Rabbi Kalman Flaks: Deep Dive into The Akeida

[music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music and singing] >> We're going to be jumping into the exciting world of the Akeda. Hashem And and why are we going to the Akeda? I thought this is a feeler class. Ah, because did you know that really there's an Indian there's an idea to say the Akeda every single morning. So we're going to start off with that little background information and then we're going to jump into the actual Akeda itself, read through it together and see what messages we can glean. As you all know all of our Torah should be a protection for all of our people, all of our people who still need our prayers and our learning and all of us who need healing, who need salvations, who need amazing things. So we'll start off with a song a song to open our souls up and we'll jump into the Torah of Israel. Hashem >> [singing] [singing] >> I ya I ya I ya I ya I ya I ya I ya >> [singing] [singing] >> Okay, beautiful. Something special in the air, kibbutz. Post Shavuot. So, we just had the wedding, right? So, now we're in the Shiva Brachot. We're in the seven days. Still no tachnun. Still feel the holy energy of Shavuot. Har Sinai. A special new era. Okay. So, we have entered into uh the Akedah. What's the idea of Akedah? So, the halo goes Shulchan Aruch in the first siman of the Shulchan Aruch, the holy Rav Yosef Caro brings down the following. Sif hey, siman aleph sif hey. Tov lomar parshas Akedah. It's good to say the Akeda. Ooh, Parshas Aman, as the Devaros. Ooh, Parshas Olam Mincha Mincha Das Hashem. All that stuff between Birchas Ha Shachar and Baruch She'amar So that's the good stuff. Why is it the good stuff? It's good to say it. Now, do you have to say it? What do you say from the Lashon of the Shulchan Aruch is it obligatory to say uh the the Akeda every day? No. Because the language is it's good to say it. Meaning nice, but not necessary. But as we'll see, it's extremely uh beneficent. It's extremely good, helpful for our souls to say the Akeda when we daven. Okay? Where does the Shulchan Aruch get this from? So it says the Beit Yosef, what's the relationship between the Beit Yosef and the Shulchan Aruch? What's their relationship? What's their connection? Same person. Same person. Exactly. Beit Yosef is the earlier version of the Shulchan Aruch. Beit Yosef is his magnum opus. It took him many years to write, bringing down all the different Rishonim on all the different topics. Shulchan Aruch is a shortened version of practically what you have to do. So the Beit Yosef he gives a little back- background. He says, "Why do you have to say, why is it a good thing to say uh the Akedas Yitzchak? Kedai l'zikaron Avos." To remember the great deeds of Avraham Avinu, of Yitzchak Avinu. V'gam, second reason, he's actually quoting the Levush, L'hachniah Yitzro, to make you humble. We all have taivas to subjugate ourselves l'avodas Hashem k'mo she'masar Yitzchak nafsho. In the same way that Yitzchak said, "Ah, the only thing that matters is to do with the will of God." He probably didn't want to die, right? Then he had a lot of important things to do with his life. But he said, "It doesn't matter. If God told my dad, I trust my dad." And in the same way, we're reminding ourselves it doesn't matter if I have a desire that's against the Torah, I'm going to willing to be moiser nefesh for the sake of Hashem. That's the second reason why we say the Akedah according to the Mishna Berurah. Brings down the Mishna Berurah. The ain dai bamira, it's not good enough to say the Akedah. Ella, she bonen, you have to think mashu omer, what are what are the concepts behind the Akedah? The Akedah nifla'os Hashem, you should learn the wonders of God. We have to we have to take something. We have to inspire ourselves. If I just run through the Akedah, but I don't understand the meaning behind the Akedah, then I don't then I'm not getting then I'm not tapping in to what it's all about. So that's what tonight's for. You might say, "Well, I don't really know what to learn from the Akedah." Don't worry, you came to our Sunday night sheer. We're going to try to derive some lessons that we can think about every morning when we say the Akedah. All right? Actually, the Mishna Berurah is leshitaso. He says this also by korbanos. He said that you don't just run through it. You have to think about the ideas behind the korbanos. He said the same thing by Ashrei. We'll get to this soon enough. The Gemara says, "Anyone who says Ashrei, he's a ben olam haba." So says the Mishna Berurah, it's not just good enough saying the Ashrei, not even good enough singing the Ashrei. You have to think about the concepts which are in the Ashrei. And then, if you understand the concepts, you're going to be living in olam haba existence. This is the Mishna Berurah's shita. You got to think about it. Okay? So So too here, we have to think about it when we say the Akedah. Writes Rav Moshe ben Machir. Rav Moshe ben Machir should be familiar to us. What is he famous for? Seder Hayom. Seder Hayom, exactly. And the Modeh Ani, the first our very first classes. Modeh Ani lifneiha. Who wrote the Modeh Ani? Rav Moshe ben Machir. Remember we said Rav Moshe ben Machir, he was a student of the Ariza. And he has a grave with a natural spring flowing right into it. Isn't that amazing? Okay? So Rav Moshe ben Machir says something amazing. Raui liskorcha Akedah kol yom v'yom. It is fitting every day to mention the Akedah kodem sheyispalel adam kodem sheyispalel say our prayers kedei sheyismalelu rachamim aleinu mishetein in the heavens they will have mercy upon us. V'kibel tefilateinu and he will accept our prayers. Uval nefesh, uval nefesh means someone who is uh spiritually sensitive. Lo yevatel oto b'shum inyan. He will never Nothing's going to get in his way of getting to shul on time and saying the Akedah. All right, men and women, it's a holy thing to do to say the Akedah. Degorem tov lo and it brings goodness to you l'chol Yisrael. And to the whole Jewish people. So Rav Moshe ben Machir here says uval nefesh will every day