Rashi on Chumash Part 18 The Akeidah (Rabbi Dovid Gottleib) (Jewish Philosophy)

page 97 in the Blue Book um this is where Sarah tells Abraham to expel Ishmael and his mother from the house and he does so and they end up in a Wilderness Area and they use up the water they're taking along and they're both in danger of dying and she separates from him she prays to God and then and the angel says to her I've heard the boy crying 17 the bottom of the page covered the Cry of the youth and an angel of God Called to Hagar from heaven and said what troubles you Hagar fear not for God has heeded The Cry of the youth in his present state aha listen take that into account keep that in mind he heard him in his present state and the alert reader says what what else should it be what are excluding what are you telling me of importance so right she fills that in now let's look at the Rashi this translation puts in the place where he is the Hebrew is oh it's poetical but his being there so Rashi says the Lord's voice from here we we learned that the sick person's prayer is more effective than the prayer of others on his behalf as the first to be accepted because she's praying for help and he's crying for help and the angel says to her I would say very dramatically don't worry we heard him what about me you know I was praying too yeah okay that's nice but we heard him [Music] and by the way this has a practical as a practical application as a story of a couple who didn't have children for many years and it came to a famous classic rabbi and they can explain to him the problem they said we want you to put we want you to pray for us he said don't have a child for a long time I want to pray 400 rubles four rules we didn't earn 400 rubles in 10 years listen you want to chop 400 rubles you done what bye you know to learn to each other they had no no way of dreaming of 400 rules so they walked out I had to get to the door the wife says the husband okay he won't pray for us I guess we'll just have to pray for ourselves he called them back that's what I wanted you have to pray for yourself I'll add my prayers to your prayers but you're thinking we'll have him praying and he'll take care of it and we'll go home no so that's why she's bringing that idea when someone's ill that person has to know don't count on the prayers of somebody great to save you your prayers are more powerful now that doesn't mean you know it's not either or you can have both and should have both but don't don't omit your own okay and that comes what I wanted to tell you where he is according to the Deeds that he does now he is judged and that according to what he is destined to do that's what the word say would be let's be very careful you watch this four the ministering angels were accusing and saying oh lord of the universe for one who is destined to kill your children with thirst you are bringing up a well you're going to give them a well to drink water from you're saving this Criminal who's going to kill your children a later later period of time and he answered that God answered the angels what is he now righteous or Wicked they replied righteous now of course he wasn't fully good but he wasn't killing the Jewish people now said to them according to his present Deeds I judge him and that is the meaning of where he is now where did he kill Israelites with thirst sir let's see now that's um a thousand years later exiled them as it is stated the hearts prophecy concerning Arabia Etc toward the Thirsty bringing water Etc when they came when they LED them beside the Arabs the Israelites said to the captors please lead us beside the children of our uncle Ishmael and they will have mercy on us as it is stated in the Caravan of the other nights okay many uncles please take us by our uncles the ones who are descended from Ishmael they will have mercy so the captors did that they're talking about a different route and these girls went toward them and said we're being taken off into captivity into into Babylon help so you know what these birds did they brought them salted meat and fish and inflated skins which would be used to carry water inflated them with air so they looked full Israelites thought they were full of water but what would place it into one's mouth and open it the air would enter his body and he would die so the Angels say to God you're considering you say you heard his voice and you considered you're going to save him he who later is going to kill your children why are you doing that and God answered back I judge you where he is now I'm judging on the basis of the future now this is a well-known midrash and then writes well known Rashi but it has to be a little careful with the vocabulary what are the ages objective they're saying you're going to bring him a well to save him right so what are they what are the Angels suggesting what should happen right don't give him a well and then lie no if he dies that he won't have descendants he won't have the seventh descendants that his descendants won't kill Jews will they so what do you mean how are you proposing to give a well to this person whose descendants will do this maybe they will do this you the angels are already taking for granted they will do this they need to take it for granted that he's going to survive he's going to survives what are you proposing so my tax and he has a book on Free Will and he points out there obviously you have to read this as he will have descendants if you God bring him a well but if you don't bring him a well he won't have any sentence and then it won't happen we're not saying it will happen we're saying it will happen if you save him but nothing will happen for sure and this is very very important um there's a there's a fairly deep philosophical uh Point here people will tell you you can't change the past right let's take that as if it were obviously correct it could you could worry about it from quantum mechanics and other people okay let's see can't It's Tricky you can't change the past but you can change the future right you can't just repair it but the future's still open you can't change the future either can't change the future what would changing the future mean what does change mean to change something