Monday, November 19, 2012
Refusing to Rest on our Laurels
11:52 AM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
By Rav Moshe Sternbuch
Playing down miracles
“And these
are the generations of Yitzchok the son of Avrohom; Avrohom begot Yitzchok” (25:19).
Rashi: the mockers of the generation were saying that Sarah had
conceived from Avimelech
If these
mockers were attempting to deny any miracle, this allegation would seem to be
insufficient, since even if it were true, Sarah was also far beyond
childbearing age and could only have conceived with a miracle. The Brisker Rov noted
that even when non-believers cannot explain away a phenomenon with natural
causes they still seek to attempt to minimize the extent of a miracle, or look
for "natural" explanations for supernatural events. Thus, newspaper
headlines may refer to “miracles” such as numerous potentially lethal missiles
causing relatively little damage and loss of life, without referring to Hashem
at all.
Rav Moshe Schneider
asked why this medrash quoted by Rashi refers to “mockers”. These people
were seeking to uproot faith in Hashem and in miracles, so we would have
expected them to be termed “wicked heretics” rather than “mockers”. He replied
that this teaches us that the danger posed by those who mock and belittle talmidei
chachomim or anything connected to kedusho is potentially even
greater than the danger posed by outright heretics.
Real Baal Teshuva
“And Yitzchok
prayed to Hashem opposite his wife, for she was barren, and Hashem accepted his
prayer” (25:21)
Rashi
quotes the Gemara in Maseches Yevamos (64a) that Hashem
listened to "his" (Yitzchok’s) prayer and not hers (Rivkah’s) “for
the prayer of a righteous person who is the child of a righteous person cannot
be compared to the prayer of a righteous person who is the child of an evil
person.” We would have thought that someone who has overcome a negative family
environment to become righteous has more merit than another person who has not
had to deal with such challenges.
One
explanation is that Yitzchok had to overcome a challenge of his own, namely the
tendency to rely on the righteousness of his parents or his own achievements
and merits.
It is related
about Rav Hai Gaon that he once spent the night at an inn, hoping to remain
anonymous and undisturbed, but his plans were thwarted and his identity was
somehow discovered. His host then apologized to him profusely for not having treated
him respectfully. Rav Hai responded: “but you did treat me with respect”, but
the host insisted: "yes, but I did not accord the rov the respect due to
the great Rav Hai Gaon”.
Rav Hai Gaon
then noted that this episode had taught him an important lesson. He now realized
that each day he should be like a different person, since the experiences of
the previous day should make him achieve greater clarity in fathoming the
greatness of the Creator, and his avodas Hashem should improve
accordingly.
Similarly,
Yitzchok did not rest on his laurels. He faced each day with renewed vigor
endeavoring to reach ever higher levels of spiritual greatness and closeness to
Hashem. This is in fact the definition of a true ba’al teshuva: someone
who is constantly learning from his experiences or any lapses, and seeking to
improve his level of avodas Hashem.
Keeping good company
“And the
children struggled within her” (25:22). Rashi: When she passed by the
entrances of the Torah academies of Shem and Eiver, Yaakov would run and
struggle to come out; when she passed the entrance of a temple of idolatry, Eisov
would run and struggle to come out
We can
understand why Eisov wanted to come out, but Yaakov was being taught Torah by
an angel at the time, so why would he have wanted to come out? The Brisker Rov
is said to have commented that even being taught Torah by an angel is not
worthwhile at the cost of having to live in close quarters with an evil person.
Even though there was no obvious detrimental effect, just being in close
proximity to a person like Eisov is damaging, especially for someone like Yaakov,
whose image is engraved underneath the Kisei Hakavod.
Rav Sternbuch
was once asked whether a child should be sent to a cheder with excellent teachers and a very high academic
level, but the class in question also had some boys with bad middos, or to another institution with a much lower level of learning but in
which the boys in the class did not have bad middos and came from
strong homes. Rav Sternbuch instructed the parent to choose the
institution with the better boys because that was the most important issue,
since even a minority of children with
bad middos can have a very
detrimental effect on their friends.
“And the
youths grew up” (25:27). Rashi: As long as they were small, they were
not recognizable through their deeds, and no one scrutinized them to determine
their characters. As soon as they became thirteen years old, this one parted to
the houses of study, and that one parted to idol worship
Some people
are not particular about the company their young children keep, or about the
quality of their teachers, in the mistaken belief that at a young age children
are not so vulnerable. They are making a grave mistake, because the precedent
of Yaakov and Eisov teaches us that even at the youngest age a child's character
is developed, even though it may not manifest itself until he becomes thirteen
years old.
