VEYEITZEI - THE NAMING OF THE AVOS

We find in this week’s sedra that when, at long last, Rochel gave birth to a son, the Torah tells us the following. ותקרא את שמו יוסף לאמר יסף ה' לי בן אחר She called his name Yosef, יוסף, saying, Hashem should add for me, יסף, another son. As a baal koreh, I immediately noticed that the first time the Yosef is spelt, it has in it a ו, יוסף, whereas the second time the ו is omitted. There must be a very good reason why, especially in the same verse, a word is spelt מלא, and then חסר.

In order to understand this, I think we have to go back to the first time we find a person is instructed to give his son a name in Torah. I am referring to Avrohom who was told to name his son Yitzchok, יצחק. Rashi explains that this was because of the merriment and happiness that Avrohom experienced when he learned that he was going to have a son, at long last, at the age of 100 with his beloved wife, Soroh, who would then be 90.

Rashi, furthermore, comments that each individual letter has a significance. The י refers to the 10 tests that Avrohom was put through. The צ refers to the 90 years of Soroh. The ח is an allusion to the 8 days of the bris mila. Finally, the ק is the 100 years, the age of Avrohom at that the time that Yitzchok was born/

Obviously, there is more depth in that name than just a simple explanation, as we can all see.

What occurred to me, was that the full gemmatria, numerical equivalent, of the name Yitzchok is 208 (י equals 10, צ is 90, ח is 8 and ק equals 100).

The significance of that figure is that it is exactly 8 times 26. 26 is the numerical value of י-ה-ו- ה. We have a rule that 7 is the apex of nature. Hashem created the world in 7 days, we have 7 in the case of shmitta etc. 8 refers to that which is למעלה מן הטבע higher than nature, supernatural.

As both Avrohom and Soroh were elderly and it was a miracle, למעלה מן הטבע, that they were blessed with a son. Not only were they blessed with a son, but one who was very holy. Therefore, his name, numerically 208, is 8 times 26 as mentioned above.

When Yitzchok had two sons, everybody called Eisav by his name, as the Torah states. In the case of Yaakov, Rashi comments that הקב''ה called him by that name. Yaakov equals 182 (י equals 10, ע is 70, ק is 100 and ב equals 2). This equals 7 times הוי'. Yaakov Avinu represented the maximum that a person could elevate himself naturally in this world. Our chochomim tell us that the beauty, שופרא, of Yaakov was similar to that of Odom Harishon. Namely, his spiritual level reached a similar level to that of Odom Harishon the prototype, ideal man created by Hashem, Himself.

At the beginning of Vayeishev, the Torah tells us אלה תלדות יעקב יוסף. The commentators tell us that the main son of Yaakov was Yosef who was on a higher level than the 11 שבטים, his brothers. If you calculate the gemmatria of יוסף, it adds up to 156 (י equals 10, ו equals 6, ס is 60 and פ is 80). This equates to 6 times 26.

We therefore see a pattern emerging. Yitzchok equals 8, Yaakov equals 7 and Yosef equals 6 times the שם הוי'.

As far as Avrohom is concerned, we all know that his father was Terach, who originally named his אברם, therefore his name does not fit into the pattern. Hashem gave him the extra ה in his name and by doing so the numerical value of אברהם equals 248 (א equals 1, ב equals 2, ר is 200, ה is 5 and מ equals 40). That, of course, is the same as the 248 limbs which a man possesses. It is also equal to the 248 positive mitzvos in the Torah. Avrohom positively elevated his whole being physical as well as spiritual to an indescribably high level.

Coming back to the original question I posed as to why in the one verse the name Yosef is spelt with a ו and then without, I believe that the answer is now apparent. The first time, it is spelt fully, as I have explained above, because it equals 6 times 26 and it is to convey the continuity of the holiness of the generations of our אבות. However, although Rochel was asking for another son, she knew that even though her son, eventually born, namely Benyomim, would be a Tzaddik, he could not be on the same level as Yosef. Therefore, the ו is omitted and the word is spelt יסף.

ז כסלו תשס''ט

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טעמי המקרא - שלשלת

At the same time as Moshe Rabbenu was given the Torah by Hashem, he was not only given the actual words to write down, but the vowels, the way to pronounce words, were given to him at the same time, for example, when to use a קמץ, חיריק, חולם etc. Also at the same time, he was given the טעמי המקרא, the cantillations, trop, the notes to be sung on each word.

You will note that these are called טעמי המקרא, they are not just fanciful musical accompaniments they are, in fact, deeper hints and guidance to understanding some further depth in Torah which does not appear by just reading the words even with the vowels.

There are two types of טעמי המקרא. They are known as מלכים and משרתים, kings and servants.

Basically, a servant is a note or series of notes leading to a final note, where there is then a distinct pause. The final note is known as a מלך, melech, a king.

There are a number of these notes known as melech but the greatest one is the שלשלת, the “King of Kings”.

The note only appears a few times in the whole of Torah and its significance is, therefore, even greater.

I would like to go through the various places that a שלשלת is found and discuss the matter in some depth.

The first time we come across a שלשלת is in the sedra וירא. Lot was told to get out of Sedom fast, in order that he should not be destroyed with Sedom. The Torah continues, ויתמהמה, and he tarried. On that word there is a שלשלת.

In order to understand why there is this “King of Kings” special note at this juncture, let us go back a little while. Avrohom Avinu was told to leave his homeland and go, in fact, to the land of Canaan, and Lot joined him. When they arrived, there was immediately a famine and they went down to Egypt. They were very poor at that time. Avrohom Avinu had to borrow money to keep going.

When they came out of Egypt three months later, not only Avrohom was rich but Lot also. We then see that Avrohom on his way back, as Rashi states, פרע הקפותיו, paid up his debts. Avrohom was not affected by the sudden wealth he received, he ruled his money and not his money ruling him.

Lot, however, did not have the same attitude. Immediately afterwards we find that his shepherds were involved in a squabble with Avrohom’s shepherds. Rashi tells us that Lot’s shepherds were feeding from the pastures of individual people and when Avrohom’s shepherds objected, the rejoinder was, “Well Avrohom has no children and, therefore, Lot will, in due course, inherit his lands and these lands have been promised to Avrohom. Therefore we are doing no wrong.”

Very bad thinking. Obviously, this was coming from Lot himself. Not only had he acquired wealth, he wanted to acquire even more wealth in whatever manner he could, not caring too much about the means. Avrohom said to Lot “We must part company even though we will remain brothers.” What did Lot do? Instead of making up with Avrohom, promising to improve and that his shepherds would not do this in future, he looked out at the best part of the land, namely Sedom and its environs (now the site of the Dead Sea) and decided that that was the place for him to live.

The Gomorra in Sanhedrin ק''ט and in particular, in even more detail, in the Sefer Hayosher, a famous medrash sefer, goes into great details as to how beautiful and lush that particular part of the country was. Because of this, the effect on the citizens was that they became very miserly and did not want anybody to share their good fortune. They passed draconian laws to stop people even passing through their land.

This was the place that Lot wanted to go and live and he did go there. His character was flawed and his eagerness for the good life and luxury, leading to his latent bad middos being brought forth at full blast, was the consequence.

He was once taken away from Sedom by the four kings who rampaged through the area. Avrohom chased the four kings and released him, but Lot went back to Sedom. He could not keep away from the fleshpots of luxury together with the licentiousness.

When finally, the angels came to save him, in the merit of Avrohom, despite the fact that he was told that if he did not leave, he would be destroyed together with the inhabitants and everything else in Sedom. ויתמהמה, he tarried. The שלשלת is a treble note as the word שלשלת implies because it comes from the root of שלש, three. He Tarried, and Tarried and Tarried and the angels had to turn themselves into men and take himself and his wife and daughters by the hand to physically eject them from Sedom.

We can see the importance of the שלשלת.

This was not only a lesson for what happened in the past, history repeats itself. Nowadays, we are in the midst of a major world financial upheaval. The monies which have been made over the past years, one could almost say the obscene monies made over the past years by fair means and foul have unfortunately, in many case, led to people doing almost anything in order to increase their wealth. The money, unfortunately, has been ruling the person and the chickens have now come home to roost, as is well known.

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Turning to the next שלשלת we find, it appears in חיי שרה. Eliezer had just reached ארם נהרים having been sent to look for a shidduch for Yitzchok, and he tethered the camels and then he prayed to Hashem for success. On the word ויאמר there is a שלשלת.

Once again the background leading up to this is very important. Avrohom and Soroh were fortunate enough, after many years of not having children to, at the age of 100 and 90 respectively, to have a son called Yitzchok. When Yitzchok was 37 years of age, the story of the עקידה took place and Soroh died. Subsequently, Avrohom thought to himself that he must look round for a suitable wife for his son as a matter of urgency.

