The Choice of Avraham

This Torah class is brought [music] to you by tora anytime.com. >> Good evening everyone. >> Good evening. >> Okay, in this week's para we are introduced to someone, one of the greatest figures of all time. We're introduced to Abraham Au. Actually, in the beginning of the para, his name is not Abraham. His name is Abra. And every morning during we say in we say look at number one you are hem our God. You chose Abra. What does that mean? Hashem chose. What is that supposed to mean? He chose him. But there was a hat with a bunch of names on it and he picked out the name of what does that mean? We have to look into that. You took him out of and you made his name Abraham. You found his heart to be faithful to you. So we see we say every morning that Hashem chose Abra. What does it mean Hashem chose Abra? What is that supposed to mean? What does that mean? We have to ask ourselves. We're gonna do two questions. Ready? Two questions. Good. The first thing is the parish starts off comes to and he says leave your homeland. We have to ask ourselves who is anywhere else in Tanakh when Hashem speaks to a Na'vi first it gives you the credentials. It says let's say for instance found favor inem it tells you all about the it explains to you why this guy is worthy of speaking to him and then it says mean first it has to establish who is this person you know there are a lot of people in the world why did choose to speak to I'll tell you He's a good guy. He's a sadic. He's a he's this. He's that comes we know there 10 generations from right and so on and so on until you get to at the end of it lists there's a man named Tak had three sons. What were their names? >> A nar. Does it say one word about Aram? No. It said he married a lady called Sar. Anything about Har? No. He married a woman named Milka. So we have all these names. We have seven eight names. We don't know anything about any of them. And bang. Hashem spoke to Abra. Who's Abra? Say Abra's a sadic. He he is a TI. He walks with Hashem. He's the first person to discover Hashem first. Why does the Torah just jump into without telling you who is Ara? Why is Ara worthy of Hashem speaking to him? By it explains a whole thing, a whole bio, a whole biography. Who's then it says Hashem spoke to him? But why? It doesn't say one word. That's question number one. >> What does it mean? >> He chose Abra. >> Hashem chose Abra found him. >> Hashem chose Abra. >> Not that Abra found. >> No. So that's the first question. The first question is why does the Torah not say one word about Abraham was a sadic? He was a Tim. He believed in Hashem. Nothing. just straight into it. You don't find this anywhere else in the whole Torah. Yeah. Hashem speaks to Moshe. But you know why? Because he went out to be with his brothers who were being enslaved in Mitim. It gives you a whole bio about who is Mosha Rabenu took him after him. Who's Mosha? And then Hashem speaks to him. It tells you who he was. Then Hashem spoke to him. Not one word. Not one word. We don't know anything about him. We don't know if he's a sadic. He's a Russia. For all all we know is that his father was Tak. Why did Hashem speak to Abra and not? Why him not? Why him not? We don't know. Doesn't say. Plus, there is something so earthshattering that happened to Abra that the Torah does not make one word. Doesn't say one word about it. What does it say? What's the incident? We know that Ara was the son of Tara. What did Tar do for a living? >> He sold gkas, right? He sold idols, right? He had big idols, small idols with big noses, small noses, tall, skinny, fat, everything, right? If you'd ask, you know, how's business? Say, "Thank God." >> So, so that's what Tar did for a living, right? That's what Tak did for a living. And we know one day Tar tells Arab, I have to go on vacation. I'm going uh going to Florida. I'm going to Florida. Take care take care of my business. So, Aram takes care of the business. He takes a big bat. He smashes all the idols. comes home from vacation and he sees there's a bat in the hand of the biggest idol and he says, "What did you do to my idols? Not me. I didn't do anything. You see this big idol over here?" He took the bat. He smashed all the other idols. Said, "What are you talking about? This idol is made out of stone. It can't can't talk. It can't think. It can't do anything." So Ara says, "Why don't you listen to what you're saying? If you acknowledge that idols have no power, so why do you believe in them?" Says, "What do I do with you?" He brings him to Nimrod. Nimrod said, "We're throwing you in the fire." Abraham says, "Throw me in the fire. I don't care." They throw him in the fire. Miraculously, God said, "God himself." The angel said, "We're going to go save him." Hashem said, "No, no, this is not