פרשת וירא
Chazal teach us in Pirkei Avos (Chapter 5 Mishna 3) that God tested Avraham Avinu with ten trials in order to portray his love for Avraham, and Avraham successfully withstood all ten trials. The tenth and final test is mentioned in this week’s Parsha. Towards the end of the Parsha, we are told of Hashem’s commandment to Avraham to sacrifice his beloved son whom he waited for almost a century. Clearly this was the most challenging of all the tribulations. In fact, Rashi comments that had Avraham not withstood this test, all the people of his generation would have said that the first tests which Avraham withstood were not for the sake of heaven. I would like to explain what was so unique about this test that there was so much emphasis put on it.
Furthermore, after Avraham successfully passed this test, Hashem tells him that now it has become clear that he truly fears God. One would have thought that Avraham’s actions portray his love for God more than his fear for God. We know that love is a higher level of service then fear, and self-sacrifice is usually something that one does out of love more then out of fear. Why then did Hashem testify about Avraham that he now fears God?
R’ Leib Chasman dwells on this difficulty and offers a very interesting resolution based on the Yerushalmi in Sotah (5; 5). The Yerushalmi says that one must act out of love and one must also act out of fear. The commentaries on the Yerushalmi explain that when one is not in the mood to perform a Mitzvah, he needs to employ his trait of love for God in order to arouse himself, and when one has the urge to rebel against God love will not help him, and he therefore needs to employ his fear of God to prevent him from rebelling. We see from this interesting Yerushalmi, says R’ Leib, that one needs to constantly possess a deep level of love and fear for God at all times in order to apply the appropriate emotion which is required to serve God at any given time. Some times fear is not appropriate and will not help a person, and some times love will be of no use to him, but together, these two emotions will allow a person to serve God fully on a consistent basis.
With this understanding, concludes R’ Leib, we can now gain insight as to why Avraham Avinu was labeled as one who fears God at the end of this difficult ordeal. When one has to sacrifice his son, this is a time of great personal sorrow and anguish, and there would be a strong possibility that Avraham might feel a slight resentment toward God for this commandment, which would be a rebellion toward God. By Avraham successfully emerging from this trying time, he portrayed that he truly feared God more then anything else.
I once heard a different possibility which also explains why Avraham’s withstanding this trial specifically demonstrated his excellence in the attribute of fear of Heaven. The Midrash says that the Satan appeared to Avraham hoping to dissuade him from his holy mission. The Satan said to Avraham, “You foolish old man. Didn’t God say to you that your progeny would be extended through Yitzchak? How then can He command you to sacrifice him? You must be mistaken!” Avraham replied that it was not his job to try to understand God’s ways, but rather to perform God’s direct command, and surely the answer to this apparent contradiction would be eventually revealed. From this incident we see what a servant of God Avraham truly was. A servant does not need to understand his masters reasoning, he merely heeds his masters will to perfection, regardless of whether or not it makes sense. This type of servitude can only come from true fear of Heaven. Only if one’s fear of Heaven is galvanized will he be able to do God’s will even though he cannot comprehend the correctness of God’s will at the time. This is not necessarily true when it comes to love. One could love somebody but still feel confused by their actions. However, when one possesses an authentic fear, one would not even question the will of the one who commands him. We too must serve God in such a way, with unswerving dedication, even if we don’t always understand God’s reason for doing what He does.
The Holy Sefarim bring down an amazing concept. They say that each and every one of us is tested with our own ten trials during the course of our lifetime, just as Avraham was. They may not be on the same caliber as Avraham’s were, but nonetheless, the degree to which we perform during these ten trials will determine our place in the world to come. The Slonimer Rebbe explains that these trials will be very difficult for a person to successfully overcome because very often during these trials, Hashem removes our ability to think rationally or to reason properly due to the suddenness with which these trials can come upon us. But in order to succeed, a person must foster during their lifetime strong feelings of Heavenly fear so that when these trials come upon a person, he will be able to negotiate them properly, always remembering that his first and foremost responsibility is to follow the ways of the Torah, even if he doesn’t understand them at the time or he feels temporarily conflicted due to the power of the temptation or pressure that he is under.
May we merit to foster a true fear of Hashem and to properly serve Him in all circumstances!