YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
*********************************************************

READING MIDRASH
By Rav Ezra Bick

Shiur #18: Akeida III - The Aftermath

	We shall continue with the midrashic discussion of the akeida for one more week (and, to tell the truth, there is enough fascinating material in the Midrash Rabba for several more weeks, if we did not want to move on). Today's shiur will examine two midrashim that deal with the aftermath of the akeida, one on a national level, and one on a personal one.

A. Pity and Self-control

"Avraham called the name of that place "God-will-see." 
R. Yochanan said: He said before Him: Master of the Universe, when You said to me, "Take your son, your only son," I had a proper retort - Yesterday You said to me, "For in Yitzchak shall your seed be called," and today "Take your son" ?!? But God forbid I did not do so! Rather, I repressed my feelings of pity in order to do Your will. May it be Your will that when the children of Yitzchak shall behave badly and sin, that You should remember the akeida for them and be filled with pity for them. (56,10)

	This midrash is, I think, not so much discussing Avraham's feelings after the akeida as delineating a real result of the akeida - the act of Avraham serves as a special merit for his children, specifically as a cause of mercy and pity on God's behalf. We are familiar with this idea from one of the central prayers of Rosh HaShana, the conclusion of the middle section of the musaf prayer, zichronot.

And may the binding (akeida) which Avraham our father 
bound Yitzchak his son on the altar
and he repressed his feelings of pity 
to do Your will with a perfect heart
appear ("yeira'eh" - be seen) before You.
So too may Your mercy repress Your feelings of anger from us.

	The basic idea is clear. Avraham's willingness to carry out the akeida becomes the basis for mercy for his descendants, something the sight of which arouses in God mercy and pity. What is interesting is the nature of the parallelism - Avraham REPRESSES his own feelings of pity, and THEREFORE God shall have pity of His own and repress his anger. The parallel is not between pity and pity, but between repression and repression. The meaning of this is clear, I think, from the introduction to Avraham's request of God in our midrash. Avraham mentions that he had a proper and valid retort to God's command of the akeida. So, when he represses his sense of pity, this is not referring merely to the human emotional sentiment but to the moral quality of mercy (which is what the Hebrew "rachamim" means), which is itself one of the attributes of God. Because of his loyalty to God, even though he could have argued with God with justification, he repressed his own rights and demands and gave in to God. So too, he prays, God should repress His just anger, even though God can easily justify it, for it is deserved, and let mercy reign. Avraham is not asking God to reward him, but - incredibly - to act like him, to exhibit the same psycho-ethical trait of waiving one's just claims and intellect for the sake of the other.

	This is a particular kind of repression, or self-control. We usually think of self-control being used to repress undesirable and immoral traits, even if they are somehow understood, such as anger or annoyance. Here, self-control is used to repress morality (or at least, Avraham's feelings of morality) when Avraham knows that God's claim on him is greater than his right to rely on his own logic of morality. That self-abnegation of Avraham's autonomy, which is the most precious thing Avraham as a moral being possesses (as we discussed in the previous akeida shiurim), is the basis for the demand that God waive His own autonomy, as it were, and repress His claims of what is due Him from Avraham's descendants.

	This approach of course emphasizes the moral difficulty of the akeida.  If Avraham genuinely believes that he has the moral right, and perhaps the moral obligation, to refuse to carry out the akeida, then why in fact does he comply? The answer, as we explained in the previous shooter, is that in light of a direct command from God, Avraham must accept the moral superiority of God to his own moral intellect.  Why, you may ask him, should God behave the same way, since there is no reason for God to accept Avraham's morality superiority? The answer is that God is indeed not obligated to behave in that matter, but Avraham is placing his LOYALTY to God as an attribute which is worthy of being rewarded by God exhibiting His own loyalty to the Jews in a similar matter, namely by repressing His moral demands. The fact that God's moral demands are undoubtedly just whereas Avraham's moral demands are presumably not just (in light of God's contrary command) does not change the fact that Avraham has the right, the God-given right, to follow his conscience and moral understanding. His accepting God's command as greater is due to his personal relationship with God and is an expression of his loyalty and love; hence it is right that God should reciprocate.

B. Jerusalem

Avraham called it (the mountain) "yir'eh," as is written, "Avraham called that place 'God shall see (yir'eh).'"
Shem called it "Shalem," as is written, "MalkiZedek king of Shalem ..." (Gen. 17).
God said: If I call it "Yir'eh," as Avraham called it, the righteous man Shem will be upset.
If I call it "Shalem," the righteous man Avraham will be upset.
Therefore I will call it Yeru-shalem, as they both called it; Yir'eh Shalem - Yerushalayim.

The midrash assumes that we know that the location of the akeida was the future location of the Temple.  Avraham names that spot "Ha-Shem Yir'eh, meaning "God sees." According to the midrashic interpretation of the meeting of MalkiZedek with Avraham in chapter 17, the city of MalkiZedek, which is Jerusalem, is called their Shalem. The midrash explains the name "Yerushalayim" as the combination of the two names, yir'eh-shalem.

	This type of name-forming is quite rare, especially since the midrash appears to be going out of the way to include Shem, the son of Noach. But the significance of these two figures, Avraham and Shem, is quite clear.

	Avraham, of course, is the father of the Jews. More importantly for us, he is the father of a kind of relationship with God based on particularism, as opposed to universalism (We discussed this in an earlier shiur.). Within Avraham's heritage, only Jews are included. His Jerusalem is the seat of God "who sees" the particular fate of the Jewish people, a place where we know his descendants will come three times a year on holidays rooted in Jewish history.

