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Orchard of Delights
(the Festival of Unleavened Bread), whereas we refer to it as Pesach,
quite literally “pass over.” God chose to stress the unleavened bread
the Jews ate because He wished to honor their faith in Him. They
left Egypt and followed Him into the wilderness with only the most
basic of necessities, namely matzot (unleavened bread). On the other
hand, we wish to honor God by naming the holiday Pesach, after
God’s “passing over” our houses on the night the first born were slain
(Ohel Shlomo, Introduction, p. 10).
Clearly the commandment of lech lecha – to search deep within
ourselves – was not merely given to Abraham alone. All of his
descendants are constantly challenged to find God in the innermost
recesses of their souls and simultaneously serve Him in the everyday
world by studying Torah, fulfilling the mitzvot, and performing acts
of kindness. Indeed, Isaac his son, understood this message as the
verse tells us that “Isaac sowed in that land and he found in that
year a hundred fold, and God blessed him” (Genesis 26:12). Following
Abraham’s death Isaac was blessed a hundred fold, a number
symbolic of the lech lecha process his father had undertaken. After
receiving this blessing, he began to re-dig the wells that Abraham
had dug and the Philistines had buried. After many attempts, Isaac
finally succeeded in uncovering the wells. Isaac’s revelation of the
living waters hidden in the earth is an external manifestation of his
attempt to carry on the traditions of inner spiritual searching and
action inititiated by Abraham. Our inner search provides us with the
strength to express our ultimate potential in the physical world, and
our expression of this potential, through the observance of Torah
and mitzvot, further enhances this inner revelation. (This insight
was discussed in Seeds and Sparks, pp. 239-243.)
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Toldot 24107-EYAL - 24107-EYAL | 3 - B | 18-01-28 | 12:12:04 | SR:-- | Cyan
At the Akeidah, the binding of Isaac by his father Abraham, an
archetypal exchange of spiritual energies occurred. To perform God’s
command, Abraham had to transcend his definitive characteristic
of chesed, while Isaac had to go beyond his fundamental attribute
of gevurah. As a result of undergoing this test, each learned how
to integrate the other’s form of spiritual energy and, consequently,
both reached entirely new levels of consciousness.
Chassidut finds this spiritual process alluded to in our verse: Isaac
is the son of Abraham, as he now contains an aspect of chesed too,
while Abraham is now able to “give birth” to the aspect of Isaac –
gevurah. Kabbalah and Chassidut refer to this holistic dynamic as
inter-inclusion, a highly-developed stage of spiritual growth.
The difficulty that both Abraham (in his relationship with Sarah)
and Isaac had in conceiving children can also be understood on a
mystical level alluded to by the necessity of inter-inclusion referred
to in this verse. As mentioned above, Abraham and Sarah were not
destined to have children in a natural way. Only Divine intervention
and a new state of consciousness represented by God changing their
names enabled them to overcome nature and give birth to Isaac.
In contrast, Isaac’s obstacle to conceiving children was spiritual,
not physical. Although Isaac was able to have marital relations his
deep inner essence of introversion prevented him from conceiving
children. Only after fully integrating a portion of Abraham’s aspect
of chesed at the Akeidah was he able to give in such a way that
he could have children. “Abraham gave birth to Isaac,” thus means
that Abraham imparted to Isaac the ability to give birth.
From these teachings, we learn the importance of going beyond our
basic inbred natures so as to make room for and validate character
traits wholly inimical to us. By allowing these opposite attributes in,
we provide ourselves with the opportunity to give birth to new levels
of self and to fully actualize our potentials. Some of life’s hardest
tests are specifically in this area. Yet, just as Abraham and Isaac
were able to pass their respective tests, so too, we, their descendants,
can pass ours.
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