PARSHAT LECH LECHA 5767

“LEGACY OF THE FOREFATHERS”

WHY DID HASHEM CHOOSE AVRAHAM?

At the end of Parshat Noach we read about the generations leading from Noach until the birth of Avraham Avinu. Our parsha then begins “Vayomer Hashem el Avram lech lecha me-artzecha umimoladetecha umibeit avicha el haaretz asher areka” “Hashem said to Avram: ‘go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you’” (Bereishit 12:11). Aside from his lineage, we are not told who Avraham was and why he was the one commanded to journey to Eretz Yisrael. We are not told why Hashem chose Avraham and not any of the other ten ancestors from Noach until Avraham such as Terach or Arpachshad. Perhaps Hashem could have chosen Shem or Ever, we know that they were prophets. Even if they had been chosen we would ask the same question for there is little written about them as well.

Why did Hashem choose Avraham as the father of the Jewish people? The fact that Avraham recognized his Creator at the age of three, broke his father’s idols at great risk, and was thrown into a furnace at Ur Casdim, we know only from our oral tradition, Chazal add that he spent ten years in prison. Later on in the parsha we do find a reference to the miracle at Ur Casdim: “I am Hashem Who brought you out of Ur Casdim (Bereishit 15:7), but this is only an allusion and the other incidents are not even alluded to. The Torah does not inform us of what Avraham did to make him deserving of being chosen by Hashem.

Perhaps the Torah is emphasizing that Hashem chose Avraham even before Avraham recognized his Creator or had done anything else to merit being chosen. Every morning we recite: “Ata Hu Hashem Elokim asher bacharta beAvram vehotzeito meUr Casdim” “You are Hashem the G-d, You selected Avram and brought him out of Ur Casdim” (Nehemiah 9:7). Hashem chose Avraham even before Avraham recognized the existence of Hashem. Only afterwards are we told: “umatzata et levavo ne-eman lefanecha” “You have found his heart faithful before You” (ibid. 8).

What do we mean when we say that Hashem chose Avraham even before Avraham chose Hashem? We mean that Avraham was endowed with a holy neshama and with the ability to stand up to the ten tests of faith he would endure. His being created with such a neshama made it easier for him to stand up to these tests because of the special neshama he had. The pasuk in Iyov states: “Who anticipated Me that I can reward him?” (Iyov 41:3). Chazal interpret the pasuk as follows: “Who praised Me before I gave him life, who performed Brit Milah on his child before I gave him the child, who placed a maakeh (railing) or a mezuzah on his house before I gave him the house?” (Vayikra Rabba 27:2). Did any of us ever perform a Mitzvah before Hashem provided us with what we needed? We do not learn Gemara or perform any Mitzvot before Hashem first gives us life and sustenance. Hashem does not owe anybody anything, it is we who owe Him. This is not the time to enter into a discussion of how there can be Free Choice if Hashem is aware of all future events. Much has been written on this subject and I would rather leave that subject for a different occasion.

HOLY SOULS

Hashem created holy neshamos – Avraham Avinu had a holy neshama, the neshamos of the Jewish people on a whole are on a higher level than those of others. We are Hashem’s nation because we believe in Him and observe Torah and mitzvoth, but we were also endowed with special neshamot to help us fulfill these obligations. This does not contradict the idea of bechira – choice. There were and still are reshaim among the Jewish people the likes of Yeravam ben Nevat and others who have no share in the World to Come, and there are also righteous people among the gentiles – chassidei umot haolam. The Jewish people are all endowed with holy neshamos making it easier to follow the path of the Torah, but the choice of whether to follow in the footsteps of tzaddikim such as Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, or to do otherwise remains ours.

Hashem brought the neshama of Avraham Avinu down to earth, but Avraham Avinu still had to make his own decision of whether or not to worship Hashem. He came to his own realization that he was not endowed with this special neshama in order to just sit around, but rather to serve his Creator. At the end of Parshat Vayechi we read of Yaakov’s blessing to his son Yissachar: “he saw tranquility that it was good and the land that it was pleasant, yet he bent his shoulder to bear and he became an indentured laborer” (Bereishit 49:15). True tranquility is serving Hashem. Avraham was given his great neshama in order to be able to serve his Creator. Although in his time, simple understanding and acknowledging the existence of a Creator was already a major step, Avraham knew that this alone was not enough – he had to get to work. He began by breaking his father’s avodah zara and then traveled from place to place teaching people about belief in Hashem. Wherever he went there was always a special place reserved for guests, as the pasuk states “vayita eshel b’Be-er Shava” “he planted an ‘eshel’ in Be-er Sheva” (Bereishit 21:33). Regarding the meaning of the word eshel Rashi cites the following from Chazal: “Rav and Shmuel interpret ‘eshel’ differently: One says it means an orchard from which to bring fruits for guests at the meal, and one says it means an inn for lodging and in it were all sorts of food” (see Sotah 10a). Avraham not only provided for his guests’ physical needs but by teaching them Torah he provided for their spiritual needs as well. He introduced the idea of chesed to the world by tending to their physical needs, but he performed even greater acts of chesed by teaching people about their Creator thereby bringing them life in the Next World.

