English translation — וירא ג

1.

In connection with the test of the Binding,

which was the center¹

of the "Ten Tests

(which)

Abraham our father was tested"²,

the Gemara says³,

that what the Almighty said to Abraham "Take⁴

<b>now </b>your son etc.'",

is a request,

means to say: "I tested you with several tests and you withstood them all, now stand for Me in this test, so that they will not say there is no substance in the first ones."

One must understand: What is the reason that if Abraham had not withstood the test of the Binding, they would have said "<b>there is no substance </b>in the first ones"?

This would only mean that his self-sacrifice is not as much as the test of the Binding demands; but from this there is no proof,

that all the earlier tests,

which Abraham withstood,

have no substance in them⁵

! And especially since the test of the Binding was a most difficult test⁶.

B.

In the entirety of the portion of the Akeidah,

that it is "the entire merit of Israel and their merit before their Father in heaven,

and therefore it is fluent in our mouths in our prayer all day"⁷,

it is known⁸

the question:

Why do we mention "always the binding of Avraham of Yitzchak,

more than the binding of all the chassidim and holy ones who gave themselves over for the sanctity of Hashem,

such as Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues and all the holy ones who are in every generation"⁹?

And especially since by Avraham it is "Hashem spoke to him 'Take now'",

as opposed to the "holy ones who gave their souls for the sanctity of Hashem even though Hashem did not speak to them"¹⁰.

And the answer is not sufficient,

that to sacrifice one's own child, may G‑d protect us, is much harder and deeper than to sacrifice oneself, may G‑d protect us¹¹

— because also in a much later generation there was the well-known test of "Channah and her seven sons"¹²,

as she herself said¹³

: "You

(Abraham)

bound one altar

one [sacrifice] and I bound seven altars"¹⁴

; and similarly afterwards in the times of religious persecution, may the evil be remembered, there were cases when Jews sacrificed not only themselves, may G‑d protect us,

but also their children etc., as is known¹⁵.

3.

The Sefer HaIkkarim¹⁶

explains,

that the novelty of the Binding of Isaac consisted in that "no aspect of compulsion whatsoever was mixed into the act of the binding,

for even the commandment of the Blessed One did not compel him,

and this matter our Rabbis, of blessed memory, explained¹⁷

on the verse¹⁸

"The Lord will see, etc. Abraham said before the Holy One, blessed be He: 'Master of the Universe, it is revealed and known before You that at the time when You said to me, "Please take your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and bring him up to Me as a burnt offering," I could have said, "Did You not already say to me, 'For through Isaac will your seed be called'?"¹⁹

and I did not say so, but I suppressed my mercy and did not question Your attributes,

from which it is understood explicitly that even from the aspect of the commandment of the Blessed One, Abraham was not compelled, since he could have excused himself from it with a true claim if he had wished."

explains why it says here "Take &lt;b&gt;please &lt;/b&gt;etc." — an expression of request,

because it was a request,

not a compulsion]

But this is not the case with the holy ones,

who sacrificed themselves for the sanctification of the Name in the generations afterwards — they did this

From the aspect of the &lt;b&gt;command &lt;/b&gt;of "And I will be sanctified among the children of Israel"&lt;sup&gt;21&lt;/sup&gt;.

But this is not a sufficient explanation.

Because

that it is forced to say,

that if "I could say etc." because as a request it is not necessary: when the Almighty Himself &lt;b&gt;asks &lt;/b&gt;for something

(and even in a manner that one can "bargain" with it)

it is a "necessity",

and especially by Abraham our father — is]

Also among the holy ones mentioned above,

there were those whose self-sacrifice for the sanctification of the Name was not connected with an obligation and commandment of the Torah; and on the contrary — they needed to seek a permission according to Halacha for this,

and as is known the discussion about this²²

whether one may sacrifice oneself for that which according to the law is "transgress and do not be killed".

4.

