BS”D
Volume 39, No. 3
8 Marcheshvan 5785
November 9, 2024

Sponsored by the Katz family on the yahrzeit of son and brother Daniel Aryeh a”h, Gilla and Harold Saltzman
in memory of his mother Rivka Rachel bas Yehudah Leib a”H, The Vogel family on the yahrzeit of grandfather Arthur Kalkstein (Aharon Shimon ben Shemayah a”h)

The Gemara (Sanhedrin 97a) refers to the first two millennia of world history as, “The Two Thousand Years of Tohu / Emptiness,” and to the next two millennia as, “The Two Thousand Years of Torah.” That latter era began when Avraham Avinu was 52 years old–soon after he recognized Hashem–and ended approximately when the Mishnah was written. During that era, even before the Torah was given (in the year 2448), the Patriarchs and their descendants studied and taught Torah (see, e.g., Bereishit 18:19). The final two millennia are known as, “The Two Thousand Years of Mashiach,” because, explains Rashi z”l, they make up the era when we await the Redeemer’s arrival.

Midrash Rabbah comments similarly on the verses (Bereishit 1:2-3), “The earth was astonishingly empty, with darkness upon the surface of the deep”–this refers to the earlier generations–”And Elokim said, ‘Let there be light’”–this refers to Avraham. [Until here from the Midrash.]

But what was unique about Avraham? asks R’ Gershon Chanoch Henach Leiner z”l (1839-1890; Radzhiner Rebbe, best known for his efforts to reintroduce the Mitzvah of Techeilet). Were there not others who recognized Hashem; for example, Malki-Tzeddek, about whom we read in our Parashah (14:18), “He was a priest of Kel, the Most High”?

The Radzhiner Rebbe answers: Indeed, there were others, such as Malki-Tzeddek–the same person as Shem, the son of Noach–who recognized Hashem, but they considered Him “Most High,” i.e., a Diety to Whom man cannot relate. Avraham was the first, however, to recognize that man can have a relationship with Hashem. That relationship was completed with the Mitzvah of Brit Milah–a sign of the relationship that was placed on his body. (Sha’ar Ha’emunah V’yesod Ha’chassidut)

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“Avram took his wife Sarai, and Lot, his brother’s son, and all their wealth that they had amassed, and the souls they had made in Charan, and they left to go to the land of Cana’an, and they came to the land of Cana’an.” (12:5)

R’ Avraham ben David z”l (“Ra’avad”; Provence; died 1198; best known for his glosses on Rambam’s Mishneh Torah) writes: After a convert immerses in a Mikvah as part of the conversion process, he recites the blessing, “Who commanded us regarding Tevilah / immersion.” Though we usually recite blessings before doing a Mitzvah, this person cannot do so because he is not yet Jewish.

Ra’avad continues: One might ask, “Where was he commanded” (i.e., how can he say, “Who commanded us”)? Ra’avad answers: In the verse, “The souls they made in Charan.” How did Avraham and Sarah “make” souls? If all the world’s people would work together, they could not create even one gnat! Rather, the verse refers to the people that Avraham and Sarah converted and brought under the wings of the Shechinah. (Ba’alei Ha’nefesh: End of Sha’ar Ha’tevilah)

R’ Avraham Sherman shlita (now-retired member of Israel’s Supreme Rabbinical Court) explains: How does the phrase, “The souls they made in Charan,” imply that the conversion process is a Mitzvah? Avraham himself was not motivated by any command to convert people! Moreover, Avraham lived before the Torah was given, so how can a verse about Avraham be the source of a Mitzvah for us?

R’ Sherman answers: R’ Moshe ben Maimon z”l (Rambam; 1135-1204; Spain and Egypt) writes that the Mitzvah to love Hashem (Devarim 6:5) includes encouraging other people to love and serve Hashem, for when one loves another, he wants others to love that person too. Similarly, if one loves Hashem, because he has recognized the truth of Hashem’s existence, he will want others to love Hashem also. Certainly, he does not want others to deny Hashem’s existence; he wants them to recognize the truth that he has recognized. We find, Rambam continues, that Avraham Avinu is called (Yeshayah 41:8), “Avraham, who loved Me.” And, we find that Avraham encouraged others to believe in Hashem, as we read, “The souls they made in Charan.” You, likewise, should encourage others to love Hashem just as you love Him, Rambam concludes.