means it used to be q and now it's R it went from being cute to being R right what would change in the future mean well the future was rainy and now I made it dry the future is a set of events and each time there's only one event right either it's rainy or it's dry can't say it was rainy at that time and I changed it into being dry at that time what happened at that time at that time it is rain or dry can't be both there's no such thing as changing the future either the difference in the past and the future if there's a difference is that you can cause the future but you can't cause the past the past is over and done with nothing you do now can affect the past but what you do now can affect the future you can make the future that it will be this way rather than being that way but you can't change it from being this way into that way because when you change something from from from Q to r that means it really was q and now it's really hard both of them are real future camp both PQ and R changed one into the other so the sloppy talk you can't change the future any more than you can change the past you can only affect the future According to some you can't affect the past is the point that I'm making clear it's just a question of you know having clear Concepts so here we talk about the future what they mean is of course if you save him this is what's programmed to happen if you save it but we don't want that to happen therefore we're telling you don't save him and that won't happen don't take them out their word this is what's going to happen this is going to happen if you save him and if you don't save him it won't happen of course and God says I'm going to I'm going to say because I don't judge on the future I judge on the basis of the president now did you hear a little bit of a slip here we're talking about what what's going to happen in the future he's going to kill the Jews who's going to kill the Jews yeah his descendants that him he's he's going to be a lot he's not going to be alive descendants is going to do it so make sure and the camera raises the following potential contradiction we have a did of a Ben sorrow pencil arrow is a person who at a young age becomes so addicted to behaviors upon which he's totally dependent that if he is allowed to mature he will surely kill to get what he needs it's like being addicted to crack he was surely kill the way get what he needs and therefore the the turret prescribes um death penalty for him so that as the mission puts it he'll die innocent rather than guilty says excuse me don't we say here God judges on the present doesn't judge in the future and he says the difference between judging ruvane on Ruben's future versus judging ruvane on the future of his descendants and here God is saying I'm not going to judge Ishmael on the basis of what if I let him live his descendants will do but judging a person on the basis of what he will do that can happen so that's important to know just in general to how the concept works and of course if in the case of what the same person will do the seeds are already there so it's you're really judging him that he's now put himself in such a position that that's what's going to happen and we by the way we regard this as a kindness well that's really what the mission says the death of a wicked person is a kindness because of prevents him from doing War wickedness which is bad for him not only bad for other people it's bad for him so he's saving him from more self-destructive Behavior yeah so I understand the present state takes an extension to a life's a person's life like when when Hashem judges that's right that's right thank you yes yes okay all right next um 22-1 okay now we're beginning the Al Qaeda the sacrifice of Isaac this is a very complex interesting subtle story so and uh of course we're doing Russia but uh there's an enormous amount okay so verse one this is a page 101 it happened after these things that God tested Abraham said to him Abraham replied here I am now let's take this with arashi here after these things says Rashi some of our sages say that this happened after the words of Satan who was accusing and saying to God about Abraham he was accusing Abraham to God of every Feast that Abraham made he did not sacrifice before you one bull or one rep didn't offer anything to you he obviously doesn't feel gratitude to you he obviously is not dedicated to you he God said to him does he do anything but for his son yet if I were to say to him sacrifice him before me he would not withhold him so the things after which this event take place is the accusation of the Saturn and Google is is engineering this event so as the answer the complaint of the sudden that's one possibility and some say after the words of Ishmael who was boasting to Isaac that he was circumcised the age of 13. so what was 13. and he did a protest he was circumcised at eight days congratulations that was really a big sacrifice on your part right as he said to him with what organ do you intimidate me you're with one organ you are willing to suffer pain in one of the organs of your body if the holy will Blessed Be he said to me sacrifice yourself before me entirely I would not hold back foreign if you've been with me since the beginning you should um I would say be a little cautious here Rashi doesn't say this is shot often he says that what he's saying is shut and here he's quoting the Sages and the first Rashi we we learned Rashid there starts by quoting the sages and then saying but if you wanted to explain the coin dip shot and he says something entirely different from what the sages say here he quotes the sages and doesn't say what the shot should be I think the answer is this neither of these comments is shot because the the book says after these things this happened and these things aren't written in the book usually you'd expect the book to say after these things be referring to something that happened on the previous pages I think what Rashi is saying here I can't explain why the text would link this event to anything on the previous pages so I'm quoting nomshot I'm calling midrash to give some meaning for the words because otherwise I can't give them any meaning at all but he's not claiming