VaYeira 5632 First Ma'amar

Iyov said, “וְאַחַר עוֹרִי נִקְּפוּ זֹאת וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶחֱזֶה אֱ-לוֹהַּ/After my skin was stricken they pierced this, and from my flesh I perceive God.” (Iyov 19:26)  The Midrash in this week’s parsha attributes these words to Avraham Avinu as well.  Avraham Avinu continues, “If I had not circumcised myself how would God have been revealed to me?” (Breishis R. 48:2)

Why is God’s revelation to Avraham Avinu dependent upon his circumcision?  Furthermore, God spoke to Avraham several times before he was circumcised.  What, then, is the meaning of Avraham Avinu’s statement that he received revelation only after the circumcision?

The Sfas Emes explains.  The Creation was not a one time act.  The act of creation is constant and continuing.  There is a spiritual force emanating from God which gives continued existence to every facet of the Creation.  Revealing this point of spirituality – by believing it is there – is in essence revealing God’s presence in the world. 

Avraham Avinu first realized this when he was commanded to circumcise himself.  The removal of the foreskin represents the removal of the outer physical shell hiding God’s presence.  When it is removed, God’s presence is automatically revealed.  This realization prompted him to declare, “... וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶחֱזֶה אֱ-לוֹהַּ/… from my flesh I perceive God.”  Avraham Avinu is not referring only to God’s revelation in his immediate prophecy.  He is rather referring to his perception of God’s revelation in the entire Creation.

This is why the first pasuk of the parsha states, “וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו .../He appeared to him …” (Breishis 18:1) instead of “וַיֵּרָא ה' אֶל־אַבְרָם .../God appeared to Avrum” (Breishis 12:7) as the pasuk states when God spoke to him earlier before the circumcision.  “וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו .../He appeared to him …” is more general.  The pasuk is telling us that God’s presence concealed in every part of Creation, giving life to every part of Creation, was now revealed to him.

The idea that there is a life giving spark of Godliness concealed in every part of the Creation is alluded to by the first word of the parsha, “וַיֵּרָא/He appeared.”  This word is closely related to, “וַיַּרְא/He saw.”  In the description of the Creation at the beginning of parshas Breishis, as each stage of Creation comes to a close we find the declaration, “וַיַּרְא אֱ-לֹהִים כִּי־טוֹב/God saw that it was good.” (Breishis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25)  Finally when the entire Creation is complete the pasuk tells us, “וַיַּרְא אֱ-לֹהִים אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה וְהִנֵּה־טוֹב מְאֹד .../God saw all that he had done and behold it was very good …” (Breishis 1:31)  The Sfas Emes explains that the first part of each of these pesukim caused the second part.  Everything that God created was good because He saw it.  God bestows “good”/life upon His Creation by observing it.  It is God’s observation or Providence which gives continued and stable existence to the Creation[1]. 

We see this concept clearly in the deeper meaning of the pasuk referring to God’s Providence upon the land of Israel, “... תָּמִיד עֵינֵי ה' אֱ-לֹהֶיךָ בָּה .../… God’s eyes are constantly upon it...”  (Devarim 11:12)  The land of Israel is the point from which life extends to the entire world.  The reason that life and existence extend to the entire world from the land of Israel is because God’s Providence is always upon it. 

The circumcision is a metaphor for revealing God’s presence in the world.  This is, in fact, our mission on Earth.  When we recognize this and apply this recognition to our daily activities, we are, so to speak, removing the physical shell that conceals God’s presence.  We, thus, reveal God’s presence in the world.

---

[1]               See too Ramban (Breishis 1:4),  "אבל הסדר במעשה בראשית כי הוצאת הדברים אל הפועל יקרא אמירה ... וקיומם יקרא ראיה וכו'" 

VaYeira 5634 Third Ma'amar

Note: I did two ma'amarim this week.

"וַיֹּאמֶר קַח־נָא אֶת־בִּנְךָ אֶת־יְחִידְךָ .../He said, 'Please take your son, your only one …" (Breishis 22:2)  Thus begins Avraham Avinu's greatest test, Akeidas Yitzchak.  After God promised Avraham that Yitzchak alone would be considered his progeny, God instructs Avraham to offer him up as a sacrifice.  Interestingly, God does not command Avraham as we find in other places.  He rather makes a request, "Please take your son …"  God is telling Avraham what He wants without commanding him to do it.  What is the significance of this?

The Sfas Emes explains that the fact that God only requested and did not command Avraham Avinu makes this test all the more difficult.  God is not testing whether Avraham will follow His instructions.  Avraham would obviously do whatever God tells him to do as he had done for his entire life.  Rather, God is testing Avraham's desire to fulfill His will simply because he knows that it is God's will.  It is a test of his love for God.

