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Reckoned as Tzedakah: Avraham's Thought for His Children

“He believed in Hashem, and he reckoned it to him as tzedakah.” Who reckoned, and to whom? And what has tzedakah to do with the promise “So shall your seed be” that comes just before?

Bereishis 15:5
וַיּוֹצֵא אֹתוֹ הַחוּצָה וַיֹּאמֶר הַבֶּט־נָא הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וּסְפֹר הַכּוֹכָבִים אִם־תּוּכַל לִסְפֹּר אֹתָם וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ כֹּה יִהְיֶה זַרְעֶךָ
He took him outside and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So shall your seed be.”
49Or we may read “So shall your seed be” as a charge about Avraham's children: “So shall …” means that you will see your seed, too, conduct themselves on this level. “And he believed in Hashem”:1 at once Avraham turned to Hashem's words, to hold fast to his faith in Him by contemplating His greatness. “And he reckoned it to him as tzedakah”: vayachsheveha, “he reckoned it,” refers to Avraham, and “to him” refers to the seed. At once Avraham fulfilled and carried out Hashem's command: he thought, in his machshavah, his thought, about his seed, with that same intent, that the seed would correspond to the world of tzedakah. For tzedakah and seed are in one world, in the spirit of the verse that joins them: “Sow for yourselves for tzedakah.”2 For the greatness of God is grasped above all in thought, and thought is one of the three levels on which a person must serve Hashem: in speech, in action and in thought. Speech is the holy Torah, action is the mitzvos, and thought is the contemplation of God's greatness. May He be blessed and exalted, and His remembrance be forever and to all eternity. Amen.
אוֹ יֹאמַר "כֹּה יִהְיֶה כּוּ׳", ר"ל שֶׁגַּם זַרְעֲךָ תִּרְאֶה שֶׁיִּתְנַהֲגוּ בְּמַדְרֵיגָה זוֹ, "וְהֶאֱמִין בַּה'", פֵּירוּשׁ שֶׁמִּיָּד פָּנָה אַבְרָהָם אֶל דִּבְרֵי השי"ת לְהַחְזִיק בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ ע"י הִסְתַּכְּלוּתוֹ בְּרוֹמְמוּתוֹ יִתְבָּרֵךְ וְיִתְעַלֶּה, "וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ לּוֹ צְדָקָה", פֵּירוּשׁ 'וַיַּחְשְׁבֶהָ' קָאֵי עַל אַבְרָהָם, וְ'לוֹ' קָאֵי עַל הַזֶּרַע, שֶׁמִּיָּד קִיֵּים וְעָשָׂה מִצְוַת ה׳ שֶׁחִישֵּׁב בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה עַל הַזֶּרַע עַל הַכַּוָּונָה הנ"ל שֶׁיִּהְיֶה הַזֶּרַע כְּנֶגֶד עוֹלָם הַצְּדָקָה, שֶׁצְּדָקָה וְזֶרַע הֵם בְּעוֹלָם אֶחָד, ע"ד 'זִרְעוּ לָכֶם לִצְדָקָה', דְּעִיקַּר רוֹמְמוּת אֵל הוּא בְּמַחֲשָׁבָה, שֶׁהוּא אֶחָד מג׳ מַדְרֵיגוֹת שֶׁצָּרִיךְ הָאָדָם לַעֲבוֹד להשי"ת, בְּדִיבּוּר וּבְמַעֲשֶׂה וּבְמַחֲשָׁבָה, הַדִּיבּוּר הַיְינוּ הַתּוֹרָה הַקְּדוֹשָׁה, וּמַעֲשֶׂה הֵם הַמִּצְווֹת, וּמַחֲשָׁבָה הוּא רוֹמְמוּת אֵל יִתְבָּרֵךְ וְיִתְעַלֶּה זִכְרוֹ לָעַד וּלְנֵצַח נְצָחִים. אָמֵן.
  1. Bereishis 15:6. In the plain reading Hashem reckoned it to Avram as tzedakah; here R' Elimelech reads Avraham as the one who reckons, and the reckoning as thought (vayachsheveha, from the root of machshavah). ↩
  2. Hoshea 10:12. ↩

Sources here

In shortAvraham at once “reckoned it”: he held his future children in thought, that they correspond to the world of tzedakah, for God's greatness is grasped above all in thought.
The maamar as a whole

R’ Elimelech offers another reading of “So shall your seed be”: you will see your children, too, conduct themselves on this level of contemplating God’s greatness. Avraham at once turned to Hashem’s words and held fast to his faith by contemplating His greatness. Then he carried out the charge: vayachsheveha, “he reckoned it,” is Avraham, and “to him” is the seed. He thought about his children with that same intent, that they would correspond to the world of tzedakah, for tzedakah and seed are in one world, as “Sow for yourselves for tzedakah” joins them. God’s greatness is grasped above all in thought, one of the three ways of serving Hashem: speech, which is Torah; action, which is the mitzvos; and thought, which is contemplating His greatness.

Takeaway

Speech belongs to Torah and action to the mitzvos, but the greatness of God is grasped in our thoughts. Like Avraham, we can hold our children in that same thought, so that they too will live on this level.

Related learning

Sources he cites

Bereishis 15:5–6 ·

Tzaddikim he names

Avraham Avinu

Translated with AI assistance. Sources and summaries were checked by a separate AI review; not yet reviewed by a human editor.

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