Pope Francis placed Abraham and his birthplace in the world’s headlines this week, with his pilgrimage to the city of Ur, calling on all faiths to reject violence. His visit reminds us of the significance of the important part the city plays in our lives as Jews.
Located on the south bank of the Euphrates, around 16 kilometres from the city of Nasiriyah in modern-day Iraq, Ur dates back around 6,000 years with the first written mention of the city around 4,000 years ago.
Now a world heritage site with vast excavations, one of the most iconic discoveries was the Ziggurat of Ur, a huge sandstone shrine to the moon god Nanna, once part of a much larger temple complex, testifying to a major bustling bronze age center and a city enmeshed in pagan cult and practices, including child sacrifice.
The Ziggurat of Ur
This sets the backdrop to the birth of Abraham, who grew up in the city around 4,000 years ago and then abruptly left, rejecting the city’s pagan culture, heeding God’s call to move westward to the Land of Israel, then known as Canaan.
Unlike Jerusalem, or the city of Hebron where Abraham is buried, Ur is not a site of pilgrimage for Jews, despite being Abraham's birthplace. Judaism places less emphasis on how we start our lives, and more focus on the journeys we take. The significance of Ur lies more in the fact that Abraham left the city and what that represents.
Amid the idolatry and the abuse of power by warlords in the city, the Talmud teaches that Abraham saw a world on fire. He saw injustice, immorality and a world that had sold its commitment to truth down the Euphrates.
The Talmud adds that Abraham looked around at the temples, idols, shrines and cults and asked, if the sun ruled, how could it be darkened every day? If the moon ruled, how could it be covered by the clouds which were governed by the winds? The world must have order, structure and design; it must have a designer, a Creator. Abraham dedicated his life to these values, bringing monotheism to the world. His ideological revolution took great courage and conviction, and even required going against his father, who sold idols, as evidence in the famous story of Abraham as a child smashing his father's idols.
The legacy of Ur is in Abraham's rejection of all it stood for, and the genesis of monotheism, the belief in an Infinite Being Who has no needs and creates mankind for our meaning and fulfillment in being partners with God in developing a moral world. Abraham took responsibility for the world around him, opening the four walls of his tent as he and his wife Sarah trailblazed a life of kindness and care for all mankind who are created in God's image.
While Abraham has never lost his relevance, the Pope has powerfully brought his name back to the headlines. Abraham's journey from Ur is recalled every day in our morning prayers precisely to remind us to continue his search for truth, commitment to humanity and to sanctifying God's name.
(10) Alan, March 14, 2021 5:38 PM
Hello friends
This confirms that Abraham was born of a Sumerian Indo-European family and after his immigration crossed the lands of the Semites with his group and assimilated and became a Semite.
Chaim, March 16, 2021 3:20 PM
Not Indo-European
The origin of the Sumerians is still a mystery, but it is clear that they weren't Indo-Europeans. Their language isn't related to any other.
(9) Binyamin, March 11, 2021 3:13 PM
Wisdom is to point the abyssal difference of perspective without any agressivity
ידידי אדם רוס נהג בחכמה כאשר בחר להבליט את ההבדל התהומי בין הגישה של האפיפיור וזו של היהדות, ומבלי לתקוף אותו. יהודים מאז ומתמיד עסוקים בבניין עולם של חסד ולא בקשר מיסטי ועקר עם מקומות ללא חשיבות אמיתית מן הבחינה הזאת
(8) Anonymous, March 11, 2021 2:47 AM
dates back around 6,000 years ?!!
Interesting article. Thanks. Just curious on the date provided when we are in the Year 5781...
Adam Ross, March 18, 2021 3:57 PM
Thank you for your question. The Torah's date for creation doesn't contradict scientific estimations of the world being billions of years old. The six days of creation can be taken literally as six 24 hour periods, yet this is by no means the only way of undertanding. It was only on the fourth day that the Torah itself states that the sun and moon and stars were created, therefore we do not need to be bound to understand the previous days as solar day in the usual sense. Accordingly, as Rashi states the Torah, which is ultimatelty a book of laws, does not begin with the first laws, but rather first with our family history, a testament to how the Land of Israel as a heritage was given to the Jewish People, which reqwuired the world's creation to be told form the beginning. I do acknowledge that some do take the Torah's age of the universe as literally, however I do not feel that finding 6,000 year old cities, or 10,000 year old relics, as I have also recently written about, negates the Torah's truth. As Rabbi Sacks put it best, science might tell us how, Judaism tells us why.
(7) Anonymous, March 11, 2021 2:26 AM
History of Mesopotamia and its scientific advancement in the Middle East, culture and moral practices. From what I learned in school, a person caught stealing got his hand cut off.
(6) Sabir Nakhuda, March 10, 2021 3:28 PM
All of his life,Abraham remained steadfast in the worship of God & he used various means to first show his father,& his people,that Idols which they worship has no power.
He even used the examples of the celestial bodies to prove that they are creations of God & not God.
In Islam,Abraham is called " friend of God."
(5) JAIME Ramirez, March 10, 2021 12:01 PM
STUDYING
In our Holy Bible studies is Abraham's life...and actually he is our mentor... Blessings... Jaime and Bibia
(4) Margarita, March 9, 2021 9:32 PM
not so keen on his visit, but especially speech. if he wants to acknowledge any connection with Abraham avinu, he has to admit on the heritage. that would be inclusive of the Jerusalem as a capital of Israel and significance of the Temple Mount.
(3) J. R. Keeley, March 9, 2021 4:40 PM
Nice article!
Thanks for a pleasant read!
(2) William C. Levenson, March 9, 2021 4:10 PM
Leave your father's house...
What incredible faith and courage Abram must have had to leave Ur and all he knew up to that point in his life. If only today's leftist Jews would emulate this act of faith and leave the idolatry of socialism, communism, and worship of the state.
(1) Moe, March 9, 2021 3:37 PM
where are the Jews?
I"m happy for the dwindling Christian communities in Iraq, be it through persecution or immigration that the Pope acknowledged there existence & that against the odds have remained true to their faith.
I'd happier still had the Pope or anybody else asked why there were no representatives of the oldest monotheistic religion & culture in Iraq for the Pope to meet. Ethnic cleansing seems to apply to some but not to others
Margarita, March 9, 2021 9:29 PM
spot on
thank you for pointing it out. my thoughts exactly
Dvirah, March 11, 2021 6:54 PM
No Tragedy Here
Most of them are where they should be - Israel! (cf. articles in Aish about this.)