This is why God makes a point of saying, "your only son".  If God had not said this then Avraham might have thought that he will sacrifice Yitzchak and God will provide him with another son from Sarah.  By asking Avraham to sacrifice his "only son", God is saying that He wants Avraham to sacrifice his progeny completely. 

So, the test was for Avraham to accept God's will even though there was no command.  This he did gladly.

Many times we rationalize saying that if only God appeared to us and told us exactly what to do we would follow God's command unquestioningly.  The Akeida buries this rationalization.  At the Akeida God revealed His desire to Avraham without commanding him to do it.  That Avraham did it and passed the test gives us, his progeny, the fortitude and desire to achieve God's will as well.

VaYeira 5634 Second Ma'amar

"וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו ה' בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא .../God appeared to him in the plains of Mamre …" (Breishis 18:1)  Why does the Torah make a point of telling us where God appeared to Avraham Avinu?  Chazal[1] teach us that Mamre encouraged Avraham to carry out God's command whereas Aner an Eshkol discouraged him.  As a reward, God revealed Himself on Mamre's land.

This answer needs an explanation.  Why did Mamre care whether Avraham Avinu circumcised himself or not and why do Chazal praise Mamre for advising Avraham to circumcise himself?

The Sfas Emes explains that Aner, Eshkol and Mamre understood that the purpose of the circumcision was to bind Avraham Avinu and his progeny to God in a covenant that would distance him from them.  Avraham Avinu and his descendents were being chosen to have a special relationship with God, a relationship that perforce excluded others.  

Aner and Eshkol did not agree with this and so discouraged Avraham Avinu.  Mamre, though, understood that this is the way things were supposed to be and that it would be of no use to delude himself into thinking otherwise.  He therefore encouraged Avraham Avinu to go through with the circumcision and covenant even though he knew that their relationship would change because of it.

Paradoxically, specifically because Mamre subordinated himself to this truth, he merited coming closer to God and Avraham Avinu.  God revealed Himself on Mamre's land.

We learn from Mamre that in order to come close to God it is imperative that we understand our place and not delude ourselves into thinking that we are what we are not.  This is a simple task.  It requires a lot of work to reduce arrogance to the point at which we can subordinate ourselves and accept our place within the nation even when we may perceive that place as commanding less respect than others within the nation of Israel. 

It is specifically when we accept our place, as Mamre did his, putting God's honor before our own, that we merit coming close to God.  Chazal[2] alluded to this when they said that one who increases God's honor at the expense of his own will merit as increase in his own honor as well.

---

[1] Breishis R. 42:8

[2] Bamidbar R. 4:20

VaYeira 5634 First Ma'amar

The first Tanchuma[1] on the parsha discusses at length how many brachos are in our prayers for different significant days during the year.  Specifically, the Sfas Emes addresses the difference between our weekday and Shabbos prayers.  Why do we pray for material things during the week and on Shabbos we only pray for rest? 

To answer this question, we need to understand what prayer is, why we pray and what prayer accomplishes.  Prayer as we are wont to think of it, is difficult to understand for two reasons.  First, why inform God of our needs since He is omniscient and obviously knows our needs better than we do.  Secondly, asking for our needs implies that God changes His mind, so to speak.  Prayer implies that we can convince God of the legitimacy of our request.  Infinity belies change.  The infinite God does not change His mind.  For prayer to the infinite God to make sense, we need a different understanding of what it is, why we do it and what it accomplishes.

We can gain a deeper understanding of prayer by studying Avraham Avinu’s relationship with God before and after his circumcision. 

The Midrash[2] on the parsha cites a pasuk in Iyov.  Iyov said, , “וְאַחַר עוֹרִי נִקְּפוּ זֹאת וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶחֱזֶה אֱ-לוֹהַּ/After my skin was stricken they pierced this, and from my flesh I perceive God.” (Iyov 19:26)  The Midrash attributes these words to Avraham Avinu as well.  Avraham Avinu continues, “If I had not circumcised myself how could God have been revealed to me?”  Why is God’s revelation to Avraham Avinu dependent upon his circumcision?  Furthermore, God spoke to Avraham several times before he was circumcised.  What, then, is the meaning of Avraham Avinu’s statement that he received revelation only after the circumcision? 

