Chessed Hidden in Judgment, Blessing Guarded by Faith

1a“These are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham: Avraham begot Yitzchak” [Bereishis 25:19]. My father and teacher, R' Yechiel of Alexander, zt"l, explained this through Chazal's teaching (Bereishis Rabbah and Tanchuma on Parshas Noach) [cf. Bereishis Rabbah 30:6; Tanchuma Noach 2] that the true offspring of tzaddikim are their good deeds. Yitzchak Avinu always considered himself as nothing at all, except that he was Avraham's son, and he credited everything to his father Avraham's merit. Avraham considered that he had not yet done anything at all in serving the Creator and had no merit of his own, except the one merit of having fathered Yitzchak, a worthy son. This was always their way in holiness. This is what the Midrash says on this parshah [cf. Tanchuma Toldos 4; Bereishis Rabbah 63:2]: “‘These are the generations of Yitzchak ... Avraham begot Yitzchak.’ This is what the verse says: ‘Grandchildren are the crown of the elders, and the glory of children is their fathers’ [Mishlei 17:6]. The tzaddikim are crowned by their children, and their children are crowned by their fathers.” Each felt that he himself was not worthy at all, and had only the merit of the other. So far his holy words.

1bTo explain his holy words in terms of avodah, we can begin with the Yerushalmi (Berachos 9:5): “Act out of love and act out of fear. Act out of fear: if you come to kick, know that you are one who fears, and one who fears does not kick. Act out of love: if you come to hate, know that you are one who loves, and one who loves does not hate.” “If you come to kick” means this. When a person has plenty of good in this world, and Hashem deals with him with good kindnesses, he must take care that he not then kick, Heaven forbid, at the service of the Creator. As the Torah says in Parshas Haazinu, “Yeshurun grew fat and kicked” [Devarim 32:15], and in Parshas Eikev, “Lest you eat and be satisfied ... and your heart grow proud and you forget” [Devarim 8:12–14]. As Shlomo HaMelech said, “Give me neither poverty nor riches ... lest I be sated and deny, and say, ‘Who is Hashem?’” (Mishlei 30:8–9). Out of great wealth a person grows proud, denies, and says there is no God. As Chazal said (Sanhedrin 102b), “A lion does not pounce and roar except over a basket of meat.”

1cSo the Yerushalmi says: if you come to kick because of all your good, “know that you are one who fears”: fear Hashem. For the attribute of kindness also contains the attribute of severity, and one must be on guard against it. As the holy Zohar writes [cf. Zohar II:52a]: “A fool sees the King's face shining and smiling and does not guard himself. But a wise man, even though he sees the King's face shining, sees that judgment sits hidden within that very light. Therefore he must be on guard.” That is “know that you are one who fears.” If you fear, you will know that Hashem is awesome, which is the attribute of severity, and that you must always stand in awe of Him. Remember that everything comes through His great kindness: “For all is from You, and from Your hand we have given to You” [Divrei HaYamim I 29:14]. All a person's good traits also come from Him, for He is the source of all traits. By the power of the divine portion from Above that He breathed into every Jew, a part of the whole, a person can conduct himself with traits drawn from the Creator's own attributes.

1dThis is what Chazal said (Shabbos 133b): “Abba Shaul says: ‘V'anvehu,’ be like Him. Just as He is merciful and gracious, so you be merciful and gracious.” But how can flesh and blood, born of a woman, be like Him, as it were? Through the divine portion from Above that He breathed into him. That portion contains traits of the same kind as His attributes, and by its power a person can make his form resemble his Maker and Creator. This is the verse “He will give you mercy and have mercy on you” [Devarim 13:18]: He will give you the trait of mercy. And Chazal say (Beitzah 32b): “Whoever has mercy on people, it is known that he is of the seed of Avraham, and whoever does not have mercy ...” That is, every Jewish soul has the divine portion from Above, so that he can conduct himself with mercy. If he does not have mercy on people, it is known that he is not of Avraham's seed, for the power of the divine portion from Above is not in him.