a job for you. Abraham is one in the world. I'm one in the world. I'll take care of this myself." Hashem cools off the fires. He saves Abraham. So, the question we have to ask, question number two is not did this happen. Of course, it happened. It's a medish. But why does theish not say one word about it? Not one word is mentioned in the whole. >> And why does the say it's left? >> Why does the sitter mention? >> The sitter doesn't say. All it says is Hashem took him out of a city called Orcazm. >> We don't he took him out. We don't know. It doesn't say exactly. >> We don't know the story >> from the medish the perk. >> How does they know? >> Hashem gave the Torah on a written law and an oral law. Every word of the medish was given on harina. The question is why was it omitted from the Torah? Okay, so here are the two questions. Number one, why does the Torah not say one word about who is Abraham, right? The Torah doesn't say who he was. It just says, it starts off. We don't know. We don't know. This is for this. I'm sorry. >> But right here. >> Um, so the first question is why does the Torah not establish give you the credentials of Abraham? And number two, why does it not say one word about Oracazm? How Abraham was miraculously saved from the fire? Okay. So the second question of why the Torah doesn't tell us about this miracle at ordan addresses. Okay. Look at look in the Ramban number two. By the way, the Ramban was born in 1194 in Garona, Spain. He eventually passed away in the year 1270 in Arat Israel. In the year 1263, he was summoned by King James of Aragon to dis have a disputation with the Dominicans and they debated. They debated. Damban was victorious. The king proclaimed Damban victorious in the debate. He awarded him 300 golden coins. However, the Dominicans began spreading rumors that we won the we won the debate. So, the Ramban for the sake of accuracy and history recorded the debate in a safer called safer. >> Was it a religious debate? >> Religious debate Judaism against Christianity. And the king >> Yeah. The king awarded the Ramban with a victory. He he rewarded him with 300 golden coins >> and the Dominicans started spreading rumors that no, they won the debate. So Ramban recorded the debate. The Dominicans took the safe, showed the king, look this is heretical. This is apostasy. This is against the church. The king said, "You're right. We got to get rid of him." So they summoned the Ramban. The Ramban said, "What do you want from me?" I didn't want to go to the debate, but the king, you told me I'll have freedom of speech. Doesn't matter. The Ramban was exiled from uh Barcelona from Spain. He had to go elsewhere. Eventually he came to Aris. >> Who was first? Him and Rabani grown up. >> They were contemporaries. >> They were in the same time. >> They were related according to that too. >> No. >> Did you get the the book in English? >> The I don't know. >> I don't know if they translated. >> I don't know. They may have. Okay. But in any event, look at the number two. This para did not explain anything. Why did Hashem tell him to leave and I'll benefit you with a benefit that no one was ever benefited with? In other words, Hashem tells Abra, "Leave your land and you know what? You'll have children. You'll have money. You'll have fame. You'll have everything. You'll have everything." Wh why why doesn't Hashem say, "Why? Why is Hashem offering him all this? The Torah doesn't tell you why Hashem offers Abraham all of this, all of these gifts. Normally, whenever the Torah says, "Hashem is going to give you good things." Hashem says, "Listen to my mitzvah. Follow the Torah and I will reward you." And here, Torah doesn't say one word about Hashem's telling Abraham, "Follow the Torah and I'll reward you. Just free gifts. Go there and I'll give you good stuff." >> So, Hashem doesn't tell him why to go. It doesn't say that Abraham was at Saddic. It doesn't say any good quality about Abraham. Just immediately, Hashem speaks to Abraham. So, I'll just tell you outside very quickly. Raman learns that the Torah purposely avoids, if you want to look at inside, you can see the third line from the bottom. The Torah doesn't want to say anything about the episode of Abraham being saved from the fire. You know why? Because what's the Torah gonna say? There was once a man named Abraham. He believed in one God. But there were these idoltors. They bow down to to statues with big noses and they they had big stomachs and they believed they were God. Well, the Torah is going to start telling you about some ridiculous belief that that other nations have. The Torah doesn't do that. Torah Torah, every word is sacred. It's going to start explaining to you what they believed. And Abraham said, "No, you're wrong. You're wrong." And they said, "No, we're