I would like to share with you two of my favorite Bitachon’ lessons from this week’s Parasha.
The first one is a powerful lesson by the Or HaChaim HaKadosh, regarding the Akedah.
Avraham Avinu was told that Yitzhak would be his child. But then he was told to offer him up as a sacrifice.
How could these two contrasting points work out? Nonetheless, Abraham Avinu did not ask any questions. He continued on with his Emuna in Hashem. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh says that Yitzhak Avinu was physically incapable of having children, and thus there never would have been a Jewish people. So Hashem told Abraham Avinu to offer Yitzhak, and thus, by putting the knife to his throat, it says that Yitzhak’s neshama left and a new neshama entered. The first soul, that left, was not capable of having children. But the new soul, that entered in, was. That is why the Midrash Pirkei D’Eliezer tells us that first three Berachot of the Amida correspond to Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov.
The first one, Magen Avraham is quite obviously Avraham. The third beracha, Atah Kadosh, refers to Yaakov, as it says that Yaakov was called the Holy one, Because he symbolizes the holy Torah.
The second beracha, Mehayeh Metim- resurrection of the dead, corresponds to Yitzhak Avinu because Yitzhak Avinu went through Tehiyat Metim. His soul left him and then came back.
So imagine if Avraham Avinu had not listened to Hashem. Imagine if he questioned that if he slaughtered his son, he would not be able to have children. Imagine if he decided to only listen to the first command, and leave Yitzhak alive. Yitzhak would then get married, but never have children. By listening to Hashem, and doing what was counter-intuitive, by putting the knife to his son’s throat, that is what brought the children of the Jewish people. Wonder of wonders, how Hashem makes things work out in the opposite fashion that one would imagine. Things that seem like they are destructive are actually constructive. That was the test of the Akedah, and the test of Avraham Avinu’s Emunah- to believe that some thing that seemingly would put an end to his lineage would actually be the cause of his lineage. There are many examples of how people do things and follow the Torah, and it looks like it’s not a good thing, such as closing a store on Shabbat, or following certain rules, that seemingly interfere, but only bring beracha.
That is lesson one.
Lesson two is from the Chafetz Chaim, about the story of Lot. The people of Sedom were surrounding his house and they wanted to hurt his guests. But Lot told them not to harm the guests, because they came under the shade of his roof. The Chafetz Chaim explains that we can see from here that even in Sedom, they understood that if somebody came and relied on you, and put their hope on you, then you have to come through and save them. Since those guests came into his house, and relied on him, it was Lot’s responsibility to take care of them. Lot, who left Avraham Avinu, understood that. And furthermore, he felt that the people of Sedom should understand that. So that must mean that this is a basic principle.
Therefore, we to have to know that if we rely on Hashem, that will save us in difficult times. Because if you seek refuge in somebody, logic dictates that the one that is being relied on has to come through. And if he doesn’t come through, there is a lacking in his values. Certainly Hashem would not be lacking in that principle.
These are two basic fundamentals in bits that we learn from this week’s parasha. Have a Shabbat Shalom.