Avraham Passed the Akeidah… So Why Did Hashem Test Him AGAIN?! | Parshas Chayei Sarah

Welcome And Feed Update

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Welcome back to the Motivation Congregation Podcast and another episode of the weekly Parsha podcast. My name is Michal Bruck. And this week, we're learning Parsha's Khaesara. And before we begin, I need to let you know about a quick programming note. Going forward, all of the shows will be coming out together right here on the Motivation Congregation podcast feed. That means and includes that the weekly Parsha podcast and the stories series of great Jewish stories of iconic tower giants will no longer have their own podcast feed, but instead they are being migrated into this feed of the Motivation Congregation podcast, which will contain all three of those shows going forward. And this will be the only location that you will need to hear the Motivation Congregation Torah and Musir content and episodes. So if you've been following those shows separately, double check to make sure that you are now subscribed to the Motivation Congregation podcast so you don't miss a single episode. Now, down to business.

Parsha Chayei Sarah Overview

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Parsha Thaisara really contains not many different narratives, but rather it is a very detailed story of a couple different matters. It begins with the death and passing of Sara Imenu at age 127, and Avram Avinu's purchase of Ma'oras Hamach Pela as her burial place. Avram then sends Eliezer to find a wife for Yitzhuk, which leads to this incredible encounter with Rivka at a well, where her extraordinary chesed reveals the beautiful character of our Imahos, and really is the epicenter for Shiduchim and matchmaking in the Torah. Many great Torah scholars and rabbinic teachers choose to make Parsha Shah Sarah the time where they educate about the laws and customs of Jewish matchmaking at the So be sure to look for that. But eventually our Parsha tells us how Rivka agrees to marry Yitzhak. And when she enters the tent of Sarah, the special Brachos that existed during Sara's lifetime, they now return with the coming of Rivka. The torch has been passed to the next set of Jewish forefathers. The parsha concludes with Avramavinu's passing in his ripe, old, and totally perfect age of 175.

Pirkei Avot On Ten Trials

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This week I'd like to bring to your attention in the discussion of Avramavinu a Mishnah that points out one of the great merits of Avramavinu, what he stood for, and what we're to learn from him. You'll find the Mishnah in Pirke Ovos Perek He Mishnah Gimel, and every word of it needs to be cherished like a fine wine. The Mishnah says that Asora Nisjonos Nis Nase Avram A Vinua Lova Shalem V'omad Bikulam. Ten challenges, ten trials was Avram Avinu our father, may he rest in peace tested with. And he withstood them all. V' Ohmad Bikulam. And he stood up in all of them. Lahodiya, this was done. Was he tested? This was done, the Mishnah testifies. That Hashem's intent was Laudia Kamahi Baso Shall Avram Avinu a love hashallah. To make known how great was the love of Avram Avinu, our holy father, peace be upon him, to make known how great Avramavinu's love of the Holy One, blessed be he was, that his love was so deep that no matter what came his way, no matter what the winds blew in, he was unshakable in his dedication and his fear of heaven. And it was all based upon the love that Avram Avinu had for Hashem. You could imagine when Avram Avinu said the words after Shemai Yisrah Hashem alokenu Hashem Echod and whispered, Baruch Sham kivod, ma'husolam voed. You could imagine if you close your eyes what Avram looked like when he said the alhaftah ace Hashem Eloikha. Avram Avinu must have shook, shaken with love. What we see here is that Avram Avinu was unbeatable, unshakable, and he was able to endure and to stand up, and it was all based on his love of Hashem. It speaks volumes about what love is capable of accomplishing and noteworthy in the Mishnah is how the sages convey the beating of a challenge as standing up to it. It doesn't say that you were Minatseyak, it says that Avramavinu was Ahmad Bikulam. He stood up that canoes strength and discipline and determination. Rabbainu Yona on this Mishnah in Pirke Ovos argues with Rambam and his Pirishamishnais in counting the ten tests that Avramavinu actually endured. The sages count them differently. And what exactly were the ten challenges of Avramavinu? When did they start? When did they end? What did they consist

