Avraham's Stick: Teshuvah and Faith Against the Nations

1Let us look further at the Midrash quoted above: “R' A. said¹: Avraham took a stick and struck at them, but they would not be beaten off. Even so, ‘Avram drove them away (vayashev)’ [Bereishis 15:11]: he brought them back through teshuvah” [Bereishis Rabbah 44:16]. The simple explanation follows Targum Yonasan and the Yerushalmi: the birds of prey stand for the troubles that Israel's enemies among the nations will try to bring on Israel in the period just before Moshiach. Avraham Avinu wanted to test whether we would be able to stand up to them by force. “But they would not be beaten off”: this teaches us that we will not defeat them by force. R' Abba bar Kahana hinted at the same thing: whoever stands up against the wave is swept away by it, and whoever does not stand up against the wave is not swept away. What Avraham did achieve is that these troubles will stir us to return in complete teshuvah, and to plead with Hashem to “forgive iniquity and not destroy” [cf. Tehillim 78:38]. By human standards, teshuvah that comes only out of distress is not worth much, as Yiftach said: “Why have you come to me now, when you are in trouble?” (Shoftim 11:7). Even so, Avraham succeeded in arousing great mercy from the Source of mercy. Hashem's kindness and great mercy will be stirred for us. He will accept our teshuvah, and through it He will lift all the troubles from us. Even our accusers will speak in our favor, “for our good all the days” [cf. Devarim 6:24]. (From the author's handwritten manuscript.)

2On the level of allusion, the “stick” Avraham struck them with is the chessed, the kindness, that he aroused for us, in keeping with his own trait of chessed. It is a level we are permitted to explore and contemplate. “But they would not be beaten off”: by the natural order of things, we do not have the power to defeat them. Instead, Avraham stirred us to teshuvah, so that we would merit to return. Through teshuvah we arouse the attribute of Binah, Understanding, called the “supernal mother,” which is the source of teshuvah, as it says, “His heart will understand², and he will return and be healed” (Yeshayahu 6:10). The merit of Avraham's faith will also awaken complete emunah in us, so that we believe even in a time of darkness, as in “Your faithfulness in the nights” [Tehillim 92:3]. Emunah and chochmah, faith and wisdom, come from one source, as explained in the Ramban's Sefer HaEmunah VehaBitachon: “The tzaddik lives by his faith” (Chavakuk 2:4), and “Wisdom gives life to those who have it” (Koheles 7:12). No evil can reach these two great lights, Heaven forbid. Chochmah and Binah themselves are beyond our grasp; of them it is said, “Do not seek what is too wondrous for you, and do not probe what is hidden from you” [Chagigah 13a]. But through the power of teshuvah and emunah we will beat off our enemies and draw life, blessing and every good thing to ourselves. Even if, Heaven forbid, we become like “carcasses without sinews or bones,” as we said above, we will draw life through emunah, for “the tzaddik lives by his faith,” into all our limbs and sinews, so that we can serve Hashem with all of them in the light of life [cf. Iyov 33:30].