08 November 2025
Vayeira: Uncovering the Hidden Tefillos of Avraham Avinu At the Akeida …..plus
07 November 2025
Interesting Information in a New Book (Ivrit) by Refael Rafaelov.
For all those interested in the debate about Zionism and the Chareidim – An excellent, well sourced, and highly readable new book (in Hebrew) has recently been published called החרדים והארץ by Refael Rafaelov.
The main points he makes are as follows:
1. The “Old Yishuv” was proactively involved in attempting to found new agricultural settlements decades before the “First Aliyah”. The reasons those attempts failed until the 1870’s were due to factors outside of their control, which began to change in the last third of the 19th century. This fact was formally acknowledged in writing by no less than David BG himself…
2. The history of the Chovevei Zion movement, and the central role of Chareidim in its founding, is discussed and documented. How the Maskilim and later the Zionists hijacked the movement for their purposes is also discussed.
3. The settlements of Petach Tikvah, Rosh Pina, and Mikveh Yisrael were founded by Chareidim from the “Old Yishuv”, in the decade and a half before the “First Aliyah”. They became secular later on. How and why that happened is discussed at length. (See item nine.)
4. Six out of seven of the first settlements built by the “First Aliyah” were at first religious (except for “Gedera”).
5. The official Israeli version of history makes a big deal about the secular socialist ביל״ו movement, and how they supposedly led the “first Aliyah” despite the fact that only 20 of their people ever actually made it to the Land, and the only Yishuv they founded by themselves was the aforementioned “Gedera”.
6. That is directly due to the Mapai – Labor dictatorship (who controlled Israel as a de facto one party state for the first 30 years) rewriting history in their own image.
7. The “Second Aliyah” brought the first major influx of virulently secularist settlers, but most of the physical labor (the much vaunted “Avodah Ivrit”) was done by religious Sephardi and Yemenite immigrants who also began arriving in the Land at the same time (for very different reasons…) The Maskilim preferred writing poetry about drying the swamps to actually doing it themselves…
8. The secular settlements were dependent on financial support from Jews abroad, no less than the “Old Yishuv” was. (The Kibbutz Movement was never a financial success story, even after the State, but the post-48 era is not the subject of the book.)
9. Enormous efforts were made by the secular Zionists of the Second Aliyah to lead the children of the earlier religious settlers away from Yiddishkeit, mainly by infiltrating existing settlements and taking over the educational system. These efforts were unfortunately “successful”.
10. The battle for and against Shmittah observance is discussed, as well as the relationship of the Baron Edmund Rothschild to Yiddishkeit and his distaste for the nihilistic/bohemian ideology and practices of the Socialists.
All of these things shaped the relationship between the Chareidim and the secular State down to today, although that is not the primary focus of the book. The main subject and focus is the Chareidi contribution to the early stages of building the Land, and the secular Zionists rewriting of history to minimize that contribution. The overwhelming majority of the sources quoted are from people who were/are far from being Chareidim themselves, including contemporary journalists of the era being discussed as well as secular or RZ academics.
This is NOT a hagiography either in style or sourcing of content. (Agav, some of his points contradict hagiographic misconceptions of the Old Yishuv from within the Chareidi world…) Check it out yourselves.
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/coffeeroom/topic/new-book-hachareidim-vhaaretz
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What is “hagiographic” –. a biography or a writing that idealizes or idolizes its subject, portraying them as perfect or much better than they actually are
Vayera - Creating a Lasting Impact
Why is Sarah described as a married woman in such an unusual way, which seems to imply that she is the 'director' of her husband? What is meant when the midrash says that Sarah was the 'crown' of her husband Avraham? Why is the yud taken out of the name of Sarah and replaced with a heh before she is able to have a child? What does the midrash mean when it says that the yud was split into two heh's and one was given to Avraham and one to Sarah? What is meant when the midrash says the yud was taken from her and given to Yehoshua? How does she move from being a 'lonely' princess to a princess of the world?