Walking Through Avraham’s Ten Tests

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of? The first the first of his ten trials that Avramavinu withstood was in Ur Khazdin, when Nimrod, an evil man, a man who gathered up the masses to rebel against Hashem, when this evil dictator threw Avramavinu into a furnace, but Avram was saved. It's interesting that this story is not stated explicitly in the Torah. It comes from Tereshbal Peh. There's an allusion to it. When the Torah mentions Ur Kazim twice, and Rashi explains to us what's being mentioned and brings the medrish for us. I am Hashem who brought you out of Ur Kazdim to give you this land to inherit. The Nisayon of Ur Kazdim is made explicit there, and its reward alongside it. The second Nisayon, the second challenge, came shortly after that when Hashem commanded Avrama Vinu Lechlechomartich, leave, go forth from all that you know. It's also important to think about what that challenge was, why it was so perilous and strenuous if he was promised wealth, children, and a great name. Wouldn't anyone leave their daddy's house and their father's basement for some great promises like that? That's not our subject. You can check out previous episodes of the Motivation Congregation podcast to find your answer. The third Nision was when there was a famine in the land. Hashem had promised Avramavinu that through all of the families of the earth will you be blessed. Yet, when the famine came, Avram did not question his ways. Hashem told him to go somewhere, and there was no food there. But Hashem saw clearly Avramavinu's faith in the midst of a famine. The fourth Nisayun was when his wife was taken by Pyro. The fifth Nisayun was when he had to go to war against four kings, with only three hundred and eighteen soldiers against four armies Avram in the face of world war. Well, before World War I, the really the first world war, Avram Avinu strengthened himself and trusted in Akkadush Baraku and marched headfast and steadfastly into a battle with world powers with just 318 soldiers. And Raji says that actually is just the numerical value of Eliezer's name, and it really was only Avram and Eliezer. A miracle was performed for him, and he was saved, and he was rescued along with his relative and with Lot's property and pulled from the belly of Sodom and Amora. The sixth Nision was the brismila that Avram of Vinu had to cut himself, circumcise himself at the age of ninety-nine, placing himself in extraordinary danger in his old age, but he neither complained nor deterred. The seventh Nisayun was when his wife was once again taken by Avimelech. The eighth was the sending away of Hugar and her son, Yeshmoel. The Torah testifies that the matter was very grievous in the eyes of Avram on the account of his son. Sending away your child is horrible. Yet he fulfilled Hashem's command. The ninth is perhaps the most famous one. As Rabbenu Yonah is counting the tenusionos, the ninth he lists is the binding of Isaac, a Kedas Yitrach, about which it is written, that Hashem testifies that now I know that you truly fear Elohim. Atoyodati ki yare elokim attah. That Hashem not know until now, Rabinu Yonah asks. Is everything not revealed and foreseen before Hashem? Rather, no. Rabin Yonah explains that at this ninth Nisayona, once the deed is actually carried out, it comes into the world. The energy of the fear of heaven that was potential energy now turns into actually carried out action kinetic energy. Now Akharish Barakho calls it. Now I know what you're made of. And Rabbeinu Yona concludes that this teaches us something incredible: that Yiroshomayim is the greater than all of the mitzvos in the Torah, because by none of the other Nisjonos, none of the other trials that Hashem say, for now I know that you fear Elohim, except for this one. It was the greatest trial of them all, says Rabbeinu Yonah. For he took his son up a mountain, bounded, binded him to some wood planks, bent his arms and legs behind him into the Akeeda. See Musach to Thamid for how to do the Akaeda in a certain binding way. Yitzgakh's neck stretched out and outstretched with his long arm, does Avrama Vinu take a brutally ship sharp knife and begin the action of Shechthing his son? And in a test of such great magnitude, not even for a second does Avramavinu deter. He overcomes. At this greatest trial of them all, he takes his son up as an offering, and in the last moment Avshem says, You don't need to go through with it. But Avramavinu was fully on board from his very first step and even woke up early in the morning to get it done. And then Rabbi Nayona says, Then finally there's the tenth test. The burial of Sara and Parsha's Hai Sara, our Parsha. Hashem told him, Arise, walk through the land, walk the land, its length and its breadth, Parakid Gimel Pasak to Zion, and I'm gonna give it to you. All that you can see, Simba, is yours. Yet, when Avram's wife dies, he can't find a place to bury her, and he has to buy it for a steep price, and he still does not question Hashem's ways, and that's the way that Avram Avinu's ten tests conclude. Rabbenu Yona concludes his essay that this shows how beloved Avram Avinu was. All of these Nisionos is what the Mishnah is coming to teach, that Hashem tested him in order to make known to all people that Avram Avinu feared Elokim and was perfect in all of his character traits, because no matter what came his way, he stood up because he loved God.

