זוכים להמשיך בדרכו של אברהם אבינו • פרשת וירא | הרב אליהו ובר

This week we are reading the Torah portion Vayera. In the portion of Vayera, it is written three times that Abraham rose early in the morning. The first time, after the overturning of Sodom, "Abraham rose early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord." The second time, " Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, placing it on her shoulder , along with the child, and sent her away." The third time, "Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled..."" ...his donkey, and took his two young men with him." Three times our forefather Abraham rose in the morning; for what purpose did he rise in the morning three times? One time, to the place where he had stood before the Lord. The Gemara says: Our forefather Abraham instituted the morning prayer, as it is said: "Abraham rose early." In the morning, to the place where he stood before the Lord. From there we also learn that one must establish a place for prayer; we learn laws of prayer from there. Our forefather Abraham goes to pray, a continuation of the prayer he prayed the day before, that Sodom would not be overturned if there were ten righteous people there. After it became clear, after the angels came to conduct an inspection, that there were no righteous people there, it was now possible to overturn Sodom. Now, our forefather Abraham prays even after—sometimes, people think that if a prayer is not answered, one should no longer pray, that there is no need to continue praying. Our forefather Abraham prays, that is "Abraham rose early in the morning" once. The second is "Abraham rose early in the morning" to send away Ishmael, and the third to take Isaac to Mount Moriah. The Gemara derives from "Abraham rose early in the morning" that the zealous are quick to perform commandments. There is a concept that the zealous are quick to perform commandments. Where does it learn this from? From "Abraham rose early in the morning." Now, there are versions in the Gemara in Pesachim where it is written that "Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey." So they learn it from the Binding of Isaac. But...In most manuscripts, and there is no source that it is exactly from there, and both were commandments from the Holy One, blessed be He. There is: "Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar." God also told him to send away Ishmael, so where do we learn from? There is " zealous ones are quick to perform commandments," so I thought: Perhaps at the Binding, the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded it directly; from there we learn that the zealous are quick for Torah-ordained commandments. And on the other hand, regarding Ishmael, God did not tell him the principle of "expel Ishmael," He told him: "Whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice." Meaning, from here we also learn about Rabbinic commandments. The rest of the matters. >> Whatever is entrusted to the Sages, in this too, the zealous are quick to perform commandments. In any case, we learn one thing from this, and this is the end—let us conclude with this: that we learn a very important thing: why do we rise in the morning? To pray the morning prayer, to go to Mount Moriah, to banish Ishmael. So one must know that today we truly merit that many people have come here, so one must know that this idea of rising in the morning, going to Mount Moriah to pray the morning prayer, and this thing being one of the effective ways for the banishment of Ishmael from the Land of Israel—all three together—this is the continuation of our forefather Abraham. May we merit, may the Holy One , blessed be He, help us to continue to be a continuation of our forefather Abraham in all his good qualities. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, may we merit to be their successors, amen, may it be His will.