AVRAHAM’S LEGACY

We know that one of Hashem’s attributes is chesed. Chazal tell us that as long as Avraham Avinu was alive he was so involved in acts of kindness that there was little work left for Hashem’s Atttribute of Chesed. Hashem was obviously still a G-d of chesed but most of it was carried out through Avraham Avinu. Following his death the Torah tells us: “all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Avraham his father, the Philistines stopped up and filled them with earth” (Bereishit 26:15). Why would the Philistines destroy the wells built by Avraham Avinu? Is it not good for the land to have many wells, especially Eretz Yisrael which is in need of water? They destroyed the wells because their hatred for Avraham Avinu was so great that they wished to eradicate any trace of him, even if what he had done was in their best interest.

They wished to destroy not only the physical wells but the spiritual wells as well – they wanted nothing to remain from Avraham Avinu’s influence in this world.

Yitzchak then recreated that which was destroyed: “Yitzchak dug anew the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Avraham their father and the Philistines had stopped up after Avraham’s death” (ibid. 18). Yitzchak Avinu continued the legacy of Avraham Avinu but in his own way which was not the same as his father’s.

THREE UNIQUE APPROACHES TO UNDERSTANDING HASHEM

We begin our Shmone Esrei with “Baruch Ata Hashem Elokenu v’Elokei avotenu Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, ve’Elokei Yaakov:” “Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d and the G-d of our forefathers, G-d of Avraham, G-d of Yitzchak, and G-d of Yaakov”. Why do we need to mention that Hashem is G-d of all three forefathers? Would it not have sufficed to say “Elokei Avraham” or at the very most “Elokei Avraham, Yitzchak, v’Yaakov”? Why do we make a separate mention of Hashem as the G-d of Avraham, the G-d of Yitzchak, and the G-d of Yaakov? The phrase “Elokei Avraham, Elokei Yitzchak, v’Elokei Yaakov” actually appears in the Torah (see Shmot 3:6), if so the question remains; why does the Torah describe Hashem as the G-d of each of the forefathers separately?

Each of the forefathers had his own unique understanding of Hashem and how to spread word of His existence. Avraham Avinu, as we mentioned, epitomized the Attribute of Chesed. We spoke last week about Noach’s chesed but Noach only had animals to do chesed with. Avraham introduced the idea of chesed with human beings. Yitzchak Avinu was certainly a man of chesed but the Attribute he focused on was the one of din – Judgment. Yaakov personified the trait of rachamim – mercy which lies between chesed and din. Each had his own unique way of knowing and teaching about Hashem, with one emphasizing chesed, one emphasizing din, and one emphasizing rachamim.

INCORPORATING MIDDAT HACHESED INTO MIDDAT HADIN

The Zohar asks why it was that Avraham was given the test of Akeidat Yitzchak, of sacrificing his own son. Hashem after all had no intention of having Yitzchak killed, as we see from the fact that he prevented Avraham Avinu from doing so. The Zohar explains that the purpose was to have middat hadin and middat hachesed work together and not independently of each other.

I am not quite sure I fully understand what this means, but to the best of my understanding the Zohar is telling us that Hashem wished to have Avraham’s middat hachesed intertwined with some middat hadin and Yitzchak’s middat hadin intertwined with some middat hachesed. Hashem commanded Avraham to do something which was totally contrary to his nature – to take someone’s life. Although Avraham fought a war against Amrafel and his cohorts and lives were lost then, the difference was that these people were reshaim, whereas here he was asked to take the life of his beloved son Yitzchak who had never sinned. It is a tremendous test for someone who lives a life of chesed, believes in and teaches about the chesed of Hashem, to be commanded to take the life of someone like Yitzchak.

