You'll fincrAbraham not in the soil of Ur iut
ANGELA HIMSEL
Special to the Jewish News
t the turn of the century, archaeol-
ogist Leonard Woolley spent 12
years excavating the city of Ur, located
in modern-day Iraq and presumed by
many to be the Ur referred to in the
Bible as Abraham's homeland.
The wealth and sophistication of the
objects from Ur on display through
May at the Detroit Institute of Arts beg
the'question: Why did Abraham, with-
out protest, leave a city of riches at the
crossroads of important trade routes for
an unknown country?
We meet Abraham in Genesis 11,
which opens with the story of the
Tower of Babel and ends with
Abraham's aenealogy. After a whole list
discover that Abraham
of "begots,"
is the seventh generation after Shem,
one of Noah's sons. Abraham is the son
of Terah. His wife, Sarai, is barren and
they are leaving Ur.
This genealogical information places
Abraham firmly within his tribe and his
people. A descendant of Shem, he is a
Semite. But he is also, from the
moment he sets foot on biblical terrain,
an exile.
This notion of Hebrews in exile is a
recurring motif throughout the Bible as
well as throughout Jewish history. In
fact, the word "Hebrew" itself might
contain echoes of an exiled people.
Scholars have speculated that the
word might derive from Habiru or
Apiru, a nomadic band of people who
lived do the fringe of society in the sec-
ond millennium B.C.E.
Another possibility is that "Hebrew"
is from the word "eber."
Eber, the great-grandson of Shem, is
also translated as the "other side of the
river," perhaps referring to the
Euphrates.
Both possibilities reinforce the idea of
being an outsider, as Abraham chose to
be when he left Ur for Canaan.
Abraham wasn't just leaving behind a
wealthy metropolis. He was also leaving
behind thousands of gods who ate and
drank, wore clothing, had sex, fought
and frolicked. These gods, according to
Mesopotamian myths, had created man
as servants to provide food, drink and
clothing for them.
What Abraham would discover, only
after leaving, was a God who created
the world for man — a God who
worked for man, clothed him and pro-
vided him with food.
The Mesopotamian gods were not
known for their ethical or consistent
behavior. They were capricious — you
never knew what they were up to,
which was why you needed to be ever
watchful for signs in nature.
Abraham would come to know and
understand the Divine not through
interpreting a sheep's gall bladder but
directly from God's mouth, via lan-
guage.
The Bible is a text, composed of lan-
guage, and it was from the Sumerians
that cuneiform, then Akkadian and
Hebrew, are derived. For Jews, language
is considered the way to understand
God.
According to Genesis, the world was
originally of one language but when
men began to build a city and a tower
that would reach up to heaven, God
decided to confound their language and
spread them across the earth.
amulets on her right arm. She wore a cuff of semiprecious
metals on the other arm and rings for every finger.
Elsie Holmes Peck, the DIJ6is curator of Near
Eastern art, incorporates quotations from ancient
myths and poems to augment many of these luxury
items, including a statement about eye makeup and
a Sumerian love song.
Cylinders And Vessels
In addition to its art, ancient Mesopotamia was the
cradle of writing and law. Cylinder seals were used
in administrative affairs, like notary stamps, for offi-
cial documentation.
More than 400 seals were found in the royal tombs,
engraved on both sides, usually with a banquet scene
on one side and a combat scene on the other.
A number of these ancient Near East cylinder
seals are part of the DI/Vs permanent collection.
Other objects in the permanent collection related to
the period include a neo-Sumerian statue of Gudea
of Lagash, one of the Sumerian city-states, and clay
tablets. Ceramics from the period are on long-term
loan from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Another important object in the exhibit is a gold
vessel in the form of an ostrich egg, hammered from
This tower, the Tower of Babel,
looms over Genesis 11 like an admoni-
tion. The beginning of the chapter
serves not only as a foreshadowing, but
even as a catalyst, for Abraham's depar-
ture from Ur at the end of the chapter.
Aside from excavating graves,
Woolley uncovered something else that
is not a part of the Ur exhibit. He
uncovered a huge ziggurat, a temple
seeming to reach up to the heavens and
dedicated to the Sumerian moon god,
Nanna.
That ziggurat, and others discovered
in the area, is certainly reminiscent of
the Tower of Babel.