that it's shot would be very very unusual to think that this was shot a meaning based on something which isn't written in the book at all I'm not even really into that foreign okay next yeah so there is no other approach to um which has a different I mean I know we're at the moment in Russia but is there is there um you know I didn't look I didn't check so I don't know whether there are other uh there are other explanations let's see if the article was anything here uh things no they skip it I would guess that there are but Rashi probably would uh we disagree because he wouldn't hold that follows his principles of shot okay verse two and he said Hashem please take your son your only one whom you love Isaac they go to the Headland Maria bring him up there as an offering upon one of the mountains which I shall tell you now let's suppose you believe what you should that this book is as terse as possible as brief as possible there's nothing extra and let's suppose that God performs what he does in his economical way as possible do you see on the surface of gross violation of that idea in this verse what's the gross violation of course he's like said please take your son and your only one was she that we already know that um he has like two sons but he has to like be more specific do you seek your son your only one and then finally Isaac so put it sharp where is the violation of doing things in the most efficient I mean he's going to say Isaac anyhow right he is going to use his name because he's his name what do you need the introduction for that's that's that's a Jewish question you know what's it for it's not arbitrary it's got to be for something what's it for so let's get to the second comments I'll go back to the first one because I introduced this already said to him your son he said I have two sons said to him your only one now now watch this carefully um he said this one is the only son of his mother and that one is the only son of his mother what God said to him your only one he said this is the only one of his mother the other one of his mother yeah but that means to each mother he's unique and I said to you you're only one well that's a stupid question just bother me for years till I figured it out what he means is this is the only one I have from this mother and this is the only one I have from this mother each one is unique to me because they have different mothers so you say you're only one excuse me so he says to him whom you love and he said to him I love them both he said to him Isaac now why did he not disclose to it's to him at the beginning that's our question why didn't he say Isaac straight away at the beginning so he says in order not to confuse him suddenly lest his mind become distracted and bewildered number one you tell somebody to do something and it's a shock and he's and he goes on he goes on in like in the days doesn't realize what's uh what's happening to him and also to endear the Commandment to him and to reward him for each and every expression there was a case one of the campaigns in Lebanon where a soldier was wounded was brought to the Rumba Hospital in Haifa and the doctor on duty in the emergency room was the Soldier's father there is a principle in medicine that you don't treat your own family because your emotions get involved they Cloud your judgment and you they Physicians will serve the a will treat peace family Bill Gates family they won't do it they won't treat their own family you have to imagine the shock of seeing your own son there whether he got somebody else to do it or not but the terrible shock so he wanted him to be clear-headed and we'll see that that's another that's a concern coming up in the next few verses as well he wanted it to be clear-headed so he introduced the idea to him gradually gently that's one explanation the other explanation which is similar is that when you do this I want you to have everything in mind I want you to think to feel to experience this is my son and he's my only one and he's the one whom I love because then you'll have credit for every one of them instead of turning yourself off and making yourself cold and just doing it to protect your your your feelings doing it like a like a robot uh I learned many years ago that surgeons can be very cold and I was told by one surgeon one reason that happens is because every surgeon kills people every surgeon kills people surgeons could do thousands of surgeries sometimes he messes up sometimes he patches it if he doesn't make himself cold he won't be able to do surgery so some of them retreat they defend themselves by making themselves cold God saying to Abraham I don't want you to be called I want you to experience this fully and then you'll have Merit for every every um every element in the in the uh in in the performance now one of them he has two sons one of his smile right and he says the one you love is I love both of them well he does love both of them right but he says take one right so there's a midrash here that fills in the missing missing information told me this many many years ago Abraham threw them out he threw out Ishmael and and Hagar we just read about that they traveled they took up residence and Ishmael married and began I began he became a great a great nation Abraham kept tabs on him he just abandoned him okay so I said don't have him at home fine I won't have him at home but he kept tabs in it at one point he sent an anonymous agent who came to shmuel's house okay whatever it was domicile wasn't home his wife was home and this agent asked for help food three whatever it is and she said get lost get lost don't need you came back and reported so everyone sent a message to Ishmael your wife isn't worthy of you and he divorced her and he remarried and Abraham said to another agent and this time the second wife was friendly I was kind and did in fact provide him with what he needed came back and he put it to Abraham Abraham sent and said Ishmael come home came home God said this to him on the day he came home take your son Abraham says I have two sons he's back he's done juva he's here he's reformed I have two sons I love them both now the verses are the verse is alive it's really alive okay that's one thing now