Archive for ‘Avrom | Abraham’

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January 27, 2012

Angel v. Angel

by Digital Maggid

The Angel of the Egyptians vs. the Angel of the Jews

When the Jews received permission from the king to leave his land, the angel of the Egyptians went to Hashem (Gd) and said: “I have a complaint against the Israelites who are leaving Egypt. Please send their angel, Michael, so I can bring my complaint to him and hear his response.” Hashem called the angel Michael, and the angel of Egypt said to him: “It was decreed by Gd that the Israelites should be enslaved to the Egyptians for 400 years. So far it has been only 210 years. I demand that they not leave this land until they have worked the number of years that it was determined for them to work.”  Michael didn’t know how to answer the angel of the Egyptians, so Hashem answered in his place, saying: “I will defend my children. The whole edict of slavery that was determined for them was because of Abraham’s question, ‘bamah eyda ki irashenah‘ (how will I know that I will inherit it?). And he asked this after I promised him the land of Israel, and then I decreed that his children would be strangers in a strange land and there they would work 4oo years. I did not tell Abraham in which land they would work, therefore, I have reckoned the beginning of the 400 years from the day that Yitsik (Isaac) was born, and the years that I decreed they would be slaves have passed since then. Therefore, the Jews are leaving Egypt now in accordance with law and no one can detain them further.”

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Angels, Avrom | Abraham, Bo | בא, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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January 26, 2012

Pound for Pound

by Digital Maggid

The Plagues of the Egyptians were “Pound for Pound”

Every plague that Gd brought upon the Egyptians was “pound for pound.”

The plague of blood corresponded to Pharaoh’s statement: “The river is mine and I made it.” Therefore, Gd punished him with the plague of blood, which began in the river. The plague of frogs also came out the water in order to take revenge on the Egpytians who wanted to kill this people who would receive the Torah which is like water. The lice that came out of the earth came to oppress the Egyptians who wanted to annihilate this people, which is compared to the dust of the earth. The wild animals of the plague of beasts came to kill the Egyptians who wanted to annihilate a people whose children had been martyred. The boils came from the soot of the lime ovens in order to save the people whose father, Abraham, had been thrown into a lime oven to show the superiority of Gd at the time of the evil Nimrod. And in the future, so will many Jews do, for whom it would be better to die in the fire than to convert from Judaism. The plague of hail that was of snow and ice came to take revenge on the Egyptians who wanted to annihilate a people who, in the future, would make their sins white and pure as snow. The locusts that were like a great army came to destroy the food supplies of the Egyptians who wanted to kill the Israelites who were Gd’s army. The plague of darkness was to torment the Egyptians who wanted to kill a nation that different from the star-worshippers, who would be called “darkness.” And the plague of the first-born came upon the Egyptians because they wanted to kill the Jews whom Gd called “b’ni b’chori yisrael” (Israel my first-born).

Because of the ten trials with which Gd tested Abraham our Father and which he successfully withstood, Gd punished the Egyptians with ten plagues.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Avrom | Abraham, Bo | בא, Moshe | Moses | 2 Comments »

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January 18, 2012

Moshe Brings the Jews’ Complaints before Gd

by Digital Maggid

Moshe, who saw how much the Jews were suffering, said to Gd: “Since the time I first came to the Jews and brought the news of the redemption, not only haven’t I helped them, but on the contrary, their days have become difficult and terrible. I know and believe that in the future, they will rejoice, but meanwhile, many of them are dying under the stones and the walls that they are forced to build.”

Moshe’s words were not pleasing in the eyes of Gd and he said to Moshe: “Avrom, Yitzik and Yakev, your holy fathers, did not question my actions even when they did not see their logic.” Avrom Avinu (Abraham our Father) had to buy a plot in order to bury his wife Sarah, and he did not argue with Hashem (Gd) that the entire land was promised to him, that it was his, and why must he pay money for a little tiny plot? When the shepherds of the king of Gerar stopped up the wells that Yitzik Avinu (Isaac our Father) had dug, neither did he say to Gd  that in the land that belonged entirely to him according to Gd’s pledge, he had not even one well to drink from. Likewise, Yakev Avinu (Jacob our Father), when he had no place to pitch his tent until he bought a small plot, did not even mention to the Creator the pledge he had promised to him in Haran that the whole land on which he lay was his forever, and why should he have to buy a plot on which to pitch a tent for himself and his family?.

