כי אל ארצי ואל מולדתי תלך ולקחת אשה לבני ליצחק
To my land & my birthplace you shall go & take a wife for my son for yitzchak.
Avraham tells Eliezer to go back to his hometown and find a wife for Yitzchak.
Why was Avraham so insistent that Eliezer take a wife for יצחק from his family? Didn't 'ה just tell him in לך לך to leave his family?
The Posuk says Avraham says לא תקח אשה לבני מבנות הכנעני אשר אנכי יושב בקרבו "don't take a woman for my son from the daughters of the Canani that I'm living in their midst"
The Chasam Sofer asks, if he wouldn't be living among them, then he could take from them? why is living among them a reason why יצחק couldn't marry them?
Then a few Pesukim later he says even if she won't come with you -פן תשיב את בני שמה " no matter what, don't bring my son there"
Which means that even if he would have to go find a less appropriate shidduch, that would be ok as long as יצחק doesn't go back there. R' Moshe asks, why was he so adamant that יצחק not go back there under any circumstances?
He answers that Avraham is teaching us how important our surroundings are & how we have to try to be close to Talmiday Chachamim. We see that even people like יצחק & רבקה who were on such a high level,could be affected by their surroundings Avraham was worried that if they would live out there with no positive influences around, they would come to fall from their great level.
That's why he said under no circumstance could they live there but had to stay close to him.
Similarly says the Chasam Sofer, the reason that he couldn't take a Canaani girl was because he lived amongst them. If the girl came into his house he could have a positive influenced on her,but once she was around her family again, all that she learned by Avrham would be lost.
That's why he said take from my father's house & bring her here so that she'll be surrounded by positive influences instead of the negative influence of her family.
That could be what 'ה was telling him too when he said to leave his father's house - to go away from the negative influence of his hometown.
He felt that as long as he brought the girl to him & took her away from the negative influences into a home of positive influences, he was really doing what 'ה had told him to do ; to take people & bring them closer to 'ה!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
vayera
ויטע אשל בבאר שבע ויקרא שם בשם ה'
Avraham planted a tree & called out in the name of 'ה.
Rashi says that from this Posuk we learn that Avraham had an open house & fed all the people who came by & taught them about 'ה.
But when the Torah tells us about how Avraham fed the Malachim it goes through every detail of how he did it & what he gave them & that he was rewarded based on how he served them.
R' Tzudok asks, wouldn't it have made more sense for the Torah to give us details on how Avraham performed chesed for actual people & how he got them into the fold to believe in 'ה than to tell us details about Malachim that didn't need his hospitality & the whole thing was just a show?
The Posuk says that Avraham told the Malachim to wash their feet.
Rashi says that he didn't give them the water himself but he had someone else do it & because of that his children would be given water from a messenger & not directly from 'ה.
R' Moshe says that we see from there that the main part of doing Chesed is not the outcome, but the work that goes into it. That's why he should have brought the water to the Melachim himself.
Similarly says R' Tzudok, the reason the Torah told us about Avraham's hospitality only by the Malachim was to teach us that even though Avraham's chesed to the Malachim was unnecessary & pointless to them, for him it was pure Chesed & that its the work & the intent that's in your heart that 'ה cares about & not if you actually accomplish something or not!
Avraham planted a tree & called out in the name of 'ה.
Rashi says that from this Posuk we learn that Avraham had an open house & fed all the people who came by & taught them about 'ה.
But when the Torah tells us about how Avraham fed the Malachim it goes through every detail of how he did it & what he gave them & that he was rewarded based on how he served them.
R' Tzudok asks, wouldn't it have made more sense for the Torah to give us details on how Avraham performed chesed for actual people & how he got them into the fold to believe in 'ה than to tell us details about Malachim that didn't need his hospitality & the whole thing was just a show?
The Posuk says that Avraham told the Malachim to wash their feet.