The Tenth Test And The Problem

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Now, I do want you to understand the situation of the 10th test and its details, so you can understand how tough it was. That Avramavinu, at the end of his life, loses his wife, and he's been told that he owns all of Eratisrael, arise and walk through the land, its length, its breadth, all of it is going to be for you. But when his wife dies, he at this moment still doesn't own an ama in which to bury his wife. He had to gamble and buy a plot for 400 shekel. The low hearer Achermi Dosovie does not second guess Hashem. And this test lay in the gap between Hashem's promise and the reality before him that at this most vulnerable moment for him, when Rashi tells us that Sara's death followed because of the news of the Aqeda, when he finally comes home after this challenge, his wife hears the news of the potential death of her son. And Avram returns to the death of his wife, who's so caught off guard that her soul leaps from her body. His wife is now gone when he returns home from the Akeda, and rather than mourning in peace, he faces a series of indignities in which a man tells him how he's gonna take care of him, and of Ramavinu as a stranger and resident. Before Bene Ghaz bows before them, and Ephron, this man, his pretense of generosity, is only followed by terrible aina and ripping off, charging exorbitant amounts for this burial plot. Ghazal deem Ephron as someone who spoke much and did not even do a little. He forced Avram to pay a grossly inflated price of Kesef Oyver La Soicher, large silver scholim of full value that you can exchange in any country. The Nisayon thus illustrates that for Avram of Vinu, this most aggravating, hard to bear, open Nisayon was pretty tough. But Avram, who stood firm at the Akeda, remained equally steadfast. And his tenth Nisayon of trying to buy a burial plat for Sara. But the question is as follows. Folks, Rabbainu Yonah already called the ninth Nisayun the greatest test of them all. It is the only one where Hashem declares during the ninth test, the Akeitas Yitzraq Hashem declares that now I know that you fear Elohim. And from that declaration, says Rabbeinu Yonah, we learn that Yurashamayim outweighs all of the mitzvos of the Torah. That's what it's about. Because only the ninth Nisayon got that claim of Atayodati. Now, if the Akeeda was the summit, the top of the mountain, and Hashem himself testified to Avram's yeira, then what did Sarah's burial still need to prove? Hasn't Avram proved himself through the first nine? The question gets sharper when you compare the two. The Akaeda was a total asking of self-sacrifice and obedience, in which Avram is totally ready to offer his only son through which he was promised, or all of his promised promises were to be fulfilled. But the tenth test seems dwarfed, seems insignificant and minuscule beside it. A widower bargaining with Ephron over a burial plot and overpaying for it may be challenging. But someone who passes the Akeda, the ninth Nision, will surely not falter over a bad real estate transaction. And let's take this question to its third level. The question is not theoretical. The Rambam and his Parish Hamas counts the ten Nisionos differently than Rabbainu Yona does. Rambam, look it up. He ends the ten Nisionos in counting them in the Mishnah with the Akeida. The ninth of Rabbainu Yona's challenges is the natural climax of the Rambam's delineating of Avram's Nisionos. Hence, Rabbainu Yonah deliberately places one more Nisayon for Avram after the Akeda. So we must have seen that there was something still to be brought out in Sara's Kivura that the Achaeda had yet to expose and to uncover about Avram. The answer is clear and concise and holds a powerful Musar lesson.

The Mussar Answer: Stay There

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The idea comes from the Walby Levovitz mirror musr ideology. Why did Avram Avinu need a tenth test after the Akeda? Azoizok the Bali Musir? Because climbing the mountain, standing up on the top of the mountain of Nisionos are one thing. But staying on top of it is another. And then he asks who will stay there. The Aqeda proved that Avramavinu could climb to the greatest heights of Yirash al Mayim to the level of Atiyodati, Kiyore Kim Ata. The burial of Sarah that follows right afterwards proved that Avramavinu would continue to stay there. And there was no break in between. Rashi teaches that he came straight from the Harhamyria to find Surah dead on the floor. As soon as he got home, and then he had to bargain for the grave in a very land that Hashem had promised him Yedva Yakum of Rahum. He stood up and did not question Hashem's ways because true greatness is not measured by the height of the climb, but rather by staying on the mountain day after day with no pause between each Nisayon and the next. You could easily imagine that a normal person would come home after he's stood up to an incredibly taxiing Nisayon like the Akeeda. And then finally, God forbid arrive home and there's even the slightest bit of a mishap. Milk spills. He stubs his toe. But pain and they tend to mount on a person. And a person could find himself saying, Oh, not again. Really? Can I just catch a break? Godless is Amita bin Nissayon day after day, consistently being omed by Nissayon. This dovetails with one of the most important lessons taught to us by Ramchal in chapter one of Masilas Yasharim. There are

