From the archives...

http://thoughtsonparsha.blogspot.com/2012/11/parshas-toldos-eisavs-fables.html

Parshas Vayeira - Lost in the System

Parshas Vayeira

Lost in the System

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה וְהָאֱלֹקים נִסָּה אֶת אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אַבְרָהָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּנִי: וַיֹּאמֶר קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ אֶת יְחִידְךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתָּ אֶת יִצְחָק וְלֶךְ לְךָ אֶל אֶרֶץ הַמֹּרִיָּה וְהַעֲלֵהוּ שָׁם לְעֹלָה עַל אַחַד הֶהָרִים אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלֶיךָ:

“And it happened after these words that G-d tested Avraham and He said to him, 'Avraham', and he said, 'Here I am.” And He said, 'Please take your son, your only one, whom you love – Yitzchak – go to the land of Moriah, and bring him up there as an offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you.”

-Vayeira 22:1-2

The mishna¹ mentions that there were ten tests that Avraham avinu was given. During this final test, Avraham was commanded to take his son, Yitzchak, and offer him as a karbon (sacrifice) to Hashem – what we now refer to as Akeidas Yitzchak. The Akeidah represents much more than an event in history, but rather plays an intricate role on our daily lives. When it comes to s'lichos and the yamim nora'im² the Akeidah is something we heavily depend on to be a zechus (merit) year after year for B'nei Yisroel as a whole. In fact, even the shofar we blow is to seek mercy by remembering the Akeidah when Avraham was willing to sacrifice his son but after Hashem told him to stop, Avraham sacrificed a ram in his place. Certainly, the Akeidah is a vital part of our tefillos (prayers). The amount of mesiras nefesh that the Akeidah demanded of Avraham is something that was so intense and fundamental, it entered into the bloodstream of the Jewish people as a nation as a precedent of giving one's life up for kiddush Hashem and to forever serve as a zechus for us. The amount of love that was realized between Hashem and Avraham at the Akeidah was enormous and the Torah³ itself testifies that only at this point was it clear that Avraham had reached the highest levels of yiras Hashem (fearing Hashem). This is mirrored by the amount of attention and detail the Torah gives to this episode.

The difficulty with all this is that the Akeidah was not the first time that Avraham had been willing to give up his life to serve Hashem. The first nisayon (test) that Avraham passed was when his father, Terach, brought him to Nimrod to inform him that Avraham was not willing to believe in avodah zarrah (idols). The Medrash⁴ relates that Avraham's stubborn refusal resulted in Nimrod throwing him into the furnace. Of course, as we know, Hashem performed a miracle and Avraham came out alive. This nisayon (test) sounds quite similar to the Akeidah – both requiring a life to be given up for kiddush Hashem. Yet, this nisayon is merely hinted to in the Torah, not spelled out explicitly at all let alone to the degree that the Akeidah is detailed. Furthermore, Avraham's being thrown into the fire does not play the strong role of the Akeidah in our davening as a zechus. The question is: why? As a matter of fact, there is room to argue that between the two nisyonos, Avraham's being thrown into the kivshan ha'aish (fiery furnace) was a more difficult challenge. After all, at that point in time Hashem had not yet appeared to him to congratulate him on recognizing the His existence. Avraham's recognition of Hashem was something that he had accomplished completely by himself, against the strong current of avodah zarrah in his time. Avraham's philosophies and beliefs were put fully to the test and he passed with flying colors. The existence and roles of Hashem as borei u'manhig (creator and controller of the world) were so clear and real to Avraham that he was fully willing to put his life where his mouth was with the understanding that it would be better to die than to serve avodah zarrah. There was no one on his side, no one to back him up, and Hashem had not come to encourage him and soothe him and tell him not to worry. Avraham was acting only on his own and was still willing to give up his life. In contrast, by the Akeidah, Hashem had not only already appeared to Avraham many times, making his belief easier in a sense, but this nisayon was a direct tzivui Hashem (commandment from Hashem). Hashem directly commanded him to take his son, Yitzchak, and sacrifice him on Har Hamoriah. There was no room for doubt and no justification to ignore the mitzvah. Between the two nisyonos, the Akeidah seems to be a much easier and simpler nisayon, on the surface. Of course giving up an only son's life is no easy thing even when being commanded directly from Hashem, but still, giving up his own life with no encouragement or assurance seems to be a harder test, in comparison. So how could we understand what it was about the Akeidah that made it so much more difficult that it be picked to be given more attention in the Torah and serve as a constant zechus for B'nei Yisroel?

