Avraham Avinu: A Visit, a Plea, a Contrast, and a Covenant by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin

everybody here all right I see some uh see some coats some people are coming but all right okay uh couple of announcements before we start first of all once again we'd like to thank the yearlong sponsors of our shear and they are uh Dr and Mrs Manaka Marcus on the in memory of in memory of of um hild heras and Hilda Meer to ladies whom I knew uh as Rabbi of congregation abor Englewood and it's a pleasure to dedicate the sheer every all year long in their memory today all the shirim are dedicated by Mrs H in memory of K mhe Mori a beautiful dedication Hitler robbed her of her Jewish Education she she spent her life catching up attending shiurim and proudly supporting her family's efforts in lewood Torah the sponsorship was called in and they they they want us to remember her and remember her efforts her personal efforts at liot Tor and enabling others to to learn Torah as well so a beautiful beautiful introduction all right we're going to this is actually going to be a a pretty ambitious sheer today we're going to discuss um three four different events if we can depending on our time um I'd like to just mention that we need to strike a balance between uh my speaking and the questions that come from the floor so uh what I'd like to do is the following um there are going to be points in the shear where I'm going to be throwing things out to you and I'm going to be asking you for your participation please participate if you have a question that is absolutely pertinent to what it is we're talking now then of course you are welcome to ask it if it's a question that you think can wait until the end of this year and and then be addressed at that point then we'll do it at that point uh there's been some comment that I've been allowing too many uh questions from the floor so uh let's let's let's try to limit them to those issues that are absolutely pertinent to what it is we're talking about okay all of the events that we're going to be talking about today come from para vro all right which is uh the para which is the central para of the lives of AR and SAR it begins there their lives begin in they go through and and continue and end in now we're going to start with the actual opening of the para itself a very famous event and that is v v appears right appears I said she is sitting at the door of his tent In the Heat of the day and hasem appears to him he picks up his eyes he lifts up his his face and he sees three people standing for him he runs to them from the door of the tent he B bows down etc etc etc what is missing in that description the identity of the people the identity of the people correct what else is missing ab's name Abram's name okay what else is missing something Central is missing what God Said right what is the purpose of this visit appears to him inem doesn't just appear to someone like that Hashem has something to say Hashem has something to instruct Hashem has something to share what is it that takes place in this V in this Vision where hasem is appearing to him hasem is appearing to him in the in the in the tance of of mam all right so the rabbis will say that there are two approaches to understand this this vision of hashem's presence one of them reflects back and that's the one which I would call the med rashik approach and one of them reflects forward the one that reflects back right the one that reflects back it reflects to the last event that occurred in the previous para bro correct the last event that occurred in the previous para is the Brisa of Abraham and his household so therefore says the medish what is what does it refer to is coming to be is coming to visit the ill and in particular he is V visiting on the third day to the bris which apparently according to kazal is the hardest day in terms of the recuperation and it's interesting because having experienced visits to people in the hospital after surgeries or other events very often it is the third day that when they're more aware and and more more sensitive to everything that's occurred it very often is the third day that ends up being the most difficult of the the days anyway so Hashem appears to him according to this interpretation appears because he is visiting the ill and that's why it it does not say anything because that's not the purpose of this visit the purpose of this visit is simply Hashem wants to visit aam and see how he's doing okay that's one interpretation theot interpretation I would suggest reflects forward and that is Hashem appeared to him M how knew through the three men who appear to him at this point in other words that it is it is attaching the event to what it is about that which is about to unfold and therefore is not reflecting back on the bris but it's an introduction to this visit of the Three Angels to Abraham and Sarah now look at the last line he says abam says please my Lord if you find favor in my eyes if I find favor in your eyes do not depart now who's he talking to it depends on which interpretation you take if you take the interpretation of the pup shot then he is talking to the people who just appeared right it's a singular in the singular is very good that's correct all right that's that creates a problem that's why part of the medic interpretation is that he is not talking to the three people right perhaps to the leader of the three that he perceives to be the leader but that he's actually talking to Hashem and Along come the rabbis and they say if you take that interpretation that it's hem visiting him and he's visiting him and it's not connected to the three men but it's visiting him to to or whatever other reason he's visiting for then you can learn from this the rabbi say that is even more important than talking to God because he turns to God and he says please