Noach
Genesis 6:9-11:32
Isaiah 66:1-24
A few years back, the BBC ran an article about creative first names used in the Philippines. In a country where there are remarkably few last names to go around, a unique forename is key to standing out in the crowd. The report mentioned examples of children legally identified as Candy, Popcorn, Bong Bong, three brothers called Jack and Joker and Ace, and one disturbingly named Hitler Manila (who states in interviews that he does not in any way subscribe to Nazi ideology).
Here in Western society, where we have a wider array of surnames, it is extremely rare to hear of anyone these days naming a child Osama or Adolf, and one doesn’t generally hear Richard Milhous either. All of which makes me wonder at the popularity that the name “Nimrod” has enjoyed in Israel. The name was quite trendy for a time, and yet Nimrod is a classic Torah villain.
He is portrayed in rabbinic literature as a power-hungry despot who forced the worship of idolatry, and tried to kill our patriarch Avraham by throwing him into a fiery furnace. The Talmud (Chullin 89A) suggests that Nimrod was the leader of the group that built the Tower of Babel in a quest for fame and regional dominance.
Yet in the biblical text Nimrod appears only briefly, in our Torah portion. In chapter 10 (verses 9-11) the Torah says that “Cush begot Nimrod. He was the first to be a mighty man on Earth. He was … a mighty hunter before HaShem.” Wait a second — that doesn’t sound so bad. Furthermore, what does it mean to be “a mighty hunter before HaShem?” Either he is a mighty hunter or he is not, but what does HaShem have to do with this description?
Ramban offers an approach that is based closely upon the text. The phrase “first to be a mighty man” means that Nimrod was the first person to impose himself as a king over other human beings. He was respected and feared for his hunting prowess, and leveraged that into a position of power over others. He took it “before HaShem” — this was the first time that man was seen as king in place of the Divine. The next verse adds: “The beginning of his kingdom was Babel.” The disparaging view of Nimrod becomes clear as we glimpse his dictatorial aspirations.
It then becomes all the more puzzling to discover (Targum Yonatan Bereshit 13-14) that his son is none other than Eliezer, the trusted servant of Abraham! How did such a mighty hunter and king have a son who is, of all things, a servant to the man that Nimrod tried to kill?
One could perhaps take another look at Nimrod, and see him in a very human and familiar light. Could his behavior and character be understood as that of a man who desperately fears being a nobody? Scared that he might not be worth anything, Nimrod goes out to make something of himself, to be known across the land. He gains fame and status as a fearsome hunter, then as a king, then as a tower- and empire-builder.
If so, then he’s not such a bad guy, just a real person struggling with the fear that he might not amount to anything in life. That terrifying thought drives him to greater and greater displays of his name, hurting many along the way. Yet born to him is a son, a sensitive young man named Eliezer. The son understands what the father does not — that the opposite of being a “nothing” isn’t fame, it is making an impact.
One can readily understand the draw of naming a child for a powerful figure. But is his dominance really an expression of personal strength? Nimrod is not a hero in Jewish tradition, but Eliezer is. Nimrod was concerned with making an impression; Eliezer was concerned with making a difference. Nimrod tried to be important over others, and his son tried to be important to others. And that is a level of prominence available to all of us, as any person can impact the life of another.
Rabbi Judah Dardik is the spiritual leader at Orthodox Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland. He can be reached at [email protected].