From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 4:56 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Yisro, 5767





                                            A Blast from the Past

              By Rabbi Joshua (reminiscently known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


  Before His revelation at Mt. Sinai, God tells Moshe to warn the people not to ascend the mountain, nor to touch it, on penalty of death. He then says, "when the blast of the horn is drawn out, they will ascend the mountain" (Shemos 19:13). Rashi, citing the Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, says that this horn came from the ram brought as an offering to God  in place of Yitzchok at the akeidah. Ramban is troubled by this midrash, because when the ram was offered on the altar, its horns were burned! However, says the Ramban, this can be easily answered by saying that God reconstituted the horn so that it could be blown on this important occasion. What, however, was the reason for using that horn to signify the departure of the shechinah, or divine presence, from the mountain? Ramban explains based on kabbalah that the horn represented the trait of Yitzchok known as 'pachad Yitzchok,' or the fear of Yitzchok. Perhaps, on a more basic level, we can explain that this element of fear reflected Yitzchok's sense of awe for the Almighty, which he attained while bound on the altar. The angel of God actually told Avrohom that his willingness to offer his son up to God indicated that he feared God. This must have been so, and perhaps to an even greater degree, in regard to Yitzchok, who willingly allowed himself to be placed on the altar, reflecting his surrender to the will of God. This trait now had to be demonstrated by the people, as well, by surrendering their will to that of the Almighty in accepting his commandments. The Talmud, in fact, notes that they said 'we will do and we will listen, ' thus committing themselves to do all that God would tell them even before hearing what He was gong to say.


  Our explanation, however, can, ostensibly, help us understand why the blast of the horn before the actual revelation symbolized surrender of one's will to God. Why, however, did the blasting of the horn, which denoted the departure of the divine presence from the mountain, serve this purpose. Perhaps we can explain this based on another comment of the Ramban, in his introduction to his commentary on the book of Shemos, in which he says that this is the book of exile and redemption, and that the redemption would not reach its culmination until the divine presence rested on the mishkan, just as it rested on the tents of our forefathers, as the Torah says at the end of parshas Chayei Sarah, that when Yitzchok brought Rivkoh into his tent, the divine cloud once again hovered over it, as it had during the lifetime of Sarah. The Ramban further says, in the beginning of his commentary to parshas Terumah, that the mishkan served as a continuation of the process of revelation at Mt. Sinai by bringing the divine presence to the people on a constant basis. Perhaps, then, we can suggest that the departure of the shechinah, as indicated by the blast of the horn, was in preparation for its return to the mishkan, which constituted the culmination of the redemption process. I would like to add a further dimension to the connection between the blasting of the horn and the character trait of Yitzchok, based on an idea which we have discussed in the past (see Netvort to parshas Toldos, 5762, available at Torahheights.com). .

  In the beginning of parshas Toldos, we read, "And Yitzchok entreated God opposite his wife because she was barren. And God allowed Himself to be entreated by him, and his wife Rivkah conceived." Rashi, citing the midrash, explains that both Yitzchok and Rivkah prayed to God for her to conceive, but it was Yitzchok's prayer rather that Rivkah's that was effective in meriting a child for her. Why? Because the prayer of a righteous person - a tzaddik - who is the offspring of a wicked person - a rasha - namely, Rivkah daughter of Besuel - cannot be compared to the prayer of a tzaddik who is the offspring of a tzaddik - namely, Yitzchok son of Avrohom. Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler, in his Michtav MeEliyahu, explains that someone who is the offspring of a tzaddik has a much more difficult time attaining his own personal relationship with God than someone whose parents are wicked. The righteous offspring of a wicked person rebelled against her parents, and thus, her very process of finding God and building her relationship with Him constituted the development of her unique path. However, someone whose father is a tzaddik was raised from infancy to believe in God and to worship and serve Him. It is much harder for such a person to carve out his own unique relationship with God than it is for someone who, from the very outset of that relationship, was carving out his own path. Therefore, the relationship with God that a tzadik whose father was a tzadik has is that much stronger, and that is why his prayer is more readily accepted.