This was a major problem because of various factors. Avrohom was, of course, known as the standard bearer of the new revolution proclaiming that there was a one and only Hashem in the world. People had got used to him and he was even known as אב המון גוים, father of all the nations. He and his wife were known as people of great kindness, אנשי חסד.

Yitzchok, however, concentrated on serving Hashem in a different way, namely with fear of heaven and strength of purpose. There were no compromises, no easy way. He was very strict on himself.

Furthermore, he had to stay in our Holy Land and, in fact, never went out of it for all his life.

Eliezer was faced with three major problems. He had to look for a wife who was suitable for such a person as Yitzchok and also the prospective Choson would not come to visit her or her family and Eliezer realised that in order to create a good marriage, the wife for Yitzchok had to be somebody with utmost kindness, similar to Avrohom and Soroh. He, therefore, started off his plea to Hashem to show him a girl who would fit this task and also belong to the family of Avrohom and so they would be able to continue the dynasty commenced by Avrohom and Soroh.

The Torah emphasises the Tefilla of Eliezer, with the שלשלת on ויאמר.

He was, of course, successful as we all know.

This is also a lesson relevant to shidduchim in our times. People have been known to arrange marriages with an eye on the יחוס of the family, the wealth and prestige and what the world will say, etc.

My Rebbe, the Bais Yisroel, used to quote the verse כי יקח איש אשה חדשה נקי יהיה, When a man takes a new wife he should be נקי, which is normally translated as free or unencumbered. However, if one looks at the three letters, a נ has a numerical value of 50, a ק has a numerical value of 100 and י is 10. The hint, that the Bais Yisroel used to quote, I believe in the name of his father, the Imrei Emess, was how to approach a shidduch. People usually look for three things, first there is the נדן, dowry represented by the letter נ. If only 50% of the figure originally floated is actually forthcoming, be satisfied.

ק represents קרן, the prospective Choson or Kallah themselves. This has to be 100%, it is the most important part of a shidduch.

י represents the יחוס, if this is only 10% of that which is mentioned, that is enough.

The most important thing in a shidduch is that the boy and girl should be of first class quality. They should be compatible and be able to live together happily and bring up future generations in the correct manner. The rest is bonus.

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The next time we find a שלשלת is in וישב. Yosef had been purchased by Potiphar, one of Pharoh’s ministers and he became his “head of the household”. Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him and Yosef refused. ויאמן (“He refused”) has a שלשלת, once again a three fold note, No, No, No.

If we look at the background of the whole story, we will see how great this act was.

Yaakov finally had a son by his beloved wife Rochel. Yosef grew up to be a special lad, the apple of his father’s eye. At the age of 17 he was suddenly torn away from all this and sold by his brothers and eventually was sold to Potiphar a minister of Pharoh in Egypt. Yosef had gone from a household of righteousness, of Yaakov as well as Yitzchok who was still alive and the great matriarchs, into a degenerate society in Egypt. He was depressed and broken. He could easily have been influenced the wrong way and have done the wrong thing. The Chochomim tell us אין אפוטרפוס לעריות

As our Chazal tell us, Yosef saw the face of his holy father and had the strength of character not to be influenced. He emphatically said “No” whatever the consequences. And there were consequences. We all know that he ended up in prison for many years, but the end of the story was that he came out of prison and became the second in command in Egypt and eased the path of Yaakov and his children and the Bnei Yisroel in their going down to Egypt.

Not for nothing, is there a שלשלת at ויאמן.

Today, this is also very relevant to ourselves.

We live in a society where media in general, and the internet in particular, are trying to seduce many people, righteous, naïve etc. with very attractive filth. We must have the strength of character to say “No, No, No”.

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The final שלשלת is in פרשת צו. Once again the background here is very important. Aaron and his sons had been appointed to be Kohanim and the Torah tells us the procedure that was carried out to complete the investiture. After they had put on special clothes and in particular Aaron with the eight special vestments, the Torah continues with the korbonos, the sacrifices which were specially brought all on the 1st day of Nissan, the day the Mishkon was consecrated. The final sacrifice was the איל המלאים, the inauguration ram. Then, Moshe having carried out the final acts that Hashem commanded to do to Aaron, he became the Kohen Godol. On the word וישחט, “he slaughtered” (the איל המלאים) there is a שלשלת. This is because it was the culmination of the investiture of Aaron as Kohen Godol and his children as Kohanim.

This was a great event at the time because it was in the merit of Aaron that the Shechina came down and dwelt in the Mishkon. Aaron blessed the Bnei Yisroel and it was the inauguration of a new way of life for the Bnei Yisroel which has continued ever since.

Once again, it was not just for that particular time, it was for all generations including ours.

Furthermore, the word שלשלת nowadays is applied to a family tree, in the same way as the Kohanim have a separate family tree.

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You may have noted that all the four places mentioned above are leyned in the winter months (צו is actually read before פסח). This is a רמז, hint, to us that even when things look dark, one can overcome difficulties בס''ד.

As one can see the use of a שלשלת highlights very important matters that are not to be glossed over.

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AVROHOM AND SEDOM

Over the weekend whilst reviewing the sedra וירא, I was struck by a thought; ה' revealed to Avrohom that he was about to destroy, or at least, severely punish Sedom and its satellite towns because they were so evil.

Avrohom, who felt responsibility for the whole world, (after all, ה' had named him אברהם, אב המון גוים, father of a multitude of nations) felt the need to spring to their defence. We all know that Avrohom’s middoh was חסד, kindness, and he marshalled all the arguments he could find, חלילה לך You will surely not destroy a Tzaddik together with a Rosha etc. We all know how Avrohom commences with 50 Tzaddikim to save the five towns, he goes down to 45, 40, 30, 20 and finally 10 in the hope that at least one of the five cities will be saved, ה' assures him that if he could find these ten righteous people, He would indeed save them and all the city in their merit.

The posek then continues, אברהם שב למקומו, Avrohom returned to his previous place. The result was that the angels went to Sedom and destroyed all the cities and the surrounding area.

My question was, Why did not Avrohom take matters further, why did he not, instead of going back to a “place where he had been”, proceed to Sedom and try to persuade the populace that they should repent and improve their deeds, to do תשובה? After all, Avrohom had been trying to get people to improve for many years.

We find the classic example of the prophet Jonah. He was very reluctant to go to Nineveh but when he finally did go and announced that ה' was going to destroy the town in 40 days, the populace did repent and ה' relented. Why did not Avrohom do this?

I can think of reasons why and I will outline below further my thoughts on the matter, but what intrigues me most of all is that when I went to the Classic commentators (מפרשים) and for that matter, numerous other ones, I could not find anybody who touched on the question.

I found that the Zohar Hakodesh compares Noach, Avrohom and Moshe as follows. Noach, when told that the rest of the world was going to be destroyed did not pray and intercede on their behalf. Avrohom, when told what was going to happen to Sedom did intercede but stopped after he could not persuade ה'. Moshe, when praying for the Bnei Yisroel after the incident of the golden calf, not only prayed but stated that if ה' would not forgive them, מחני נא מספרך, blot me out from your Holy Book, and indeed ה' said סלחתי כדברך, I forgive them as you requested.

Furthermore, the Zohar also states that Avrohom must have been rather fool hardy, in that when he learned that Lot had been captured by the four kings, and taken away by them, he chased after them and in the middle of the night attacked them and recaptured Lot, as well as all the booty which had been stolen from the king of Sedom etc. However, as the Zohar tells us there, he was intent on trying to save Lot as he had undertaken to always come to his aid, after they had decided to part ways.

We know that Avrohom was no coward and had been in difficult situations from which ה' had saved him. These included אור כשדים the burning furnace into which he was thrown and miraculously was saved. The incident in Egypt when Pharoh took Soroh and she was returned to him. The story just mentioned above about the recapture of Lot. The further story with Avimelech and Soroh etc.

Avrohom knew that ה' stood with him at all times.

Why did he not go the one step further and go to Sedom, as I queried above?

You might very well ask why was it that he even prayed for the people of Sedom. I believe that that lies in the words mentioned to him by ה', ארדה נא ואראה please let me go down and see. The word נא, “please” is strange, as if somebody could stop ה'!! If we compare this with the story after the golden calf, where ה' said to Moshe הרף ממני stop troubling me. From this Moshe deduced that ה' expected him, Moshe, to intervene and intercede on behalf of the Bnei Yisroel. I think here also, Avrohom deduced that the נא was a plea, almost an invitation, by ה' that Avrohom had the right and power to intercede on behalf of the people of Sedom which he did. One might also object to my question and comparison with Nineveh, on the basis that Yonah was actually told to go and tell the king and people of Nineveh what was going to happen if they did not repent, whereas ה' had not told Avrohom this. However, Avrohom was not told that he should not go to Sedom. At least I can’t find anywhere that it says so.