HaRav Landau: (Ivrit)
🔥השלטונות ובתי המשפט - שמה המשפט שמה הרשע: השאגה והזעקה המרטיטה של מנהיג הדור הרב לנדו במשאו בשווייץ
Nov 6, 2025
במרכז המעמד הגדול נשמע בקשב רב ובהדרת הכבוד המשא המרכזי של מנהיג הדור מרן ראש הישיבה הגר"ד לנדו שליט"א שהועבר בשידור, בשל העובדה שמחמת השפעת מזג האוויר נבצר ממנו לצאת ממעונו, להלן הדברים המלאים:
"יהודים שוויצרים יקרים, מחזיקי תורה, אוהבי תורה לומדי תורה, אתם יודעים טוב מאוד שהגעתי מארץ ישראל בגלל המצב הקשה שיש שם, רציתי לבוא אליכם אבל בגלל שאני לא מרגיש טוב אני מדבר מכאן.
"המצב מאוד לא פשוט, השלטונות, ובתי המשפט - שמה המשפט שמה הרשע, כולם עושים דברים רעים, הם לא רוצים שלומדי התורה ילמדו תורה. את כל התקציבים חתכו, והכל בגלל השנאה הגדולה. הם רודפים את לומדי התורה רדיפה גדולה והמצב קשה.
היינו באמריקה, והיו יהודים טובים שנתנו סכומים גדולים טובים, וגם באנגליה נתנו סכומים גדולים אבל זה לא מספיק, אני מבקש ממכם, יהודים שוויצרים יקרים, אוהבי התורה ולומדיה אנחנו מבקשים בואו ותשתתפו איתנו. התורה של ארץ ישראל היא חשובה לכולם, חשובה גם לכם ולילדיכם. והקב"ה יעזור שיהיה להם הכל בשפע והצלחה, נחת, אריכות ימים, ושיהיה לכם הכל שפע גדול, והקב"ה יתן לכם כפליים וכפלי כפליים. וחיים ארוכים, בריאות, נחת מהילדים ואורך ימים אורכים עד ביאת המשיח במהרה בימינו אמן.
קרדיט תיעוד: מנחת דבר.
Parshat Vayeira | The Secret That Keeps Am Yisrael Alive - The Greatest Gift You Can Give
Rabbi Elyada Goldwicht
Hidden in Parshat Vayeira is one of the Torah’s most puzzling moments:
Why did Avraham have Hagar carry the expelled Yishmael if he was already sixteen years old?
Rabbeinu Bachya’s brilliant insight uncovers a hidden story — one that highlights Sarah’s extraordinary strength, Avraham’s ultimate test, and the secret that has sustained the Jewish people through every generation.
From the Akeidah to the New York Times’ “Year 2100” front page, this shiur explores the deep trust that keeps Am Yisrael alive — and the greatest gift you can give your children.
Reb Ginsbourg: Chaye Sarah
Why did Sarah laugh?
Commentators weigh in on the unexpected laughter of Matriarch Sarah at the news that she would bear a son.
Our Parasha relates the revelation to Avraham and Sarah, that: (18:10) "At this time next year..you will have a son."
The Torah adds (18:11-15) that "Avraham and Sarah were old..the manner of women had ceased to be with Sarah - and Sarah laughed at herself, saying:’After I have withered shall I again have delicate skin? And my husband is old’."
Then Hashem said to Avraham: "Why is it that Sarah laughed, saying:’Shall I in truth bear a child, though I have aged?’ - Is anything beyond Hashem?! At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’’
"Sarah denied it, saying:’I did not laugh’, for she was frightened. But he said:’No, you laughed indeed.’"
Later, in our Parasha, we read, of the birth to Avraham and Sarah, at the appointed time, of a son.
Let us recall, that in the preceding Parasha (Lech Lecha 15:15-16), the Torah related Hashem saying to Avraham: "Your wife Sarah..I will bless her, and I will give you a son from her.."
How does this link with the announcement - in our Parasha. - of the promise of the birth, to Sarah, of a son?
