Chasidut zu Bereschit 15:23

2. And when da'at disappears, as seen above - in other words, no one knows, G-d forbid - that everything {in the world} runs only on the providence of Hashem Yisbarach, and {they} believe that things take their natural course, G-d forbid, this is the aspect of sleep, which is the absence of da'at, the aspect of night and darkness. The essence of the light of day is the aspect of da'at, as shown. In other words, light is only {from} Hashen Yisbarach, so to speak, in the aspect of (Psalms 27:1) "The Lord is my light and my salvation", corresponding to (Psalms 118:27) "The Lord is G-d, and He gave us light". This is the essence of the sun's light, the aspect of (Psalms 84:12) "For a sun and a shield is the Lord G-d". In other words, when one knows that Hashem Yisbarach rules the world only with providence, this is the essence of light. For the essence of light, in every place where light is found, like the light of the sun and similar {places}, is only the Light of Hashem Yisbarach, so to speak, that illuminates us, as explained above. When we fall, G-d forbid, from this knowledge and we attribute things to nature, G-d forbid, this is the aspect of the absence of light. Then it corresponds to night and darkness, G-d forbid. And this is the aspect of (Isaiah 13:10) "the sun has become dark in its going forth", etc., the aspect of (Joel 2:10) "the sun and moon darken", etc. and other similar verses like these. All of them were said regarding the time of the exile; in other words, because in exile it seems like the light of the sun has darkened because the exile is similar to night, as explained by Rashi. In other words, in the time of the exile, which is evoked only because we attributed things to nature, G-d forbid. Then 'the sun has become dark in its going forth' because immediately when we relied on nature, G-d forbid, then the light escaped from the sun, as if the sun actually darkened. For in reality, the sun has no light at all except from Hashem Yisbarach, as explained above. Therefore the exile resembles night and darkness. For the essence of the exile is only because we attribute things to nature, G-d forbid. The it is the aspect of night and darkness, the disappearance of the light, as explained above. This corresponds to sleep, the disappearance of da'at to know that everything is divine providence, which is the essence of the light, etc., as explained above. Therefore, at the time of sleep, the forces of evil descend upon a person, and the essence is on the hands, as is written in the Holy Zohar (Vayeshev 184b). For the essence of the Other Side is the aspect of the gentiles as is known, who draw nourishment only from the aspect of heresies, which is the essence of the Evil Inclination, which is called 'going after atheism', as is brought; in other words, they attribute {everything} to nature, as explained above. Then the aspect of the gentiles increases, the aspect of power of the exile which resembles night and sleep and which they absorbed from the aspect of the strengthening of nature, as explained above. This is the aspect of the spirit of impurity which rests upon a person {at night}. Therefore, the essence of the rectification of sleep in holiness is through faith, as is brought in the words of Rabbeinu, z"l (Likutei Moharan 35). In other words, when da'at disappears, corresponding to sleep, when man sees that his knowledge is confused and is not perfect, and he is not able to ascertain and to understand that everything is by divine providence from Hashem Yisbarach alone, as it is now in exile amidst the gentiles who resemble night and darkness, and when the knowledge of natural science has increased, G-d forbid - then it is incumbent upon every Jew to cast out and to remove his knowledge completely and to strengthen himself in faith alone, to believe with perfect faith that everything is only through divine providence alone and there is no nature in the world at all. This is the aspect of rectifying sleep through faith. In other words, at the time of sleep, as explained above one must enter into the midst of the aspect of faith, to rely on faith alone after his da'at has fled, just as now in the exile. We must always strengthen ourselves in faith alone, since now we have not elevated da'at perfectly to know that everything is done with divine providence. Therefore, one must clear his mind and rely only on faith alone, in the aspect of (Psalms 92:3) "and Your faith at night". And since at night, at the time of sleep, the disappearance of knowledge strengthens the knowledge of natural science, G-d forbid, which is the aspect of darkness, as explained above, in the aspect of (Genesis 15:12) "and a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, a fright, a great darkness...", etc. This is demonstrated by the power of the exile. In other words, at the time of sleep, and deep sleep, the disappearance of da'at strengthens the power of the exile, from which they nourished, in the aspect of the strengthening of natural science, as explained above. And this is why a spirit of impurity rests upon a person at the time of sleep, as explained above. Therefore, as soon as one awakens from sleep one must wash his hands with water, because the spirit of impurity rests mainly upon the hands, as it is written in the Holy Zohar. For the hands corresponds to heaven, שָׁמַיִם - fire and water, אֵשׁ וּמַיִם, on the right side and left side, corresponding to (Deuteronomy 32:40) "For I raise up My hand to heaven" as is brought in the words of Rabbeinu in another place (Likutei Moharan 56). This is the aspect of the grasp of the Other Side, the aspect of natural science, the aspect of hands, for they attribute causes to the arrangement of constellations, which corresponds to 'hands'. Therefore the essence of the strengthening of the Other Side is at the time of sleep, which corresponds to nature and is with the hands specifically, as explained above. Because the hands have 28 phalanges which correspond to the 28 letters of the act of creation, through which the heavens and the earth were created, in the aspect of (Isaiah 48:13) "Even My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured the heavens". And therefore the main way to subdue the forces of evil, represented by the gentiles of the world, the aspect of natural science through which they are strengthened, as explained above, the aspect of their submission is only through the hands of holiness, when one merits to elevate them to da'at. And this is the aspect of (Exodus 17:11) "It came to pass that when Moses would raise his hand, Israel would prevail, and when he would lay down his hand, Amalek would prevail", etc. which was said regarding the war with Amalek. Because Amalek is in general all of the gentiles and the other side, in the aspect of “Amalek was the first of the nations“ (Numbers 24: 20). And Amalek was the essence of atheism and completely attributed everything to nature, G-d forbid. They would discern the hours based on their astrology as is brought in the explanation of Rashi and as shown in the words of Rabbeinu z"l. Therefore, the essence of their subjugation is through the raising of the hands. The raising of the hands, the 28 phalanges that are in the hands, to the head, in the aspect of (Psalms 134:2) "Lift your hands in the holy place". In other words, when the hands, with their 28 phalanges, are raised to da'at to know that all is divine providence, because Hashem Yisbarach created everything through the 28 letters of מַעֲשֵֹה בְרֵאשִׁית, which are the aspect of the 28 phalanges, as explained above. And then they are elevated - the aspect of heaven, because they are also the aspect of the hands, as explained above - to their root which is in knowledge, in the aspect of the 28 letters, as seen above. Because everything was created by G-d with the 28 letters and He gives life and established the heavens and all of their hosts and the land etc. through His divine providence alone and there is absolutely no nature or influence of the arrangements of the constellations at all. And then Amalek and the Other Side are subdued, as seen above. And this is the aspect of (Exodus 17:12) "so he was with his hands in faith until sunset". The essence of the subjugation of Amalek is through faith in divine providence which is drawn down through raising the hands, as explained above. Therefore at the time of sleep da'at disappears, for then nature is strengthened, G-d forbid. This is the root of the Other Side that is on a person. Therefore the essence of its grasp is with the hands, as seen above. Then, immediately after one wakes from sleep one must wash his hands with water with corresponds to the waters of da'at, the waters of Chesed/Loving-kindness, the aspect of (Isaiah 11:9) "for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea bed". In other words, through the washing one brings down the purifying waters of the waters of knowledge, in the aspect of "The whole world will know that then the world is filled with knowledge like water covers the sea bed". Then everyone will know that everything is only through divine providence alone, for {the concept of} nature will be nullified completely. And even now, at any time when one needs salvation and purification, to be saved from the midst of the Other Side, which is nourished from the aspect of the knowledge of nature, one draws down divine providence from the ends of the earth, as explained above in the lesson, as seem above. This corresponds to the water of washing the hands, which draws down the waters of knowledge from the ends of the earth, in the aspect of 'The whole world will know that then the world is filled with knowledge', etc. This is the aspect of Mikveh, which corresponds to the World of the Future (because Mikveh, מִקְוֶה, in Gematria is 151, corresponding to Binah, the World of the Future, as is brought). This corresponds to (Jeremiah 14:8) "O hope, ,מִקְוֶה of Israel, his Savior at time of trouble". Because all of the troubles and tribulations are only due to the lack of knowledge, in the aspect of the knowledge of nature, as explained above. In other words, they do not know, G-d forbid, that everything is divine providence, etc. This is the essence of the impurity, as seen above. Therefore the salvation from the trouble and the purification from the impurity is through Mikveh, which is the aspect of 'the World of the Future', the aspect of the waters of wisdom, the aspect of 'for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water', etc. Through entering the mikveh and occluding the eyes it blocks out the world and one ignores {the world} and covers himself there in the waters of the mikveh, which is the aspect of the waters of knowledge, the aspect of 'the Future World'. Through this one is included within the aspect of da'at, in the aspect of providence for he covers his eyes to the world which strengthens the errors of the wisdom of nature, from whence comes all trouble and impurities. Through this the eyes are damaged, whose root and vitality are from the aspect of the Eyes of G-d, which are the aspect of divine providence, as is understood in the lesson above. And when one falls from da'at and believes that there is nature, G-d forbid, this is the aspect of the damaging of the eyes and from this come all the troubles, etc., as seen above. Therefore one must cover his eyes completely from what goes on in this world and to lose himself and be included in the waters of the mikveh, which is the aspect of the knowledge of the World of the Future. For then the divine providence will be revealed and nature will disappear completely. And through this divine providence will be drawn down from the ends of the earth, in the aspect of mikveh. And through this salvation will come to him, for everything that he needs, the aspect of 'Hashem is the hope of Israel, his Savior in times of trouble', etc. This is the aspect of the washing of the hands in the morning, which draws down purified water which comes from the aspect of mikveh. Through this he purifies his hands, which are the aspect of the 28 phalanges, the aspect of the 28 letters of the act of creation. The essence of the defect of the aspect of the knowledge of nature, which is strengthened through sleep at night, and darkness afflicts them specifically, as seen above. For through the knowledge of nature the 28 letters are flawed, as seen above, and one associates with the order of the universe, G-d forbid, as seen above. This is the aspect of impurity which takes hold in the hands specifically at the time when da'at flees; in other words, at the time of sleep, as seen above. Therefore, we purify them through the waters of knowledge drawn down from the aspect of 'the World of the Future', etc., as explained above.