Reb Eliyahu Lopian, in his sefer, Lev Eliyahu, answers in the following way. Granted, Avraham being thrown into the kivshan ha'aish was a tremendously difficult test. However, since Avraham was at the level of understanding with all his heart that worshiping avodah zarrah is disgusting, wrong, and comes at a higher price than to be thrown into a fire. Although this was something that Avraham believed on his own without any backing or confirmation, it was something which made so much sense to him intellectually that he was indeed ready to risk his life for it. He was extremely sure of himself and, as it turned out, he was right. As difficult as this was, it was something that really anyone could achieve – to believe in a cause to the point where one is willing to put his money, and even his life, where his mouth is.

When it came to the Akeidah, however, Avraham was faced with a slightly different challenge. Up until Akeidas Yitzchak, Avraham had spent his whole life traveling from city to city teaching the derech Hashem and the concept of doing things based on chesed (kindness), rachamim (mercy), and mishpat (justice); preaching the idea that it is not enough to stay away from bad, as the sheva mitzvos b'nei noach demand, but that one must go out of one's way to do good. According to Avraham's teachings, there was certainly no room for killing someone as a means of worshiping Hashem. Therefore, one could only imagine the initial thoughts that could have been going through Avraham's head when he was told to sacrifice Yitzchak. His whole life he worked hard in kiruv, bringing the world closer to Hashem, and now Hashem was 'ruining his whole life's work'. If all the people would see that their teacher, Avraham, who spent his life preaching to be kind and act properly with rachamim and chesed, was sacrificing his own son, they would have all been immediately turned off and go back to worshiping avodah zarrah.

Additionally, the Lev Eliyahu writes, after thinking the above through – the irony of spending a whole life of bringing people closer to Hashem, only to have Hashem 'get in the way and make things difficult to ruin everything' – a rationale to not listen comes to mind. Imagine the following: There was once a prestigious servant of a king whose job was to raise the children of the king's palace. He educated them, took care of all their needs, and ensured that they grew up with the proper manners of princes. One day, the king approached this servant and told him that he wanted to present him with a sword as a gift. However, the king added, he must take the sword and behead all of the princes or else the king would have the servant's head chopped off. In such a scenario, certainly the servant would respond, “I am prepared to die and not kill the princes who I raised my whole life.” In fact, most probably, the whole challenge of the king was a set-up to test the servant's devotion to the children of the palace and that was the exact response that the king was hoping for.

This is exactly what the satan was putting through Avraham's head. First, how could he listen to Hashem's commandment to kill Yitzchak? That would mean that his whole life's work would go down the drain! Second, perhaps the proper response Hashem wanted of him was to say, “No, I know not to listen to you because that would not be doing the right thing in this case”. Yet, Avraham conquered these thoughts and passed the test with the deep understanding that even the best s'varos (logic) are not enough to counter a direct tzivui Hashem.

Often times, we could get so involved in preaching something or doing something that we begin to concentrate so much on the aspects or arguments for the cause, and lose focus of the cause itself. Doing mitzvos are incredibly important. However, it is easy to run and do mitzvos and forget what the word itself means. They are mitzvos because Hashem told us to do them, and in the end of the day that is what gives each mitzva its inherit value. The mishna⁵ tells us, “Be as scrupulous in performing a minor mitzva as when performing a major one...” We sometimes imagine in our own minds a point system that this mitzva is probably worth more that that one. However, the truth is that each mitzva is its own commandment from Hashem and the willingness to ignore one mitzvva represents a much deeper problem of a person ready to ignore the word of Hashem.

This was the tremendous challenge of Akeidas Yitzchak which shadows the nisayon of the kivshan ha'aish in comparison. Granted by both Avraham proved that he was willing to give up his life for Hashem. However, it was only by the Akeidah that Avraham demonstrated such a pure belief in Hashem that he was willing to give up his life's work because he did not get lost in the system of preaching to others and doing the mitzvos. Rather, he kept his focus on his full belief in Hashem. This is why it was only by the Akeidah that Hashem afterwards declared, “Now I know that you are G-d fearing...” Avraham certainly had internalized the lesson of Shlomo HaMelech to the fullest, “sof davar ha'kol nishma es ha'Elokim yirah v'es mitzvosav sh'moir, ki zeh kol ha'adom” - “The end of the matter, everything having been heard, fear G-d and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man.”⁶

1Avos 5:4

2Days of Awe, referring to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

3Beraishis 22:12

4Beraishis Rabbah 38:13

5Avos 2:1

6Koheles 12:13
Photo Credit: http://www.tvdsb.ca/webpages/cmacintosh/science.cfm?subpage=154808 and www.oscodacountymi.com/Maintenance.htm

Parshas Lech Lecha - Mind Your Surroundings

Parshas Lech Lecha

Mind Your Surroundings

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ-לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶלהָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ: וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ וֶהְיֵה בְּרָכָה

“Hashem said to Avram, 'Go for yourself from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation; I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.'”

