פרשת כי תצאח"י מר חשון תש"פ

פרשת כי תצאח"י מר חשון תש"פ

מאת ר' ש. קאפלין שליט"א

The פרשה this week speaks about the most challenging נסיון of אברהם אבינו – the עקידת יצחק, and as we mentioned last week: a person grows from challenges. The growth from the עקידת יצחק brought אברהם אבינו to the shpitz מדריגה until the extent that he was mirroring the אברהם למעלה. As חז"ל teach: In שמים there was a צורה of where אברהם will reach at his pinnacle, and it was at the עקידה when he truly reached the צורה of the complete אברהם למעלה. It was by the עקידת יצחק when אברהם אבינו reached his true potential. As חז"ל derive from the "אברהם מלמטה כאברהם למעלה" ,פסוק – "אברהם אברהם" – אברהם down here was like the אברהם up there.

Today, we want to discuss what exactly was so great and significant regarding the test and challenge by the עקידת יצחק.

ר' צבי הירש מייזלס זצ"ל in documented a number witnessed He relates the following ראש השנה תש"ד the Nazi’s y”m put a stick into the ground. Then, they asked all the teenagers of the camp to walk past the stick. Anyone who wouldn’t reach the height of the stick were going to be sent to be killed the next morning. At the end of the day fourteen hundred children were put in the barracks; set aside to receive tomorrow morning their one-way ticket.

A איד came to ר' צבי הירש זצ"ל and exclaimed, “My son is destined to be killed tomorrow. However, I have some protexia. If I use my protexia I will succeed in taking my son out of the barracks. Nevertheless, the Nazi’s tomorrow will count the boys again to make sure no one escaped; and seeing a missing number they will simply take somebody else instead. על פי הלכה do I have the rights to take my son out and thereby causing somebody else to take his place?”

his of stories he himself concentration story: One year, ערב

ה'

מקדשי

ספר

in

camps.

ר' צבי הירש זצ"ל replied, “Why are you asking me such difficult questions? I can’t answer such difficult questions.”

The איד asked his question again. Again ר' צבי הירש זצ"ל refused to answer. It was then when the איד exclaimed, “I can see from the fact you are refusing to answer my question that it’s forbidden to do so. If that is the רצון of the רבש"ע - I am prepared to go along with it.” A moridiker person this איד must have been.

There are so many of such stories where we find many people who were prepared to give up their children. Many people did not give their children over to the monasteries or the גוים, because they felt: let our children die now as אידן as opposed to rather being brought up later as גוים.

We look back at our rich history – and even in today’s generation we find many-a-time when parents would give up their children for הקב"ה’s will. I was once by an אופרוף in Gateshead of a חשובע בחור – the son of ר' חיים קופמאן זצ"ל. At twelve years old, this בחור was diagnosed with a very serious מחלה. The situation was very serious, not leaving much chance for survival.

ר' מתתיהו שליט"א said at the אופרוף, “When I heard about the illness I went around to ר' חיים’s house.” When ר' חיים זצ"ל opened the door, he asked, “Why have you come around to me?”

“I have come to give you חיזוק, to be with you at such a matzev,” said ר' מתתיהו.

Said ר' חיים זצ"ל, “Why are you wasting your time coming around to me. If the רבש"ע wants from me an עקידה, I am prepared to offer up an עקידה.”

This was a איד who lived in our generation – not too long ago. We see again and again so many of such stories. Accordingly, what was so great about the מדריגה אברהם אבינו received since he was עומד on this נסיון? What exactly was the נסיון?

I once heard a moridiker explanation which gives a whole new understanding in the נסיון עקידה (mostly brought down in the הקדמה of אבי העזרי written by ר' שך זצ"ל).