Rashi, on our Parasha, comments: I will surely return’: The angel did not announce that he would return, but he was speaking as an emissary of Hashem. ‘The way of the women’: the menstrual cycle.’ ‘Within herself’: She looked at her insides and said:’Is it possible that these insides will carry a child; that these breasts, which have dried up, will give forth milk?’ ‘Is it really true’: That I will give birth’ Although I am old?’: Scripture altered her statement, for the sake of peace, for she had said:’And my master is old.’
The Torah Temima elucidates on this last Rashi:’She did not cast the inability [only] on him - or he on her - as this may have brought them to a disagreement.’
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin addresses the issue of there being the two instances - the earlier one relating to Avraham Avinu, and our Parasha, relating to Sarah Imenu.
Expounds the Rav: Why did Hashem address his comment, as to Sarah ‘laughing’, to Avraham ? Would it not have been preferable to say His words directly to Sarah - especially in view of her being greater in prophecy, than Avraham, and there would then be no need to shame her before Avraham, and further, no need to change her words, in the interest of peace, and to simply say:’And I am old’.
The parshanim also query: Why was Sarah rebuked, and not Avraham, - in the earlier episode, where we read that: : ‘And he laughed and he said in his heart: Can a one-hundred-year old man, father a child?’.
He goes on: I found a wonderful answer to this query, in the Midrash HaGadol:’To teach you that when two people transgress in the same matter, one being greater than the other, we only rebuke the lesser one, and the greater one - from himself - relates it to himself’.
This answers our query, that Hashem wanted to say: ’Why did Sarah laugh?’, to Avraham, so that he would realize that he, too, committed the very same transgression’, in the earlier incident, and repent, for it.
Abarbanel, as is his wont, raises a litany of queries, before presenting his answers to them, in his exposition on our Parasha.
One of his queries, relates to our question: The announcement by the angel, of the birth of a son to Sarah, was relating something that Hashem had already announced to Avraham, in the preceding Parasha.
What need was there, then, for the repetition of the announcement?
Should you say, that the announcement in our Parasha, was to Sarah - whereas the previous one was to Avraham - the angel addressed his words to Avraham: ‘where is Sarah, your wife’ - not to Sarah.
Now to his exposition: The angel who had been talking to Avraham - after Sarah laughed within herself, and said her words - it was he that then said, as an emissary, as we read: ’And Hashem said to Avrahan: Why did Sarah laugh?.
The reason for this rebuke - whereas Hashem did not rebuke Avraham, in the earlier Parasha, for having also laughed, at the tidings - was because Avraham’s laughter was because the tidings were outside the natural order of things -but he believed that the tidings would be fulfilled by way of a miracle, and he therefore immediately asked on behalf of Yishmael, and he was therefore not rebuked.
Further, Avraham’s laughter was the first instance of laughter, and Hashem has forbearance for the first instance of improper conduct.
Avraham undoubtedly relayed Hashem’s initial tidings, to Sarah, and that the tidings came from Hashem Himself, therefore her blame for laughing now, was great, as it appeared as if she disbelieved the initial tidings.
As the tidings of the angel were the same as the tidings Avraham received from Hashem - and surely shared with her, she should have accepted that it all came from Hashem - and certainly not laughed.
The Alshich Hakadosh adds:’The Torah, in relating that ‘Avraham and Sarah were old, coming on in years; Sarah had ceased to have the way of the women’, was telling us, that while they both were aged, what Sarah ceased to have, was ‘the way of the women’ - meaning, that women had in the natural order, but ‘the way of women’ outside the course of nature, remained in her, though she was ninety-nine years old, as she returned to her youthfulness, and to menstruation.
She therefore ‘laughed within herself’ - though she did not articulate it in words - as if saying: On my part there is no barrier, as I have returned to the ways of my youth, but the delay is because ‘my master is old’.
For this, Hashem chastised, saying:’Why did Sarah laugh?’, did she think that I sent my emissary for nought?.
The Kli Yakar understands Hashem’s rebuke in a similar manner:Why did Sarah laugh, did she not see that a miracle had been wrought for her - that she returned to her youthfulness, and that not for nought was this wrought.
Avraham more so, as the matter was not beyond the possible, that old men can father children.