make sure that he says the Akedah and it will bring good to him and to the whole Jewish people. Good. Okay? So we have the Shulchan Aruch, the the the the Levush, the Rav Moshe ben Machir, and the Mishnah Berurah as our halachic sources for the inyan the a good idea not halachically necessary. You'll skip it if you're running late, but if you can, it's a very very good thing to do. Okay? Now, in many siddurs, um I have to bring the siddur out. There's a little preface. It doesn't just say the Akedah. There's a a Hakdamah, a pre- a preface prayer that is brought down to say before you actually say the Akedah. We'll run through it real nice and quick so so uh we can prepare. I'll grab it. The Motek Midrash is helping us out. I hope he brings it down. Yeah. So, here is the minhag. Elokeinu v'Elokei Avoteinu, Zochreinu v'Zichron tov lifanecha. Remember us u'fakdeinu v'fikudat yeshu'ah u'verachamim l'mishmeret kedem. And remember us from above. U'zchoreinu l'Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov, Avadecha hakdmonim, Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yisrael. Remember Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yisrael et habrit v'et hashvu'ah shenishbata l'Avraham Avinu b'Har Hamoriah. Remember the the the bris and the the swearing that you promised Avraham Avinu at Har Hamoriah v'et ha'akedah she'akada Yitzchak Avinu al gab mizbeach. And the Akedah k'katuv b'Toratecha. As it says in the Torah. Now, it's interesting in the Eitz Chaim, which is a sefer by Abu- Abu-Aflia, he says, "You know what the shvu'ah is? The shvu'ah is not just the promise that we're going to see at the end of the Akedah. The shvu'ah is that Chazal said in the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah that anytime we mention the Akedah, Hashem makes it as if there was the Akedah right then. And he says, "Oh, Avraham Avinu just did the Akedah. Not the actual He didn't shecht him, but he did the whole act of mesirus nefesh. Wow, I have to have mercy on the Jewish people. That's the swearing." Says that that's why we mention it on Rosh Hashanah. That whenever we we mention the Akedah, it's like it actually happened. So, the swearing is that God swore that every time you mention it, and maybe that's what Ben Machir is alluding to, every time you mention the Akedah, it brings rachamim down into the universe. Not just for us, but for the whole Jewish people. Giv'at. Okay? Now, one more, maybe two more prefaces before we jump into the actual words. As Rav Elchanan Wasserman, you're going to see that these words are extremely powerful cuz we know that who was Rav Elchanan Wasserman? He was the rabbi who went back into the furnace. He was living at the time of the Holocaust. He was outside of Europe and they begged him to not go back, but he felt he needed to go back to support his students and give them chizuk and strengthen them and ended up dying al kiddush Hashem by the Nazis, yimach sh'mam. So, Rav Elchanan Wasserman wrote about the inyan of the Akedah. And he writes, Rai'inu b'chol hadorot k'tzit masam nafsham al kiddush Hashem. Alpayim r'vavot Yisrael. In every generation, there were thousands and then thousands who were willing to die al kiddush Hashem. Unfortunately, in our generation, we've seen far too many. Essentially, every chayalu joins the Israeli army is putting his life on the line for the sake of the Jewish people. And therefore, as Rav Elchanan, af sh'lo hayu v'yamim k'shehein avinu sh'b'shamayim da'at, the Jewish people are willing to put their lives on the line for Kadosh Baruch Hu, even though they didn't hear God explicitly command them. Avraham Avinu heard God command him to be moiser nefesh of his son Yitzchak. So, what's the big deal? That's that's what we're calling in the last from in Shaila. Right? In the background is, you know, what he's experiencing in Europe. But he's asking, "What's Okay, Avraham Avinu, you did it, but he heard it from God. Right? So, if you hear God yourself tell you to do something, it's a lot easier. But we, the Jewish people, have been doing it for so many generations without God explicitly telling us, you know, put your life on the line. So, what's so special about Avraham Avinu at the Akedah? That's the kasha of Rav Ahron on. Any thoughts? What's unique and special nonetheless about Avraham Avinu at the Akedah? Specifically, when he goes against his very nature of chesed. Ah. So, maybe we could say that the answer of the strive for truth of Rav Dessler. Dessler writes, "Abraham's whole inyan is chesed, love, Avraham Avinu. And this test is to go against his nature. As we see it, we're going to see at the end demonstrate yirah, the midah of Yitzchak. So, because he went against his very nature, that's what makes it so unique and special. Beautiful. So, that's one mahalach we could we could suggest. Any other thoughts about what made Abraham's mesiras nefesh unique and special. It could be at that time a lot of people were sacrificing their kids into avodah zarah. So, could be that that was special that's for him. Ah, okay. So, in other words, there is a mahalach. I remember reading this in a book by a secular biblical scholar. And Kierkegaard, the philosopher, uh espouses the this the theory that really the whole idea of the Akedah is to demonstrate to the world that God does not want human sacrifice. In there's like by taking Avram down to the line and then pulling him out at the last second and saying, "No, no, no, don't actually do it." It's to show the world from here till eternity that God is not actually interested in human sacrifice and that's what made it so unique and special. I do think that is a side lesson of the Akedah. I don't think a closer reading of the text lends that to be the main lesson of the Akedah. Because as we'll see if the main lesson of the Akedah would have been don't do human sacrifice then the angel should bless Avram Avinu and say "And now Avram, I bless you the lesson is don't do a human sacrifice because you you know, you were upon the all you were willing to do it but then Hashem and then Avram's not even really doesn't