-Lech Lecha 12:1-2

The mishna¹ mentions that there were ten tests that Avraham avinu was given and he passed all of them, demonstrating the incredible amount of love Avraham must have had for Hashem. One of these ten tests is the opening passuk (verse) of this week's parsha.² Hashem commanded Avraham to leave his birthplace and his father's house and to keep traveling until Hashem would tell him that he had reached his destination. Imagine getting into your car and start traveling to an unknown place with no idea where you were going, and no clue how long it would take to get there. Certainly only someone with absolute trust and love would be willing to blindly follow such instructions.

The passuk³ tells us that upon commanding Avraham to leave his house, Hashem promised that He would bless Avraham and make him into a great nation. Rashi⁴ writes that this is what Hashem was hinting to in the words “lech lecha” - literally “go for yourself”. Hashem conditioned Avraham's having children and ultimately becoming a great nation as well as becoming famous in the world on his listening to the tzivui (direct commandment) to leave his land and be prepared to journey to the mysterious land which Hashem promised to later show him. It was therefore for Avraham's benefit and pleasure that he leave his land in order to merit these blessings.

Although this Rashi seems pretty simple on the surface, it becomes problematic when one reads the next Rashi. The next Rashi⁵ comments that the reason that Hashem needed to promise these three things specifically was because of the following. When one travels, there are three things which consequentially diminish. When one is on the road there is less opportunity for reproduction, money gets spent faster, and it is almost impossible to maintain a good name because one is never settled in a single place long enough. Therefore, Hashem promised Avraham that if he obeys the commandment to leave, Hashem will guarantee that he will still merit children and become a father of a nation, become extremely wealthy, and maintain his good name.

These Rashi's seem to contradict each other. The first Rashi explains that the berachos were conditioned on Avraham's leaving, yet the second Rashi implies that these berachos were only necessary to persuade Avraham that despite the fact he was traveling he would receive these things. However, we all know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So why not the following simple solution: Let Avraham stay home and not diminish his possibility of having children, his money, and his name, and there would be no reason to have to promise the things that he would be missing by traveling away from home?

Perhaps we could suggest the following. Certainly, Avraham avinu could have not traveled and still have been able to have children, and granted he could have become wealthy and achieved a great name. However, the quality of these things would have a ceiling based on the affect of staying in his father's house. In commanding Avraham to leave his birthplace and home, Hashem was telling him that he must go for himself, for his own benefit and pleasure in order to be able to achieve the superior quality of these things. Somehow staying in the house of Terach or even in the vicinity of his birthplace would have a limiting affect on Avraham's potential.

The problem with this answer, though, is that Avraham already proved to the world that the fact that he grew up in the house of avodah zarrah was something he had an immunity to. The medrash⁶ describes that Terach used to run an idol shop. One day, Terach had to leave town and Avraham took over running the business for the day. While on the job, a man entered the shop to purchase an idol. Avraham asked him, “How old are you?” The man replied, “Sixty years old”. Avraham then said to him, “You mean to tell me that you are sixty and yet you wish to purchase an idol to worship that was made a day ago?” The man, embarrassed, left the store without buying anything. Later that day a woman came with flour and wanted to buy an avodah zarrah to feed and worship. Avraham took a stick and started smashing all the idols in the store. Then, he placed the stick next to the largest idol. When his father came home he asked Avraham what in the world had happened. Avraham told him that the idols had started fighting with each other and finally the biggest idol came and smashed all the other ones. This event ultimately led to him brought before Nimrod and being thrown into the furnace in front of the entire community in order to demonstrate what happens to someone who does not believe in the avodah zarrah, however as we know, Avraham came out alive and a tremendous kiddush Hashem was made.

