A thought on Parshas Chayei Sara
"...va'yetzei Yitzchak la'suach ba'sadeh lifsnos erev...""...and Yitzchak went out to the field to pray toward evening..." (24:63)
Many interpretations reach out to us as we envision our Patriarch Yitzchak meditating in a field. We know that Chazal associate this verse with our tradition that Yitzchak inaugurated the afternoon prayer, Mincha.
This week we will go deeper, following the insights of the Recanati.
Let's understand the attributes which we associate with Yitzchak Avinu. We are told that he represented the quality known as Gevura, or strength. We also know that his relationship with the Al-mighty is depicted as his having had Pachad, or terror in shaping his avodas HaShem. How do these diverse qualities coexist within this spiritual giant, our Forefather Yitzchak? What do they have to do with davening Mincha?The Recanati explains that the Mincha prayer is timed as evening approaches. Daylight is the time of illumination, enlightenment, when all can witness the beneficent and kind bounty of HaShem Above. This is the time of tefillas Shacharis, the morning prayer initiated by Avraham Avinu, whose quality was chesed, kindness and generosity. As the day begins to wane, after noon, while the sun may yet still shine and the time is still known as "day", the light is nonetheless beginning to fade. With darkness moving closer, the world feels less Chesed and in fact, this is the time of Din or Judgment.
HaShem kavayachol is Kindness. All of the acts which we perceive as Divine Deeds are based on Chesed. When we cannot see Chesed, as if the Divine Emanation has ceased to be, we experience that which we call Ra'a, or "evil." It seems to us as if the Divine will has been restrained. When Kindness from Above is restrained, the chaos which ensues feels wrong, feels harsh and seems evil to us.
Yitzchak Avinu was confronted with an experience which seemed like the abject absence of Chesed. He encountered the Akeida, which brought him to the brink of extreme Din. This was the origin of Pachad Yitzchak, the terror of experiencing a confrontation with Din. The manner in which Yitzchak faced this trial was through gevura. His internal strength prevailed as he restrained his deepest sensitivity and reactions - eizehu gibor ha'kovesh es yitzro u'moshel b'rucho - and sought instead to embrace Din as if it too were Divine Chesed.
This fusion of pachad and gevura led him to differentiate at a deep, organic level the internal forces of personal goodness and personal evil. This is why he bore two sons, twins, who embodied respectively these two diverse realities. There was no blend of tov v'ra'a within either son. Yakov was purely good, and our brother Esav has made a very different mark on the world and its history. This was the fruit of Yitzchak's deep avoda of gevura, of being able to achieve profound self-restraint in the pursuit of accepting that HaShem is a constant Source of Kindness, regardless of the terror and peril which seem to threaten us. When we cannot fathom HaShem's greatness other than to exercise our faith and trust that all that He does, no matter the darkness, is Kindness in disguise, it is as if we are on the far outskirts of His Presence. This is known in Kabbala as Chakal Tapuchin - the "Field of Apples."
Yitzchak saw the daylight fading and he walked toward the darkness out into that Field. It was there that he turned his prayers Heavenward with faith in Divine Kindness, of enduring, sustained Kindness, the trust born out of that fusing of restraining strength with transcending the terror. In the afternoon prayer of Mincha, he put forth his supplication that in Shomayim, the Source of Kindness be unrestrained, overpowering the possibility of harsh Din.
This is our own internal focus as we offer our Mincha prayer as the day declines and we seem to rush in the direction of darkness and din. We face the darkness with trust and internal resolve to remain focused on all that is Good. In this way, we ask that judgment be set aside and restrained, so that Kindness and Chesed continue to shine onward.
Don't let the sun catch you crying. Good Shabbos. D Fox
Many interpretations reach out to us as we envision our Patriarch Yitzchak meditating in a field. We know that Chazal associate this verse with our tradition that Yitzchak inaugurated the afternoon prayer, Mincha.
This week we will go deeper, following the insights of the Recanati.
Let's understand the attributes which we associate with Yitzchak Avinu. We are told that he represented the quality known as Gevura, or strength. We also know that his relationship with the Al-mighty is depicted as his having had Pachad, or terror in shaping his avodas HaShem. How do these diverse qualities coexist within this spiritual giant, our Forefather Yitzchak? What do they have to do with davening Mincha?The Recanati explains that the Mincha prayer is timed as evening approaches. Daylight is the time of illumination, enlightenment, when all can witness the beneficent and kind bounty of HaShem Above. This is the time of tefillas Shacharis, the morning prayer initiated by Avraham Avinu, whose quality was chesed, kindness and generosity. As the day begins to wane, after noon, while the sun may yet still shine and the time is still known as "day", the light is nonetheless beginning to fade. With darkness moving closer, the world feels less Chesed and in fact, this is the time of Din or Judgment.
HaShem kavayachol is Kindness. All of the acts which we perceive as Divine Deeds are based on Chesed. When we cannot see Chesed, as if the Divine Emanation has ceased to be, we experience that which we call Ra'a, or "evil." It seems to us as if the Divine will has been restrained. When Kindness from Above is restrained, the chaos which ensues feels wrong, feels harsh and seems evil to us.
Yitzchak Avinu was confronted with an experience which seemed like the abject absence of Chesed. He encountered the Akeida, which brought him to the brink of extreme Din. This was the origin of Pachad Yitzchak, the terror of experiencing a confrontation with Din. The manner in which Yitzchak faced this trial was through gevura. His internal strength prevailed as he restrained his deepest sensitivity and reactions - eizehu gibor ha'kovesh es yitzro u'moshel b'rucho - and sought instead to embrace Din as if it too were Divine Chesed.
This fusion of pachad and gevura led him to differentiate at a deep, organic level the internal forces of personal goodness and personal evil. This is why he bore two sons, twins, who embodied respectively these two diverse realities. There was no blend of tov v'ra'a within either son. Yakov was purely good, and our brother Esav has made a very different mark on the world and its history. This was the fruit of Yitzchak's deep avoda of gevura, of being able to achieve profound self-restraint in the pursuit of accepting that HaShem is a constant Source of Kindness, regardless of the terror and peril which seem to threaten us. When we cannot fathom HaShem's greatness other than to exercise our faith and trust that all that He does, no matter the darkness, is Kindness in disguise, it is as if we are on the far outskirts of His Presence. This is known in Kabbala as Chakal Tapuchin - the "Field of Apples."
Yitzchak saw the daylight fading and he walked toward the darkness out into that Field. It was there that he turned his prayers Heavenward with faith in Divine Kindness, of enduring, sustained Kindness, the trust born out of that fusing of restraining strength with transcending the terror. In the afternoon prayer of Mincha, he put forth his supplication that in Shomayim, the Source of Kindness be unrestrained, overpowering the possibility of harsh Din.
This is our own internal focus as we offer our Mincha prayer as the day declines and we seem to rush in the direction of darkness and din. We face the darkness with trust and internal resolve to remain focused on all that is Good. In this way, we ask that judgment be set aside and restrained, so that Kindness and Chesed continue to shine onward.
Don't let the sun catch you crying. Good Shabbos. D Fox
posted by Rabbi Dr. Fox at 2:14 AM
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