CHOCHMAS NASHIM: LECH LICHA:
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME
By: Suri Davis
As an estate attorney, I cringe when I get calls from children of clients wanting copies of wills and trusts, with the question, what am I inheriting? This is in contrast with the multi-generational approach, where clients bring in their children for a discussion of what is in an estate and how best to transfer it peacefully to the next generations.
When G-d says to Abraham you will inherit the land, and Abraham says I have no heirs, G-d replies that He will provide heirs to an aged Abraham. Abraham takes it to the next step by asking:
וַיֹּאמַ֑ר אֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהוִ֔ה בַּמָּ֥ה אֵדַ֖ע כִּ֥י אִֽירָשֶֽׁנָּה׃
And he said, “O Lord GOD, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”
Really Abraham? G-d ensures you that you are going to have children and heirs that rival the number of stars in the sky and you want to know that you will possess it? The question of whether this question is chutzpah is raised by the Kedushat Halevi as well. He seems satisfied by G-d’s answer to Abraham, that Abraham did not sin when he asked G-d for assurances for his inheritance. So what is it exactly that Abraham was asking G-d?
Rashi: If Abraham’s children sin, will G-d destroy them, the way he did the generation of the flood. And G-d gave Abraham assurances that He would no longer destroy humanity en masse.
Gemarah Megillah 31b:5: Abraham sees his children will sin, and he wants to know that they will inherit the land even though they sin. G-d tells Abraham that when they sin, if they bring sacrifices, G-d will forgive them, and they will merit the land. Abraham asks what will happen if there is no holy temple, what will happen to the sacrfices and forgiveness, God said to him: I have already established for them the order of offerings, i.e., the verses of the Torah pertaining to the halakhot of the offerings. Whenever they read those portions, I will deem it as if they sacrificed an offering before Me, and I will pardon them for all of their iniquities.
This connects to next week’s torah portion wherein we see Abraham bringing Isaac as an offering before G-d. We read about the binding of Isaac every Rosh Hashanah, as we re-coronate G-d as our king. The binding of Isaac is a merit for Jews in every generation. We pray that as Abraham conquered his desire for a son and was willing to sacrifice Isaac to please G-d, G-d should remember this merit and conquer His anger against us, remember the covenant with our forefathers to bequest the land to them forever.
Looking at the morning blesssings, we pray every morning that G-d remember the binding of Isaac, and the sacrifices which we performed in the holy temple and we ask G-d to have mercy on us, hear our prayers and give us a good day.
Shabbat shalom
-Suri