God don't leave I've got something important to do and he then goes and he he begins to talk to the to the people so dependent upon how you envision this event will depend on what the rabbis learn from this event there is another way to understand what's Happening Here occurred to me many years ago that perhaps is a little bit different from either of the two approaches aaham has just experienced the first event that's going to be a Mitzvah across the generations aside from alah right and that is the first Mitzvah that's going to be a Mitzvah across the generations is whato so maybe the Torah is saying that once he experiences Mitzvah Hashem appears to him just to be there and that hasem hashem's presence in Abraham's life is now of a different quality whereas before he appeared to him periodically to to tell him what to do or to give him Commandments or to to to uh to to to somehow communicate with him now Hashem is present woven in into his life because that's what the mitzvot are the mitzvot are where you weave into the life of a person God's presence so therefore right appeared to him in just to be part of his life because he's now begun to perform a Mitzvah that will bring God into his life okay all right so that's the first event that we looked at we we found that it had different ways to understand it and there are messages that potentially emerge from it depending on how we understand it the next event that we're going to turn to is really the next event in the Torah and this one is going to require a little more work on our part all right so I invite you to take a look for a moment at the next section The Plea read for yourselves in the Hebrew or the English braan right does everybody have a s sheet no you don't have S sheet okay I have an extra one is there an extra one here think I okay here we go can I get some more how many you need does anybody need a sore sheet everybody has okay all right to take a look read for yourselves in the Hebrew or the English famous event famous event sh let's Abram know he's about to destroy Sodom and Amor Abraham emerges and begins to argue on behalf of Sodom and okay look at the moment for the underly section the underlying section is the Crux of Abraham's argument everybody see it okay page two right page one and page two okay I'm going to ask you a question where does Abraham take take a leap of logic that that really is a logical in his in his argument if he were a lawyer you'd strike him down right away what did the opponent would strike him down right away where does Aram take a leap of logic that's not 30 what 4 4 to 30 okay that's uh you know why is it that he moves in that you know how that numbers like that that's interesting but there something else um the assumption that there are innocent the assumption that there are innocent okay that's possible but that's not it's not a leap of not he's saying if there is he you know he seems to concede that if there are only evil people there it's okay to go ahead and Destroy okay he seems to concede that if they're only evil people that it's okay to destroy the cities God never said that he's going to destroy them no God says I'm going down and I'm going to see what the story is I'm going to see what the story is say what he'll do and if the assumption is he's going to respond to them with punishment if they deserve it take no right but a good that's a very good point that's a very good point can you repeat it so we can hear she said that God doesn't necessarily outright say I'm going to destroy the cities he says I'm going to see see whether or not they deserve to be destroyed or whether they deserve to be punished yes what seems to be missing is that he says you know if is 50 uh we will destroy it and said and he said it's not 50 it doesn't go and say it doesn't say Well they're not 50 backs you up oh okay all right in other words he doesn't at each at each number hm doesn't doesn't say there aren't that so mam keeps going down without being rejected right all right but that's still not what I'm looking for yeah I know it's not what you're looking for but my question is it's not what I'm looking for then don't say that that Hashem says I've heard their cry and then he says I have to go down and check it out why does he have to check it out like in the trying he heard the cry he heard the right it's right we'll get to that it's a personalization sh is described as reacting on as if he were to do something that that were is understandable to us which is to come down and see he heard the Cry of the Jews he didn't have to check it out he didn't have to check it out that's a good point what's your what's my all right I'll take one more possibility um he already did destroy in the Mel so why wouldn't he do it again all right he might he might okay all right but again I'm looking for the leap of logic what the assumption that God is asking him for his opinion that's a good point what what gives abam the assumption that God's asking him for his opinion that's a good point assumtion that God doesn't seems to indicate that he doesn't know already all the facts he's going to give him right it's Poss right in other words why is he assuming that he's that that he's going to give out God information that God doesn't have okay yes in my opinion himself usually do not come on the Earth but he himself made a decision come in in the meal with Abraham talking with AB he's asking the only one he choose a righteous man Abraham right are you going to ask me mercy okay okay good he's inviting him to argue he's inviting him to argue by telling it to him I understand but I'm still looking for the leap of logic how how does Abraham know that he's going to find that they're guilty and that he's going to destroy he doesn't know he doesn't know he why does he say are you going to destroy the the righteous with the wi Wicked who said