right. We'll prove it to you because last night, you know, I had a headache and I went to the I went to my uh my idol and I dive into him and I was healed." So, what the Torah is going to start talking about this? No, the Torah is not going to lower itself to tell you what these nations believed, what kind of idols they had. So they said better to omit the whole thing. >> They still have it today. >> Torah doesn't want to discuss. Just like whenever the Torah speaks about idolatry, it doesn't get into what exactly they believe, what these idols were like. The Torah omits it completely. But still the question we have to ask, and this is a very fundamental question. Why when it comes to Abrau does the Torah not say one good thing about him? Not that he was a sadic. Not that by the way it says in pashah told us these are what happened in the heaven and earth when he created them and the says no don't read it beh the whole world was created in the merit of Abraham. And yet the Torah for some reason doesn't say he was a sadic. doesn't say he was the first person to believe in Hashem. Immediately, Hashem speaks to him. Why? Okay. So, you ready for this? This is such a beautiful thought. It's to come here just to hear with this one thought from the Mari Prague. Maral. Who is Maral? Maral was deoi Benal. Okay. Maral was born in the year 1526 according to many. Some say as early as 1512. He passed away in6009 and says Marel or read it inside. When Hashem chose Ara, it was different than when he spoke to Noah. When he spoke to Nyak, all Hashem was interested in was this. Okay. So why would Hashem speak to this individual? So the Torah has to say, well, this individual was a sadic. He was a Tim. He deserved it. When Hashem chooses an individual, that person has to be worthy. It has to be for a reason. Hashem doesn't just choose an individual for no reason at all. There has to be a reason. This person has to deserve it. But when Hashem spoke to Abraham, guess what he was doing? He wasn't just speaking to Abraham. He was choosing Clai Israel for all eternity. Abraham was our father. He was the beginning of Clai Israel. So when Hashem chooses to speak to Abraham, he's not just choosing that individual. He's speaking and choosing all of the Jewish people for all eternity. Why does Hashem choose us? So if the Torah would have wrote that Abraham was a sadic and Abraham was willing to be thrown into a fire for God and Abraham was the first person to believe in God and he made many converts and he was the greatest balet who ever lived. You know what we'll think? That's nice for our forefather Abraham. But what about us? Maybe we no longer deserve Hashem's relationship. Maybe we don't deserve Hashem's relationship anymore because we don't have and enjoy the same qualities that Abraham did. So therefore, maybe Hashem's love for us, if the Torah would have wrote that Abraham was a sadic, Abraham was deserving, then maybe we would think that's for Abraham. But what about his progyny? What about his descendants? Maybe we're not worthy. The Mishna Pavo says that there are two types of love. One type of love is you love someone for an external factor, right? You love someone because they look beautiful. Says the Mishna, if you love someone for a reason, as soon as that reason doesn't apply, you don't love them anymore. If you if you married somebody for their looks, so if they don't have it anymore, you're not going to love them anymore. If you married someone for their money, if they lose their money, there's no more ava. But if you love someone for some inherent quality that they have that's part of their makeup, then the love will last forever because you don't love them for something that they did or something that they have. You love them for who they are. The same thing with Hashem didn't love us because Abraham was a sadic. Abraham was willing to jump into the fire. You know why Hashem chose us? There's something about the makeup of Clal Israel that Hashem is love so much. not something that we do, not something that we have, but who we are. And that love will never end. And therefore, since when Hashem chose Abraham, he wasn't just choosing him. He was choos choosing all of Israel. The Torah is making it very clear. You know why Hashem chose us? Not for any specific reason. It's some inherent quality that every Jew has that you can't say it's because we're sadikim. It's because we have this quality, that quality. Hashem loves us for who we are, and therefore it's eternal. >> Why does he love us? It's an >> maybe we'll come to we'll explain it more. Let's read it inside. Really, it's a very incredible idea in number three. Let's take a look. >> Let's maybe we'll see. Let's look at it inside. This is a prag on the Mishna that says any love which is not