BS"D PARSHAS VAYERA By Yitzhak Kolakowski -------------------------------- MOST HOLY SACRIFICE -------------------------------- When the Mezritcher Maggid was ill, and cold, the 36 hidden tzaddikim would come to make a fire for him, to keep him warm. No simple person could make a fire to warm such a person who was himself so, so warm, always. Once, the Baal HaTanya, the Alter Rebbe of Lubavitch, and a chossid of the Maggid, saw two of them preparing the fire for his Rebbe. It was the week of parshas Vayera, and they were discussing the parsha of the Akeidah. One holy, hidden tzaddik said to the other, "I don't understand what a huge test the Akeidah was for Avraham Avinu. If HaShem revealed Himself to me and told me to sacrifice my son, I'd surely do it." The other tzaddik answered, "Of course you would, you had a father, Avraham, who taught you to." Reb Shlomo Carlebach, zt"l, explained that whenever we sacrifice something for HaShem, we only do it because we had a father, Avraham, who taught us. (Source "What Our Father Abraham Taught Us" by Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach) ---- The Medrash tells us that the horns of Avraham's ram were taken up to heaven by angels. The horns were made into two shofars. The left horn was the shofar announced Matan Torah, while the right horn will be the Shofar Gadol - heralding the coming of Moshiach. ---- Dear friends, we all have and do in our lives things which don't exactly give HaShem naches. These aveiros also do a lot of damage to ourselves and those people and things which we really love from a true, deep place. These yetzer hara'lach don't make us happy. In Koheleth says, "He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver" (Ecc. 5:9). We might find a fleeting pleasure in these yetzer hara'lach, but we will never really be happy. In fact, we often do wrong because of atzvuth, depression, chas veShalom. We think that these things will aleviate our depression, but rather we find ourselves sinking deeper and deeper into this trap. We become stuck, just like the ayil, the ram, in this week's parsha. "And Avraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him there was a ram caught in the bushes by his horns. And Avraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for an oleh instead of his son." (Gen. 22:13) Know! The satan wants you to think that these yetzer hara'lach are caught in the bushes by their horns. He wants you think that there is no way to get them unstuck, they're a part of you, there is no hope. This is mamash atzvuth, real depression, which is one of the Yetzer Hara's strongest tools. But know! HaShem has given us an incredible gift! "From out of the place where I was stuck, I called upon HaShem; He answered me by HaShem freeing me." (Ps. 118:5) All we have to do is call upon HaShem, and he will free us. But He wants something from us, for us. In His abundant love, HaShem wants us to be elevated. When Yitzhak Avinu was up on the mizbeach (altar), we were all there on the mizbeach. You, and me, and our families, and Moshe Rabbenu, and David HaMelech, and the Rambam, and the Moshiach, and every little Jew, every son and daughter of Yitzhak Avinu, every holy Jew, all of whom we love so much from the deepest depths of our souls, we were all there inside of Yitzhak Avinu, waiting to be born some day. We were all on the mizbeach, as an oleh to HaShem. What is an Oleh? An Oleh is described as a 'burnt offering', but literally, and oleh is something which elevates, which raises up, which all goes up to heaven. The Mishnah in Zevachim calls the oleh, "kodesh kodoshim", a "most-holy" offering. Wow! Every one of us is called "most holy". The Seforim also say that the oleh is to atone for the sin of doubting HaShem. The oleh removes all doubt. Just the same, every little Jew removes all doubt about the existance of HaShem. It's mamash a miracle that there are Jewish people, if you think about our history. You, and every Jew, are only here, and who you are, because of a huge miracle that Hashem made as a chesed to the world. Klal Yisroel proves there is a HaShem. Klal Yisroel removes all doubt. We are an Oleh, the most-holy. HaShem doesn't ask us to sacrifice that which is closest to us. He is not asking us to sacrifice our 'only son'. Yet we often sacrifice those closest to us to do aveiros, and we distance ourselves from them, from holiness. Why would you want to sacrifice those things closest to you, your 'only son', unless HaShem asked you to? Hashem instead asks you to sacrifice that "ram" stuck in a bush, instead of your "son" - those closest to you. Friends, if HaShem revealed Himself to you and asked you to sacrifice the most important thing in the world, your only son, you certainly would, just like in the above story. We all have a father Avraham who taught us to. We certainly would follow our father's example. But HaShem doesn't ask us to sacrifice our first born son. HaShem asks us to sacrifice only those things which are harming us and those closest to us, INSTEAD OF THOSE CLOSEST TO US. "And he offered it up for an oleh INSTEAD OF HIS SON." The place in your heart where you rid yourselves of these harmful things will be called HaShem-jireh, for HaShem will see you, and you will see HaShem there. And this ram, he too became an Oleh, a most-holy elevation offering. By sacrificing them, you can even make those yetzer hara'lach into the most-holy oleh offering, something that can elevate you to the highest levels. And those very parts of these things which got you stuck in the thorns will be taken up to heaven by HaShem's holy angels. What's left of them will announce the greatest revelation of HaShem, while what's right in them will herald true freedom; true, holy, universal, G-dly peace; and bring Moshiach, really! May we all learn from our father Avraham to really sacrifice for HaShem, in truth. May HaShem see us and may we see Him in all! May HaShem soon sound the Great Shofar to our freedom!