- Why God Created Bnei Yisroel
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- Moshe Ben-Chaim
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- Question: Could you please explain to me why God willed it
that a nation should be formed? And why was this a reward to Avraham?
Wouldn't he be long gone before the nation develops?
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- Mesora: God
willed Bnei Yisroel to be formed as God's will was always that man
should be exposed to a life of chochmah. Avraham spearheaded this
effort by discovering God, so perhaps God desired that a nation have
at its identity, a founder who came to the ideals of monotheism by his
own discovery, Avraham thereby setting an example of the prime
existence of man, i.e., one who searches for the truth and finds it.
As opposed to one who just follows someone else's teachings, Avraham
proved that there is objective knowledge in the universe which man can
uncover, the search of which is man's purpose in existence. Therefore,
God showed this to be man's purpose by creating a nation from Avraham,
thereby underlining Avraham's essentiality of man's self knowledge.
This also falls in line with God's original plan not having a Bnei
Yisroel, but just an Adam and Eve who would populate the world and
generate offspring who would follow their parent's method of
discovering God through the universe. Maimonides also states that the
study of the universe is what brings man to be in awe of God, as
opposed to the study of Torah.
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- Since it was Avraham's sole desire to promulgate Torah ideals,
Avraham's own existence is not essential for him to reap the rewards
of his actions. Provided there are followers of Avraham's teachings,
Avraham is satisfied that his plan continues, and this is his reward.
Nothing external to mankind's pursuit of knowledge is needed by
Avraham, there cannot be any more which he would desire.
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