one
one
with
these
challenges,” person the same challenges. the same tests.
but
in
has
who
not coping with the ניסיון. His life was at stake. It’s not possible that הקב"ה would have given him a ניסיון which he could not withstand. Certainly, it was clear to be someone else’s business."
אברהם אבינו was given this ניסיון of "לך לך מארצך". If we think about it, we try to comprehend what exactly was the great challenge? If the גדול הדור will tell you to move town, you wouldn’t even have second thoughts about his command. What sort of challenge was involved in this commandment of "לך לך מארצ ך" ?
Secondly, the order of the תורה should seemingly be written in the inverse. When a person leaves town, first he leaves his home, then his town and then his land (country). Why then is the order of the מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך " ,תורה ", first his land, then his birthplace (town) and then his home?
The ספרים הקדושים teach us that this ניסיון was not a physical ניסיון to simply leave the country. This ניסיון was far deeper than a simple emigration. The רמב"ן teaches: It’s the nature of a person to be influenced by the country he lives in. A person is affected by the country he resides. A friend of mine from ארץ ישראל moved to London and I asked him, “Was it hard to take your children away from ארץ ישראל?” He told me, “It wasn’t hard to take my children away from ארץ ישראל; rather it was hard to take ארץ ישראל away from my children.” To change their mentality is much more difficult as opposed to just leaving the country.
A person becomes מושפע from the place he lives. When I lived in ארץ ישראל there lived above me an American family who had been living there for 30 years. In the same block there was also a young couple, an Israeli family. I will never forget this incident. One day I came into the block of flats and I hear the Israeli say to his wife, “Go upstairs to the Americans and please borrow some milk.” I thought to himself, “Hey! This Israeli is 21 years old and the family above me have been living there for 30 years, so why are they called Americans?” The פשט is: For the first twenty years of their lives, this family lived in America. In the Israeli man’s eyes they therefore looked like Americans. A person is מושפע from the place he lives.
The ניסיון of אברהם אבינו was to completely eradicate the bad influences which he received from the country he had originally been living in. Accordingly, the order goes from easy to hard: 1) It’s easier to destroy the influences of the country (מארצך). 2) It’s more difficult to destroy the influences from the town you grew up in (וממולדתך) and 3) it’s even more difficult to eradicate the influences which you receive from your home (ומבית אביך). The ניסיון was not a physical challenge, the ניסיון was a spiritual ניסיון for אברהם אבינו to completely detach himself from the upbringing he was having until now.
In truth, the ניסיון of אברהם אבינו was a ניסיון which we must too, think about and take into consideration. We live in a dangerous society and it’s not rare to be influenced by the society. חשיבות in the society today is all dependent on how much גשמיות one possesses. What car has he got? What house has he got? These are all things which occupy our minds in the society today.
Today, when you go on the train, it’s silent. Everyone is busy in their own world with their own shutsim and lockshen. The guy sitting next to you does not utter a word. However, in my times, when we would travel to Gateshead by train, the גוי sitting opposite every single time will ask the same question: “What do you do?” “I am a student.” The subsequent question would always then be, “What are you studying to become?” That is the way the גוי is going to assess how important I am.
In פרשת נצבים the תורה tells us, "מחטב עציך עד שאב מימך", from the hewed of your wood and the drawer of your water. רש"י teaches that these people were גוים. How does רש"י know they were גוים? Why can’t they be אידן?
I once heard a beautiful explanation from a yungerman here in town. Regarding יונה הנביא, once they found out on the boat that he was the cause of the problem, they asked him a few questions, "מה מלאכתך, מאין תבא..." – What is your work? Which nation do you come from? And where are you going? Normally, we find in the תורה when a person is asked a few questions, you answer על ראשון ראשון ועל אחרון אחרון. However, the response of יונה הנביא does not seem to be answering the first question he was asked. He responded, "עברי אנכי ואת ה' אלקי השמים אני ירא", I am a Jew. He didn’t answer the question? They asked him first "מה מלאכתך"?!