that there is going to be that destruction in the first place okay so Hashem has said Hashem what Hashem says basically and he he really does say that he's going to destroy what if you take a look at the next well it doesn't have actually it doesn't have it here all right um I'm he in the previous section he he sort of says I'm going to color it's going to I'm going to destroy them I'm going to destroy the cities it it's an indication that that's the case yes where does he get where does get the number 50 from oh where you get the number 50 from okay that those are all excellent questions but none of them are one what I'm looking for not one for why don't you just I'm going to just say it right because I wanted to see if anybody got it all right let me let me tell you what the problem is read together with me okay what is he saying there God will you what destroy destroy the righteous with the wicked now stop there what is The Logical result of that question will you destroy save the save The Righteous right save will you destroy the righteous with the wicked God are you going to are you going to do that are you going to destroy the righteous people with the wicked people therefore destroy the wied only the wicked but then look at the next pule right what's the next P say if there are 50 people then what do I want you to do I want you to save everybody but that's not your argument abam your argument is don't destroy the righteous with the wicked destroy the righteous with the wicked means just destroy the wicked don't destroy the righteous where do you get the idea that if there are 50 righteous people not only do I save them but I save the city and then in the next sentence he goes back to his original argument right what is the next thing he says it would be terrible for you to destroy sadic with the Russia so therefore I'm now back to my other argument with save The Righteous do you see do you see that his the logic of his argument is is is missing yeah he wasn't totally baseless in that argument because he was told I'm going IAM that I am going to do something to Sodom the city the whole city he wasn't baseless right I understand not baseless but but what he should say if he's arguing for the righteous is he should say God take a bubble get the righteous out then destroy the city if if if send down leaflets what send down leafl to the right send out leaflets to the righteous whatever go this away and all right whatever it is whatever it is send out leaflets okay okay guys all right so stay with me so stay with me so what I am asking is what gives Abraham the right to make that leap of logic to say don't destroy the righteous with the wicked and then say that if there are righteous people you're going to spare the entire city as opposed to just sparing the righteous so I'm going to give you a suggestion all right and the suggestion is based upon the paragraph that comes right before this interaction and that is a paragraph found on page two towards the bottom of the page God says to himself will I hide what I'm about to do from go AB is going to be a righteous nation and strong nation and all the nations of the world will be blessed through him because I know that he's going to command his children and those after him to do righteousness etc etc Etc now this is an abundantly strange paragraph where else do you find God talking to himself or arguing with himself all right what exactly you when when man is created he says you see God announcing man's creation by talking to himself or by talking to the angels depending on which medress you want to take or whether you want p but basically here God is Not only talking to himself but he's arguing with himself right he's saying could I possibly do this and not let Abraham know and once he gives us the argument that he should let ABR know it I I still don't know why he's letting abam know it's still not that clear just because Abram is going to be a great nation I have to let him know that I'm doing to Sodom and Amor right so there are those who suggest that he's given AB the land and therefore ab's the right to know anything that's going to occur on the land that that might be the argument but all right I'll take okay remember with me I said I'll I'll take questions only or comments only if they're absolutely pertinent to what we are saying yes there's a difference between letting Abraham know and letting him argue the case good point we what we there's a difference between letting him know and letting him argue correct and we see that Hashem by letting him know apparently is allowing is opening up the possibility of the argument now remember we said when we spoke in our earlier class about Noah and Abraham this is what makes Abraham great what makes Abram great is that he doesn't just accept what Hashem says but that he struggles or argues or works with with what the information he's given to to create righteousness so what though is the connection between this paragraph what what is Hashem saying why must he let Abraham know what's about to have because he's giving him a land he's going to be create a land for him okay so that's that's one interpretation that he's a rightous he should see that he should see that God is righteous will be righteous okay good so they can okay all right that he should exact exactly exactly very good that's one interpretation that he the land is being given to him and he has a right to know what's going to happen on the land and he should learn from God the righteousness right how God God deals with righteousness okay I see five HS my gosh all right okay um okay so I will take them very very quickly remember what I said in the beginning people are complaining that I'm getting up too much space here yes Hashem is coming to AR to to to warn him that it's this is strict for SAR that that rest that his promise will will remain