It is therefore close to hearing - in this matter - that Sarah did not doubt Hashem’s ability, but that she laughed as to the reward:’Great will be your reward’, thinking that as both she and Avraham were at death’s door, not many days of life would be their lot - and, in the natural order of things - they would not be granted time to raise a son, and to marry him off.
She therefore laughed, saying: As to me, after the miracle that was wrought for me, after I had ceased to have ‘the way of women’, surely my zechut was the cause, and this merit will also grant me days of life.
However, ‘my master is old’, and has not returned to his days of youth, as I have not felt any increase in his strength - any merits that he had, were utilized in the battles of the four kings against the five kings, and he will not have many days beyond the natural order.
What need, then, for a son, to him?- to which Hashem said: Why did Sarah laugh, saying: ’Will I truly give birth?’ - and, what if so, since ‘I am aged’, and I have no merit which will grant me more days, in this Hashem changed the words, for the sake of peace, as she placed the reason for the lack of merit in him, and not in herself.
‘Is anything hidden from the Lord?’ - do I, Hashem, not know the number of days of each person, and that they will merit to raise a son?
The Ktav Sofer offers a different exposition: Sarah certainly knew that Avraham would have a son, as Hashem had already promised him, but she didn’t believe that it would be from her.
Ramban already said that it is not too remote that an old man - or an old woman - should give birth, and the main miracle was, that this should occur when both were old.
Now Sarah heard Hashem’s emissaries saying to Avraham:’We will return to you at that time, and there will be a son, to Sarah, your wife.'
This, Sarah considered to be beyond the realm of possibility, as how would she have a son from Avraham - and they both being old - and if it be, that she should remarry after the death of Avraham, or that he will part from her, and she will marry someone younger, and have a son from him - to have a son from this man, cannot bring her a son, as out sages teach:(Bra’ 60:): When the first sperm comes from the woman, a son is born’, and how can it be that she should issue the first sperm before the man, and a son be born, when she miraculously had regained the beauty of her youth; and, if from Avraham, both of us are old, and I cannot conceive from him.
She therefore ‘laughed within her’, but the Torah, for the sake of peace, changed her words, to say:’ And I am old’, and not: ‘And my master is old’ - so as not to let on, that she had considered both Avraham’s possible death, and her marrying a different husband.
Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger opens his commentary with the query of the Ramban, It should further be said, that Avraham did not reveal to Sarah that which he had been told by Hashem - that ‘Sarah, your wife, will bear you a son’ - which will surely surprise all, as her yearning for a son of her own, is clearly seen in the Torah.
Why, then, did Avraham not reveal to her the glad tidings he received in that regards, from Hashem - and, instead of doing so, occupied himself for three days, in circumcising the members of his household, and himself?
Ramban proffers two answers to this:First: perhaps he delayed informing her, until Hashem himself informed her, knowing, as the prophet says:(Amos 3:7) that ‘Hashem will not do anything, until He has first revealed His secret, to his faithful prophets’ - and it is known that Sarah was greater in prophecy, than even Avraham.
A second possible answer: Avraham was so engrossed in the mitzvot in which he was engaged - first in the circumcisions, and then in attending with alacrity, to the three wayfarers who mysteriously appeared to him, that only after this did he feel free to relay the joyous tidings, to Sarah.
It needs to be further said, on this matter, that ‘Sarah laughed.. ‘ regarding her, at her age, giving birth to a son
Why did she seemingly not believe this, after seeing that she had miraculously returned in her body, to her youthfulness?
This leads to the conclusion, that Sarah’s laughter - and doubting - was not regarding herself, but rather concerning Avraham, as he - unlike her - had not returned to his youthfulness, as we see from the Torah, for the sake of peace, changing her words which were about Avraham, to be about her.
Had Avraham - instead of the angel - informed her of this, she would likely doubt this, as impossible, by the natural order of things - and this doubt could, Above, be held against her, and against her bearing a son.
Only when she heard the tidings from Hashem’s emissary, could our Parasha unfold, as it did.’