really you know, he was basically Hashem fooled him. But no, that's not the lesson. That's not the lesson Hashem says. So I do think it's true. It is it is a lesson that we can learn from it. I just don't think that's the main lesson as Kierkegaard and other uh scholars had suggested it. But yes, that's that's definitely a a strong point. I also think a a related note is the telephone uh pole theory which is that we in the olden days when we had you know, telephone poles we can make calls but who put up the telephone poles? The guys who put it up, they get the credit. So in the same way Avram through his act of mesirus nefesh put up the telephone poles for mesirus nefesh. Now that the Avos were willing to be moser nefesh so then it's easier for us to do it. The reason we're able to do it is because because Avram, Yitzchak and Yaakov their mesirus nefesh kind of cleared the spiritual pathways for us to do it. So I think that's uh a good a nice a nice answer. A very true answer. What's the last part of the answer? I'm suggesting that Avraham Avinu was harder for him. It was the first time he was putting up the the the the the poles, which now allows us to be moser nefesh with a lot more ease. And they were like a trailblazer, so Yeah, they were the trailblazers, exactly, set- setting the stage. You could say also says R' Carlebach, "Va'ani va'na'ar na'aleh ad Koh." "And me and the child we're going to go ad Koh." Says R' "What is Koh? Ad Chanukah." Meaning to say, the reason that the Hashmonaim were able to be moser nefesh, they derived their strength from the gevurah of Yitzchak. Because Avraham and Yitzchak were able to sacrifice their lives for Kadosh Baruchu, that's what gives Am Yisrael to this very day, that's what gives the soldiers and all of Am Yisrael the strength to be moser nefesh to this very day. So, that's a third approach. Emes. R' Wolbe himself actually gives an an interesting approach. He says, "Al yedei mesirus nefesh, machliv adam over olam over ba'olam olam hazeh bo over olam netzach." When we sacrifice our lives, let's say guy goes right now, says, "Okay, Chanukah, put the gun to your head, you know, worship my idol right now at or I'm going to shoot you." Right? So, the kol ha'de'os, you got to die. Right? Avodah Zarah, what can you do? It's one of the big three. So, what's Chanukah's cheshbon? I got to either choose between this world and the next world. So, what's a good Jew supposed to do? Choose the next world. Right? Story like that about one of the other Babitz Rabbis. Guy comes up with a gun and says, "Violate Shabbos." And he says, "I'm not scared of that gun. For someone who doesn't believe in the next world, it's scary, but I believe in the next world, so it's just a little toy, you know?" Easy to say, hard to do, but that's that's the hashbon. But for Avraham Avinu says Rav Rav Wasserman, and maybe we'll get back to this, he thought he wasn't just sacrificing this world. He thought he was sacrificing the next world. Cuz he really didn't know what's the right thing to do, but he knew one thing, that this is what God's telling him to do. It could be he would lose his chelek in the next world for this act of killing Yitzchak, but he knew that God told him to do it. So, he's willing to sacrifice the next world even, not just this world, but the next world for doing the service of Hashem. Wow. That's that's a different madregah. That was a Rav Rav Wasserman's answer. I mean, this was like the biggest test ever. I know. Exactly. Exactly, it is. So, without further ado, let's go through it. There's so many more introductory words I could say about the Akedah, but I think the best way to jump into it is through the words itself. Possuk by possuk, slowly slowly, try to analyze, try to really go deep into the words of the Akedah itself, trying to understand the lessons that the Ribbono shel Olam is trying to teach us. So, you can just listen in if you want. It's in chapter 22 of the Holy Bible. And uh I am going to go primarily through the lens of Rabbi Foreman. To prepare for this shiur, I've been listening to this unbelievable lecture. It's like an 8-hour lecture. Don't worry, it's not going to be an 8-hour series. Uh maybe it'll We might do this in two classes. We'll see how how deep we go. But but he's got amazing stuff. I'm trying to teach some of them beautiful ideas that he speaks out um about the deeper meaning behind the Akedah. Okay. Vayehi and it was Achar advareem Ela, after these matters parenthetically, what matters? What What's the story directly before the Akedah? That is the story of Avimelech making an alliance with Avraham Avinu. So ask the Rashbam, the grandson of Rashi, the P'shat guy, what's the relationship between um the the the the the bris that Avraham Avinu makes with Avimelech and the Akedah? This is a very off-the-beaten-path P'shat, but he says that Avraham Avinu should not have made that covenant with Avimelech. You got to be careful who you make a peace treaty with. And as a punishment for that peace treaty is uh the the the the whole story of the Akedah. Very interesting, but not our topic at all. Just thought worth worth noting. My friend Gary loves that P'shat, so I had to throw it in for him. Okay, Vayehi Achar Advareem Ela V'Elohim Nisa et Avraham and God Nisa test Avraham Avinu. V'Yomer Elav Avraham and he says, "Hey Avraham." V'Yomer Hineni. And Avraham says "I'm here. Behold, I'm ready." So God is testing Avraham. Why? Why is God testing Avraham? We know that Chazal teach us in Pirkei Avot there were 10 tests of Avraham Avinu. This is the only time where the the Chumash explicitly says calls it a test and Nisayon. But there was 10 tests of Avraham Avinu. But I'm asking us, why? Why is What is the point of this? I'll put it like this. God, he's supposed to know everything, right? He created Avraham Avinu. He know Let's say I'm a teacher, right? And I want to make sure you guys are listening in tefillah class. So, I got I'm going to give you a a test to make sure you were paying good attention. But if I could read your minds, I know exactly that you know a 90 or an 80, so