after this is done okay that's very very good point very good point I'm going to come back to that rep I will I'm repeating it what he said is that Hashem is saying to aam don't worry the fact that I'm destroying Sodom and Amora does not mean that the rest of the land is threatened okay very good fine what else we have to not forget that his nephew Lo is there is something isn't there some warning because you got family there and okay and that is a very good point that the load is there and it does not appear in this interaction at all it will appear later when Hashem saves Lo Hashem will save Lo and the the Torah seems to indicate that he's saving Lo because of Abraham's Merit not because of Lo's Merit remember what we said about Lo he sucked into sedone all right remember we said that last time yes um he Hashem is letting abam know that these are not the people that you can enlightened okay Hashem is teaching him that there are some people that are beyond your beyond your sphere of influence you're not going to be able to help right okay keep going all this language about I'm going to make a great nation out of him and he's going to teach his children means he's going to be a role model and as a role model you're going to see that he even prays for s that he even prayed for sedom right in other words he wants he wants abam to emerge as a role model as someone who will even pray for sidon okay let's let's stop a minute let's stop a minute and and I I'm going to suggest something building on what you're saying but but but clarifying it and and making it short there are two promises that Hashem gives to AB what are those two promises the land and the land and your brethren right your land and your children land and descendants but there are also two other promises that are inherent in those promises and that is number one if you are righteous you and your children will survive in a wicked World k that God that you will not be destroyed right that's number one number two and it's in this paragraph that you will not only not not not only will you not be destroyed but very well said you not only will you not be destroyed but because of you the world will be blessed so those are two very clear different statements right one could be all right you know abam you're going to be saved you're gonna don't worry about it you you're and the other is no not only will you be saved but you will have the ability to affect the world what's happening in sadome isar is a microcosm of the world and potentially a threat to both both of those promises if God destroys sodome with Aram not knowing that there are no righteous people then there are two promises that are destroyed number one the righteous people don't survive and number two the righteous people did not have an effect to save the world so AB argues both AB turns to Hashem and says what KES baraku you promised me that I would be saved that I would that that if I'm righteous I Will Survive so how can you destroy the righteous with the wicked but not only that Hashem what else did you promise me that I would that I would affect the world ah if you're telling me that I would affect the world then what then what should those righteous people do they should be able to save the world so AB is arguing from his own perspective concerning his own fate and therefore under those conditions he is turning and he's saying Hashem you promis me two things and Hashem is saying and that's the introduction in that paragraph right because in that paragraph it says he will become a great nation I'm looking at that paragraph where God speaks to himself AB is going to be I promised him he will be a great nation but what did I also promise him so therefore he can now argue on both stance and that's what gives him the right to make that leap of logic and Hashem feels the need to to allow this to unfold so that AB will not feel threatened Vis his own mission yes why did say to God let me go down and try to make them better people good question good question why didn't aam say let me go down and I'll try to make them better people I'll tell you what I think abam knows AB sees what's happened to L remember we said that Abraham would never live in the shadow of sodon because Abraham knows that is alone he will be inexorably changed by that by Sone so he's not willing to give up his own righteousness and his own identity even if it's to save end would be endangering his own he'd be endangering his own morality all right could be could be all right that pertinent pertinent go ahead um I'm wondering how Hashem saves for Abraham's he listens to Abraham's for the righteous and I wonder if this was like a one time only thing because we know very well that righteous people are healed with evil people at the same time so how do we relate with our own mind how we do we relate to the fact that Abraham pleads for the righteous is it that we don't have Abraham pleading for us all right that's a very good question very good question the question is we see AB pleading for the righteous the righteous should be spared how do we deal with the world in which we see righteous people being killed and the answer is we don't have a good answer to that right right I I remember years ago I remember years ago um Rabbi Norman lamb sitting down with a young group of rabbis of which I was one so it's a while ago and this and he said any philosophical argument or discussion that you have with your with any of your balaba with any of your members anybody that you're dealing with eventually will come down to the fundamental question s why does why do bad things happen to good people all right and why do good things happen to bad people and we don't have an answer to that question all right okay I will are these burning issues that need to be brought up yes go ahead this is the first time sh speaks to Al predicting something