Our Father Avraham and his ten tests

[muman613]

Lielah Tov JTFers,

Tonight I was listening to a Shuir by Rabbi Bentzion Shafier which discussed how every Jew is like a diamond. He explains how our flaws sometimes make us more valuable. The Talmud, according to Rabbi Shafier, teaches that there have only been four people (At 6:30 in the mp3) without any sin in their lifetime. But these four people are not the Gadolim {Great Ones} of our Jewish heritage. If I can remember properly I believe that these four people with no sin were Binyamin Ben Yaakov, Amram who was Moshes Father, David HaMelechs Father Yishai, David HaMelechs son.

The point which the Rabbi made is that despite the fact that our great ones, our Fathers Abraham, Yitzak, and Yaakov, our Teacher Moses were great is because they were not completely without personal issues. One of the awesome themes I learn when I read Chumash is the fact that Torah is clearly never trying to say our leaders are without blemish. Personal failure is rampant in just about every story which is related by our Holy Torah. Jewish belief requires us to understand that our difficulties in this life are a form of test {nissium} which Hashem gives us to determine if we have raised ourselves from our current level.

Rabbi Shafier goes on to point out that a diamond which has no flaw is virtually worthless because it is man-made. Every diamond in nature has various flaws and the diamond cutter must know how best to cut the raw diamond in order to extract the valuable gem which it contains. The parallel to Hashems world is that we all are like diamonds in the ruff and the tests of life make us into better people like a diamondcutter making the right cuts.

The link to the Shuir is : http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/1478

Here is some interesting information which lists each of the ten tests which Abraham was tested with:



http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter5-4.html

"Our forefather Abraham was tested with ten trials and withstood all of them. This demonstrates how beloved our forefather Abraham of blessed memory was [to G-d]."

Throughout Jewish literature, the Sages make frequent reference to the ten trials of Abraham. Through them Abraham was accorded special status as servant of G-d and progenitor of the Jewish People. It's not entirely clear, however, exactly what the ten trials were. Many, of course, are evident from Scriptures -- Abraham's exile from his homeland for the Land of Israel, his willingness to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. Others are a matter of dispute among the commentators. Below I list a total of 11 trials -- a combination of the opinions of Maimonides and Rabbeinu Yonah in their commentaries to our mishna, noting those trials which are a matter of dispute.

(1) Abraham's allowing himself to be cast into a fiery furnace by Nimrod for opposing the idolatry of his day. (Rabbeinu Yonah only.)

(2) Abraham, on G-d's instruction, leaving his family and homeland for the Land of Israel (Genesis 12:1).

(3) Abraham's forced exile to Egypt shortly after arriving in Israel as result of famine (ibid., v. 10). Rabbeinu Yonah explains that even though G-d promised Abraham blessings for moving to Israel -- and Abraham instead suffered hardship -- he bore no ill will towards G-d -- even in his heart.

(4) Sarah's abduction into Pharaoh's palace (ibid., v. 15).

(5) Abraham's battle against "the four kings" (Genesis 14). Abraham and his students battled the mightiest armies of the time for the sake of G- d's honor and in order to rescue his nephew Lot.

(6) Abraham's taking Hagar, Sarah's maidservant, as concubine after failing to have children with Sarah for so many years (16:1-3). (Maimonides only.)

(7) Abraham's being commanded to circumcise himself, in spite of his advanced age (ch. 17).

(8) Sarah's abduction into Avimelech's palace (20:2).

(9) Abraham's expelling of Hagar and Ishmael from his home -- on Sarah's instructions and G-d's sanction (21:9-14). Ishmael proved to be a wicked son who would have exerted a harmful influence on Isaac. As the Torah there attests, the incident was terribly distressing to Abraham, in part because he had to send his elder son away and in part because of the realization of his elder son's failings. (Maimonides lists the banishing of Hagar and Ishmael as two separate trials.)

(10) The binding and near slaughter of Isaac on Mount Moriah (22:1-19).

(11) Abraham's purchase of a burial plot for Sarah (ch. 23). After G-d many times promised Abraham the Land of Israel, he was forced to spend an exorbitant amount in purchase of a plot to bury his wife. (Rabbeinu Yonah only.)

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