354- Abraham Gave All that He Had
A good lesson in the Midrash, in the portion “The Life of Sarah,” about the verse, “And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.” Rabbi Yehuda said, “This is Gevura [strength/judgment]. Rabbi Nehemiah says, “This is a blessing.”
We should understand the following:
1) How can it be said that one gives Gevura to another? This is not something that can be passed on from hand to hand.
2) What is the dispute that one says specifically Gevura and the other says “blessing”? In what are they disputed?
We should interpret that both meant the same thing, and both are the words of the living God. That is, he passed on to him that he will walk in the way of Gevura, as it is written, “And he swore by the fear of Isaac his father.” That is, through the quality of Gevura, this is the meaning of “all that he had,” that Abraham gave him the way by which to walk. And that which he had to complete, by this he was rewarded with the blessing, meaning “and the Lord blessed him.”
In other words, through reinforcement in Torah and work, he was rewarded with repentance from love, when sins became as merits. It follows that his work created a full fruit.
Accordingly, we can understand what our sages said, “Rabbi Shmuel Bar Nachmani said, ‘Rabbi Yonatan said, ‘Why is it written, ‘For You are our father, for Abraham did not know us and Israel did not recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer.’’’”
In the future, the Creator will say to Abraham, “Your children sinned against Me.” He said to Him, “Master of the world, let them be abolished over the sanctity of Your name.”
He said to Jacob, “It is painful to raise children, can I ask for mercy on them?” He said to him, “Your sons have sinned.” He said to Him, “Master of the world, let them be abolished over the sanctity of Your name.” He said, “There is no reasoning in the elderly, and no counsel in youths.”
He said to Isaac, “Your sons have sinned.” He said to Him, “Master of the world, my sons and not Your sons? When they gave precedence to ‘We will do’ over ‘We will hear,’ You called them ‘My son, My firstborn,’ now they are my sons and not Yours?’ And also, how much did they sin? How many are man’s years, 70 years? Take off twenty for which You do not punish, and they are left with fifty. Subtract twenty-five, which comprise the nights, and they are left with twenty-five. Subtract twelve and a half of prayer, eating, and the toilet, and there remain twelve and a half. If You bear them all, very well. But if not, half is on me and half is on You. And if You wish to say that they are all on me, then I offered my soul before You.” They started and said, “For you are our father” (Shabbat [Sabbath] 89b).
The meaning of “abolishing” is the transgressions. Therefore, it will not be to the full extent, since a time of transgressions still remains. Yet, through the quality of Gevura he will have the strength to extend this force onto Israel so the sins will become merits.
It follows that all the blessings come through reinforcement in the Torah. Therefore, if we hold on to the learners of the Torah and become strengthened by them, so they can draw the power of Gevura, we will have the full measure of the blessings and we will be able to extend blessings on the whole of Israel, Amen.
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We see that all that Isaac took upon himself was the Torah, as it is written, “twelve and a half of prayer, eating, and the toilet,” but not the prayer. The rule is that if there are no learners of the Torah, there will not even be anyone who will pray.
It is as the allegory about the king who lowered all the princesses by one rank until common soldiers were left with no rank at all. Hence, if we want them to be in the next world and for our sons to pray over us, we must keep the learners of Torah.