These divrei Torah were adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissocher Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Tapes on the weekly portion: #1367 An Interesting Asher Yatzar Shaila. Good Shabbos!

Hashem’s Hineni: A Reward for Avraham’s Heneini

The Medrash Rabba in this week’s parsha (25:5) links the Divine promise of “Hininee (Behold) I will cause it to rain upon you bread from Heaven…” (Shemos 16:4) to a pasuk in Koheles (11:1) that says “Cast your bread upon the waters, for in the multitude of days you will find it.” Shlomo Hamelech’s metaphor teaches that we should always act now even if we do not see immediate results or benefit, because in the distant future, the value may yet be proven.

What is the connection between these two pesukim? The Medrash refers to the time when the Ribono shel Olam summoned Avraham Avinu to bring his son as an olah offering and Avraham responded ‘Heneini‘ (Here I am!) (22:1). The Ribono shel Olam responded “Behold, with this same expression, I will repay reward to your descendants.” Just as Avraham said “Heneini,” so too the Ribono shel Olam announced the imminent arrival of the mann with the word Hininee. (The two words are pronounced slightly differently, but they are the same Hebrew letters.)

This is the type of Medrash that, at first glance, seems like a type of “gezeirah shavah” (linking two pesukim using matching words). Obviously, the Medrash must have a deeper meaning. There must be some kind of connection between the Heneini of Avraham Avinu and the Hininee mamtir lachem lechem min hashamayim that the Ribono shel Olam said by the mann.

I heard an interesting explanation of this Medrash from my son, Yakov, who heard it from Rav Avrohom Buxbaum. There is, in fact, a deep connection between these words Hininee and Heneini: When the Ribono shel Olam came to Avraham Avinu and said “Offer him there as an olah,” Avraham Avinu could have protested: “I don’t get this. You promised me a son. I had to wait a hundred years for him. You told me that I would have descendants from Yitzchak. You told me all of this. And now You tell me something that contradicts all that You have told me in the past. You are now telling me to kill my son. Ribono shel Olam, what on earth do You want from me?” That is what Avraham Avinu could have said. And yet, what did he say? “Heneini.” I have no questions. There was not a minute of hesitation. There was not a minute of doubt.

The Ribono shel Olam says: I am going to pay you back for that. Klal Yisrael was in the desert and they had just experienced Yetzias Mitzrayim and Krias Yam Suf. Suddenly, they wake up one day and they say: “We are hungry. We need food. We need bread.” The Ribono shel Olam could have asked: Rabosai, are you forgetting? Are you forgetting what I did for you in Mitzraim? Are you forgetting the ten plagues? Are you forgetting Krias Yam Suf? And you have the audacity and the chutzpah to complain to Me and say “You took us out to let us die in the wilderness!!!?”

However, I didn’t say anything, even though I would have been justified to say “You are a bunch of ingrates.” Do you know why I am silent? Do you know where I ‘learned that?’ I learned that from Avraham Avinu. When I called him and asked him to sacrifice his son, he responded with ‘Heneini.‘ So too, I will pay reward to his children with the exact same expression. That very word symbolizes “no questions asked, no complaints registered.” I respond to his descendants the same way. I will not hold their chutzpah against them.

Transcribed by David Twersky; Jerusalem [email protected]

Edited by Dovid Hoffman; Baltimore, MD [email protected]

This week’s write-up is adapted from the hashkafa portion of Rabbi Yissochar Frand’s Commuter Chavrusah Series on the weekly Torah portion. A listing of the halachic portions for Parshas B’Shalach is provided below:

• # 041 – Israel’s Wars: 1948-1973, A Halachic Perspective
• # 084 – The Mitzvah of Krias HaTorah
• # 132 – Standing for Krias Hatorah
• # 179 – Female Vocalists: The Problem of Kol Isha
• # 225 – Music in Halacha
• # 269 – Lechem Mishnah
• # 315 – The Prohibition of Living in Egypt
• # 359 – Making Ice On Shabbos
• # 403 – Three Slices of Pizza–Must You Bench?
• # 447 – Hidur Mitzvah
• # 491 – The Three Seudos of Shabbos
• # 535 – Using P’sukim for Nigunim?
• # 579 – Being Motzi Others in Lechem Mishan and Other Brachos
• # 623 – Kiddush or Netilas Yadayim – Which Comes First?
• # 667 – The Supernatural and the “Mun” dane
• # 711 – Shlishi or Shishi? and Other Aliyah Issues
• # 755 – Techum Shabbos: Wearing Your Hat to the Hospital
• # 799 – Kibud Av – Can A Father Be Mochel?
• # 843 – Shalosh Seudos in the Morning?
• # 887 – Rejoicing At The Death of Reshoim -Recommended or Not?
• # 931 – K’rias Hatorah – Must You Listen?
• # 974 – Bracha of Ga’aal Yisroel Before Shemoneh Esrai−Silent or Out loud?
• #1018 – Bracha Achrona: How Soon Must You Say It?
• #1062 – Shalosh Seudos: Where and With What?
• #1105 – The Shabbos Seuda On A No-Carb Diet
• #1148 – Kol Isha – Listening To A Female Vocalist on the Radio
• #1191 – Was Devorah Really a Dayan? How Did She Learn That Much Torah?
• #1235 – Are women obligated in Lechem Mishneh?
• #1279 – Parshas Zachor for Women After Davening & Other Krias HaTorah Issues
• #1323 – Lechem Mishna: What Exactly Is the Mitzva? Are Women Obligated? Must you Make Your Own Bracha on Your Slice?
• #1367 – An Interesting Asher Yatzar Shaila
• #1411 – Hiring a Snow Plow to Remove Your Snow-Even on Shabbos?
• #1455 – Should You Correct The Baal Koreh If He Makes a Mistake?
• #1499 – Feeding the Birds on Shabbos Shira: Good Idea or Asur?
• #1542 – Why We Cover the Challos at the Shabbos Meal?
• #1585 – Shopping for Shabbos – On Thursday or Friday?
• #1623 – Making Ice on Shabbos

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