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Orchard of Delights
2
aim of the ten trials was not simply to prove Abraham’s belief in
God, but was even more importantly God’s way of helping Abraham
achieve greater self-knowledge and deepen his faith.

In keeping with the somewhat cryptic principle that “the actions
of the fathers are a sign to the children” (Sotah 34a), Chassidut
explains that Abraham’s tests apply directly to each one of us as
we journey through life. Whether in a conscious, subconscious, or
superconscious manner, each thought and action of the patriarchs
and matriarchs paved the way for each Jew in every generation.
Therefore it is crucial for us to understand the import and nature of
these stories.
Rashi explains that in commanding Abraham to go to “the land
which I will show you,” God promised him that doing so would be
enesisnesisnesis
e e
“for your own pleasure and your own good; there I will make you g g g g g genesisenesisenesis
תי ִשׁא ִשׁא ִשׁאִִשׁא
תי ִשׁא ֵר ְבּ ֵר ְבּ ֵר ְבּ ֵר ְבּישׁא ֵר ְבּ ֵר ְבּ
into a great nation; for here you will not merit having children, and
more than this, I will show your nature to the world.” While the
Torah, until this point, has not mentioned it, as will soon become תי תי ת תי
clear, the central dilemma in Abraham and Sarah’s lives was their
inability to have children. The mystical tradition teaches that on a
spiritual level their intimate marital unions created the souls of all
the future converts; however, according to the laws of nature, they
ereishitreishitreishit
e e
were not destined to have children. This was in essence their greatest b b b bb bereishitereishitereishit
trial and inner struggle.
How might this inner struggle apply to Abraham and Sarah’s
descendants? Bringing children into the world symbolizes bringing to
fruition our deepest latent potential; in fact, one might even say, that
in having children, human beings achieve the ultimate manifestation
of lech lecha – “going to yourself.” This is alluded to by the fact that
the numerical value of lech lecha is 100, and Abraham was 100 years
old when Isaac was born. In a certain sense, only when Isaac was
born did Abraham finally fulfill the command of lech lecha on both
its physical and spiritual levels.
As an aside, it is important to note that the number 100 and its
square root, ten, play a significant role in Abraham’s story. The
Kabbalah suggests that the squaring of a number represents its
completed state. Thus, one could relate to Abraham’s successful

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