Abraham’s insistence on this oath is disturbing. Would he not trust Eliezer’s solemn commitment? Eliezer had been Abraham’s most loyal student.³⁰See Gen. 15:2 and the commentary of Rashi, s.v. u-vein meshek beisi and Dammesek. The two had fought together and depended on one another in battle.³¹See Gen.14:14 and Rashi’s commentary on that verse. Abraham had trusted Eliezer’s loyalty to defend his life; why would he not trust Eliezer’s word? One might posit that Eliezer’s word was not trustworthy in the absence of an oath since he was not a member of Abraham’s family. This solution would not apply to a different circumstance of oath-taking in the Torah.

‎Genesis 23,1. “The years of Sarah’s life were one hundred years, ‎etc.;” I believe, G’d willing, that I have understood the reason ‎why Sarah is the only woman in the Bible of whose age at the ‎time of her death we have been told. The Talmud Nedarim ‎‎64, in referring to Rachel’s outburst (Genesis 30,1) that unless her ‎husband Yaakov would give her children she considered herself as ‎‎“dead,” is quoted by Rashi on that verse saying that seeing ‎that a woman’s primary task in life is to mother children, any ‎woman who has not given birth to a live child is considered as ‎dead. We also know from Shabbat 156, that when G’d took ‎Avraham outside (Genesis 15,5) that He showed him that ‎according to the constellation of the stars, Sarai was not slated to ‎give birth to children. This ‎מזל‎, astrological prognosis of her life, ‎could be changed only due to merits she would acquire during the ‎years to come. She did indeed acquire such merits, as our sages ‎conclude from a comment they made in Shir Hashirim ‎Rabbah, 2,32 where the phenomenon of all the matriarchs ‎originally being barren is discussed. Among a variety of answers ‎offered there, one is that G’d was desirous of listening to their ‎praying to Him to be granted children, just as He is desirous of ‎listening to the prayers of the righteous, generally. In other ‎words, Sarah, (after a name change) both due to her merits and ‎her supplications, was “lifted” out of the limitations predicted for ‎her by a zodiac sign she had been born under, so that she could ‎conceive. When the Torah refers to her “life” as being 127 years ‎long, this means nothing less than that she had spent all these ‎years accumulating merits for the good deeds she performed. ‎Expressed somewhat differently, the Torah states that it was ‎Sarah, who with her good deeds gave “life” to her years.‎

And you will understand through this what our Sages taught about the faithful servant of Abraham, our father, that he was the very first of those connected to us, and the blessed Holy One raised him higher than the constellations (see Gen. 15:5 with Rashi). The verse “his servant, the elder of his household” (Gen. 24:2), they explain with, “he one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!” (Gen. 15:2), meaning that he draws [doleh] and gives drink [mashke] to others from his master’s Torah (Yoma 28b).

And you will understand through this what our Sages taught about the faithful servant of Abraham, our father, that he was the very first of those connected to us, and the blessed Holy One raised him higher than the constellations (see Gen. 15:5 with Rashi). The verse “his servant, the elder of his household” (Gen. 24:2), they explain with, “he one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!” (Gen. 15:2), meaning that he draws [doleh] and gives drink [mashke] to others from his master’s Torah (Yoma 28b).

Again, none of this involves new ideas which eluded the earlier Kabbalists. Rather, the revelation and avodah of hasidism is to reveal that the light inheres even in the lowly, and that one can engage in a lofty avodah using the emotions and sensory inclinations, for they are holy as well and can used for self-inspiration [hitpaalut]. Therefore, every hasid is capable of self-work and becoming impassioned, and if it is difficult for him to do so with them he should utilize spiritual advice [etzot] in order to do so. As it is asked in the holy work Noam Elimelekh, Lekh Lekha: “Look upon the heavens,”³⁵⁵Genesis 15:5. ‘How a person can gaze upon the majesty of the heavens and the stars in their paths and come to a reverence, allowing him to comprehend the majesty of God?!’ And see there, how he instructs that one should envision himself as if he literally sees the Temple, built, before his eyes, and him standing in the Holy of Holies. Or as is said in Beit Aharon, that before prayer one should envision himself lying in the grave, suffering greatly, with people telling him ‘Arise and pray!,’ as we have cited in Hovat haTalmidim, chapter 9.

Therefore, the first redemption, which is the Exodus from Egypt, which includes all of the redemptions - because all of the redeemed are referred to by the name 'Egypt' as Rabbeinu z"l wrote in another place in Likutei Moharan 4. Therefore, the beginning of the redemption was in the middle of the night as it is written (Exodus 11:4) "Around midnight I will go out into Egypt". Because the essence of all the redemptions, especially the redemption from Egypt, came about through the aspect as seen above which was written in the lesson above. This was accomplished by means of divine providence which G-d drew down from the end of the earth, from the future world. At the time of the Exodus from Egypt, there was an upheaval in the constellations and then an overturning of nature, for G-d then revealed His divine providence through His awesome miracles and His overturning nature. All of this took place through the world of the future, for it came through the Yovel (Zohar I 21b, II 41b, 46b) which corresponds to the 50 gates of Binah, which corresponds to the world of the future. (Tikunei Zohar 79b). And therefore the redemption was specifically at midnight; in other words it broke the night and the darkness which are the aspect of the wisdom of nature, and it revealed divine providence in the world. Through this was the main essence of the revelation, as explained above. And this is the aspect of (Id.) “Every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, and G-d will pass over… And save the Israelites' first born”. Because the first born is first, the aspect of knowledge, the aspect of (Proverbs 1:7) “First thing, knowledge”. In other words, the knowledge of the Other Side, which is the aspect of natural sciences, was subdued, and the knowledge of holiness, the knowledge of divine providence, the aspect of "my firstborn, Israel" (Exodus 4:22) - which is the knowledge of faith in divine providence, from which the holy offspring of the Jewish people are drawn-was increased. The Jewish people are above nature, for they are rooted in "Look to the heavens and count the stars". G-d told him this will be your offspring (Genesis 15:5), upon which our sages comment G-d lifted Abraham above the heavens (Genesis Rabbah, there). Therefore, the Jewish people are above nature, for according to nature, according to the arrangement of the constellations, Abraham should not have been able to have any children. It was only because G-d said to him "let go of your astrology", and raised him above the heavens, that he was able to have a child, as in 'that will be your offspring'. Therefore Jewish offspring are drawn from its root from beyond nature, which is represented by 'My firstborn, Israel'. Because G-d struck the Egyptian first born at midnight to subdue and break the knowledge of natural sciences, and to intensify the knowledge of divine providence, the aspect of the firstborn of Israel, as explained above.

