Group None

"And after these events, God tested Avraham, etc. your son, your only one, etc. Do not move your hand, etc., for now I know that you are one who fears God and have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me, etc. And an angel of the Lord called to Avraham, a second time, from heaven, etc." (Genesis 22:1-16): We need to understand, in these holy verses, first about the repetition of the words, “your son, your only one.” And [even though] they have already expounded about this, ‘the words of the Torah are like a hammer, etc.’ (understood to have different possible explanations). Also about its stating, “now I know that you are one who fears God” - did He not know it up until now? And also the verse, “And Avraham called the name of that place, the Lord will see; about which it is said, etc.” (Genesis 22:13) - all of this needs explanation. However it is hinted here as will be explained: Behold it is known that the trait of Avraham was kindness and mercy [with] which he shined and enlightened the service of God, to serve Him with great love and to bring down kindness and mercy upon the world. And all his relief and his sole desire was that the rod of chastisement not be waved and that [God’s] angry face not be shown to the Children of Israel and not to make them scared or frightened in the least way at all. And he served the Creator, may His name be blessed, with this trait all of His days. But when the spark of his son, our father Yitzchak’s light began to sparkle - peace be upon him - he chose for his service to Him, may He be blessed, to serve Him with awe and fear, to know that there is judgment and there is a Judge, and to be in awe of, and fear, the attribute of [strict] justice - the opposite of the trait of our father, Avraham, peace be upon him. So when our father Avraham, peace be upon him, was commanded to bind his son and to slaughter him, his intention was in two directions. The first was to fulfill the commandment of his Creator, the statute of the King and His decree, as He commanded him. The second was that he thought in his mind that His will, may He be blessed, was to eliminate the trait of Yitzchak from the world, which was the service of God from awe and fear. But nevertheless, “the two of them went together,” with one heart and with joy. [As] even though our father Yitzchak mastered the service from awe, nevertheless when he saw, according to what he thought and what he knew, that the intention of God, may He be blessed, was to concur with the trait of our father Avraham, peace be upon him, he was quick and hurried to do the will of his Maker with a full heart. So that is the intention of the Scriptures, when it stated that the angel said to Avraham, “do not move, etc.” That you should not completely eliminate the trait of Yitzchak from the world, “for now I know that you are one who fears God.” Meaning to say that now, in binding your son to slaughter him, modeling the will of God to completely eliminate the trait of Yitzchak, [it has become clear] that you were afraid of the trait of strict justice, which is “God” (the Hebrew word associated with that aspect of God), so as not to scare and threaten the Jewish people. And that is because you are afraid of “God.” To this He said, “I am not with you in this, to concur completely with your opinion. Rather the trait of justice is also required in the world, in order that they should be frightened from the trait of justice and, through this, to cause them to repent from their [improper] deeds. However the harshness will be sweetened in its root, and mercy will be brought down, so that the main administration of the world will be with the trait of mercy.” And this is [the meaning of] His saying, “and you have not withheld your son, your only one.” Meaning, you have not withheld your son, which is the trait of Yitzchak. [As] it will not be completely eliminated, so that it can be known that there is judgment and there is a Judge, so they will repent. Likewise the explanation of, “your only one (yechidcha),” is about the righteous ones (tzaddikim) who merit to have [five levels of soul, culminating in] the yechidah (singularity) - and the yechidah comes from the world in which there is no aspect of male and female, in which there is unity, in which there is no judgment at all; and that is why it is called singularity. So that is His saying that your yechidah, which indicates mercy, will also exist in the administration of the world. So the service of God will be through both of them, awe and love. And that is why Avraham took a ram and brought him up as a sacrifice instead of (tachat, which can also mean below) his son. It is exact, as it is to sweeten restriction by way of the slaughtering of the ram below his son, Yitzchak. “Avraham called the name of that place, the Lord will see (yireh, which is spelled the same as yirah, the word for awe)” - as he also conceded that He needs to be feared, to also serve God from awe; “as it is said [to] this day, On the Lord’s mountain, He will be seen (homiletically, will be feared)” - the explanation of which is that by repenting out of fear of the Creator, may His name be blessed, restriction will be sweetened and mercy will be aroused for the world. And there, ‘awe’ is spelled fully, which indicates mercy.