Clearly Avraham avinu was someone who was not affected by those around him. He made his own decisions, came to his own realizations, and was not willing to believe in things which made no sense to him, even if those alternatives would have allowed him to live a care-free life with no restrictions. He did not care what his family thought of him, he did not care what his community thought of him, and he did not care about what Nimrod thought of him. If so, why was it necessary for him to move out of his birthplace? Everything he was to gain he could have just not lost by staying put and additionally, he seemed to be immune to his environment so what was there to lose by staying?

Later in the parsha, during the Bris Bein Ha'besarim between Avraham and Hashem, Hashem promised Avraham that he will give Eretz Yisroel to his children. When describing the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel, Hashem says, “To your descendents I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River....”⁷ Rashi⁸ writes that despite the fact that when the Torah mentions the four rivers which came out of Gan Eden, the Euphrates was mentioned last,⁹ still the Torah refers to it here as the “great river” simply because it was close to Eretz Yisroel. Rashi continues to say that the slave of a king is a king and one who stays close to a ruler will be bowed down to. In other words, the types of things we associate ourselves with and the types of people we are close with not only has a profound affect on the way we are perceived by others, but even has an affect on how we begin to feel about ourselves. The river mentioned last of the ones going out of Gan Eden, becomes a “great river” merely by being adjacent to Eretz Yisroel.

Similarly, Rashi tells us that one of the Pharaoh’s had seen all the miracles that Hashem had done for Sarah and the house of Avraham. He therefore declared, “Better my daughter be a slave in Sarah's house than a main wife in another household”, and he gave his daughter, Haggar as a maidservant for Sarah. Even Pharaoh realized that people are affected by who they spend their time with. There is no comparison between a maidservant in the house of Avraham and being a main wife in a different house. Avraham's household was one of pure royalty, worshiping only Hashem and meriting miracles, and those who were around him benefited greatly.

Perhaps with this we could better understand the reason why Avraham had to leave his father's house. When it came to telling Avraham to leave his land, granted he could have had the berachos to some degree by staying where he was, but indeed it would have been of lesser quality. Even Avraham, who was a master of fighting avodah zarrah and seemed to be immune to the people around him, would have still been lacking because of who he would be hanging around with. In order to achieve the highest quality of the berachos he had to separate himself and leave the bad environment behind him. Certainly this was a difficult task for Avraham to be willing to leave his land where he had done so much and proven to be immune to the ideologies of those around him, yet he was still willing to pick up and move in order to reach higher and achieve the berachos with a superior quality that could only be achieved by completely disassociating himself with those around him.

If this is true of Avraham, it is surely true of us as well. May Hashem help us choose the paths we take carefully so that we do not find ourselves associating with those who will lessen the quality of who we are able to be.

1Avos 5:4

2There is a machlokes (dispute) how to count the ten test. Some Rishonim learn that Avraham being thrown into the fire, though not explicitly in the Torah, was the first test. Others learn that this nisayon (test) of “lech lecha” to move away from his family was the first test.

3Beraishis 12:2

4Rashi Beraishis 12:1

5Rashi Beraishis 12:2

6Beraishis Rabbah 38:13

7Beraishis 15:18

8Ibid.

9See Beraishis 2:14

Parshas Noach - Build Your Ark

Parshas Noach

Photo Credit: mynews.mumbleabout.com

Build Your Ark

By: Daniel Listhaus

וַתִּשָּׁחֵת הָאָרֶץ לִפְנֵי הָאֱלֹקים וַתִּמָּלֵא הָאָרֶץ חָמָס: וַיַּרְא אֱלֹקים אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְהִנֵּה נִשְׁחָתָה כִּי הִשְׁחִית כָּל בָּשָׂר אֶת דַּרְכּוֹ עַל הָאָרֶץ

“And the earth had become corrupt before Hashem; and the earth had become filled with robbery. And Hashem saw the earth and behold it was corrupted, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth.”

-Noach 6:11-12

During the sheishes y'mei haberaishis (six days of creation), everything created was designed with the purpose of serving man.¹ Finally, man was created with the single purpose of serving Hashem. Hence, everything was really created with the purpose of serving Hashem in some way. We, as the only beings comprised of the balance between a neshama (soul) and guf (body)² are the only beings with the capacity of using mundane things for a higher purpose and turning plain things into things filled with kedusha (Holiness). Despite the fact that the Torah was created before the world and was kept by certain individuals before Hashem actually gave it over on Har Sinai,³ it seems that throughout the history of the world there were different levels of Hashem's expectations of man. In Parshas Beraishis, the Torah⁴ emphasizes the single mitzva Adom was commanded to keep – not to eat from the eitz ha'daas (tree of knowledge). There is a tremendous focus on this, and it was the transgression of this mitzva which ultimately led to Adom being driven out of Gan Eden, and the course of mankind changed forever.

