Why Was Abel a Shepherd? - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

but now let's take a step back and ask why well we know that abel was a shepherd and cain where did he work right in agriculture uh in the fields in in the in the he was raising plants like we do here at the farm i'm not such a specialist at it but shane is very good she's she grows from seed and we have loads of green peppers and red peppers you'll see when you come out here anyways and it wasn't a coincidence that these were their professions because abel was a righteous man a spiritual man so he picked the profession that abraham and isaac and jacob and david and the forefathers of israel picked because it's a profession that lends itself to spirituality so as you all know you know jeremy and i we talked about just now we've been taking up shepherding and uh thanks to many of you we're building up our flock and um one of my shepherding shifts is shabbat afternoon yesterday afternoon from about 3 p.m to 6 30 7 o'clock ideally it's three and a half to four hours that you're out there with the sheep it's actually a really beautiful meditative way to spend shabbat afternoon and uh and now that i'm getting into it i've been experiencing the spirituality of our forefathers from thousands of years ago and really connecting with them in a way that i've just never connected with them before and uh i just as i'm out with the sheep i just i identify with them and i found myself humming every time i'm out there with the sheep tiana you remember this we talked about this on the day of atonement it's it's a it's the words from the yom kippur davening [Music] for you we are your sheep and you are our shepherd that's what those words mean we are your sheep and you are our shepherd and as i was looking at the sheep i just i felt like we may be giving ourselves or i may be giving myself too much credit with that comparison because these sheep they just implicitly trust me they trust the shepherd they don't decide where they're going they just trust the shepherd and when they get to their destination which they have no part in deciding and they don't question it they just look around and see what's around and they just start to enjoy their food right king david said in psalm 23 adonair elohzar god is my shepherd i shall not want i wouldn't be surprised if he actually wrote that when he was out with a sheep but if not it definitely came from his experience shepherding i just don't know if i'm as good a sheep to my shepherd as these sheep were to me sometimes i find myself second guessing and wondering and not able to be fully present anyways so uh so abel had time to pray and to reflect and meditate as a shepherd and as a result he came to love god with all of his heart and offer god the first and the best of his flock and you know right before i left shepherding to go out we sat down to eat lunch and me shayna and vash and now i know a lot of parents friends of mine that complained that they just can't get their kids to eat well let's just say that we don't have that problem with our little dwash she is like her abba she likes her food and when she gets hungry she lets us know about it and yesterday she was hungry and so we sat her down and put some chicken and kogel on her plate and then for some reason right before her first bite i said to her vaash can abba have a bite i said dvashkin can i can abba have a bite and i saw her eyes look at the spoon and look at the cuggle and then look at me as she took a moment to think and then she said abba and she extended the spoon towards me scooping it into my mouth and my heart was just so filled up with love for her like it was going to explode because i know what that means for her my little girl i know what that bite means for it would have been understandable if she gave me from her second bite that would have been really nice after all she's just a baby but the first bite when she was so hungry and with a smile on her face oh yeah i'll just i'll never forget it i'll always carry that with me and that's how hashem must have felt when abel gave his first and his best but kane he didn't give his best but it wasn't just his offering that was flawed and i'm still sort of working through this idea you know rev cook talks about this rabbi sax talks about this it wasn't just his offering itself the external offering it was what was happening inside it was his deepest motivations it was what was happening in his heart consider that you wanted to give an offering of love to your beloved and uh and you're gently rebuffed you're refused and they refuse to take it now if your desire was truly to express love to them then you become introspective and you seek to understand where you went wrong so you can offer them your gift in a way that they can receive it in a way that they want to receive it but if you could become depressed and angry and hostile it exposes that your desire was not truly to express love but as rabbi sachs explains to put them in your debt to create a certain relationship dynamic to assert your control over them by offering a bribe to placate them which has been the relationship dynamic to pagan gods throughout history this bribery and manipulation of their empty gods of wood and stone that they bribe with different sacrifices that mean something to them and in return for that they're saying they want to acquire dominance or power control but that's just the opposite of of what hashem's desire is for our hearts so rav cook points out which should be obvious that the fact that kane would so violently attack his brother so soon after offering this love offering it just shows that he went into the experience with this evil already alive within his soul it was in him while he offered the sacrifice and to sacrifice to god with a heart filled with hate is an abomination that just could never be accepted if there's one thing that history has taught us it's that hashem is disgusted by hypocrisy and empty actions he seeks our heart more than anything else as the masks are coming off and much of the world is turning not only against israel but yes against the jewish people if you feel different if your love for israel is growing deeper and stronger if you're thirsting to cleave to the nation of israel and to the god of israel if you're thirsting to learn authentic torah from jews in judea then the land of israel fellowship is for you hundreds of individuals and families from around the world come together on zoom every week in what can only be described as a fellowship of love friendship of learning and praying and belonging a fellowship really unlike any other it's more than just a movement it's a family to learn more about the land of israel fellowship click on www.thelandofisrail.com backslash fellowship or send an email to fellowship the land of israel.com love and blessings from judea