Rashi says that he didn't give them the water himself but he had someone else do it & because of that his children would be given water from a messenger & not directly from 'ה.
R' Moshe says that we see from there that the main part of doing Chesed is not the outcome, but the work that goes into it. That's why he should have brought the water to the Melachim himself.
Similarly says R' Tzudok, the reason the Torah told us about Avraham's hospitality only by the Malachim was to teach us that even though Avraham's chesed to the Malachim was unnecessary & pointless to them, for him it was pure Chesed & that its the work & the intent that's in your heart that 'ה cares about & not if you actually accomplish something or not!
Friday, October 15, 2010
lech lecha
The Parsha starts with לך לך מארצך ה' telling אברהם to go to the land that He's going to show him.
When he gets there the Posuk says ויהי רעב בארץ that there was a hunger in the land & אברהם went down to Mitzrayim.
Rashi says that אברהם's Nisayon was that 'ה told him to come to this land where there's a hunger from which he's forced to leave & his Nisayon is not to second guess 'ה.
The Ohr Hachaim says that the reason 'ה gave him the Beracha of ואברכה מברכיך is because he followed 'ה even without knowing where he was going; he didn't question, he just followed 'ה.
So why does Rashi say that his Nisayon was to leave the land 'ה told him to go to? Maybe his Nisayon should have been to stay there & wait for 'ה to take care of him. The same way he went there with blind faith he should have stayed!
The Ramban takes it a step further & says that going down to Mitzraim was counted as an עון for אברהם for he should have known that 'ה would save him from death.
רב יחזקאל לוינשטיין.
offers an insight into why אברהם went down to Mitzrayim instead of staying.
Had אברהם stayed 'ה would have definitely taken care of him, but by doing that he would have been relying on an open miracle. If you rely on that & 'ה performs it for you, then you really have no doubt as to where your bread is coming from, so trusting in 'ה is easy.
But if you do things the normal way & you put in the effort & do what would be considered the right thing to do, & then things work out, it's easy for you to think that your effort payed off & you did it yourself.
In that case it's much harder to say that it all came from 'ה!
That's what אברהם wanted - to strengthen his Emunah by doing things the normal way & then attributing it all to 'ה.
That's why rashi says that his Nisayon was to leave the land to go to where there is food, to act in the normal way & at the same time strengthening his Emuna by saying that everything came from ה!
When he gets there the Posuk says ויהי רעב בארץ that there was a hunger in the land & אברהם went down to Mitzrayim.
Rashi says that אברהם's Nisayon was that 'ה told him to come to this land where there's a hunger from which he's forced to leave & his Nisayon is not to second guess 'ה.
The Ohr Hachaim says that the reason 'ה gave him the Beracha of ואברכה מברכיך is because he followed 'ה even without knowing where he was going; he didn't question, he just followed 'ה.
So why does Rashi say that his Nisayon was to leave the land 'ה told him to go to? Maybe his Nisayon should have been to stay there & wait for 'ה to take care of him. The same way he went there with blind faith he should have stayed!
The Ramban takes it a step further & says that going down to Mitzraim was counted as an עון for אברהם for he should have known that 'ה would save him from death.
רב יחזקאל לוינשטיין.
offers an insight into why אברהם went down to Mitzrayim instead of staying.
Had אברהם stayed 'ה would have definitely taken care of him, but by doing that he would have been relying on an open miracle. If you rely on that & 'ה performs it for you, then you really have no doubt as to where your bread is coming from, so trusting in 'ה is easy.
But if you do things the normal way & you put in the effort & do what would be considered the right thing to do, & then things work out, it's easy for you to think that your effort payed off & you did it yourself.
In that case it's much harder to say that it all came from 'ה!
That's what אברהם wanted - to strengthen his Emunah by doing things the normal way & then attributing it all to 'ה.
That's why rashi says that his Nisayon was to leave the land to go to where there is food, to act in the normal way & at the same time strengthening his Emuna by saying that everything came from ה!
