Comentario citado sobre Génesis 24:4

OUT OF THY COUNTRY, AND FROM THY BIRTHPLACE. Rashi wrote,⁸In Verse 2 here. “But had he not already departed from there together with his father and reached as far as Haran?⁹Above, 11:31. But thus, in effect, did the Holy One, blessed be He, say to him, ‘Go still further away from thy father’s house.’”
And Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained the verse as follows: “And G-d had already said to Abram, ‘Get thee out of thy country,’ since this command came to him when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees, and there He commanded him to leave his country, his birthplace and his father’s house, in which he was.”
But this is not correct, for if so, it would follow that Abram was the central figure in the journey from his father’s house by command of G-d, while Terah his father voluntarily went with him. Yet Scripture says, And Terah took Abram his son,⁹Above, 11:31. which teaches us that Abram followed his father and that it was by his counsel that Abram went forth from Ur of the Chaldees to go to the land of Canaan! Furthermore, [according to Ibn Ezra, who says that the above command came to Abram when he was still in Ur of the Chaldees], the verse stating, And I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him throughout all the land of Canaan,¹⁰Joshua 24:3. should have stated, “And I took your father from Ur of the Chaldees and led him throughout all the land of Canaan,” for it was from there that he was taken, and it was there that he was given this command. In addition, the following difficulty may be put to Rashi and Ibn Ezra: when Abraham commanded Eliezer to get a wife for his son, he said to him, ‘But thou shalt go unto my country and to my birthplace,’¹¹Genesis 24:4. The word moladeti, generally translated “my kindred,” connotes, according to Ramban, both “my birthplace” and “my family.” This is made clear further on in the text. and he went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor.¹²Ibid., Verse 10. Aram-naharaim is Mesopotamia. See Ramban above, 11:28. If so, that is his “country” and his “birthplace!” And there, Scripture further says [when Eliezer recounts Abraham’s charge to him], But thou shalt go unto my father’s house and to my family,¹³Ibid., Verse 38. thus clearly indicating that there (in Mesopotamia) were his father’s house and his family which is “his kindred.” This is not as Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra erred in interpreting, “Unto my country,¹¹Genesis 24:4. The word moladeti, generally translated “my kindred,” connotes, according to Ramban, both “my birthplace” and “my family.” This is made clear further on in the text. Haran; and to my birthplace, Ur of the Chaldees.” Now since Ibn Ezra says here that in Ur of the Chaldees it was said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, Abraham would thus have many countries!¹⁴Ramban points out the following contradiction in Ibn Ezra’s interpretation: Here in our verse he says that the command was given to Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. Accordingly, Ur of the Chaldees is Abraham’s “country” for the verse says, from thy country. And further (Chapter 24, Verse 4) Ibn Ezra interprets my country as meaning “Haran,” which is Mesopotamia! Thus Ibn Ezra has “many countries” assigned to Abraham. But the essential principle you already know from what we have written in the preceding Seder,¹⁵Above, 11:28. namely, that Haran is Abraham’s country, and there is his birthplace, it having always been his father’s country, and there Abraham was commanded to leave them. In Bereshith Rabbah,¹⁶39:8. The Rabbis here interpret the double expression of the verse as signifying two departures which Abraham is to make: one from Mesopotamia generally, and one from his city in particular. the Rabbis similarly say “Lech lecha: one departure from Aram-naharaim, and one from Aram-nahor.”
The reason for mentioning out of thy country, and from thy birthplace, and from thy father’s house is that it is difficult for a person to leave the country wherein he dwells, where he has his friends and companions. This is true all the more if this be his native land, and all the more if his whole family is there. Hence it became necessary to say to Abraham that he leave all for the sake of his love of the Holy One, blessed be He.
UNTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW THEE. He wandered and went about from nation to nation, from kingdom to another people,¹⁷Psalms 105:13. until he came to the land of Canaan, where He said to him, Unto thy seed will I give this land.¹⁸Verse 7 here. Then the promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, was fulfilled, and Abraham tarried and settled there. The verse which states, And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan,¹⁹Verse 5. means that he was not heading for Canaan for the purpose of settling there since he did not as yet know that he had been commanded concerning this land. Rather, the righteous one²⁰Abraham. set his goal towards the land of Canaan for that was his intention as well as that of his father when they originally set forth from Ur of the Chaldees. This is the reason why Abraham later said, And it came to pass, when G-d caused me to wander from my father’s house:²¹Further, 20:13. he was indeed gone astray like a lost sheep.²²Psalms 119:176.
It is possible to say that Abraham knew from the first that the land of Canaan was “the inheritance of the Eternal,” destined that His special Providence be bestowed upon it, and he believed that the Divine promise, Unto the land that I will show thee, alluded to the land of Canaan either in its entirety or to one of all those lands [which together comprise Canaan]. He set his direction towards the land of Canaan generally for [he was certain that] there was the land which He would indeed show him.

