|
Rabbi Haim Lifshitz
|
Translated from Hebrew by S. NAthan l'ilui nishmat Esther bat mordechai Lech Lecha 2007The Lord knows exactly how to publicize his masterpiece, Abraham. Again? A Godly masterpiece? What about Abraham’s free choice? For it is quite clear that God has initiated nothing at all. Everything – “even to a shoelace” – has been the product of Abraham’s own initiative. However, it is God’s masterwork to allow this. The Creator’s Own initiative reduces Itself, if you wish to employ the concept of the Godly reduction – the purpose of which is to permit the choicest of His creants to express himself in a free manner, as well as to let the entire world know the greatness of his one and only child, Abraham. Understand that Abraham’s initiative preceded that of the Creator. As soon as he had attained consciousness – meaning when he was at most three years old – Abraham had already begun to sense, and even to initiate his own search for his Creator, discovering Him while yet a child. He then dedicated his life to publicizing his discovery, to proclaiming the One Who really runs things, while man is nothing but His representative on earth. This is called humility. Yet the description that best fits Abraham is lovingkindness, for he did not specifically focus on the character trait of humility, simply because it does not quite fit the need for publicity to adopt the trait of humility, specifically. Fame does not go hand in hand with humility and modesty, though it is obvious that every possible good character trait crowned Abraham. “Go you forth from your land and from your birthplace and from your father’s house, etc.” Here is a Godly imperative whose clear meaning is: Shake off and leave behind you all of the pleasant routine life you have enjoyed until now, all of the accessories that human beings hold on to, because they believe that holding on to a house, to a birthplace and to a family means living a life of significance and meaning. They believe that holding on to these means staying alive, and letting go of these means dying. Now lo and behold, the Creator of the universe places before Abraham a path that is the precise opposite of all conventionally accepted meaning, a new value that will grant Abraham a new and long life, that will be worthy not only of Abraham as a private individual, but that will lay entirely new foundations, worthy of serving as the foundation of a new people, a new path, which would in time become the breakthrough route for a new nation. It would be the route to eternity for the people of eternity. Abraham the Ivri (from which the word “Hebrew” derives – meaning literally “the other side”) takes an oppositional stance to the route that the entire civilized world is traveling. “The whole world is on this side and Abraham is on that side.” Who initiated this new path? It could only be Abraham himself. Who paved this path? It could only be the Creator of man who paved this path – a path capable of telling the world the real meaning of Godly truth. Here is a well-paved path promising eternal truth to what superficiality would call the end of all flesh. Here we discover – through Abraham’s life story – that this path does not lead to the end of life, but rather to the endless, to the infinite. It is the path leading to the house of God – by way of eternity. Let it be known that the secret of existence does not lie in the abandonment of all normal paths of existence, such as “your land, your birthplace, and your father’s house.” We are not seeing here a simplistic convolution and inversion of logic, where “wrong equals right.” Such inversions presume to imply that there is a depth of thought inherent in breaking down the routines of though. Yet abandonment is no way of life at all. Rather, Abraham is abandoning one way of life in order to take hold of another way of life that holds greater meaning, despite the fact that superficiality’s point of view could look down on it, could look in on it from the outside and conclude that here is a path of “wrong equals right,” and that this new path’s main characteristic is detachment from life. “Go you forth…to the land that I will show you,” means: Leave the path of routine, in order to clear the path which people routinely hold on to, and adopt God’s path for yourself. The new path is paved with the Godly will, and expresses the values and the meaning of the Godly will. The new path is therefore highly fitting for human beings, who have been created in God’s image and form. The way of routine does not express this; it is only its negative expression. The Way of Trials and Tests The ten trials by which Abraham was tested – how are we to understand them? Why would the Creator test Abraham, His beloved, His one and only son whom He loved? We know for certain that the Creator did not require evidence that Abraham would indeed withstand the test of the trials. For after all it was on Abraham’s own initiative that he chose to walk the path that the Creator had paved for him. The Creator did not require proof of this kind. Better to say that Abraham required these trials. Their first purpose would be to toughen him, to accustom him to a path that the world had not accepted as yet. This is an eternal character trait that continues to characterize Abraham’s Hebrew children and grandchildren to this day. The people of eternity – despised and hated by the rest of the world. Hated but toughened. This toughening stands this people in good stead as it travels its difficult path, so incomprehensible to the rest of the world. It is a lamb surrounded by wolves. It is a nation that observes six hundred and thirteen commandments, that walks the path of Torah and recoils from the temptations that are acceptable to other nations. This toughening requires constant reinforcement. Every era has a toughening trial of its own, a trial of such magnitude that if any other nation had been made to undergo it, they would have immediately kicked their belief aside, abandoning it for others to deal with. This queue of trials is not intended to distress Abraham or his descendents, nor to cause them suffering. Abraham requires these trials only to demonstrate his determination. And certainly Abraham does not deserve to be tormented and punished and made to suffer unbearable anguish. For the difficulty in these sufferings is connected to his day-to-day life experience, and the sufferings are intended to separate Abraham’s path and goal from all other paths and goals. The promise of the Land entails endless difficulties, in adjusting to the new reality. At the beginning of his path, he is forced to leave the Land because famine has afflicted it. “They will give me gifts.” When “his wife who is as his own body,” the love of his life is about to be taken from him, he is forced to deny the fact that she is his wife. “Please tell them for me that you are my sister…so that good will be done me for your sake, and my life will be saved because of you.” “They will give me gifts,” Rashi comments, citing the Talmudic sages. On the surface of things it would not appear that the excuse of gifts could motivate someone as wise, powerful, kind and generous as Abraham. I