חז"ל (יבמות מ"ט:) tell us, כל הנביאים נתנבאו באספקלריא שאינו מאירה חוץ ממשה רבינו" ", All the נביאים saw their vision through a frosted glass (except for מרע"ה). If you put water in a green glass the water looks green. The ספרים explain: A נביא saw his נבואה through himself. משל למה הדבר דומה; if a person just bought a new hat or new pair of glasses, when he walks down the streets he will notice what hat and glasses the person opposite him is wearing. Whatever a person’s mind is busy with, is what he is going to see. When a person hears a story, it’s dependent on the מדות of a person to what he is going to take out from the story. What he sees in the story and what he understands from the story. Everything in life is looked through everyone’s individual eyes. Depending how they were brought up, what circumstances they had, everything surrounding their growth and development; will all determine how a person will see everything. It’s all according to their individual eyes. If a person has bad מדות he automatically sees bad in others. Everything in life we see through ourselves.

A נביא will interpret נבואה according to his מדריגה, נגיע ות and מדות. In rare occasions the נביאים actually made mistakes לפי מדרגותם. What they translated was wrong. Only מרע"ה had a clear פה אל פה with the רבש"ע.

The תורת חיים (who lived 400 years ago) writes: If a person wants to receive a clarity in his learning, a person must purify himself. A person busy in narrish-kite and טומאה can’t expect to receive a clarity in his תורה. The clarity in learning can only come when a person cleans his גוף in מדות and טהרה. It’s only possible with a נפש טהרה. We must work on ourselves: both are dependent on each other.

אברהם אבינו received a נבואה from הקב"ה. The נבואה could have been translated in many ways. Hundreds of ways. A person has נגיעות to translate what he sees according to who he is.

There is an interesting observation which the historians observed. There was a civil war in America, the north against the south. It was most probably the only war in history which was not over land but rather over a moral issue. The whole county went out to war over a moral issue: whether slavery is good or bad. It’s known as the MASON DIXON LINE SLAVERY. They made a line across America: almost all the people below the line were for slavery and above the line almost all the people were against slavery. A פלא.

The explanation is simple: The industry of the south were their cotton plantations. Cotton plantations were only viable financially and profitable if you had slaves which did not require payment. The entire industry was dependent on slaves. Accordingly, they held slavery is a very good thing. The south therefore had many reasons to justify their reason for slavery, “they are subhuman… that is what they were made for…”

On the other hand, in the north they had a completely different industry. They had factories which were all powered by machinery. They didn’t require so many workers. They therefore looked at it differently, “it’s cruel… it’s immoral… there are no subhuman’ s…” They had loads of " תורות" exactly why they felt slavery was wrong until they extent they went out to fight against the south. Hundreds and thousands of people died in this war!

It’s all about נגיעות – how we see things. The דובנא מגיד famously tells over the following parable: A lion one morning was starving hungry. He hadn’t eaten for days. He wanted to kill a human being; however, he was uncertain if in the jungle he was allowed to kill humans. “What are you waiting for? Go kill him,” said the fox. “I don’t want to get punished,” responded the lion. “Don’t worry,” exclaimed the fox, “you won’t get punished. Maybe your grandchildren will get punished… that’s the way it works here…” The lion immediately runs toward the human to attack. However, the human being was already fully prepared. As the lion reaches the human being, it falls through a trap down to the bottom on a pit. The fox peers over from above, and the lion screams out, “but you told me I won’t get punished?!” “True,” snuffled the fox, “I said you won’t be punished. But your grandfather killed someone.” “It’s not fair,” screamed the lion, “just because my grandfather did something wrong, I must suffer?!” A moment later you see everything differently. That is נגיעות .נגיעות wreck a persons vision completely.

אברהם אבינו had so many reasons not to understand the נבואה the way it should be. הקב"ה promised "כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע" ,אברהם , Through יצחק you will have offspring… A clear פסוק: through יצחק your offspring will come.

The אבות הקדושים understood קרבנות on their own accord. The same way they understood קרבנות, they as well understood it was forbidden to offer up human beings as קרבנות. In fact, חז"ל teach us that אברהם אבינו actually went around telling people it’s forbidden to offer up their children as קרבנות! He had so many reasons to translate the נבואה in a different way, a different view and vision. Now here comes the crunch: Had אברהם אבינו had any נגיעות as we understand אהבה to a child, automatically without second thoughts - he would have understood the נבואה as a completely different נבואה. Had there even been a drop of נגיעה involved he would have seen it all in a completely different light.