With regards to אידן it’s not a difference what we do. It’s totally unimportant what I do for a living. What’s really important is "עברי אנכי" – I AM A JEW! "ואת ה אלקי השמים אני ירא" – AND I FEAR G-D! How much יראת שמים a person has is what is important. It’s not about what we say are do, it’s about who we are. What a person does is totally irrelevant. What’s the difference what you do to earn פרנסה?! Who are you? Meaning: How much יראת שמים have you got, what are you doing with your life?
Therefore, if the תורה is describnng a persons position as a wood chopper or a water carrier, it’s rather obvious he does not belong into the nation of כלל ישראל. No says רש"י, he is not a איד, he is certainly a גוי. Concerning the גוים taka their חשיבות is dependent with regards to their profession or job. However, regarding a Jew it’s all irrelevant; rather "עברי אנ כי ואת ה' אלקי השמים אני ירא" ! We must therefore change our mindsets – "לך לך מארצך" – and not be influenced by what’s important to the street out there. We must change ourselves.
A yungerman once told me that he went to meet a גוי to complete a business deal. He arrived at the meeting with a car which was rather old and ruined, whereas the גוי arrived in a rather luxurious and fancy car. Feeling a little embarrassed about the situation, he exclaimed, “Don’t worry about the car. It’s not mine. I borrowed it from my daughter.” The גוי responded with a מוסר השכל: “I don’t respect big cars. I respect big people.”
Like our father אברהם, we too, must be עומד this ניסיון. We become extremely affected by the country we live in. We must continuously detach ourselves from what’s important in the street. We must rather focus on what’s really important in life and what our goals should really be.
Let me share with you another thought on פרשת ל ך לך ; a thought which is vital for us and all of הקב"ה .כלל י שראל tells "לך לך מארצך" ,אברהם אבינו , Go for yourself from your land. Imagine, a person who has been extremely close to his Rebbe for years. Suddenly, one day the Rebbe tells him, “GO! I Want you to move immediately to ארץ ישראל.” No questions, he will go immediately. Imagine, if it were to happen for a person to receive in a גילוי of אליהו הנביא who has a message from the רבש"ע for you to move to ארץ ישראל. “TODAY. IMMEDIATELY!” says אליהו. You jump out of bed, wake up your wife and family, book tickets and get on the next flight leaving to ארץ ישראל! No questions, we are going! Pack your bags, we’re off! If we must move, we must move. No questions. No discussions or arguments.
Let me now tell you a over a moridiker "ויקח אברם את שרי אשתו..." ,זוהר הקדוש (דף עט.) , And אברם took his wife שרי… What does "ויקח" mean? Teaches the זוהר הקדוש: He encouraged her with soft words. A person has no rights to tell his wife, “We are moving,” without her will. Similarly, we find many-a-time in the תורה, where the תורה is telling us to take the person with soothing words, " "קח את אהרן... קח את הלויים.... אברהם אבינו spoke it through with his wife. He encouraged her until she was a willing partner in going. You can’t just let you wife or family do what you want. Get her to agree to do it. She never received the commandment. It was his מצוה. Accordingly, you can’t just then force your will on somebody else because YOU want to be מקיים your מצוה! We can’t inconvenience other people because you want to do the רצון ה'. You can’t force other people to cooperate just because of your מצוה.
We find this many-a-time across the תורה. At the end of the הקב"ה ,סדרה told אברהם to do ברית מילה on his son ישמעאל. Again, writes the "ויקח אברהם את ישמעאל בנו..." (י"ז, ,תורה כ"ג), Then אברהם took ישמעאל his son. Explains the אור החיים הקדוש: Don’t just do a ברית מילה. Explain yourself. Let ישמעאל agree to do it willingly.
