ז ויאמר אליו אני ה’ אשר הוצאתיך מאור כשדים לתת לך את-הארץ הזאת לרשתה
ח ויאמר אדנ”י ה’ במה אדע כי אירשנה

“7 And he said to him, I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.
8 And he said, Lord G-d, how shall I know that I shall inherit it?”

What CHUTZPAH!

How could it be that Avraham, the first person who, though living amongst the practitioners of every form of idolatry imaginable, came to a recognition of the One, True G-d who is a Absolute Unity of all things;  how could such a person receive a direct promise of inheritance from such an Awesome and Absolute Master/Creator, and then ask “how shall I know that I shall inherit it?”!

We would like to suggest that the next verse not only clears up the apparent contradiction, but also opens a whole new world of direction in life and Divine service:

ט ויאמר אליו קחה לי עגלה משלשת ועז משלשת ואיל משלש ותר וגוזל”:”

“9 And he said to him, Bring me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat,

and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

The very nature of the process of Avrahams’ G-dly revelation precluded any kind of doubt of Hashem’s word.  As part of that process, Avraham had come to understand that Creation was a “multiverse”, consisting of physical, spiritual and G-dly dimensions which had reflections and signs of, in their counterparts.  That meant in our verses in question that Avraham accepted in full confidence that Hashem would fulfill his promise; however his question was “how will I see this commitment which you have already manifested in the upper dimensions, according to your Word; begin to manifest in the physical world?  G-d then answered him with a series of signs and symbols which, through comtemplation and action upon, he could begin to understand the process of the revelation of the fulfillment of His Promise.
G-d wants us to Seek Him and signs of Him and His influence in Creation.

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To whom does Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi address his magnum opus of Jewish mysticism The Tanya?:

“שמעו אלי רודפי צדק מבקשי ה’ וישמע אליכם אלקים למגדול ועד קטן”

“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek G-d, and may the Almighty listen to you, both great and small.”

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There is one common undercurrent flowing within every profoundly creative person, and that is PASSION!

In her eulogy for her brother Steve Jobs, Mona Simpson said that the last words of this prolific, creative genius were “OH MY. OH MY. OH MY!” His passion and what I call “original wonder” were apparently in play until the last moment.

“Original wonder” is the ability to view things with the original wonder of a child. This is the reason that children are so creative and learn so much, so quickly. Everything is so new and wonderful!

This passion and wonder are what Hashem seeks from us in our search for Him in the Torah and in creation; as it says in the foundational prayer that we are commanded to say at least twice every day “And you shall love Hashem your G-d, with All your heart, with All your soul and with All your might”!

The next time that you pray, learn or seek signs of Divine Providence in creation, remember to do it with PASSION and ORIGINAL WONDER! You may be profoundly amazed by your results.

Let me know.

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If I had known how easy it was to get so many reactions, I would have messed up much sooner!

Please enjoy the following comment from D.F. of Monsey in response to a mistake I made in a previous post (which I removed to avoid confusion):

Actually the at bash of שלח is בכס. The at bash of כלב spells  שלך. That is probably where the confusion was.  But… שלך does equal עפר and which fits in the following that I wrote (part of a longer Dvar Torah)

It says that Calev “separated” himself from the spies. This is hinted to by his name כלב, which spelled out bimiluy – כף למד בית – is equal to פרוש – “separate.” The author of Bnei Yisaschor quotes the Arizal, who says that Calev was a gilgul of Avrohom Avinu’s servant Eliezer. Therefore, he went to prostrate himself on his master’s grave. (Igra D’kala) In Pirkei Avos (which the Bnei Yisaschar, Iyar 1:5 says is a reference to the Avos) it says (1:4) והוי מתאבק בעפר רגליהם, which can allude that one should go to daven at Kivrei Tzadikei Emes. The letters of שקר have only one leg while the letters ofאמת  have two legs each, representing that truth has what to stand on but falsehood doesn’t. (Shabbos 104b with Rashi’s explanation) Based on this, מתאבק בעפר רגליהם can mean to prostrate oneself at the dirt (meaning grave) of Tzadikei Emes. בעפר רגליהם with the 10 letters is equal to הצדיק אמת. The first letters of והוי מתאבק בעפר רגליהם equal אברהם, and the last letters equal עפר, as Avrohom Avinu said ואנכי עפר ואפר. This is also alluded to by the word בעפר. The last letters of מתאבק בעפר רגליהם equal עד חברון. The words והוי מתאבק בעפר with the kolel are equal to מעצת מרגלים. The first letters of שלח לך אנשים ויתרו את ארץ כנען are equal to the gematria of שטן. Calev was able to counteract this now by going to Chevron, as alluded to by the words, ויבא עד חברון,which also equal שטן.

Hatzlacha Rabbah

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