Synergic "Seeing"
Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Within the heart of every Jew beats a love for our capital city Yerushalayim, a city whose very name evokes both modern and ancient history. The two halves of its portmanteau name can be traced back to the era of our Patriarch Abraham. After Abraham defeated the four kings and saved Lot, He is greeted by Melchizedek, identified as Shem son of Noah, king of Salem/Shalem. Later, after Avraham Avinu had bound his son on the altar, and Hashem commanded him not to slaughter or harm Yitzchak Avinu, Avraham Avinu named this place Hashem yireh/Hashem will see, "which we call today hayom/Hashem yeiroeh/Hashem will be seen." Combining these names given by two very righteous men we arrive at the name of Yerushalayim.
Rabbi Bernstein finds this passage somewhat enigmatic. He asks several questions. First, what is it that Hashem will see, and why does it then conclude with being seem? Further, why does the Torah insist that it be referred to hayom/today as "on the mountain Hashem will be seen?" Finally, what is the connection between these names and the akeidah/the binding of Yitzchak Avinu?
Avraham Avinu's intention was that this act of binding Yitzchak Avinu should remain as a constant reminder to Hashem of Avraham Avinu's love and self sacrifice for Him. We evoke this memory on the day referred to as Hayom/the Day, Rosh Hashanah. Besides designating this chapter as the Rosh Hashanah Torah reading, in our liturgy we ask Hashem to remember with compassion this day, as if Avraham Avinu passed this major test today, not thousands of years ago.
The Novominsker Rav zt”l notices another anomaly in this passage. First, it is called "the place," while later it is referred to as "the mountain." He cites the medrash that proposes that there was indeed a topographical change to the area. Initially, the "place" was a valley, and therefore it had never been used as a high place in the service of idols. Now, when Avraham Avinu had created such sanctity in the "place," he asked that it be raised up to reflect its current, elevated status. Since it had never been previously desecrated, it could on this day become the Mountain of God.
In Bishvili Nivra Haolam, Rabbi Brazil offers us a psychological interpretation for changing the name of the place. While we are all challenged by the yetzer horo, as a tzadik keeps resisting the influence of the yetzer horo, the yetzer horo renews his attack with ever greater arguments and challenges until keeping on the proper path is like climbing a high and difficult mountain. Changing the designation from place to mountain reflects the struggle of Avraham Avinu against the yetzer horo and his ability to elevate the earth to heaven through his love of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
We know that the events in the lives of the Patriarchs foretell events and challenges in the history and lives of their descendants. So do each of us in our daily lives, hayom, face challenges. But Hashem encourages us and tells us that Hashem will see and provide "the sheep" for our sacrifice, just as He did for Avraham Avinu and Yitzchak Avinu. Our challenge is to "see" Hashem through His Torah, gifted to us on Har Sinai, consecrated with building the Beit Hamikdosh on this mountain, and thus be seen by Him as following the example set by Avraham Avinu.
However, even without the Beit Hamikdosh, we each have our own personal Beit Hamikdosh where Hashem dwells within us and in our homes. Through our mesiras nefesh, our self sacrifices, big and small to do Hashem's will, we are symbolically reenacting the akeidah, writes Rabbi Pincus zt”l, in Tiferes Shimshon. We must not let any ideas or materials enter that will defile the sanctity of our homes.
But we are asked to practice mesiras nefesh every day, a commitment we make every day as we pray, "...And He brings the Redeemer to their children's children for the sake of His Name be'ahavah/ with love. From interrupting a business meeting or pausing during an entertainment to do an act of chesed -- these kinds of small actions are also considered self sacrifice for the love of Hashem. We are overcoming the mountain the yetzer horo has placed before us, writes Rabbi Mansour.