I find it all very puzzling.

Perhaps somebody can help me out and, first let me know of at least one of the מפרשים, commentators, who actually asks the question. I would, then, of course, be delighted if there were any possible answers given.

Let me suggest a possible reason why Avrohom did not go into Sedom.

The Gomorra tells us in Sanhedrin ק''ט how wicked the people of Sedom were and gives various examples. One of them was concerning Eliezer the servant of Avrohom who once went to Sedom, was hit with a stone by a man and blood came out. That man then had the effrontery to demand money for having made הקזה, bloodletting. When Eliezer objected and was hauled before the magistrate, the magistrate confirmed the payment was due. Eliezer then took a stone himself and hit the judge on his face, so that blood ran there and remarked to the judge “You now go and settle the bloodletting money with the person who hit me” and Eliezer left Sedom.

This story and various other incidents are related in greater detail in the ספר הישר.

I believe that Avrohom would have heard about this story. After all, his chief of staff turned up looking very bruised, Avrohom decided that one does not go into a lion’s den even with the best intentions. Even if your name is Avrohom whom the people of the world accept as a righteous man and look up to. When it came to their own patch of land, the people of Sedom and the surrounding towns passed such draconian, beastly laws and carried out such horrible punishments on wayfarers that they would not only not listen to him, Avrohom, but were likely to not let him get out alive.

In all the other cases mentioned above, the ingredients were not the same. When Avrohom was thrown into the furnace by Nimrod, he could not defend himself and he was given no option. When he went to Egypt, he sidestepped problems by saying that his wife was his sister and felt that this would save him from being killed.

Likewise, when he went to Gerar and Avimelech took Soroh.

Even when he went to fight the kings in order to snatch back Lot, this was done on neutral ground, in the middle of the night, by surprise attack. It would have been completely different if he would have turned up in Sedom and been surrounded by the populace.

No doubt, the evil, כח הטומאה in Sedom also acted as a further deterrent.

To demonstrate how bad, thick and callous the people of Sedom were, let us look at what happened when the angels arrived. They went to Lot’s house and the house was surrounded by the whole populace. The angels ensured that everybody suddenly turned blind and, therefore, could not harm the inhabitants of the house. Nevertheless, when Lot went to speak to his sons-in-law and daughters to try and save them, they just laughed at him. The fact that there had been this great miracle and that they, among other people, had all gone blind a few hours before, had no effect at all on their behaviour.

As I have said at the beginning I was struck by this question out of the blue and am still groping for an adequate answer as well as, of course, somebody who could point to a commentator, anyone of the מפרשים who discusses this matter.

כ מרחשון תשס''ט

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CHAYA SOROH

This week’s sedra commences with the death of Soroh and then goes into detail concerning the purchase of the Meoras Hamachpela, the cave within a cave in the town of Chevron which Avrohom Avinu purchased with great political skill as well as at considerable cost. As usual I have a few questions on the subject.

Firstly, what was Soroh doing in Kiryas Arba, Chevron?

According to the medrash, Avrohom Avinu was in Be’er Sheva before the famous story of the Akeidah and, after the Akeidah, returned there. We know that the medrash mentioned by Rashi at the beginning of the sedra tells us, that because the Soton informed her about the happenings at the Akeidah, and that Yitzchok almost died, that her soul left her body. Why was Soroh not in Be’er Sheva?

The second question is, “This all took a considerable time after the Akeidah.” Avrohom had to return from Yerushalyim to Be’er Sheva which obviously took him approximately three days because it states clearly when he was going to the Akeidah that on the third day he saw the place he was supposed to be going to, namely Har Hamoriah. So if it took him a further two or three days to get back, and then he learned that she had died, he had to once again to go back to Chevron from Be’er Sheva, about a day’s journey and then he again had to negotiate with Efron and the Bnei Chais. This all took approximately five days. My question is why didn’t Avrohom hurry the burial instead of carrying on delicate negotiations, with first of all the Bnei Chais and then Efron and finally purchasing the field and its cave.

My third question is, that at the end of the first Parsha, it says ואחרי כן , after this Avrohom buried Soroh in the Meoras Hamachpelah. Rashi comments earlier in פרשת לך לך that that wherever the expression אחר is used it means immediately afterwards, whereas אחרי means sometime afterwards. This, of course, reinforces my question as to why Avrohom tarried so long in burying Soroh after he had finally achieved that which he set out to do, namely, purchase the Meoras Hamachpelah. I would have thought that he would have immediately hurried to bury his dear beloved wife?

We must also remember that at that time, there was no such thing as refrigerated mortuaries and leaving a dead body decaying for five days would be a major consideration.

If we look at the detailed negotiations, which took place, we can see the manoeuvring between Avrohom and the Bnei Chais and afterwards with Efron, who tried to make out, that he, like the rest of Bnei Chais, were very nice people and wanted to give Avrohom a free burial plot but, in fact, he was after a lot of money. We can also see that Avrohom was not happy to accept any gift and wanted to pay the full price, a very full price for the cave.

Altogether a very puzzling set of circumstances.

I believe that in order to understand matters more clearly, one has to go back in time. We find that when Avrohom performed the bris mila on himself, Hashem came to visit him and then all of a sudden three people, who turned out to be the angels Michoel, Gavriel and Rofoel, also turned up and he offered them food and drink. The Torah then tells us, ואל הבקר רץ אברהם , Avrohom ran to the herd of cattle and Rashi explains that he wished to slaughter three animals in order to give each of his guests a tongue, which was obviously a great delicacy.

The medrash tells us that the particular animal he was aiming for, ran away from him and he pursued it until it came to a cave and it disappeared inside. When he followed it, he saw a great light and eventually realised that buried there were Odom and Chava. He also realised that there was a good reason why he was being shown this. This was in fact the Meoras Hamachpela.

You will all remember that one explanation why this is called Meoras Hamachpela, a double cave, is because there were four pairs of husband and wife buried there eventually, Odom and Chava, Avrohom and Soroh, Yitzchok and Rivka, and Yaakov and Leah.

No doubt, Avrohom did not tell anybody about this, except, of course, for his wife Soroh, and possibly Yitzchok.

They, therefore, knew the importance and holiness of that particular place and Avrohom would surely have reasoned that he was shown this in order that he should, likewise, arrange for this to be his family burial site.

However, there were a number of major problems. Avrohom and Soroh lived in Be’er Sheva and not Chevron. If Avrohom would have turned up in Chevron and asked to buy this particular site, people would have asked questions and, no doubt, there would have been a major investigation and very likely the fact that Odom and Chava were buried there would have been discovered. Remember that the Bnei Chais were also descendants of Odom Harishon and there had only been twenty generations from Odom. Furthermore, Odom had only died about one thousand years before. Everybody would have wanted to be buried there and nobody would have contemplated selling this cave to Avrohom Avinu at any price.

We also find that Soroh was a nevia, a prophetess. When she discovered that Yishmoel as a boy was trying to influence Yitzchok in a bad manner, she suggested to Avrohom that he should send Yishmoel away. Avrohom was very upset but Hashem said to him כל אשר תאמר אליך שרה שמע בקולה , whatever Soroh tells you, you listen to her. Rashi explains, listen to the prophetic voice coming from inside her.

What I suggest happened is, that when Avrohom went off with Yitzchok to the Akeidah, Soroh felt impelled to journey to Chevron from Be’er Sheva. She had a sort of prophetic vision, that Chevron was where she was supposed to be, and therefore, when the Soton came and told her that Yitzchok had almost been killed, she died of fright in Chevron.

When Avrohom found out about this, it made his task that much easier as far as acquiring the Meoras Hamachpela. He came to Chevron to, as the possek tells us, לספוד לשרה ולבכותה to eulogise her and to cry over her and obviously it would make sense that he would then look around to bury her there and not transport her back to Be’er Sheva.

Nevertheless, he had to be careful not to appear too anxious to acquire a particular plot. Therefore, he spoke to the leaders of the Bnei Chais and just asked them in general terms, “Please give me a burial site which should be the family burial site, so that I should be able to bury my wife there”. They replied “Of course we will agree to this, nobody will deny you the right to bury your wife, whichever place you choose.” At that time, he asked them (he did not ask Efron yet) “Listen to me and please I implore you speak to Efron Ben Tzochar, and he should give me the Meoras Hamachpela. It is only at the end of his field, it is not at the middle of the field, so it will not affect him and I will pay for it, I don’t want any gifts”

As the medrash tells us, they elevated Efron, who was not one of their leaders, right into their main tribal council and he answered Avrohom and said “I don’t need any money, please take the field as well as the cave” etc. Avrohom made sure that the whole of the Bnei Chais who lived in Chevron stayed on board because he bowed down to all of them before speaking to Efron and then went into detailed negotiations. This resulted in Efron finally stating a price, four hundred talents of silver. We are told that Avrohom did not just give him four hundred normal ones, but four hundred top, top quality ones worth considerably more, apparently worth 100 times as much. The deal was done.

