The Pillar of Stability

Harav Hagaon Yosef Elefant Shlita

The passuk says: וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים. The simple meaning of this phrase is that Avraham Avinu was growing old, getting on in years. But the Zohar Hakadosh interprets this phrase to mean that Avraham Avinu “came with all his days” — when he reached the end of his life, he brought all his days with him, not losing any of them. This means that he utilized his opportunities, but it means, primarily, that he created a consistency: All his days were a continuum.

In other words, the ability to come with all one’s days is not merely a sign that the person maximized his potential; it also means that he kept on growing constantly.  What is the secret that enables a person to “come with all his days”?

In last week’s parashah, after Sedom is overturned, the Torah says: וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם אֶת פְּנֵי ה'. Chazal derive a few insights from this passuk. From the words אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם, the Gemara (Berachos 6b) derives that Avraham Avinu established a makom kavua for his prayer, and teaches that whoever establishes a makom kavua for davening receives Hashem’s assistance: כל הקובע מקום לתפלתו אלקי אברהם בעזרו.

Now, the simple meaning is that Avraham Avinu had a geographical makom kavua where he davened. But there’s a deeper message here as well, and that is reflected in another teaching of Chazal in connection with this passuk. Chazal link this passuk with the passuk in Tehillim that states: מִי יַעֲלֶה בְהַר ה' וּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ. The words מִי יַעֲלֶה בְהַר ה' allude to Avraham at the Akeidah, say Chazal, while the words וּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ allude to Avraham’s holding onto his position and staying there, as the passuk says: וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם.

A person can reach incredible heights, as Avraham did at the Akeidah — that’s מִי יַעֲלֶה בְהַר ה'. In contrast, ּוּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ refers to a person who’s stable and steady, holding onto his position and staying there. At times, it can be relatively easy to climb the mountain, but it’s a lot harder to stay in that place and hold onto that level. In expounding the words וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם, Chazal praise Avraham for returning to the place where he was the day before. On that day, Avraham davened, but Hashem didn’t accept his tefillos. Yet he got up the next morning and continued from the same place where he had been the previous day.

This would seem to be a pretty simple act on Avraham’s part: He davened in the same place where he davened the day before. Yet this is the act that Chazal point to as the paradigm of holding on steadily to one’s spiritual level: וּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ.

Sometimes we think that in order to hold onto one’s level, a person has to make major, dramatic changes. Yet Chazal are telling us that just davening in the same place that you davened the day before creates stability. Long-term growth and consistency in avodas Hashem is not built on dramatic changes; it’s based on a person’s daily routine, doing the same thing day after day, davening in the same place and the same situation.

Avraham returned to the same place even though he had failed the day before. That’s the secret of consistency — not starting each time anew, but taking a position and going with it. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the tefillah is heard, and sometimes it’s not. The secret of אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם sheds light on Chazal’s other statement that whoever establishes a makom kavua for davening receives Hashem’s assistance. Chazal don’t just mean an actual geographic location where a person sits each time he davens; they are referring to a person who has successfully created a consistency, and isn’t jumpy, doing things one day like this and one day like that.

A third teaching that Chazal derive from these words is that Avraham instituted the tefillah of Shacharis. Amidah is a lashon of prayer, so the words אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם indicate that Avraham davened. Yitzchak, we know, instituted Minchah, as the passuk in this week’s parashah says, וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה, while Yaakov instituted Maariv: וַיִּפְגַּע בַּמָּקוֹם.

The Sfas Emes notes that these tefillos parallel the attributes of each of the Avos. Avraham’s middah was ahavah; Hashem referred to him אַבְרָהָם אֹהֲבִי, as we read in last week’s haftarah. Yitzchak’s middah was yirah — Pachad Yitzchak, and Yaakov’s middah was emes. The Sfas Emes explains that the reason Yaakov instituted Maariv, specifically, is that emes — which is ויצית ונכון וקיים — implies the creation of something lasting. Yaakov Avinu’s tefillah is at the end of the day, when a person wraps up his avodah, so that he can perpetuate and hold onto whatever he achieved during the day.

Yitzchak’s tefillah, Minchah, is said during the day. The words וַיֵּצֵא יִצְחָק לָשׂוּחַ בַּשָּׂדֶה implies that he’s out in the field, doing his everyday tasks. For that you need yirah; ahavah doesn’t work when you’re out on the street.

But Avraham Avinu is ahavah. The Sfas Emes explains that וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר means that before he did anything else, he davened to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. That’s ahavah: putting the loved one before all other activities. When Avraham Avinu got up early in the morning and davened, he showed his ahavah for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

The power of Shacharis, in all generations, is putting Hakadosh Baruch Hu before all other interests. That’s run by the engine of ahavah.

Regarding the words (Yeshayah 41:8): אַבְרָהָם אֹהֲבִי, Rashi comments that Avraham Avinu is called ohavi because he had no one to teach him; he came to know Hashem through his love for Him. No one gave him tochachah; he had no rebbi or father to teach him. What powered him was the engine of ahavah, and that ahavas Hashem brought him to recognize Hashem.

We generally think it was the other way around — Avraham recognized Hashem, and that brought him to ahavah. But Rashi is telling us the opposite: Avraham’s love for Hakadosh Baruch Hu, after seeing Him in the briah, propelled him to an immense love for Him, and that led him to all his intellectual attainments. This idea is reflected in the words וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר.

So, we have three derashos on this passuk: establishing a makom kavua for davening, Avraham returning to his place of the previous day — וּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ, and his instituting Shacharis with an act of ahavah, וַיַּשְׁכֵּם, prioritizing Hakadosh Baruch Hu before anything else. And that ahavah explains the consistency of Avraham Avinu.

The more we develop our ahavas Hashem, and the more we look at the briah and see the chessed that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has done for us, the more we can create the וַיַּשְׁכֵּם, the to place the Eibishter before anything else. And that’s the engine that creates the וּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ and the קובע מקום לתפלתו . The consistency of the relationship is a derivative of the ahavah that a person awakens in himself for Hakadosh Baruch Hu.

This is what it means that Avraham Avinu was בָּא בַּיָּמִים, he came with all his days. He was a pillar of consistency, stability, and continuity: אֶל הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר עָמַד שָׁם. And he was a pillar of Ahavah.