dependent on something will last forever. Says you could say that which the Mishna says. Any love which is not dependent on something will never become nullified. Why do I need to know that a love which is not dependent on something will never become nullified? Is coming to let us know what hope and what confidence can we have in exile because you know after all Hashem expelled us from Israel. Could we really be sure that we still have Hashem's love? So the mission is telling us, yes, it's impossible for the love of Hashem to ever be nullified. The love that Hashem loves us, it's not dependent on anything. Since the love is not dependent on anything, the love will never become. It will never be nullified. How do I know Hashem's love for us is not dependent on anything? This is very clear. The says at the beginning of this week's parashem says to leave your land and asks in his commentary to the what do you mean hashem says to to who is he? Who is the Torah doesn't say who is that because of that righteousness spoke to him? Why doesn't the Torah tell you you know why Hashem spoke to him? Because he was willing to be thrown into the fire. All it says all it says is Hashem talks to him. Why? It would be more appropriate for the Torah to give an introduction. What kind of introduction say how great Abraham is in his righteousness? But for Hashem just to tell him to go and not say one word about it's like something's missing. Why would Hashem speak to him? We don't know anything good about him. So what do we see from here? Now maybe you'll say that's the Torah doesn't give credentials. The Torah is not a book of a biographical account of everybody's lifetime. No, but we know that elsewhere when Hashem speaks to other people, it tells you exactly who they are. Look, we will see when he spoke to Noah, he didn't just speak to him before this wrote in Noah found favor in Hashem's eyes. And then it wrote that Hashem spoke to him. The eight. Now don't say, "Well, maybe because the Torah had nothing nice to say about Abraham." What do you mean the Torah had nothing to say? They had plenty of nice things to say. He believed in God against the whole world. He was called Abraham. Why was he called Abra? Because the whole world believed one thing. He believed something else. There plenty of things to say about Abraham. One of the greatest people who ever lived. Abraham and by Abraham where there were so many things we could have said about him. Why wouldn't it say his righteousness? So listen to what he says. We're up to the word. We're going to explain the reason is Abraham is the head of our genealogy. In other words, who was the first Jew? Abraham. Hashem chose him now. But not just him. In Abraham, Hashem saw all future generations. And by choosing him, he was in essence choosing like the says in number one. You chose Abraham. Listen to this. If the Torah would have first wrote Abraham's righteousness, a person may think, >> you know why Hashem chose him? Because he's righteous, no, we're not. >> And it would be a love that's dependent on something. What was it dependent on? >> The righteousness. No. >> Or being thrown into the fire. That's why he didn't say anything. >> And now that his descendants are not righteous, so maybe doesn't love us anymore. But now that the Torah doesn't say one nice word about who Abra is, now we realize that there is some inherent quality of something about our makeup, our internal makeup that Hashem loves. Nothing to do with what we do. But now the man just let the cat out of the hat because it said the story of our costume. So now we know why Hashem loves Abra and not us. >> No, but the fact that the Torah specifically omitted something which should have been there, it's coming to >> many things especially or so Abra was was first first Abra found favor in the eyes of Hashem through Orum and then Hashem reciprocated. >> But that's not why Hashem chose him. That's not >> That's exactly what you're saying. No, >> cuz the first two questions you asked was how come it doesn't say how come it doesn't say anything about reconciles? >> No, it says both. >> It doesn't say it because that's not why Hashem chose him. Hashem chose him for his inherent quality, for Israel's inherent makeup. Even if we're not righteous. >> Say both. >> One second. >> Wait, just say both. >> Because other if it would say Abraham's righteousness, you would think that Hashem chose us because of his righteousness. And now that we're not righteous, Hashem doesn't love us anymore. So it purposely left out any good quality about Abra. >> So why did that Hashem choose Abra? [clears throat] for some inherent quality that he has. We'll see. Come one second. I'm sorry. Now that it doesn't say Abraham's righteousness teaches you, it wasn't for any particular