2a“Act out of love: if you come to hate, know that you are one who loves, and one who loves does not hate.” This refers to the opposite time, when the attribute of judgment rules, Heaven save us, and a person is afflicted and pressed by the suffering of poverty and illness, Heaven save us. Because of this you come to hate. Know that you are one who loves, and act out of love. Do not say in your heart that this comes because you are hated before Hashem. Know that it comes from love. The very absence of blessing comes from Hashem's kindness and from the source of mercy, as the verse says, “For whom Hashem loves He rebukes” (Mishlei 3:12). His aim is not to punish, Heaven forbid. He wants people to come to truly know Hashem, to leave their bad ways, and to accept the yoke of Heaven and the fear of Hashem. As the holy Yehudi of Peshischa, zt"l, said on the verse “From Heaven You made judgment heard; the earth feared and was still” (Tehillim 76:9): judgment is not a way of governing in its own right. It is only meant to make people afraid of the rod. Hashem makes it heard in the world that there is judgment and a ruling rod to punish and strike. When people hear of the awesome judgment and are afraid, cower and tremble before it, then “it was still”: all the harsh judgments are stilled and sweetened. For His aim is not to punish, Heaven forbid.

2bLet a person reflect and picture in his mind how great is the sin of a lowly, dark creature of flesh and blood who rebelled against the exalted King, the Creator of all the worlds, to fill his desire with the empty desires of this world. And let him picture how much it pains the Creator to have to punish him, since His good way is only to do good to His creatures, and especially to the seed of Israel, His treasured people. When he reflects on this, he will see and know that this too is great mercy, a hidden love. A person may, Heaven forbid, make an accounting of his soul and see that everything is revealed before Hashem and all of it has come to him because of his sins. He may recall how great his sin is, until he imagines that he has sins in his hand for which there is no teshuvah and that he is loathsome. He may tell himself, Heaven forbid, that it is hopeless, since as he sees it there is no door of hope for him. When he sees judgments resting on him, and Hashem dealing with him, as he thinks, only with judgment, let him remember “you are one who loves”: Hashem loves His people Israel.

2cThrough teshuvah a person becomes beloved, near, cherished and a friend of Hashem. As the Rambam writes (Hilchos Teshuvah 7:6): “Yesterday this person was hated before Hashem, loathsome, abominable and distant. Today he is beloved, cherished, near and a friend.” Through teshuvah out of love, deliberate sins become merits [cf. Yoma 86b], and “all your betrayals and offenses are atoned and give off a pleasant fragrance” [cf. Rashi on Tehillim 45:9]. He becomes beloved, cherished and a friend. As the tzaddikim said, Hashem is called “He who desires teshuvah,” not merely “He who is appeased by teshuvah,” because the penitent becomes so beloved to Hashem that it is as if He longed for his teshuvah. Hashem does all this out of His love, “so that no one banished be cast away from Him” [cf. Shmuel II 14:14], to bring him back to his Father in Heaven.

3This is the meaning of “These are the generations of Yitzchak the son of Avraham.” As is known, Avraham stands for love, holy kindness, as the verse says, “Avraham, who loved Me” (Yeshayahu 41:8), and Yitzchak stands for fear and judgment. In the eyes of flesh and blood, when judgment is aroused, Heaven save us, it seems that Hashem is running His world with severity and judgment, as though that were a way of governing in its own right. But the truth is not so. Within severity, too, there is kindness, kindness within severity, mixed with love. “The Fear of Yitzchak will shield the troubled children of Yaakov His servant.”¹ This is the hint in “Yitzchak the son of Avraham”: the severity that Yitzchak stands for is mixed with love, kindness within severity. It is among the offspring of kindness, Avraham's attribute. And “Avraham begot Yitzchak” hints at the reverse, as in the Zohar cited above, “judgment sits hidden within it”: within love, judgment is mixed. So a person must take care that the kindness Hashem does for him does not, Heaven forbid, bring on judgment. Rather, let him do good and draw onto himself “the kindness of God all day long” [cf. Tehillim 52:3]. Even one who serves out of love must also serve with awe and fear, as the Yerushalmi said, “know that you are one who fears.”