let's go back to the first comment that Rashi makes in this verse please take so Rashi comments I've mentioned this too before the word Hebrew is and he says only expression of a request now the word means now the uncle's who translates it translates the same as iron test which means now no also means now but you have three words for now in the same language and this is the polite form of the word and that's why it's understood the request some people make a mistake of thinking commentators are saying the word Noah means please no it doesn't mean please it means now but it's a polite way of saying that so it indicates a request now the question here is God's requesting that he should do it why would that be God doesn't usually request God gives orders there are exceptions but the exceptions have to be explained there's an unbelievable run in the Joshua Saran and this law says most of it also much coming much later as the midrash comments Abraham real really here is facing a unique situation because God's command here contradicts something that God has already told him we saw it Isaac will be your continuation hmm at this age Isaac has no children and God is now telling Abraham to kill Isaac so Abraham says to himself let's see now um God told me he'll be my continuation and God told me to kill him hard to see how both of those could come true so what should I do God gave me information which contains the contradiction as far as I can tell I can't make both of them true what should I do says the Ron adesla he would have been perfectly within his rights to say so I won't kill him I will fulfill God's first statement and now for the second statement because if I fulfill God's second statement I'm violating his first statement there's no way out to get both of them and I haven't been given any any indication which way to go says this Russia's Iran that's why God says please he's saying please because God says to Abraham I know you're in a situation where I can't command you because even if I express a command the command contradicting something else so in the end with the with the total total information in front of you you're not faced by a command I know that that's why I'm saying please that of the contradiction do this one because I can't command you nothing I say now will count as a command because the country do something else that I said that's what's hidden in the police here yeah I mean it's like having kids he's like how would he be doing anything when he's being promised almost like future Generations if that's if that's a promise by by God saying you have a yes I would have future Generations how is that anything of avram's doing you're making something he's choosing one or the other but how's it a choice foreign let me let me try to give you a parallel and see if we can work it out that way suppose God said to Abraham totally totally separate uh separate incident God says to Abraham George over there his great grandson is going to build me a city in Nigeria now now Abraham let's say has reason to consider killing George should he when do you say wait a minute now God told me that his descendants are going to do XYZ if I kill him he's not going to have any descendants sounds like something wrong there I really shouldn't do that should I because God has plans for him so the fact that God tells him they're going to be descendants means that you shouldn't interfere so what does it make whether it's George descendants or his own descendants he's telling him that Isaac's descendants will be your continuation we shouldn't he assume that if I had these two things that they're in fact non-contradictions that God will somehow make it happen well after your descendants even if logically doesn't make sense to me that if I'm killing him obviously I can't I feed your descendants well why not say uh since I can't figure out how it's supposed to work God will make them both true without my killing him but I mean if I'm faced with the contradiction I can't figure a solution now for both of them and and I'm saying but God I'm not I'm not limiting God so then he can make them both true without by doing it you can think of all true with me killing him well with me fulfilling his request but again if if I'm going to imagine God's making something come true in a way that I can't even imagine so then say he'll make it true that I sacrificed him even if I don't sacrifice it seriously if you go both ways that's right the same argument can go both ways because we could say it's only one from from Sarah that's right but there's still and I'm still confused as to why it needs to specify that oh why God should specify that because I understand it's saying please take your son and the one and I also understand the phrase whom you love but I don't understand the the addition of your only one I guess um it's to to remove the idea that I have two so one is expendable and the answer is but you don't have two of the same thing and neither one can replace what the other one is neither one can replace what the other one is so um you have to realize you're giving them something unique that's Irreplaceable I think that would be that would be roughly the idea okay so that's why he says please next [Music] that's these two okay now here's a tricky one it says in the in the Hebrew bring him up there as an offering upon one of the mountains that I shall tell you now look at this Rashi I think there's very widespread misunderstanding of this Rashi bring him up he did not say to him Slaughter him because the Holy One Blessed Be he did not wish him to slaughter him but to bring him up on the mountain prepare him for a burnt offering and as soon as he brought him up to the mountain he said to him take him down bring him up okay so you brought him up maybe bring him let me bring him up onto the altar if he put him on the altar we pray about the altar good I said bring him up brought him up take him down end the story that's why that's what I wanted right so I have heard people say so you see Abraham was never commanded to kill him that's what rashi's telling you the words here are elevation words up and down that's all and therefore it wasn't really a test because he was never told to