Musar su Isaia 41:8

We find that his service was out of love and not out of fear and this is the highest service. The Creator, blessed be He, did not praise him for fearing Him, nor did he say, “The seed of Abraham who fears me or is terrified,” but he said (Isaiah 41:8), “The seed of Abraham, My friend.” We have already said that fear is contained in love. Know that the service of the Creator, blessed be He, out of fear is not the service of the truly pious, but it is the service of the wicked or the nations of the world, as He has said to the wicked (Jeremiah 5:22), “Fear ye not Me?”, and He says concerning the Egyptians (Exodus 9:20), “He that feared the word of the Lord,” for they were not doing His command out of love, but out of fear. But to the pious he says (Deuteronomy 6:5), “And thou shalt love the Lord, thy God,” and (ibid., 11:13), “To love the Lord your God.” But he says in Job (Job 1:8), “A wholehearted and an upright man, one that feareth God, and shunneth evil,” and He did not say concerning him, “a lover of God.” And similarly it is said (Psalms 34:10), “O fear the Lord, by His holy ones,” and this is said of the wicked. For when the wicked cleave to the service of God and sanctify and cleanse themselves from their uncleanliness, they are called “holy ones” as it is said (Numbers 11:18), “Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow.” Whereas of the pious ones, whose heart is pure from the first day of their existence, it is said (Psalms 31:24), “O love the Lord all ye His godly ones; the Lord preserveth the faithful.” And of Enoch, it is said (Genesis 5:22), “And Enoch walked with God,” and it is not said, “And Enoch feared God.” And concerning Noah it is said (Genesis 6:9), “Noah was in his generations a man righteous and whole-hearted.”¹⁷Job was regarded by Jewish tradition as a gentile, as were Enoch and Noah. The latter two lived prior to the time of Abraham, the founder of Judaism. Thus the service of God through fear is not like the service of God through love.

Now, when these ten qualities are combined in a man, he is called “a lover of God,” blessed be He, and he is a perfectly pious man. The Creator, blessed be He, did not say concerning our father, Abraham, peace be upon him, as it is said (Isaiah 41:8), “The seed of Abraham, my friend”, until the time when there appeared in Abraham all these qualities, and I will explain them to you from Scripture:

Avraham, who was so beloved to his Maker such that scripture testifies of him "Avraham, My beloved" (Isaiah 41:8). Even so, he did not escape from judgment for slight words which he was not meticulous in, namely, for merely saying "with what will I know?" (Gen. 15:8), G-d replied to him: "by your life, you will know that your descendants will be foreigners [in Egypt]" (Nedarim 32a). And similarly for forging a covenant with Abimelech without being commanded by G-d, the Holy One blessed be He, replied to him: "by your life, I will delay the rejoicing of your sons for seven generations" (Gen. Raba 54:5).

For the Creator, blessed be He, who created the evil inclination also created the Torah as its antidote as our sages of blessed memory have stated: "I have created the evil inclination, and I have created the Torah as its antidote" (Kidushin 30b).

So too in our case, for no one recognizes the illness of the evil inclination and its powers except for the Creator who created it. And He Himself cautioned us that the only remedy for it is Torah. Who then will abandon it, take something else instead and expect to live? Certainly the darkness of the physical will advance and strengthen over him level after level, without his realizing it until he finds himself immersed in evil, so distantly far from the truth that even thoughts of seeking [the truth] will not enter his heart.

He who serves God out of love occupies himself with the Torah and the Commandments, and walks in the paths of wisdom. Have you seen how he will carry out all the mitzvoth out of love and how he will love God, Blessed be He with a great love, for no worldly reason — not out of fear of evil befalling him, and not out of expectation of good resulting from his conduct, but doing the true deed because it is true, and the good will come in the end. This virtue is very great indeed and not every man can attain it. And this was the virtue of Abraham our father, whom the Holy One, Blessed is He, called "My loving friend" (Is. 41:8) for he served God only out of love. This is the quality that the Holy One, Blessed be He, commanded us to attain through Moses our Teacher, upon him is peace, as is said: "And you shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deut. 6:5). And when a man loves the Lord, Blessed is He, with the proper love, he will, at once, do all the commandments out of love.

