

After such a dramatic journey to Egypt and back, it seems, then, particularly interesting that it is only after the departure of Lot that Hashem felt the need to repeat His promise. After Avram sends Lot away, Hashem immediately speaks to him of inheritance and ownership of the land, commanding him to “walk the land, to its length and to its breadth,” (13:17).

The first time Avram separates from Lot, Hashem knows Avram will benefit from reassurance. After all, Lot had been with him on his entire journey thus far. The second time they separate, after Avram intervenes in the war between the kings, rescues his nephew, and sends Lot away again, Avram steps forward to question his childlessness. “O Lord God, what will You give me since I am going childless, and the steward of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?...Behold, You have given me no seed, and behold, one of my household will inherit me” (15:3-4). Avram trusts Hashem, but he is willing to question Him. His question is a request for clarity, for seeing the path forward. For this, Hashem instructs him in the Bris Bein Ha’baturim, the Covenant of the Parts, and provides him with a prophetic testimony of the future.

It is interesting that Hashem does not feel a need to reiterate his promise to Avram for another 13 years. Perhaps because Avram was seeing how his wish for a son when it is fulfilled in Avram’s time frame is not the path set out by God. Avram’s oldest son is Ishmael, the son of Hagar. For 13 years, Avram must have struggled to understand how this child – willful, devious, and so oppositional to Avram’s journey – could be his heir. Avram must have wondered how Hashem could fulfill his promise of a child and made that child so not right for journey ahead. But Hashem needed Avram to see and to understand so that he could accept Hashem’s request and requirement of bris milah. His watching Ishmael prepared him for the physical covenant made through his body that was necessary for Yitzchak to be born, for the spiritual DNA to pass from parent to child. This too was the moment when he developed past his own wants to one who could fully understand that he needed to heed Hashem’s desires for him. This understanding was critical for the coming test of the Akeida.

Lech Lecha is a parsha of emuna. Most of us have grown up reading it in awe of Avram’s seemingly blind faith to leave his home and everything familiar. But it was never blind faith. It was always about being ma’amin, an active and engaged believer. And from here we can learn how it is through being a ma’amin that we develop a true relationship with Hashem.

This dvar Torah is dedicated to a refuah shelaima for: Binyamin Yisrael ben Chanita, Dovid Chaim ben Tzipora, Melech Chaim ben Bella, and Chaim Yehoshua ben Frumit.

Lessons from the War of Kings (Lech Lecha #2)

“Lot looked about him and saw how well watered was the whole plain of the Jordan, all of it…so Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan…” (Bereshis 13:10-11).

Lot should have used a realtor! If he had, perhaps he would have known that the beautiful patch of land that had caught his eye and beckoned him with unspoken promises of wealth to come was actually a hotbed of trouble.

There is no recording of how long it was after Lot moved to Sodom that the entire valley was enmeshed in war, only hinting, later, that it was long enough for him to be considered settled and for his identity and his connection to Avram to be known. Lot moved to Sodom in Bereishis 13, and all of perek 14 is a description of a regional conflagration that, until its conclusion, has nothing to do with Avram, Sarai, or the future of the Jewish people, which makes it almost odd that it was included in the Torah when so many smaller, more meaningful moments in Avram’s life were not.

If one was only to study Bereishis as a means of understanding the lives of our ancestors, then the text should simply have stated that King Chedorlaomer of Elam and his three closest cohorts defeated the rebellion of the five kings of the valley region of Sodom and, on their way home, looted Sodom and took Lot (and all of his possessions) captive. Only in the hostage-taking of Lot and Avram’s actions afterward appear relevant to understanding our forefather.

But the Torah, in between noting the defeat of “The Five” and the taking of Lot, includes six verses explaining the background of the conflict. King Chedorlaomer and his hosts made the valley kings into his vassals and, 13 years later, they rose up in rebellion. The war was actually the suppression of this rebellion, and the Torah includes the details of all the places that the armies with King Chedorlaomer conquered on their way to battle “The Five” in the Valley of Siddim. Then the Torah offers a taste of the character of the kings of Sodom and Amora, who, “in their flight, threw themselves into them [the bituim pits], while the rest escaped to the hill country” (14:10).

As interesting as this side-note of history may be, the question must be asked as to why it received so much detail, so many verses? What eternal lesson can we gain reading about the petty politics of the ancient residents of the land of Canaan?

One common answer is that the Torah records these details – the kings and the names of the cities that were conquered – in order to emphasize the incredible nature of Avram’s defeat of the looting victors. This was, as the Radak says, “due to God wanting Avram to acquire the reputation of being a mighty warrior, if need be. This is part of the way in which God fulfilled His promise to Avram 'I will make your name great.'”

Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch points out that this war had the potential to affect Avram in the same way as the famine when he first entered the land. No sooner had he returned from Egypt, where he had gone to avoid the famine, then he discovers that Canaan is a land coveted and fought over by kings of city-states big and small. The lesson to be learned from this – the lesson being shown to Avram and recorded for all of his posterity – was that the Promised Land was not a land of easy promise.

