Parshat Chaye Sarah - 5761 "What
Man is this that Walks in the Field to Meet Us?"
(Bereshit 24:65) At the
"Akeidah,"
after Avraham
goes to the brink of sacrificing his son, Yitzchak,
on the altar until, at the last possible moment he is stopped by an Angel of
G-d, we read (Bereshit 22:12), "…for now I know that you are one who
fears G-d…" Thus, at the
"Akeidah," Avraham establishes for all time his characteristic of
"fear of G-d." Yet the
Prophet Michah
says, in the last verse of his Book, which, together with the previous two
verses, has become the basis of the "Tashlich"
Ceremony of Rosh HaShanah,
"You will show Faithfulness to Yaakov,
Kindness to Avraham, that You swore
to our Fathers in ancient days." We
see that the Divine Attribute most
associated with Avraham is "Chessed," or Kindness, and the
Divine Attribute most associated with Yaakov is "Emmet,"
Faithfulness, or Truth. What
about Yitzchak? Michah, after
all, does say, "that You swore to
our Fathers," and that includes Yitzchak! In another
place, we also find an oath, and
there Yitzchak's name is mentioned.
It is at the confrontation between Yaakov and Lavan (Bereshit 31:42),
when Yaakov points out that it is only because HaShem, in a dream of night,
has aroused terror in Lavan, "Were it not for the fact that the G-d of
my fathers: the G-d of Avraham, and the 'Pachad Yitzchak,' the 'Fear of
Isaac,' intervened in my behalf, you would have sent me away
empty-handed…" And, in
the end (Bereshit 31:53), "Yaakov
swears by the 'Pachad' of Yitzchak Aviv," by the One Who had
inspired Fear and Dread in his father, Yitzchak, when he lay on the altar. And Jewish
Tradition does in fact associate Yitzchak with the Midah
of "Gevurah," a word difficult to define and to translate, but
basically meaning "strength held in reserve."
Ben Zoma in Pirkei
Avot (4:1) asks the following question, "Who is the 'Gibbor,' the
Master of 'Gevurah?' And he
answers, "The 'Gibbor' is the one who can conquer his desire!"
Imagine the "Gevurah" of Yitzchak conquering and
suppressing his will-to-live as he lies on the altar! Thus, we see
that Yitzchak is really the one of our "Avot"
most associated with "Fear of G-d," with the "Midat
HaDin," the Attribute of Strict Justice of HaShem.
And that Attribute, especially at times
fraught with danger, such as at the Judgment Day of "Rosh
HaShanah," and especially at the time of
"Tashlich," when we try to symbolically take our sins out
and "throw them into the sea," is one that we do not want to
invite to witness the extent of our sins. The Midrash
"Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer" (31) relates that "when the knife
reached his throat, the soul of Yitzchak left him… When Yitzchak heard 'Do
not raise your hand against the lad,' his soul returned to his body;…
Because Yitzchak had experienced "Techiyat
HaMetim," the Revival of the Dead, he immediately praised HaShem,
'Blessed are you, Who revives the dead!' " Yitzchak
became a Master of Prayer. Perhaps
because the time of the "Akeidah" was twilight (Zohar, Section 1:
164b), he was the one of the "Avot" who instituted "Tefilat
Minchah," the Prayer of the Afternoon.
He also taught by example, as when he prayed to HaShem for Rivkah to
have a child (Bereshit 25:21), "VaYetar Yitzchak el HaShem le-nochach
ishto," "And Yitzchak prayed intensely to HaShem for the sake of
his wife." The use of the
verb "VaYetar" is most unusual for prayer, and it appears
elsewhere only in connection with Moshe, another Master of Prayer, and in
connection with Manoach, the father of Shimshon.
The expression "le-nochach ishto," for the sake of his
wife, is also significant, for it is understood to mean that the more
intently one concentrates and focuses his mind on the receiver of the
benefit of the prayer, the more likely is it that the prayer will be
answered. One of the
mysteries of the Torah is why Yitzchak preferred Esav to Yaakov, as the
Torah testifies (Bereshit 25:28), "And Yitzchak loved Esav,…, and
Rivkah loved Yaakov." This
is very strange because our picture of Esav is that of a "Rasha,"
a wicked person, the founder of a dynasty of nations that would persecute
the descendants of his brother, Yaakov, for two thousand years. One clue is
that Esav is described there (Bereshit 25:27) as "a man expert at
hunting, a man of the field;
while Yaakov is described as "a quiet man, dwelling in tents."
And we see that Yitzchak also had an affinity and was able more
readily to reach great spiritual heights in the outdoors.
For when Rivkah first sets her eyes upon him (Bereshit 24:63),
Yitzchak has "gone out to meditate in
the field toward evening." The Torah
also describes Esav at birth (Bereshit 25:25) as an "Admoni;" the Zohar
(Section 1:137) explains the inner meaning of that term, which "on the
surface" means "ruddy of skin."
The Zohar says (1)
that it also means from the same "min," or type, as Yitzchak.
Yitzchak's nature was associated with harsh laws in the upper worlds
("Midat HaDin," the Attribute of Strict Justice), and there came
from him Esav, who was associated with harsh laws in this world, and like
attracts like. Thus, our
impression of Yitzchak, a towering giant of faith, is of one who was molded,
by nature and by nurture (primarily, being the object of sacrifice at
"Akeidat Yitzchak"), as one associated with the "Fear and
Trembling" (2)
aspect of HaShem. Finally, the
name "Yitzchak" itself, conferred by HaShem, and built from the
root "Tzchok," meaning "laughter." As we know, there are different kinds of laughter, mirrored
in English to some extent by the "laughing at" vs. "laughing
with" distinction. "Laughing
at," mockery, is what Yishmael tried to do to Yitzchak, (and what
Yishmael's descendants are trying now to do to the descendants of Yitzchak).
But when Sarah saw this, she immediately cast him away (may HaShem
help us do the same with our current enemies).
Then there
is the "laughter within," the laughter of joyous surprise (Ber.
21:6-7), "And Sarah said, 'G-d has made laughter for me; every one who
hears will laugh with me!"
"And she said, 'Who would have said unto Avraham, that Sarah
would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.' " And outside,
the laughter of the cosmos, the Divine laughter that permeates the universe,
as the "Tzayar Olamim," the "Artist of the Universe,"
created and re-creates everything "for so is it in His world" (3)
with great beauty. The blue
sky, the mighty forests, sunrise and sunset, the stars in the sky,
"…the rose of the Sharon; the lily of the valley" (Shir HaShirim
2:1). Notes (1)
This
and some of the Midrashic references cited were found in "Otzar Ishei
HaTanach," "The Encyclopedia of Biblical Personalities,"
compiled by Y.Y. Chasida, and published by R. Maas, in
Jerusalem, originally in 1992 and updated in 1999. (2)
The expression "Fear and Trembling" comes from the title of a book
by that name by Soren Kierkegaard, on the subject of "Akeidat
Yitzchak." (3)
from
the blessing recited upon seeing some unusually beautiful phenomenon of
nature Rabbi Pinchas Frankel |