Throughout this week's parsha, we find a new focus of expectations which were transgressed in the era leading up to the mabbul (flood) as well as afterward during the episode of Migdal Bavel (Tower of Bavel). These transgressions were ones which we now refer to as part of the sheva mitzvos b'nei noach (Seven Noahide Laws). Aveiros such as marital immorality,⁵ avodah zarrah,⁶ thievery,⁷ cursing Hashem, killing people, and lack of a judicial system are what seem to have been the accepted practice of humanity during that time. Hashem looked at His world and saw that the people who He had created b'tzelem Elokim (in the image of Hashem)⁸ had completely misused their ability to infuse things with kedusha (Holiness), and instead followed their various desires to the point of complete corruptness. This putrescence of mankind led to the decay of the entire world.⁹

At this point, Hashem told Noach that He was going to destroy the world and that in order to survive, Noach was to build a teivah (ark). Noach's teivah defied teva (nature) in every way. The dimensions were not large enough to hold all the animals and Noach could not have packed enough sandwiches for everyone in the teivah to eat for the year, Yet, this was exactly what was necessary for the world to continue. Everything that came into the teivah had to be uncontaminated and with a pair¹⁰ – representing the wholesomeness and perfection of creation, the way the world was meant to be. Noach had to be the one to allow the animals into the teivah and he only allowed those which met Hashem's requirements. As a matter of fact, when the Torah describes the dove returning to the teivah after not being able to find a place to rest, the passuk¹¹ writes about Noach, “So he put forth his hand, and took it and brought it to him to the ark.” Only what Noach reached out to accept into his teivah was allowed. Everything else was left outside the purity of the teivah.

The seclusion of the teivah from the outside world in addition to the emunah (trust) and bitachon (faith) it demanded, were the essential ingredients needed to leave behind the world they had come from and restart the world with the proper perspective of what mankind is all about.

In a sense, each of us is responsible for building our own teivah. We must also choose what is necessary for us to live a proper life and prioritize it according to various floors within our teivah. However, the scary thing we must keep in mind is that we do not live in a perfect world and that every teivah has a window to the outside. It is the responsibility of each and every individual to be deliberate and cautious, when it comes to decisions, in realizing what is good to allow through that window and into the kedusha of our teivah, and what would be better left out. After all, our teivah does more than defy teva, it defines it. It is our Torah and Mesorah (tradition) which serve as the structure of our teivah and tells us how to lead our lives.

Unfortunately, the world around us has many of the attributes of the types of aveiros which caused the mabbul and the destruction of other cities in history. Like Noach in building his teivah, B'nei Yisroel fill the role of representing Hashem and sere as role models to the world what it means to be a G-d fearing nation, which is the true purpose of mankind. This task, though, comes with the titanic responsibility of keeping the kedusha of B'nei Yisroel and making sure that our teivahs do not have any cracks and that we choose extremely carefully what we allow to come in through the window of our teivah.

The Ba'al Ha'Turim points out that the word “va'tonach”, which the Torah uses to illustrate when the teivah came to rest on the mountain top, is a word found only one other time in Tanach and that is when the Torah describes that Eldad and Meidad received ruach hakodesh. The Torah writes, “And the Ruach [Hakodesh] rested [“ va'tonach”] upon them [Eldad and Meidad]...”¹² The Ba'al Ha'Turim suggests that this is to teach that Ruach Hakodesh rests only on those who remained in the Teivah”.

May Hashem help us build our own teivahs according to the Torah and our Mesorah and with His help we should have honesty and clarity on what we should allow through the window.

1See Beraishis 1:26 and 28

2See Beraishis 2:7 and Rashi there

3See Rashi Beraishis 6:11

4Beraishis 2:16-17

5See Rashi Beraishis 2:13

6Ibid.

7Beraishis 6:11

8See Beraishis 1:27

9See Rashi Beraishis 6:12 that the corruptness of man affected the way the animals began to behave.

10Each member of Noach's family came with his wife, and each animal had a mate, except for the kosher animals which had an odd one out to be later be offered as a karbon (sacrifice).

11Beraishis 8:9

12Bamidbar 11:26