A parting insight, from Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl: "Hashem says to Avraham: Why did Sarah laugh, saying:’Will I really give birth?’, and this is immediately followed by an astonishing passuk:’’And Sarah denied this saying:’I did not laugh!’.
She denies, and argues - with whom? With the Master of the Universe - against flesh-and- blood, one can argue as to whether there is a valid claim - but against Hashem?
We are not speaking of just any woman - but of Sarah, who was superior to even Avraham Avinu, in prophecy!
Yet, she does not feel that her ‘laughter’ was not completely one of joy - as was the laughter of Avraham Avinu, in the previous Parasha.
This was hidden deep within her, in her soul, and she was unaware that a tiny element of lack of Emunah, had a part in her laughter.
This is the true explanation as to ‘transgressions’ of our great people - very slight faults hidden in the depths of the heart, that most of us are not even aware of.
TY https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/417373
Jerusalem: Thousands at Eida HaHaredit Protest
[ Realize this is from A7 and is edited to their controlled perspective:]
Thousands at Eida Haharedit anti-conscription demonstration in Jerusalem
Thousands of haredim from the Eida Haharedit and Jerusalem Faction marched in Jerusalem against the draft law, blocking streets as rabbis called for 'war' on the decree.
Thousands of haredim who identify with the Eida Haharedit faction held a demonstration on Thursday in Jerusalem against the conscription law.
The demonstration, which began at 3:00 p.m., began at the Dushinsky Study Hall on Shmuel Hanavi Street. Demonstrators then marched toward Ammunition Hill. Police were deployed and blocked multiple streets in the capital. [police blocked the streets]
The demonstration follows a decision by the Eida Haharedit's court that called for "sacrifice" and to "go to war" against what it called the "conscription decree." The decision led to several demonstrations, which began this week.
At a special session of the court, there was a debate over whether to participate in the massive rally that was held last week by the general haredi public. The court was split, and therefore did not issue an official call to action.
This being said, the head of the court, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, published a personal letter calling for participation in the demonstration and attended it himself. The Rebbe of the Toldos Aharon court also participated.
Members of the Jerusalem Faction, led by Rabbi Tzvi Friedman, also participated in Thursday's demonstration. They also participated in last week's rally, publishing a notice on behalf of their leaders calling to participate.
The police deployed reinforced forces in the area and set up heavy roadblocks on major roads in Jerusalem. City residents were asked to avoid the areas of Shmuel HaNavi, Ammunition Hill, and nearby roads. The traffic closures are expected to remain in place until the end of the event.
06 November 2025
Mayim Achronim: Did Abraham Pass the Test?
Dear Friends,
B’ezrat Hashem, I will be in the Holy Land the week of November 16. See schedule of public shiurim below. Hope to see you there!
Sunday, November 16 at 9 PM at JTLV in Tel-Aviv (22 Allenby St.)
Topic: Secrets of Reincarnation
Monday, November 17 at 7 PM in Moshav Mevo Modi’im (in the moshav synagogue)
Topic: Torah Chemistry - Insights into the Unity of Torah and Science
Monday, November 17 at 9:30 PM in Holon’s Georgian Synagogue (Alufei Tsahal 10)
Topic: Torah – Code of Life *Women Only, in Russian*
Wednesday, November 19 at 8:30 PM in Jerusalem’s Old City at Lev Shalom (HaTamid St. 6)
Topic: Secrets of Jerusalem
* * * * * * * *
This week’s parasha, Vayera, contains one of the most difficult passages in the entire Torah, the Akedah or “Binding of Isaac”. Just about everyone reading this narrative will inevitably ask: how could Hashem have commanded child sacrifice? Even though He stopped it from happening, and Abraham didn’t go through with it, how could this have even come up? How is it that Abraham is seemingly blessed for “not withholding” his son from Hashem (Genesis 22:12)? Does God really want child sacrifice, or demand that level of obedience? Is it even morally acceptable? Many more questions emerge from the narrative:
Why is it that here, with the Akedah, Abraham does not question God at all? Previously, when God tells Abraham that He is about to obliterate everyone and everything in Sodom, Abraham challenges God. Yet here, Abraham is silent.
