Netvort parshas Yisro 5771:   A Burning Issue
By Rabbi Joshua (combustably known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In parshas Yisro,  we read that before giving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, God told Moshe to warn the people not to ascend the mountain, and that after he would blow the 'yovel,' or horn, following His revelation, that prohibition would be lifted (Shemos, 19:13).  Rashi on that verse cites a Midrash in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, chapter 31, which states that the horn which God blew at Mt. Sinai was made from the horn of the ram offered by Avraham in place of Yitzchak at the time of the akeida.  According to the Mishnah in Zevachim (85) Avraham should have burned the horns of the ram along with its head, as long as the horns remained attached to the head.  The Ramban answers that it is possible that God collected the ashes of the horn which Avraham burned and fashioned them back into a horn.  The Maharal, however, in his super- commentary to Rashi, Gur Aryeh, notes that, in the same chapter of Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer, we are told that nothing in that ram went to waste, and the other horn will be used in the future, to announce the coming of the moshiach at the end of days. The point of the Midrash, taken as a whole, says the Maharal, is that the ram brought by Avraham was not a conventional ram, but one whose origins went beyond nature, and, so, even if it was burned on the altar, it could still be used at Mt. Sinai.

The Maharal goes on to say that the deeper meaning of the Midrash, and the connection of the ram to the revelation at Mt. Sinai, is very profound, and words on a page cannot really suffice to explain it. The Ramban, as well, says that there is a deeper meaning behind this Midrash.  I would like to suggest a more prosaic explanation, based on an idea that I heard from my teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveichik, z”tkl, in explanation of a Ramban in parshas Vayeira in regard to the akeida (see the article entitled Small Sacrifices in his book, The Warmth and the Light, to parshas Vayeira). 

The Ramban says that God did not need to test Avraham in order to find out how devoted he was to Him.  Rather, the purpose behind the tests that Avraham was subjected to by God was to bring his potential into actuality.  Rav Aharon explained that was this means, is that God wanted Avraham to prove to himself what his capabilities, in regard to his service of God, actually were.  He went on to say that the greatness of Avraham was not so much in his willingness to bring his son as a sacrifice, but in his willingness to make small sacrifices on a regular basis. The purpose of the akeida was to prove to Avraham that he was, indeed, able to make such sacrifices.  The Midrash Hagodol points out that although Avraham and Yitzchak are portrayed by the Torah as walking together as they went to the akeida, when Avraham returns from that episode, Yitzchak is not mentioned.  Where was he?  The Midrash says that Avraham sent him to the yeshiva of Shem to learn Torah.  Why hadn't Avraham sent him there earlier in his life?  Rav Aharon explained that it would have been a daily sacrifice for Avraham to be away from his son, and he was reluctant to undergo that sacrifice.  Through the akeida, God showed Avraham that he was capable of making the supreme sacrifice of offering Yitzchak up to God, and therefore he was certainly capable of parting with him by sending him to study in a yeshiva.

Rav Aharon pointed out that the Rambam, in his Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, chapter 5, in discussing the laws of Kiddush Hashem - of sanctifying God's name, to the extent of giving up one's life, first mentions the situations - which constitute the majority of cases - when one must transgress a Torah law rather than giving up his life, and only later mentions the few times when one must, indeed, sacrifice his life rather than transgress Torah law.  The implication is that it is far more important to live a life of sanctifying God's name than to die through sanctifying His name. The path to this kind of daily sanctification of His name, says Rav Aharon, is to make small, daily sacrifices in order to live a life guided by God's Torah.

Based on Rav Aharon's explanation of the akeida, I believe that we can understand the connection between the akeida and the revelation at Mt. Sinai. The revelation begins with the statement, "I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt." as is well--known, Egypt was a land that had a culture of death.  Great efforts were made to preserve the dead through mummification, and magnificent structures were built to house the dead. The Jewish people, however, were charged at Sinai to live a life of holiness, emphasizing life and the daily sacrifices that needed to be made in order to live such a life. That is why the message of the akeida culminated with the Sinai experience, so that the nation would take away this message with them as they went on to dedicate themselves to this challenge.

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