reason. He chose them for their inherent quality. Okay, a very beautiful idea. The Torah doesn't say anything about who Abraham is. So that we shouldn't think that Hashem loves us because of a mitzvah we did or something we achieved. There's something about that Hashem loved and he chose >> maybe also because the Torah left it out on purpose so people wouldn't get let's say it's going to be like a few qualities described five six qualities people get attached to like well I'm like a like Muslims they're very hospitality is very high for them but at the same time at the end they can cut your head off. It's you know they feed you up to you know >> if the Torah would have said certain qualities of then we would focus only on that >> right so that's why probably was also left out >> perhaps perhaps that's another reason but here the moral is saying the Torah didn't want to say Abraham's greatness so you shouldn't think Hashem chose him for a particular reason now listen to this so what are we saying now that when Hashem chose Abraham was he just choosing him >> no >> no he was choosing Israel Okay, look at the second P in this week's par number five. Okay, I will make you a great nation. I will bless you. I will make your name great. You will be a blessing. Rashi says two explanations. What does it mean? You will have children because you'll be a big nation. What does it mean I will bless you? You'll be wealthy. What does it mean? I'll make your name great. You'll be famous. Okay, so that's a very logical explanation for the words. What does it mean? You'll be a great nation, many people. What does it mean? I'll bless you. Money, right? What else? And I'll make your name great. You'll be famous, says Rashi. Another >> one second. One second. >> One second. You know what it means? I'll make you a great nation. Look at Rashi. L Abraham. You know what it means? I'll make you great that the Jewish people in essay will say three times a day like hey you know what it means I will bless you. It means the Jewish people will say like hey you know what it means I'll make your name great. The Jewish people will say like hey where does Rashi get this from? Where does Rashi see in these words? What did Hashem say to Abraham? I will make you a great nation. He's saying you will be a great nation. So how does Rashi derive from there that we could that we're going to say right where do you see in these in this I'll make you a great nation. So we're thinking in our mind what does it mean to be a great nation a big nation a successful nation? No. Rashi says you know what it means we'll say what does it have to do with being a great nation? Okay, you have to realize anytime Rashi says any commentary on the sukim, it's not just Rashi heard an interesting explanation, he writes it down. It's because Rashi is bothered by a question and Rashi is telling you the simple meaning of the words. So Rashi feels the simple meaning of the words that you will be a great nation is that the Jewish people will say how how where does Rashi see that? Rashi is a commentary on Kish. There are dozens and dozens of commentaries on Rashi. By the way, in English, a commentary on a commentary is called >> a super commentary, right? A super commentary. The most prominent super commentary, one of the most prominent super commentary you have on Rash you have something called you have something called Gor which you have something called Mizrai. Now, nothing to do with the political party Misrai. The Misrai was lived in Turkey in Constantinople. He was born in 1450. He passed away in 1525. Okay? In the year 1500, the Misrai became the chief rabbi of Turkey. Now, just think for a second. We're talking the year 1500, we're talking about Turkey. What did he busy himself with as soon as he became chief rabbi? Well, what happened eight years earlier? 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain. Where are they going? >> Turkey. >> They're going to Turkey. They have no money. The Mizrai spent the greater part of a year collecting money for the absorption of the Jewish communities of Spain into Turkey. And >> where do you collect it from? >> Jews always have sources, you know. But listen, and he he writes in one of his responses, one of his chuvas that he was burnt by one of these Spanish uh um exile exile, >> that's not the correct word, but someone who was exiled from Spain because uh he the misra had a son Gon who one of the uh people who exiled from Spain got angry at him at the Mizrai and spread rumors about his son that he proclaimed one day the authority of Muhammad. They spread rumors about his son and if you accept publicly the authority of Muhammad and you don't practice as a Muslim, they'll kill you. So his son had to run away from Turkey and the Mizrai writes in great regret