ספר בראשית

Genesis ‎22,12. “He (the angel) said to him: ‘do not touch the lad, ‎and do not harm him in any way;’….for now I know …and you ‎have not withheld your only son from Me.” We need to ‎examine why in this verse the word ‎ממני‎ has been added, as well ‎as why this word is omitted when G’d speaks about the oath He ‎has sworn to Himself in verse 16. Before answering these ‎questions, let us look at Shabbat 63 where the Talmud ‎states that ‎כל העושה מצוה כמאמרה אין מבשרין לו דבר רע‎, “when ‎someone performs one of G’d’s commandments in accordance ‎with its halachot, one (heaven) does not sadden him by ‎informing him of bad news. The Talmud bases this on ‎‎Kohelet 8,5 ‎שומר מצוה לא ידע רע‎, “he who will obey the ‎commandments will know no evil.” The word ‎כמאמרה‎ in the ‎Talmud poses a problem. The Talmud means that both study of ‎Torah and performance of the commandments must be based on ‎one’s desire to carry out G’d’s wishes. If one studies Torah to pass ‎an exam, this is not accounted true Torah study. If one blows the ‎‎shofar on New Year’s day in the synagogue, however ‎expertly, but in order to earn the fee one has been promised, the ‎promise that such people will be spared bad news is not ‎applicable.‎Furthermore, even having performed the mitzvah ‎according to the halachah and exclusively in order to fulfill ‎G’d’s wish, one must not congratulate oneself for having carried ‎out one’s Creator’s wishes and have pleased him. If one thinks ‎along these lines, one’s performance of the commandment will ‎not please the Lord.‎It is related in Chagigah 15 that it happened once that ‎Rabbi Yoshua ben Chananyah (one of the leading scholars in his ‎time) was standing on one of the steps leading up to the Temple ‎Mount, [the Temple had already been destroyed, but the Mount ‎had not yet been levelled by the Romans, Ed.] when he saw ben ‎Zoma in front of him, and the latter did not rise in ‎acknowledgment of the presence of his teacher. Rabbi Yoshua ‎asked ben Zoma what subject he was so deeply immersed in that ‎he had not noticed the presence of his teacher. The latter replied: ‎‎“I was contemplating the significance of the difference between ‎the “upper waters,” and the “lower waters,” (Genesis 1,7) and he ‎had discovered that the distance between them was only three ‎fingers’ breadth.” He claimed that the proof was founding Genesis ‎‎1,2 where the spirit of the Lord is described as hovering above the ‎surface of the waters.” He considered the word ‎מרחפת‎‎, used by ‎the Torah there as describing the act of “hovering” as a reference ‎to a pigeon hovering above its young without touching them. ‎Upon hearing this, Rabbi Yoshua commented to his other ‎students: “ben Zoma is still on the outside.” He meant that ben ‎Zoma had not yet become privy to hidden aspects of the Torah. ‎‎[The reader will note that ben Zoma, in spite of sayings of his ‎being quoted in the tractate Avot, is never referred to as “Rabbi.” ‎Ed.]We learn from this passage that even if a person performs ‎the commandments in a manner which affords G’d satisfaction as ‎the worshipper had reduced himself to negating earthly concerns, ‎this does not automatically mean that he has attained the level of ‎awe of the Creator that would overcome him when he enters the ‎palace of a King. He may have attained the awe that a visitor to ‎the King’s palace experienced when entering the vestibule of the ‎palace, but not the awe that overcomes people who enter the ‎inner sanctum of the palace. The closer the visitor approaches ‎the presence of the king, the more profoundly will he be ‎impressed with the aura of glory and power surrounding his ‎majesty. Recognition of this obligates him to prostrate himself, ‎this act being an expression of his being aware how totally ‎inadequate anything that he had done to honour his king really ‎was.