Friday, October 8, 2010
noach
The Parsha starts out with אלה תולדות נח these are the offspring of Noach
Last week we ended with נח מצא חן בעיני ה that Noach found favor in ה's eyes
The Medrash Rabba says that we put the 2 Pesukim together that the reason Noach found favor in ה's eyes was because of his offspring.
According to that though, why does the Posuk interrupt with נח איש צדיק before it tells us who is children are ?
Says the בעל אפריון that if it's not publicized that someone is a Tzaddik, he'll have a very hard time influencing people, but if someone is a known Tzaddik, people will be much quicker to listen to him.
The Torah is telling us over here that even though Noach was a known Tzaddik to the people of his generation, he was still like the Posuk continues את האלקים התהלך נח that Noach only walked with 'ה & didn't go out & try to influence the people of his generation. He was a Tzaddik but only for himself.
At the end of the Parasha where it lists the names of the offspring of Shem it says that Haran died in Ohr Kassdim & on that Rashi brings down the Medrash how Avraham was thrown into a fiery furnace by Nimrod because he broke his father's idols.
R' Shmuel Birnbaum asks, isn't it odd that the first Nisayon of Avraham Avinu, one where he risked his life & would have been killed had it not been for a miracle, doesn't even get mentioned in the Torah?
& he answers that the reason the Torah didn't mention it is because for a person to be willing to give up his life for a cause isn't that unusual. You see it all the time; people go into battle knowing they might die but feel the need to fight for a cause, so to be willing to die for a cause doesn't need to be mentioned. On the other hand, to LIVE for a cause is much harder. Imagine how Avraham must have felt when he knew he had to go home & tell his wife he just sacrificed their only child and to live with that his whole life- that's a challenge. So maybe the Posuk is teaching us that the reason Noach was saved was only for Avraham who did what Noach didn't do; he reached out to the people & lived his life teaching others how to live their lives doing everything for 'ה & even when it might seem like things don't make sense, you do the right thing & 'ה will take care of the rest!
Last week we ended with נח מצא חן בעיני ה that Noach found favor in ה's eyes
The Medrash Rabba says that we put the 2 Pesukim together that the reason Noach found favor in ה's eyes was because of his offspring.
According to that though, why does the Posuk interrupt with נח איש צדיק before it tells us who is children are ?
Says the בעל אפריון that if it's not publicized that someone is a Tzaddik, he'll have a very hard time influencing people, but if someone is a known Tzaddik, people will be much quicker to listen to him.
The Torah is telling us over here that even though Noach was a known Tzaddik to the people of his generation, he was still like the Posuk continues את האלקים התהלך נח that Noach only walked with 'ה & didn't go out & try to influence the people of his generation. He was a Tzaddik but only for himself.
At the end of the Parasha where it lists the names of the offspring of Shem it says that Haran died in Ohr Kassdim & on that Rashi brings down the Medrash how Avraham was thrown into a fiery furnace by Nimrod because he broke his father's idols.
R' Shmuel Birnbaum asks, isn't it odd that the first Nisayon of Avraham Avinu, one where he risked his life & would have been killed had it not been for a miracle, doesn't even get mentioned in the Torah?
& he answers that the reason the Torah didn't mention it is because for a person to be willing to give up his life for a cause isn't that unusual. You see it all the time; people go into battle knowing they might die but feel the need to fight for a cause, so to be willing to die for a cause doesn't need to be mentioned. On the other hand, to LIVE for a cause is much harder. Imagine how Avraham must have felt when he knew he had to go home & tell his wife he just sacrificed their only child and to live with that his whole life- that's a challenge. So maybe the Posuk is teaching us that the reason Noach was saved was only for Avraham who did what Noach didn't do; he reached out to the people & lived his life teaching others how to live their lives doing everything for 'ה & even when it might seem like things don't make sense, you do the right thing & 'ה will take care of the rest!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)