Rav Hirsch states: Left to itself the land of Israel lay open to famine and political dependence. Situated where Europe, Asia and Africa meet, hardly any world-war has occurred into which it has not been drawn. And just because of this was it chosen. If, in spite of this, a national life would blossom against which no conqueror would dare attack … if all the kingdoms of the world would clash together there and make war on each other, but no sword would dare enter this blooming and yet defenceless land, then the eternal fact would have been brought to the eyes of the nations [that] here God lives.

Obviously Rav Hirsch, who lived in the 19^th century, had enough knowledge of history to see how true this message was. And we who live in the 21^st  century, who have had the privilege of celebrating the State of Israel’s 71^st  anniversary, have been able to witness how our people have been blessed with the land flourishing once again and, with Divine providence and immense sacrifice, the enemies that have threatened its borders continuing to fail.

It is interesting to consider that perhaps the Torah includes so much detail about the history of this conflict to demonstrate that Avram, who was a shepherd and therefore travelled the land, would have known about it. Perhaps having accepted that his inheritance of the land was a promise for the future he did not feel that the war had anything to do with him. The capture of Lot, who maintained some of the spirituality he had acquired with Avram, was Hashem's indication to Avram and his descendants that never again could they be casual about world affairs. They were now to be central to history - sometimes in the foreground but often in the background – and no matter of world affairs could be assumed to be innocuous. Time after time, as the Jewish diaspora spread around the globe, the Jewish people have found themselves deeply affected by situations not of their making. And, time after time, like their forefather Avram, their fellow Jews have stood up to help their brothers in need.

Previous Lech Lecha Post: https://cthedawn.blogspot.com/2018/10/lech-lecha-avram-lot-and-challenges-of.html

Avram, Lot and the Challenges of Differences (Lech Lecha)

Have you ever thought about the relationship of Avram or Lot? It seems almost a tangent to the unfolding of the history of the Jewish nation. Certainly, Lot is important, as is pointed out by commentators after the destruction of Sodom - he was the forefather of Moab and thus one of the progenitors of King David. Prior to the destruction of Sodom, however, one might wonder about the importance of Lot. Reading the narrative of Genesis 13 one realizes that part of the necessary development of Avram was recognizing the character flaws of his nephews and dealing with the need to let him go.

First, of course, there is the obvious Dvar Torah material: Avram asks Lot to split from him because he disagrees with Lot allowing his shepherds to graze on the lands of the Canaanite and the Perizzites. There are many important lessons one can learn from this - particularly in the age of copyright infringement...but the perek has several less obvious but equally striking details.

Lot is introduced into this perek with “V’gam, And also to Lot, who went with Avram...” (13:5). All these things (going forth from his land, finding Canaan in a state of famine, going down to Egypt and all that occurred there) happened with Avram and Sarai, and also Lot went with them. The verse concludes, however, by stating that Lot now had sheep and cattle and tents. Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch points out that the final word, “and tents,” is written in complete form to infer that Lot had “ceased being a member of Abraham’s household, had his own independent circle in which he was master of the house.” This, according to Rabbi Hirsh’s comments on the next verse, is why the land could not support all of them - because they were two different households with two different life missions. Whereas Avram raised sheep and cattle for sustenance, Lot raised them for wealth.

When Avram approached Lot to resolve the situation, he said to him: “Let there be no strife, please, between me and you, between my shepherds and your shepherds, because we are ‘brothers.’ Is not the whole land before you? Separate, please from me. If you go left, I will go right; and if you go right, I will go left” (13:8-9).

While Avram literally asks Lot to go away from him, he does so in a way that implies a desire for a connection to remain. He does not refer to his relationship with Lot as “kirovim, relatives,” but rather as “achim, brothers.” This sets a tone of equality in their relationship, even though one assumes that since Lot is the nephew, he is younger and has basically spent his life following Avram. Indeed, v’gam Lot tells us that the material possessions to which Lot is so dedicated are his only because he was part of Avram’s party.

Avram recognizes that Lot and he have different philosophies about life and that Lot is not then interested in change. He knows it is best to send Lot away, but he also hopes that Lot will someday change his stripes and look at the world through a more spiritual lens. Rashi points out that his wording “If you go left, I will go right; and if you go right, I will go left” is Avram’s way of telling Lot “Wherever you settle down, I will not go far from you and I will stand by you as a shield and as a helper.” This idea reminded me of the advice stated in Talmud Sanhedrin 107b: “Let the left hand repulse but the right hand always invite back.”

Lot, of course, proves his materialistic drive by looking at the land around him with a whole new perspective (“Vyisah Lot et ainav...Lot raised his eyes and saw,” but he had already been dwelling in this place, implying that he saw it in a whole new way - in this case with an eye of possession or greed).

Lot departs, and suddenly God visits Avram and tells him to perform an act very similar to Lot, to lift up his eyes and look out over all of the land. God then reaffirms his promise of offspring to Avram. Why? Because Avram is human. He has emotions. He is sad that he has had to ask his nephew to separate from him. As much as he believes in God’s promise of lineage, he somewhat perceived Lot as his successor. Lot was the youth who dwelled among his tents. But Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the “well-watered plain of the Jordan Valley” - he saw wealth ready and there for the taking.  Avram, on the other hand, raised his eyes and saw potential, and God told him to “get up and walk the land” - to take action so that all that the land possessed, all of its spiritual wealth a well as its physical grandeur, could be his.