So, we have a done deal, signed and sealed by Efron in the presence of all his city and witnessed, so there should be (apparently) no doubt, regarding the matter and no turning back. The field and the cave were acquired by Avrohom.

We then have this strange verse which I mentioned above, at my third question. Possek Yud Tes, starts off ואחרי כן קבר אברהם את שרה אשתו Avrohom waited some time before burying his wife. You would have thought that he would have now rushed to do it, but I think that there was a very good reason why he did not. That was, because he reasoned that if he would have immediately taken Soroh and buried her, all the people that were there, the Bnei Chais as well as Efron would have, as a matter of honour to him, dutifully followed, to join in the levayo. The secret would have come out that Odom and Chava were buried there and he might very well have been faced with a major problem. You will also note that it says in that possek, Yud Tes, Avrohom buried Soroh his wife, why does it need to say אשתו , even more peculiar is the use of that word, in so far as she was no longer his wife, she had passed away?

Normally, a person’s death is caused by the Malach Hamoves inserting a sort of poison, moroh. However, in the case of very great Tzaddikim, they are taken from this world without the malach doing that. In such a case, there is no decay and the features remain the same.

You may recall the extraordinary story of the Noam Elimelech of Lizhensk when, during the course of the Second World War, the Nazis Yimach Shemom, wanted to destroy his kever, but each time somebody approached with a implement, that person died or became ill on the spot. They finally took some local Jewish people and ordered them to dig up the kever or be killed themselves. The Yidden asked mechila of Reb Elimelech and started digging and his body was revealed which was not decayed and his countenance was still shining. However, when the German who was in charge tried to draw near, he suddenly dropped dead and the whole project was abandoned. That was approximately 200 years after the petirah of the Reb Elimelech.

I believe that likewise Soroh’s body did not decay and, therefore, there was no בזיון המת , by her being allowed to go without burial for so many days. That is implicit in the words שרה אשתו because she still looked like his wife now, as when she was alive. Therefore, Avrohom waited until everybody had dispersed, the excitement had calmed down and only after that did he himself go and bury Soroh in the Meoras Hamachpela.

All three questions I raised have therefore been dealt with. I think we now appreciate better the first parsha of Chaya Soroh.



As I mentioned above, later on, Avrohom himself was buried in Meoras Hamachpela and subsequently, Yitzchok and Rivka.

We also know that Leah was buried there and when Yaakov Avinu was giving his final instructions to his children to take him back from Mitzraim, from Egypt to bury him in Eretz Canaan, he specified very clearly that he should be buried in Meoras Hamachpela which Avrohom had acquired as a family burial site.

The Medrash tells us that when the whole entourage arrived at the Meoras Hamachpela Eisav and his family where waiting and he protested that he wanted to be buried there and when the children of Yaakov said that Yaakov had bought the bechora from Eisav long before, there arose a considerable dispute. Naftali, who could run very fast, was sent back to Egypt to try and find the document which was apparently there. Meanwhile Chushim the son of Don who was deaf and could not quite understand what was going on got involved and when he finally realised that Eisav was causing trouble, went over to him and cut off his head. The tradition is that this head rolled into the Meoras Hamachpela and was buried there but the rest of the body of Eisav was taken back to Har Seir by his children.

I am not aware as to whether any of you have visited the Meoras Hamachpela, but in addition to the chambers which have the kevorim of Avrohom, Soroh, Yitzchok, Rivka, Yaakov and Leah there is a spot which is marked as being where Eisav’s head was buried.

As you all know by now, I am an accountant and indulge in gemmatria on occasion. You may be interested to know that the total numerical value of the words קרית ארבע הוא חברון בארץ amounts to 1554. The numerical value of אדם חוה אברהם שרה יצחק רבקה יעקב לאה is 1550 and they were four pairs, totalling 1554. They were all buried in the ground בארץ at קרית ארבע הוא חברון .


We find that the original names of our illustrious first of the Ovos and Imo’os were אברם Avrom and שרי Soroi. They were however changed by Hashem to Avrohom and Soroh as mentioned at the end of Parshas Lech Lecha. You may recall that at the bris bein habisorim Hashem told Avrohom to go outside and count the stars, if it would be possible, and so numerous would be the multitudes of his future generations. Rashi comments there that Avrom, as he was then called, should forsake his astrology and ignore the fact that as Avrom, and his wife Soroi were unable to have children, Hashem said to him, Do not worry about that, Avrohom and Soroh will be able to have children and will, in fact, have children.

What is so significant about the addition of a Hay to Avrom and the change from a Yud at the end of Soroi to a Hay at the end of Soroh that enabled them to have children.

I would venture a suggestion.

Of all the letters in the Alef Bais, there is only one which is not down to the base, i.e. has not got its feet on the ground, and that is the Yud, it stands on its own suspended in mid air, so to speak. A Hay has two feet on the ground but one of the legs has a gap between itself and the roof, on the left hand side, as we know.

The Gemora says in Menochos, that Hashem created this world and the next world with a Yud and a Hay. The Gemora says that the Hay represents this world and the Yud represents the next world. The Yud represents a Tzaddik, as the Gemora says there as well. Yud represents the most spiritual letter on a high level, not attached to this world, not on the ground. It is, of course, the first letter of Shem Haviya. What occurs to me is that as long as Soroi, which means my Princess, ended with a Yud, she was too much up in the clouds to have physical children, so the Yud was replaced with a Hay which, as we know represents the feminine in Loshen Hakodesh, for example איש is a man, אשה with a Hay at the end is a woman. By doing so, she was enabled to have her own child.

Likewise, אברם translated simply means father on high, that is רם . The Malbim explains that the word רם means something which is not attached to the ground but high above. More up in heaven. Once again implying that Avrom was too elevated to be able to have physical children with Soroi.

Oh yes, they together could have children, but only spiritual ones, ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן the souls that they drew near to Hashem in Choron, namely, they were spiritual parents to those people.

You might ask that Avrom had had a child with Hogor, namely Yishmoel. However, if you look at what Hashem via a Malach promised Hogor, I think we will find an answer to that conundrum. Yishmoel was going to become a פרא אדם a wild man, and I believe that this stemmed from being the son of Hogor who, herself as the medrash says was a daughter of Paroi and the Targum Yoinason Ben Aziel says that Paroi was a son of Nimrod, Avrom’s old foe. Avrom’s involvement was relatively minor. In order to have a relationship with Soroi, his wife, rather than a handmaiden, Hogor, Avrom needed to have his name changed by the addition of a Hay.

We all know the problems that have arisen in the world from the Bnei Yishmoel of late. I once heard a story of the famous Rov of Yerushalyim Reb Shua Leib Diskin who 100 years ago, or so, was walking home from his Beis Hamedrash on Friday night after davenning with a number of other mispalalim. All of a sudden, an Arab started throwing stones and they all scattered in panic, except Reb Shua Leib himself. He continued calmly to his home.

Later on, the various members of his minyan, who were embarrassed at having left their beloved Rov to fend for himself, came round to his humble dwelling to ask his mechila.

One of them said to him, “Why was it that we all became so shocked and frightened that we all ran off, whereas you were calm?”

His answer was, “It is a Possek in the Torah.”

The Talmidei Chochomim of Yerushalyim, whom they were, tried to find the particular possek One of them suggested ומראם וחתכם יהיו which is the brocho that Hashem gave to Noach that people and animals etc. will fear him. Another one tried the posek וראו כל עמי הארץ כי שם ה' נקרא עליך ויראו ממך and all the people’s of the land will see that the name of Hashem is on you and will fear you, etc. Reb Shua Leib was not having any of this. “No,” he said, “it is something different” Eventually they gave up and asked him to explain.

He said, “We find in the case of Yishmoel that he was a פרא אדם a wild man. In loshen hakodesh unlike English, the noun comes before the adjective, for example nice person would be אדם נעים, the word אדם coming before the adjective נעים. Therefore a wild man should be אדם פרא,. But the Torah says Pere Odom. Reb Shua Leib Diskin said “That itself is the answer, the essence of Yishmoel and his family is that they are wild. They just look like a man, they have the outer resemblance.”

I believe that this story is unfortunately, very apt and relevant to us nowadays. We have to pray to Hashem that he should save us from the excesses of Yishmoel’s descendants.