how he spent so much of his time helping out these people from Spain and he unfortunately was hurt by them. But listen to what the MRAI says. says, "Where does Rashi see in the words um I'll make you a great nation that the Jews will be able to say?" Look throughout Tanakh. Do you ever find Hashem associating his name with one individual? You ever say, did Hashem ever say, "I am Hashem. I am Hashem David." Never. It's always Israel because God doesn't associate himself with individuals. No matter how great you are, you're not worthy of Hashem's >> direct association. >> Uh with respect to the prayers, wasn't the prayers that we currently use uh not instituted officially till much later? >> Yes. But on the other hand, the garra says that Abraham was enacted and then the garra says well the I thought the anchor the men of the great assembly the last of the prophets enacted it. So what it means is they enacted the precise language but the main ideas were already enacted from the time of Abraham and this is one of the main ideas that we say Hashem is a god of Abraham. So the question is if it is true if Hashem only associates his name with people Israel and he does not associate his name with individuals Moshe. So how could we say in Abra I thought Abra's only an individual? No. What does Hashem tell Abra I will make you a great nation. In other words, you will be accorded the status of a nation. You are considered Israel. You You're one person. But when Hashem is choosing you, he's not just choosing you. He's choosing all of Kal Israel. So you have the status of Israel. >> But why? >> Because he's the father of our people. So he's considered in him is the whole future of Israel. So therefore we could say Abra is >> no because Abra is because since Abraham is the founder of our of our people he is already considered Israel and we're allowed to say Ara but I thought Hashem doesn't put his name on one person. Abraham's not one person he's >> so therefore one second when the says I will make you a great nation it means you will be a great nation you. Therefore, we could say that's what Rashi means. How does how does Rashi see in these words that you're allowed to say? Because Hashem is saying you're gonna be a people. Oh, you're a people. So, so you could say Yeah. One second. >> I heard an idea recently. Yeah. >> All Jew, there's no like one Jew. All Jews are connected. >> Yeah. >> Like I'm not you, you're not you. You're not him. All one. That's it. Like that's what I recently I don't know about how we but this is the same idea. No, here we're saying that within Abraham a father has a bunch of children but he within him he has all the the DNA of those children. >> Hashem is the DNA. >> So but in a certain sense or Hashem Hashem >> Hashem is not a human being >> but but he's the father of the Jewish people. >> But that's what we're saying. Abra is Abraham is Abraham. Yeah. >> We don't ser we don't worship >> but he's our father. >> I understand. >> We don't worship is the father >> in a certain sense. What does that mean? >> Whoa. Do you worship Abraham or you worship Hashem? >> You're getting very deep now. >> It's very simple. >> You worship. >> We don't worship Arab, but he's our father. He's our father. Abraham. >> Hashem is the father is Hashem, not Abra. >> What does that mean? >> I don't know. >> We'll discuss that. We'll discuss that. >> Another question. What about SC? >> Ah, so that's the next thing. What does it mean? I will bless you that not only are you accorded the status of a nation but will also be accorded that status. And what does it mean by not only but Jacob also meaning Hashem is saying that all of our the garra says you're not allowed to call Moshe Moshe a not it's an Hashem is giving this role of father only to Abraham and Moshe was very great. Mosha is the greatest person who ever lived but he's not considered our father. He is Rabenu. He's our teacher, but he's not our father. And to be a father, that means you are considered the Jewish people. Now, listen to this. Listen to this. Abraham come. What does Hashem tell Abraham? Leave. Leave. Can leave or leave. Come to Israel. He comes there. He unpacks his baggage. He goes to the mat. There's no food. No food. He goes to, you know, to to tower. no food. He goes to Aaron's no food there. What happened? There's a famine as soon he packs his bags and he goes to goes to Mitsim. There's no food in Israel. So, Hashem tells him basically uproot your whole life, right? Leave your family. Don't say anything to your friends. You have nothing to do with your family, nothing to do with your friends, nothing to do with your homeland. You come to Israel. He comes there. He can't live there. So, he goes to Mitsim. Rashi says it was a test to see here. Hashem tells him to come to Israel