what's the point of the test? Why is God doing that? For the person. Ah. So, must be that a test is not for me, the tester. It's not for the teacher, rather it is for you. Okay? We know that God gave a test of the man to the Jewish people in Mitzrayim. That's the language. I tested you 10 times, Hashem says about the Jewish people, including the man. We know that the Ramban suggests a test is from a lashon of nas, which is a flag. Whenever you find the word nays in Chumash, it doesn't mean a miracle. It means a flag, a banner. Why? Cuz what's a banner? It's raising something. It's raising up high. In the lashon of the holy Ramban, it's bringing out your potential. It's showing it to the world. The Mishnah says Avraham Avinu Mishnah says to show the love of Avraham Avinu, but not towards others, but rather for him. To demonstrate to yourself, to bring out of you kochos, to bring your potential out of you. That's the point of a test. A good teacher knows how to make a question that's going to bring I remember my tour guide test. You have to study study study. So, the first part of the test is just memorizing information. It doesn't really bring much out of you. It's just spit back. But then the second part of the test is hard. You have to memorize all the different maps everywhere in Israel and then they give you this question, okay, go to three sites in two hours of, you know, Jewish sites that relate to the Byzantine era or something crazy like that, right? And you have to use all of your different knowledge of different places and different maps and different gas stations and whatever and put it all together and by the end of it, hopefully, you should feel like, wow, I didn't even realize that I that I knew all that. And I really it it brought a whole new me out of out of me, right? Similarly for the Rabbanut test, that's how they're built. They don't just give you spit back test. You You have to You have to apply all the different Beit Yosef questions to different modern day applications, you know, oh, at a wedding, she forgot the ring. According to the Beit Yosef, according to Rashi, according to Rambam, what what do you do? So, that's a good test. So, that's what the test of Avraham Avinu. Apparently, we're going to have to figure out what exactly Hashem's trying to bring out of Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu is being raised up. He's something is going to be brought out of him. You with me? By the way, that's also the root of a nes, of a miracle. How so? Because Chazal tell us, also Pirkei Avot, which we just finished learning, that the nes were actually it was actually embedded into creation, right? The fifth perek of Pirkei Avot, in the beginning of creation, Hashem already built into creation that the the water is going to split. But that was only in potential and now we're actualizing it by the by the miracle actually happening. Okay? So, that's a nes, bringing out our potential. So, God is testing Avraham and Abraham says, "Hineni." Where else have we heard that phrase in Chumash of Hineni? Anybody else remember other times in Chumash or in Tanakh where we see this phrase? So, first of all, by the burning bush. Shem says, "Moshe, Moshe." Third chapter of Shemot. And what does Moshe ben Yisrael Moshe say? He says, "Hineni." I'm ready. Wherever you send me, Hakadosh Baruchu, I'm there. I'm ready. I'm humbled. I'm witnessing Hakadosh Baruchu, but I'm ready. The other time that we find this is by Yosef. By Yosef Hatzadik. Yaakov Avinu sends him down in chapter 11:7. Vayomer Yisrael el Yosef, "Al achicha b'Shechem." Your brothers are down in Shechem. Vayomer lo, "Hineni." I'm ready. I'm on a mission. He never forgets his mission. His whole life he's there at the "Achai anochi mevakesh" to bring brotherhood to his brothers. So, Hineni means I'm a man on a mission. So, Avram, no matter what, right? Someone says, "Listen, listen. I have a mitzvah. Can Can you you want to do me a favor?" So, most people will say, "Depends. Depends what the favor is." But if you're if your best friend, they'll say, "I'm ready. Whatever you want, man. It's all good." It's a risky move, but uh that's that's Hineni consciousness. Okay? So, Avram says he's ready. Next. So, let's see you're ready for the Let's find out what God's God's coming for us. Vayomer, "Kachna." Take now. Take, please. "Et bincha." Your son. "Et yechidcha." Your unique one. Your your your one. I said I have that. Who you love. At Yitzchak. At Yitzchak. V'lech l'cha. And go. El eretz haMoriyah, to land of Moriah. V'ha'alehu sham l'olah, and bring him up as an olah. As an offering, an elevation offering. Al achad haharim asher omer l'cha, upon one of the mountains which I'll tell you. You got that? Go take your son, unique one, the one you love, Yitzchak, l'cha l'cha, and go. Okay? Immediately if you're reading this pasuk, it's going to bring you back to another pasuk in Chumash. What pasuk would it naturally bring us to? What phrase obviously brings us back to another pasuk? L'cha l'cha. The original l'cha l'cha. The first test. Here we have l'cha l'cha, the last test. There we had a l'cha l'cha. What was the first l'cha l'cha? I believe there's a strong If we understand the first l'cha l'cha, it will unravel this l'cha l'cha. What was the first l'cha l'cha that that Hashem tells Avraham Avinu? What does he tell him? Who remembers? Go to the land which I'll to also he doesn't reveal which land. Asher are'elacha. Just go, trust me. And here too, I should I'm I'm telling I'm going to tell it to you, but I'm not telling you yet. He doesn't reveal just yet where he's going to. Later I'll let I'll let you know, but right now, just go. Interesting. L'cha l'cha. In that first test, Hashem tells him, go. Where? L'cha l'cha. I I it's perek bet. Let's go back. Read it inside. V'yomer Hashem el Avram, lech l'cha mei'artzecha, u'mimoledetcha, from your your land, from your homeland, u'mibeis avicha, and from your family's land, el ha'aretz asher are'eka. Three things. Artzecha, u'moledetcha, u'mibeis avicha. Here too, we see Hashem tells Avraham, "Take es bincha, es