How Shall I Know: An Inheritance That Lasts Forever
Hashem promises Avraham the land, and he asks, “How shall I know that I will inherit it?” How could a tzaddik ask for a sign? And why does Hashem answer with a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young bird, cut in half, all but the bird?
Name a tzaddik: tap for who he wasTitle a sefer
Bereishis 15:7–8
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְהוָה אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים לָתֶת לְךָ אֶת־הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לְרִשְׁתָּהּ וַיֹּאמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהוִה בַּמָּה אֵדַע כִּי אִירָשֶׁנָּה
And He said to him, “I am Hashem Who brought you out of Ur Kasdim to give you this land to inherit it.” And he said, “My Lord, God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”
50“And He said to him … to give … to inherit it. And he said, ‘How shall I know …’” How could it enter the mind of a tzaddik like Avraham to ask for a sign? sensed this difficulty,1 but the words “How shall I know” do not fit his reading well. Rather, it seems that the word eida, “shall I know,” speaks of something being revealed: that a thing will stand so forever. So it was said of Avraham, “Now I know that you fear God.”2 At first glance, how can “now I know” be said of Hashem, blessed be He, Who knows all thoughts? Rather, it too means: now it has been revealed that you fear God forever. For with Hashem all things exist in potential, and in this tenth trial it was revealed that Avraham would fear God forever.3 Here too, “How shall I know” means: by what merit will it be revealed “that I will inherit it,” that this inheritance will last forever, without a break? So Chazal expounded: Avraham said that all was well while the Beis HaMikdash stands, and asked what would become of his children when it does not.4
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו כּוּ' לָתֵת [וְכוּ'] לְרִשְׁתָּהּ וַיֹּאמַר בַּמָּה אֵדַע כּוּ׳. לִכְאוֹרָה אֵיךְ עָלָה עַל דַּעַת הַצַּדִּיק אַבְרָהָם שֶׁיִּשְׁאַל אוֹת? ורש"י ז"ל הִרְגִּישׁ בָּזֶה, אַךְ אֵין הַלָּשׁוֹן 'בַּמָּה אֵדַע' עוֹלֶה שַׁפִּיר. אַךְ נִרְאֶה דְּמִלַּת "אֵדַע" הוּא לְשׁוֹן הִתְגַּלּוּת עַל הַדָּבָר שֶׁיָּקוּם כֵּן לְעוֹלָם, וְזֶהוּ שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר בְּאַבְרָהָם "עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹקִים אַתָּה", וְלִכְאוֹרָה אֵיךְ שַׁיָּיךְ אֵצֶל השי"ת ב"ה הַיּוֹדֵעַ מַחֲשָׁבוֹת לוֹמַר עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי? אֶלָּא פֵּירוּשׁוֹ ג"כ עַתָּה נִתְגַּלָּה הַדָּבָר כִּי יְרֵא אֱלֹקִים אַתָּה לְעוֹלָם, דְּכָל הַדְּבָרִים הֵם אֵצֶל השי"ת ב"ה בְּכֹחַ, וּבְנִיסָּיוֹן הָעֲשִׂירִי הַזֶּה נִתְגַּלָּה הַדָּבָר שֶׁיִּהְיֶה יְרֵא אֱלֹקִים לְעוֹלָם. וְכָאן ג"כ הַפֵּירוּשׁ "בַּמָּה אֵדַע", בְּאֵיזֶה אוֹפֶן הוּא הַזְּכוּת לְהִתְגַּלּוֹת עַל הַדָּבָר, "כִּי אִירָשֶׁנָּה", שֶׁתְּהֵא הַיְּרוּשָּׁה זוֹ לְעוֹלָם בְּלִי הֶפְסֵק, כְּמָה שֶׁדָּרְשׁוּ חז"ל 'תִּינַח בִּזְמַן שֶׁבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ קַיָּים' כּוּ׳.
- Rashi on Bereishis 15:6 and on “How shall I know” (15:8): Avraham asked no sign for the promise of seed, but he did ask one for the inheritance of the land; or, in another explanation, he did not ask for a sign at all but asked by what merit his children would keep the land, and Hashem answered, by the merit of the korbanos. ↩
- Bereishis 22:12, at the binding of Yitzchak. ↩
- Avos 5:3 counts ten trials of Avraham; here the binding of Yitzchak is the tenth. ↩
- Megillah 31b; Taanis 27b. There Avraham says, “Master of the world, that is well while the Beis HaMikdash stands. When the Beis HaMikdash does not stand, what will become of them?” Hashem answers that He has already arranged for them the order of the korbanos: whenever they read it, He counts it as if they had offered them, and forgives them all their sins. ↩
Sources here
In shortEida, “shall I know,” means “shall it be revealed”: Avraham asked by what merit his inheritance of the land would be shown to last forever.