Contrary to them, Moshe Rabeinu (Moses our Teacher), who was worthy of a revelation through the burning bush, immediately started with questions: What is the name of Hashem Yisboroch (Gd)? Why were the Jews worthy of leaving Egypt? How would they exist in the desolate wilderness? And finally, when he agreed to announce the news to the Israelites about their pending liberation, he comes to Gd with complaints and says that the Jews’ situation is worse than it was before he came to them. Nevertheless, Hashem Yisboroch did not get annoyed with him and again promised to take the Jews out of Egypt with a mighty hand, bring them to the wilderness, give them the Holy Torah and do miracles and wonders for them on the merit of their holy fathers to whom he promised that their children would be like the sands of the sea.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Aharon | Aaron, Avrom | Abraham, Moshe | Moses, Va'eira | וְאֵרָא, Yakev | Yaakov | Jacob, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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November 21, 2011

The Children of the Concubines

by Digital Maggid

די קינדער פון די פילגשים
Di kinder fun di pilgoshem

זינט הָגָר איז ארויסגעטריבן געווארן פון אברהם’ס הויז, איז זי געזעסן ביי די ברונעם און האט געזאגט: “רבונו של עולם, זעה מײַן פארשעהמקײַן וואס אברהם מײַן האר האט מיך פארשיקט פון זײַן הויז.”

Since Hagar has been expelled from Abraham’s house, she sat by the well and said: “Master of the universe,  see my embarrassment that Abraham has exiled me from his house.”

אבער נאָר די טויט פון שרה איז יצחק געגאנגען צו די ברונעם לחי-רואי צוריקצוברענגען הגר כדי זײַן פאטער זאל זי צוריקנעמען פאר א פרוי. האט אברהם  איהר גערופען מיט’ן נאָמען “קטוּרָה” און זי האט געבוירן זעקס זיהן, וואס האבן געדינט עבודה-זרה.

But after the death of Sarah, Isaac went to the well Lachai-Roi to bring Hagar back so that his father might take her back as a wife. Abraham called her by the name “K’turah” and she bore seven sons who practiced avoda-zorah (idol worship).

ווי די קינדער זענען ערוואקסן געווארן, האט אברהם פאר זיי געבויעט א גרויסע שטאט, האט זי באפעסטיגט מיט א חויכע אייזערנע מויערן, און זיי דארט געברענגט.

When the children were grown, Abraham built them a grand city, fortified with high iron walls, and he brought them there.

און אזוי האט ער צו זיי געזאגט: “זיצט דא אין די דאזיגע גארויסע שטאט, כדי איהר זאלט זײַן ווייט פון מײַן זון יצחק.”

And so he said to them: “Live here in this grand city, so that you will be far from my son Isaac.”

 און די זיהן פון קטורה צו אים געזאגט: “די שטאט איז גוט און שיין, און ס’פעהלט אין איהר גארנישט, אבער די אייזערנע מויערן זענען אזוי הויך, אז זיי פארדעקן  די זון אטן מיר זיצן ווי אין א פינסטערניש.”

And the sons of K’turah said to him: “The city is good and beautiful, and lacks nothing, but the iron walls are so high that they cover the sun, and we live as in darkness.”

אברהם געזאגט: “איך וועל אייך געבן א גוטע פערל און גרויסע בריליאנטן וואס לייכטן ווי די ליכט פון די זון.”

Abraham said: “I will give you a good pearl and a great diamond that will light up like the light of the sun.

אויך האט אברהם זיי איבערגעגעבן שמות פון וטמאה און כישופמאכעריי, און דעריבער האבן לָבָן, בִלעָם און זיין פאטער בּעוֹר געהאט א כוח צו מאכן כישוף ווייל זיי האבן באקומען די שמות און זיך גענוצט מיט זיי.

Also, Abraham gave them demonic and magic names, and therefore Lavon, Vilam and his father Be’or had strength for casting spells because they had received the names and they made use of them.