It is known the explanation of this,

which is brought in Chassidus²³

The achievement of Avraham Avinu consisted in this,

that he was the &lt;b&gt;first&lt;/b&gt; who withstood the test of mesirus nefesh,

that the beginning of every matter is most difficult,

and in the well-known expression&lt;sup&gt;24&lt;/sup&gt;

"All beginnings are difficult."

But after Avraham &lt;b&gt;opened&lt;/b&gt; — opened the channel of mesirus nefesh,

there was drawn into the world the power for

mesirus nefesh&lt;sup&gt;25&lt;/sup&gt;,

and therefore it is afterwards much easier,

since one only needs to bring it out from potential to actual&lt;sup&gt;26&lt;/sup&gt;.

It is however not understood:

The matter of actual mesiras nefesh was drawn through Avraham Avinu even earlier than the trial of the Akeidah — at the trial of Ur Kasdim²⁷,

when Avraham stood up with a mesiras nefesh to eradicate all kinds of idolatry and publicize G-dliness in the world²⁸,

until — as the Rambam also brings it in his book

(Yad)

the laws²⁹

— that "the king sought <b>to kill him </b>and a miracle was performed for him."

— Further: the test of "Ur Kasdim" contains in itself,

apparently,

yet an advantage over the test of the Akeidah,

because

The test of the Akeidah was according to the word of the Most High

("Hashem spoke to him")

; but not so the test of Ur Kasdim —

And since the matter of the Akeidah was not the first instance of mesirus nefesh

(and even not by Avraham himself)

— then the difficulty returns to its place: wherein lies the unique quality of the test of the Akeidah?

Heh.

One will understand this with the introduction of the explanation in the novelty that is in the matter of mesirus nefesh in general:

from the explanation³⁰

that Avraham opened the <b>pipe</b>

(a thing that brings water etc. from place to another place)

of mesiras nefesh <b>in the world</b>,

it is understood,

that without this there is no existence of mesiras nefesh in the world.

The explanation in this: mesiras nefesh means nullification of the entity and existence.

A created being means — the Creator has <b>created</b> an entity and existence.

It is understood that a created being can

(by its own power)

not reach above existence³¹,

and as per "a prisoner cannot free himself etc."³².

Therefore one must have a power "from another place" — to be able to reach mesiras nefesh.

And at first glance it is puzzling: we find this matter of mesirus nefesh also among the nations of the world

that

also a ben Noach is commanded regarding kiddush Hashem].

There were several cases

(to distinguish)

when they allowed themselves to be killed because of their beliefs³⁴

and opinions etc.³⁵

And it can be explained, the reasoning in this&lt;sup&gt;36&lt;/sup&gt;

The very fact that a person is ready to give up his life for the ways of the Most High,

is still not clear that this is the <b>true</b> essence of

(mesirut nefesh and)

nullification of self-existence.

It could be,

that he is sacrificing himself because according to his intellect and calculation it turns out for him,

that this is more worthwhile to him than remaining alive,

he will <b>gain</b> a greater thing.

And a mesiras nefesh that is entirely founded on "calculation,"

as above,

can be

(to distinguish)

also among the nations of the world — namely,

he thinks that through "mesiras nefesh" <b>he</b> will gain,

it will <b>come to him in reality</b>; or in the negative: if he will not attain a certain matter, "why should he live,"

like the example of a leaf in his heart³⁷,

competitiveness and especially — with a king³⁸

etc.

The true matter of mesiras nefesh is,

that one gives over the "nefesh,"

the "I" — one gives oneself over entirely to the Supreme One,

a giving over and giving that is above all manner of calculations of intellect

or emotion and the like; one is completely nullified to the Above,

in a manner that one's own existence takes up no place at all.

6.