Why is that the Torah says “Abraham returned to Beer Sheva” (22:19) but Isaac is not mentioned? In fact, Isaac doesn’t go to Beer Sheva at all, but lives in a totally different place in Be’er Lachai Roi (24:62). We don’t see Abraham and Isaac speaking ever again, and strangely Abraham does not even bless Isaac on his deathbed, as we find with all the other forefathers. It’s not only Isaac that seemingly never speaks to Abraham again, but neither does Sarah, who tragically passes away immediately upon hearing of the incident. Finally, we don’t see Hashem ever speaking to Abraham again either! It begs the question: Did Abraham really pass the test?
Of course, the Torah explicitly tells us that he did, and that God blessed him for it. The Mishnah in Avot adds that Abraham passed all ten of his tests (5:3). But we also know that there is a difference between passing a test with a C grade, and passing with an A+. Surely and undoubtedly, Abraham was a huge tzadik and beloved by Hashem, as the Torah repeats multiple times. That said, many of our Sages questioned the whole Akedah episode, and struggled with its mysteries and implications. The Midrash (Beresheet Rabbah 56:8) states that Abraham misunderstood the test:
Rabbi Aha said: Abraham began to express his confusion, [saying to God]: “These events are nothing short of bewildering! Yesterday, You said: ‘For it is through Isaac that will be called your descendants’ (Genesis 21:12), then You said: ‘Take you your son […and offer him up]’ (Genesis 22:2), and now You say to me: ‘Do not extend your hand against the lad’? This is bewildering!” The Holy One blessed be He said to Abraham: ‘“I will not violate My covenant, nor alter the utterance of My lips’ (Psalms 89:35) – when I said to you: ‘Take you your son,’ I did not say: ‘Slaughter him,’ but rather, ‘elevate him.’ I said this to you in affection. You have elevated him and fulfilled My word, now take him down!”
The Midrash points out that God never told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac; He literally just said to “elevate” him! Of course, there was never any intention of an immoral child sacrifice. The Midrash continues:
They said a parable; this is analogous to a king who said to his friend: “Bring your son up to [eat at] my table.” He brought him to him, knife in hand. The king said: “Did I say to bring him up in order to eat him? I said: Bring him up out of affection for him!” That is what is written: “[They built altars on which to burn their sons and daughters in fire, something that I never commanded] and which never entered My heart” (Jeremiah 19:5) – this refers to Isaac.
When Jeremiah, like many prophets, critiques the idolaters for their cruel pagan child sacrifices, he quotes Hashem as saying that such “devotion” never entered God’s heart. The Midrash says this refers to Isaac himself, and God never wanted nor commanded a child sacrifice. Abraham misunderstood the assignment. Yes, he passed the test on one level, and showed his unwavering devotion. But that wasn’t quite the point.
The point was to recognize that God would never demand an immoral child sacrifice. It was to realize that Judaism is not pagan, and would never involve any kind of human sacrifice, God forbid. Even if God Himself commands a person to do something like this, the correct response is to refuse! This is similar to the way Moses refused God’s offer to expunge the Israelites following the Golden Calf and make a new nation out of Moses. Moses boldly countered: “Erase me, then, from Your book!” (Exodus 32:32)
It is also similar to Rabbi Yehoshua’s bold reply to the Bat Kol during the incident of Tanur shel Achnai. Even when God’s own voice resonated through the study hall to insist that Rabbi Eliezer was correct in his halakhic ruling, Rabbi Yehoshua looked up and said lo bashamayim hi, “It is not in Heaven!” (Deuteronomy 30:12) The rabbis overruled God. When Rabbi Natan later met Eliyahu and asked how God had responded up in Heaven, Eliyahu related that God laughed and said nitzchuni banai, “My children have overruled Me!”