אבער אברהם האט געזעהן אז די קינדער פון די פילגשים זענען אזוי ווי דערנער אינעם פעלד פון יצחק, דערפאר האט ער זיי געגגבן מתנות און זיי אוועקגעשיקט פון זיין זוהן צו מזרח זייט פון די וועלט, זאגנדיג צו זיי: “געווייטערט זיך ווייט פון  דא, צום לאנד קֶדֶם, כדי איהר זאלט נישט אפגעבריהט ווערן פון די גליהענדיגע קויל פון מיין זוהן יצחק, ווייל ער איז א צדיק אuן יעדער פאָלק און שפראך וואס וועט מאכן איהם, אדער זיינע קינדער, פאר קנעכט וועלן ירש’ענען דעם גהינם.

But Abraham saw that the children of the concubines were as thorns in the field of Isaac, so he gave them gifts and bannished them to the east side of the world, saying: “Distance yourselves far from here, to the land of Kedem, so that you shall not diminish the aura of my son Isaac, because he is a tsadik and every nation and language that makes servants of him or his children shall inherit hell.

“דעריבער כל-זמן איהר וועט זעהן אז זיינע קינדער זענען פארשקלאפט צווישן די פעלקער, זיצט אויף איהר פלאץ, אבער ווען איהר וועט הערן אז זיי זיצן מיט זיכערהייט, וועט דאס זיין א סימן פאר אייך אז משיח איז געקומען צו זיי, און דאן זאלט איהר שמעל קומען און זיי באדינען.”

“Therefore, for all time when you see that his children are enslaved amongst the people, you will sit in your place, but when you hear that they are sitting in safety, that will be a sign to you that Moshiach has come to them, and then shall you hasten to come and serve them.”

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Avrom | Abraham, Toldos, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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November 18, 2011

Eliezer and Rivkah, part II

by Digital Maggid

Eliezer took ten camels and loaded them up with all the goods and he muzzled them so they would not eat in foreign fields. Also, the book in which Abraham had written he took with him and he was off on the road to Ḥaran. At the same time, Abraham sent for his son Isaac to return home to his house.

Two angels were sent from heaven: One to accompany Eliezer and to guard him on his way; and the second, to bring Rivkah to Eliezer at the moment he arrived at the well. And along the way, Gd sent him flashes and light to illuminate the road. Eliezer marveled at these wonders, and being so amazed, there suddenly appeared to him the well in Ḥaran. Eliezer saw that overnight he had traveled 14 days’ journey on the road, and he knew that all of this was from Gd. He lifted his eyes toward heaven and prayed to Gd: “I beg you, Gd, send me an upright maiden today, one who does goodness and kindness, that she might be a wife for Isaac.” At that very moment, the angel took Rivkah out of her house and led her to the well.

As Rivkah approached the well, Eliezer saw that the water came up to her. He decided to take a good look at her actions, to know why Gd had brought the water up to her, and he was immediately convinced by her acts: first he saw how she went right up to a crying child and asked why he was crying. The child told her that he had hit his foot on a stone and it was bleeding. Rivkah quickly washed his foot and took the tikhl (kerchief) from her head and wrapped up the wound. She quieted him and reassured him that he would heal soon and she suggested he go back to his mother. The child listened to her and went home.

In a couple minutes a blind woman came up. Rivkah said to her: “How is it that you have left your house alone?” She replied: “If I keep wandering about aimlessly, I will spend the night on the street, as I did last night.” Rivkah asked: “Tell me where your house is.” When she told Rivkah, Rivkah took her by the hand and led her home.

After that, Rivkah returned to the well very tired. She sat down on a stone and wanted to rest up. Suddenly she saw an old man approaching her. She stood up quickly and invited him to sit down and rest. The old man thanked her.

Eliezer had asked all the maidens to give him water, but none of them would, saying: “We need the water.” Until Rivkah came and lectured them. Eliezer saw her good acts and thought: “Such a maiden would be a fitting wife for Isaac.” And as he saw that she was going down to the well and drawing a jug of water, he went to her and desired (requested) of her: “Let me drink a little from your jug.” She replied: “Drink, my lord.” As he finished drinking, she ran and watered his camels, and when all the camels finished drinking, Eliezer gave her a nose ring with a precious stone and two bracelets. And he asked her: “Whose daughter are you? Is there room in your father’s house to spend the night tonight?” She said to him: “I am a daughter of Betuel son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nachor. We have straw and fodder at home and room to spend the night.” Hearing Rivkah’s words, Eliezer was gladdened, for he understood that Gd had prospered his way and led him on the right path to the house of Abraham’s brother.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Avrom | Abraham, Chayei Sarah, Rivkah | Rebecca, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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November 18, 2011

Eliezer and Rivkah (Rebbeca), part I

by Digital Maggid

Abraham saw that his servant, Eleizer, was a good man, doing tzedakah (charity) and chesed (kindness), and he taught him wisdom and Gd’s science with the people who came to him. He depended on him and put him in charge of his entire household. At the same time, Abraham called Eliezer to him and said: “Go and I will send you to my land, to my birthplace, and bring me back from there a wife for my son, Isaac.”