yechidcha, asher ahavta, es Yitzchak." I guess it means three, four, twice. I look at it. He doesn't just immediately, he builds it up. He builds it up. What's the relationship between the first one? What was God telling Avraham Avinu in that first lech l'cha? What does he have to leave? In terms of time, what's he leaving? He's leaving his past. He's leaving his community. He's leaving his homeland. He's just built this giant cure of organization. People coming in and people coming out, and he's world-famous, and he's he's spreading the word of God, and God's like, "That was great. Move on. Forget about your past. Forget about all that. It's not doesn't matter anymore. Trust me, it's going to be a whole new world. It's going to be better." That's that's the the past lech l'cha. What's this lech l'cha? He He tells Avraham Avinu, "Kill your son." You can't even imagine. What's he basically telling him? Not just forget about your past. Forget about your future. What's going to happen if he has if he goes through with this promise? If he kills his son. How's that going to affect his future? Let's Let's break it down. How's that going to affect his relationship with his wife? She's going to kill him. She going to kill him. That's right. It's not going to be pretty. Right? It's going to be a hard thing to break. All right, we know the Midrash describes that she had a heart attack essentially after finding out what happened. Take that literally or allegorically, but obviously Sarah is not and did not take that very well. What about his relationship with his son? How's that going to be after he kills him? Not so good. What about his relationship with his community? His whole life this guy's been getting up there and giving, you know, shmoozes, all the YouTube videos on Avraham Avinu and Yibaneh about being all love Hashem and, you know, Kiruv and Hagah, it's Hakadosh Baruchu loves us and davening and learning to be sweet and Torahs. Suddenly, what happened to Yitzhak? I killed him. I thought you you were the big guy saying you're against uh against human sacrifice. Yeah, I know. Changed my mind. I not changed I got told me God changes mind, what can you do? All of his students, do you think he's going to have any students left? That's it. No more students, no more wife, no more kid. What about him? What about his relationship with with with Hakadosh Baruchu? How is Avraham Avinu going to feel with Hakadosh Baruchu knowing that Avraham that Hakadosh Baruchu had set him up, basically lied to him, told him you're going to have children and and then he changes mind so to speak and then he had to kill his own son. How is Avraham Avinu going to relate most likely to Hakadosh Baruchu after that? Probably not going to be so pretty. Maybe he's going to be a tzaddik. He's going to have emunah. He's going to know Hakadosh Baruchu it was all for a reason. But emotionally, he's going to have a hard time relating to a guy like after experiencing such a trauma. That's my guess. I mean it it didn't happen, but that's our best guess. So I would say more than what someone said, he's willing to give up not just the next world, but this world and everything around him. And that is the ultimate test that he is being faced with. Not just his past, but his future and everything he knows. That is what he is putting Abraham through the ringer. It's not just another meter. It's everything. You can't even imagine it. Wow. Now before we go onward, Okay, we still have a couple of minutes. I want to ask a little bit of a philosophical question. Does put it like this. Does God have the right to ask him if you knew to kill his son? Is that moral? Is that allowed? It's not only that. It's not Sarah's effectively sacrificed. That's also true. It's also going to affect Sarah. It's going to affect his son. And it's going to affect him. But the question stands. Does God have the right to do that? But he knew that this would not happen. He knew that Abraham That's true. God knows the future and he knew ultimately that he would spare Isaac. That is true. But that's not the question I'm asking. The question I'm asking is in a court of law, does God have the right to do that again and again to take your child? Obviously. Yes. The answer I think is yes. And the answer is yes for two reasons. Not just because we see that God says so. If God says so, then by definition it's true. But also on a logical level. Because imagine I don't know. Let's give a a silly example. Imagine you have a store. And the store is open from 9:00 till 5:00. And at 9:00 you say, "Kids, come into my store. Enjoy the air conditioning and you know, take some free candies and enjoy life enjoy it." And then at 5:00 p.m. you say, "Sorry, guys. Got to lock up. Get out of my store." Does the the store owner have a right to do that? Of course, it's his store. Right? Give another example. Remember in camp you used to go swimming. This is Rabbi Foreman's example. You used to go into the swimming pool. And then, one blow, everyone jumps into the pool. After 45 minutes of swimming, two blows, everybody out. The whistle. But I want to swim. I'm having so much fun. Okay, but it's the rules here. I make the rules. Sorry. No. You know, you got to get out of the swimming pool. Swimming pool is limited. Oh, but I'm having fun. Okay. Shkoyach. So, God created the world. He chooses to put humans in the universe. And so, by law he has the right so to speak, to do what he wants, to give life and to take life. And I think that's one of the main takeaways that we're supposed to glean from this story. If we're missing that point, we're missing one of the lessons which Abraham acknowledges that God does run the show. It's his world. You know who really I think acknowledges this and understands this on the deepest level? Sir Sir Herman Wouk Weinberg. Yitzchak. Because Yitzchak is cabalistically from the law of din. He's judgment. He lives in a world of judgment. And that's why he's Yitzhak, he's laughing. Cuz on a on a on a din level, we don't deserve any life. This whole world, we think we deserve something. But really, we don't