R’ Sherman continues: Rambam does not say expressly that there is a Mitzvah involved in converting converts. However, based on Rambam’s words about what follows from loving Hashem, we can understand also Ra’avad’s assertion that there is a Mitzvah involved in facilitating others’ conversions–specifically, the Mitzvah to love Hashem. (Ateret Avraham: Geirut p.4-5)

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“He said to Avram, ‘Know with certainty (literally, ‘Know, you shall know’) that your offspring will be foreigners in a land not their own; they will serve them, and they will oppress them four hundred years’.” (15:13)

Midrash Rabbah comments: Know that I will disperse them, and know that I will gather them in. Know that I will pledge them as collateral, and know that I will redeem them. Know that I will subjugate them, and know that I will save them. [Until here from the Midrash]

R’ Yehuda Loewe z”l (Maharal of Prague; died 1609) asks: It would have been enough to say, “Know that I will subjugate them, and know that I will save them.” Why does the Midrash seemingly say the same thing in three different ways?

He explains: The Midrash understands that the repetition, “Know, you shall know,” is meant to refer to two different things: subjugation and salvation. But the Midrash wants to teach something more: that the fact that there will be subjugation is proof that there will be salvation. This is what the Midrash means when it says, “Know that I will disperse them, and know that I will gather them in.” The natural state of the Jewish People is to be united, and dispersion is unnatural for the Jewish People [see below]. Therefore, if you see that the Jewish People are dispersed, you can be certain that we will be gathered in. Similarly, it is unnatural for the Jewish People to be dominated by another nation. Therefore, if you see that the Jewish People are, so-to-speak, pledged as collateral, know for certain that Hashem will redeem us. (Netzach Yisrael ch.1)

R’ Avraham Tilman shlita (Yeshivat Chen Ba’midbar in Arad, Israel) writes: Maharal does not mean that the Jewish People are, in practice, more united than other nations. Rather, he means that the Jewish People are united by something that is part of our essence and is eternal, unlike other nations that are formed to achieve some shared social, political, or economic goal, or because their people happen to live on the same land. This is what the verse means when it says (Shmuel II 7:23), “And who is like Your people, Yisrael, one nation on earth.”

What unites the Jewish People? The Torah we received from Heaven and the shared mission it gives us! Other nations also have codes of law and etiquette, but not like the Torah. The world consists of two seemingly unrelated realms–the physical and the spiritual–and other nations’ laws and etiquette address only how to get along in the physical world. The Torah, in contrast, is G-d’s own instructions for how to bring spirituality– to bring G-d Himself–into the physical world. These instructions were given to all the Jewish People and, because we have a common mission, dispersion is unnatural for us. (Be’ur Al Netzach Yisrael)

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Shabbat

R’ Ben-Zion Meir Chai Uziel z”l (1880-1953; Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel) writes: The Mitzvah of Shabbat contains within it two remembrances that are fundamental to our Torah and our nationhood– remembrance of Creation and remembrance of the Exodus. When we remember the first, we are reminded that man is the pinnacle of Creation and of G-d’s Will. The heavens and earth and everything in them are not some machine, a mere collection of gears, that necessarily exists, that operates automatically, or that has no purpose. It is a novel Creation resulting from the Will of the One Who made it, and man is at its pinnacle. Remember Creation, recognize its secrets, know what makes it function, and choose your path in life accordingly.

R’ Uziel continues: Know, man, that you are not a small cog in the big machine of Creation. With your Divine soul, you rule over it and are distinguished from all other creatures. You are not an ant whose entire mission is to store food in the summer; indeed, your mission does not involve food at all. You are a creation that has a mission. Your are here to prepare in the foyer–this world–to enter the banquet hall–the World-to-Come.

When we remember the Exodus, continues R’ Uziel, we remember how we were once enslaved, body and soul, to a master, with no purpose other than to fulfill the will of that master. We remember how we were once slaves to food (see Bemidbar 11:5). In contrast, when Shabbat comes, we prepare in advance so that the holy day will not be consumed by worries about food. On Shabbat, we disengage from this world and feel the ultimate joy of freedom. (Shabbat U’mo’ed p.39)