Once we take this into consideration we can ‎understand a question raised by a member of our ‎congregation regarding a statement in the Talmud ‎Ketuvot 111.‎
On that folio we find a surprising statement by Rav ‎Yehudah, that G’d had demanded three oaths from the ‎exiled Jews one of which was that they would not ‎return to the land of Israel by force of arms, (not ‎having waited for the arrival of the Messiah) and that ‎anyone doing so violated a positive commandment in ‎his opinion.
Although the countries hosting Jewish exiles are ‎complying with G’d’s will Who has not sent them a ‎redeemer, nonetheless G’d also demanded an oath ‎from the rulers of these host countries not to make the ‎lives of the exiled Jews intolerable. The Talmud uses ‎the expression ‎בהן‎, “against them,” i.e. against the Jews ‎under their control. According to the questioner this ‎word is superfluous. When you consider what I have ‎written above you will realize that the word ‎בהן‎ in the ‎Talmud is not superfluous at all. The meaning of the ‎word is reflexive, i.e. the gentile rulers of the host ‎countries in which the Jews live are not to make the ‎Jews’ lives difficult for their own benefit, but only to ‎the extent that they fulfill G’d’s will that they remain in ‎exile. As long as the gentile rulers adhere to that oath ‎they will not be punished by G’d for preventing the ‎Jews from returning to their ancestral land.‎
We have explained this in a parable of the servant ‎of a king who inflicts painful physical punishment on ‎the king’s son out of love for his King. Such a servant ‎of the king experiences pain himself when disciplining ‎the king’s son. The pain he feels himself acts as a ‎restraint against his becoming too cruel when ‎administering the punishment to the king’s son, (who ‎had obviously deserved punishment for his ‎misconduct). ‎בהן‎ The meaning of the word in the ‎Talmud there is the same as when we speak of ‎להם‎, “for ‎them,” or “for themselves,” when using the word ‎conversationally. We find this word (‎בהן‎) used in the ‎sense that we suggested in the Tikkuney ‎Hazohar where the letters in the word ‎בראשית‎ have ‎been rearranged to read: ‎ירא בשת‎, implying that the ‎gentiles are to maintain a degree of shame when ‎facing Jews, and must not be overeager to become ‎G’d’s helpers in deepening their suffering in exile. Our ‎author, referring the reader to Nachmanides’ ‎commentary on Genesis 13,14 sees in G’d’s promise to ‎Avraham that He will punish the people who have ‎enslaved and tortured his descendant, in due course, a ‎hint that once they overstep the boundary of G’d’s ‎decree by performing persecution of the Jews ‎enthusiastically, they will not only be punished for ‎their excesses but also for keeping the Jews prisoners ‎in their land at all. The experience of the Israelites in ‎Egypt reflected the excesses that reflected that when ‎maltreating the Israelites the last thing that they had in ‎mind was to fulfill G’d’s decree revealed to Avraham in ‎chapter 15 of Genesis.‎ ‎

This is the aspect of "And he divided himself against them" (Genesis 14:15) which is said about Abraham at the time he chased after the kings. For Abraham revealed G-d's blessed providence in the world. Therefore, the essence of the fulfillment of the generations of the heavens and earth is through Abraham, as it is written (Genesis 2:4) "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, בְּהִבָּרְאָם - meaning, through Abraham בְּאַבְרָהָם (Genesis Rabbah 2:4). Abraham revealed His blessed providence to the world; for the essence of the existence of the world is through this. Therefore, Abraham had the power to divide the night, in other words to break the night, which is the aspect of nullification of nature, the aspect of rising at midnight, as explained above. Then {Abraham} overpowered the four kings, which are the aspect of the four Malchuyot, as brought. The essence of their subjugation is through the nullification of nature, as explained above. Therefore, because he erred {by saying} what was written there (Genesis 15:8) "how will I know that I will inherit it?", the exile was decreed because of this, for it was a blemish in knowledge, which is the aspect of divine providence. The essence of knowledge is the aspect of divine providence. And divine providence, this is the aspect of the Land of Israel, the aspect of (Deuteronomy 11:12) "the eyes of Lord your God are always upon it", as Rebbe Nachman wrote in another place. Therefore, because he blemished the da'at/knowledge and blemished the Land of Israel, which is the aspect of divine providence, (Genesis 15:12) "a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, a fright, a great darkness was falling upon him". Because he saw the strength of the exile, which is the aspect of 'a deep sleep', the aspect of darkness, the essence of their subjugation through the natural sciences, through the blemishing of divine providence, as explained above.

This is the aspect of "And he divided himself against them" (Genesis 14:15) which is said about Abraham at the time he chased after the kings. For Abraham revealed G-d's blessed providence in the world. Therefore, the essence of the fulfillment of the generations of the heavens and earth is through Abraham, as it is written (Genesis 2:4) "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, בְּהִבָּרְאָם - meaning, through Abraham בְּאַבְרָהָם (Genesis Rabbah 2:4). Abraham revealed His blessed providence to the world; for the essence of the existence of the world is through this. Therefore, Abraham had the power to divide the night, in other words to break the night, which is the aspect of nullification of nature, the aspect of rising at midnight, as explained above. Then {Abraham} overpowered the four kings, which are the aspect of the four Malchuyot, as brought. The essence of their subjugation is through the nullification of nature, as explained above. Therefore, because he erred {by saying} what was written there (Genesis 15:8) "how will I know that I will inherit it?", the exile was decreed because of this, for it was a blemish in knowledge, which is the aspect of divine providence. The essence of knowledge is the aspect of divine providence. And divine providence, this is the aspect of the Land of Israel, the aspect of (Deuteronomy 11:12) "the eyes of Lord your God are always upon it", as Rebbe Nachman wrote in another place. Therefore, because he blemished the da'at/knowledge and blemished the Land of Israel, which is the aspect of divine providence, (Genesis 15:12) "a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, a fright, a great darkness was falling upon him". Because he saw the strength of the exile, which is the aspect of 'a deep sleep', the aspect of darkness, the essence of their subjugation through the natural sciences, through the blemishing of divine providence, as explained above.

He even, at times, reveals to them a ‘hands-breadth’⁵¹⁰See Talmud Nedarim 20b. description of his spiritual rungs; of how, when he recites ‘from one world to the next You are God,’⁵¹¹Citation of the Sabbath and holiday liturgy. he literally sees the world, and how He fills the world; and when he recites “this is my God and I will glorify Him,”⁵¹²Exodus 15:2, recited in the daily morning prayers. he feels or sees before him He who speaks to him, and so forth. He also speaks of more lofty matters, above our grasp, all in proportion to the rebbe and the fellowship. They hear not only his words but also feel his soul which emerges as he speaks, until they see something of what he sees, and become aflame from his passion. When they come close together and are connected as described above, the rebbe’s avodah of selfhood begins to affect them, and theirs on him. This is an avodah which cannot be transcribed in a book. Much light which had been concealed within the rebbe is now revealed to himself and to them, as they are all given an effluence of new light. All arise higher and higher each time, till over time they rise to great holiness. Is it possible to capture the effect on the avreikh-hasid when he came to the rebbe and entered this holy fellowship, and how he prayed and sang songs and praises to God, Who is so revealed to their hearts, minds, and entire being along with these servants of God, priests of the Almighty?⁵¹³See Genesis 15:18.

The words ‎וספרתם לכם‎, “you shall count for yourselves,” ‎need further analysis, [as in all instances when the Torah ‎adds the apparently superfluous ‎לכם‎.] In this instance ‎the word ‎לכם‎ may be understood as G’d reiterating that although ‎it is our task in life to serve Him, each one of us must decide to do ‎so of his own free will. He is not to feel coerced, as if he felt that ‎way he could never qualify for the reward that the Torah ‎promises us for observing G’d’s commandments.
The first of the “seven” weeks we are to “count,” measuring ‎our spiritual progress, are devoted to 1) digesting the fact that ‎finally, after close to 2500 years of human existence, the human ‎race had come to acknowledge its Creator and the fact that He ‎had a favorite people, whose three patriarchs had somehow ‎sustained them sufficiently so that they had accepted Moses as ‎His prophet. As a result our people learned to relate to G’d with ‎love. 2) The second of the seven weeks is devoted to embracing ‎G’d with reverence and awe, recognizing in Him the greatness of ‎the Originator of all existence. The third week is devoted to ‎ensure that G’d will have reason to “boast” of His people and their ‎spiritual accomplishments.‎
The fourth and fifth week of our counting is devoted to ‎deepening our faith in the Creator, our ability to withstand ‎anything that might make us doubt His being the only G’d in the ‎universe. The sixth week is devoted to strengthen our ties to Him ‎through the intensity with which we serve Him. Finally, the ‎seventh week is devoted to declaring Him as our King, enthroning ‎Him as the King of Kings of the entire universe.‎
In light of the fact that theses attributes are derivatives of the ‎Essence of G’d Himself, during the days when we observe the ‎commandment of counting the days and weeks, it is especially ‎important that each one of us will set aside time for ‎contemplating these holy thoughts and serve the Creator by ‎doing so, as the sages have taught us that ‎בדרך שאדם רוצה להלוך ‏מוליכים אותו‎, “that people who wish to travel along the right path ‎will enjoy heavenly assists in doing so.” (Makkot 10) Seeing ‎that the redemption occurred on Passover, (15th Nissan) we know ‎that each year at that time, G’d is singularly prepared to reveal ‎Himself as He did on the occasion of the first Passover, ‎‎[actually, according to tradition already on the night when ‎Avraham defeated the four mightiest kings with his 318 men, ‎compare Genesis 15,15 Ed.] The period between then and ‎the festival of Shavuot is especially suited for anyone who ‎wishes to experience spiritual progress to do so by means of ‎observing this commandment of counting with especial ‎devotion. The word ‎לכם‎ therefore is best translated as “for your ‎personal benefit,” suggesting that this period more than any ‎other should be exploited by the pious to elevate themselves ‎spiritually.‎ ‎