From Yitzchak’s perspective this was also a big challenge. Yitzchak personified middat hadin and here he was being told how far the idea of giving goes – in this it meant having to give up his own life for the service of Hashem.

Avraham’s test was to see if he could incorporate din into his chesed while Yitzchak’s test was to incorporate chesed into din. Following the test Avraham continued to personify middat hachesed and Yitzchak continued to personify middat hadin, but now they each incorporated the other midda as well.

I have often wondered why there was no similar test involving Yaakov Avinu. Perhaps we can offer an explanation based on the Zohar we have just quoted. The purpose of the Akeida was for each of our forefathers to be left with a combination of din and chesed. We mentioned that Yaakov personified the middat harachamim which lies between chesed and din. Perhaps we can say that Yaakov Avinu was the fruits of this combination of din and chesed created by the Akeida.

The pasuk states “titen emet leYaakov” “grant truth to Yaakov” (Micha 7:20). We can only call something Truth if it is perceived that way from all perspectives – from the combination of chesed and din.

“NORAH” – AWESOME G-D VS. INSIGNIFICANCE OF MAN

We refer to Hashem in our Shmone Esrei as “haKel haGadol haGibor vehaNorah” – the great, mighty, and awesome G-d”. “HaGadol” refers to Avraham Avinu, haGibor to Yitzchak Avinu, while haNorah refers to Yaakov Avinu as he himself stated when he dreamt about the ladder ascending to heaven and he suddenly discovered that he had been lying on Har HaMoriah “ma norah hamakom hazeh ein zeh ki im Beit Elokim vezeh Shaar HaShamayim” “how awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of G-d and this is the gate of the heavens!” (Bereishit 28:17).

Why does norah, awesome, refer to Yaakov Avinu who personified Middat haRachamim, the Attribute of Mercy? I believe that when a person perceives only Hashem’s Middat haChesed then he will marvel over the fact that Hashem’s chesed is endless, he will realize how Hashem showers us with unlimited good and he will conclude that for this we must thank Him. When it comes to din, justice, however, he feels that he is more just than Hashem. The opposite is also true – when a person perceives only Hashem’s Middat haDin then he sees how just Hashem is, how those who should be punished are punished, while those who should not be are not harmed. Yet, when it comes to chesed he thinks that he is on a higher level. Middat haRachamim, however, is the combination of din and chesed. When a person feels Hashem’s Middat HaRachamim then there can be no area in which he feels that he is greater than Hashem. This is norah! The realization of how awesome Hashem is and how insignificant man is. Total negation of ourselves can only occur when we feel Hashem’s Middat haRachamim. Norah therefore corresponds to Yaakov Avinu who personified the Middat haRachamim.

Moshe Rabenu described Hashem using the expression “haKel haGadol haGibor vehaNora” “the Great, Mighty, and Awesome G-d” (Devarim 10:17). Chazal point out that Yirmiyahu then came along and limited this description to “haGadol vehaGibor” “the Great and the Mighty G-d (Yirmiyahu 32:18). What happened to haNorah? Chazal teach us that Yirmiyahu said: “strangers are flaunting themselves in His Sanctuary where are the displays of his awesomeness?” (Yoma 69b). It would not be appropriate to use the word norah under such circumstances. Later on we find Daniel and Nehemiah describing Hashem as “haGadol vehaNorah” “the Great and Awesome G-d” (Daniel 9:4 and Nehemiah 1:5). What happened to haGibor? They claimed “strangers are enslaving His children where are the displays of His power?” (Yoma 69b). It would be inappropriate to describe Him as mighty under such circumstances. Along came the Anshei Knesset HaGedola and announced: “on the contrary! This is His magnificent display of strength, for He restrains His will in that He shows a long-suffering countenance to the wicked, and these are indeed the great displays of His awesomeness because if not for the awe of the nations for the Holy One Blessed is He, how could one solitary nation survive among the seventy nations of the world?” (Ibid.). Therefore in our prayers we mention all three attributes.

We must try to see and feel the shleimut – perfection of Hashem. There is nothing as perfect. He is Great, Mighty, and Awesome physically as well as spiritually. He is the perfection of everything. We must try to emulate the ways of our forefathers, and we hope and pray that the zechut of doing so will bring us the ultimate redemption, as we say: “umeivi goel livnei bneihem leman Shmo beahava” “Who brings a Redeemer to their children’s children, for His Name’s sake, with love.” May the merit of our forefathers bring the Moshiach speedily in our day. Amen.