51Then comes Hashem's answer: “He said to him, ‘Take for Me a heifer meshuleshes, threefold’”:5 this stands against the three calves Israel made, one in the wilderness, one in Beis El and one in Dan;6 against them Israel has three bulls, as explains.7 “And a goat, threefold” is read the same way: a goat hints at the sitra achra, the “other side” opposed to holiness, and against it there is a goat in holiness too, which hints, as Rashi explains, at three he-goats. “And a ram, threefold” hints at Yitzchak's ram, which is like “a threefold cord, not quickly broken,”8 for Yitzchak's ashes are heaped up forever.9 “And a turtledove,” tor, hints that there are tzaddikim in every generation, as I will write further on, that tor hints at the tzaddik who brings down blessing.10 “And a young bird,” gozal (גוזל), whose letters also spell gozel, one who takes by force, is in the spirit of Chazal's saying, “The whole world is fed by charity, and they [the tzaddikim] are fed by force.”11 “And he took all these for Him … and placed each half opposite the other”:12 he set each one against its counterpart, holiness against what stands opposite it, as with the calves and the bulls. “But the bird” hints at Israel, and “he did not divide” means that against Israel as a whole there is nothing that could be weighed against its merit, for even its wicked are full of mitzvos like a pomegranate.13
"וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ קְחָה לִי עֶגְלָה מְשׁוּלֶּשֶׁת", פֵּירוּשׁ נֶגֶד זֶה שֶׁעָשׂוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל ג׳ עֲגָלִים, אֶחָד בַּמִּדְבָּר וּב׳ בְּדָן, נֶגֶד זֶה יֵשׁ ג׳ פָּרִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כְּפֵירוּשׁ רש"י ז"ל, "וְעֵז מְשׁוּלֶּשֶׁת", פֵּירוּשׁוֹ ג"כ בְּדֶרֶךְ זֶה, שֶׁעֵז הוּא רֶמֶז לס"א, וּלְעוּמַּת זֶה יֵשׁ בִּקְדוּשָּׁה ג"כ עֵז כְּפֵירוּשׁ רש"י רֶמֶז לִג׳ שְׂעִירִים, "וְאַיִל מְשׁוּלָּשׁ", רֶמֶז לְאֵילוֹ שֶׁל יִצְחָק שֶׁהוּא כְּחוּט הַמְּשׁוּלָּשׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא בִּמְהֵרָה יִנָּתֵק, שֶׁאֶפְרוֹ שֶׁל יִצְחָק צָבוּר לְעוֹלָם, "וְתוֹר" רֶמֶז שֶׁיֵּשׁ צַדִּיקִים בְּכָל דּוֹר וְדוֹר, כַּאֲשֶׁר אֶכְתּוֹב לְקַמָּן שֶׁ'תּוֹר' הוּא רֶמֶז לְהַצְדִּיק הַמַּשְׁפִּיעַ, "וְגוֹזָל", ע"ד שֶׁאָמְרוּ חז"ל "כָּל הָעוֹלָם נִיזּוֹנִין בִּצְדָקָה וְהֵם נִיזּוֹנִין בִּזְרוֹעַ", "וַיִּקַּח לוֹ אֶת כָּל אֵלֶּה כּוּ׳ וַיִּתֵּן אִישׁ בִּתְרוֹ לִקְרַאת רֵעֵהוּ", דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁהֶעֱמִיד הַכֹּל זֶה לְעוּמַּת זֶה כנ"ל, "וְאֶת הַצִּפּוֹר", רֶמֶז לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, "לֹא בָתָר", ר"ל נֶגֶד כְּלָלוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵין לְךָ דָּבָר שֶׁיְּשׁוֹעַר נֶגֶד זְכוּתָם, שֶׁגַּם רְשָׁעִים מְלֵאִים מִצְווֹת כְּרִימּוֹן.
- Bereishis 15:9. ↩
- Shemos 32; Melachim I 12:28–29, where Yeravam sets one calf in Beis El and one in Dan. The sefer has “two in Dan.” ↩
- Rashi on Bereishis 15:9: the three bulls are the bull of Yom Kippur, the bull brought for an error of the community, and the heifer whose neck is broken; the three he-goats are the goat offered within on Yom Kippur, the goats of the festival Musaf offerings, and the goat of an individual's sin-offering. ↩
- Koheles 4:12. ↩
- The ram offered in Yitzchak's place is in Bereishis 22:13. Rashi on Vayikra 26:42: “The ashes of Yitzchak are seen before Me, heaped up and lying on the altar.” ↩
- Noam Elimelech, Shelach, where the tzaddik who brings blessing and joy into the world is called tor, from “the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land” (Shir HaShirim 2:12). ↩
- Berachos 17b. Rashi there: the world is fed by Hashem's charity and not by its own merit; the tzaddikim are fed “by force,” by right of the merit in their hands. ↩
- Bereishis 15:10. ↩
- Eruvin 19a speaks of “the transgressors of Israel, who are as full of mitzvos as a pomegranate,” and expounds, “Even the empty ones among you are as full of mitzvos as a pomegranate.” ↩
In shortEach covenant animal stands for holiness set against its opposite, atonement against the calves, tzaddikim in every generation; the undivided bird is Israel, whose merit nothing can outweigh.