This is as it is said in the Zohar (Pinchas, 216b), “Before the giving of the Torah to Israel, the entire creation was dependant upon the specific constellation that ruled over it. This was true even concerning children, life, and sustenance.⁸⁸It is written in the Gemara (Moed Katan, 28b), “One’s portion in receiving children, life, and sustenance depends not on merit, but on fate (mazal).” But after the Torah was given to Israel, they were no longer subject to the influence of the stars … For this reason, whosoever is involved in the study of Torah is free of the influence of the stars.” Before the giving of the Torah, all the effluence of God’s Divine conduct came into the world through an organized system of cause and effect. Each level would receive from the level above it, and effuse to the level below. The final recipient of this concatenation of effluence was man. Thus man received God’s effluence by way of the stars and constellations. Whether man received good or the opposite was subject to the nature and governance of his star. This was the way in which the entire creation received its effluence. However, when Israel received the Torah, they were raised above the stars and constellations. This was because they were now in possession of the Torah, and the world was created through the Torah.⁸⁹The Rashba notes (Teshuvot, 19) that one who observes the Torah is free from the dominance of the stars, yet one who does not observe the Torah is subject to the dominance of the stars. This is hinted at in the Zohar (ibid): “We learn this from Avraham, since his children would later receive the letter Hei⁹⁰Hei - ה - is the number five. in Avraham’s name, which represents the Five Books of Moses. This was hinted at even in the creation of the world, when it was said, ‘these are the generations of the heavens and the earth as they were created (BeHibaram)⁹¹(Bereshit, 2:4) In the word, as they were created – בהבראם – the letter Hei is traditionally written smaller than the normal size. The sages took this as hinting at many things, among them that God put a condition of the creation of the world that the Children of Israel would accept the Five Books of Moses. , which is the same letters as the phrase, ‘He created them with the letter Hei (beHei - baram). God said to Avraham, since this Hei was added to your name⁹²See Bereshit, 17:5. so will the heavens be placed below you. All of the stars and constellations are illuminated by the Hei.” As it is explained in the Midrash Rabbah (Lech, 44), “and He brought him outside and said, ‘look heavenward ‘. (Bereshit, 15:5) This means the God raised Avraham above the dome of the firmament so that all the goodness he receives will come directly from God.”

‎Genesis 13,16. “so that if one can count the dust of the earth then ‎your offspring too can be counted.” G’d’s comments were ‎triggered by Avram having seen in his astrology charts that he ‎was not going to have offspring. G’d taught him that “science” ‎such as astrology is valid only in terms of the terrestrial part of ‎the universe. Astrologers therefore are able to decipher only ‎matters accessible to ordinary people’s powers of perception. The ‎Jewish people’s fate could not be predicted on the basis of such ‎limited powers of perception. This is why Jews are not allowed to ‎attempt to count the stars as we know from Yuma 22, ‎where the Talmud states ‎כל המונה את ישראל עובר בלאו‎, “anyone ‎making a headcount of Israelites transgresses a negative ‎commandment.” The Talmud quotes Hoseah 2,1 in support of ‎this. The result of such a count would be misleading, as the ‎yardsticks that apply to other nations do not apply to the Jewish ‎people. Avram who had not yet been aware of this, had therefore ‎misread what appeared to be written in the stars concerning his ‎future. The Talmud Shabbat 156 cites our verse in support of this. ‎‎[The verses cited there are Genesis 15,4 and 5. Ed.] Basically, ‎seeing that our prayers and/or repentance have the power to ‎alter G’d’s decrees, how could constellations in the sky that are ‎predictable in advance have any bearing on our fate?‎

Genesis 28,20. “If G’d will be with me, etc.;” ‎Nachmanides’ comment that seeing G’d had already promised ‎Yaakov in verse 15 that He would be with him, why did Yaakov ‎question this with the word: ‎אם‎, “if?” is well known. The answer ‎given by Nachmanides is that Yaakov was afraid that G’d’s ‎promise would be invalid if he became guilty of a sin before it ‎could be carried out. (compare Bereshit Rabbah 76,2 that ‎promises made to tzaddikim concerning happenings in this ‎life are never absolute.) [If they were they would tie G’d’s ‎hands if the tzaddik were to become a rasha. ‎Ed.]‎
The answers given by the Midrash or quoted as such by ‎the commentators, appear to contradict the specific promise for ‎events in this life made to Yaakov in verse 15. I quote: ‎‎(translation) “Remember, I am with you; I will protect you ‎wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not ‎leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Surely, ‎after such a promise, how could Yaakov have had any doubt that ‎what G’d had promised would occur in this lifetime on earth? Part ‎of this promise implies that G’d the good, Who only does good, ‎will assist the recipient of this promise to conduct himself in a ‎manner that will ensure that G’d will feel obliged to honour His ‎promise.‎
However, we must remember two points. 1) The Torah had ‎reported G’d’s promise as being part of a dream,” i.e. ‎ויחלום‎. The ‎Torah did not preface the dream as a vision, i.e. ‎וירא אליו ה'‏‎; ‎Yaakov was not at all sure that what appears here as a solid ‎promise was not a figment of his imagination. 2) We have ‎discussed once before the fact that G’d wishes us to pray to Him ‎for our needs, (that is why Rivkah did not become pregnant till ‎after 20 years of marriage when both her husband and she prayed ‎for this). Seeing that Yaakov is not on record as having actively ‎asked G’d to assist him in what was a pretty desperate situation, ‎G’d, by spelling out this promise, wished to provoke Yaakov into ‎finally praying to Him for His help. (Compare also Bereshit ‎Rabbah 45, Sarah being angry at Avraham for not having ‎including her in his prayer when he said to G’d, (complainingly) ‎‎“here I walk on this earth childless.” (Genesis 15,2) G’d dispenses ‎largesse without waiting to be asked, to those of His creatures ‎whom He has not equipped with a mouth to articulate their ‎requests. Man, who has been so equipped is expected to use his ‎powers to address his Creator in prayer.‎
According to B’rachot 17 the reason why our matriarchs ‎were originally barren is summed up in Isaiah 46,12 ‎שמעו אלי אבירי ‏לב הרחוקים מצדקה‎! “Listen to Me, you who have lost heart, who ‎are far from righteousness.” According to one interpretation of ‎the above verse in the Talmud, some people are granted their ‎livelihood because they use their intelligence to ask G’d for it. ‎Others believe in their own strength, ‎זרוע‎, their ability to work for ‎a living, and secure it through this means. The people who are ‎devoid of intelligence will be provided for by G’d, as they are too ‎dim witted or physically unable look out for themselves. This is ‎the meaning of ‎שומר פתאים ה'‏‎, “the Lord looks after the fools.” ‎‎(psalms 116,6) Examples of such people are children having to eat ‎at their father’s table. When the father of such children sees that ‎they have become capable of fending for themselves, he no longer ‎supports them. The same holds true of our Father in heaven, ‎when He sees that we could fend for ourselves but prefer to have ‎Him provide for us. The righteous are supposed to support ‎themselves by using their arms, (to do work) not violence. Those ‎who possess intelligence and do not use it to appeal to their ‎Creator are not supported by G’d’s charity, ‎צדקה‎.‎