Returning to my suggestion regarding the use of the Hay and adding it to Avrom’s name, by doing so Hashem enabled him also to be attached to this world. But where exactly should the Hay be placed?

The Hay could not have been placed at the end of the word because then that would have been a feminine form. If it would have been between the Alef and the Bais one would then translate it as אהב רם, Ohaiv Rom, loves the exalted, again not attached to the earth. If it would have been placed between the Bais and the Reish, it would be read as אב הרם , Av Horom, once again this would mean, father of that which is exalted. The only place where it would fit in the middle of the word and still represent a definite affinity to this world would be where it was finally put, אברהם, Avrohom.

After they had been given the name changes, Yitzchok came into this world.



I would like to add something here on a personal note,. This Succos I was in Eretz Yisroel and for the first time for many years, I decided to visit the Meoras Hamachpela. So on Chol Hamoed Succos, erev Hashonah Rabba, I went together with my wife as well as many other Yidden, to the Meoras Hamachpela. We davanned Mincha with a minyan with the kevorim of Avrohom and Soroh on my right hand side, Yitzchok and Rivka in front of me and Yaakov and Leah on my left. I can assure you that standing at the beginning of Shemona Esra and saying Elokai Avrohom, Elokai Yitzchok, Elokai Yaakov has a completely different feel, depth and even meaning when one is praying at the Meoras Hamachpela.

We have to be grateful to Soroh for having the presence of mind to travel specifically to Chevron, as well, of course, to Avrohom who skilfully purchased the Meoras Hamachpela so that future generations should be able to have the opportunity to visit this site and pray to Hashem that in the zechus of our ancestors, from whom Klal Yisroel became a nation, we should be saved from problems with Bnei Yishmoel. Furthermore, we should always say with kavannah וזוכר חסדי אבות . Hashem should remember the kindness of our forefathers ומביא גואל לבוי בניהם and He should bring the redeemer, Moshiach, his grandchildren and we pray that this should happen in our time.

24TH MARCHESHVAN 5767

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PARSHAS וירא

We read at the beginning of the sedra in the second posek
וישא עיניו וירא והנה שלשה אנשים נצבים עליו וירא וירץ לקראתם מפתח האהל וישתחו ארצה
He (Abraham) lifted up his eyes and saw and behold there were three people standing next to him and he saw and he ran towards them at the door of the tent and bowed down to the ground.


It is brought in the name of numerous tzaddikim in the sefer ליקוטי יהודה that Avrohom Avinu saw into the future and the generations that were going to come. by his deeds he installed in later generations the strength to be able to keep the Torah and mitzvos and perform good deeds. This is implied in the expression מעשה אבות סימן לבנים namely that the strength and religious direction of the children (ourselves) came from the Ovos, Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov.

Rashi explains that the three people were in fact angels who looked as if they were people and they each came with a different job to carry out. Namely, the first to heal Avrohom, the second to tell the good tidings that Soroh would have a child in a year’s time and the third to destroy סדם.

I believe that by examining the פסוק from a different angle one can also find an allusion to a different happening that took place 1,294 years later on.

We find that King Nebuchadnezar besieged Jerusalem some years before the Temple was destroyed. He ransacked the city and took away, as prisoners to Bovel with him, the cream of society החרש והמסגר . Among them were three youths of princely lineage, namely, חנניה מישאל ועזריה Chananiah, Mishoel and Azariah. The story of what happened to them and their colleague דניאל Daniel, is told in detail in the section of נ''ך known as דניאל. They were given name changes and the whole emphasis was to try and convert them to Nebuchadnezar’s religion and utilise their talents and skills for the good of his kingdom.

They were given food from the king’s kitchen but, as we read in דניאל they clung steadfastly to the laws of Torah and refused to eat anything which was not kosher. They requested from the chief of the kitchens that they should not eat anything other than vegetables and water. The official was very concerned that they would not maintain their health and that the king would take it out on him. But they persuaded him to let them try the new diet, by which they would not have to eat anything that was not kosher, and he agreed. Meanwhile, their great wisdom and knowledge was utilised by the king and they found favour in his eyes and in fact their physical appearance, if anything, improved.

Shortly after this, Nebuchadnezar had a dream which he forgot and he also forgot the interpretation. He called his advisors, soothsayers, astrologers etc., the chief of which were the כשדים, Chaldeans. They were aghast when he told them that they had to tell him what the dream was and also the interpretation and they could not help. However, דניאל, after praying to Hashem, had revealed to him the dream and the correct interpretation and he gave this to Nebuchadnezar who, therefore, elevated him above all other of his advisors. He, in turn, placed, חנניה מישאל ועזריה into very high positions. The Chaldeans and other advisors were very upset and looked for a way of having our four heroes removed.

Meanwhile, Nebuchadnezar had erected a very tall gold statue in a place called בקעת דורא Bikas Dura. He then instructed all of the officials, generals and other leading figures to come to the consecration of this large statue.

Following this, a proclamation was issued that all the populace should also come and pay their respects and bow down to this large statue. There was a warning that anybody who did not come and pay the necessary respects would be thrown into a burning furnace.

Dutifully, people came and did as they were told.

However, Jewish people, and in particular דניאל, and חנניה מישאל ועזריה did not come. The Chaldeans seized the opportunity to report them to the king. Nebuchadnezar, of course, was most upset and called חנניה מישאל ועזריה in and told them in no uncertain terms that he had heard that they had not bowed down and that he wanted them to do this immediately in public with accompanying music (the word symphonia סימפוניה is used obviously meaning a symphony). He also warned them that if they did not listen to his instructions, they would be thrown into the burning furnace.

They answered Nebuchadnezar, “the king”, as follows “We only serve one Hashem in heaven and if He wishes to save us from such a fate, He will do so. We will not bow down, in any circumstances to the statue”. Nebuchadnezar became very angry and ordered them to be thrown into the flames.

Nebuchadnezar was not present whilst this was being done. The palace was not in the immediate vicinity of the furnace, but he ordered the soldiers to chain the three together and throw them all in at once. This was done and a miracle took place. The people who threw them in were burnt by the flames that were going up and the three of them חנניה מישאל ועזריה, could be seen walking around in the furnace, apparently unharmed.

Nebuchadnezar was informed and immediately came to see himself. In a state of wonder, he said “I can not only see that the three who were chained are walking around I can even see a fourth one walking with them together.” He ends by saying ורוה די רביעיא דמה לבר אלהין and the appearance of the fourth one is similar to that of an angel. The Gemora, in fact, says that this was the angel Gavriel. (When Nebuchadnezar was with Sancheriv when their armies were destroyed, Isaiah 37)

They emerged virtually unscathed and Nebuchadnezar proclaimed that the true ruler of the world is Hashem Yisborach. (Incidentally, the name of the place בקעת דורא Bikas Dura translates as the “shallow depression of the furnace” and it obviously has a connection with this famous story.)

Where did חנניה מישאל ועזריה take the strength and conviction to be able to withstand all the pressures even to the extent of being thrown into a fiery furnace from? They were, after all, youths who had been taken into captivity, exposed to an irreligious, idol worshiping society and had learned sadly of the Bais Hamikdosh being destroyed only a few years before,.

I would suggest that they took their brave decision as result of the example given by Avrohom Avinu who was thrown into the אור כשדים the burning fire at Ur of the Chaldees by Nimrod. As we know, he also emerged unscathed.

They not only prayed to Hashem to save them when they were being thrown into the fire they also implored that the zechus, the merit, of Avrohom Avinu should help them.

Let us now examine the wording of the posek I brought right at the beginning. וישא עיניו and Avrohom lifted up his eyes, וירא and he saw, I would suggest that he saw into the future and witnessed the confrontation between Nebuchadnezar and our three heroes, חנניה מישאל ועזריה. As they were thrown into the fire, והנה שלשה אנשים there were three people namely חנניה מישאל ועזריה who were frantically standing next to him נצבים עליו and begging him to intercede with Hashem on their behalf וירא and he saw this vision of the future happening וירץ לקראתם and he ran towards them to try and help them. What he did was וישתחו ארצה and he bowed down ויאמר and he said אדנ' Rashi comments that this was a request to Hashem על נא תעבור מעל עבדיך do not forsake your servant. Please help these three individuals be saved from a horrible fate.

And so they were saved miraculously.

When Nebuchadnezar went to look at this extraordinary happening and miracle, he exclaimed “There is a fourth one there who looks like an angel”. I would venture to suggest that it was, in fact, Avrohom Avinu, known as one of the רגלי המרכבה the wheels of the celestial chariot, who had come to assist in their salvation.