If a child keeps
bad company, is exposed to immodesty, or is taught by teachers who do not serve
as positive role models, this is absorbed by the child, even though the harmful
effects may not become apparent until he grows older. Anyone who has his
child's best interests in mind would do well to be aware of this and do what he
can to ensure that his child is exposed to the best possible social and
academic environments during his or her formative years.
real talmid chachom
“… and Eisov
was a man who understood hunting, a man of the field, whereas Yaakov was an
innocent man (ish tom), dwelling in tents” (ibid)
Temimus in
spoken Hebrew today means naïve, innocent and unsuspecting, but this can surely
not be the correct translation here, because Yaakov knew how to outsmart cunning
people like Lovon. The Targum Yonoson has the following rendering: “and
Yaakov was a man who was perfect in his actions and studied in the houses of
study of Shem and Eiver [and] sought instruction from Hashem”. This means that
he sought to learn and grow in Torah and fear of heaven. Just like someone who
dwells in a tent is not satisfied with his current situation and yearns for a
permanent home, so too was Yaakov never satisfied with his current level but
yearned for constant growth.
Yaakov’s temimus
consisted in a yearning for perfection (temimus) and being honest (tomim)
with oneself by realizing how far one is from completely actualizing one's
potential for greatness. This is in fact the avodo of every genuine talmid
chochom who lives with the awareness that however far he has come, he has
not reached a level higher than that of the talmid of a chochom.
Truly great people are genuinely humble because no matter how much honor they
may be accorded by others for their knowledge or righteousness, they are aware
of their potential for greatness on the one hand, and how far they still have
to go to completely actualize it, on the other hand.
The test of prosperity
“And Yitzchok
became exceedingly afraid” (27:23)
The Medrash
on this possuk says that Yitzchok became afraid twice, once when
he was tied up to become a sacrifice on the altar, and the second time when
Eisov brought before him the tasty foods, and he realized that the recipient of
his blessings had not been Eisov. The Medrash notes that the fear felt
by Yitzchok on the latter
occasion was greater (as it says "exceedingly afraid").
The fear felt by him at the time of the akeido may have been similar to that experienced by Sarah before she died
(see last week's article), i.e. he may have been worried about whether his
descendants would possess the same fortitude as him to withstand physical
persecutions throughout the generations.
Yitzchok intended to bestow material
blessings upon Eisov in the hope that this would be for his spiritual benefit.
Upon learning that that it was Yaakov who had become the recipient of those material
blessings, Yitzchok felt an
exceedingly great fear, because he knew that the test of material abundance
would be even greater than that of physical persecutions. He knew that it would
be easier for his descendants to march to the stake or the gas chambers with
joy singing shema yisroel or ani maamin than it would
be to withstand the trials of material abundance.
For example, notwithstanding our enemies’
determined attempts to dehumanize us during the Second World War, the Holocaust
brought out the best in most observant Jews. By contrast, as soon as they Ghetto
walls were torn down and the Jews’ material situation improved rapidly even a
town of the spiritual stature of Frankfurt became totally destroyed in Torah
terms. The birthplace of the Chasam Sofer and many other gedolei olom did not possess a minyan
by the time Rav Shimshon Refoel Hirsch came to rebuild the spiritual ashes just
two generations later. Similarly, they
say that since the Second World War, and the unparalleled prosperity and
freedom for Jews that followed, about 5 million Jews have become completely
assimilated in the United States.
Eternal investment
“And I will
bless you for the sake of Avrohom, My servant” (26:24)
The Moshav
Zekeinim wonders why the blessing is attributed to the merit of Avrohom.
Surely Yitzchok himself was worthy of these blessings. He proves from this that
if someone is righteous, learns Torah, and instructs his sons to learn and
follow the proper path, the mitzvos performed by his descendants after
his death are attributed to him as if he himself had performed them. That is
why it says "for the sake of Avrohom My servant", because all the mitzvos
performed by Yitzchok were performed in the wake of the education received from
his father, and therefore Hashem deemed them as having been performed by
Avrohom himself.
We would do
well to be cognizant of this fact whenever we experience any za’ar gidul
bonim. (difficulties raising children) Putting our hearts and souls into
our children's education and serving as positive role models is not only an important
mitzva in and of itself, but an investment bearing short-term, long-term
and eternal benefits.
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