In this week’s parsha the pasuk says: וה' ברך את אברהם בכל – "And Hashem blessed Avraham with everything” (Bereishis 24:1). Rashi comments that the word bakol (בכל) is numerically equivalent to the word ben (בן). The letters in each word add up to the number 52. The pasuk thus alludes to the fact that Hashem blessed Avraham with a son (ben).
Rashi very early on in his commentary on Chumash (Bereishis 3:8) tells us: “And I have come only to provide the simple scriptural interpretation (p’shuto shel mikra).” Rashi notes that there are dozens of Medrashim which provide more homiletic readings of Chumash, but he views the job of his commentary to keep it simple and provide the most straightforward reading of the pasukim (the “pashuta p’shat”).
Gematriya is a legitimate mode of Torah explication, but gematrias are not usually considered “p’shat” (Avos 3:18). The question over here is what motivated Rashi to abandon the p’shuto shel mikra of this pasuk and replace it with a gematria? The Radak, who is another commentary that sticks to the simple reading of the Chumash, in fact, interprets the pasuk in a way that seems closer to its simple reading: Avraham Avinu had everything and the only thing left for him to do now was to find the proper match for his son Yitzchak. This is the p’shuto shel mikra which introduces us to the rest of the parsha.
What forced Rashi, the ‘pashtan,’ to explain this pasuk with a gematria, when the p’shuto shel mikra is very obvious?
The Tolner Rebbe addresses this question and here is the gist of what he says:
Rashi is answering a question over here. The pasuk states that Avraham is now an old man, he had been blessed with a wonderful life – he had everything! Over the last several weeks, we learned the parshiyos of Lech Lecha and Vayera. Would you consider Avraham Avinu’s life an idyllic, wonderful, peaceful life – such that the pasuk can now say at the end of his days that Hashem blessed him with “everything?”
Let us just list, for instance, aspects of this wonderful life that Avraham Avinu had:
- When he was in Ur Kasdim, he was accused of heresy and thrown into a fiery furnace
- He experienced the “Ten Tests” (Avos 5:3) of which Chazal speak
- He dealt with a wife who was childless until age 90 at which time Avraham was already 100 years old, infertility being one of the most painful of life’s experiences
- He dealt with the domestic trauma of Sarah doing battle with Hagar, and needing to very reluctantly banish Hagar from his household
- When Hagar finally gives Avraham a son, it is a son who is perhaps the first “off the derech kid” in Jewish history
- Sarah is captured when Avraham went down to Mitzrayim
- Sarah is again captured when Avraham went down to Eretz Plishtim
- He successfully passed his tenth and final test – the Akeidas Yitzchak – and he returned home to find his beloved wife dead
Does this list really indicate “And Hashem blessed Avraham with ‘everything?'” Is that a wonderful life? It is a life of one trouble after another!
Rashi is answering this question. Rashi is explaining how Avraham Avinu was able to cope with all of this. What was his secret that he never gave up and he never became depressed? The answer is that Avraham Avinu possessed the quality that assures happiness in life. It is a quality that we saw previously in Parshas Lech Lecha: When HaKodosh Boruch Hu tells Avraham that he is going to have a son (Yitzchak), Avraham responds (according to Rashi there): “Halevai that Yishmael should live. I am unworthy to receive such a great reward as this!” (Bereishis 17:18)
This is the key to Avraham Avinu’s success. He does not expect anything from Heaven. Everything is considered a gift. There are only two types of people in the world – those who say “aynee k’dai” [I am unworthy of this] and those who say “zeh magiyah li” [I deserve this!].
This is expressed by a Medrash: Rav Levi and Rav Chanina say – On every breath a person takes, he should praise his Creator, as it is written (a play on words) “Kol haneshama te’hallel K-ah” (Every soul (i.e., each breath) should praise G-d) (Tehillim 150:6). Have any of us ever thought to say “Ah! Thank G-d that I can breathe?” Unless a person has asthma, pneumonia or some type of other terrible lung disease, chas v’shalom, a person does not think about rejoicing over the fact that “I can breathe, I can see, I can walk.” We may all say the morning blessings that express gratitude for our basic necessities in life, but who mentally thanks the Ribbono Shel Olam for all of that? We take it for granted.
“I need to be alive. I need to be healthy. I need to see. I need to be able to walk. I need to be able to do everything.” Now, what are You going to do for me? The rest is a given.
A person that has that first attitude (I am unworthy of this) can experience all the trials and tribulations that Avraham Avinu experienced and still feel: וה' ברך את אברהם בכל – "And Hashem blessed Avraham with everything”. Rashi says that “ba’kol” in gematria equals “ben” [son]. Avraham says “You gave me a son named Yitzchak? Now I have everything. I don’t need anything else. Even Yishmael was enough for me. Now I have a Yitzchak as well! That is literally ‘everything’ (ba’kol).
This is why Rashi invokes the gematria here. Rashi is trying to explain how the pasuk can make the statement that Hashem blessed Avraham with everything when we know that Avraham had a life full of trials and tribulations. The answer is that this was Avraham’s perspective on life – “I have a son? What more do I need!”
When Avraham Avinu dies, the Torah states: “And Avraham expired and died at a good old age, an old man and content...” (Bereishis 25:8). This is the hesped [eulogy] that the Ribbono Shel Olam says on Avraham Avinu. It is the epitaph on his tombstone. It does not say “Avraham Avinu the Ba’al Chessed.” It does not say “Avraham Avinu who was willing to sacrifice his son.” The greatest thing that Hashem says about Avraham Avinu is that he died at a ripe old age full and satisfied with his life. He had no unmet wants in the world. This was his attribute in life: “I am unworthy.”
We are not Avraham Avinus. We don’t go through life repeating the mantra “aynee k’dai; aynee k’dai.” But the closer we can get to the attitude of “aynee k’dai” and the further we can get from the attitude of “magiya li,” the happier we will be. That should be our goal. That is our mission – to become “aynee k’dai” people. Then we will be happy people. (R’ Frand)