4aThis is what the Midrash says (Bereishis Rabbah 66:3) on “May God give you” [Bereishis 27:28]: “May He give you blessings, and may He give you their kevushin.” Rashi explains there that kevushin means a place and a vessel fit to hold the blessings so that they last. According to our approach, kevushin, literally “subduings,” means how and with what to subdue the yetzer. Then it will not be, Heaven forbid, “wealth kept by its owner to his harm” [Koheles 5:12]. He will not forget Hashem, Heaven forbid, and he will know that “all is from You, and from Your hand we have given to You.” As the Torah says, “Lest you eat and be satisfied ... and your heart grow proud and you forget” [Devarim 8:12–14]. So “May He give you blessings, and may He give you their kevushin” means the skill and strength to subdue the yetzer hara. “Rav Acha said: May He give you, and may He give you His Godliness. When? When you need it, as it is written, ‘Hashem God, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please’ (Shoftim 16:28).” That is, know that judgment sits within the blessings too, and guard against it. That is “May Elokim give you”: the Name Elokim, as is known, alludes to judgment. The hint is that you should know and remember that judgment is mixed in. And Shimshon said, “Remember me, please, and strengthen me, please”: may Hashem grant him knowledge, understanding and strength to know all this.

4bThis is what Rashi says: “‘May Elokim give you,’ with judgment. If you are worthy, He will give to you; if you are not worthy, He will not give to you” [Rashi on Bereishis 27:28]. As is known, kindness is expansion without limit, even to the unworthy and even to idolaters, while severity is contraction. It is also known that there is good that resembles evil and evil that resembles good. Even though every person needs life and sustenance, Hashem, in His great mercy and good kindness, examines whether the blessing and the flow are truly good and fitting for him to receive now. He checks that it will not harm him afterward, Heaven forbid, so that he does not grow proud from his great wealth. This is what Rashi means by “with judgment”: the attribute of judgment contracts the flow, and Hashem gives him the blessings “with judgment,” if he is worthy of them. That is, if after receiving the blessings he will still be at the same level as before in serving the Creator, the blessings are fitting for you and He will give them to you. If not, He will not give them to you.

4cAll this applies to a Jewish soul, one of the “believers, sons of believers” [Shabbos 97a], in whose heart steadfast faith is planted. He does not question Hashem's judgment, and even in his time of trouble he believes with complete faith that this too is for his good, a hidden love. Had the flow and the good been fitting and good for him, Hashem would surely have given it, for His way is to do good. By the strength of his faith he sweetens the force of judgment. In its place he merits to become a fit vessel to receive the flow, and the blessings become fitting for him. As the tzaddik R' Mordechai of Neshchiz, zt"l, said: through faith one can turn the decree around, so that in its place it becomes “from gold, silver.”² As a result he merits the flow of great good that is ready to come into the world.

4dIt is not so with Esav. To him Yitzchak said, “Of the fat places of the earth shall be your dwelling” [Bereishis 27:39], without considering whether it is for your good or your harm. For if blessing were withheld, you would surely question Hashem's ways, and that would cause, Heaven forbid, a desecration of Hashem's Name. The nature of the nations is not to believe; they are far from faith. Shlomo HaMelech learned from Yitzchak in his prayer: “And also the stranger [who is not of Your people Israel] ... may You hear in Heaven and do all that the stranger calls to You for” [Melachim I 8:41–43]. Rashi writes there: “Regarding Israel he says, ‘Give each man according to all his ways’ [Melachim I 8:39], because a Jew recognizes the Holy One, blessed be He, and knows that all ability is in His hand. If his prayer is not answered, he blames himself and his sin. But the idolater complains and says, ‘This House, whose fame goes to the end of the world, I toiled over many roads, came and prayed in it, and found nothing in it!’ Therefore, ‘all that he calls to You for’: hear his prayer.” See there.

5The main counsel in a time of darkness is to fix and root in one's heart steadfast faith, simple and complete faith, in the spirit of “and Your faithfulness in the nights” [Tehillim 92:3]. A person's light of understanding may grow dark, his eyes may be closed to seeing the light of the face of the King of life, and his heart may be unable to understand because of the screens that separate him. As David HaMelech said, “My sins have overtaken me and I cannot see” [Tehillim 40:13]. He cannot see the light, “bright though it is in the skies” [cf. Iyov 37:21], and he imagines that all this is Hashem hiding His face and the attribute of judgment. In the merit of his faith he will see that “at evening time there shall be light” [Zechariah 14:7], and Hashem will shine a great light on him. Then he will see and know with the eye of his mind that all of this was for his good. As the holy Zohar writes (II:184a): “There is no light except the light that comes out of darkness, and there is no good except out of evil.” May we merit that Hashem light up all hearts and all the dark places that are covered and hidden in garments. May there be no more dim, congealed light [Zechariah 14:6], and may “Hashem be for us an everlasting light” [Yeshayahu 60:19]. Amen.