ספר בראשית

Having explained this, we can now understand a ‎statement by the sages [Tanna D'vei Eliyahu 25] ‎according to which every Jew is to critically examine his ‎‎mitzvah performance by asking himself; “when will I attain ‎the level of serving G’d demonstrated by the patriarchs Avraham, ‎Yitzchok, and Yaakov?” On the face of it, this seems to be an ‎impossibility, as some of the commandments performed by the ‎patriarchs are so unique that they can never be emulated in the ‎true sense of the word! [Avraham’s offering his son Yitzchok on ‎an altar, for instance. Ed.]Our sages did not mean for this ‎statement to be understood literally. They meant that our ‎‎mitzvah performance, instead of being based primarily on ‎our having seen our mentors performing the commandments, or ‎in some cases, performing the commandments almost as a reflex ‎movement, should be based on the kind of thoughts that ‎prompted the patriarchs to perform these acts. Once we try and ‎relive what must have gone through Avraham’s mind before he ‎performed these commandments, we will have attained the ‎proper frame of mind to perform the same acts, and it will be ‎accounted as if we had done no less than the patriarchs did. ‎‎[Some of these words are mine. Ed.]Having said this, we can ‎now better understand why G’d before carrying out judgment on ‎the wicked people of Sodom and district, felt that He had to take ‎Avraham into His confidence, i.e.‎