Pemikiran Yahudi Ulangan 11:25: Akeidat Yitzchak

It is well known that the meaning of the word yir-ah, is twofold. One meaning is the instinctive unreasoning fear of a physically stronger phenomenon, a fear common to both man and beast. Jacob, fearing defeat at the hands of Esau, prays to G'd for help, lest Esau smite both him an his family. (Genesis 32,10-13) Isaac, who is afraid to be murdered on account of his wife, indulges in a white lie. (Genesis 26,7) Another kind of fear is that which recognises superior moral or intellectual qualities in someone whom one confronts. In effect, this fear is reverence. When Miriam and Aaron discussed Moses' marital relationship, (Numbers 12,2) G'd takes them to task for having failed to display that degree of reverence that is due a prophet of Moses' calibre. The Mishnah in Avot 4,15, urges that reverence for one's teacher should be on a level similar to that accorded the Almighty Himself. Whereas the former kind of fear is common both to the sinner and the devout person, the latter, i.e. reverence is a form of fear that sinners do not know. Proverbs 10,24, states: "the fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted." The thing that the wicked is afraid of will happen to him, the pious however, will not be denied, since his adversary can sense his moral superiority. G'd promises that the Canaanites will be awed by the Jewish people in this fashion when the latter are about to invade their land. "The fear of you and the reverence for you, the Lord will implant on all the face of the earth." (Deut 11,25) The most interesting example we find of this phenomenon is the account of Saul, who tries to kill David. (Samuel I chapter 18) He tried to make David's death (intended) appear like an accident, and that is why David did not run for his life at once. Twice, during the playing of the harp, David had turned his head at the precise moment Saul had thrown his spear at him. Saul, who realised that David's escape was not accidental, had previously only feared David as a formidable warrior. Now, however, he also developed reverence for him, seeing G'd had so obviously protected him. (verses 12-15) Verse thirteen refers to the reverence, verse sixteen to the fear of an adversary of known superiority. Saul had experienced similar feelings when his efforts to trick David into being killed by the Philistines had failed. At that time he had let it be known that he would give David his daughter in marriage in return for a dowry of one hundred Philistine foreskins, (ibid, especially verse nine) Other examples of fear and terror are found in Psalms 33,8 and 9. Psalms 68,4, and Jeremiah 5,22. On the other hand, the reverence of the righteous is not based on terror. Compare Psalms 34,10 as well as Psalms 145 and 147. The yereyim are not full of terror, but await G'ds kindness with confidence. We must now examine what kind of fear is referred to in our Parshah in chapter 10,22. It is unlikely that Moses would refer to the fear common to man and beast, since one would then have to assume that G'ds main purpose is for man to relive experiences that would remind him of moments of fear and terror. His service of the Lord then would be based only on man's terrifying awareness of G'ds superior power, His ability to punish man. When under the influence of such terror, truthfulness can easily be turned into falsehoods told because one hopes to escape detection of one's sins. Such untruths would then not even be sinful. We find Abraham calling his wife his sister. Isaac does so likewise, each one having feared for his life at the time. (Genesis 12,10 and 20,6) Joseph's brothers told him of a supposed statement by their father Jacob. They too had been motivated by fear that Joseph would revenge himself now that their father had died. Aaron had agreed to make the golden calf after having seen Chur killed. (Sanhedrin 7) It is therefore quite unthinkable that this is the kind of "fear" that G'd asks of the Jewish people. In fact the whole concept of free will would be demolished if that were to be the basis of our relationship with G'd. The statement of Rabbi Abdima ben Chana (Shabbat 88) that G'd had threatened the Jewish people with annihilation should they fail to accept the Torah at Mount Sinai, is used as evidence that contracts entered into under duress are not