	Shem, Noach's son, is, for the Sages, the archetypical righteous gentile, the father of those members of humanity who will serve God and follow Him without being part of the Jewish tribe. That this is not meant to symbolize a second-rate role is clear from the midrashic concept of the "yeshiva of Shem and Ever," a place where both Yitzchak and Yaacov go to study. MalkiZedek, identified by the midrash as Shem, is described in the Torah as a "priest of the Most High God." Our midrash parallels the two personalities equally. Jerusalem, the seat of God, becomes the seat of the God of Avraham and the God of Shem. Even more pointedly, the perfection of Jerusalem (shalem = perfect) is the contribution of Shem rather than Avraham. This is the Jerusalem described in Is. 56,7: 

I shall bring them to My sacred mount, and gladden them in My house of prayer; their offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer to all peoples.

God is not willing to accept a Jerusalem that would not include the input of both, and so the Jerusalem we know is created. 

C. The Cycle of History

Another interpretation: It teaches us that God showed him the Temple built, destroyed and built. 
As is written, "The name of that place, HaShem Yir'eh" - this is built, as is written, "Three times a year you shall be seen ("yeira'eh").
"As will be said today, on the mount of God" - destroyed, as is written, "on Mount Zion which is desolate."
"God will see" - built and perfected in the future.

	Avraham has reached, at the pinnacle of his career, the crest of Mt. Moriah, the site of the future Temple. Long ago, when he first reached the Land of Canaan, the Torah said that he was "going and travelling southward" (12,9). The midrash there explains what "travelling and going" (halokh ve-naso'a) means:

He was imagining and going, aiming for the Temple (49,15).

	For sixty-five years he has been travelling, aiming for a place that does not yet exist outside his imagination, and finally he has arrived. At the climax of this dramatic moment, after sacrificing a ram in place of his son, standing on the place he calls "God will see," Avraham SEES the future of his goal in life -built, then destroyed, then built. In one flash, he basically sees all of Jewish history. 

	The powerful image of the Temple, built, destroyed, and built, is not given to Avraham as a reward after the akeida. Rather, it would seem to be an insight. The experience of the akeida is what finalizes Avraham's status as an Av, a forefather. That is expressed first of all by the previous midrash, where Avraham ties the fate of his children to his performance of the akeida. Our midrash is even more striking. Since Avraham is the father, the progenitor, he literally sees all his children's history in the area most important - the success of his mission, which is symbolized by the Temple, for which he had searched all his life and finally reached in its potential. Having himself "built" the Temple in his natural life through the akeida, he perceives the fulfillment of that dream in a vision.

	This makes the cyclical nature of the vision all the more poignant. For Avraham not only sees the fulfillment of his dream, but also its destruction. Although "ma'ase avot siman le-banim" (Avraham's life predicts the history of his descendants), the line of success will not be straight. Avraham, in his moment of triumph, is aware of this and sees the destruction of the Temple. (Of course, he also is granted the vision of its rebuilding.) He knows that the future is not easy or simple, although he is assured of the eventual success.

D. Retirement

	If Avraham truly becomes an "av" in the fullest sense only now, the akeida also marks the end of the road.

"The angel of God called a second time and said: I have sworn...."
What is the need for this oath? 
He said to him: Swear to me that You will not put me to the test any more.
This is like a king who was married to a lady. She bore him a child and he divorced her. A second child and he divorced her. A third child and he divorced her. When she bore him the tenth child, they all gathered and said to him: Swear that you will not divorce our mother again. So too, when Avraham was tested for the tenth time, he said to him: Swear that You will not test me any more. (56,11)

	The akeida was the tenth of the trials to which Avraham was subjected. By stating that Avraham was tested TEN times, the midrash is basically defining Avraham's life as a series of trials. Indeed, the first of the ten trials is the command to go to the Land of Israel (" a land which I shall show you") which inaugurated Avraham's spiritual career. In our midrash, Avraham is basically resigning from that career. Having passed the last trial, he receives from God a promise that there will be no more trials. In fact, the only story left to be told in Avraham's life is the burial of his wife and the arrangement for Yitzchak to begin his career, and this despite that Avraham lived for another forty-five years. The midrash even defines this lack of subsequent trials as a special blessing given uniquely to Avraham.

"And Avraham was old, rich in days, and God blessed him with ALL."
R. Levi in the name of R. Chama said: "With ALL" - that He did not return and test him again. (59,7).

	Avraham has passed this test, but he knows that any subsequent test will be even more difficult, more wrenching. If life is a series of tests, each one builds on the next. Avraham has experienced something in the akeida that makes him unwilling to continue, and God agrees that he will live on and enjoy the fruits of his labor without having to undergo more tests. But that, of course, means that his career as an av is over, and so, in this moment of triumph, when he has truly become the father, he begins to pass on the mantle to Yitzchak. The period of the father's is not over, there is more work to be done, more foundations to cast, and since Avraham can no longer contribute, necessarily Yitzchak must take over.

"After these things, Avraham was told: Behold, Milka has also born children to Nachor your brother."
He was still on Mount Moriah and he was already informed that the mate of his son was born - Behold, Milka has born children. (57,1-2).

	The avot are always man and wife. If Avraham is retiring, Yitzchak must marry so that there will be avot and imahot, fathers and mothers. Avraham is still on the mountain, but he has already tended his resignation. God informs him that all is ready for the next chapter in Jewish history.

-----------------------------------------------------

We are now leaving the life of Avraham and moving on to Yitzchak, a very different personality.

For the next shiur:
65,10
65, 5-9