Our rabbis passed the test by refusing to heed the Bat Kol! Moses, too, passed the test by refusing God’s offer. God gave us a divine intellect and commanded us to use it wisely. He made us His partners in Creation, and wants us to think for ourselves. We are not meant to be brainless drones. This is the very meaning of the name Israel, “for you have struggled [sarita] with Elohim and with people, and prevailed!” (Genesis 32:29)
The Role of Satan
The Zohar (I, 10b) takes a very different approach to the Akedah, and suggests that the whole thing was a punishment:
Whom do we have in the world greater than Abraham, whose benevolence extended to all creatures? However, on the day that he prepared a feast—as it is written: “And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned” (Genesis 21:8)—to that feast Abraham invited all the great men of the age.
Now we have been taught that whenever a banquet is given, that “Accuser” [Satan] comes to spy out whether the host has first dispensed charity and invited poor people to his house. If he finds that it is so, he departs without entering the house. But if not, he goes in and surveys the merry-making, and having taken note that no charity had been sent to the poor nor had any been invited to the feast, he ascends above and brings accusations against the host.
Thus, when Abraham invited to his feast the great men of the age, the Accuser came and appeared at the door in the guise of a poor man, but no one took notice of him. Abraham was attending on the kings and magnates… The Accuser then presented himself before the Holy One, blessed be He, and said to Him: “Master of the world, You have said “Abraham is My beloved”, yet he has made a feast and has not given anything to You nor to the poor, nor has he offered up to You so much as one pigeon…
Said the Holy One, blessed be He: “Who in this world can be compared to Abraham?” Nevertheless, the Accuser did not stir from there until he had spoiled all the festivity; and God then commanded Abraham to offer up Isaac as an offering, and it was decreed that Sarah should die from anguish on account of her son’s danger—all because Abraham did not give anything to the poor!
The Zohar states that both the Akedah and the death of Sarah was because of a lack of kindness and charity on the part of Abraham, who was usually the very epitome of kindness and charity. It appears the test itself came much earlier, at the weaning feast of Isaac, and Abraham the paragon of Chessed was tested with Chessed. The Zohar suggests Abraham failed this test, and the punishment was the Akedah!
It is worth noting that the ancient apocryphal Book of Jubilees has a similar suggestion, saying that the whole Akedah was Satan’s doing. In Chapter 17, Satan (called “Mastema” here) comes before God and questions Abraham’s devotion. The passage is reminiscent of the way Satan appears before God in the Book of Job, and gets permission to harm and test Job.
Satan suggests the Akedah to prove that Abraham’s devotion is complete. Apparently, it was Satan’s idea! That would explain both the Midrash quoted above where God says He never commanded the Akedah (and it never “arose in His heart”); as well as the well-known Midrash that Satan tried to stop Abraham from going up to the Akedah, including by creating a mirage of a raging river to block Abraham’s journey. Satan had to do what he could to stop it, since it was his idea to begin with, and he thought Abraham would never go through with it!
A Diversity of Perspectives
While we commonly hear rabbis praising Abraham for being so devoted to Hashem that he was willing to sacrifice his own son, others were far more critical. Perhaps the most explicit statement came from the Rosh (Rabbeinu Asher ben Yechiel, c. 1250-1327), in his comments on the verse “Jacob is God’s own allotment” (Deuteronomy 32:11). The literal reading of the verse, Ya’akov chevel nachalato, implies that Jacob is the start of God’s “rope” of inheritance. The Rosh asks: why Jacob? Why not Abraham, the first patriarch? And he says it is because “Abraham was cruel [akhzari] to want to sacrifice his son and not pray for him instead… But Jacob had compassion for all of his children.” Jacob thus merited to be “Israel”.
Indeed, the Tanakh speaks out so many times against cruel human and child sacrifices, and calls out the wicked Canaanites, Moabites, and others for engaging in these practices and sacrificing children to their gods Molech and Chemosh. It is one of the 613 commandments not to sacrifice a child or “pass a child through a flame” (Deuteronomy 18:10). So how could God ever demand such a thing, and how could Abraham ever think to go along with it?
