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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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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