okay very good and this is the first s of the model of that he sends to B all right listen to what she said she said this is the first time God is is is predicting the future to Abraham that's not totally correct because he in brisban absor he told him the future right but this is prophesy prophecy about someone else and and there are those who suggest that this is the origin of Prophecy that this is the beginning of prophetic Vision within okay um I'll take I'll take the comment but I I mentioned at the beginning of the class that some people have have complain that I'm that I'm taking too many questions or too many comments so let's if it's pertinent to this particular issue I'll take it yes I I want to ask this question I I I want to make sure this assumption I'm not goote for right or left but I I put this way Years Years many many people Israeli or American Jews they did everything in their power to leave coexistence and I still believe that with the other side but at the same time what happening why we're still in G why we all right so all right let me let me let me stop you right there because I think your questions are absolutely powerful but they're not I can't answer that I we're not going to answer current saying this war is relating what TR to do everything in his time we do the same thing right what you're saying is the same we we are engaged in the same struggle exactly that aam was engaged in okay we've said that before things don't change things don't change okay let's move on all right so yes may I make one observation which is so very important you say that Hashem told Abraham you will not be destroyed right the Jewish people through the generations logically should have been destroyed 100 well well said and we are living today with that promise correct correct correct the fact that hasem promised that we would not be Destro by all by all by all logical argument we should no longer be we should be gone Hashem has has perpetuated us correct that is correct all right let's move on let's move on we're going to now come to the third of four events that I told you we will talk about or four third or four issues that I would talk about with you and that is the contrast between Abraham's reaction to the two powerful events that occur in pares V so so we've already seen once he is told by AB by Hashem I'm going to destroy or or endangering sedom and Amora so what's his reaction how could you do it he Bargains he argues he's he he pleads but there is another event that occurs in Para and that event is the A and when he is faced with the AA at least in the text take a look at his reaction read paragraph two on page number three take your child your only child right the one that you love as it's go and offer him up on one of the mountains that I will show you the next gets up in the morning he Saddles his yke where is the right where is the Aram who argues s Andora where is the Aram who should what are you taking things out on on for why are you endangering plus not only is this a question concerning y's life but this is potentially endangering what the nation God's old promis to abam everything has been promising to abam from the start right in fact the medish has a powerful powerful scene where the medish says that ABR is going up the mountain and suddenly appears to him an old man and the old man says to him what are you doing he says I'm going to offer you up as an Ola and the old man says to him are you crazy what why why are you doing that and and abam says because God commanded me and he the old man say him but God commanded you yesterday that you're going to be or told you yesterday you're going to be a great nation and he told you that that progeny is going to come from who so tomorrow after you destroy he's going to show back and he's going to say what did you do who is the old man Satan who is the old man Abraham himself himself the SAT appearing maybe right in or he is the he he is this that the medish has him arguing the arguments that you or I would have argued under these conditions but they are absent in the text so my question to you and here I will take suggestions why is Abraham does Abraham argue so belligerently and so strongly when it comes to Sodom and Amora and yet is silent in the face of the a go to pray and here it's also it's teaching us was more of accepting and believing hasem and it was such a conflict and ab couldn't figure it out he said I I just okay good all right so you're suggesting that again all of these events are meant to Model Behavior for us in the case of Sodom Mor he he's modeling the behavior of seeking righteousness here you're modeling the behavior of acceptance because it's beyond his can and he can't can't argue yes I'll go further I'm going to build on that go I think maybe that AB just like when it comes to other people and when it comes to himself doesn't all right that's another possibility that when it comes to other people he is willing to pray and argue and and be strong when it comes to himself and his progeny he's not willing to make make that argument yes another possibility is that says maybe hash found something wanting in and if hasem wants me to have another child that could happen all right maybe has something want and H and if I could have another child but but still one would expect him to ask that you know one would expect him to so yes um because uh because Hashem made a direct command okay good good the second is a direct command okay there are two different Realms and I'm just going to build on what a couple of you said there are two different Realms Within in which Hashem is dealing with Mo with Abraham on in the in this para there is the realm of din of judgment where everything makes sense there is a logic to it and the logic is because they do XYZ right I am therefore going to kill them or destroy them the second