kill him really um well let's take a look at verse 10 on the next page built the author puts Isaac on the altar Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife two Slaughter his son hmm so how's that if the words don't say to slaughter a son why is Abraham acting out sorry him until he's until he stopped maybe Abraham didn't understand poor Abraham maybe he's just a neophyte in Hebrew you know it's kind of hard for him doesn't get the grammar and he makes mistakes he didn't understand it even invented it what are we talking about here what's this supposed to mean now I will tell you the the correct shot the correct shot is to to bring him up there as an offering means to slaughter it means the slaughter it's an idiom in Hebrew and it includes slaughtering and if you ask me where do you get that from Rabbi would you have a right to ask the answer is at the bottom of the page of 101 103 Abraham raised his eyes and saw Behold a ram afterwards caught in the thicket by its horns so Abraham went and took the RAM and raised it up there as an offering instead of his son it's exact same words in Hebrew there's Hallelujah exact same words do you think that Abraham took the ram tied it up put it on the Altar and then took it down untied it and let it run off into the forest if that's what he did you didn't have to do it because that's what he did with Isaac he had to put him up tied him put him up there and took him down that has already been done no the hotlist of Allah means to slaughter but it means it idiomatically it's an idiom to raise up there as a as an offering means to slaughter so what is Ashley doing in verse two we're actually saving the literal use of the words the literal use of the words and why is he doing that because when God speaks there ought to be some true meaning for the words they're not just a bald-faced lie yeah not just a bald-faced disconnect from reality that's not acceptable in explaining God's words we have we'll come to this later every session we have in our vocabulary two concerns with respect to the concept of Truth one is that when you speak don't mislead other people don't cause them to think something that isn't true that's one concern and the other concern is don't use false words they're not the same they're not the same I'll give you an example I live in Boston I have a friend who lives in Miami it's the end of November it's been snowing in Boston my friend is coming to visit me for the weekend calls me up and says how much snow is on the ground now I know that his four inches will bring his boots I have less than four inches he won't bring his boots I also know he thinks that I exaggerate so if I tell him it's four inches he's going to say Ah that's Godly he exaggerates that's probably two inches and not bring his boobs in order to get him to bring his boots I got to tell him it's eight inches and say oh that's Godly he's exaggerating doubles everything but he said eight inches four inches and four inches to bring the boots I can't create a true idea in his mind by using true words because he'll discount it Sierra have to choose which way shall I go shall I create an idea a true idea in his mind or shall I use true words we'll see a case like that in the Commission in a while you associate so in the meantime here he's got to create in Abraham's mind the idea he's going to kill his son otherwise it's not a test so God uses an idiom which any Hebrew speaker would understand to mean to slaughter If Abraham had said ah look at that God said I wonder take him up okay I got it I'm going to put him up and take it down isn't that what he said that that would be straight out now disobedience who's straight out in our disobedience but if you want to know how God's words could have a true application they could have a true application that's all Rashi is saving here not telling you said Abraham misunderstood not said it was any mistake and you're not saying that that's what the words convey the words convey an idiomatic um uh you know I don't know if they still do it anymore but like 10 years ago 15 years ago in here in Israel people started addressing each other as brother someone who doesn't know the custom in the country and comes in and hears and knows that from his dictionary means my brother thinks man these guys have big families how many brothers he has about 30. I know there are lots of mothers okay fine it's a near East you know harems they have Arabs so the the words being used in an idiomatic way that's what's going on here that's all that rashi's telling us I'm not telling us any more than that now he says one of the mountains that God says Abraham to all your Blessed Be he makes the righteous Wonder or wait you know the afterwards discloses to them his intentions and all this is an addition in order to increase their reward likewise I told you this once already and he's bringing the verse that I use then God says to Isaac let's expression don't go to Egypt dwell in the land that I will show you oh no I'm sorry this is this boy started out with Abraham that's right go go to the land that I will show you I remember we asked there so which way should he go NorthEast Southwest how do you know how to go thank you and likewise concerning Jonah Proclamation safely doesn't tell them what so here I told you then that When God Says like he says to Isaac dwell on the land I will tell you or there he said to Abraham go to the land I will show you and here he says on the mountain that I will show you what he wants from the from the listener is a total open-ended commitment whatever you say Ethiopia going Nebraska going Los Angeles no not good I am going um you know no no restrictions no qualifications um you're a servant I will do whatever you please and then you can tell them right away like with Isaac he says dwell on the land that I was that I will tell you and then in the next verse he says stay where you are so there's no there's no time in between there's just time enough for whatever you say that's all God wants that whatever you say reaction and then he tells them what to do so that's what's going on here that's again to add to the Merit of uh of what he's doing in this particular case okay we'll pick it up tomorrow