Rosh Hashannah & Abraham’s Trials
Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim
A major theme of the upcoming High Holidays is Abraham's perfection in sacrificing his son Isaac. During our prayers, we blow the shofar (the ram's horn) associated with the sacrifice of Isaac, and that ram with which that Abraham replaced Isaac on the altar. Through our value of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac, and Isaac’s own sacrifice, God views us as if we sacrificed ourselves (Rosh Hashannah 16a).
It is therefore appropriate and behooves us to focus on Abraham's trials in general and understand their primary lessons. Maimonides lists the 10 Trials (Avos 5:3):
The ten tests with which Abraham, our father, was tested are all [in] the words of Scripture:
1. Abraham’s emigration by God’s statement, may He be blessed, "Go forth from your land, etc." (Genesis 12:1).
2. The famine that was found in the Land of Canaan when he came there and it was [the land of] his destiny - "and I will make you into a great nation" (Genesis 12:2). And this was a great test, and it is its saying, "And there was a famine in the land" (Genesis 12:10).
3. The injustice of the Egyptians towards him in the taking of Sarah to Pharaoh.
4. Fighting against the four kings.
5. Taking of Hagar as a wife after he despaired of giving birth through Sarah.
6. Circumcision that he was commanded about in the days of his old age.
7. The injustice of the king of Gerar towards him in his also taking Sarah.
8. The expulsion of Hagar after his being built (having a child) from her.
9. Distancing of his son, Yishmael, and that is His, may He be blessed, saying, "Let not it be bad in your eyes about the youth, etc." (Genesis 21:12). And Scripture already testified how this thing was difficult in his eyes, in its stating, "And the thing was very bad in the eyes of Abraham" (Genesis 21:11). Yet he observed the commandment of God, may He be blessed, and expelled him.
10. Sacrificing Yitzchak.
(There are other views on what are the 10 Trials)
God placed Abraham in difficult situations where he remained loyal to Him. A trial is a situation that man could not produce on his own, nor would consider independently, and therefore requires God's intervention to help one reach a higher level, otherwise unattainable without God’s intervention.
For example, Rabbi Chait explained that Abraham’s trial of being faced with a famine upon arriving at Canaan addressed a misconception Abraham harbored. Abraham thought, “When on a mission from God, all will go well.” But Abraham discovered he was wrong: any assumption about how God operates is not knowable by man. When confronted with that famine—as he was following God's mission to Canaan—Abraham immediately recognized this idolatrous type of imagined security and he then conquered that emotion. That was his trial regarding the famine: to conquer false assumptions about how God works (Rabbi Israel Chait).
The sacrifice of Isaac also concerned Abraham’s ideas, but also addressed his attachment to God compared to his love for his son. Here, Abraham demonstrated how man can be more devoted to God than to his own flesh and blood. It displayed that man is capable in the greatest degree of being more attached to the ideas than to the emotions, as in sacrificing one's own child.
Perhaps the trial of Canaan’s famine was whether Abraham would opt for divine intervention and endure the famine, or follow natural order and seek food from Egypt even at the risk of life (descending to Egypt meant associating with primitive and base people). This is precisely the dispute between Ramban and Rav Moshe Feinstein. Ramban felt Abraham sinned by leaving Canaan, and Rav Moshe said that Ramban is wrong: Abraham was not to rely on divine intervention in a land stricken by famine. He was correct to leave Canaan and go to Egypt, following natural law.
God's initial directive was that Abraham leave Charan and go to Canaan. It would be wrong to remain in Canaan unconditionally, even in a famine. So Abraham followed God’s first directive of traveling to Canaan. But that does not mean Abraham must die there due to famine. God placed Abraham in a situation where he faced making a personal decision of leaving from where God told him to go. God made Abraham think into what to do, to exercise his free will within God’s directives. Abraham now realized, “God may direct me one moment, but then I must decide what to do next.” Fulfilling God’s mission does not mean one’s free choice is now suspended. Abraham traveled to Canaan as commanded, but he did not know if he was to remain. A new circumstance of famine arose which was outside the scope of God’s first directive. Therefore Abraham used his intelligence to make his next move. That’s an important lesson.
When Abraham and Sarah arrived in Egypt, what was Abraham’s trial of Pharaoh taking Sarah? As in all trials, we must identify what element of Abraham’s personality was improved, or what misconceptions did he ultimately reject as false due to the trial? What was the trial when Sarah died after learning that Isaac was almost sacrificed? I don’t know these answers and welcome your thoughts at comment@mesora.org But fortunately we have shared some ideas this far. Shanna Tova to all.