I ended off last week discussing Avraham's reaction of "Lu Yishmael yicheh lifanech," (17:18) to being told that Sarah would give birth to a child. Last week we looked at the first Rashi on that pasuk. The second comment of Rashi is equally interesting because of a question asked by the meforshei Rashi. Rashi comments on the word "yichyeh:"
יחיה לפניך – יחיה ביראתך
Avraham did not mean that Yishmael stam should live, but he meant that Yishmael should live with yiras shamayim.
Sifsei Chachamim (see Gur Aryeh as well) asks:
ואם תאמר והאיך יתפלל על יראת שמים הא אמרינן (מגילה כה.) הכל בידי שמים חוץ מיראת שמים
How can Avraham daven that Yishmael have yiras shamayim when "hakol b'ydei shamayim chutz m'yiras shamayim?" Yiras shamayim is something a person has to work on and acquire for themselves; it cannot be bestowed upon them by Hashem.
I don't understand. You mean Sarah Imeinu didn't daven every Friday night when she lit candles וְזַכֵּנִי לְגַדֵל בָּנִים וּבְנֵי בָנִים, חֲכָמִים וּנְבוֹנִים, אוֹהַבֵי הַשֵם, יִראֵי אֶלֹקִים? Avraham and Sarah didn't know the song?
(This all boils down to the same issue we discussed here.)
-- "Last week"
ReplyDeleteu'l'Yishmael sh'maticha (17:20) -- 'I will multiply him so greatly that, even on a "contingency" plan, [at least] a few Yishmaelim will merit ("schar and onesh") to live before Me.'
-- "How can Avraham daven... ...? Yiras shamayim...cannot be bestowed...by Hashem."
Avraham pled with the G-d, 'let not Yishmael's failure to keep circumcision result in kareis [>"b'ydei shamayim"<], 17:14, but let any such failure be punished -- and >fear of Heaven< induced -- by malkos here, at the hands of men!'
u'l'Yishmael sh'maticha, and Hashem answered him -- 'fear not for lack of malkos, Avraham beni, for Yishmael's descendants [unlike Yishmael himself, born in your household] will not be of our bris milah (17:19,:21); rather will he beget 12 princes, 12 vicious men setting 12 nations at each other's throats (16:12). any one man will thus do well to >fear Me<, lest his blood run early mid the strife.'
I think the question has a straightforward answer that I'm surprised not to see in the SH or the Maharal...
ReplyDeleteEvery life story makes some things easier or mmore likely to be chosen than others. The way we would never have the chutzpah to judge a Holocaust survivor's relationship with the Borei, if it is less than it could be.
Hashem could give Yishmael challenges that make it easier or harder for him to choose yir'ah, without forcing the decision. A person has bechirah about yir'as Shamayim (and/or tzinim upachim?). But not about which choices they face.
I think that is indeed the pshat. Hashem cannot grant Yiras Shomayim the way He can grant wealth or health, because ha kol biydei shomayim, chutz mi yiras shomayim. But he can grant that a person's life and experiences be those that are conducive to yiras shomayim, particularly for his or her personality.
DeletePerhaps that is the deeper meaning of
יחיה לפניך – יחיה ביראתך
Avraham is not asking that Yishmael should have Yiras Shomayim, he is asking that he have a life that will maximize his potential for Yiras Shomayim.