It states (Devarim 6:5) ָלְב ָבְך בְּכָל א ֱלֹק ֶיךָ 'ה אֵת ָּוְאָה ַבְת ָמ ְאֹדֶך וּבְכָל ָנַפְשְׁך וּבְכָל, "You shall love Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your means." Chazal explain that ָנַפְשְׁך וּבְכָל means to love Hashem even if this requires sacrificing one's own life. (For example, for avodah zarah, one must give his life, rather than transgress. This is to love Hashem with all one's soul.) After this we say, וּבְכָל ָמ ְאֹדֶך, which Chazal (Brachos 54a) say means בכל לו מודה הוי לך מודד שהוא ומדה מדה, "Whatever portion Hashem gives you, you shall praise Him." We love Hashem and praise Him, no matter which portion He gives us.
Nesivos Shalom zt'l (Michtavei Kodesh p.149) asks, after the Torah obligates us to love Hashem to the extent that we should be prepared to give our lives for Him, certainly we should love Hashem with ָמ ְאֹדֶך בְכָל, which is a lower level, and an easier test. So, after we say ָנַפְשְׁך וּבְכָל, that we are prepared to give our lives for Hashem, why do we need to say ָמ ְאֹדֶך וּבְכָל, that we also love Hashem with a lower level of love?
Apparently, to accept and to praise Hashem for each situation of life is an even higher level of love. Sometimes, it is easier to give one's life than to accept life's tests and challenges with emunah, love, and joy. We will explain:
The Machatzis HaShekel (591:7) asks that in the tefillah, after we say the Akeidah, we request, רצונך לעשות רחמיו את אבינו אברהם שכבש כמו מעלינו כעסך את רחמיך יכבשו כן, "Just as Avraham Avinu captured his compassion to do Your will, so shall Your compassion capture Your anger from upon us." We focus on the greatness of Avraham, who passed this test. Why don't we also mention Yitzchak's portion in the test? Wasn't this also Yitzchak's test? Yitzchak Avinu was thirty-seven years old at this time; he knew why he was being bound on the mizbeiach, and he wanted to do Hashem's will. It seems that Yitzchak's mesirus nefesh, to die, is greater than Avraham Avinu's test. So, why is Akeidas Yitzchak counted as Avraham's test?
Machatzis HaShekel quotes the sefer Nezer HaKadosh, which raises another question. Nezer HaKadosh asks why the Akeidah is considered the hardest of Avraham Avinu's ten tests? The Midrash (Tanchuma 22) states, "Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Avraham, 'I tested you ten times and you passed them all. Now, pass this test [of the Akeidah], so people won't say that the first tests weren't meaningful." But why is the Akeidah greater than all the other tests? One of the tests was when Nimrod threw Avraham into a furnace in Ur Kasdim because Avraham refused to bow to idols. (According to some rishonim, this is the first of Avraham's tests.) Avraham willingly went into the fire to sanctify Hashem's name. This test seems greater than the Akeidah.
He answers that it is easier for a person to be thrown into a furnace, which is to suffer immense pain. But then, after one dies, the pain ends. A parent sacrificing a child is a greater pain, because the distress of the parent will remain with him for days and for years to come, and it will never leave him.
With these ideas, the Machatzis HaShekel explains why the Akeidah is considered Avraham Avinu's test. Yitzchak was prepared to die, which is suffering for a moment, and then it is over. But Avraham was prepared to carry the distress that would remain with him for days and years afterwards. That is a greater mesirus nefesh.
This also applies to the great tests of this generation. The tests of our generation aren't a one-time battle, and then it is over. It is a constant struggle. The yetzer hara keeps coming back, and in various ways. Therefore, those who pass these tests are very respected and praised in heaven.
Rav Shach zt'l once said at a shivah, "Not to question Hashem isn't tzidkus. It is being clever and wise (ופקחות חכמה)." He gave an example of when the Russians sent many Yidden to Siberia. Those who weren’t sent to this frozen prison felt that they were better off, and they pitied their brothers who were forced onto the trains to Siberia. But some years later, the Nazis ym's conquered parts of Russia, and murdered the Jews living there. Those exiled to Siberia survived the Holocaust because they weren't present when the murders occurred. We see from this that no one can know from the onset what is truly good and what is bad. What appeared to be bad became their salvation. A person, with his limited vision, cannot know what is good and what isn't. So, a person with common sense knows better than to question Hashem’s ways. (Reb Shach said this to Reb A.Y. Kook, Rosh Yeshiva of Meor HaTalmud, Rechovot, many years ago, when Reb Kook was sitting shivah for his brother).
I heard a marvelous story that happened with Reb Ovadia Yosef zt'l. Just a week before his chasunah was scheduled to take place, his kallah began talking about a lifestyle that Reb Ovadia hadn't planned on living. She expressed her desire to go with him to theatres and the like. They didn't end up marrying. Reb Ovadia married another woman, Rabbanit Margalit. When Reb Ovadia was ninety years old, just a few years before his petirah, a woman arrived at his house, shouting that she must speak with Reb Ovadyah. They brought her in, and she said, "Do you remember me?" Reb Ovadia didn't. "We were supposed to get married many years ago, and a week before the chasunah, it was called off. You should know that Hashem loves you, because now I am an almanah, and all the years I was married, I never had children. The doctors told me I could never have children." Reb Ovadyah went through a hard time when the shidduch had to be called off, but it was all for his benefit. Similarly, when something difficult happens to us, let us remember that it is for our good. Something very good will come from it.