Just because I must do a מצוה, I have no reason to bother and trouble yena. No such thing. It’s not the דרך התורה like that. יעקב אבינו was told by the מלאך to leave בית לבן. The next morning he didn’t just tell his family, “Right we’re off! We’re going. No questions!” Rather, writes the רמב"ן, he explained to them exactly what the מלאך told him. He appeased them. We can’t just do what הקב"ה wants and bulldoze what we need without taking into account the feelings of other people.
ר' יהושע לייב דיסקין זצ"ל was invited to become Rov of ירושלים. As the family were approaching ירשולים, the זקני ירושלים together with their wives came to meet their new Rov and Rebbitzen. They came with ירושלים'דיקר clothes for ר' יהושע לייב דיסקין and his wife to wear. ר' יהושע לייב then noticed them giving the headgear – the custom in ירשולים in those days to wear – for his wife. He noticed his wife was rather uncomftorable wearing such headgear.
Said ר' יהושע לייב דיסקין זצ"ל, “If I would have known that by becoming Rov in ירושלים would involve for my wife to wear something she is uncomftorable with, I would not have come.” To teach and guide the hundreds of אידן in ירושלים will not be worthwhile at her expense.
In Pressburg they used on יום כיפור a very big and heavy מחזור, known as the דברי חיים מחזור. There were those people there who liked to stand the entire day of יום כיפור; a very חשובע thing indeed. There was this man who had been standing and holding his heavy מחזור all day. Eventually, by the time he came to מנחה every part of his body was aching. When it came to the "על חטא" of מנחה, indeed it was a difficult task trying to balance the מחזור in one hand. Suddenly, a brainwave hit him. The person in front of him too had his back bent forward; a moridiker עצה: he put his מחזור on yena’s back! About this story, the saying has become, “A צדיק on yena’s shoulders!” Often, we get so carried away with our עבודת ה' we begin to disregard other people’s feelings.
The חתם סופר was the Rov of Pressburg. As it’s well known, the חתם סופר would daven long שמונה עשרה’s. It would take him half an hour. When he was young, his friends would tease him, “By the time you finish your שמו"ע we can complete six פרי מגדים’s!” He would respond, “" "כל המאריך בתפילתו, מאריכין לו ימים ושנותיו – so I will have many more years remaining to make up that time of "ביטול תורה"!”
Near Pressburg there is a small village called Yergen. Every few months, the חתם סופר would travel to this town for a little holiday, i.e. to learn for a few days without being disturbed. A businessman from Pressburg was once traveling back from work. It was getting late, so he stopped off in Yergen to daven מנחה. To his surprise he finds the חתם סופר in the same minyan. It wasn’t just that which surprised him, it was then when he saw the חתם סופר daven a 3-minute שמו"ע which really surprised him!” He began to think to himself, “Ah... in Pressburg he does a 30-minute שמו"ע… but hear no one is watching him so…” His curiosity did not leave, so he went over to the חתם סופר for an explanation.
Explained the חתם סופר: “It’s very simple. I daven a 30-minute שמו"ע, true. But when I come to Yergen, the Rov here davens a 4-minute שמו"ע. If I am going to daven a 30- minute שמו"ע when I daven here, the people of Yergen perhaps will no longer respect their Rov! I don’t daven שמו"ע but rather say "הביננו"! I rush my הביננו to make sure to say it in 3-minutes before the Rov finishes his שמו"ע!”
A true story. Not to get carried away in our עבודת ה' at somebody else’s expense. We must take into account everything. It’s a beautiful piece of זוהר הקדוש. The זוהר הקדוש is telling us, "ויקח אברם את שרי אשתו" – he took her with דיבור, nicely, until she agreed to come willingly. This is the דרך התורה – דרכיה דרכי נועם ; we cannot allow ourselves to be frum in our עבודת ה' if it’s going to hurt yena. We must take the people around us into account. If you don’t take people around you into consideration, you are losing a lot of the true and real עבודת ה'.