Eliezer said to Abraham: “All that you command me I will do, and I will not go back on my word concerning any matter you have said to me, but, perhaps the woman will not want to go with me, in which case, would I be permitted to offer my daughter as a wife for Isaac? Abraham said: “No, you are a cursed one, from the people of Canaan, cursed since Noah, and my son is a blessed one and a cursed person cannot marry a blessed person.”

Abraham took a book and wrote in it: “All who belong to me, will I give my son, Isaac.”  And he put his seal on it and handed it to Eliezer saying: “That very book shall you keep in your hand, and when you come into the house of the maiden that Gd will show you is appropriate for my son, you shall show that very book to her father.”

 

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Agodes, Avrom | Abraham, Chayei Sarah, Rivkah | Rebecca, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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November 17, 2011

The Joy of Abraham and Isaac

by Digital Maggid

Following the days of mourning for his mother, Isaac returned to Shem’s house where he studied Torah for three years, until he matured and had become learned. And his good deeds were like those of his father: He loved the poor fed them and clothed them, and he brought peace between one and the next and he comforted everyone who suffered. All his friends and relatives loved him so that his name became great and public. When one wanted to bless his son, he would say: “May Gd make you like Isaac, son of Abraham.” Abraham had naches from his son Isaac, and he thanked Gd saying: “Master of the Universe, your kindness to me is great, for you have given me long life, wealth and a good reputation. And also much honor have you apportioned me, for all the kings come to me to greet me and listen to my words. And not only that, but you have gladdened greatly with the gift of giving me a son in my old age, and how great is my happiness, seeing as you have given him a good heart, full of compassion, so that all men would bless themselves with such a son as he. And me, I am lowly as all men, earth and ash, how do I merit this whole fortune? Therefore I pray to you, my Gd: Blessed are You, Gd, concerning this kindness of yours that is greater than all the favors you have done for me that my son, Isaac, walks in your upright ways.”

Now, when Abraham and Isaac would meet people, they did not recognize who was the father and who was the son, because before the time of Abraham, agedness did not befall a person’s face. Abraham said to Gd: “Master of the Universe, my son and I go walking on the street and nobody can distinguish between us. You must make a difference between a youth and an elder, so that the people will know who is the elder and give him respect.” Gd answered him: “I will begin with you.” The next day, when Abraham got up in the morning, he saw that his hair and beard had turned white. Abraham asked: “Lord of the world, won’t I be a laughing stock in the eyes of the people?” Gd answered: “Grey hair is a precious thing for a person.”

Isaac was already forty years old when the Oybershter (Gd) sent him to get married. Why? because until the time of the Akeida (the Binding of Isaac) Ishmael gloated and said: “My strength is greater than yours, my prayers are more beautiful than yours, because you were circumcised when you were only 8 days old and you couldn’t do anything about it, but I was 13 and I had the strength to oppose it but I did not fight.” Thus he teased Isaac continually and belittled his prayers. But Hashem said: “I will wait until he has grown big and is strong enough to make opposition and then I will speak to Abraham and tell him to bring a sacrifice and all will see what a self-sacrificing person Isaac is and I will let him be brought to the Akeida.” After that, when Isaac was 37 years old, Gd tried him and told him to sacrifice himself and because Isaac came to the Akeida with a whole heart to do the will of the creator, his praise was public and the disgrace at Ishmael’s hands was removed.  Then Hashem gave him permission to take a wife. But at the same time, his mother, Sarah, died and he grieved for her for three years, and he was in the yeshiva with Shem and Eiver and studied Torah, and not until he was 40 years of age did he take a wife.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Avrom | Abraham, Chayei Sarah, Yitzik | Yitzkhak | Isaac | Leave a Comment »

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November 15, 2011

Sarah’s Escort, part II

by Digital Maggid

Abraham said to Ephron: “Gd forbid I should take anything from a man without paying for it. Tell me the price of the field.” Ephron still did not wish to sell the field to Abraham [he wanted to give it to him as a gift]. The Sons of Ches said to him: “If you don’t sell the cave to Abraham, we will strip you of your status.” So he consented to sell and said to Abraham: “My lord, four hundred silver shekels of land, between you and me, what is its worth?” Abraham understood the meaning (remez), that Ephron was money-hungry, and he gave him what he wanted, four hundred silver shekels in legal tender, fair and square. Abraham wrote out a sales contract in a book and he had four witnesses sign, that that particular field would belong to him and his children after him in perpetuity for a burial property.

