בּ"ה
Parshas Chayei Sarah
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -
‘And Avraham was old, coming in days, and Hashem had blessed Avraham with everything.’ (Bereishis 24:1)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -
There is a very big lesson that we can learn from the word ‘everything’ in the above verse:
Many things happen to us in life. Some are very good and we thank Hashem for such blessings. Others don’t seem such. . .
But what we must understand, though, is that even those things are also good and for the best. The happenings that don’t seem so great -- and even very bad, at times -- are for our benefit as well. Hashem only does good things. But it is just sometimes hard to realize.
You see, the verse says that Avraham was blessed with everything. It doesn’t go and list everything we think is good. No! It says that ‘Hashem had blessed Avraham with everything’. Meaning also the things that we would think of as bad, because they too are blessings and messages from Hashem.
Hashem knows what is best for us, and He makes thus occur. If everything we hoped would happen happened, things would not end up as joyous and ideal as we would think. . . Hashem knows what needs to happen. It is just up to us to accept and understand this.
The Chofetz Chaim zt”l (quoted in Torah Wellsprings) gives an analogy: Let’s say a person walked into Shul when somebody was saying the verse in Ashrei, ‘Hashem guards all His loved ones, and all the wicked He will destroy’ -- ‘שׁומר ה' את כּל אהביו ואת כּל הרשׁעים ישׁמיד’, but he happens to not hear the first word in the verse. It would then sound like ‘Hashem, all His loved ones and all the wicked He will destroy’ -- ‘ה' את כּל אהביו ואת כּל הרשׁעים ישׁמיד’! Or perhaps he didn’t hear the last; it would then sound like: ‘Hashem guards all His loved ones and all the wicked’ -- ‘שׁומר ה' את כּל אהביו ואת כּל הרשׁעים’; both of which would be terrible, untrue verses!
Explains the Chofetz Chaim zt”l: Since we don’t see the whole picture, some things look very bad to us. But that is because we “only hear part of the verse”, i.e. we only see part of the picture. If we knew and saw the Supreme Plan behind everything, we would understand and not question that all is truly for the best.
Indeed, Avraham Avinu was blessed with everything.
(Tal U’Matar)
<><><><><><><><><><>
In this parsha, we read about the shidduch (marriage match) between Rivkah Imeinu and Yitzchok. Avraham Avinu sent Eliezer Damaseik, his loyal servant, to find the match, and the entire affair was guided and aided by Hashem, and there were many open miracles.
Teaches the Chiddushei HaRim {first Gerrer Rebbe, Rebbe Yitzchok Meir Alter zt”l}: The Torah lists the many miracles that took place with Yitzchok Avinu’s shidduch so we should know that every shidduch has miracles; they don’t happen according to the rules of nature.
(Brought in Torah Wellsprings)
<><><><><><><><><><>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
‘And Yitzchok went out to converse [לשוח] in the field shortly before evening’ (Bereishis 24:63)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Rashi zt”l comments from Midrash Bereishis Rabbah that the word לשוח (‘to converse’) is a language of Davening.
Our Sages teach us that Yitzchok Avinu was establishing Mincha at that time. And in Gemara Berachos (Daf 26), it is taught that the three Davenings of the day were set up by the Avos. Avraham Avinu established Shacharis; Yitzchok Avinu established Mincha; and Yaakov Avinu established Maariv.
Interestingly, the second letter in all of their names allude to the prayer that they set up: אברהם; the ב alludes to the Davening of the בקר (morning), which is Shacharis. יצחק; the צ alludes to the צהרים (afternoon), which is the time for Mincha. And יעקב; the ע alludes to Maariv, the Davening of the ערבית, (evening time).
(Vi’Karasa L’Shabbos Oneg)
<><><><><><><><><><>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
‘And Yitzchok brought her [Rivkah] to the tent; Sarah his mother; and he took [married] Rivkah, and she was to him for a wife, and he loved her, and Yitzchok was consoled after his mother.’ (Bereishis 24:67)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
‘And he brought her to the tent,’ and behold, she was ‘Sarah his mother’: Meaning to say that she became the likeness of Sarah his mother. All the time that Sarah was alive, a light burned from one Erev Shabbos until the next Erev Shabbos; a blessing was found in the dough; and a cloud [of the Divine Presence*] was “tied” upon the tent. When Sarah died, these things stopped. But when Rivkah came, they returned.
(Rashi zt”l from Midrash Bereishis Rabbah)
------------------------
* Gur Aryeh zt”l.
<><><><><><><><><><>
|~Maaseh~| One day, when HaRav Chaim Kanievsky shlit”a was young, the Kanievsky’s washing machine stopped working. The technician said that one of the machine’s parts had broken, and they needed to buy a new spare part from a store in Tel Aviv.
Rav Chaim’s sister was sent to Tel Aviv to buy the part. She decided that while in the city, she would take care of another matter as well.
“I’m going to Tel Aviv to buy a part for the washing machine.” She told their father, the Steipler Gaon {HaRav Yaakov Yisroel Kanievsky zt”l}. The Steipler added, “You should say, ‘im yirtzeh Hashem’ (if Hashem wills it)!”
After an exhausting trip, Rav Chaim’s sister returned home. While she had, Baruch Hashem, managed to complete her other errand, she had not managed to buy the spare part for the washing machine.
From that day on, Rav Chaim and his sister paid attention to a “small”, but very significant “spare part”, that directly affects one’s success, and, if absent, Chas V’Shalom, seems to remove success.
From that day on, they understood to say ‘Im yirtzeh Hashem’ to every future action, as their father did.
(A Gadol in Our Time: Stories about Rav Chaim Kanievsky)
<><><><><><><><><><>
Gut and meaningful Shabbos to all!
No comments:
Post a Comment