You will recall that I mentioned that the people who had thrown them into the furnace were, themselves, consumed in flames. There is a parallel in a midrash that says when Avrohom Avinu was thrown into the furnace at אור כשדים likewise the people who carried out the act also were burned alive. This is known as מידה כנגד מידה

I mentioned earlier on that the word אדנ' applied to Hashem. Rashi, in fact, quotes a midrash where there are two explanations. One is as mentioned above, namely Avrohom was speaking to Hashem. An interesting fact is that the person who makes this comment in this midrash was named חנניה the nephew of R Yehoshua, חנניה you will recall, is the same name as one of the three who was saved and the name Yehoshua means, Hashem should save. It all ties in together.

I had mentioned earlier on that this took place 1,294 years after the time when Avrohom had his bris mila. This is arrived at as follows.

Going forward from the time of the bris mila, one year later Yitzchok was born. 400 years subsequently Yitzias Mitzraim took place. 480 years after that was the year that King Solomon consecrated the first Temple. That stood for 410 years. This all totals 1,291 years. It was 3 years after that the story of the statue in Bikas Dura took place.

If you add together the numerical value of והנה שלשה אנשים נצבים the complete gemmatria thereof is exactly 1,294. Namely, we are talking about 1,294 years later. If you take the rest of the words in that phrase, namely וישא עיניו וירא עליו they total 796. This is the exact same gemmatria as חנניה מישאל עזריה.

One might ask, why is it that it was only at this juncture after Avrohom’s bris mila that we find this hint to his assistance to חנניה מישאל ועזריה and not some time earlier, as we find that he saved Lot in the previous sedra.

The gemmatria of אברהם , Avrohom, is 248 which is exactly the same as the 248 limbs רמ''ח איברים . All of these, bar the bris mila were perfected by him but it was only when he actually had the bris mila that he was completely perfect as it clearly states in Torah at the end of Lech Lecha והיה תמים את בריתי תשמור and the Torah goes on to tell Avrohom to perform the bris mila. Once he carried this out, he was in a position to assist others such as חנניה מישאל ועזריה.

The word מילה equals 85 which also is the gemmatria of פה.

Avrohom now had the power of פה his mouth to beseech Hashem and intercede on behalf of חנניה מישאל ועזריה.

Rashi actually quotes that when Avrohom pursued the four kings, when he reached Don, he lost his strength because he saw that the tribe of Don would erect an idol, פסל מיכה there. Why could he have not prayed that they should not erect the idol.

What I am suggesting is that because he had not yet had the bris mila he was not yet in the same position of strength and perfection as subsequent to the bris mila.

We are all descendants of Avrohom Avinu and his shining example and zechus are with us in all generations to help us in all our trials and tribulations. He, by his deeds and words, gave the will to later generations to keep the Torah and mitzvos and perform good deeds.

To sum up, I feel that you will agree that there are much greater depths in Torah than appear on the surface.

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LECH LECHA The relationship between Avrohom and Lot

It is interesting to note that the description of Lot in relation to Avrohom is not constant.
In the beginning of Lech Lecha posek ד, וילך אברם- וילך אתו לוט with no description of the family relationship. The next verse commences with the wordsויקח אברם את שרי אשתו ואת לוט בן אחיו here Lot is referred to as his nephew (brother’s son). In fact, we read at the end of Noach that Lot was the son of Horon. Avrohom’s brother.

Further on, in chapter 13, verse ה, we have, with no description, וגם ללוט ההלך את אברם. In posek ח we have ויאמר אברם אל לוט – כי אנשים אחים אנחנו, we are brothers. In chapter 14, posek יב, we have ויקחו את לוט ואת רכשו בן אחי אברם וילכו brother’ son (nephew) and immediately afterwards, in posek יד, we have וישמע אברם כי נשבה אחיו his brother (not nephew). In posekטז , we have וגם את לוט אחיו ורכשו השיב again referring to Lot as his brother. So we see that Lot is described on occasion without any particular relationship, also as the son of his brother, that Avrohom refers to him as brother, אנשים אחים, later on he is again referred to as the son of the brother of Avrohom, followed by him being referred to as his brother. Very puzzling, I believe.

One other important point to bear in mind is that both when Avrohom went down to Egypt with Soroh and again when Avimelech enquired after her, Avrohom referred to his wife, as אחותי, my sister.

In order to understand the nuances and apparent contradictions, one has to bear in mind a very important point which is perhaps not well know. Not only was Lot the son of Horon, the brother of Avrohom, the son of the brother who had been burned in the Ur Chasdim, in place of Avrohom (Rashi, quoting the medrash at the end of Noach), in fact, Lot was also Avrohom’s brother in law. Because Soroh was also the daughter of Horon as Rashi once again brings at the end of Noach, namely that יסכה and שרי were one and the same person.

Let us now go through the various verses quoted above. When Avrohom left the town of Haran, to go to Eretz Yisroel, the Torah states וילך אתו לוט, Lot went with him. Really this could have been for one of two reasons, either because he was his nephew or because he was his brother in law, or for both reasons. The Torah, in the next verse, clarifies this, because we are told that Avrohom took his wife and his brother’s son (not his wife’s brother). Avrohom felt a responsibility for Lot. The medrash tells us that Avrohom was thrown into the fire on the orders of Nimrod and miraculously survived. Horon who was watching this, was not quite sure which side he should come down on, that of Avrohom or that of Nimrod. He reasoned to himself that if Avrohom would emerge unscathed, he would come down on Avrohom’s side. When he was asked by Nimrod “and whose side are you on” he said, Avrohom’s side. He was promptly thrown into the Ur Chasdim, the furnace and died because he was not the righteous person, the Tzaddik, that Avrohom was. Because of this, Avrohom felt a responsibility to look after his son, Lot as he felt that, to some small extent, he, Avrohom, had contributed to Horon’s (Lot’s father) death.

Avrohom journeyed to Egypt after a few months in Eretz Yisroel due to a famine. He was asked, “Who is this beautiful woman?” and he stated, אחותי she is my sister. Can you imagine Lot’s feelings when he hears about his sister that her husband (Lot’s uncle and brother-in-law) was saying, Soroh is my sister. Soroh was, of course, in a certain manner his sister being in fact his niece. Lot kept his mouth shut and, in fact, Rashi quotes later on, that because of that zechus, merit, Lot was saved from the fate of Sedom.

Avrohom, therefore, was grateful to Lot and held him in great esteem.

With this, we can also understand the fact that when they returned from Egypt, not only Avrohom had considerable possessions which had been given to him by Pharoh and the Egyptians, but Lot also had sheep, cattle and tents. Where did he have this from? Well, we are told that Lot looked very similar to Avrohom and, therefore, it would be reasonable to assume that in order to curry favour with the whole family, not only did they give Avrohom matonos, presents, they gave somebody who looked like his younger brother, namely Lot, presents. Their objective at the time was that Avrohom and Lot should agree to the “betrothal” of Soroh to Pharoh

When they returned to Eretz Yisroel and the shepherds of Lot started acting as if they already owned land, Avrohom remonstrated with Lot and at that stage, he called him, my brother, כי אנשים אחים אנחנו. Lot, no doubt, had indicated to Avrohom that Avrohom had used a subterfuge in calling his wife, his sister, and therefore, what his shepherds were doing was nothing so terrible. However, pure stealing is not comparable to calling a niece a sister, as we all appreciate. We see from the way Avrohom begged Lot to just step away from him, but that he would, nevertheless, come to his assistance if ever necessary, that Avrohom still retained this feeling that he had to look after Lot as mentioned earlier on.

We then turn to the story of the four kings who came from the region of Iraq and rampaged through our Holy Land. The chief one being אמרפל whom we are told was actually Nimrod. They captured Lot and he is referred to, at that stage, as בן אחיו, the son of his brother, of Avrohom Avinu, of course, because Nimrod had an old account to settle with Avrohom.

Avrohom, on the other hand, when informed of what had happened, chased the kings with all their prisoners and booty as he had heard כי נשבה אחיו, that his brother had been captured. This refers to Avrohom’s memory that Lot had not revealed to the Egyptians that he, Lot, was, in fact, the brother of Soroh and that Avrohom by describing Soroh as his sister was becoming like a brother to Lot (he was his brother-in-law). Therefore, when Avrohom defeated the kings and וגם את לוט אחיו ורכשו השיב, he returned Lot and his possessions and freed them, he once again emphasised the aspect of them being brothers and, of course, the possessions were a direct result of Lot being given presents in Egypt because of that whole incident, as I mentioned earlier on.

One, therefore, can see the necessity for the different titles and names being utilised, as mentioned at the beginning of this article.

Although Lot was by no means an ideal character, he had the zechus of fathering two nations מואב and עמון from whom came רות המואביה and נעמה העמונית. The first being the great grandmother of Dovid Hamelech and the second being the mother of Rechavom, the son of Shlomo Hamelech. Perhaps one could suggest that this was a reward for him having twice heard his own sister being referred to as the sister of Avrohom and him having kept quiet and because of that two of his descendents, generations later, married into the Royal family of Yehuda.