When the Torah writes at the beginning of chapter 15 that ‎היה דבר ה' אל אברם במחזה לאמור‎, “the word of Hashem came to ‎Avram in a ‘vision,’ proceeding to say, etc.;“ we understand ‎this as a manifestation of G’d’s word to Avram by a vision ‎screened by a veil while he was engaged in serving G’d by the ‎performance of mitzvot with various parts of his body.
‎At that point G’d told Avram not to be afraid, ‎אל תירא אברם‎, ‎as he would continue to act as his shield, ‎אנכי מגן לך‎. G’d ‎reassured Avram that the fact that he was now serving Him by ‎performing ‎מצות‎, i.e. under the auspices of the ‎יש‎ instead of the ‎auspices of the ‎אין‎, that this was not a lowering of the standards ‎that he was used to, but that on the contrary, he was in line for ‎a great reward, ‎שכרך הרבה מאד‎.
As long as the Torah had not yet been given, fulfilling the ‎‎“commandments” while in Eretz Yisrael was quite different ‎from nowadays when the Torah has been given, and fulfilling the ‎parts of it that are capable of being fulfilled in the Diaspora, is ‎deserving of recognition. When Avram served G’d outside the ‎land of Israel, concentrating on the aspect known as ‎מסירת נפש‎, ‎wholehearted physical and mental devotion to the Lord, he ‎thereby “repaired” the reputation of G’d amongst mankind, ‎which had sustained considerable damage due to the sins of ‎mankind which had apparently been ignored by the Creator, thus ‎giving the impression that He either did not care or was unable to ‎deal with.
Tanchuma 8 on Parshat Chukat, relates in ‎the name of Rabbi Yossi bar Chaninah, that at the time when ‎Moses ascended to the celestial regions He found G’d preoccupied ‎with the details of the rules pertaining to the red heifer. He ‎overheard G’d saying that the correct ruling concerning the age ‎of the red heifer when it is to be burnt is according to “my son ‎Rabbi Eliezer,” i.e. when it is one year old. Anyone reading this ‎‎Midrash must surely ask how G’d had been able to say ‎something like that, seeing that Rabbi Eliezer was born more than ‎‎1000 years after Moses died. We have a tradition that man is not ‎programmed, can make his own decisions, so that it is impossible ‎to foretell who will say what tomorrow, never mind 1000 years ‎hence?
In answering this justified question, we must consider ‎that the domain we called ‎אין‎, the totally spiritual domains of the ‎universe, included within it all the aspects of wisdom as ‎something potential. While this potential had not yet assumed ‎definitive proportions until someone possessed of both body and ‎soul was able to formulate it, its very existence in “embryonic” ‎form, so to speak, makes it possible for a human being when the ‎time comes to draw upon this “wisdom” and make use of it in the ‎material world of the ‎יש‎. The example of the “red heifer” ‎discussed in the Tanchuma is merely an illustration of the ‎principle that nothing “new” or “original” is produced in the ‎realm of the physical world, the world known as the ‎יש‎ in ‎‎kabbalistic parlance, or “olam hazeh”, in what we are ‎used to refer to when speaking of what goes on the planet we live ‎on. The acquisition of such ‎חכמה‎, wisdom, as is necessary to arrive ‎at the conclusion that the red heifer must be two years old when ‎it is to be burnt, is largely a matter of the will of the individual ‎grappling with this halachic problem. The “freedom of ‎choice,” as we call it, means that we are free to decide if we want ‎to make the effort to acquire such wisdom or not. It is not ‎withheld from anyone who truly labours to acquire it by willing it ‎with all his being. While he was in the celestial regions, Moses ‎heard that there would in due course be a scholar by the name of ‎Rabbi Eliezer who would have attained that particular piece of ‎wisdom enabling him to correctly rule on the problem that was ‎under discussion in the heavenly spheres at that time. ‎Ed.]
G’d has two options when dealing with man’s aspirations. ‎He can either decide to grant man’s request in accordance with that ‎person’s expressed wish, or He can decide to be guided by what ‎the overall situation in His universe requires for its good at the time, ‎‎[as frequently, if not most of the time, the desires of an individual ‎do not correspond to, or coincide with what is in the best interests ‎of the world as seen by its Creator.‎‎

Genesis ‎21,1. “Hashem took note of Sarah as He had ‎promised, and He did for Sarah as He had said.” Bereshit ‎Rabbah 53,4 understands this verse as reflecting the truth of ‎what the psalmist said in psalms 119,89 ‎לעולם ה', דברך נצב בשמים‎, ‎‎“The Lord exists forever; Your word stands firm in heaven.” The ‎author of the Midrash queries, rhetorically, if David meant ‎that G’d’s word does not stand firm on earth? He explains that ‎what the psalmist had in mind was that the promise G’d made to ‎Avraham He had made in heaven, i.e. when the angel announced ‎that Yitzchok’s birth would occur at a time prearranged in ‎heaven. (In Genesis 15,5, long before the angel announced ‎Yitzchok’s impending birth, G’d had take Avram outside his tent ‎and had make him look at the heaven telling him that he would ‎father children and that the would be as numerous as the stars in ‎the heaven.) For our sages in B’rachot 7 the verse is ‎understood to make the point that even when G’d makes a ‎conditional promise, He will keep it. The Talmud there uses as its ‎proof Deuteronomy 9,14 where G’d had suggested that He would ‎trade the Jewish people who had made the golden calf for a new ‎Jewish people founded by Moses.‎

Genesis ‎15,1. “After these events the word of G’d came to Avram ‎in a vision- and said to him: ‘do not be afraid,’ etc. and he ‎built an altar there to the G’d Who had appeared to ‎him.
[At this point the author claims to quote a ‎commentary of Nachmanides on the words “he built an alter ‎there,” where Nachmanides questions why Avram built an altar ‎on this occasion, and not on a previous occasion. I have been ‎unable to find such a commentary by Nachmanides. The nearest ‎thing to it is a super-commentary by Sifssey Chachamim on ‎‎Rashi Genesis 12,8 where he raises such a question. I will ‎nevertheless present the author’s commentary, in which he deals ‎with this problem supposedly raised by Nachmanides. Ed.]
In ‎answering the question of why, until this time, Avram had not ‎built an altar, we must first explain the concepts of “altar” and ‎‎“sacrificial offering.” When a person experiences something ‎painful, be it physical or mental, he is not free to focus on the ‎actual pain, but must focus on the causes of his having to endure ‎such pain, and why on account of this pain his ability to serve his ‎Creator had become impaired. When he reacts to his pain in this ‎manner he causes G’d satisfaction, ‎נחת רוח‎. Keeping this in mind ‎we can understand the Talmud Yerushalmi, B’rachot, 2,4 ‎stating that the messiah was “born” on the 9th day of Av, the day ‎that the Temple was destroyed. This was because the Jewish ‎people felt such pain over the loss of the Temple, and their ‎inability to serve G’d there by offering their sacrifices. As long as ‎the Temple had been standing, G’d was able to derive satisfaction, ‎נחת רוח‎, from the offerings presented on the altar in the Temple. ‎We know this from Leviticus 1,13 ‎אשה ריח ניחוח לה'‏‎, ”an offering ‎by fire of pleasing odour to the Lord.” This offering represented ‎the opposite of ‎צער‎, painful feelings. As long as the Temple was ‎standing, the people of Israel dwelled in relative calm and safety. ‎The principal cause of Israel’s state of disquiet, pain, unrest, etc., ‎is the fact that we are not able to perform the sacrificial sacrifices ‎by means of which we could give “pleasure” to the Creator. As a ‎corollary to our inability, while in exile, to present these ‎offerings, G’d in turn is not encouraged to release the bounty of ‎goodness He has in store for His faithful servants on earth. We ‎have pointed out previously that with the advent of Avram, this ‎reciprocal relationship between man and G’d had become of great ‎benefit to man. (Compare page 51 on this interaction).‎‎
Ideally, our joy in this world as well as our pain, must ‎always focus on our relationship with our Creator and how we ‎can improve it; we must never consider our personal feelings as ‎being of the essence. “Joy” in the eyes of the Torah, has not been ‎granted in order for us to behave as do gentiles when they set off ‎‎“fireworks” to give expression to their feeling happy about ‎something.
It is worthwhile to remember that the Hebrew ‎word for “sacrifice” is ‎קרבן‎, from the root ‎קרב‎, to come close, or ‎closer. When offering a “sacrifice,” to the Creator, we are ‎sublimating something mundane, usually something representing ‎some of the most treasured living creatures, animals which serve ‎as our livelihood, to the Creator Who had endowed the terrestrial ‎part of the universe with such creatures for the benefit of the ‎highest ranking living beings on earth, the ones who have been ‎created in the image of their Creator.‎

Going back once more to Genesis 15,8 when Avraham himself ‎had asked a question not i.e. revealing that He had not quite ‎understood G’d, as a result of which he was granted better ‎understanding, just as Avimelech here had concluded with ‎understanding and acknowledging the dimension of G’d as ‎אנכי‎, ‎the Talmud B’rachot 7 states that when Avraham posed the ‎question of ‎במה אדע‎, he had become the first person ever to ‎address G’d as ‎א-דני‎, “My Lord;” He had implied by this that G’d in ‎His capacity of ‎א-דני‎ was able to annul decrees. Noach had not ‎been aware that G’d could do this, and this is why he had not ‎bothered to appeal to G’d to annul the decree to annihilate ‎mankind. His predecessor Sheth, third son of Adam, himself a ‎‎tzaddik had also not known about this and therefore he had ‎remained silent when a third of the inhabited area of the globe ‎had been flooded in his day. The power of addressing this ‎dimension of G’d was given to Avraham as a reward for having ‎recognized G’d as possessing this dimension. It was Avraham’s ‎genius to recognize this quality of G’d although he addressed Him ‎as “My Lord.”‎

