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Home -> 5786 -> Vayeira

קח נא את בנך את יחידך אשר אהבת את יצחק

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5786

Please take your son, your only one, whom you love, Yitzchak. (22:2)

Much has been written concerning Akeidas Yitzchak, the Binding of Yitzchak.  It was Avraham Avinu’s final test, yet it is called Akeidas Yitzchak.  Undoubtedly, Avraham Avinu telling his son that he had to relinquish his life for Hashem was an extremely demanding and challenging request.  Yitzchak’s submission to his father’s request represents what I would call turbulent submission.  This is especially true, considering that it was a father talking to a son, unlike concerning Avraham, when it was Hashem talking to a father.  Can we imagine the heart-wrenching conflict that Avraham, the Amud HaChesed, Pillar of Kindness and compassion, experienced…

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Home -> 5786 -> Vayeira

אל ירע בעיניך על הנער

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5786

Be not distressed over the youth. (21:12)

Avraham Avinu experienced ten trials which he successfully passed, elevating himself to Patriarchal status.  While focus is placed primarily on the first and tenth, the ninth, which meant sending Yishmael from his home, is glossed over.  This is enigmatic, since the nature of the nisyonos, trials, becomes more challenging as they increase in sequence.  Sarah Imeinu felt that YIshmael would have an adverse effect on Yitzchak (Avinu), so she demanded that Avraham send him and his mother from their home.  Understandably, this was a difficult demand that she placed on Avraham.  Hashem agreed with Sarah, and our Patriarch set about…

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Home -> 5786 -> Vayeira

קח נא את בנך את יחידך אשר אהבת את יצחק

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5786

Please take your son, your only one, whom you love, Yitzchak. (22:2)

Akeidas Yitzchak, binding of Yitzchak, is considered Avraham Avinu’s tenth and most challenging trial.  This test was to catapult our Patriarch to the apex of avodas ha’Borei, service to the Creator.  We wonder if the tenth trial was that difficult, after he had already passed nine earlier trials, with each success refining and enhancing Avraham’s level of mesiras nefesh.  For instance, if a person must scale a large mountain, with the last one hundred feet fraught with danger, can we say that it is the same as the fellow who stands at the foot of the mountain prepared to climb? …

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Home -> 5786 -> Vayeira

ויעש אברהם משתה גדול ביום הגמל יצחק

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5786

Avraham made a great feast on the day that Yitzchak was weaned. (21:18)

Tosfos (Shabbos 130A) teach that the Hebrew word, higamel, translated as “weaned,” can be broken up to read “was circumcised on the eighth day.”  Higamel is comprised of four letters: hay, gimmel, mem, lamed.  The first two letters – hay, gimmel – are read separately, and their gematriya, numerical equivalent, which is eight,is duly noted.  The second two letters – mem, lamed – spell mal, which means circumcise.  Thus, this pasuk can be read as, “On the eighth day, when Avraham Avinu circumcised Yitzchak, he made a festive celebration.”  Tosfos derive from here that on the eighth day of his…

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Home -> 5785 -> Vayeira

עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5785

For now, I know that you are a G-d-fearing man. (22:12)

We wonder what is the meaning of the words, Atah Yaadati, “Now I know (that you fear G-d)?  Did we ever harbor any doubt concerning Avraham Avinu’s fear of Hashem?  He was the consummate oved Hashem, servant of Hashem.  Certainly, his yiraas Shomayim, fear of Heaven, was unparalleled.  Imrei Noam (Bereishis 32B) quotes the Gaon, zl, m’Vilna who explains that a person achieves spiritual perfection only if he must deal with two incompatible, incongruous character traits.  For example, the heart of someone who is by nature the paragon of lovingkindness overflows with love for his fellow.  No activity is too…

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ויאמר אברהם אל נעריו שבו לכם פה עם החמור

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5785

Avraham said to his lads, “Stay here by yourselves with the donkey.” (22:5)

The Torah relates that, on the third day of Avraham and Yitzchak’s journey, they saw the “place” from afar.  Rashi explains that he saw anan kashur al ha’har, “a cloud affixed on the mountain.”  The cloud that was above the mountain was a cloud accompanying the Shechinah.  Chazal teach (Bereishis Rabbah 56:1), “Avraham said to Yitzchak, ‘My son, what do you see? Do you see what I see?’  Yitzchak answered, ‘Yes.’  Avraham then asked his two aides (Yishmael and Eliezer), ‘Do you see what I see?’  When they replied, ‘No,’ he said, ‘Since the donkey does not see and you…

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Home -> 5785 -> Vayeira

והאלקים נסה את אברהם

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5785

And G-d tested Avraham (22:1)

Avraham Avinu withstood the ten nisyonos, trials, with which Hashem tested him.  What is so special about these trials that the Torah makes note to elaborate on them?  Just about every one of them is recorded in the Torah, with the nisayon of the Akeidas Yitzchak achieving special prominence.  Our Torah is neither a history book, nor does it relate stories needlessly.  Every letter in the Torah is present for a profound reason.  What is the Torah’s message with the redacting of these trials?  Furthermore, why is it only with regard to Avraham Avinu that the Torah calls attention to…

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Home -> 5785 -> Vayeira

והאלקים נסה את אברהם

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5785

And G-d tested Avraham. (22:1)

In Judasim, mesiras nefesh, self-sacrifice is about aligning one’s life with Hashem’s will, even at great personal cost.  One must be prepared to go as far as making the ultimate sacrifice in order to demonstrate his consummate dedication to Torah and mitzvos.  The rosh ha’maaminim, head of the faithful, Avraham Avinu, demonstrated his unequivocal conviction throughout his life.  It reached its crescendo during Akeidas Yitzchak, the Binding of Yitzchak, when the Patriarch acquiesced to sacrificing his only beloved son and successor, Yitzchak Avinu. Someone who is studying Chumash for the first time may wonder: What is all the great to-do…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayeira

עתה ידעתי כי ירא אלקים אתה

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5784

Now I know that you are a G-d-fearing Man. (22:12)

Chazal (Sanhedrin 39:13) distinguish between the level of yiraas Shomayim, fear of Heaven, evinced by Avraham Avinu and Ovadyahu. Concerning Avraham it is written y’rei Elokim atah, you are G-d fearing, while concerning Ovadyahu the Navi writes, Va’yaar Hashem meod, he feared Hashem very much.” The added word, meod, describing Ovadyahu’s yiraas Shomayim, takes him “over the top” and presents him as being on a higher level of yiraas Shomayim than even our first Patriarch. In 1920, Yeshivas Slabodka was forced to relocate to Nicoliav, where Horav Mordechai Dov Eidelberg, zl, served as Rav. It was Shabbos Parashas Naso and…

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Home -> 5784 -> Vayeira

ויהי אחר הדברים האלה והאלקים נסה אברהם

Sruly Schnair
In Vayeira, 5784

And it happened after these things that G-d tested Avraham. (22:1)

The Akeidah, Binding of Yitzchak, is considered the seminal nisayon, trial, with which Hashem challenged Avraham Avinu. The question is obvious: All one has to do is peruse Jewish history to see that mesiras nefesh, for a Jew to sacrifice his life, has almost been a way of life, a culture with which we have been inculcated. Veritably, all instances of mesiras nefesh nurture their strength from Akeidas Yitzchak, but still, our ancestry did not always have Neviim, prophets, and Torah leaders who inspired and guided them concerning relinquishing their lives al Kiddush Hashem. Avraham Avinu received his mission from…

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