Avraham and George

The Torah introduces us to Avraham Avinu at the end of Parshat Noach. Rashi mentions the miracle of his survival from the fiery furnace of Ninrod as punishment for breaking down idols.

As a child, I always connected the story of young Avraham smashing his father’s idols, with the story of George Washington chopping down his father’s cherry tree.

Young George is praised for his famous declaration, “I cannot tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet.”He is praised for his honesty and was unique among politicians in that he always told the truth.

Avraham was different because he was showing the folly of idol worship. He put the stick in the hands of the big idol and claimed that it was this idol that smashed all of the little idols.

Avraham was praised because he may have only been three years old, and he was smart enough to go against what was considered normal at that time.

Both George and Avraham grew up to be great men. They already taught the world an important lesson at a young age. George taught honesty and integrity to the world. Avraham taught the world that there is only one true G-d. He showed the folly of idol worship.

There is a story involving the evil King Menashe, who was learned and yet, worshipped idols. His defense was that, “If you would have lived when I lived, you would have worshipped Avoda Zara as well.” He was not wrong.

When the Men of the Great Assembly was established after the destruction of the First Temple, they addressed this issue. They prayed that this illogical and inexplicable urge to worship a stone object, a false god, would be lessened. Their prayers were accepted and this ridiculous drive, was diminished.

Avraham and George were pretty special, each in their own way. But ultimately, Hashem needed to intervene to help strengthen their efforts. The Torah emphasized honesty and integrity. And Hashem was needed to weaken the Yeitzer Hara from inciting people to nonsense and insanity.