וְהֶאֱמִן בַּה' וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה (טו, ו)
And he believed in Hashem and it was considered to him as righteousness. (15:6)
Avrohom Instilled Emunah in Future Generations:
The Ramban asks why it is necessary to tell us that Avrohom believed in Hashem.
Sefer Tiferes Shmuel (Os 7) answers by saying in the name of the Magid of Zlotchov zy”a that that the word “emunah” can also mean to raise (as in Esther 2:7: “V’hu uman es Hadassah. He raised Hadassah). This is because emunah has a power to “raise up” any matter. If one has emunah and trusts that something will occur, he will cause it to rise up and happen.
Accordingly, the pasuk can be understood to be describing the greatness of Avrohom Avinu by saying that he raised up the level of Jewish people throughout all generations through the power of his kedusha and emunah. This is as the Sefarim Hakedoshim say that Avrohom forged a path for his descendants to follow and taught them how to have pure emunah and how to fulfill the Torah.
Having said this, one should recognize that when a Jew feels the light of emunah shining within him, this is an inheritance from Avrohom. This is in accordance with the words of the pasuk (Bereishis 18:22): “And Avrohom is still standing before Hashem.” Until today, the power of Avrohom is still standing and influencing us.
This explains why the pasuk uses the words “v’he’emin b’Hashem” (and he caused to believe in Hashem), rather than saying “vaya’amin b’Hashem (and he believed in Hashem), as the verse is saying that Avrohom caused others to believe in Hashem. It then says that Hashem considered this to be tzedakah, as it was a kindness to all future generations.
The Tiferes Shmuel continues to say that our job is to accept this emunah and to recognize that whatever Hashem does is for our benefit. Even in difficult times, we must realize that there is light hidden within the darkness and we will be saved from our troubles. In fact, the difficulties themselves are truly good, as we see from the verse (Yirmiyahu 30:7): “It is a time of difficulty for Yaakov and from it we will be saved” – the salvation will come from the difficulty itself. This is also stated in the Medrash Tanchuma (Netzavim 1): “Just like the light of day comes out of the darkness, Hashem will send us light from out of the darkness itself.”
This is also seen from the pasuk (Bereishis 15:13): “And He said to Avrohom: Surely know (yadoa teida) that your offspring will be a stranger...” The Medrash (Bereishis Rabbah 44:18) states: “’Yadoa’ - know that I gave them away. ‘Teida’ – know that I will redeem them. ‘Yadoa’ – know that I spread them out. ‘Teida’ – know that I will bring them back.” In other words, the exile and wandering of the nation was necessary in order to bring us back together and shine a great light upon us. Everything He has done is for our benefit, and we will be greatly rewarded for having emunah that this is true by being sent the ultimate redemption.
The Mechilta states: “Yisroel will only be redeemed in the merit of emunah.” This is true both in regards to one’s person redemption from personal difficulties and in regards to the general redemption from exile. In the merit of having emunah in Hashem, we will be redeemed.
His Middah of Tzedakah Became Evident After His Son’s Birth:
Rav Hillel of Kolomaya zy”a explained that although Avrohom Avinu excelled in the mitzvah of hachansas orchim, there were people who belittled his action and said that he only was spending all of his money on guests because he had no children. They claimed that if he would have children, he would save his money for them. However, after Hashem promised him that he would bear sons who would be his heirs, and he still continued to spend his money on his guests, everyone had to admit that his actions were truly righteous.
Thus, the pasuk is saying that Avrohom believed in the promise Hashem had given him that he would merit a son, but he still continued to give tzedakah; therefore, everyone considered it as a righteousness on his part. They all could see that he wasn’t saving money for his children. Rather, he continued to give it away to the poor and needy.
One Doesn’t Need Miracles to Have Emunah:
Rav Eliezer Dovid Friedman zt”l (Sefer Peninei Torah V’Chasidus) relates that Rav Bunim of Peshischa zy”a only performed miracles on very rare occasions. He would say, “If I thought there was any benefit for avodas Hashem, I would take the trees from the city of Danzig and move them to Peshischa in one second. That wouldn’t be hard for me at all. But there is no reason to do that today because Hashem already gave us His holy Torah, Shas and Poskim, and miracles are not needed to display His greatness. Only on rare occasion is it necessary to perform a miracle to help a Jew in need. Otherwise, we do not need them to have emunah.”