And one may say,

that <b>in the revelation</b>

(without any doubt)

in the world, this was the achievement and elevation in the test of the Akeidah relative to the test of Ur Kasdim:

The self-sacrifice in Ur Kasdim consisted in this — that Avraham gave himself over to self-sacrifice for the publicizing of faith in Hashem in the world,

and therefore it could be a ks”d “in the world” that the mes”n was according to &lt;b&gt;holy calculation&lt;/b&gt;: his conviction in the necessity of to illuminate the world which was immersed in darkness&lt;sup&gt;39&lt;/sup&gt;

was with such strength,

until that he did not reckon with any hinderer,

he gave himself over to self-sacrifice for it*&lt;sup&gt;39&lt;/sup&gt;

But not so the matter of the Binding

(&lt;b&gt;from its own perspective&lt;/b&gt;)

did not possess,

any other thing,

only that “you are a fearer of God” and therefore Avraham gave himself over to self-sacrifice;

There was not even the matter of publicizing in the world how deeply one must be devoted to the Supreme One,

because

(as the Ibn Ezra says⁴⁰)

"At the time he bound his son, even his lads were not there"⁴¹.

And on the contrary,

as discussed elsewhere⁴²,

it was,

at first glance,

<b>in contradiction</b> to the matter of publicizing His G‑dliness, may He be blessed, in the world: by raising Yitzchak up as an offering, "the mainstay that Avraham planted" would have been "uprooted"⁴³,

and the matter of publicizing G‑dliness in the world would have had no continuation, heaven forbid]

The entire matter of mesiras nefesh of the Akeidah was only — because the One Above &lt;b&gt;wanted&lt;/b&gt; and &lt;b&gt;asked&lt;/b&gt; for it&lt;sup&gt;44&lt;/sup&gt;,

and therefore Avraham did it.

And in this consisted the accomplishment of the test of the Akeidah which Avraham Avinu withstood: the Akeidah-mesiras nefesh was in a manner,

that it had completely no rationale in intellect,

it is nothing other than the will of the Holy One Blessed Be He,

and consequently — utter nullification of self-existence&lt;sup&gt;45&lt;/sup&gt;.

7.

According to all the above, it is also understood what the Gemara says "that they should not say there is no substance in the earlier ones":

If Avraham, heaven forbid, had not withstood the test of the Akeidah,

one would

could mean that "they will say",

that he withstood the earlier trials because they were in accordance with his intellect of holiness,

but self-sacrifice literally,

the essence and actuality of the soul — is

(at least)

I do not know⁴⁶

Through that he withstood the trial of the Binding,

it proved retroactively that also the earlier trials he withstood with actual self-sacrifice,

with full surrender and ultimate self-nullification⁴⁷.

8.

This is also the explanation in that which the “opening of the pipe in the world” regarding mesiras nefesh is at the test of the Akeidah,

and not through the test of Ur Kasdim:

“Opening of the pipe” regarding mesiras nefesh is,

that Avraham Avinu bequeathed to Jews the actual power of mesiras nefesh — <b>true</b> mesiras nefesh,

until that this is the true will of every Jew,

“with your willingness” literally⁴⁸.

Therefore,

when a Jew gives himself over (mesiras nefesh) for the Almighty,

even in a manner that externally one might think that it is with calculation —

is this truly

(not a mesiras nefesh according to calculation,

but)

actual mesiras nefesh,

a Jew gives away his entire reality⁴⁹

to the Above,

beyond all calculation,

like the test of the Akeidah.

Until as the Alter Rebbe brings in Shulchan Aruch⁵⁰,

that "it is good to say every day the passage of the Akeidah etc. and also to subdue his evil inclination to serve the Almighty like Yitzchak gave his soul."

At first glance: how can one compare the service of every Jew "to subdue his evil inclination

To serve Hashem, to that which "Yitzchak gave his soul",

which was mesiras nefesh with utmost perfection,

as above?

Rather — because through that which Avraham opened the channel for actual mesiras nefesh,

is every service of a Jew,

who is indeed the seed of Avraham,

a son and heir of Avraham — an heir of the congregation of Yaakov "to subdue his evil inclination to serve Hashem as Yitzchak gave his soul": it is exactly as if Avraham leads him to the Akeidah,

because this is the true will of every Jew to give himself over literally to the Most High.

Shabbos Parshas Mattos-Masei 5735)