event is in the realm of n it's the only one of Abram's tests that the Torah tells you is a test right and the word N means experience it means test it may also come from the word nce which means Banner it's to announce Abraham's greatness so what you have here is you have a a separate realm where God is commanding him to do something and offering no reason reason and when you are faced with n when you're operating in that realm which is the realm you were asking about before which is why the bad things happen to good people except Etc in that realm you can't argue all you can do is pass through the test and hope to remove remain unscathed at the other end and the issue is that our had the ability was granted the ability to determine when you are in the realm of N and when you are in the realm of din that is an ability that that we don't have and therefore once once you are given that situation what is your what what choice do you have the choice you have is to operate within both when you are when we are confronted with some sort of challenge we treat it both as n and on the one hand we argue with Hashem we D to Hashem we pray to Hashem we say please and then finally after all the prayers are finished after everything is done we turn to Hashem and say and now do what do what you will so so we operate in both Realms aam at the ability to see the distinction and responds differently to each yes why didn't Hashem test him before he made all the promises to him all right why didn't he test him do it after he promised him the because maybe because it's a bigger test Nation why didn't he test him before promising and all those things you test them then you give them a maybe this is maybe this is a bigger test test I've promised you all these things and now I'm going to do test you with something that's going to contradict it that makes it a bigger test all right but my now now having said that let's return now to the ARA in isolation Okay so we're Sugg that aam is is is operating in two different Realms right sh is operating in two different Realms and in each realm Abraham is respons in in appropriate fashion to that realm but why does God ever need to test anybody why does he ever need to test anybody himself doesn't doesn't God know from the start what Abraham is going to do why is it therefore as necessary to to create a test so um there's there's that mush with a pot you you um test someone to make sure that you're durable so maybe he wants Abraham to be strengthened through these tests okay all right one possibility is that the test is to strengthen Abraham another would be is the test is to let him know his own his own ability right his own his own strength right there are a variety of answers that are proposed by ham one answer by the ramban and others is that the purpose of the test is to be to take from the potential and activate that potential and make it real let me let me give you an example God forbid if a fire were to break out in this room none of us knows who will be the heroes and who will be the cowards right and none of us know who will Who Will and again the cowards are not necessarily that bad I mean they're just trying to save themselves but you've got all sorts of different possibilities here and to go a step further once we act in a particular way that will change who we are right if I'm a hero then after my heroism I'm a different person if I'm a coward and after the cowardice I'm a different person so what you're doing is you are taking from the potential and activating that potential to make it real all right that is one way of understanding the test another way of understanding the test the ram says my mind as opposed to my man says that the word comes from the word which means a banner or a proclamation the purpose of the nission is to Proclaim Abraham's greatness to the world in other words the purpose of the N is not just for ab's knowledge not just for Abraham's benefit in terms of activation of his potential but it's to let everyone in the world know what Abraham is capable of doing and and that is okay so all of those all of those are possibilities having said that let's return to something you and I looked at 10 weeks ago all right I'm I'm bargaining that some of you might remember some of you might not but the rashbam has a beautiful interpretation here it's based on the first three words of the text in the page three or actually we can now go turn to page four was after these things Hashem tested AB all right I'm going to ask you a question I asked you 10 weeks ago watch does the Torah follow chronological order depends depends on who you listen to all right the the the answer that I I suggest to you is the Torah always follows chronological order except when it doesn't all right now what do I mean by that what I mean by that is really very simple it's not very simple it's it's complex what I mean by that is does the Torah the Torah always follows chronological order except in some cases According to some commentaries where the Torah will go out of chronological order because those commentaries insist that the Torah be understood in a particular way the ramban for example however will say the Torah always follows chronological order unless it announces that it's not unless it's telling you this event came before this or this happened earlier than this so according to the ran the Torah is always chronological now if the Tor is primarily chronological why does it ever have to say what which one of which is it happened right away one of which it happened later but the point being why does it have to tell me this is happening after this if the Torah is following chronological order then it's following chronological order unless it announces that it's not so what would you answer what's the purpose of that phrase It's a connective it's a connective phrase it depend what