Genesis ‎15,1. “do not fear, Avram, I will be your shield.” G’d ‎reassures Avram that He is aware that when he took revenge on ‎the four kings and their armies this was an act of self-defense, as ‎they had planned to harm him. G’d had protected him so that ‎they could not carry out their evil designs. He had killed these ‎kings and their soldiers. G’d had done so because He loved Avram ‎and He would continue to act as his shield, but not from feelings ‎of revenge against them, but because of His love for him, so that ‎Avram would not have any of his merits and the reward due him ‎deducted from his credit balance in heaven, on account of G’d ‎having come to assistance.‎

‎Genesis 15,2. “Avram said: ‘My Lord, what will You give me., ‎seeing that I walk on earth without a biological ‎heir?’”
15,7. G’d responded immediately, by saying:‎והנה דבר ה' ‏אליו לאמור וגו'‏‎, it is difficult to understand the word ‎לאמור‎, ‎‎“saying, or to say,” since to whom was Avram supposed to tell ‎what follows next?
We may better understand this ‎formulation by looking at Numbers 14,13-20 where Moses asks ‎G’d how by wiping out the Jewish people at that time, His name ‎would be exalted amongst the gentiles; on the contrary the ‎gentiles would interpret this as a sign of G’d’s inability to keep His ‎promise to His people. Upon listening to Moses’ argument at that ‎time, G’d relented and forgave the people in accordance with ‎Moses’ argument. On the last words, Rashi comments: “on ‎account of Moses having said due to G’d’s inability, etc.” It is ‎difficult to see in what way Rashi added anything to what Moses ‎had said, as reported by the Torah.
Upon reflection, Moses’ ‎comment to G’d about what the Egyptians would say if G’d were ‎to wipe out the Jewish nation is difficult. Did Moses really think ‎that omniscient G’d needed him to tell Him about this? It appears ‎from the fact that Moses bothered to mention this to G’d that the ‎words of a tzaddik do have an influence on G’d’s decisions. ‎This is confirmed in Job 22,28, ‎ותגזר אומר ויקם לך‎, “you will decree ‎and it will be fulfilled;” In the verses quoted from Numbers 14 we ‎find that G’d immediately responded to Moses’ argument by ‎changing the decree. Had G’d wanted to prevent the Egyptians to ‎make the kind of comments Moses had assumed they would make ‎if Israel would be destroyed, He could have brought this about. ‎The fact that He did not, and preferred to cancel His own decree, ‎bears witness to the effectiveness of Moses’ prayer. Moses’ prayer ‎prompted G’d to say: ‎סלחתי‎, “I have forgiven, etc.” It is this that ‎‎Rashi had in mind when he commented on our verse above ‎by saying. “on account of Moses having said, etc.”; Rashi ‎meant if Avram not mentioned the fact that he had no biological ‎heir to G’d, G’d would not have changed a heavenly decree that ‎had been in existence since before he had been born. In order for ‎the decree that Avram would not sire any children to be rescinded ‎or altered, he himself had to mention his grief about such a ‎decree in a prayer. Only then could G’d respond to this prayer. ‎G’d had to use provocative statements in order to get the ‎obedient and unquestioningly loyal Avram to be provoked into ‎making a comment that appeared to question G’d’s promise that ‎he would have children to be converted. The word ‎לאמור‎ in verse ‎‎1 is the Torah’s hint that G’d engaged Avram in the conversation ‎following in order for him in the course of this conversation to ‎reveal to Him that he experienced mental anguish at not having ‎children of his own. Once Avram had revealed this in an ‎unmistakable manner, G’d was able to take into consideration the ‎prayer of a tzaddik and to change the decree Avram had ‎read in the stars. Accordingly, Avram had to be induced to say ‎that Eliezer would be his heir.

Genesis ‎15,8. “how can I be certain that I will inherit it?" (the land ‎of Canaan) When looking at these words superficially, we must ‎wonder how someone of Avram’s caliber could express doubt in ‎G’d’s promise being fulfilled. The very idea that Avram requested ‎some kind of visible token or miracle to confirm the fact that G’d ‎would keep His promise is revolting! Since when is G’d required to ‎confirm His prophecy by performing a miracle?
Furthermore, ‎if this was the meaning of Avram’s question, he should have ‎asked: “how do I know that You will give the land to me!” After ‎all, this was what G’d’s promise to him had sounded like. To the ‎average reader of the Torah, G’d’s words meant that the reason ‎G’d had saved Avram from Nimrod’s furnace was in order to give ‎him the land of Canaan. Besides, how does G’d’s answer that ‎Avram would die at a ripe old age long before the 400 years He ‎had spoken of would have ended, answer Avram’s question? How ‎is the promise that after 400 years of being strangers in a foreign ‎land, and slaves to wit, and that the fourth generation would ‎leave bondage with great riches, relevant to Avram’s ‎question?
If, according to the plain meaning of the text, G’d’s ‎answer included a punishment for Avram’s having questioned ‎that G’d would keep His promise the prediction that his offspring ‎would have to endure a period of enslavement in a foreign land, ‎before leaving their with great riches, how does the line ‎commencing with ‎ידוע תדע וגו'‏‎, contain even the remotest hint of ‎this? We do not find anywhere an allusion that Avram’s question ‎of ‎במה אדע כי אירשנה‎, “by means of what sign will I know that I will ‎inherit it,” was in any way inappropriate, much less punishable! ‎On the contrary, the assurance that Avram himself would not ‎share either the exile of the slavery but would die contentedly of ‎old age, sounds like the opposite of any punishment! The fact ‎that G’d implies that he will join his father in the hereafter ‎suggests that even Terach, Avram’s father, has a share in that ‎hereafter.
Rashi, who was so astounded at that verse, ‎concluded that in his old age, Terach had become a monotheist, a ‎repentant sinner.
At any rate, the suggestion that one of the ‎patriarchs, who are presented to us as the carriers of the legs of ‎merkavah, the Divine chariot, would be equated with Terach is too ‎mind-boggling to be considered seriously.