Sarah was buried with royal honors in her finest garb. Among those who carried her bier were Shem son of Noah and his son Eiber, Abimelech the king of the Philistines, Oner, Eshkol, and Mamre, plus all the on-lookers from the area who followed her coffin. Also, people from all over the country accompanied her. Young and old mourned her, saying: “Woe! the merciful and the philanthropic!” And their grief was great indeed.

When Abraham approached the cave of Machpelah, he lifted the stone covering the place where he wanted to bury Sarah. But behold! Adam and Eve stood up and said: “How can we be in this grave and in the partition of Sarah? Unto this day we are ashamed of our sin that we sinned in the Garden of Eden. And now, you have brought to us a woman as righteous as Sarah that we should be even more embarrassed?” Abraham said to them: “Go back to your place, and I will pray to Gd for you, that you will no longer be ashamed.” Adam heard this and went back to his grave, but Eve would not go back to her grave until Abraham took her and placed her back in her grave.

Abraham lamented and wept for Sarah and mourned over her for seven days. All the residents of the land came to comfort Abraham and his son Isaac.

When the days of mourning were over, Abraham sent Isaac to Shem to do some learning, and the cave of Machpelah has remained holy and honored to this very day by all people.

THE END

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Avrom | Abraham, Biblical Figures, Chayei Sarah, Sarai | Sarah | Leave a Comment »

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November 14, 2011

The Grief of Abraham and Isaac, part II

by Digital Maggid

Abraham quickly went to Hebron, to Kiryes-Arba and there he found Sarah dead. Abraham wept and said: “Orphans and widows weep for Sarah, for she fed all the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, and clothed all the naked. Woe! The tongue that consoled the unfortunate, how can it be silenced now? The eyes that were merciful to others, how can they now be closed? How can the hand be weakened that did kindness wiped away tears?” Everyone standing by heard Abraham’s eulogy and wept bitterly until they had lost all their strength.

That same day, the bad news reached Isaac, who was already back at Shem’s house, and he quickly left for Kiryes-Arba. He fell on his face before his mother and wept: “OY! mother of mine! My merciful mother, why have you suddenly forsaken me? I thought I would see again your face that laughed like the sun at noon. I grusted that I would year your good and delightful words again, but now, the sun has suddenly gone dark for me and my heart has become broken within me. How will I console myself after this, now that you are lost to me? how can I can I be happy while I grieve for you?” Isaac hung his head and wept for his mother a great weeping.

When Sarah died, everyone was forlorn, because the whole time our mother, Sarah, was alive, the people of the country were successful in all they did. And from the time of her death, everyone mourned and wept over her death. But Abraham said to them: “Mourn not, my children, for the way of the world is such that saints and sinners both must die in the end.”

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Avrom | Abraham, Chayei Sarah, Sarai | Sarah | Leave a Comment »

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November 14, 2011

The Grief of Abraham and Isaac, part I

by Digital Maggid

When Abraham returned to his house in Beer-Sheva (after the binding of Isaac), he saw from afar that all doors of Sara’s house were shut, and he was quite bewildered. He came up to the house and went around it, and behold, the illuminating clouds that usually surrounded her tent had disappeared. Abraham was afraid, and he went up to the tent to peek inside through the windows. But whoa… the lights that usually would have lit up the interior were also shut.  Abraham understood that something unfortunate must have happened to Sarah and he ran around to all the neighbors asking about her. The neighbors told him that someone had come looking for Sarah, and he told her that Isaac had been sacrificed, and she had gone to Hebron to look for him.

Posted in Aggodos | Sefer Ha-Aggadah, Avrom | Abraham, Chayei Sarah, Sarai | Sarah | Leave a Comment »

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