and and now it's uninhabitable. Is he going to start questioning Hashem? So according to Rashi weapon, >> according to Rashi, he was supposed to leave Israel, but the test was that he shouldn't question Hashem. The Raan says no, he should not have left Israel. He should have stayed there. What do you mean? There's nothing to eat. Doesn't matter. He should have had and Hashem. Hashem will provide for him. Look in the Ramban in number seven. Ramadan says his leaving the land that he was commanded to go to because of the hunger. It was a sin. Abraham sinned according to the Ramb by leaving. God will God will come up with a way to say to feed him. Let me ask you a question. If you live in Israel, are you allowed to leave? >> Nope. >> Not allowed to leave. >> Only in the old city. You're not allowed to leave. >> You're not allowed to leave. If you live in Israel, you're not leave. But but there are various hat, right? There are a lot of hat. What are they? >> Businessa to learn Torahim. All kinds of, right? What about if there's a famine, you're allowed to leave? Yeah. The Rambam says if there's a famine, you're allowed to leave Israel. So how could the Raan say that Abraham sinned by leaving Israel? You're allowed to leave if there's a famine. What's the sin? Let me ask you a question. If there's a famine in Israel, an individual is allowed to leave. Could the Jewish people in mass say, "Look, there's a famine. We're packing out. We're uh we're deserting the land." Jewish people can't do that. Individual could do that. Clau can't do that. Abraham was not an individual. Abraham was Abraham was accorded the status of the Jewish people. for him to leave Israel. It was like the Jewish people in mass forsaking the land. Therefore, it was a sin for him to leave the land because he's not an individual. He is kali. So, he's accorded the status of the Jewish people. >> Repeat that. >> I'll tell you after one more thing. Two more things. Abraham comes to Mitim and he looks at these guys. They were what Rashi says. They were black. >> Thank you. >> Rashi says they were sworthy. They were ugly. They never they don't they don't know what it means to be beautiful. And if they would lay their eyes on Sara, you know, it wouldn't be good. It wouldn't be good. So Abraham says, "Look, if they think we're married, they're going to kill me and and take you. So do me a favor. Tell them you're my sister. This way, you know, they'll do with you whatever. You know, there'll be nothing holding them back, but at least I'll live." >> Why don't you run away? At least I'll live. >> Why don't you agree to go there? Understand? >> It's a very dangerous. >> Okay. So, Abraham says, "Just tell them you're my sister. They'll live with you. Okay, they'll violate you, but at least I'll live." >> Now, one second. >> Abraham's life was on the line. Are you allowed to sin to save your life? >> No. >> Absolutely. If somebody comes to you and says, "You see this piece of pig over here? Eat it. Otherwise, I'll shoot you in the head. What do you do? >> You eat the pig. >> Come back. >> You eat it. >> Take the pig and throw it in the face. >> Relax. You eat it. >> Yeah. >> Right. You're allowed to do an a to save your life. What if somebody says either go commit adultery or I'll kill you. What do you do? >> You die. >> You die. What if somebody says, so that means basically you're not allowed to commit adultery to save your life. What about to save someone else's life? Well, if you can't do it to save your own life, you certainly can't do it to save someone else's life. So, how is Sorah allowed to just go tell the we're not related. Do with me whatever you want. She's basically committing adultery to save Abraham's life. How is he she allowed to do that? So, there's a similar issue was presented to the Huda who's land one of the greatest authorities of all time 1713 to 1793. Okay. He's direct descendant of Rashi and he was presented with the following question. Listen to this. Question was a group of robbers came to the city with the intention of killing everyone and violating the women and there was one woman there beautiful woman and she says you know what let me try to seduce the head bandit. I'll you know smooth talk him and I'll distract him. I'll live with him and the rest of the people will escape. Is she allowed to intentionally commit adultery to save the rest of the city? So the NHuda says this question was posed to one py and they said yes. Yes. And the proof is what do you think Esther did? >> Esther goes to willingly she lives with him for the sake of saving. So we see you're allowed to commit adultery to save >> Jews. So in this case also she should be allowed to seduce this guy to save the city. says, "This pisc is making a big mistake because Esther, you know why she