deserve anything. We get so worked up, ah, I lost my phone and this and that and I But no, on a din just law level, we don't deserve a thing. Everything's hesed chalom. But of course, we're not just din people. We're real people. And in the real world, it's very, very hard to live in a world where the creator in the heavens can just do whatever he wants and how do you I connect to that? How can I have a relationship with that? And there's the There's a happy ending to the story, don't worry. But I think it's important to stop and just make that point that that is one of the points I think the story is trying to demonstrate. On a din level, God can do what he wants. It's his world. Okay? Now, But the But the person being tested doesn't know why he's being tested. He doesn't know why he's being tested. >> we take a We're in a class, we take a test, we know the reason we're taking the test. Yeah, but even if you don't even know the reason, we're we're we're taking the test. It's his world, he has the right to do what he wants. It's his He created you and he can whether you know it or not, he has the right to you know, end the show. You might You're on the Truman Show, my friend. You know? We're all here and God's watching and I'm letting you know that it's all a test and now you know. But exactly what the test is and how it all works, we don't know. But he can pull out the rug and end the show whenever he wants, it's his show. I bless you till 180 that you should don't worry, the show should go on for a very long time. Everyone here. But that's his right. Okay. Okay? Anyways, okay, let's keep going. So God says he he says I'm ready. I'm ready. Which is amazing, by the way. Because we know that Avram has it in him to push back. He doesn't always just accept what God says. Right? Where do we see that he questions Hashem? What other story do we see not too long ago that Avram is not scared of questioning Hakadosh Baruch Hu? By the story of Sodom. There God tells him, "I'm going to wipe these people out." And Avram says, "No. No, no, no. The Will the judge of the whole world world do injustice?" He questions. He fights. Moshe Rabbeinu fights. Avraham Avinu knows that to to to fight. But here something about the situation, he reads between the lines to know that God means business here. And this is not a situation where there's room for questioning. This is the ratzon of Hashem. How he knows that? I don't know. But he knows that. That's what's clear from the story. In this case, you can't ask questions. He submits himself he submits himself to the will of Hashem. Avram the great lover in this case yirah, submission, fear, awe. Yeah? It's also a big part of our religion. And also he's not thinking of his wife. I'm sure he is thinking of his wife. And we're going to talk more about that. I'm sure for not a moment did he ever think not think about his family and not think about his wife. And that doesn't mean he didn't choose at the ultimate at the end of the day to do the rest of the Hashem. Hashem knows Hashem knows what he's doing and at times just like a the Rambam writes when a person goes to war you have to put aside your your wife, your family. Right now I'm I'm making myself the quality of Israel. And I'm just fighting for the sake of the call. For sure. File should that's what I was told at the time. For sure. And [clears throat] in the picture, right? Yeah. Wallet in the pocket. Absolutely. I mean on a personal level I remember when I was and I was thinking so really I'm going to join the Israeli army cuz I didn't grow up as one of these you know, reading army stories my whole life and I didn't really picture myself going into the army. I just kind of made Aliyah. And then at a certain point I was of the age and I was like I guess this is the right thing to do. Like I believe in this but then am I really going to do this? And then I started thinking about it I was like but what about my my my mom? What about my grandma? What about all the people that Hashem would be affected if Hashem something bad happened? Like do I really have the right for my values of the right thing to do to put my family, you know, their whole lives on the line so to speak? It's very complicated. But at the end of the day I I I felt okay, this is the rest of the Hashem. This is what God calls upon us to do. You can't always take think about your own personal situation. Sometimes you have to push aside your personal situation for the sake of the call. Think about it. The the Sorry to bring up a movie but in the Braveheart, one of these movies where the like the commander the guy comes up and is motivating everyone. He says things about your wives, your mothers. If we lose this war they're going to get raped and you know, you're thinking about your kids and your family when you go out to the to defend them. Uh-huh. See the other side of the of the equation. Tough. So, the story goes on. Now, we know say it was almost like begging Abraham, "Please, now." And there's this drama, which son and Abraham really doesn't want to do it. He's hesitant. You know, I don't want that. I don't want And then ultimately lays it down. That's the one. Go forth for yourself to the land of Moriah. Moriah from language of Yira of awe of fear of awareness of God. We'll get back to that. Okay. And it was he No, I'm sorry. And Abraham got up early in the morning. Abraham wakes up early in the morning. The The Tanya says this is the amazing thing we can learn from Abraham Avinu that he with alacrity after such a test to get up early in the morning. Maybe he just didn't want to think about it too much. Just go quick, quick, you know? Early in the morning and he saddled his And he took his two kids and he takes the two kids with him and his son. And his son his son. Torah goes out of his way to stress his son. And he and he cuts the wood and gets up and he goes to the place which God I share God tells him which God tells him. God says What what place was Abraham Avinu was Abraham Avinu going to? Where what particular place in the universe did Abraham Avinu go to? The Temple Mount. The