Rabbi Bernstein uses the medrash to give us a mystical interpretation of Avraham Avinu's declarations at the conclusion of the akeidah scene. When Hashem created the world, His presence was manifest throughout the world itself. However, when Adam sinned, Hashem removed his presence one level to the lowest heaven above earth. As each subsequent generation sinned, Hashem removed His presence an additional level of heaven until it reached the furthest, seventh heaven. Hashem's presence remained there until the time of Avraham Avinu, when Avraham Avinu's self sacrifice and Yitzchak Avinu's desire to be a willing sacrifice brought Hashem's presence down one level. For five additional generations of tzadikim, the shechinah continued to descend, culminating with Moshe Rabbenu when he brought the Torah down from the mountain, from Har Sinai. It was there on that mountain, on that day, that Hashem's presence was again seen on earth.
Hashem sees the innermost will of a Jew, and credits him with a mitzvah he desires to do even when external circumstances prevent him from fulfilling the mitzvah, just as Yitzchak Avinu and the nation descended from him are credited with Yitzchak Avinu's willingness to be sacrificed even when, by Hashem's command, he did not complete the self-offering. Thus we ask Hashem to always see the essential, innermost nature of the Jew who always wants to do Hashem's bidding even when he himself doesn't consciously realize it.
This idea is even further explained by the Slonimer Rebbe zt”l, in Netivot Shalom. On Shabbat Shuvah, we read the verse from Hosea: "Return, Yisroel, for you have stumbled in your iniquity." Our commentators ask how one can "stumble" accidentally into purposeful sin? Since a Jew's innermost wish is to do good, when he does sin, it is because some momentary foolishness entered his mind or his system. The Slonimer Rebbe gives an example of a country bumpkin who enters a mansion and sees a chandelier hanging from a sturdy rope. He knows he can make good use of that rope, and he cuts the rope, not realizing the entire chandelier will come crashing down. While a human master would hold the villager accountable for the chandelier, Hashem holds him accountable only for wanting the rope. That was the foolish thought that caused him to destroy the chandelier he may not even have noticed.
The Chasam Sofer zt”l, brings our attention to the two ways Avraham Avinu discusses seeing, explaining that they refer to our intimate relationship with Hashem. While Hashem sees us all the time, protecting us, to retain that sense of intimacy we must appear before Hashem, we must work on that relationship every day to keep it mutual and intimate.
Our connection to Hashem already exists. We recognize it every day when we arise and say Modeh ani/thank You, Hashem, for returning my soul to me, for giving me another day of life, writes Rabbi Kestenbaum in Olam HaAvodah. And we conclude with the enigmatic "Rabba emunasecha, Great is Your faith." Rabbi Kestenbaum suggests that this clause tells us not only that we have much evidence to rely on Hashem, but also that Hashem has much faith in us.
We continue our morning blessings by reaffirming our connection to our Creator Who has implanted within us our pure souls, and we ask Hashem to make the words of His Torah "pleasant tasting" in our mouths so that we will appreciate them. If we really want to connect to Hashem, we must savor the mitzvoth as we would savor the taste of fine cuisine, not gobbling it down to be merely yotzei, to have fulfilled our minimal obligation, but to enjoy our moments of connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. We have these opportunities every day.
When we are faced with difficult challenges, we may feel alone, as if Hashem has abandoned us. Avraham Avinu was now facing the most difficult challenge of his life. As he strove to do Hashem's bidding, he felt further and further distance from Hashem. He had hoped to come closer, but he perceived HaMakom [one of God's Names] as distant from him, writes the Slonimer Rebbe. Perhaps it was the presence of the two "lads," Eliezer and Ishmael, who were keeping Hashem's presence away, much as Lot's inclusion in his entourage had kept Hashem away from him in an earlier period of his life. But even after separating from them, he did not feel Hashem's presence until the last moment, when Hashem called out to him through the angel, commanding him not to harm Yitzchak Avinu in any way. It was at that moment that Avraham Avinu understood that even if he himself did not see or feel Hashem's presence, Hashem saw him and was with him throughout his journey.