was allowed to do it? Because she was saving the entire Jewish people. She was saving Clai all the Jews. >> One second. >> But to save the city, there are only 100 inhabitants in the city. There only 100 inhabitants. Just to save a 100 people, you can't commit adultery to save 100 people. When are you allowed to do it?" To save Cli Israel, Esther was allowed to do it. Why was Sarah allowed to save Abraham by saying she's my he's my sister? Because Abraham is not an individual. >> Wait a second. Wait, >> this is like you know >> all the Jews back then lived in in in Iran. >> No, they lived everywhere but they were all under there they were under the says there are four kings Shamalipa that ruled over the whole world had dominion over every inch of the world. Gomorrah says, "And therefore her intention was to save every Jew. To save all of Clown Israel, you're allowed even to commit adultery to save the Jewish people. To save a few individuals, you're not allowed to." So I heard from Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, >> who is was a great rabbi in London, passed away a number of years ago. >> Streamed >> that I don't know that. Why was Sara allowed to commit this offer herself in adultery to save Abraham? Because Abraham's not an individual. Abraham's not one person. Abraham is clal Israel. The same way Esther was allowed to offer herself to save the Jewish people. Sora could offer herself. What do you mean? Abraham is just one guy. No, we say Ara. How can we say Ara? I thought Abraham's only one person. No, he's not one person. He is the Jewish people. He has the status of the Jewish people. >> Okay. Now, let's just end off with this. Why did the Torah not tell you anything good about Abraham? Right? What do we say? So that you shouldn't think Hashem chose us for a specific reason. Hashem's love for us is unconditional. Says the Raala the exact opposite reason, but it fits. I'll tell you after who is he? >> What is it? What's the mean? >> It's a he mean in English. >> The reward for the bride. >> Okay. >> He says like this. >> Sorry, we don't have time to read everything inside, but he says like this. more time. >> You know why the Torah doesn't tell you that Abraham was thrown into the fire? Cuz you might make a mistake and say, "Here, Hashem comes to Abraham." He says, "Leave your homeland." What does Abraham do? Books the next flight. He's off. Abraham says, Hashem says, "You know, you waited 100 years to have a son. Go kill him." What does he do? He wakes up early in the morning for the vas and he goes to do it. Everything Hashem says, damn, he does it right away. Well, why does Abraham love Hashem so much? Oh, I know why he doesn't really love Hashem, but he owes him big time because when he got thrown into the fire, Hashem came to pull him out of the fire. So, we might say Abraham's not such a good guy. He's indebted to Hashem. Hashem saved him from the fire. You may think Abraham's love for Hashem is dependent on something and it's not altruistic. It's not pure. No. The Torah says, you know why Hashem Abraham is listening to Hashem? Nothing to do with the fact that he saved him from the fire. It's pure. It's not dependent on anything. You know why Abraham loves Hashem? Because he recognizes that God created the world. It's not dependent on the fact that Hashem saved him. So it works both ways. Abraham's love for Hashem, it's unconditional. It's not because Hashem saved him. It's because he recognizes Hashem's greatness. And the other way also, Hashem's choice of Kalisol is not dependent on our righteousness. It's also for our inherent value. So the love between Hashem and it's not dependent on anything. Abraham loves Hashem purely because he's the creator of the universe. Not because Hashem helps him out. And Hashem loves Abraham not because of Abraham's righteousness, not because of the Jewish people's righteousness, but because of some inherent quality. And we're going to explain what is that inherent quality. The inherent quality is our nishama is a divine piece of Hashem. It is so pure. There is nothing closer to Hashem than a Jewish nama. And that connection between a of Hashem, which is an Hashem himself, it's a relationship that it's not dependent on anything. Why is metal and a magnet? It's attracted to each other because it's from the same properties. Hashem and it's made out of the same material. It's not dependent on anything. It's naturally connected. And therefore, what do we learn from this week's param? We don't know anything about Abra because Hashem doesn't choose him for a reason. Hashem chooses him for no reason. And Abraham doesn't choose Hashem for a reason. Abraham recognizes also Hashem's inherent value. You've just experienced [music] another Torah class brought to you by tora anytime.com.