From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 2:07 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Vayeira, 5767



                                               The Morning After

               By Rabbi Joshua (contrarily known as The Hoffer) Hoffman



This week's parsha reaches its crescendo with its account of the akeidah, in which Avrohom, responding to a prophetic call, willingly takes his son Yitzchok to Mt. Moriah to bring him as a sacrifice to God. The two were accompanied by Eliezer, Avrohom's servant, and Yishmoel, Avrohom's son from Hagar, until they reached the mountain, but, at that point, father and son continued on alone, leaving the two attendants behind. At the last minute, when Yitzchok is tied to an altar and Avrohom is about to slaughter him, an angel of God commands him to desist from his intended action, he brings a ram as a sacrifice instead, descends from the mountain and begins his trek back home. Interestingly, the Torah, in its description of Avrohom and Yitzchok's trip to Mt. Moriah, repeatedly notes that the two of them walked together - 'yachdav.' The rabbis tell us that this impliess a oneness of determination, on the part of father and son, both willingly going to fulfill God's command. After the akeidah, when Avrohom descends from the mountain, we are told, "Avrohom returned to his young men, and they stood up and went together (yachdov) to Be'er Shova" (Bereishis 22:19). Where was Yitzchok? Ibn Ezra says that it is understood that he was with Avrohom, although the Torah does not mention him explicitly. However, the midrash, cited in Targum Yonasan (scholastically known as Pseudo-Yonasan) says that he went to study in the yeshiva of Shem for thirty years. A somewhat similar comment can also be found in Bereishis Rabbah. A number of explanations of this midrash have been offered over the years, some of which I would like to mention, as a kind of foil to the explanation that I will then suggest.


My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, zt"l in his book The Warmth and the Light, mentions the midrash we cited above, and asks why Avrohom decided, now that Yitzchok was already thirty-seven ears old, according to one midrash, to send his son to yeshivah. Why hadn't he sent them there before? Rav Aharon explains that previous to the akeidah, Avrohom was not willing to part with his beloved son, even in order to learn Torah. Moreover, he felt, where could there be a better place to learn Torah than his own house, where Avrohom could personally teach him the Torah which he, as the rabbis tell us, intuited on his own? God wanted to show Avrohom, through the trial of the akeidah, that he was capable of making the supreme sacrifice, of offering his son up to God completely, and, therefore, he was certainly capable of the small, daily sacrifice of having his son study Torah away from home. Avrohom, learning this lesson, decided it was now time to send Yitzchok away to learn at the yeshivah of Shem, and that is why he is not mentioned in the Torah as descending the mountain together with his father.


Rav Aharon's explanation of the midrash helps us to understand, from Avrohom's point of view, why he now sent Yitzchok away to study in a yeshivah. However, it does not explain what the purpose of Yitzchok studying in an out-of-town yeshivah was. Moreover, even with Rav Aharon's explanation, we still need to understand why the Torah tells us that Avrohom and his two attendants walked 'yachdav' - together - implying a similarity of purpose. This term, while appropriate in the case of Avrohom and Yitzchok walking together, hardly seems appropriate in connection with Avrohom walking from the akeidah with Ellizer and Yishmoel. Why, then, is it employed? Rav Mordechai Gifter, in his Pirkei Torah to parshas Vayeira, cites the Targum Yonasan, and also discusses the use of the word yachdav. Dealing with the second point first, Rav Gifter writes that Avrohom, out of his great humility, did not display, in an outward way, the spiritual heights he had reached on Mt. Moriah to Eliezer and Yishmoel. Rather, he continued to act as he had before, in way that he could continue to relate to his two attendants, on their lower level. Yitzchok, however, achieved the status of an 'olah temimah,' or an unblemished offering, at the akeidah, and he had to go to the yeshivah of Shem and study for thirty years in order to maintain that level. This explanation, however, makes an assumption about the course of study in that yeshivah which may not be supported by another midrashic source, as I would like to demonstrate.


The midrash in the beginning of parshas Vayeitzei tells us that Ya'akov, on his way to Charan, in flight from his brother Eisav, went to the yeshiva of Ever and studied Torah there for fourteen years before continuing his journey. What was it that he studied there for all those years, that he had not already learned during his long years as one who dwells in tents and studies Torah? Rav Ya'akov Kaminetsky, in his Emes L'Ya'akov, explains that Ya'akov was about to leave Eretz Yisroel, and he needed to learn how to apply his learning to the different conditions he would encounter in exile, having to deal with people such as Lavan who were idolaters as well as being dishonest. Ya'akov's great success in building a large family that recognized God and was devoted to His service testifies to the fact that he learned his lessons well during those extra years of study in yeshivah. Based on Rav Ya'akov's explanation of Ya'akov's experience, we can now go back and better understand how both Avrohom and Yitzchok comported themselves in the aftermath of the akeidah.


Contrary to what Rav Gifter writes, that the use of the word yachdav in regard to the relationship between Avrohom and his two servants as they left the scene of the akeidah indicates that Avrohom, out of his humility, comported himself on their level, I would like to suggest that he sought to elevate Eliezer and Yishmoel to his level. The midrash tells us that the reason Avrohom left the two attendants behind at the foot of the mountain is that when he saw a divine cloud hovering over the mountain, he asked all three - Yitzchok, Eliezer and Yishmoel what they saw. While, the two attendants replied that they merely saw a mountain, Yizchok replied that he saw a mountain with divine cloud hovering over it. Avrohom then understood that Eliezer and Yishmoel would not be able to take in what was about to happen on the mountain, and therefore told them to wait for him while Yitzchok and he continued on. However, when he returned, he was determined to communicate something of his experience to them, and, so they walked together. The result of Avrohom's efforts can be seen in Eliezer's subsequent trip to Charan to find a wife for Yitzchok. He encountered a family of idolaters, and described to them the experiences he had in seeking a proper match for Yitzchok, emphasizing God's providence throughout. By the time he finished, these former idolaters said that it was all from God. As my teacher, Rav Herzl Kaplan, zt"l. explained, this is the meaning of the statement of the rabbis, that the conversations of the servants of the patriarchs are dearer than the words of Torah themselves. Yishmoel, too the rabbis tell us, underwent a process of repentance, and joined Yitzchok in burying Avrohom when he passed away. Thus, Avrohom was able to bring his experience at the akeidah down into this world, and use it as a source of inspiration to motivate his two attendants to reach new spiritual heights.


Yitzchok, on the other hand, was so changed by the event of the akeidah that he was described as an 'olah temimah,' a perfect sacrifice, and was unable to interact with people in a way that would elevate them. He therefore needed to go to the yeshivah of Shem and learn how to do just that, as his son Ya'akov would later need to do before he encountered the idolaters in Charan. Once Yitzchok returned from the yeshivah and confronted the Pelishtim, as we learn in parshas Toldos, he, too was able to interact with them in a way that convinced them of God's providential hand in this world, until Avimelech, king of the Pelishtim, referred to him as being 'blessed of God" (Bereishis 26:29).



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman- homiletically known as The Hoffer) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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