ז מרחשון

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ROSH HASHONAH כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה

The final parshah read on the first morning of Rosh Hashonah recounts how Avimelech the King of Gerar and his commander in chief came to Avrohom in Beer Sheva and stated that they could see that Hashem was with Avrohom in all that he did. Avimelech then said “I would like you to swear that you will not treat falsely or unfairly myself or my descendents up to four generations” כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי in the same way as I was kind to you, you should be kind to me and the land in which you are sojourning.

What was the חסד, the kindness which Avimelech was referring to, which he asked Avrohom to reciprocate? This was the fact that when Avrohom and Soroh came to Avimelech’s country, Soroh was taken into the royal household but Hashem came to Avimelech and said “Don’t touch her because she is married to Avrohom” and Avimelech, after protesting that he knew nothing about it, gave her back to Avrohom and in addition, allowed them to live wherever they liked in his land. (Unlike Pharoh, who told Avrohom here is your wife, get out of Egypt.) For that “kindness” Avimelech was asking Avrohom to promise that would deal nicely with not only Avimelech but with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Avrohom duly swore to this and the parshah continues telling the story of how there was a well which he stated had been stolen by the servants of Avimelech, Avrohom then took seven lambs, took them aside, gave them to Avimelech and the place was called Beer Sheva. We then have the penultimate posek before the end of the krias HaTorah for the day as follows.

ויטע אשל בבאר שבע ויקרא שם בשם יהו' קל עולם and he, Avrohom, planted an “Aishel” in Beer Sheva and called there in the name of Hashem the Master of the world.

That verse has apparently very little to do with the previous pesukim. Chazal tell us that the word אשל is an acronym for אכילה, eating שתיה drinking and לינה, lodging (alternatively לויה, seeing off a person). Namely that Avrohom opened a sort of guest house and that he provided food and drink as well as lodging etc. for any wayfarers who passed by. We are told that this tent had four entrances, one to each side, so that it should be even more inviting to allow people to come in.

Chazal also tell us that people came, ate and drank and asked to pay but Avrohom refused. They then attempted to just thank him, but he said thank the One above, Hashem in heaven who created the whole world and so ויקרא שם בשם יהו' קל עולם he spread the word among the populace who were idol worshiping, that idols were nothing, that there was one G-d in heaven who created the world and provides food, drink etc. for mankind.

I would suggest that after Avrohom has considered what Avimelech had said regarding חסד, he was appalled. I did you a favour, therefore, you do me a favour. In colloquial English, I scratch your back, you scratch my back. This, Avrohom knew was not true חסד; proper חסד is performing good deeds for the sake of it as Hashem wishes, without receiving reward or favours. Dovid Hamelech tells us about Hashem, in Tehillim, כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה because I said I will build a world of kindness. Hashem does not need the favours of any people, as we all understand.

It was because of that and to show the world what true חסד means that Avrohom created an אשל, a lodging house where he could show proper kindness in a true Jewish way.

There is another explanation given by Chazal of the words ויטע אשל, namely that he planted a tree so that the travellers could rest in the shade and this a further sign of חסד.

I believe that this verse is read right at the end of the krias HaTorah for the first day of Rosh Hashonah which is the anniversary of the creation of Odom Harishon and the start of the Jewish New Year to emphasise to all of us the importance of חסד, true kindness. We are blessed nowadays with beautiful examples of גמילת חסד, including loan societies and all types of help given in an organised as well as in an informal manner, in our wonderful communities. May it long continue and provide us with זכיות for the New Year and to help bring משיח , במהרה בימינו אמן

כ''ה אלול

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ROSH HASHONAH מסירת נפש - למעלה מן הטבע

We read in the Sefer Torah on the first day of Rosh Hashonah the Parshah which commences וה' פקד את שרה that Soroh was blessed with a child.

On the second day of Rosh Hashonah we read the Parshas עקידה, the famous story of the binding of Yitzchok on the altar and at the last minute the angel coming and telling Avrohom not to kill him. In his place a ram was sacrificed. Because of this in the tefillos of Rosh Hashonah, we request זכור ברית אברהם ועקידת יצחק. Furthermore, we blow the shofar which is, itself, a remembrance of the horn of the ram of Yitzchok.


Accordingly, it seems strange that we should read the Parshah of the עקידה on the second day whereas the story of the birth of a son to Soroh takes first place and is read on the first day.

It is true that the Gemorra tells us that on Rosh Hashonah, Soroh conceived, but nevertheless, we mention time and again the עקידה as a zechus and we blow the shofar for the first time, on the first day.

One might also conjecture that as the Parshah of ה' פקד את שרה comes in Torah before the Parshah of the עקידה it takes precedence, but we find that when our Rabbis wished to, they changed the order. This, for example, took place in the Hatftoras of the weeks prior to Rosh Hashonah, the שבעה דנחמתא which are all from the Prophet Yeshayah. They are not in the order of the chapters of the Prophet.

I think that one can explain the reason for the reading in the Sefer Torah of the ה' פקד את שרה on the first day as follows.

We find that the Gemora in סנהדרין ל''ח states that when Odom Harishon was created there were twelve hours of the daytime and the Gemora states what happened in every one of these twelve hours. In short, in the first hour the dust was gathered together, the second hour a body was formed, in the third hour the limbs were put into shape and in the fourth hour the neshomo was put into the body. In the fifth hour Odom Harishon stood on his feet, the sixth hour he named all the animals, in the seventh hour he was presented with Chava as a wife. In the eighth hour he had children etc. From this we can see that the timescale was not according to the laws of nature as we know it. It was one nes after the other למעלה מן הטבע, including being presented with a wife in the seventh hour and having children an hour later.

In the same way Soroh, together with her husband Avrohom had a child, Yitzchok, born supernaturally. As the Torah itself states they were both elderly and long past the age of childbirth. Nevertheless, בדרך נס they were blessed with a son Yitzchok.

We are told that each year when the anniversary of a day or an event comes round, the spiritual uplift and effect is repeated but has to be grasped and utilised.

I believe that the implication is clear. The first day of Rosh Hashonah is a day where miracles can take place, things which are למעלה מן הטבע, as things took place in the past, on that very day. Therefore, we read וה' פקד את שרה

It is, of course, true that Avrohom taking his son Yitzchok and preparing to sacrifice him on a altar shows extreme מסירת נפש, but it is not supernatural.

Accordingly, we can gather from this, that on the first day of Rosh Hashonah, we can pray to be helped למעלה מן הטבע, supernaturally, to all have a blessed year בגשמיות וברוחניות.

כ''ה אלול

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22nd ELLUL

Let me pose a question. We all know that Ellul is a time for introspection, coming up to Rosh Hashonah. Pashas Nitzovim which is this week’s sedra is particularly relevant as the parsha of teshuva, repentance, which starts off “Ata Soshuv” is actually in this sedra.

We also find that the Haftorah for each sedra has a relevance to the sedra leyned. However, there are exceptions to that rule.

You will recall that between Shiva’ Oser B’Tammuz and Tisha B’Av, we have, what is called shelosha of paranusa, three Haftorahs of warning of calamities, followed by shiva de nechemta, seven Haftorahs for the next seven weeks of nechoma, comfort. The first one starts off in fact, Nachamu, nachamu ami.

We all understand why we should have the three haftorahs of paranusa, during the three weeks, dealing with warnings about problems that will arise unless people improve. We can also understand why this should be followed by say three weeks of Haftorahs of comfort, nechamo, and we could readily understand that there should be even four of nechamo so that we are given a bigger antidote than the original blows. Why should there be seven haftorahs? In fact the whole of the month of Ellul has these Haftorahs of comfort culminating in this week’s sedra. Nitzovim is always read on the Shabbos prior to Rosh Hashonah.

I would have thought that the week before Rosh Hashonah is an ideal time to mention teshuvah in the Haftorah especially as Nitzovim itself, as I mentioned earlier on, has in it, the parsha of teshuva. Why was it that our Chazal when enacting which Haftorah should be read with each sedra, overrode the norm and chose a different Haftorah, one of comfort and encouragement? That is my question.

I think that the reason for this is bound up with the way we are supposed to approach Rosh Hashonah. There are people who, when looking back on last year, and for that matter earlier years, get very worried, they get depressed, concentrating on all the bad things and negative things that they had been involved in. This is, of course, a negative approach.

