Fulfilling one's potential

B"H

Bereshit (Genesis) Ch. 18:33 reads:
וילך ה' כאשר כלה לדבר אל אברהם ואברהם שב למקמו

Loosely translated;
And Hashem departed when he finished speaking to Avraham, and Avraham returned to his tent.

This takes place right after Hashem notifies Avraham of his intention to destroy Sodom which is followed by a passionate plea by Avraham to Hashem to reconsider. After Avraham managed to bargain Hashem down to sparing the city on the account of ten righteous individuals Avraham went back home.

One of the criticisms that's leveled against Avraham is that he didn't do enough! Contrast this with Moshe's statement after the sin of the golden calf. Hashem is ready to annihilate the Jewish nation (G-d forbid!) and offers to start all-over with Moshe himself. The Torah records in Shmot (Exodus) Ch. 32:32 Moshe's response:
ועתה אם תשא חטאתם ואם אין מחני נא מספרך אשר כתבת

Loosely translated:
And now forgive the nation! And should you not, erase me from this book that you've written (i.e, the Torah.)

We see that Moshe was willing to put his own life (and portion of the world to come) in order to save his fellow Jews. Avraham made no such gesture -- he simply returned to his tent. This is especially puzzling in light of the fact that Avraham is known of his pure Chessed (kindness.)

If we go back, we find a similar criticism leveled against Noach relative to Avraham (see Rashi on Bereshit (Genesis) 6:9): Noach built the ark for 120 years so everyone becomes aware of the impending doom. But he did not pro-actively attempt to make people repent to avert it.

So, ultimately, we have Noach, Avraham and Moshe in increasing order of willingness to doing for others to save them from destruction. Why the difference?

An explanation:
In the days of Noah, the concept of repentance evidently did not exist (save for Adam of Kain.) See the article Praying for Others' repentance for a detailed explanation. Since people were unable to repent, Noah did not take a proactive approach. He fulfilled the maximum potential with the act of publicly building an ark. Only after the deluge was the concept of repentance introduced into the main-stream.

So, in the time of Avraham, there was a possibility that there would be some individuals in Sodom that repented and become righteous. Avraham was after these individuals hoping that in their merit Sodom (as a whole) will be saved. However, in this point in time, there was no concept of mutual culpability and responsibility, as nothing bound one individual to another, save a family-tie. Hence, Avraham essentially could not take the same stance as Moshe did hundreds of years later. Avraham has no additional tools left in his toolbox, so he returned home. Effectively, Avraham also fulfilled the potential of his generation.


However, it wasn't until the time of Moshe, after Matan-Torah (and the getting of the Torah), that the Jewish people were formed into a nation. The concept of כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה (tran. all the Jews are culpable for one-another) came into being. Only after this point in time, could Moshe make such a claim: "erase me from your book -- I don't want this world and I don't want the next world if you're going to annihilate (G-d forbid) the Jewish nation." Moshe then also fulfilled the maximum potential of his generation (and beyond -- now that we have Torah.)

So, leveling criticism against Noah or Avraham because they did not meet the standard of the next level up is somewhat undue. They all maxed out their potential, within the spiritual limitations their respective generations were subjected to.

Another way to look at it:
In the time of Noah, he was able to be righteous, but his righteousness could not be extended beyond himself, to influence other and to prevent a disaster.
In the time of Avraham, he righteousness could be extended further by influencing other individual , to avert a catastrophe, but not at the price of מסירת נפש (=giving one's soul over.)
In the time of Moshe, due to mutual culpability within the Jewish nation, one could give himself over completely to save his fellow Jews.

We can take this one step further, though:
When Mashiach comes, speedily please G-d, we are told that the whole world will be a more peaceful, wholesome and pure place. In this new world the highest desire and delight will be to bask in Hashem's wisdom by engaging in Torah study. Spiritual pleasures are going to be heavily sought after. Since this will be done at the expense of one's physical pleasures, one will, essentially, give oneself and one's own physical desires over to Hashem (with true מסירת נפש). This will be so even without a pending disaster -- as a matter of course.