The belief that the thoughts that cross the minds of parents ‎engaged in marital intercourse influence the spiritual focus of a ‎child conceived as the result of their union, is universally ‎accepted in the writings of our sages, and especially so in ‎Nachmanides’ essay ‎האמונה והבטחון‎, chapter 15, page 395 in ‎כתבי ‏רמב'ן‎, published by Mossad Harav Kook. [The authorship of this ‎volume has not been determined with accuracy even nowadays. ‎Rabbi Chayim David Chavell, whose edition I am using, devotes 11 ‎pages to his introduction when he explains that there is some ‎genetic spiritual input by both the father and the mother into ‎the soul of the child they produce.
If I understand the ‎message in these words, it is that this input is transmitted only at ‎the time when the parents conceive the child, and it outweighs ‎what the parents try to teach the youngster after he or she has ‎been born. It follows that if the parents are interested in ‎transmitting their own and their ancestors’ good characteristics ‎to their own children, they must not only live according to these ‎principles, but even conduct themselves according to these ‎principles in the privacy of their bedrooms. Perhaps this sheds ‎some light on the lament of many parents who have one or more ‎children who do not follow in their footsteps and who fail to ‎understand this. Ed.]
Pessachim 50 urging us to be ‎careful to perpetuate the good practices of our forefathers ‎meticulously, the Talmud quotes Proverbs 1,8 ‎שמע בני מוסר אביך ‏ואל תטוש תורת אמך‎, “my son, hear the moral instruction of your ‎father, and do not forsake the teachings of your mother.” It is ‎clear from the Torah’s description of Terach before he had sired ‎children (assuming he became a monotheist later) that the ‎thoughts we have described did not occur to him when he and his ‎wife conceived Avram. In fact, if Terach had been a believer in the ‎one and only G’d, much of the credit Avraham accumulated ‎would have been due to his father.
Avraham was the first ‎human being, who, by absorbing some of the “sparks” of the ‎‎Shechinah which we discussed on pages 21-22 was able to ‎transmit such spiritual values by means of his semen. He himself ‎had absorbed only the kind of material input from his father and ‎mother as is capable of being defined through DNA in our days. In ‎the parlance of our sages this input of physical matter by the ‎mother is known as ‎אודם‎, primarily cells which produce blood, ‎whereas the input by her male partner consists primarily of ‎לובן‎, ‎albumen.
Terach and his wife contributed only elements of ‎the material terrestrial part of the universe to the fetus of ‎Avraham, whereas G’d, anxious to see an eventual Jewish people ‎emerge from that embryo, contributed characteristics that ‎stemmed from the spiritual spheres of the universe. This is the ‎meaning of Avram’s question “how do I know that I will inherit?” ‎The word ‎דעת‎ or ‎ידע‎ always describes a close attachment to the ‎subject or object it describes. Avram wanted to know which ‎spiritual characteristic links him to his existence in the terrestrial ‎world, a link described in Proverbs 1,8 as ‎אבי‎ in the verse ‎שמע בני ‏מוסר אביך‎, in which Solomon cautions his listeners to carefully ‎perpetuate the moral lessons absorbed from ‎אביך‎, your father, i.e. ‎your roots. His question was prompted by his realization that he ‎could certainly not be expected to perpetuate the moral lessons ‎that he had been taught in the house of his father Terach. If he ‎were to do this, how could he possibly bequeath to his offspring ‎the qualities needed to become G’d’s people? He knew ‎instinctively that this could happen only if he had in his genes ‎spiritual input from a higher world. The characteristic that ‎represented this spiritual input is know as ‎אב‎, part of the name ‎אברהם‎. The word ‎ירושה‎, inheritance, is always used in connection ‎with inheritance from one’s father; hence seeing that the word ‎אב‎, father, was part of his name this was the link that enabled him ‎to become the first patriarch of the Jewish people. Avram ‎understood that the origin of the Jewish people, a concept in ‎G’d’s mind and the contribution He had made as the third partner ‎in any human being to Avram’s genes, were of the same kind, so ‎that the Jewish people could truly be described as having its ‎terrestrial root in Avraham, as he would be called shortly before ‎Yitzchok was born.
When G’d told him that he should realize ‎that his offspring would begin their collective life as “strangers,” ‎i.e. as a new nation in the families of nations, it was this strain ‎that he shared his spiritual origin with. He would henceforth ‎have to concentrate on his role as the spiritual root of that nation ‎as and when it would become such. G’d reminded him already in ‎verse 7 that this was the purpose for which He had saved him ‎from the fiery furnace in Ur Kasdim continuing this theme in ‎verse 18 when He entered into a sacred covenant with Avram. He ‎had given him a preview that the development of this nation of ‎which he would become the founding father, would undergo a ‎difficult “adolescence” and that these difficulties once endured ‎and overcome with His help would qualify them for their historic ‎mission as trailblazers of monotheism. Although Terach is ‎credited with having sired Avram, (Genesis 11,26) this was merely ‎a biological phenomenon; he was in no way an ancestor of Avram ‎in the sense that Avram as the son would continue a tradition ‎sacred to his father.To the question of how we are to understand ‎Genesis 15,15 ‎ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום תקבר בשיבה טובה‎, “as for ‎you, you will join your “fathers’ in peace and will be buried in a ‎ripe old age,” the word ‎אבותיך‎ does not refer to Terach; but is an ‎assurance that Avram would die without sharing the servitude his ‎descendants would experience.
The Zohar I 78 ‎commenting on Genesis 12,5 ‎ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן‎, writes that ‎Terach became a penitent, but that this does not mean that ‎Avraham would be reunited with his father in the life after death, ‎but since our sages had difficulty in how to understand the ‎words: ‎ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום‎, they understood this as Terach ‎sanctifying the name of Avraham’s G’d while still alive. The name ‎of “G’d” in that verse therefore is ‎אב‎, the spiritual genes that we ‎described above as having been injected by G’d into the ovum ‎that eventually developed into Avram.
[We may understand ‎this as Terach establishing a horizontal spiritual bond with his ‎son through his penitence instead of the vertical bond created ‎when a father passes on his spiritual values to his son. Ed.]
If ‎you find it difficult to accept the argument that Terach is not to ‎be regarded as Avram’s “father” in verse 15, consider the ‎following statement in Yevamot 22. ‎גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד דמי‎, ‎‎“a convert after conversion is comparable to that of a newly born ‎baby.” He has no residue of the spiritual input normally ‎transmitted by the respective genes of his father and mother. The ‎only spiritual force active within him is that of the soul which has ‎been given to him by his Creator. He is no longer called after his ‎father, when called up to the Torah, the name of his father, the ‎gentile, is not even alluded to. The reason is that he no longer ‎contains the spiritual input his father had transmitted to him at ‎birth. The separation of such a convert from his biological father ‎is so absolute, that according to Biblical Jewish law the convert is ‎free to marry his biological mother, or sister, (assuming either of ‎them has converted). [If the Rabbis forbade this, it is because it ‎raises suspicions that the conversion had ulterior motives. Ed.]. ‎Avram/Avraham both because he was a convert, and because his ‎name was changed by G’d before he sired Yitzchok, was no longer ‎connected to Terach at all. When the Torah writes in Genesis ‎‎25,19 ‎ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, אברהם הוליד את יצחק‎, “and these ‎are the generations of Yitzchok; son of Avraham; Avraham had ‎sired Yitzchok,” the Torah makes a point of describing Yitzchok ‎as descendant of Avraham, whereas it never described Avraham as ‎a descendant of Terach. The term “father,” is mentioned in the ‎Torah only in connection with the characteristic ‎אב‎ which G’d ‎had supplied to Avram, and which helped him to sanctify G’d’s ‎Holy name to large groups of people as we explained previously.