52Let us explain the verse “If a bird's nest yikarei, chances, before you on the way …”14 Yikarei (יקרא), “chances,” speaks here of keriah (קריאה), calling out: when Israel needs to call out before Hashem in prayer. The verse says, “before you on the way”: know that this is ready “before you,” to pray for them at whatever level you stand on, provided only that it is “on the way,” the way of Hashem. “In any tree” hints: whether you are on a high level; “or on the ground”: whether you are on a low level. “Young birds or eggs” also hints at two levels. “Young birds”: whether you have wings, fear and love, which are called wings, for with them one flies in lofty holiness. “Or eggs”: whether you are not yet on this level but only ready for it, like an egg ready for a chick to come out of it. Even so, you should pray for Israel as a whole, and your prayer will help.
וּנְבָאֵר הַפָּסוּק "כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן צִפּוֹר כּוּ׳", פֵּירוּשׁ "יִקָּרֵא" לְשׁוֹן קְרִיאָה, ר"ל בְּעֵת שֶׁיִּצְטָרְכוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל לְהִקָּרֵא לְפָנָיו יִתְבָּרֵךְ ע"י תְּפִילּוֹת, וְאָמַר הַכָּתוּב "לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ", פֵּירוּשׁ תֵּדַע שֶׁהַדָּבָר הַזֶּה מוּכָן 'לְפָנֶיךָ' לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עֲלֵיהֶם בְּאֵיזֶה מַדְרֵיגָה שֶׁאַתָּה עוֹמֵד בָּהּ, רַק שֶׁיִּהְיֶה 'בַּדֶּרֶךְ', דְּהַיְינוּ בְּדֶרֶךְ ה׳, "בְּכָל עֵץ", רֶמֶז בֵּין שֶׁאַתָּה בְּמַדְרֵיגָה עֶלְיוֹנָה, "אוֹ עַל הָאָרֶץ", ר"ל בֵּין שֶׁאַתָּה בְּמַדְרֵיגָה תַּחְתּוֹנָה, "אֶפְרוֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים", רֶמֶז ג"כ לִב׳ מַדְרֵיגוֹת, דְּהַיְינוּ בֵּין שֶׁיֵּשׁ לְךָ כְּנָפַיִים דְּהַיְינוּ יִרְאָה וְאַהֲבָה, דְּהֵם נִקְרָאִים כְּנָפַיִם לִפְרוֹחַ בָּהֶם בִּקְדוּשָּׁה עֶלְיוֹנָה, "אוֹ בֵיצִים", ר"ל בֵּין שֶׁעֲדַיִין אֵינְךָ בְּמַדְרֵיגָה זוֹ, רַק שֶׁאַתָּה מוּכָן לְמַדְרֵיגָה זוֹ כְּמוֹ הַבֵּיצָה הַמּוּכֶנֶת לָצֵאת מִמֶּנָּה אֶפְרוֹחַ, אעפ"כ יֵשׁ לְךָ לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עַל כְּלָלוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיוֹעִיל תְּפִילָּתְךָ.
- Devarim 22:6: “If a bird's nest chances before you on the way, in any tree or on the ground, young birds or eggs …” ↩
In shortRead as prayer, the bird's nest teaches that whether high or low, winged with fear and love or still an egg, one may pray for all Israel, and the prayer will help.
53To return to the explanation of the verse: “The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses”:15 the kelipah, the husk that hides holiness, came down to turn everything into carcasses, Heaven forbid. “And Avram drove them away”: he made the chassadim, the forces of kindness, prevail over them all.
וְנַחֲזוֹר לְבֵיאוּר הַכָּתוּב, "וַיֵּרֶד הָעַיִט עַל הַפְּגָרִים", ר"ל הַקְּלִיפָּה יָרְדָה בִּשְׁבִיל לַעֲשׂוֹת הַכֹּל לִפְגָרִים ח"ו, "וַיַּשֵּׁב אוֹתָם אַבְרָם", דְּהַיְינוּ שֶׁהִגְבִּיר הַחֲסָדִים עַל כּוּלָּם.
- Bereishis 15:11. ↩
In shortThe kelipah swooped down to turn everything into lifeless carcasses, but Avraham drove it off by making the forces of kindness prevail.
R’ Elimelech asks how Avraham could ask for a sign, and finds that Rashi’s answer does not fit the words “How shall I know.” Eida speaks of revelation: that a thing will stand forever. So Hashem’s “Now I know that you fear God” means it was revealed in the tenth trial that Avraham would fear God forever, and Avraham asked by what merit his inheritance would be shown to last without a break, even when the Beis HaMikdash does not stand. The covenant answers: each animal is holiness set against its opposite, the three bulls against the three calves, a goat of holiness against the sitra achra, Yitzchak’s ram a threefold cord, the turtledove the tzaddikim of every generation. The bird left undivided is Israel, whose merit nothing outweighs. So anyone, at any level, may pray for all Israel, and Avraham drove off the kelipah by making kindness prevail.
Takeaway
Avraham asked by what merit the inheritance of the land would last forever, and the covenant gave the answer: holiness set against all that opposes it, and Israel as a whole left undivided, its merit beyond measure. So whatever our level, even if we are only an egg not yet hatched, we should pray for all Israel on the way of Hashem, and trust that our prayer helps.
Learn this in the merit of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk. His yahrzeit and life ›
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