place which later all of Israel will go three times a year to see God. Three times a year you will be seen by God. You will be seen by God. The Temple Mount, the place of seeing God, the place of seeing God God God God God God God God fearing God and seeing Hashem, the related same word. So, that's the place where later Am Yisrael have to come to connect to Kadosh Baruch Hu. Fascinating, the Makom. Bayom hashlishi vayisa Avram es einav, on the third day Avram lifts up his eyes, vayare es hamakom merachok, and he sees the place from afar. Imagine the drama. He's mamesh seeing that place, and you can imagine 3 days, Hashem didn't make it, 3 days I'm thinking, am I really going to do this? Do I You know, I can't believe it. Am I really going to Yes, no. Am I really going to do it? Is what I did Is the right thing to do? Chazal talk about the Satan, you know, trying to trip him up and convince him, "Oh, you're just hallucinating." It's like, "No, I'm sure God told me to do it." Unbelievable test. Vayomer Avram el na'arav, "Shvu lachem po im hachamor, and he tells his youth, "You sit here with the chamor, va'ani vana'ar nalcha ad ko, and me and the youth are going to go until ko, until that mysterious nefesh, until Chanukah, we're going to go until yonder, v'nishtachaveh, and I'm going to bow, Har Habayis, that's where we bow, I'm going to submit myself, v'nashuva aleichem, and we're going to come back to you." Interestingly, Rashi says subconsciously, at least that's how I read Rashi, subconsciously, he says, "And we will come back." In other words, maybe deep inside he thought that maybe God didn't really mean that he's going to actually have to kill Yitzchak. Maybe in the back of his head he thought that Hashem's at the last second going to change his change the plan, and he's going to be able to go home with his son Yitzchak. But, he was still willing to walk, still willing at the end of the day to do the unthinkable, and a part of a part of him is saying, "Maybe I should spare, but I have Right now I can't think about that. Right now I'm just going to go." Notice again, his son. The Torah is going out of its way to stress he's still his son. Avram still thought of him as as his son. He takes the fire and the knife and the two of them go together. Avram and Yitzchak, so beautiful. They're walking together. And Yitzchak says to Avram, "Aviv, his father." By the way, this is the only time in the Chumash that they have an interaction that you see Avram and Yitzchak speaking to one another. This is the only conversation we ever find in Chumash. Says, "Father." He says, "Here I am, my son." The same words that he was ready for Hashem, "Hineni, I'm here for you, my son. I'm present for you." He's not running away from Yitzchak. "Here are the wood, but where is the sheep for the korban? Where where is it? Tati, where is the the sacrifice?" He doesn't understand. There's that word again, "Yireh." "God will show us the sheep." "For an olah, bini, my son." You could read it, "God will show us the sheep, my son." Or you could read it, "God will show us the the sheep, my son." "You are the olah, my son." The double entendre, it has a double meaning. Maybe because Abraham himself didn't really know what was going to happen. And both of them walked together. Does that sound familiar? Did we hear that phrase and the two of them walked together before? Just a minute ago. Before the proclamation that he's going to sacrifice Yitzchak, they walked together. Now, after Abraham tells Yitzchak that he hints to him that we're going to kill you, what's Yitzchak's response? What's Abraham's response? They walked together. They still walked together. Even knowing the the the impossible is going to happen, Yitzchak submits himself. The Seforim say that Yitzchak's test was even greater than Abraham's. That's why it's called the Kidus Yitzchak. He didn't hear God speaking. Abraham heard God. Yitzchak just trusted Abraham Avinu. Our our like our our generations, we don't hear God explicitly telling to us. That's a harder test. But what's amazing is that Yitzchak and Abraham walked together before and afterwards. And they go up to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which God told them. And they go to the place which And he places Yitzchak. But no, at this point, Yitzchak is a 30-year-old man. He knows exactly what's going on. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he places him there. And he And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he puts his hand out. And he And he cries aloud. And he cries aloud. And he And he cries aloud. And he cries aloud. And an angel calls out and he says, for the now, the third time, And he says, for the now, I'm ready. Whatever you tell me, God. To kill, to not kill. I'm ready. Whatever you tell me. Don't place your hand on the nar. Don't touch him. You Now I know that you truly fear God. You didn't hold it back. And once again, he looks up. There's that word again, yar. I don't know there's another lamb. He takes the sheep and he gives it as a olah mino. And he calls that place Adonai Yireh. Yireh. God will make it known. Which says Yerushalayim, yirah, a place of awareness of God, a place of seeing God. Which will be said on this mountain, God's presence will be seen. God's presence will be felt. Had Abraham given Hashem any reason to doubt him? From past behavior? >> Not at all. We Abraham had no reason as far as I see. I say we had no reason to doubt Abraham Avinu. Which goes perfectly with Ramban's theory that this is not really to because God had any doubts about Abraham. Wasn't a test to see if he'd pass. It was a test to bring out his potential. To bring out the yirah out of the avah, avah driven Abraham Avinu. To bring that out of him and to bring that out of into us. I'll just conclude and then I'll conclude the verse and then we'll conclude with two takeaway lessons. Can I say something because you brought up a good question and so there's this concept in Judaism we say maseh avos siman labanim and I think everything you're describing is it was like a test test test for him