binding. Also, it would not make sense if the Talmud in Berachot 33, had described the attainment of fear as a minor accomplishment for the likes of Moses. Surely, any person could possess that kind of fear without even half trying. One certainly would not have to be a Moses to live in terror of G'ds power. On the other hand, if what is meant in our Parshah is reverence inspired by awareness of G'ds many attributes, then such a demand would seem to be the ultimate demand that can be made of any human being. Certainly such a demand ought not to be described as a very modest request. Intellectual awareness of the need for such reverence vis a vis G'd and all He stands for, may indeed be relatively easy to attain, but a lifetime filled with constant awareness of this reverence seems more than can be reasonably expected from any individual. Even of Moses himself it is said: "He turned his face away since he was afraid to look upon G'd." The Torah compliments Moses on this yir-ah, reverence. If a Moses deserves special mention for displaying such reverence, it cannot be come by easily by lesser mortals. (Exodus 2,6)

The very idea of Israel's selection as G-d’s pilot project is based on the fact that it is the part of the human species which has preserved more of the original tzelem elokim, Divine image, than any other section of humanity. G-d has described the relative standing of the Jewish people among the nations, as similar to the standing of humans vis a vis the animal kingdom. In other words, the nations of the world are aware of our dominance and are afraid of us. This is so at least as long as Jews deserve such status due to their moral superiority. We are described as treating our Canaanite adversaries as if they were "our bread" to be consumed by us (Numbers 14,9). Prior to tackling Goliath, David explains to the startled Saul that his experiences with the lion and the bear, both of which he had slain, convinced him of his chance against the uncircumcised blasphemer (Samuel I Chapter 17). David rejected armour and sword, since his victory over the beasts had also not been due to external weapons. David's enquiry about the type of reward the slayer of Goliath would receive is based on the assumption that killing an uncircumcised blasphemer such as Goliath cannot in itself be much of a heroic deed, since the "laws of nature" almost guaranteed victory to any good Jew, and the risk involved was not of the kind which would call for a major reward. The reputation acquired by such deed should in itself suffice as reward. Obviously, David's companions did not understand his meaning, as seen from their response to David's enquiry. However, Saul's advisors sensed David's meaning when David said "let no adam have fear of him." The adam David referred to was the kind of a person who had preserved his tzelem elokim, Divine image. Such a person would not have reason to fear the Philistine. Baba Metzia 114 teaches, "Israel is referred to as adam; the nations of the world do not qualify for such appellation." Upon being challenged by Saul, David detailed past events in his life as proof for his confidence. He attributed his success to G-d, and was confident that the same G-d would grant him success against Goliath. "The Philistines will be no better than one of those beasts." To emphasize our point, the book of Samuel relates that David rejected the armor, to show that his superiority did not stem from such sources, but was in the nature of things. After the battle (Samuel I 17,55), Saul wanted to know, "Who is this lad?" a strange request indeed, since his family status etc. had been common knowledge. David had performed as a regular harpist at Saul's Court (Samuel I 16,19). At that time, Saul had begun to wonder about David's ultimate destiny. In view of the fact that his own son Jonathan had performed deeds of valor of a similar nature previously, we can understand the love and mutual attraction that existed between David and Jonathan. The two shared the distinction of being adam in the full sense of the word. This is what our sages call "a love which is not based on something tangible, something material" (Avot 5, 16). The love is for the basic qualities in the other person. When the Torah says "Love your fellow man like yourself," the "yourself" referred to is that same human quality (Leviticus 19,18).