What Abraham discovered was that
God could not be found by building a
temple to bridge heaven and earth.
Rather, one's words, one's prayers, could
reach Him.
Why did Abraham, who traded with
the pharaoh of Egypt and the king of
Jerusalem and who is described in
Genesis as a "prince among us," leave
Ur?
Historically; people emigrate because
of external forces, like war or poverty or
famine. If the Ur exhibit is reflective at
all of Abra.hards reality, Ur was more
than a decent place, materially, to live.
Perhaps he was not running away
from something external but toward
something internal, something not
revealed in the position of the stars. Or
maybe he left not because he needed
Israel, but because Israel needed people
like him who, as a Hebrew, an outsider,
would be willing to move on and make
his way in a strange land.
The midrash proposes that Abraham
was not only physically but also spiritu-
ally "on the other side" He stood not
a single sheet of gold with colorful geometric deco-
rations of semiprecious stones at the top and base.
In antiquity, the ostrich was venerated for its
swiftness and strength. Later, the egg became associ-
ated with regeneration and resurrection as it found
its way into Christian and Islamk art. The idea of
the egg and fertility remains today in the symbolism
of Easter and the Passover seder plate.
Tumblers, bowls and other vessels for eating and
drinking emphasize the importance of ritual in the
afterlife. Particularly outstanding is a tall, fluted
tumbler made of electrum, an alloy of gold and sil-
ver. Chased patterns of herringbone and double zig-
zags indicate craftsmanship of the highest order.
Because gold does not corrode, these objects have
retained their original beauty without blemish.
High above one of the drinking vessels is a panel
about how the ancients made beer.
Jewish history puts these amazing finds in per-
spective. David was King of Judah and Israel 1010-
970 B.C.E. Solomon built his Temple at Jerusalem
circa 950 B.C.E. That "Treasures from the Royal
Tombs of Ur" predate these venerable Jewish forefa-
thers by about 1,500 years places the exhibit on an
even more awesome note. 0
on the side of popular opinion but on
the side of morality and ethical behav-
ior.
Thus, when Abraham pleaded with
God to save Sodom and Gomorrah, he
was standing alone and questioning
God. "Will you also destroy the right-
eous with the wicked Shall not the
Judge of all the earth do right?"
Unlike the Sumerians, Abraham
expected ethical behavior from God,
and in return, God required a certain
level of righteousness from man.
The Ur exhibit is exciting in that it
very possibly reveals the land in which
Abraham was born and grew up. From
it, one might speculate why he left.
In the tombs that Woolley excavated,
not only were the deceased and all their
finery interred, but also their atten-
dants, who presumably committed sui-
cide in order to serve in the next life.
In contrast, Abraham is buried,
accordina to tradition, in the Cave of
Machpelah
b in Hebron. And in that
grave, unlike in Ur, no gold jewelry, no
musical instruments, no seals and no
grave companions have been found.
At the Ur exhibit, you will not find a
great statue depicting Abraham. But'to
look for physical evidence of Abraham's
existence is to miss the point alttsgether.
If you want to know Abrahain, you
won't find him by sifting through the
soil but the language., The legacy
Abraham left behind is contained with-
in text, within words, in ethical and
moral behavior. What he left behind is
the possibility of a real relationship, a
covenant, between man and God. 0
Angela Himsel is ' a New York-based
freelance writer
"Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur" will be
on exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb.
25-May 6. Tickets to the exhibition are $8
adults/ $5 children/free for DIA members.
Prices include an Acoustiguide audio tour and
museum admission. Museum hours are 11
a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays-Fridays, 11 a.m.-9
p.m. the first Friday of every month, and 11
a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. For exhibi-
tion information, call (313) 833-8499; for
group tours information, call (313) 833-7981.
A series of lectures, classes and workshops
accompany the exhibit. Most are free of charge.
First up is a 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 25, lecture,
titled "The Excavation of Treasures from the
Royal Tombs of Ur." It will be delivered by Dr.
Richard L. Zettler, associate professor of
anthropology in the Near Eastern section of the
University of Pennsylvania Museum, organizing
curator of the exhibit and co-editor of its
accompanying catalogue. For a complete list of
exhibition activities, call (313) 833-4249; or go
to our Web site at ww.detroitjewishnews.com .