Tzedakah Through Emunah:
The Bais Avrohom of Slonim zy”a (quoted in Sefer M’Zekeinim Esbonen) explains this pasuk to mean that when one has genuine emunah, it is easy for him to give tzedakah because he knows that whatever he owns was given to him by Hashem and he is merely giving out Hashem’s money. This is as the pasuk says (1 Divrei Hayamim 29:14): “Everything is from Him and it was given to you from His hand.” If, however, someone thinks that his money belongs to himself, he will have a hard time giving it away to tzedakah.
Accordingly, the pasuk is saying that Avrohom had emunah in Hashem and, therefore, he considered everything he had to be like tzedakah that was given to him by Hashem.
Saving a Person Who Has Passed Away in The Merit of Tzedakah:
Sefer Shama Shlomo relates that before Rav Shlomo of Karlin zy”a became known as a renowned tzadik, he was very poor. At that time, he had three sons and his family suffered greatly from poverty.
Rav Shlomo would sit in the bais medrash all day while wrapped in his talis and tefillin. He had a next door neighbor who was a very wealthy milk dealer but who did not observe Torah and mitzvos. One day, his neighbor was cooking meat in his house. Rav Shlomo’s children smelled the meat and since they were so hungry, they became faint from the smell of the food and passed out. This caused quite a commotion as many people came running to help the children who had fainted.
After this occurrence, the merchant decided that he would go to the bais medrash to see if his neighbor really was such a tzadik. He told himself: If he is really is sitting and learning all day, I won’t say anything, but if he isn’t, I’m going to thrash him for being so cruel and allowing his family to starve.
He came to the bais medrash and saw Rav Shlomo standing up and leaning his on his left hand, without doing anything at all. He ran over to him full of anger, but Rav Shlomo said, “If you want to hit me, go ahead and hit me.”
The merchant saw that his face with shinning and he backed off. He became frightened and ran back home. He gave some money to Rav Shlomo’s wife to buy food for her family and, from then on, he regularly gave her small amounts of money for bread and water.
A number of years passed and Rav Shlomo started working as a melamed. Slowly but surely, his reputation as a holy man started to spread and people began to come to spend time with him. He eventually became very famous and was recognized as a tzadik.
Many years later, the merchant got sick. He died on an erev Shabbos and Rav Shlomo came to the funeral. As the grave was being filled, Rav Shlomo took a small twig from a tree and stuck it in the earth. He then went home to prepare for Shabbos.
That night, as he sat by the Shabbos seudah, Rav Shlomo was very emotional. His face was bright red and he had to rest his head on his hands. He sat like that for several hours, immersed in his thoughts, without tasting any of the Shabbos food. He became so emotional that sparks of fire started to come out of his head. Suddenly, he came out of his trance and asked for some of the Shabbos food.
The many chasidim who were present at the seudah were baffled by the Rebbe’s behavior. One of the chasidim who was particularly close to the Rebbe was unable to sleep all night because he was so troubled by what he had seen. In the morning, he went over to the Rebbe and asked him what he was thinking about for so long and why he was so deeply immersed in his thoughts.
The Rebbe replied, “I will tell you the truth. When I placed the twig into the merchant’s grave, it made it impossible for the damaging angels to touch him. This created a big commotion in Heaven. The angels asked: Who did this? This man committed many sins. Why aren’t the damaging angels being permitted to touch him?
“The angels were told that this was done by Shlomo ben Yuta because this man supported his family for many years. It was decided that I would be called to court to explain myself. I told the Heavenly court that I did this because he saved my wife and children from starvation and anyone who saves one Jewish life is considered to have saved an entire world. And the Heavenly court ruled that I had acted correctly.”
From this story, we can learn the greatness of the mitzvah of tzedakah. In the merit of giving a small amount of food to a poor family, this man was not punished for all of his sins.
