Musar untuk Yesaya 63:16

Come and see how beloved the commandment of honoring father and mother is in front of the Holy One, blessed be He! As the Holy One, blessed be He, does not distinguish between the righteous and the evil [in this regard]. From where do we [know this]? From the evil Esau. Since he honored his father, the Holy One, blessed by He, gave him 'all this honor' [as] his reward. Rabbi Eliezer says, "Esau wept three tears, one from his right eye, one from his left eye and the third solidified and did not descend. When? At the time that Yitzchak blessed Yaakov, as it is stated (Genesis 27:38), 'and Esav raised his voice and wept.'" Come and see how much tranquility the Holy One, blessed be He, gave him [as a result]! As it is stated (Psalms 80:6), "You fed them tears for bread; You gave them a third of the tears to drink." It is not written, "three," but rather "a third," since the three tears were not complete. And if the Holy One, blessed be He, repaid this evil one because he honored his father, all the more is it with a righteous person who honors his elders. The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "Is there anyone who gave his father honor and I did not give him children?" The commandment of honor is the fifth of the Ten Commandments, and it seals the first tablet. As behold, the tablet began with, "I am," which is honoring the ultimate Farther, and ends with, "Honor," which is about the reproductive father. And the commandment of honoring [parents] only came for the honor of the ultimate Father. And in the same way as the reproductive father, who engenders the child, is called father; so too is the ultimate Father, who engendered the soul and blew it from His holy spirit, called father. And greater are the kindnesses of the ultimate Father towards His creatures than the kindnesses of the reproductive father towards his child. For so did David say (Psalms 29:10), "Though my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will take me in." And likewise did Isaiah mention (Isaiah 63:16), "Surely You are our Father; though Abraham regard us not, and Israel recognize us not, You, O Lord, are our Father; from of old, Your name is 'Our Redeemer.'" It is saying, we did not know Avraham in the exile of Egypt, nor Yaakov in the desert. For the forefathers had already gone. And if so, You are the supernal ultimate Father. From of old, Your name is "Our Redeemer," since You redeemed us from Egypt. And likewise did Moshe, peace be upon him, mention (Deuteronomy 32:6), "is He not your Father, who made you His; He who made you and established you?"

The angel himself alluded to that kind of life when he said that his return would take place כעת חיה, ולשרה בן, "at a time of eternal life, when Sarah would have a son" (18,10). The news about the birth of Isaac was the message that it was through Isaac that such idyllic times would eventually return. This is also what is meant in Shabbat 89 when Isaiah 63,16 is discussed. The prophet says: "You are our father, for we did not know Abraham, and we were not familiar with Israel (Jacob); You Lord have always been our Father and Redeemer." The Talmud reported a conversation between G–d and Abraham in which G–d accuses the Jewish people as having sinned, and Abraham suggests that they be wiped out for the sake of G–d's Holy Name. Thereupon G–d says: "I shall tell this to Jacob who has understanding for the difficulty of raising children, perhaps he will pray for mercy for them." Jacob's response however, was the same as Abraham's. Finally, G–d spoke to Isaac: "Your children have sinned!" Isaac replied: "Are they only my children and not Yours?! When they volunteered to accept the Torah saying "we shall do and we shall hear" (Exodus 19), You called them "My first born son" (Exodus 4,22); now that they have sinned they suddenly are mine? Isaac continued to argue with G–d in this vein. As can be seen, in that conversation Isaac proves to be the only one of the patriarchs who defends Israel. This is what Isaiah referred to when he has Israel deny the other two patriarchs. Many readers are non-plussed by this Aggadah in the Talmud, seeing that we associate Abraham with the attribute of חסד, love, and Isaac with the attribute גבורה, justice, and we would have expected Isaac to have been rigid in his attitude and Abraham to have made excuses for his children. Jacob, who represents a mixture of these two attributes, should also have found it in his heart to come to the defense of his children in Isaiah's story. How then can we explain that the real good devolved upon the people of Israel through their patriarch Isaac?

After all וימי חייהם הבל לפניך, "the days they sojourned on earth are as nothing before You!" Our sages have stated that "anyone who leaves behind him on this earth a son who is a Torah scholar may consider himself as though he were still alive." Even taking this fact into consideration, what good is it, since when we arrive in the World to Come and have to account for our conduct before You ימי חייהם הבל לפניך "the days of their lives are accounted as nothing?" In Psalms 36,7 man and beast are equated, i.e. אדם ובהמה; on the other hand Isaiah 63,16 states: כי אתה אבינו כי אברהם לא ידענו וישראל לא יכירנו, "You are our father for Abraham did not know us and Israel did not recognise us." The Talmud Shabbat 89b discusses this. It is well known that the word אדם is used when describing the spiritual aspect of man, whereas the exterior part of man is described as בשר אדם. Man is also called בהמה in the context of his body not being basically different from that of the other creatures in the animal world.