The חפץ חיים had a son called ר' אברהם זצ"ל. His son helped him bring out many of his ספרים. At the לויה for ר' אברהם זצ"ל – who died before the חפץ חיים, the חפץ חיים said over a heart wrenching story from the times of the years ת"ח ות"ט. These were two years of terrible pogroms against כלל ישראל. Upon arriving to a certain village, the רשעים entered into a little shak where an אלמנה with her young child was living. In their cruelty they killed the child and left the mother alive. When they left the shak, the mother said to the רבש"ע, “רבש"ע ! I always felt guilty everyday in קריאת שמע when I would say "בכל לבבך", with all your heart. I must admit, it was not בכל לבבך since I had an אהבה toward my son. However, today, once my son has been killed, however painful it maybe I know I can say "בכל לבבך" properly.” It was then when the חפץ חיים exclaimed, “In my heart I have many compartments. Many compartments are filled with אהבת ה'. However, I have other compartments, such as compartments filled with אהבה for each of my beloved children. Now that ר' אברהם זצ"ל is gone, I promise You הקב"ה that I am now going to fill his compartment with אהבה for the רבש"ע!”

Meaning: Had the חפץ חיים (according to his מדריגה) had the נבואה of אברהם אבינו, he would have understood it differently because he had an אהבה in his heart which was not for the רבש"ע.

The אבות were on a different dimension completely. There was no such thing as אהבה for a child the way we understand it. Only then, it was possible to interpret the נבואה in the correct way. Of course, the איד who came to ר' צבי הירש מייזלס זצ"ל was a very great איד indeed; throughout the ages אידן sacrificed their children rather than let them be converted to a different religion. They knew this was clearly יהרג ואל יעבור. When it’s a clear הלכה – a clear פסק, we can obtain the מדריגה to be מוסר נפש .

But here, regarding אברהם אבינו is was a completely different נסיון. It was a נסיון where only if he is completely detached from the אהבה which we would have to a child, did he succeed in interpreting the נסיון correctly. In fact, this is clear in the גמרא in סנהדרין פ"ט:, the שטן came before the רבש"ע declaring, “Look אברהם אבינו just made a big סעודה when יצחק reached three years old, however, he did not offer up anything for You!” Said כלום עשה אלא בשביל בנו, “הקב"ה – I will tell him to shect his son and he will shect him.” The מפרשים all explain: "כלום עשה אלא בשביל בנו" – is there anything he is doing for the sake of his son?! said the רבש"ע to the שטן, “It’s not for his son. I will prove it you. If he is making this סעודה for his son, he will not understand the נבואה of עקידת יצחק properly. Rather he is making the סעודה for My sake; hence, I will tell him to shect his son and he will listen.”

We may ask: Did the אבות not acquire any אהבה toward their children?

הקב"ה ingrained in a person a tremendous אהבה toward a person’s children. It’s the only אהבה in the world which is not explainable. A friendship can be built because of many different reasons. Whereas, here it’s completely different. The first few months the baby cries, nappies, feeding, screaming, waking up in the night… What has the baby done for the mother? NOTHING! Gornished! Zero! (Maybe after four months you get a smile from the child…)

This אהבה is inborn and inbuilt. The ספרים הקדושים teach: הקב"ה made this for us to understand how much הקב"ה loves us! However naughty a child is, a parent will always forgive a child. אבשלום wanted to kill his father דוד! Nonetheless, when אבשלום died, דוד המלך cried! And this love is there to show us how much הקב"ה loves us however naughty we are.

An אהבה between a parent and child is unshakeable – it’s not dependent on anything. It’s their forever. Of course, this אהבה must be shown to a child, in order for the child to grow and develop properly - balanced and stabled.

The אבות of course did that to their children, yet everything was למען ה' so that they should grow up balanced and properly to serve the רבש"ע. They weren’t in it for themselves, for their own benefit or pleasure.