like momish but it was a test for everything to come afterwards. Right. A test to demonstrate that to carve out in our souls in the Jewish people's DNA this meter of era of has said of subjecting your yourself to God. I said exactly. What happened to him is going to happen to us. And unfortunately there's been a lot of mysterious throughout the generations and we the way that Akiva was able to do it was through the core of Abraham and Yitzchak. You're going to defeat your enemies. Another thing to have in mind when we read the Akedah everyday that we should defeat our enemies. And the whole world will be blessed because you listen to my voice. And they are together and he goes back to Beersheba. And he goes back to Beersheba. I want to bring out two points which I think are not necessarily normally stressed in this drasha by the rabbis. The first point is that Abraham Avinu is able to hold it together in his relationship above and in his relationship It could be that the person would say look Hashem's telling me to sacrifice my son. I can't think about my son anymore. He's not my son anymore. I disavow I can't relate to him. It's too emotionally painful. And I'm just not going to talk to him. I'm going to walk way ahead of him and then just do what I got to do and disconnect so to speak from being a dumb Javier. But that's not Abraham. The entire time B'nei B'nei They walked together before they walked together afterwards. He's able to find that amazing balance of not disconnecting with Ben Adam La Havero, but at the same time always prioritizing Ben Adam La Makom. Finding the balance between them, which is not something that everyone is able to to to to do. I use this as a silly example, but it's just you know fresh on my mind. So, Arab Shavuos, I was making a minion for our our our tefillah together in the park and we had we had eight guys and Shkiah was rapidly approaching. Some of the guys who committed they came came late and they they we didn't have a minion. But luckily, there's two guys rushing along trying to catch their minion you know, and trying to get catch their Mincha cuz Shkiah was only in eight minutes. So, I call out to them Mincha Mincha and they kind of just ignored me. And I'm like I run over and say, "You don't understand. There's eight guys right here and without you we won't have a minion, but with you we'll have a minion, you'll have a minion, it'll be great." And they ignored me. They just kept walking. In fact, it happened a few times unfortunately. Ultimately, Baruch Hashem, we got a minion. A few other tzaddikim heard my plea and said, "Ben Adam La Makom, Ben Adam La Havero, let's bring it together." And we davened together. But there's some people who aren't able to do that. They can't balance those worlds. I right now I got to get to my shul to my Mincha. I can't I can't worry about someone else and their it's too much. I can't I can't put it all together. I hope we're living in a generation that we can put those two things together of Ben Adam La Havero and Ben Adam La Makom and I think that's one of the hidden lessons of the Akedah of Avram's not abandoning his his son even though he ultimately of course prioritizes the ratzon of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And I think the obvious, but not so obvious lesson of this is yirah yirah yirah that just comes up or over and over and over and over in the story. In the beginning of parshas Vayeira, Avram looks and finds these angels, and Hashem Vayeira appears to Avram out of love for his Avram Avinu. And Avram looks at these angels and he loves them and he runs to see them. He looks at them and he sees them. And that's one aspect of yirah, to just see and love and be giving. But then there's another aspect of yirah because the truth is that yirah means awe, not fear but awe. To be completely In other words, in order to love Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we almost have to put a mask around Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Because a person can't see Hashem fully and live. So Hashem puts a mask, so to speak, and only presents his loving side to us. So that we can see him with the loving side. But awe is going beyond that. And looking at the real Hashem, which is a mixture of love and wow. And the more you really look at Hashem, the more you're in awe. And the more you submit yourself. And the more you recognize that this is the ratzon of Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and at times I have to just put aside my thoughts and my all my ideas and just submit myself to the ratzon of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And of course, we need to always find the balance between yirah and rachamim. We Every mitzvah we do, awe, love, love, awe. Lower awe, higher lower fear, higher fear, higher love, lower love. There's many, many different madreigos. And we always have to find the balance of both of these. And this is, I think, one thing that Avram Avinu is demonstrating to us, the the the beautiful harmony between yirah and ahava that every day we strive to attain. So, b'ezras Hashem, every morning when we see when we say the Akedah, we can remind ourselves of some of the lessons that our taught Avraham Avinu teaches us and Yitzchak Avinu teaches us. May Hashem bless us to never have tests even close to as challenging that Avraham Avinu experienced. I don't know if we're on his madrega, but Hashem should bless us to overcome our challenges with love and and awe. Ezras Hashem Yisbarach. Okay. May Hashem bless us. Great to be back. Been been been been missed you guys. Been been too long. So uh Rabbi, you want a niggun now? You want a song? Hashem send us a good song. We'll do a maybe Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh. It's related to Yitzchak Avinu. We'll do the niggun. >> [singing] [singing] >> I I I I oh di di da da da na ya ya ya [singing] no no no eh na >> [singing] >> eh na Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu >> [music] >> Adonai Echad >> [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] >> Baruch shem >> [music and singing]