Komentaryo sa Genesis 32:10: Tiferet Shlomo, Rashi, Chizkuni & Rashbam

"The God of my father Abraham and the God of my father Isaac, the Lord who said to me, etc., ‘I am too small for all these kindnesses,’ etc. In the aforementioned Rashi commentary, he prepared himself for three things: a gift, prayer, and war. For behold, I have already explained at ‘and the angels returned to Jacob’ how a person must learn to repent completely before approaching the Holy One, Blessed is He, to stand in prayer before Him. And behold, likewise in this entire portion, we learn the order of a person’s prayer from our father Jacob, of blessed memory, as Rashi explained, ‘he prepared himself for a gift, prayer, and war.’ For a gift, meaning according to what the Sages said, ‘one should give a penny to the poor and then pray,’ for behold, a person must direct his actions to the higher levels of prayer, for he cannot ascend to the world of Atziltut before he has ascended to the worlds of Asiyah, Yetzirah, and Beriah. Therefore, he must do this: to direct his actions and matters through every world in his ascent to the House of the Lord, the heavens. Against the world of Asiyah, he must do charity and good deeds before prayer. Likewise, in Yetzirah, he must direct his actions against Yetzirah. And so in all of them, as explained in the intention of the Tree of Life. And this is the intention of the commandments that we perform in physical action, which is also connected to prayer, like the action of placing tefillin and tzitzit, to ascend on the ladder that ascends upwards according to their order, with the correct intention of thought accompanying them. And that is what Rashi means by ‘a gift,’ as we explained against the world of Asiyah, so too the performance of commandments is a gift in the physical realm, and for prayer. And with all this, for war, because in every prayer one must intensify his war against the thoughts that annul him from his intention, for the service of the heart is prayer, and truly it is difficult work to direct one’s thought so that it is without a foreign thought, therefore prayer is called work. And that is what is said here, ‘The God of my father Abraham,’ etc. What is the meaning of saying ‘The God of my father Abraham’ and not simply ‘Abraham’? But behold, it is written, ‘This is my God, and I will exalt Him, the God of my father.’ For behold, we have already explained that thoughts are called fathers, and that is why they say, ‘Our God and the God of our fathers,’ these are the desires and thoughts that one prepares for the Lord, for indeed the essence of accepting Godliness is the purity of thought. And whoever strengthens himself over his thought to annul foreign thoughts, thereby the glory of the Creator, Blessed is He, is exalted, for a king is forbidden from idle chatter, the idle chatter of the mind, as explained in the Zohar. And that is ‘the God of my father, and I will exalt Him,’ the Godliness is in his thought, and in this, ‘and I will exalt Him.’ And that is what our father Jacob, of blessed memory, said, ‘The God of my father Abraham and the God of my father Isaac.’ For indeed, it is true that he was complete in his thought, not damaged by a foreign thought all the days of his life, as it is said, ‘Pure before the Lord, the God of Israel.’ Commentary: For in the future, at the time when the King will judge and establish the earth, behold, the main fear and dread will be when one examines the aspect of the Godliness of Jacob, for they will be held accountable for their foreign and hated thoughts. This is more difficult than anything else, for there is one who in deed did not do evil, but who can know the thought? And that is the measure of our father Jacob, as it is said, ‘My strength and the first of my might,’ for his thought was not damaged at all. And that is why it is said, ‘Israel ascended in thought,’ and therefore he merited that his bed was complete without defect. And therefore he prayed in the aspect of ‘the God of my father,’ as stated above, for You alone are in my thought. ‘I am too small.’ For I am not worthy of all this holiness except for Your help with me, and let my thought not be confused anymore, for I fear Him, etc. And You said, ‘I will do well with you.’ For the intention of creation was to do good to His creatures, and for our good the world was created, and therefore You will guard us and save us all the days."

ואלהי אבי יצחק AND GOD OF MY FATHER ISAAC — But in another place (Genesis 31:42) he said, “And the Dread of Isaac”! Then also why did he again mention the Proper Name of God (first invoking him as God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and then continuing “O Lord, who saidst unto me”)? It should have been written “O God of Abraham and God of Isaac (omitting ‘O Lord’) who saidst unto me, “Return unto thy country” etc. But the explanation is as follows: Jacob said to the Holy One, blessed be He, “You made me two promises. One was when I left my father’s house at Beersheba when You said to me (Genesis 28:3) “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac”, and on that occasion you promised me (Genesis 28:15) “and I will keep thee whithersoever thou goest”. Then again in Laban’s house You said to me (Genesis 31:3) “Return unto the land of thy fathers and to thy kindred and I will be with thee”. There You revealed Yourself to me by Your Proper Name alone, as it is said (Genesis 31:3) “And the Lord said unto Jacob “Return unto the land of thy fathers etc.” Relying upon these two promises I now come before You invoking you as “the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac” and also simply as “the Lord” under which names You made me these two promises respectively.

ויאמר יעקב, “Yaakov said (in his prayer to G-d); according to Rashi on verse 10, in 31,42 Yaakov avoided referring to his father’s G-d by His name in connection with Him, but had used a euphemism, i.e. פחד יצחק, whereas now he speaks of אלוקי אבי יצחק, without using any euphemism. He answers that Yaakov here refers to the promise of G-d in his dream with the ladder, in which he quotes G-d as having described Himself as the אלוקי יצחק, “the G-d of Yitzchok.” In 31,3, G-d had asked him to return to the land of his fathers. In recalling these instructions from G-d which he had complied with, he sees the justification for appealing to G-d to save him from Esau while he is on the way to fulfill G-d’s commandment.