am almost tempted to say that the reference is to heavenly gifts. They will give me gifts that I do not have the power to attain on my own. That is to say that Abraham is saying to his true wife and life partner that these gifts would be eternal attainments that would accrue to him in the merit of his withstanding this trial, and they both know full well that the situation in which they have found themselves is not of the type of difficulty encountered by ordinary human beings. Rather they are trials that come bound together with God’s reward. Abraham’s saying, “They will give me gifts,” points to the fact that he is conscious of the meaning of the present difficulty. The “gifts” means that Abraham is aware of the trial entailed in this real-world difficulty. It is almost as though a parallel exists between the real-world phenomenon, as a linear progression devoid of meaning in itself, but attached and parallel to a meaning that is rich in value-driven, far-reaching quality – a quality that is eternal, as opposed to the real-world phenomenon, which is ephemeral. This parallel, between the real-world phenomenon in itself, and the eternal meaning of the real-world phenomenon – which is hazardous in itself – means that when the real-world phenomenon is attached to eternal meaning, it promises achievements that cannot be acquired through physical effort or through strategies of cunning. It offers achievements that seem to entail danger, but it is only the outward appearance of danger. Here lies the explanation for the difficulties that were piled upon Abraham’s destined path. “And for Your covenant, which You have sealed in our flesh.” Abraham’s Covenant Versus Noah’s Covenant of the Promised Rainbow. The covenant sealed between God and Abraham was not a promise that grew out of a relationship of reciprocity between two interested parties. Rather, it was an imperative that came forth from God, which entailed coercion and which was not dependent upon the agreement of the other party. The covenant of circumcision is not given to free choice. It is a Biblical commandment. If someone has no father to perform the commandment of circumcision for him, then the public – meaning the rabbinical court – is required to circumcise him. This is unlike the covenant between God and Noah, which in the generations of Hezekiah and Shimon bar Yohai was rendered superfluous; no rainbow was ever seen in their times. This is the way of covenants between two sides, which exist only on the basis of certain necessary conditions. As opposed to Noah’s covenant, every head of every Jewish household is obligated to circumcise every male member of the household, independent of external conditions. This commandment has enjoyed sustained continuity in face of the raging waves that have inundated the Jewish people in its bitter exile, and there is almost no Jewish community that does not observe the commandment of circumcision. This tells us that the mitzvah of circumcision attaches to the man himself. It does not merely make its appearance in the natural world, as the rainbow breaks through the cloud, but rather attaches to the man himself, to his body, directly and under every circumstance. It tells us that this trial that the Creator of the universe attached to Abraham was intended to sustain a permanent bond between the Jew and God. This is a bond that will one day prove itself, as the sign that this nation is God’s choice, under every condition and circumstance – a direct proof that will be expressed in the journey as well, rather than being expressed only upon arriving at the ultimate destination, or only at the initial point of departure. It will be expressed in the cause of Judaism and not only in its ultimate purpose. It will be attached to every footstep taken along the way, including every one of its various stages, and all its many details, which lead to and which pave the path itself. It is thus possible to say of circumcision that it is simultaneously a part of the journey and a part of the destination. Alternatively, we can say that it belongs both to the journey and to the destination as to one entity. The test that attaches to the commandment of circumcision attaches to the details of the commandment as well. Recent research has uncovered wonderful findings regarding the development of eight-day-old infants’ nervous system, the process of its development, its relative lack of sensitivity as opposed to its later development of sensitivity. The infant’s cries are saturated with segulot, with uniquely positive potential, for hope and good tidings for all who softly whisper their personal prayers during his moment of crying. The infant cries, and everyone laughs, and rejoices, and for good reason. If members of the covenant, father, circumciser and sandek, are present, the entire congregation is exempted from its obligation to recite tahanun (the prayer of distress). The feast of circumcision is a feast of mitzvah, constituting the archetype of all feasts of mitzvah, which bring merit to all who partake. Segulot of Circumcision We have mentioned until now only the external segulot. The internal, intrinsic positive potential of this mitzvah belongs to the internal, intrinsic quality of circumcision, and this quality attaches to the actual physical circumcision. Our sages relate that King David was once naked in the bathhouse when he was suddenly overcome with anxiety at the fact that he was now naked of any mitzvah, until he remembered that he was circumcised, and his mind was eased. The point is not that his mind was eased because the mitzvah of circumcision had accompanied him even to the bathhouse, but rather that the mitzvah of circumcision was permanently attached to him, and inseparable from his body, from his self, and from his very flesh, and would continue even when he was separated from all other mitzvahs. This teaches us that the mitzvah of circumcision exists continuously. It is attached to a man’s body even when he is immersed in circumstances that do not permit him to be attached to other mitzvahs. We must add another reason to the mitzvah of circumcision. It holds the segula of protecting a man in places designated for the hurtful and destructive manifestations of lust, as is written: “At the entry, sin crouches,” to teach you that circumcision binds and attaches man to the dimension of height. There is thus no space in man that is free of mitzvah, and there is no place or thing in man that exists in and for itself. Rather every aspect of man has been created for the sake of mitzvah. Every part of man in itself as well as in its destiny is attached to God’s commandment. Knowledge of this is tantamount to a promise, which has the force of a covenant between man and his Creator, that the entirety of the creation of man was designed for upholding the mitzvahs, for living the life of the spirit, of sanctity. It was not designed for living an empty life, or for mindlessly perpetuating one’s urges, which were created for the mitzvah, “Be fruitful and multiply,” in order to sustain the species. By the species, we mean human beings dedicated to living the life of the spirit, through the life of the body. |
|