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
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