The belief that the thoughts that cross the minds of parents ‎engaged in marital intercourse influence the spiritual focus of a ‎child conceived as the result of their union, is universally ‎accepted in the writings of our sages, and especially so in ‎Nachmanides’ essay ‎האמונה והבטחון‎, chapter 15, page 395 in ‎כתבי ‏רמב'ן‎, published by Mossad Harav Kook. [The authorship of this ‎volume has not been determined with accuracy even nowadays. ‎Rabbi Chayim David Chavell, whose edition I am using, devotes 11 ‎pages to his introduction when he explains that there is some ‎genetic spiritual input by both the father and the mother into ‎the soul of the child they produce.
If I understand the ‎message in these words, it is that this input is transmitted only at ‎the time when the parents conceive the child, and it outweighs ‎what the parents try to teach the youngster after he or she has ‎been born. It follows that if the parents are interested in ‎transmitting their own and their ancestors’ good characteristics ‎to their own children, they must not only live according to these ‎principles, but even conduct themselves according to these ‎principles in the privacy of their bedrooms. Perhaps this sheds ‎some light on the lament of many parents who have one or more ‎children who do not follow in their footsteps and who fail to ‎understand this. Ed.]
Pessachim 50 urging us to be ‎careful to perpetuate the good practices of our forefathers ‎meticulously, the Talmud quotes Proverbs 1,8 ‎שמע בני מוסר אביך ‏ואל תטוש תורת אמך‎, “my son, hear the moral instruction of your ‎father, and do not forsake the teachings of your mother.” It is ‎clear from the Torah’s description of Terach before he had sired ‎children (assuming he became a monotheist later) that the ‎thoughts we have described did not occur to him when he and his ‎wife conceived Avram. In fact, if Terach had been a believer in the ‎one and only G’d, much of the credit Avraham accumulated ‎would have been due to his father.
Avraham was the first ‎human being, who, by absorbing some of the “sparks” of the ‎‎Shechinah which we discussed on pages 21-22 was able to ‎transmit such spiritual values by means of his semen. He himself ‎had absorbed only the kind of material input from his father and ‎mother as is capable of being defined through DNA in our days. In ‎the parlance of our sages this input of physical matter by the ‎mother is known as ‎אודם‎, primarily cells which produce blood, ‎whereas the input by her male partner consists primarily of ‎לובן‎, ‎albumen.
Terach and his wife contributed only elements of ‎the material terrestrial part of the universe to the fetus of ‎Avraham, whereas G’d, anxious to see an eventual Jewish people ‎emerge from that embryo, contributed characteristics that ‎stemmed from the spiritual spheres of the universe. This is the ‎meaning of Avram’s question “how do I know that I will inherit?” ‎The word ‎דעת‎ or ‎ידע‎ always describes a close attachment to the ‎subject or object it describes. Avram wanted to know which ‎spiritual characteristic links him to his existence in the terrestrial ‎world, a link described in Proverbs 1,8 as ‎אבי‎ in the verse ‎שמע בני ‏מוסר אביך‎, in which Solomon cautions his listeners to carefully ‎perpetuate the moral lessons absorbed from ‎אביך‎, your father, i.e. ‎your roots. His question was prompted by his realization that he ‎could certainly not be expected to perpetuate the moral lessons ‎that he had been taught in the house of his father Terach. If he ‎were to do this, how could he possibly bequeath to his offspring ‎the qualities needed to become G’d’s people? He knew ‎instinctively that this could happen only if he had in his genes ‎spiritual input from a higher world. The characteristic that ‎represented this spiritual input is know as ‎אב‎, part of the name ‎אברהם‎. The word ‎ירושה‎, inheritance, is always used in connection ‎with inheritance from one’s father; hence seeing that the word ‎אב‎, father, was part of his name this was the link that enabled him ‎to become the first patriarch of the Jewish people. Avram ‎understood that the origin of the Jewish people, a concept in ‎G’d’s mind and the contribution He had made as the third partner ‎in any human being to Avram’s genes, were of the same kind, so ‎that the Jewish people could truly be described as having its ‎terrestrial root in Avraham, as he would be called shortly before ‎Yitzchok was born.
When G’d told him that he should realize ‎that his offspring would begin their collective life as “strangers,” ‎i.e. as a new nation in the families of nations, it was this strain ‎that he shared his spiritual origin with. He would henceforth ‎have to concentrate on his role as the spiritual root of that nation ‎as and when it would become such. G’d reminded him already in ‎verse 7 that this was the purpose for which He had saved him ‎from the fiery furnace in Ur Kasdim continuing this theme in ‎verse 18 when He entered into a sacred covenant with Avram. He ‎had given him a preview that the development of this nation of ‎which he would become the founding father, would undergo a ‎difficult “adolescence” and that these difficulties once endured ‎and overcome with His help would qualify them for their historic ‎mission as trailblazers of monotheism. Although Terach is ‎credited with having sired Avram, (Genesis 11,26) this was merely ‎a biological phenomenon; he was in no way an ancestor of Avram ‎in the sense that Avram as the son would continue a tradition ‎sacred to his father.To the question of how we are to understand ‎Genesis 15,15 ‎ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום תקבר בשיבה טובה‎, “as for ‎you, you will join your “fathers’ in peace and will be buried in a ‎ripe old age,” the word ‎אבותיך‎ does not refer to Terach; but is an ‎assurance that Avram would die without sharing the servitude his ‎descendants would experience.
The Zohar I 78 ‎commenting on Genesis 12,5 ‎ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן‎, writes that ‎Terach became a penitent, but that this does not mean that ‎Avraham would be reunited with his father in the life after death, ‎but since our sages had difficulty in how to understand the ‎words: ‎ואתה תבוא אל אבותיך בשלום‎, they understood this as Terach ‎sanctifying the name of Avraham’s G’d while still alive. The name ‎of “G’d” in that verse therefore is ‎אב‎, the spiritual genes that we ‎described above as having been injected by G’d into the ovum ‎that eventually developed into Avram.
[We may understand ‎this as Terach establishing a horizontal spiritual bond with his ‎son through his penitence instead of the vertical bond created ‎when a father passes on his spiritual values to his son. Ed.]
If ‎you find it difficult to accept the argument that Terach is not to ‎be regarded as Avram’s “father” in verse 15, consider the ‎following statement in Yevamot 22. ‎גר שנתגייר כקטן שנולד דמי‎, ‎‎“a convert after conversion is comparable to that of a newly born ‎baby.” He has no residue of the spiritual input normally ‎transmitted by the respective genes of his father and mother. The ‎only spiritual force active within him is that of the soul which has ‎been given to him by his Creator. He is no longer called after his ‎father, when called up to the Torah, the name of his father, the ‎gentile, is not even alluded to. The reason is that he no longer ‎contains the spiritual input his father had transmitted to him at ‎birth. The separation of such a convert from his biological father ‎is so absolute, that according to Biblical Jewish law the convert is ‎free to marry his biological mother, or sister, (assuming either of ‎them has converted). [If the Rabbis forbade this, it is because it ‎raises suspicions that the conversion had ulterior motives. Ed.]. ‎Avram/Avraham both because he was a convert, and because his ‎name was changed by G’d before he sired Yitzchok, was no longer ‎connected to Terach at all. When the Torah writes in Genesis ‎‎25,19 ‎ואלה תולדות יצחק בן אברהם, אברהם הוליד את יצחק‎, “and these ‎are the generations of Yitzchok; son of Avraham; Avraham had ‎sired Yitzchok,” the Torah makes a point of describing Yitzchok ‎as descendant of Avraham, whereas it never described Avraham as ‎a descendant of Terach. The term “father,” is mentioned in the ‎Torah only in connection with the characteristic ‎אב‎ which G’d ‎had supplied to Avram, and which helped him to sanctify G’d’s ‎Holy name to large groups of people as we explained previously.

Regardless, of where that Rashi may be, both in our ‎chapter as well as in Exodus 6,8 G’d speaks about the gift of the ‎land of Canaan becoming an inheritance. If Terach had been ‎involved in the matter, why would G’d have to “give” the land to ‎Avram first? In his commentary on Choshen Mishpat, on the ‎section dealing with the laws of inheritance, the author of ‎‎Meirat Eynayim states that the expression ‎ירושה‎, ‎inheritance, in legal parlance, applies only to property inherited ‎from one’s biological father. From the wording in Exodus 6,8 as ‎well as from the wording in Genesis 15,18 it is clear that G’d ‎considers Himself as Avram’s “father” in the matter of bestowing ‎on him the “gift” of the land. His offspring, or the part of his ‎offspring to whom he deeds it, will henceforth “inherit.” It. When ‎Avram heard this, he was unclear if he had understood correctly, ‎as he had never heard of an inheritance originating as a gift. ‎Hence he asked ‎במה אדע כי אירשנה‎, by what legal process can I be ‎sure that it will be mine as something to bequeath?” In other ‎words, “who is my father from whom I can inherit this land?” ‎Avram’s question reflects his awareness that “his father” in this ‎instance could not possibly be Terach. In response to Avram’s ‎concerns, G’d answered him: “You shall be aware that your ‎descendants in their formative stages will experience both being ‎strangers and even slaves until at the end of the 400 years, I will ‎judge the people who have subjugated them and treated them ‎cruelly, so that they will leave that land with vast possessions.” ‎G’d’s message to Avram is that the Exodus of this people from the ‎land of their oppression will be due to their being his direct ‎descendants. His very birth paved the way for the Jewish people ‎to come into existence and to in due course accept the very ‎Torah that Avram had already been observing without having ‎been commanded to do so.
In light of this, your very birth ‎through Divine input of some holy spirit, seeing that I am your ‎‎“father,” enables Me to speak to you of “inheriting” the land that ‎I am promising to your descendants.” G’d implied that Avram had ‎been quite correct in surmising that Terach had nothing to do ‎with the events occurring in Avram’s future.‎ The author refers to his exegesis of a statement in Baba ‎Batra 117 where the Talmud states that the so-called ‎‎“inheritance” of the Israelites being given the land of Canaan, is ‎quite different from ordinary inheritances. Normally, the living ‎inherit the dead. In the case of the Israelites receiving ancestral ‎land in the Land of Canaan, the dead inherited the living. The ‎‎“normal” process of inheritance is based on the son being a ‎branch of the father, [the father being the trunk. Ed.] The trunk ‎‎(father) provides the elements that enable the branch to achieve ‎its perfection (producing fruit). This parable does not fit the ‎Jewish people and its development. In the history of the Jewish ‎people, the “dead” are the generation of the Israelites that ‎experienced the Exodus as adults, who although not physically ‎living to experience the conquest of the land, “inherited” it, ‎since, but for their existence the next generation could not have ‎taken possession of this land.

Genesis ‎15,14.‎‎, “and also the nation ‎whom they will serve I shall judge;” many commentators were ‎stymied by the connective letter ‎ו‎ at the beginning of the word ‎וגם‎. What does this letter connect to? [Compare Or ‎Hachayim my translation pages 141-143. Ed.]
It seems to ‎me that Avram viewed the fate of his ancestors during this period ‎as being subjected to 400 years of the rule of the attribute of ‎Justice, as is evident from his reaction to this prediction with a ‎dark sense of foreboding. (see 15,12) G’d assures him that He ‎would not single out Avram’s descendants for the rule of the ‎attribute of Justice, but that the nation that enslaved his ‎descendants would experience retribution also, and in the end the ‎Jewish people would recognize this period with its deprivations as ‎having ultimately been of benefit for them.‎

‎Genesis 15,17., “and behold a smoking furnace and flaming torch ‎that had passed between these pieces;” in this instance the ‎‎Shechinah, G’d’s presence, passed between the pieces of the ‎sacrifices, prior to G’d making a covenant with Avraham;
[this ‎was similar to heavenly fire descending on the communal ‎offerings offered by the Israelite in the Tabernacle. Ed.] The ‎reason it is described as ‎עבר‎, briefly passing, is so that we would ‎not confuse this phenomenon with the Shechinah that ‎rested permanently on the Tabernacle during the Israelites’ ‎wanderings in the desert.‎