Exodus Rabbah 81, says, "had the nations realised the value of the tabernacle, they would have built castles surrounding it." Until that time, the nations heard the voice of G-d, and whenever something occurred that was inexplicable in terms of natural law, they were frightened. Once hashgachah peratit became a fact in the life of Israel, supernatural events no longer automatically caused panic among the nations of the world. Nebuchadnezzar's experience with the three men who were saved from the furnace, and Daniel who was saved from the lions, are examples of this. (Daniel chapter 3) However, as stated, among the gentiles such occurrences are rare and serve exceptional circumstances, whereas among the Jewish people such events became frequent, almost commonplace as long as the Jewish people were loyal to G-d and the Torah. Some Israelites, of course, treat such awareness as being of secondary significance in their daily lives, though they are aware of G-d and His power. Such people do not rate Divine intervention if and when it would be the only thing that can save them. People like that are like village dwellers who know that a king rules in the capital, but who are not even aware of the king's name, status, etc. Such people are no better than the best of the gentiles, except that they are saved from destruction because of the people around them who do not deserve to be destroyed. Another category are those who, while calling on the G-d of Jacob and wishing to know His whereabouts, are still not close to Him and His temple, like city dwellers who while aware of the palace and who it is that resides in it, content themselves to have dealings only with the king's lowest ranking servants. This group does not deserve Divine intervention on its behalf, and would be saved only by a ness nistar, a hidden miracle, which occurs daily and is not credited as proof that the hand of G-d is at work. The third category are those who are fully devoted to the king, who register joyfully to offer him their services. Such people are as if at home in the king's palace, the king knows them and the work they perform for him. It is this kind of person who on occasion rates Divine intervention to protect him, and on whose behalf the king does not hesitate to change the laws temporarily. Such a person, in turn, becomes the instrument by means of which G-d’s omnipotence and awareness of what occurs in each person's life is demonstrated. It is the prayer of Moses in Psalm 90, that Israel's deeds be such that they can merit Divine intervention at all times, (last verse) After that, Moses details various aspects of hashgachah peratit in Psalm 91. First, he refers to those who complain about the hidden nature of Divine manifestations and tells such people not to worry. G-d would protect them even if the person himself will be unaware how this is done. "For He will save you." If you attain a greater degree of closeness, you will even qualify for protection against commonplace dangers "because His angels he will command for you." This is still not the level of nissim geluyim, visible miracles, since such things as stepping on vipers underfoot do not make the headlines when we speak about hashgachah peratit going out of its way. The help experienced by the likes of Daniel, when the scoffers who attributed his survival to the fact that the lions had not been hungry, were thrown into the same pit and consumed by the lions, demonstrated that kind of hashgachah peratit. Darius' letter proclaiming the power of the Almighty and other such examples, testify to the power of G-d. The reason that such miracles occur, is to enhance G-d’s reputation among the gentiles. Moses states in Psalms 91, 14, "for he has clung to Me, therefore I will deliver him, I will elevate him because he knew My name." In Psalm 98,9, we find Moses acknowledging that G-d judges the world in fairness. This in itself is unnatural, since natural law would favour the physically strong over their weaker adversaries. Only the special blessing "and the fear of you and the dread of you will be on all the living creatures of the earth," (Genesis 9, 2) enables physically inferior man to extend his dominion over the more powerful animal kingdom. This blessing, however, is restricted to deserving man. In that Psalm then, homage is paid to the miracle that notwithstanding inferior status, justice prevails over brute force. This is viewed as a manifestation of hashgachah peratit. Israel is as powerful relative to other nations, as animals are to man. The condition in either case is the preservation of the tzelem elokim the Divine image, in accordance with the respective demands made upon either "man" or "Israel." The prophecy concerning "the latter days" in Isaiah chapter eleven, in which powerful animals are described as no longer molesting the weaker species, is the vision of a world when natural law will have ceased to prevail. Since the degree of personal intervention is in direct proportion to the degree of saintliness of the persons concerned, as we have demonstrated, extraordinary examples of such intervention may occur from time to time, testifying to the deserving nature of the person for whose sake they occur. Once we have seen that quality and not quantity governs the value G-d places on human beings, the fact that we are told that G-d selected the Jewish people "not because of your numerical strength" begins to assume some significance. "For you are numerically smallest" (Deut.7,7) means from you I expect what can be expected only from the select few, due to their elevated moral standards G-d’s army is not distinguished by the number of its divisions, but by the excellence of its soldiers. The Exodus from Egypt became possible not due to collective endeavour, but because of the merit of a few select individuals, especially the ones already in their graves, who had been the recipients of G-d’s oath due to their merit. (Abraham)