happen what's happening now is thematically connected to what happened before right what happened right before the ARA does anyone remember right before what right before the AA I see somebody saying on the sheets no no s not the bris with a the Covenant with a if you take a look on page number four you'll see I have for you the text of that Covenant right what happens is a right AI comes and he what does he do abela comes and asks for a covenant with Abraham says we see that Hashem is with you and now make a covenant with me insh right if you will and I want this Covenant to be an intergenerational covenant not just between me and you but I want it to be intergenerational between me and you and our children and our grandchildren so long comes the rashbam now everybody else or most everybody else has very great difficulty connecting the AA with the Covenant what connection is there all right why does it say what connection is there between the AA and the Covenant with the bris with so the medish will Rashi immediately will quote medish and will say that here does not mean things but it means words coming from the word debor and what is it that Hashem is saying what is it that the Torah is saying that there were accusations that were answered by the a that that is said to for example you think you're such a great big big deal you had a bris at age eight I'm having a bris at age 12 right lot harder so Along Comes Hashem and says you'll see what Y is capable of doing in the right or the Satan came to hasem and said now remember Satan between us we have to remember that we don't believe in an independent Satan Satan is a Mal Satan is an angel an angel is something that that represents a particular aspect of God's existence or being and an angel only has one task and after that task disappears right so Satan here unless it's someone who has potential task that reappears over and over again like Satan now Satan comes to hasem and says Abra made a party when was born but he didn't offer you anything he didn't offer you any any kind of so Hashem says oh you'll see what ab's willing to do so that's the medish but the rashbam refuses to accept the medish the rashbam is my favorite classical commentary because he sticks close to pup shot he stays close to pup shot he stays to this he sticks with the straightforward understanding of the text and the rashbam says no rashbam says that the criteria here is that there is a connection between the bris with ABI Mel take a look at the rash Bam's words it is very they are very powerful take a look at first of all on page number five the first thing he says it's the rule call see it every time it says it is to connect what is about to occur with what came before afan I'm skipping to the to the underlining section AF because actually the whole text of the rash is longer I only took out the sections that I felt we needed to see after Abraham was willing to contract a covenant in perpetuity with the likes of look at look at the bottom of the of that paragraph you were dealt holy with your son right you weren't careful with your son and you endangered him by creating a covenant with the likes of ABI now take him up and see what that good that Covenant will do you in other words is teaching Abraham so that he has to be more careful with the welfare of his own family even as he's preaching to the world and trying to make peace with the world and trying to deal with the world that he has to be more cautious with the welfare of his own and what's fascinating is that in the this is a turning point in A's life the next really their own only two events that occur in both of them Abram deals with his own family first is what first is the the bris I'm sorry the first is the burial of Sor the second is the finding of a wife for its right so these are these are all very very important events but it's a turning point where Abram at least in the recorded text pulls in and is not preaching to the world now that doesn't mean it negates all the preaching that he did until then it means that that preaching remains important but he is sensitive to his own and to the importance of his own so it's a turning point in Abraham's life and it seems that it it creates an Abraham who is much more cautious with with his own and anxious to make sure that his own legacy will be per will be will be saved and perpetu okay yes a little bit not what the what the ref is saying because it's because he's saying it in the terms of that this is basically a purist AB because he gave away part of Eric trial and which was beloved to the C I'm going to show you what it like give away something beloved to you but but but speaks to he says he says no is really quite powerful he's asking he's asking him please right right okay it's a that's a good point the rasham is revolutionary here there's another possibility go ahead that is that Al really didn't believe it because that's that we know that we know there are all sorts of possibilities does AR really believe that yok will be saved at the last moment does he really believe that Ola means a carbon all all different sorts of possibilities okay all right ladies and gentlemen yeah um I'm beem I'm scheduled to go back to the states with my wife for a couple of weeks my my son will be taking good speaker who who those of you who have heard him will attest to the fact that I'm not diminishing the quality of your Shear all right he will he will be the teacher uh for three I believe and two or three weeks three week three three sessions um he will be the teacher um it's possible that he may have to miss one in which case Sam will be the teacher for that one but but in general he is going to take over this year all right so I just wanted you to know um so it's not to be surprised thank you very much thank you thank you okay anybody else okay we're good thank okay all the best yes