The Chiddushei HaRim points out that the word, “zos/this” in the pasuk is a reference to the innermost point of spirituality within every aspect of the physical Creation.  Indeed, the Zohar[3] states that the zos is a hint to the kingdom of heaven.  Certainly God gives life and existence to everything always, “... וְאַתָּה מְחַיֶּה אֶת כֻּלָּם ... /... and you give life to everything …” (Nechemia 9:6).  However, we do not always recognize this.  God is sometimes more revealed than at other times.  He always permeates the entire Creation, though, and if we could see through the screen that we call the physical Creation, He would be revealed to us. 

This, the Midrash[4] tells us, is exactly what happened to Avraham Avinu as a result of the circumcision.  The Midrash, referring to the circumcision, cites this pasuk, “סוֹד ה' לִירֵאָיו וּבְרִיתוֹ לְהוֹדִיעָם/God’s secret is for those who fear Him and His covenant is made known to them.” (Tehillim 25:14) 

Certainly God spoke with Avraham before, but after the circumcision Avraham Avinu was able to recognize the spiritual roots of every aspect of the Creation.  This is the reason that the first words of this week’s parsha are the more general, “וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו ה' .../And God appeared to him …” (Breishis 18:1) rather than the more specific, “וַיֵּרָא ה' אֶל־אַבְרָם/And God appeared to Avram” (Breishis 17:1) as the pasuk states in the previous parsha.  After the circumcision, Avram experienced a general revelation.  He saw God everywhere and in everything. 

The first pasuk of the parsha continues, “... וְהוּא יֹשֵׁב פֶּתַח־הָאֹהֶל כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם/… and he was sitting at the entrance of the tent in the heat of the day.”  This, the Sfas Emes says, can be understood homiletically.  The tent represents closeness to God.  Certainly Avraham had a burning desire, like the heat of the day, to enter the tent, to be close to God.  Still, he felt unworthy of gazing upon God’s Presence that he was able to see in everything.  He did not enter the tent but stayed outside.

Avraham Avinu, because he was on such a high spiritual level and recognized God everywhere felt unworthy of coming closer to God, of gazing upon the Divine Presence.  Chazal[5] tell us that, instead, God came to Avraham to “visit the ill.”  However, those of us who are not on such a high level, who do not see God in everything must strive to strengthen ourselves and come closer to God.

Conventionally, we think of coming close to God in spiritual terms.  However, when we understand that everything we receive is from God, receiving material blessing from Him is also a revelation.  When we ask God for our physical needs, we are actually acknowledging this and requesting that God bring our physical bodies, that benefit from the material blessing, closer to Him, to holiness.  Although couched in the language of requests, the prayers are really affirmations that we use to affirm and strengthen our belief that everything that comes to us, comes from God.  This belief brings us closer to God through the physical.

However, someone like Avraham Avinu, who actually experiences God in every aspect of the physical world around him, and recognizes his own lowliness in relationship to God, is ashamed to ask God for his material needs and in fact has no need to ask.  He already knows that everything is from God.  Regarding his physical being and needs Avraham Avinu says, “אָנֹכִי עָפָר וָאֵפֶר/I am dust and ash.” (Breishis 18:27)  Instead he sits at the entrance to the tent and yearns to simply fulfill God’s will.

We actually mimic this approach on Shabbos, “אִם־תָּשִׁיב מִשַׁבָּת רַגְלֶךָ עֲשׂוֹת חֲפָצֶךָ בּיֹום קָדְשִׁי ... אָז תִּתְעַנַּג עַל-ה' .../If you restrain your foot because it is the Shabbos and refrain from attending to your own needs on My holy day … then you will delight in God …” (Yeshaya 48:13-14)  We do not ask for our physical needs on Shabbos because more spiritual enlightenment is revealed and there is therefore no need to ask for these things.  Rather, Chazal established that we request מְנוּחָה/rest and purity in our service to God on Shabbos. 

And God remembers the righteous as well, “... אֵין מַחְסוֹר לִירֵאָיו/Those who fear Him do not lack.” (Tehillim 34:10)  Therefore, a person who is ill, will be healed through the Shabbos prayers even though there is no request for this.  This is why the Midrash says that when Avraham Avinu sat in pain from the circumcision, God came to visit him even though Avraham did not pray for this.  Life and healing are drawn from the innermost spark of Divine Presence that inheres in Avraham Avinu. 

The potential for life, healing and plenty is right here with us all the time.  For Avraham Avinu and for us on Shabbos this understanding is experienced and there is therefore no need to strengthen our faith by affirming that they are from God through prayer.  During the week when it is concealed from us, we ask for the revelation.  May we merit it.  Amen!

---

[1] Tanchuma VaYeira 1

[2] Breishis R. 48:2

[3] Zohar 1:93b-94a

[4] Tanchuma Lech Lecha 19

[5] Sotah 14a