When a person works on his own commitment, that connection is never severed, even when it is so deeply hidden. When we are in exile, either individually or nationally, Hashem is with us. We constantly pray to see the light of Hashem's face. As it says in the Torah (citing Rabbi from Mechelovitz), the darkness came before the light. We ask Hashem that in our darkest moments, He shine His light upon us and lets us see Him.
Nevertheless, in our darkest moments we must remember that Hashem is with us. This was the reassurance Hashem gave Yaakov Avinu as Yaakov descended to Egypt, initiating our first exile. Hashem told Yaakov not to fear, for He Himself will descend with him, and He will certainly raise Yaakov up again, reminds us Rabbi Kluger.
On a much deeper level, Rabbi Zucker explains that there is no such thing as darkness, but rather two levels of light. The darkness that existed before the perceived light was of a higher level, so intense that it cannot be perceived by the naked eye. It must be hidden within the darkness and searched for. It is this light from which we shield our eyes when we recite the Shema. We must search for Hashem even in the darkness, today and every day, adds Rabbi Kluger.
The Shvilei Pinchas brings a deeply homiletic insight into our discussion. When Adam and Eve sinned and hid from Hashem, they heard the voice of Hashem Elokhim in the Garden. Focusing on the significance of the word היום/ the day in Avraham Avinu's declaration, Rabbi Friedman divides the word into its component letters, attributing the first two letters to be part of Hashem's four lettered Name, י-ה-ו-ה and the last letters of His Name א-ל-ה-י-ם, we spell היום/Hayom. That specific day refers to Rosh Hashanah, the day the universe was complete with the creation of Adam. When Adam sinned, he damaged creation, severing our connection to the Creator, removing God's immanence from the world. This repair is what we pray for and hope for daily/היום in our Amidah prayer.
With the consecration of the mishkan in the desert, Moshe declares that on this day, hayom, Hashem was seen by you, signifying that we had repaired Hashem's name. In fact, we read in Tehillim that Moshiach can come hayom/this very day, if we but hearken to Hashem's voice, that by doing so, we will repair Hashem's Names this day, with these letters.
Hashem desires the restoration of His Name. This is His constant battle with Amalek who desires to erase Hashem from the world. As long as Hashem's Name is incomplete Hashem's throne is incomplete, it is כס י-ה, missing the last two letters. Therefore we are commanded to erase Amalek's name and restore Hashem's honor and manifestation in the world. At that time both the heavens and the earth will rejoice, ישמחו השמים ותגל הארץ, as validated by the acronym in this verse, and His presence will be felt on earth as it is in heaven. Adam caused the initial rift, and Amalek wants to keep the separation.
Hashem's Name Elokhim can also be divided into an anagram of מי אלה/ who are these. It is these two letters, מ and י that were ripped from Hashem's Name that designates the God of nature. When Moshe approached Pharaoh, writes the Shvilei Pinchas, Pharaoh refused to acknowledge the God he could not see, the hidden God. מי/Who is this God? Therefore Hashem brought open miracles so that he would acknowledge Hashem. It is easy to see Hashem in open miracles; we are tasked with recognizing Hashem in the מי, in His hiddenness.
On Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the akeidah, even the sounds of the shofar we blow hint at the schism in Hashem's Name. In תרועה, the two letters that are part of Hashem's name are split apart, and we want to connect them again to the last two letters of שברים, we want to hear Hashem's voice again clearly on this day, היום.
It was on this day, of the Akedah, continues the Shvilei Pinchas, that the process of bringing Hashem's presence back down to earth from the seventh heaven began. It was seen, and it will IY"H be seen that Hashem is intimately involved in this world. When the Beit Hamikdosh will be rebuilt and Hashem's Name is reconnected, {IY"H soon] all will recognize His sovereignty on earth as well as in heaven. While we ask Hashem to remember hayom/this day with compassion, we are tasked with remembering the message of the akeidah every day. We must have complete faith that Hashem is always here with us. When things appear darkest, we must see the light of His countenance shining on us through that darkness.