Hospitality is a practical expression of the virtue of חסד, a virtue that Abraham excelled in. We have explained repeatedly that the world is based on חסד, and the world in turn was created only for the sake of Abraham (and his descendants), as we showed based on the spelling of the word בהבראם in Genesis 2,4. The characteristic of חסד is one in which a person's inner love for G–d is expressed, and this is why G–d refers to Abraham in Isaiah 41,8 as אברהם אוהבי, "Abraham who loves Me." The Zohar Mishpatim 114 (Warsaw) defines חסיד, a pious, loving person, as someone who is on intimate terms with his Creator, as we shall explain in detail. Here too Abraham displayed such loving concern for his Maker, as we shall demonstrate. We will explain more about this when we shall discuss the banquet Abraham gave celebrating Isaac's birth.

Remember that Abraham's principal attribute was his characteristic of חסד. The mystical element of חסד is found in the מים העליונים, pure unpolluted waters of the Celestial Regions. The attribute of חסד is also the mystical domain of אהבה, love, as we shall explain. Once Abraham had acquired the virtue of חסד he could enter the domain of אהבה, love, and that is why G–d called him אוהבי. We are told in Song of Songs 8,7 that even מים רבים, many waters, cannot extinguish love. The waters referred to are the מקור מים חיים, the source of truly life-giving waters. There are, however, many cisterns, broken and yet filled, which cannot retain the waters in them. In Kabbalistic jargon these are called קליפות; they are alluded to in Genesis 37,24 as והבור רק אין בו מים, "the pit was empty it did not contain any water." We know from Psalms 52,3: חסד אל כל היום, that "G–d's חסד lasts all day long," though we also have a verse in Psalms 7,12 which appears to contradict this, namely א-ל זועם בכל יום, "G–d pronounces doom each day." The answer is simply that G–d pronounces doom over these קליפות, negative forces, reducing them to impotence. This is the חסד G–d performs all day long. Ezekiel 36,25 may have alluded to this when he says: וזרקתי עליכם מים טהורים וטהרתם מכל טמאותיכם, "I shall sprinkle on you pure waters and you will be cleansed from all your impurities. These waters wash off the accumulated pollution known as קליפות, the result of sins. It is these waters which are called מעטים, little. The reason that "a little water" is sufficient is that קליפות do not increase or multiply naturally, as opposed to קדושה, which increases and multiplies naturally; that is why מים רבים, many waters, are unable to extinguish the "fire" of love, and love continues forever. The principal aspect of the virtue of kindness is deeply rooted in the mystical domain of those מים רבים discussed above On occasion some of these waters have to be used in order to rinse off the קליפות and to "humble" such outgrowths due to sins. This is why Abraham spoke about "a little water to be taken."

When G–d said to Abraham after the 22,12) ,עקדה) "Now I know that you are G–d-fearing," this is what is meant. We find in Sotah 31 that this expression of "G–d-fearing" is supposed to mean that Abraham served G–d out of love. This seems paradoxical. Why would the Torah use the word "fear," when what is meant is "love?" The Talmud there is at pains to justify this statement by citing that G–d called Abraham “אוהבי, “the one who loves Me," in Isaiah 41,8. There are actually three levels (in ascending order) in which one relates to G–d. There is fear which eventually results in love; there is love which eventually results in reverence, another level of "fear." I have explained all this at length in my treatise בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם. Briefly, the lower level of fear is the fear of punishment. The higher level of יראה, fear, is a kind of reverence, i.e. the fear to do something displeasing to G–d irrespective of any consequences. The mere idea of being unworthy is something abhorrent. This latter "fear" is one that is the result of having developed a love for G–d. It is this fear that Abraham was being complimented on by G–d after the successful trial of the עקדה. The Talmud therefore is quite correct in associating that fear with "love," seeing it was the product of love. The fear that Abraham entertained during the steps leading up to the binding of Isaac was that somehow his own and Isaac's performance might not be optimal, i.e. whole-hearted and joyful.