Young Abraham did. And his confusion led him to a profound realization about the nature of… well, everything.
Imagine being a kid, really seeing the world for the first time. Abraham, not yet the Abraham we know, was that kid. According to Tree of Souls, Howard Schwartz's wonderful collection of Jewish myths, the young Abraham, barely a boy, was searching. Searching for something worthy of his devotion.
He saw the sun. Blazing, powerful, life-giving. "Surely," he thought, "this must be God." So, he prayed to it, served it all day long. Makes sense, right? The sun dictates so much of our lives.
But then evening came. The sun dipped below the horizon, and darkness crept in. And Abraham, with the clear eyes of youth, realized something crucial: "Surely this cannot be God." Because if it were, how could it just… vanish? He wondered, who made the heavens and the earth?
That night, he looked up again. This time, he saw the stars. A million pinpricks of light in the inky black. And the moon! A silvery disc hanging in the void. "Aha!" he thought. "The moon must have created the world, and the stars are its servants!" And so, he served the moon, prayed to it all night long.
It’s a beautiful image, isn't it? This young boy, so earnestly seeking the divine in the celestial bodies. He's trying to make sense of it all, just like we do.
But what happens next? Well, that's a story for another time. But think about it: Abraham’s initial mistake wasn't foolish. It was human. He was using what he could see, what he could understand, to try and grasp something far bigger than himself. And in that process of searching, of questioning, he began his journey toward something truly profound. It reminds us that sometimes, the path to understanding begins with a little bit of cosmic confusion.