  Yitzchok, then, who was the son of the great tzadik Avrohom, followed in his father's ways very closely, but, at the same time, was also able to carve out his own unique relationship with God. That unique relationship, it seems, found its expression in the intensity in his prayers. It is therefore not surprising that Rivkah first encountered Yitzchok while he was engaged in prayer, and that it was that event which defined their relationship and the way in which Rivkah thought of him, as elaborated upon by the Netziv in his commentary Ha'amek Davar. That is why it was specifically in the realm of prayer that Yitzchok, as a tzadik who was a son of a tzadik, was more effective than was Rivkah, who was a tzadekes in her own right, but whose father was a rasha.



  Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik has commented that Yitzchok, in following up on his father's actions in an exact way and restraining his own nature, was emulating God, Who created the world through the process of tzimtzum, or self-contraction. In modern terms, this is a reflection of the notion that sometimes less can be more. An example in the field of music is the minimalist work of the composer Steven Reich. Yitzchok, too, was, in a sense a minimalist. However, within that process of constraint, he still needed to express his own personality, his unique relationship with God. That unique relationship found its expression in the intensity in his prayers. It is therefore not surprising that Rivkah first encountered Yitzchok while he was engaged in prayer, and that it was that event which defined their relationship and the way in which Rivkah thought of him, as elaborated upon by the Netziv in his commentary Ha'amek Davar.



  Yitzchok's combination of following exactly in his father's ways, on the one hand, and carving out his own unique approach to God in the context of his prayers, helps us understand another midrash. The work of the mishkan, the tabernacle constructed by the children of Israel in the wilderness, was completed in the month of Kislev. However, the dedication ceremony was delayed until Nissan, to coincide with the birthday of Yitzchok. Why? I would like to suggest that the work of the mishkan reflected the dual aspect of Yitzchok's personality. On the one hand, the Torah records repeatedly that the people built the mishkan "as God commanded Moshe." Abarbanel writes that the mishkan atoned for the sin of the golden calf, in which the people tried to worship God in a manner that contradicted His commands. This approach to the sin of the golden calf is elaborated upon by Rabbi Yehudah haLevi in his classic work, the Sefer haKuzari. Our service of God he writes, must follow the path of 'from above to below,' meaning that we must serve God through following His directions. However, within these constraints, there is also a need for each person to express his own personality. The free willed donations to the mishkan, the nidvas ha-mishkan, was the avenue provided by God to express one's personality, to develop one's own unique relationship with God. Each person made his contribution to that aspect of the mishkan to which he had a particular affinity. An equivalent avenue for self-expression for us would be to put special effort into observing a particular mitzvoh with all of its details according to all the different approaches of the varied halachic authorities. Perhaps, then, it was because Yitzchok represented the successful combination of carving out a unique relationship with God within the confines of self-restraint, that the dedication of the mishkan was delayed until his birthday.


  We can now, with this background, better understand why the horn blasted at Mt. Sinai is identified with the ram offered in place of Yitzchok. The  sounding of the horn, as Rashi mentions, indicates the departure of the shechinah. As we explained it, based on the Ramban, the shechinah's departure was only temporary,
for it would eventually rest in the mishkan, which would thereby serve as a perptuation of the Sinaitic experience. The  dedication of the mishkan was delayed until the birthday of Yitzchok, as we explained, to highlight Yitzchok's ability to develop his own, unique approach to God within the constrictions of his father's approach. The experience at Mt. Sinai, on the one hand, represents the Jew's surrender to God's will, as the nation did when it said 'we will do and we will listen.' On the other hand, the midrash points out that  God addressed the people by saying " I am the Lord your God, rather than saying " I am the Lord God" because he was addressing each individual on his level. Thus, within the experience of collective surrender to God's will, space was given to each person to relate to God on his own level, thus echoing the dual approach of Yitzchok. This dual approach to serving God was therefore underlied by the blasting of a horn that came from the ram offered in place of Yitzchok, indicating the temporary departure of the shechinah before it came back to rest in the mishkan, which would be dedicated on Yitzchok's birthday, again highlighting the dual nature of Yitzchok's approach to God as a paradigm for others to emulate.



  Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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