Coming into Days: The Tzaddik Above Time

26Or we may say that “Avraham was old, coming into days” speaks of the tzaddik who rises above time. Before the Holy One, blessed be He, created His world, “the earth was formless and void, and darkness …”¹ The Creator looked with His holy sight, and light came into being. That is the meaning of “God saw the light …”:² through His seeing, light came into being within the darkness. And He separated the light from the darkness and set each its bounds, the one by day and the other by night. But in the upper worlds all is light, and “night shines like the day.”³ When the tzaddik repairs himself, he is bound to Hashem and cleaves to Him in the upper worlds. So for the tzaddik too it is all day, for he has risen above time. That is “Avraham was old, ba bayamim, coming into days”: he came into a state that is all day.

27“And Hashem blessed Avraham bakol, with everything.” Chazal expounded: Avraham had a daughter, and Bakol was her name.⁴ We can say that the hint is this. When the tzaddik is at the level of dechura, the male side, the side that gives, he delights in the radiance of the Shechinah. And Hashem blessed Avraham that even when he would not be at so great a level, fit for the Shechinah to rest on him, he would at least be guided by a bas kol, a heavenly voice, whose name means “daughter of a voice.” That is the hint in “Avraham had a bas, a daughter.” And “Bakol was her name”: that is, bechol, at all the levels he was at, he was guided by a bas kol.

28a“And Avraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, ‘Place your hand, please, under my thigh …’”⁵ When the tzaddik stands at a great level in Torah, in mitzvos and in great deveikus, cleaving to Hashem, he is called a son of the Omnipresent. But when he thinks about the affairs of his household, about the business of this world, such as buying and selling and the like, then even though this is a great mitzvah, he is only at the level of a servant. Then he needs great alacrity and vigilance, so that all his affairs are for the sake of Hashem's Name and he does not stumble in anything, not even in a light, idle word. For by this he causes himself to stumble at night into the impurity of keri, a nocturnal emission. Even a tzaddik who has no improper thought about a woman, if he only lets out some idle word, then too the evil gains power over him to make him sin, Heaven forbid, through a nocturnal emission. So he needs great vigilance.

28bThat is “And Avraham said to his servant”: the tzaddik speaks to himself when he is at the level of a servant. And the verse explains when he is at the level of a servant: “zekan beiso, the elder of his house,” when he is zaken, one who has acquired wisdom,⁶ and busy with beiso, the needs of his house, as we said. “Place your hand, please, under my thigh”: set your strength and your watchfulness on the thigh, so that you do not stumble, Heaven forbid, through a nocturnal emission. For surely when he is in great deveikus he need not fear any of this, since his thought is bound to the upper worlds. Only when he is occupied with the needs of this world does he need great watchfulness. “Who ruled over all that he had”: then he must rule over all his affairs and all his words, so that everything is in holiness. That is “And I will make you swear by Hashem, the God of heaven and the God of the earth”:⁷ that you be bound to Hashem, blessed be He, always, at every level you are at. “The God of heaven” hints at the level of the upper worlds, “and the God of the earth” at the affairs of this world; in all of them you must be in holiness. This is easy to understand.