This week's digital publication is dedicated to the hatzlachah of the chosan שמואל נתנאל and the kallah מרת אלישבע תחי', daughter of our dear friend Reb Hillel shlita, on the occasion of their marriage. May their zivug work out beautifully, and may they merit building a bayis ne'eman b'Yisrael, and may they bring great nachas to their dear parents, and grace all of Klal Yisrael.
Pearls of Wisdom from the Parshah
He told Avram HaIvri (Bereishis 14:13)
Why is he called Avraham HaIvri? Because the whole world is on one side (eiver), and he is on the other side. (Bereishis Rabbah 42:8)
Avraham was totally unique. The whole world was on one side, and he was on the other. He stood up against the influence of the entire world. He learned Torah “from himself.”
In our prayers we say אלקי אברהם אלקי יצחק ואלקי יעקב – because all three of them, not just Avraham, found G-d. But the only one who found G-d “from himself ” was Avraham; it all came from him.
A person’s true strength is in his “I,” his essential self. It is not so easy to discover this inner point of self.
Relatedly, the Midrash tells a wonderful story, about R. Shimon ben Chalafta and his wife:
Erev Shabbos came and he had no parnassah. He went outside of town and prayed to Hashem, and was given a precious jewel. He deposited it with a dealer, and took out parnassah for that Shabbos.
His wife asked, “Where did all this come from?”
He answered, “From the parnassah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave.”
She said, “If you don’t tell me where it is from, I won’t eat a bite.”
He began to tell her. He said to her, “So I prayed to G-d, and it was given to me from Heaven.”
She said to him, “I won’t eat a bite unless you tell me you will return it on Motzaei Shabbos.”
He said to her, “Why?”
She answered, “Do you want your table to be lacking, and the table of your colleague to be full?”
R. Shimon went to [his rabbi] R. Yehudah HaNasi, who told him, “Go tell her [that I said to you], ‘If your table is lacking, I will replenish it from mine.’”
He went and told her. She said to him, “Go with me to the one who taught you Torah.” [They went, and] she said to him, “Rabbi, can a person see what is happening to his colleague in Olam Haba? Doesn’t each tzaddik have his own world?” When he heard this, he went and returned it.
This story teaches that in Olam Haba, each tzaddik is on his own. When Hashem gives out the true reward, each person receives according to who and what he is, on his own. It is not according to his madreigah in relation to the society or country in which he lives.
This is what R. Shimon ben Chalafta’s wife was saying to R. Yehudah HaNasi: the true reward in the next world will be when we get to the point of the “I,” of our essential self. And when we get there, you won’t be able to give us from what you have, because regarding this inner point, each tzaddik is on his own.