That is the חילוק which the חפץ חיים meant: there is a compartment of אהבה which is not completely למען אהבת ה', rather it’s for me.

When יעקב אבינו saw יוסף after twenty years he didn’t cry, rather he said קריאת שמע. Why? יעקב was scared. יעקב was always connected with the יעקב – "ויבו ר יעקב לבדו" ,רבש"ע was "לבדו" with the רבש"ע and the מלאך came to try and distract him. יעקב was therefore afraid, “Perhaps something emotional or a דבר גשמי will seep in here after I meet יוסף after so many years?” Therefore, he immediately recited קריאת שמע, to strengthen the ."בכל לבבך"

This is the understanding in the נסיון עקידה. We cannot fathom who the אבות were. Even צדיקי ישראל couldn’t have been עומד in that נסיון because they wouldn’t understand the נבואה the way they should have. They would have interpreted it wrong. However, the אבות looked at it as a completely different dimension; they had no נגיעות blocking their vision.

We can learn from here the ענין of נגיעות. Everything is all dependent on נגיעות. When we have major decisions, we must internalize our own נגיעות .נגיעות blinds a person, "כי השחד יעו ר עיני חכמים" . We must ask. Go and ask and get advice from greater people because we have נגיעות. And when we do what we are supposed to do, we never lose out. The של"ה הקדוש writes: At the time of עקידת יצחק, the נשמה of יצחק left him, and a new נשמה returned enabling him to bear children. אברהם אבינו felt he was giving away his son; on the contrary: he was processing his own offspring! He was enabling the offspring of כלל ישראל.

That is the הנהגה of the רבש"ע. When a person preforms a מסירת נפש, from the מקום מסירת נפש sprouts the ישועה. The reality changes after doing what’s right. רחל gave up her סימנים, thinking she was losing יעקב and becoming one of the mothers of כלל ישראל. On the contrary, "ויזכר אלקים את רחל", what did Hashem remember? Say חז"ל: The סימנים which she gave away, and then again, it was through that incident to how she was זוכה to her ישועה. What she thought was giving away made here become one of the אמהות.

You don’t lose when doing a מסירת נפש for the רבש"ע. We must put all our נגיעות aside and truly find out what’s the right thing to do. We will never lose by it.

Mainly, we should understand: We here and say so much about the זכותים of the עקידה and we sometimes wonder what was so great? The answer is: It was a test beyond our comprehension completely! It was nothing compared to all the stories of מסירת נפש we have heard during our history. It was a completely different dimension: no נגיעות involved. אברהם אבינו had no אהבה at all toward יצחק which was for his own sake, rather it was למען ה'. Accordingly, only such a person interpreted the נבואה in such a way. Other צדיקים who have an אהבה for their own sake, would interpret it differently according to their נגיעות!

We cannot fathom the אבות. It’s all totally beyond us. When we learn about the upcoming פרשיות we must understand we acquire no imagination at all about who the אבות were.

ר' ש לים שבדרן זצ"ל writes in לב שלום: If you want to find bad מדות in the תורה, you won’t find any in ספר בראשית. Bad מדות are found in ספר בראשית .פרשת בלק is completely above our comprehension.

They say a story about a lady who would read about the פרשה every week. Every year when it came to פרשת וישב she began to cry, feeling really sorry for יוסף הצדיק. One year, she didn’t cry. They asked her, “Why aren’t you crying this year?!” She replied, “I stopped crying. I stopped feeling sorry for יוסף. He saw it happened to him last year, why didn’t he learn his lesson?!”

In Vilna the מסקילים once made a play about מכירת יוסף. As they were taking יוסף away, an old lady stood up shaking her stick, “LEAVE HIM ALONE HE’S DONE NOTHING WRONG!”

People often get so carried away with their old frame of mind. We must move on from those days and learn the מפרשים who tell us it’s all very much beyond our comprehension.

Transcribed by אברהם דוב הכהן כהן – Avrohom Dov Kohn. All mistakes, omissions and errors are mine.