Rabbi's Blog

One of the most intriguing parts of my job as a pulpit Rabbi is the diversity of tasks I address daily. There are relationships with old, young, new, married members, single members and non-members. There is a daily regimen of personal learning, private one-on-one learning and giving of classes. Every Rabbi attends three tefillos a day: shacharis, mincha and maariv and carefully oversees them to create a positive, beautiful prayer experience. Another side to the job is teaching a few classes during the week at the local Jewish high schools which gives me an opportunity to meet and help other teens beyond the walls of Beth Jacob. The list goes on, but in order to contend with all of the micro details of each part of my day it is necessary to write down a task list for that day which very often carried over to the next day.

Friday is by far the longest task list of the week, because it includes all the details involved with getting ready for Shabbos. In reality, every task is a mitzva in the preparation of Shabbos.  Once in a while (actually rarely) I find myself actually completing the task list and I think I have more time for leisure on erev Shabbos. It recently dawned on me that whenever I finish early and have extra time on my hands, it means one of two things: either I forgot to do something (another mitzva opportunity) or invariably something out of the blue comes up unexpectedly- another form of a mitzva. This is also the case when I try to get ahead of myself by facing things I know I will need to do and take advantage of using that rare bit of spare time.  Then, something out of the ordinary pops up such as forgetting to buy cookies for the Kiddush or, far worse, having to conduct a funeral.

I started thinking about this phenomena and contemplated the following: Do things pop up because I have the extra time, or did Hashem gave me the drive and the push to finish other things early so that I will be able to take care of unplanned or unexpected needs? I can’t imagine how I could accomplish the extra last minute needs if I also had to take care of the daily tasks. What came first: the out of the ordinary extra work or the work that allowed yet one more task to be introduced?

The old Jewish/Religious cliché’ “Hashem gives a test to someone who He knows has the ability to pass.” If we truly believe in this then whatever comes our way, no matter how, when, where ,or what, if we identify it as a Nisayon, a test, then we should be able to perform and accomplish the task.  In Pirkei Avos 3:15 the Mishna states: “V’HaKol L’Phi Rove HaMaAseh” “and it was all according to the action”. Some of the commentaries place this statement on the Passuk in Parshas Vayera 22:1 “V’HaElokim Nissa Es Avraham…. And God tested Avraham”. Everything depends upon how the person reacts to the situation. Avraham Avinu, when tested with the Akeidas Yitzchak, acted with the utmost faith a person could have. The action of Avraham was measured according to his inner kavana and intention. One may ask what was the inner Kavana at the time, what was Avraham Avinu thinking during this last test?

Before we answer this question, we must point out a few other details. The test officially only targeted Avraham and not Yitzchak, although one could argue that the test was at least equally challenging for Yitzchak, if not more so. Rav Eliyahu Ki Tov in his Sefer HaParshios explains the concept of a Nisayon, what we commonly translate as a test. The purpose of a teacher’s exam is to determine if the student knows the material. As a current part-time teacher and a former full-time teacher, and as any teacher will tell you, they know which students know the material and which do not before the exam, based upon what they see in class. But they are not able to determine how well the students will perform on the test because it all depends upon how much they study. When it comes to God, He obviously KNOWS what you know; the test is not to determine knowledge but rather to see how the person will deal with that test of life. The man may pass or fail, but that is not necessarily what the test is truly about. In actuality, the test measures how man goes about addressing the issues that test requires of him. It addresses the person’s attitude and belief in Hashem.

Although the Midrash enumerates ten tests that Avraham was put through, only a few of them are actually mentioned in the Torah itself. Nevertheless, of all ten tests only this last one, the Akeida, is called “Nissa”. This description does not appear with the previous nine. The distinction between the first nine and the last one is that the Akeida was completely out of character, so to speak of Hashem to command a father to sacrifice his son. The first nine tests were ordinary, logical types of things that happen in life that everyone is accustomed to. The last one did not make any sense whatsoever. Hashem put Avraham to the tenth test in order to make the miracle that much greater.  Through the tenth test, Hashem showed the world Avraham’s greatness and dedication to God. Avraham at this point was so close to Hashem that it wasn’t even an ordinary test, it was something Hashem knew from the outset that Avraham would pass. As Chazal teach us, the test was designed show the angels the greatness of Avraham’s dedication. 

We are each tested all the time whether it’s related to family, religion, work, learning etc. The ordinary tasks on the “to do” list are similar to the nine tests of Avraham. Those are the obvious ones that we do in good faith because they are the ordinary ones. If we train ourselves to do the ordinary, then when faced with the extraordinary we will have trained ourselves to easily pass the test as though it were not really a test at all. If we are able to view the daily tasks that are often associated with mitzvos, Hashem will decide whether or not we passed the test by scrutinizing whether we worked through the test happily or regrettably. When we do the nine out of ten happily and willingly, then the last one, as difficult and challenging as it may be, won’t even be considered a test in the eyes of that individual.

Avraham Avinu set the bar for his children not necessarily by what score he got on the test but on the attitude and approach by which Avraham came to come close to Hashem.  We too should follow the guidelines of Avraham to take the challenge of the  test with the notion of getting close to Hashem., That way, any challenge which comes our way  will be met with the fortitude and determination of passing our own type of Akeida.

Ah Gut Shabbos

Rabbi Avraham Bogopulsky