Some rabbis held that the whole Akedah episode must have only been a dream, and didn’t physically happen. (This was explored fully in Garments of Light, Volume Two, in the chapter titled ‘The Shocking Opinion that the Akedah Never Happened’.) According to this view, Abraham only saw the Akedah in a vision, and proved his devotion virtually. Of those who held this view, perhaps the most notable is the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, 1138-1204) who, as a general rule, believed that any time an angel is mentioned in the Torah, it must be a dream.
The Rambam wrote that “in the case of everyone about whom exists a Scriptural text that an angel talked to him or that speech came to him from God, this did not occur in any other way than in a dream or in a prophetic vision.” (Moreh Nevukhim, Part 2, Ch. 41)
Yet a third approach holds that the test was not Abraham’s at all, but Isaac’s! Targum Yonatan records:
And it was after these things that Isaac and Ishmael contended; and Ishmael said: “It is right that I should inherit what is our father’s because I am his firstborn son.” And Isaac said: “It is right that I should inherit what is our father’s, because I am the son of Sarah his wife, and you are the son of Hagar the handmaid of my mother.”
Ishmael said: “I am more righteous than you, because I was circumcised at thirteen years; and if it had been my will to hinder, they should not have delivered me to be circumcised; but you were circumcised a child eight days; if you had knowledge, perhaps they could not have delivered you to be circumcised!”
Isaac said: “Behold, today I am thirty-six years old; and if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to demand my whole body, I would not delay.” These words were heard before the Master of the Universe, and the Word of God immediately came to Abraham, and said to him: “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am”…
The Targum suggests it was Isaac’s test more than Abraham’s, to prove his devotion to God and to prove himself more worthy than his half-brother Ishmael.
Whatever the case, what we can say for sure is this: the Torah explicitly forbids child sacrifice, and it is one of the 365 prohibitions of the 613 mitzvot. God does not demand such cruel obedience, and never did. Judaism is a religion of life, not death. Unlike other religions that glorify death and martyrdom, Judaism’s highest value is life. The Torah is a “tree of life for those who grasp it” (Proverbs 3:18).
Abraham may have passed the test and showed his unwavering devotion, but as the Midrash states, he seems to have misunderstood the whole assignment. It is Jacob that ultimately merits to become Israel, embodying our mission to “wrestle with Elohim, and with people, and prevail.”
https://www.mayimachronim.com/did-abraham-pass-the-test/
TREACHERY on October 7th.......
.......... & Israel's Military Advocate General
comments to the above:
Excellent
This is exactly correct they allowed yidden to be murdered! Tziyonim again!
Your lecture is so extremely and important, that it should reach as many Jewish people as possible
bobo notayahud is covering up for hamas that's why bobo is against a commission of inquiry into the October 7 debacle and the prosecution of leaders of shabak, mossad, IDF, politicians that colluded with hamas and hamas supporters before during and after Oct 7.
There also needs to be a commission of inquiry into the hundreds or thousands of NGOs funded by foreign intelligence agencies trying to destabilize the country with collision of the same aforementioned groups..
The deep state american spy bobo is also against outlawing xtrian prostalitizing, against resettling aza, while he continues to fund the plo.
tomer yerushalmi is a cia spy as is aharon barak, the AG and the rest of the garbage that bobo allows to run the country using plausible deniability saying he has nothing to do with the decisions of those he allows to run the country
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Oil is building our Green Future
Over the last month Saudi Arabia’s government-owned ACWA Power has signed roughly $10 billion in clean-energy and water-infrastructure agreements, stretching from the Gulf to Central Asia and Africa.
On paper, it’s a renewables story as they erect gigawatt-scale solar farms, grid-scale batteries, and desalination plants powered by clean electricity. Development finance is flowing into emerging economies. The deals were signed at the Future Investment Initiative (FII9) in Riyadh known as Davos of the Middle East.
But strip away the slick branding and this feels uncomfortably like a new-era greenwash: the same wealth built on hydrocarbons now deciding the fate of clean power.
One truth remains — oil money is now one of the biggest buyers of renewable infrastructure on the planet.
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comment: "clean electricity" vs "dirty electricity" which is what is in many of our 'old' homes and so not healthy.
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