The other way of looking at the approaching Rosh Hashonah, is to look forward to the opportunity to be able to appear before Hashem Himself, the Melech Malchei Hamluchim Hakodesh Boruchu. If one appears before a normal judge in court, he looks up the law books and decides according to what is written in them. The only one who can decide otherwise is the judge who is also the lawmaker. He can decide to override what is in the law books.

Hashem is, of course, the ultimate judge and king. When a person appears before Him on Rosh Hashonah and sings praises to Hashem, and proclaims Him to be the one and only King and at the same time asks for forgiveness, Hashem is favourably disposed towards him and grants him a good year. That is a positive approach to Rosh Hashonah.

Now let us look at the Haftorah of this week’s sedra. It starts off “ שוש אשיש בה' ” I will rejoice and rejoice even more intensely with Hashem “ תגל נפשי באלקי ” my soul will exult with Hashem.

I believe that our chochomim were pointing us strongly in the direction of taking a positive attitude to our imminent appearance before Hashem. Parsha Nitzovim and this Haftorah always occur in the week before Rosh Hashonah and, therefore, we are enjoined to rejoice and to rejoice even more intensely with Hashem. If you look carefully it says בה' which is spelt Yod Kay Vav Kay the middo of rachamim, the merciful G-d. The next expression is תגל נפשי באלקי my soul will exult with Elokim, middus hadin. In other words the middo of rechamim should be mumtik, sweeten, middus hadin. We are asking Hashem to sweeten the pill, as I mentioned before, by singing praises to Hashem, proclaiming Him to be the King in a joyful manner. He will, therefore, even on a day of judgement, exercise mercy and look favourably upon us.

I would like to also add a further thought on the beginning of the Haftorah. If you take the word שוש which is written Shin Vov Shin, the gemmatria adds up to 606. I rejoice that Hashem gave us a further 606 mitzvos over and above the sheva mitzvos Bnei Noach, the seven mitzvos that were given to Noach. אשיש, is Alef Shin Yud Shin which adds up to 611, and we find the Gemora at the end of Makkos says that Torah Tzivo Lonu Moshe, Moshe Rabbenu gave us 611 mitzvos as the gemmatria of the word Torah is 611 and for that we are also most joyful; but the main thing is בה'. Bais, referring to the 2 mitzvos we had the privilege of hearing from Hashem Himself. The gemora there says אנכי ולא יהיה מפי הגבורה שמענום

We heard the first two of the ten commandments from Hashem himself

As you can see the whole emphasis is rejoicing with the fact that Hashem has given us Torah and mitzvos and we have the privilege to be able to appear before Him once a year.

I would mention that the first time I, myself, felt that Rosh Hashonah was not only a Yom Hadin but also a Yom Tov, was when I first went to Gur in Jerusalem to my unforgettable Rebbe the Bais Yisroel ז''ל. There was in the air this mixture of din and rachamim.

I would venture to suggest that somebody who gets to Rosh Hashonah in a positive frame of mind and remember, Rosh Hashonah is the first day of the ten days of repentance, asseres yomei teshuva, that person will do teshuva (because we all have to repent) in a different way than somebody who starts with a negative attitude. There is a difference between teshuva meyira and teshuva meahava. Repenting because one is fearful of the consequences if one does not, or repenting because one sees the goodness and greatness of Hashem and, therefore, one would like to please Him and are upset that sometimes, we have let Him down and not done the right thing. We all appreciate that teshuva meahava is much higher level.

Finally, on this particular subject, once Yom Kippur has gone by and the whole of Klal Yisroel has a kapora, an atonement, we get to Sukkos, that is a level of teshuva meahava that we can all appreciate. We go into the sukka, out of our comfortable houses, we use the esrog and lulav and we culminate everything by dancing on Simchas Torah with the Torah.

Let me pose another question, if we look at the leyning, the Krais Hatorah of Rosh Hashonah, we find that the first day starts off “ וה' פקד את שרה
That Soroh had finally given birth to a son Yitzchok and goes into the detail of what happened subsequent to that.

The second day we read the Akeidah, the famous story of the tenth nesoyon, the greatest test, which Avrohom Avinu was faced with. He took Yitzchok and was going to bring him as a sacrifice on the mizbeach on Har Hamariyah. The question is, Why do we read the two parshas in that particular order? Surely the Akeidah is relevant and more important to read on the first day of Rosh Hashonah which is normally the day that Hashem makes his decisions on the scales of justice. We say in our tefillos זכור ברית אברהם ועקדת יצחק we ask Hashem to remember the bris of Avrohom and the Akeidah of Yitzchok. In addition, the shofar itself came originally from the איל shel Yitzchok, the ram that was taken in place of Yitzchok when Hashem told Avrohom to take Yitzchok down from the altar. Avrohom looked for a substitute sacrifice and found a ram with its horns caught in the thicket. That horn is what we use as a shofar. Surely, we should be מעורר the zechusim, to try and wake up all the merits of the Akeidah of Avrohom and Yitzchok on the first day of Rosh Hashonah?

On a simple level one can answer, that the first parsha is written in Torah earlier than the Akeidas Yitzchok and furthermore, we are told that the conception of Yitzchok took place on Rosh Hashonah, but, nevertheless, I believe that my question is still very relevant.

I suggest that there is a deeper answer. The fact that Avrohom and Soroh who were respectively 100 and 90 years old and at that time had a child, was למעלה מן הטבע , a miraculous event, the Torah tells us.

The test of the Akeidah was a very, very severe test, Avrohom brought his son, who by then was 37 years of age onto the altar to be sacrificed. It was his beloved son Yitzchok and of course Yitzchok was also not a little child, he was 37 years of age a full grown man and yet both of them were willing to fulfil the rotzon of Hashem, the will of Hashem, without question. Indeed, a very great, unbelievable test, but nevertheless, still within the bounds of something natural. It was not supernatural.

Therein I think lies the answer as to why we read the leyning for the two days in the particular order.

Our chochomim decided that in future generations there were likely to be people in Klal Yisroel who might just give up, thinking, we have been so bad, there is so much trouble, so many problems, they would get so depressed that they would think that it is impossible to have a good year. Therefore we read וה' פקד את שרה , to impress on us that Hashem can make miracles in the same way as then, when Yitzchok was born, supernaturally Hashem can help us all supernaturally. The second day, we step down a level. Even in a natural way, if one puts 100% effort in and unquestionably follows what Hashem wants, Hashem will help as well. I believe that is a deeper lesson of the reason for the order of the krias Hatorah.

You may also recall Rashi’s comment on the first words of Nitzovim אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני ה' Rashi comments after the Tochacho, people were very miserable and pessimistic, their faces were ashen, therefore Moshe Rabbenu comforted them and said “See, you are all standing here today, healthy and well” This ties in with the sentence in the Tochacho that it all came about תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלקיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב מרב כל Because you did not serve Hashem with joy and a glad heart, because that is the way to serve Hashem, and all this underlines the necessity for a positive attitude at all times.

Let us just deal with one further thought today. Towards the end of the leyning on the first day, we read that Avimelech, the king of Garar, together with his commander in chief came to see Avrohom. You may recall that earlier on they had suggested to Avrohom that he leaves the territory and Avrohom did, but they came back and said to Avrohom, when they visited him that ה' עמך בכל אשר אתה עושה
G-d is with you whatever you do, and therefore, we would like to make a covenant with you. And Avrohom eventually did make a bris with Avimelech. Right at the end of that parsha, it says ויטע אשל בבאר שבע ויקרא שם בשם ה' קל עולם
Our Rabbis explain that Avrohom started virtually a guest house and people came and received free food and lodging, they thanked Avrohom. He in turn, said, don’t thank me thank the One and Only above and they did. Therefore he proclaimed ויקרא שם בשם ה' קל עולם The Name of Hashem being the one who is G-d of the whole universe, so creating a Kiddush Hashem.

What has that verse got to do with the previous parsha and to do with Avimelech’s visit. I would suggest that the key lies in the words used by Avimelech when he was trying to persuade Avrohom to make this covenant. Avimelech asked Avrohom to make a covenant with himself, his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and continued כחסד אשר עשיתי עמך תעשה עמדי

Namely, in the same way as I was kind to you, when you were staying with me, you should be kind to me. It was a type of reciprocal kindness paying back one for the other.

Avrohom was not satisfied with that attitude. He decided to start an open house to everybody without an ulterior motive. For us the lesson is clear מעשי אבות סימן לבנים the deeds of our forefathers are a sign of how we should behave. That is the way a Yid should behave and always try to create a Kiddush Hashem. This is another lesson in the Krias Hatorah of the first day of Rosh Hashonah. By doing so and emulating Avrohom Avinu, we will, no doubt, all be zoche to a כתיבה וחתימה טובה and hasten the coming of Moshiach Tzidkainu bimhero veyemanu. Omein.

כ''ב אלול

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