Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred (Gen. 12:9). R. Berechiah opened the discussion with the verse: We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar (Song 8:8–9). To whom does Scripture refer in this verse? It refers to Abraham at the time when Nimrod ordered that he be hurled into the fiery furnace. He was little because the Holy One, blessed be He, had not yet performed any miracles in his behalf. By why was he called “sister” (ahot)? Because he united (iha) all mankind (into a single brotherhood) before God, just as one who tears a garment apart and then sews it together. Hence, he was called a sister.
And she hath no breasts indicates that as yet he had no children. What shall we do for our sister in the day that she shall be spoken for alludes to the day in which Nimrod ordered him hurled into the fiery furnace. If she be a wall we will build upon her a turret of silver implies that if Abraham would set his soul as firm as a wall to withstand Nimrod’s many attacks and to accept martyrdom in order to sanctify the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, we will build upon her a turret of silver for his defense. A turret of silver refers to the Israelites, whom He called: The wings of the dove … covered with silver (Ps. 68:14). And if she be a door (delet) implies that if he should waver (dal) in his willingness to undergo martyrdom, then we would enclose (nasur) him with boards of cedar. Just as a drawing (sura) on a board of cedar is speedily erased, so Abraham (would have been speedily eliminated, for) I would not have protected him.
Abraham declared: I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers thereof; then I was in His eyes as one that found peace (Song 8:10). I am a wall, in my willingness to accept martyrdom for the sanctification of Your Holy Name, but not I alone, for my breasts like the towers indicates that my descendants Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, and the generation of R. Hanina the son of Teradion and all his colleagues, will also accept martyrdom to sanctify Your name. And furthermore, it says: I was in His eyes as one who found peace, since Abraham departed in peace from the furnace. You find that the Holy One, blessed be He, told him: Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, because his father, Terah, constructed idols and worshipped them.