Chasidut do Jeremiasza 1:4
וַיְהִ֥י דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה אֵלַ֥י לֵאמֹֽר׃
Doszło mnie wtedy słowo Wiekuistego, głosząc:
Kedushat Levi
An alternate approach to the line: במה אדע כי אירשנה. There is no question that Avram did not request a sign from G’d as proof that his as yet unborn descendants would inherit the land of Canaan.
The idea that his claim to the land of Canaan could be remotely due to his having Terach as a father never even occurred to him. If we needed proof of that, we need only recall the Talmud B’rachot 16, according to which the Jewish people have only three patriarchs and 4 matriarchs. The title “patriarch” implies that one is the “root” of the son whom one has sired by means of transmitting seed from the brain, the seat of one’s intelligence, which transmits it to the semen. It follows that the thoughts that preoccupy the father at the time when he engages in marital relations are transmitted through his semen to the ovum upon merging with it. If the father-to-be thinks holy thoughts at the appropriate time, some of these will be transferred to his seed, etc. There can be little doubt that Avraham was not the product of a father who entertained such godly thoughts when he helped conceive him. How could he therefore be considered a patriarch of the Jewish people? Terach was wholly consumed by thoughts and desires centered around the physical part of his existence on earth. If his offspring was of a diametrically opposite orientation this could not have been attributed to his biological father at all. It must have been due to G’d’s desire that with the development of the fetus resulting in Avram, G’d intended to lay the foundation of a Jewish nation. We can think of it in terms of G’d providing some additional spiritual light to His universe at the time of Avram’s birth. He was destined to become a new type of “tree of life,” albeit outside the boundaries of Gan Eden. According to Ari’zal, Terach and his wife became the “go-between” before this light could be made available in the terrestrial domain of the universe in order to assuage the feelings of Satan, who would otherwise have accused G’d of having favoured the creatures in the “lower” part of the universe. The fact that Terach, i.e. what he represented as a merchant of idols, sired Avraham according to the norms prevailing in our part of the “lower” universe, deprived Satan of the opportunity of accusing G’d of such favoritism of the human race versus other loftier regions and their inhabitants. [I have not seen the words of the Ari’zal, but I trust that I have understood them correctly. Ed.] The essential thing to remember is that the actual birth of Avram was a result through intervention by Divinely inspired intelligence.
Terach does not feature at all in the אב part of Avram’s name; no part of his intellect provided the characteristic in Avram’s personality that enabled him to develop as he did.
[It is important to remember, especially for people who have little background in kabbalah, that the idea of G’d predetermining a person’s lifestyle and his abilities has been spelled out in the Bible when G’d told Jeremiah that He had destined him to be the prophet during the period when the Temple was in danger of being destroyed. G’d was nearing the end of His patience with the Jewish state of that period even before he had been conceived. (Jeremiah 1,4) Ed.] In spite of all the reasons for disqualifying Terach from being given any credit as the indirect founder of the Jewish people, the fact that Avram had spent 9 months inside the womb of his mother after she had been impregnated with his semen, Avram was required to undergo 10 “tests,” in order to cleanse himself ritually from the spiritual contamination he experienced in his mother’s womb.
Rashi [not found there, Ed.] writes about this aspect of the ten trials Avraham had to undergo in his commentary on Exodus 6,8 נתתי אותה לכם מורשה אני ה', “I have given it to you as an inheritance, I am the Lord.” [The contradiction in this verse is obvious; since when is an inheritance “given?” it is transmitted from father to son upon the father’s death! Ed.]
The idea that his claim to the land of Canaan could be remotely due to his having Terach as a father never even occurred to him. If we needed proof of that, we need only recall the Talmud B’rachot 16, according to which the Jewish people have only three patriarchs and 4 matriarchs. The title “patriarch” implies that one is the “root” of the son whom one has sired by means of transmitting seed from the brain, the seat of one’s intelligence, which transmits it to the semen. It follows that the thoughts that preoccupy the father at the time when he engages in marital relations are transmitted through his semen to the ovum upon merging with it. If the father-to-be thinks holy thoughts at the appropriate time, some of these will be transferred to his seed, etc. There can be little doubt that Avraham was not the product of a father who entertained such godly thoughts when he helped conceive him. How could he therefore be considered a patriarch of the Jewish people? Terach was wholly consumed by thoughts and desires centered around the physical part of his existence on earth. If his offspring was of a diametrically opposite orientation this could not have been attributed to his biological father at all. It must have been due to G’d’s desire that with the development of the fetus resulting in Avram, G’d intended to lay the foundation of a Jewish nation. We can think of it in terms of G’d providing some additional spiritual light to His universe at the time of Avram’s birth. He was destined to become a new type of “tree of life,” albeit outside the boundaries of Gan Eden. According to Ari’zal, Terach and his wife became the “go-between” before this light could be made available in the terrestrial domain of the universe in order to assuage the feelings of Satan, who would otherwise have accused G’d of having favoured the creatures in the “lower” part of the universe. The fact that Terach, i.e. what he represented as a merchant of idols, sired Avraham according to the norms prevailing in our part of the “lower” universe, deprived Satan of the opportunity of accusing G’d of such favoritism of the human race versus other loftier regions and their inhabitants. [I have not seen the words of the Ari’zal, but I trust that I have understood them correctly. Ed.] The essential thing to remember is that the actual birth of Avram was a result through intervention by Divinely inspired intelligence.
Terach does not feature at all in the אב part of Avram’s name; no part of his intellect provided the characteristic in Avram’s personality that enabled him to develop as he did.
[It is important to remember, especially for people who have little background in kabbalah, that the idea of G’d predetermining a person’s lifestyle and his abilities has been spelled out in the Bible when G’d told Jeremiah that He had destined him to be the prophet during the period when the Temple was in danger of being destroyed. G’d was nearing the end of His patience with the Jewish state of that period even before he had been conceived. (Jeremiah 1,4) Ed.] In spite of all the reasons for disqualifying Terach from being given any credit as the indirect founder of the Jewish people, the fact that Avram had spent 9 months inside the womb of his mother after she had been impregnated with his semen, Avram was required to undergo 10 “tests,” in order to cleanse himself ritually from the spiritual contamination he experienced in his mother’s womb.
Rashi [not found there, Ed.] writes about this aspect of the ten trials Avraham had to undergo in his commentary on Exodus 6,8 נתתי אותה לכם מורשה אני ה', “I have given it to you as an inheritance, I am the Lord.” [The contradiction in this verse is obvious; since when is an inheritance “given?” it is transmitted from father to son upon the father’s death! Ed.]
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