The Avos – Forefathers
By zevi770 · August 28, 2019
| The Avos – Forefathers | ||
| Merkavah | Even when the Avos slept they served God. | |
| Faith | Avrohom brought faith to the Jewish people. | |
| Mesiras Nefesh (self-sacrifice.) | Yitzchok brought Mesiras Nefesh (sacrifice of self.) | |
| Lessons | Avrohom and Yitzchok represented Chessed and Gevurah (love and justice) and one needs to incorporate both. | |
| Shalosh Rigalim | Avrohom Yitzchok and Yaakov represent the Shalosh Rigalim (Pesach Shavous and Sukkois.) | |
| Role-Models | What they did is this world was to enable us to do likewise. | |
| Preparation | Their Mitzvos was a preparation for Matan Torah. | |
| Yitzchok | Yitzchok was born specifically after Avrohom had a Bris. | |
| Avrohom / Yitzchok | Avraham was about drawing Godliness down and Yitzchok was about being spiritual. | |
| We are united | As they are our role-models and we imitate their behavior, we and they are one. | |
| Love bequeathed | Because they had such a great love for Hahsem, every Jew has at least an innate (even if it hidden) love. | |
| Rectification of Eitz Hadas | Through being a Merkavah, they fixed up the sin of Eitz Hadas. | |
| Ways / Avodah | Avrohom was a genius beyond everyone (and his comprehension of God came through his intellect) Yitzchok represents going beyond the intellect. | |
| Rectifying Adam | They fixed up the three sins of Adam Harishoin, through their three modes of serving God. | |
| Merkavah Study | They studied Torah in a way of Merkavah. | |
| Their Mitzvos | As they did Mitzvos as individuals (Not communal) therefore what they accomplished, did not have a physical transformation. | |
| Their Mitzvos | Before the giving of the Torah, Mitvos didn’t permeate the physical. | |
| Toildois | They are all mentioned – including their primary purpose – in Parshas Toildois. | |
| Encompassing | Though they each are known for a primary way of Serving God, they each had all three. | |
| Tie Together – Daily Torah | They lived (all three) in the world for 15 years together, and they studied every day 15 hours of Torah | |
| Merkavah | They were a Merkavah through the 24 hours of the day. | |
| Significance of their fifteen years. | The fifteen years they lived together represents, the name of Hashem (Yud and Heiy.) | |
| Difference between them and Moshe | The primary difference between our forefathers and Moshe was that they represented Divine emotions, while he, Divine wisdom. | |
| Preparation to Torah | Their service was a preparation to receive the Torah. | |
| Role-Models | Their manner of worshiping God (in contrast to the manner of the Shevatim) applies, and should be emulated by all Jews. | |
| Role-Models | We learn from them, not to isolate oneself but to care, teach, and help the world. | |
| Bequeathing | Their essential truth is found by even a newborn Jewish baby. | |
| Their Mitzvos | As their performance of Mitzvos was spiritual (even if they used a physical item) therefore it permeated not the physical. | |
| Why They Needed Physical Items for Their Mitzvos | The reason they needed physical items (despite that their Mitzvos were spiritual) is because they were preparing for the future Mitzvos (this is similar to how a prophet would need to do something physical to help manifest the prophecy.) | |
| Avrohom / Yitzchok | Avrohom and Yitzchok respectively represent Chessed (kindness) and Gevurah (strict justice) the former representing bestowal from above, the latter striving from below. | |
| Source | They are called the fathers as they are the source of all Jewsh souls. | |
| Their – and our – Service | Avrohom, Yitzchok and Yaakov are Chessed, Gevurah and Tifferes, which are Gemilus Chassadim (kindness) Avodah (prayer) and Torah (study.) | |
| Unique Avodas | The difference between Avrohom and Yitzchok (pushing away evil) and Yaakov, (transforming evil to good.) | |
| Within us | Within every Jew all three are present. | |
| Unique Avodois | Avrohom was about revelation, Yitzchok was about digging. | |
| Unique Avodois | They were shepherds – higher than the world, but from time to time, descend to assist and uplift. | |
| Their Torah | When they learned Torah it added to their identity, but after Matan Torah it transforms. | |
| Their Prayer | They pray for us. | |
| United | They join us in our Avodah. | |
| Empower | They empower us. | |
| Yaakov didn’t die | Yaakov didn’t die. | |
| Role Models | Their AVvodah is our role model. | |
| Why they were chosen | The reason they had such Divine revelation, was not due to their superiority, rather as they were the progenitors of the Jewish people. | |
| Within Us | In each Jew are the forefathers. | |
| Yeshivah | It says Avrohom was elderly and he sat and learned in Yeshivah. This a lesson to each of us to establish Yeshivois. | |
| Messanic State | They received a taste of the world to come (Moshiach) in that Hashem took away disturbances (so they could focus on their spiritual matters.) | |
| Beis Hamikdosh | Avrohom Yitzchok and Yaakov correspond to the 3 Beis Hamikdoshs. | |
| Specific Avodah | Avrohom was Chessed, Yitzchok was Gevurah – staying away from evil and doing good and Yaakov was Tifferes learning Torah. | |
| Yaakov Torah | Yaakov’s progeny were all religious, as he had the special protection of Torah. | |
| Their Merit | Their merit protects the entire Jewish people. | |
| Fathers | Every Jew inherits their spiritual characteristics. | |
| Their Service | Their main characteristics was the service of God in the three primary emotions, of Love, Fear and Torah. | |
| The power of Love Fear and Compassion | The three primary characteristics of Love and fear of God, together with compassion on other gives, the ability to overcome all challenges in Galus. | |
| The Best | The forefathers were the best people. | |
| Yitzchok over Avroham | Though Abraham step by step merited Divinity, Yitzchok, by eight days (with his Milah.) | |
| Yitzchok Because Of Avorham | Though Yitzchok at eight days achieved what it took Abraham a lifetime, but it was only after Abraham’s pathway. | |
| Us After Avrohom | Because our forefathers opened the gateway, we can begin in sacrifice to God. | |
| Yaakov furthering Avrohom and Yitzchok | Yaakov took the holiness of Israel to outside. | |
| Faith | They never wavered. | |
| Role Models | Every Jew must say “when will my actions mirror my forefathers.” | |
| Their Effect | They effected in the world, increased Divinity/holiness. | |
| The paved the way | Their work paved the way for the Torah era. | |
| Mothers + Fathers | The three fathers and four mothers represent the entirety of the seven Divine services. |