New answers tagged abraham
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Refer to the Targum Yonasan on Bereishis 25:11 which writes:
וּמִן בִּגְלַל דְלָא הֲוָה אַבְרָהָם צָבֵי לִבְרָכָא יַת יִשְׁמָעֵאל בְּגִין כֵּן לָא בְּרִיךְ יַת יִצְחָק דְאִין הֲוָה מְבָרֵךְ לְיִצְחָק וְלָא מְבָרֵךְ לְיִשְׁמָעֵאל הֲוָה נְטִיר לֵיהּ בָּבוֹי וּבָתַר דְמִית אַבְרָהָם בְּרִיךְ יְיָ יַת יִצְחָק וְיָתֵב יִצְחָק סָמִיךְ לְבֵירָא דְאִתְגְלֵי עֲלוֹי ...
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As per above discussion, we have contradictory sources quoted by @Jay and myself.
Apparently a resolution could be that there is a difference between knowing (thinking) something will happen in the future and nevuah.
So that if the announcement is via nevuah then you can praise Hashem for the good tidings now, because the imminent now becomes irreversible.
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Your question revolves around understanding two ideas.
The first is what it means in Bereshit 25:5 that Avraham gave to Yitzchok all that he possessed.
The second is what these other gifts mentioned in Bereshit 25:6, which he gave to his children from the handmaidens are.
In this particular context, All is referring to the usage as it is brought in the ...
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Gur Aryeh (Bereishis 14:20) understands Rashi's phrasing there (ויתן אברהם מעשר מכל אשר לו, Avraham gave maaser from everything he had) to mean just that: Avraham gave Malkitzedek a tenth (not of the spoils of Sodom, since in fact he didn't take them, but) of all of his possessions. Which would include what he got from Pharaoh.
So it may just be that the ...
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Rav Hirsch explains that Avraham attempted to teach them the spirituality in which they should live in the world, but he was unable to prevent them from losing this status.
And in any case this sending away of Ketura's children was also in
accordance with Hashem's stipulation כי ביצחק יקרא לך זרע. According
to the way our sages take it the מתנות include ...
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So the Daas Zekeinim asks your question and gives a reason albeit a somewhat mystical one - that Avraham gave them strength to overpower demons and the like:
נתן אברהם מתנות, “Avraham had already given gifts.” According to the Talmud in tractate Sanhedrin folio 91, these “gifts” were the ability to utter the names of the holy name of the Lord without ...
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The gemara kedushin says that Avraham kept the "whole Torah". Maaser falls under the umbrella of the "whole Torah". In case you want to suggest that it's only a minhag and that wasn't his minhag, then no, he didn't give maaser.
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Harav Yaakov Chaim Goldwicht ztsl (אסופת מערכת פרשת וירא) has a long essay in which he explains the power of a person's holy thoughts as he is doing an act. Just like the thoughts of the one who spins wool for the sake of tzitzis, "elevates" the threads in a way that they may now no longer be used for ordinary uses, and like preparing the hide of ...
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The simple answer why he did not pursue Ephron sooner was because he didn't want to attract attention to the fact that it was a special, spiritual place. Had Ephron known that it was something special he never would have sold it.
It writes in the Zohar 1:127b:
וְאִי תֵימָא אִי הָכִי אַמַּאי לָא בָעָא לָהּ עַד הַשְׁתָּא, בְּגִין דְּלָא יִשְׁגְּחוּן עֲלֵיהּ ...
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The medrash says that one should purchase a plot (approximately) in a cemetery so that one should merit being buried in that cemetery.
This assumes that you have an operating community with a fixed cemetery.
In the case of Avraham that was not true, he invented the community. So it would not have been possible for him to assure himself of a place in a ...
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Rav Hirsch actually compares the usage at the death of Avraham with the usage at the death of Sarah He states that the two lived life fully with every day significant ימי שני חיי. On the other hand Yishmael lived his life שני חיי as a group of years. Indeed Rashi does give the same explanation for Avraham as he did Sarah.
Chayei Sarah 25:7 Rashi
one hundred ...
2
בניו whilst meaning "his sons" in the literal sense can also be understood as a lesson to all those under his care and tutelage.
Radak writes:
ואמר ואת ביתו אחר שאמר ואת בניו, ר"ל בני ביתו שאינם בניו להודיע כי חייב אדם להדריך בני ביתו אע"פ שאינם בניו בדרך ישרה ולהכריחם בזה אחר שהם בני ביתו ומשרתיו, כמו שאמר דוד המלך (ק"א) עיני ...
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There are many commentaries1 who understand the story differently. It's not that the King of Sedom was offering Avraham gifts, and the latter refused.
In reality, these spoils from the war were ownerless. The King of Sedom, as he was losing the battle against the other Kings, lost all hope of ever retrieving his property. As a result, according to halacha, ...
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In my answer to your similar question I cited R. Saadiah Gaon (Emunot V'Deiot 3:9) who wrote:
The third [problem is presented by] the fact that God commanded all men to offer up sacrifices and then forbade such activities to everyone except Aaron and his children. But this, too, did not constitute an abrogation, for there is not contained in Scripture a ...
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Not in the Torah per se, but in Midrashic sources e.g. in the Midrash HaGadol 24:2 it says that upon leaving Ur Kasdim, all the great men of the nations came to bring Avraham gifts and Nimrod offered him his son Eliezer as a slave.
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While this is a contrast to Avraham, whose whole family took part, Rav Hirsch points out that Lot did behave as he had learned from Avraham.
Even in his own house he stands alone with that he had learnt from Abraham.
However the fact that he rose above everyone else does show a merit on his part. Indeed, his daughters thought that everyone else in the ...
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