Converting into a Zechus | Rabbi Alexander Charlop

We say in davening, And remove the Satan from before us and from behind us. “From behind us” tells us about one of the strategies of the Yetzer Hara, when we're down, when we've fallen, when we've stumbled, to try to convince us that is who we are, that's where we are, that's who we are in truth. There’s a powerful insight from the story of the Akeidah. The Akeidah starts off And it was after these things, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu challenged Avraham Avinu. The Rashbam says, Whenever it says “And it was after these things”, it is always connected to the Parsha immediately preceding. What was the Parsha immediately preceding the Akeidah? That was the incident with Avimelech, Avimelech and Pichol, the commander of his army, that Avimelech made a treaty with Avraham Avinu. He said: If you will deal falsely with me, or my son, or my grandson. Avraham Avinu agreed to that treaty. Says the Rashbam, “And it was after these things,” Hakadosh Baruch Hu was very upset at Avraham Avinu. What are you doing? I'm giving you Eretz Yisroel and now you're making treaties with Avimelech? What's going on? And he says a very strong expression. נתגאיתה בבן שנתתיו He says: Now you're proud of having Yitzchak, having a son, that you're making a treaty for the legacy that comes out of you? לך והעלהו לעולה Go and put him up as a burnt sacrifice, ונראה, and we'll see what happens with all your בריתות, with your treaties. Comes out from the Rashbam that the Akeidah was really a punishment. And he speaks it out clearly. He says: ניסה (He tested), is from the root of מסה ומריבה (testing and quarreling). It's an expression of being punished. And from here we can take an unbelievable moral. Avraham Avinu is down. On his level, he has stumbled. He did a treaty that Hashem would not have wanted. And now Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells him, Take your son, your beloved Yitzchak Avinu, that everything is going to come from. Offer him up as a burnt offering, kill him. And Avraham Avinu doesn't fall for the Yetzer Hara. He doesn't say: I messed everything up. I botched. It's all over. Avraham Avinu rises to the challenge and says: Hakadosh Baruch Hu, if that's what You want me to do, I'll do it. And he converts that punishment, that low position that he was in at that moment, into the greatest lesson for generations, the greatest merit for Klal Yisroel, for all future generations, the merit of the Akeidah. Every time the Yetzer Hara tries to get us, tries to say, This is where you are, you’re down already. Forget it. You're lost. It's all over. Remind ourselves, Go offer him up as a burnt offering. We can even take that, even that terrible predicament, and convert it into the greatest merit possible.