FROM MY FATHER’s HOUSE, ‘UMEI’ERETZ MOLAD’TI’ (AND FROM THE LAND OF MY NATIVITY). Rashi comments: “From my father’s house — from Haran. And from the land of my nativity — from Ur of the Chaldees.” If this is so, the expression, Unto my country and to ‘molad’ti’ thou shalt go,⁸⁷Verse 4 here. must also refer to Ur of the Chaldees. But Heaven forbid that the sacred seed should mix with the sons of Ham,⁸⁸The Chaldees and the entire land of Shinar belonged to the sons of Ham. See Ramban, above, 11:28. the sinful one!⁸⁹Above, 9:22-24. Even if one would say that Abraham had some family there from the seed of Shem, the fact is however that the servant went to Haran as his master said! Now perhaps the Rabbi [Rashi] thinks that eretz molad’to⁸⁷Verse 4 here.(the land of his birth) was Ur of the Chaldees, but molad’ti⁸⁷Verse 4 here. means “my family,” and my country⁸⁷Verse 4 here. means the land wherein he lived. But all these are futile words since here, in the verse before us, he said, And thou shalt take a wife for my son from there, [and according to Rashi, who explained ume’eretz molad’ti, mentioned in this verse, as meaning Ur of the Chaldees, it would follow that Abraham commanded Eliezer to go there to get a wife from the children of Ham]! Moreover, Abraham stayed in the land of Canaan for a longer period than he did in Haran, and so why should Haran be called his country simply because he lived there for some time? Instead, the meaning of the expression, unto my country and to ‘molad’ti’,⁸⁷Verse 4 here. is “unto my country in which I was born,” [namely, Haran in Mesopotamia], for there he stayed and from there his ancestors came, as was already explained.⁹⁰See Ramban above, 11:28 and 12:1. In Bereshith Rabbah we find:⁹¹59:13. “From my father’s house — this is the house of his father. And from the land of my birth — this is the environs [of his father’s house].”
It is possible that unto my country and unto ‘molad’ti’ means “Unto my country and unto my family,” for he did not want a wife to be taken for Isaac even from the people of his country but only from his family. Similarly in the verse, And thou shalt take a wife for my son from there, [the word misham (from there)] alludes to the expression, from my father’s house, mentioned at the beginning of the verse. And so did the servant say when quoting Abraham, And thou shalt take a wife for my son of my family, and of my father’s house,⁹²Further, Verse 40. and again he said, quoting his master. Then shalt thou be clear from my oath when thou comest to my family.⁹³Ibid., Verse 41. These words were said by the servant to honor them so that they would listen to him.

Be that as it may, Moshe’s loneliness is not exactly the same as Ya’akov’s. Since Ya’akov had certain advantages in this regard, he is able to create bonds with his foreign wives that Moshe is not. One such advantage is that he is able to marry his cousins, even if he didn’t know them until he moved out of his home. Moreover, his exile was to a land that his grandfather Avraham could still refer to as “his land and his birthplace” (Bereshit 24:4; Bereshit 24: 7).⁷⁰Bereshit 24:4, 7. Granted, it is neither Ya’akov’s land nor his birthplace, but neither was it completely foreign. In contrast, when Moshe goes to Midian, it is to an altogether foreign place and foreign family. Yet even after taking all these differences into account, Moshe’s highly unusual relationship with his wife and children needs further analysis.