Ramchal: Life As Battlefield

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three things that you'll be judged upon, or three things that will make Up your Olomhaba in the next world, and they are Amida Binisaum, standing up to challenges. They are Kium Hamitsvos, doing what God asks you to do so that you can bring rectification to your soul and glory to God's name. And lastly, Avoda, service, Davening, Midis, proper service of God, proper attributes and carrying out of your affairs. And the Ramchal elaborates upon the situation at hand of a person who is infected with Nisjonos. The Ramhal says, A person is truly placed in the midst of a raging battlefield. For all matters of this world, whether for good or for evil, are Nisionos for a man, are trials for a man. Everything in your life is an bad is in a sion. It's all there to test and see what you're gonna do. The babysitter, your wife, your job, your money, it's all a test. It's all an asion. When it goes terribly wrong in life, the poverty on one side, the stress on one side, the poverty, mitz. Why? Because when you are tested with not enough, it can make you cut corners, God forbid, steal. The pressure gets really, really tight around the collar or tight around the neck. You can make poor choices. That's a test. But then there's another side of the test, lest you be satiated. There's a nisoyun of wealth, of that it's not God, it's me. As a nisoyun also, when things are going well, it's a nsayun. And what Ramchal tells us here is that on your good days and on your bad days, you're constantly tested. As a realtor, on the bad days, it's very, very easy to lose faith in what you're doing. Every circumstance, every battle is punim the akhar front and back. When you're engaged in business, in any form of business. On the days of struggle, the temptation to cut corners, the anxiety that betrays your betachon, they diminish the honor of Hashem. But on the days of success, the attack comes from behind of the it's me. People that are wealthy, people that are doing well sometimes don't dive in with that same level of God, I need you now. But a person who's a Ben Chail, the strong man, the warrior, no matter the situation, he conquers. He remains honest when money is scarce and grateful when it arrives. And only by Mikol At Stadim, from being strong in all facets of your Nisjonos, do you become the Adam Ashalim, the complete person who merits to cling to his creator? This is our topic. This is of Ramavinu. That the Nisionos come ceaselessly, and that's the opportunity of life. That you have the largest Nisayon. You don't have money, God forbid. You don't have a shiddach, God forbid. You could have something like the Akeida, the ninth Nisayon. But then life goes on, and it's time for a new Nisayon to test you on a different front. Of are you going to then not dabin with the same intensity? Are you going to say it's all good now? So then, so then I don't need to submit myself lower before God as I had before. What Avramavinu teaches us is the consistency in the Amida Binisayon, is that there is a certain greatness in the tenth Nisayon of burying sorrow that is even harder, that finds itself a rung above even the ninth Nision of the Aqeda, because after your biggest Nisionos, can you prove yourself and stay there in the times of good, in the times of evil, in the times of no matter what changes, can you stay strong? The Ramchal says that we face this battle from all sides, or when times are hard, you stay honest, keep your bitukh. And when times are good, you have to remember that it all comes from Hashem. The Aqeda may have been Avram Avinu's greatest test, but it wasn't his last. He came down from the mountain. He found Sarah was gone. He had to bargain then for a grave in the land that Hashem had already propassed him, but still he doesn't question that is by Yaakam Avram that he stood up. The consistency and being a Ben Chail and being a warrior, no matter what comes your way, is what Avram Avinu and this Rabbeinu Yona's explanation of this Mishnah and Avos teaches us. That you can hit for the home run, you can get up for the big game, but sometimes it's about staying on the mountain and hitting for a base knock and being able to be a warrior who is Yaqumb Im Kaim Khatchai. There's a level of consistency that that proves. And fear of heaven that that proves that Rabinu Yona would count it as the tenth Nisionos. Everyone has Nisionos. Some of us are tested that we don't have enough. There's something that we

Bringing It Home: Daily Standing

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want, and it's brutal. And some of us are tested that we have. We have it. But then we totally forget what life's about. And we miss out on the longing for God, and that's a very complex place to be that's also a struggle. Lesson from Rabbeinu Yona is that our father taught us that no matter what life brings, you stand up to a challenge, and whether it's a huge Nisayun or a small Nisayon, it's the consistency that's key. It's the koach to fight every day that's key. It's the daily grind that's key. It's even standing up in a minor Nisayon, but standing up consistency consistently is what's key. So our lesson is to be like Avramavinu and to be ready for whatever Nisayon comes our way, and to keep on standing up, to be omade by Nisayon, just like Avramavinu did.