The Test of Life, Part 2: Why the Torah Omits the Miracle of Ur Kasdim

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. I want to show you something interesting. Lech lecha me'artzecha u'mimoladetcha. Hashem sends him, mibeit avicha, that he had to leave his home and move el ha'aretz asher ar'eka, galut. It would seem that this was his first test. עשרה ניסיונות נתנסה אברהם אבינו. Why was his first test? Lech lecha. It's a big machlokes. If you look at the פירוש המשניות לרמבם on the Mishnah, where the Mishnah says, עשרה ניסיונות נתנסה אברהם אבינו, the Rambam begins that the first nisayon is Lech lecha. That's where it begins, Lech lecha. Perek d'Rabbi Eliezer, Chazal, Gemarot, in Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, perek chavav, ot lamed aleph, that the first of his ten tests was Ur Kasdim. What was Ur? Ur Kasdim. The pasuk just tells us in last week's parsha that he was born in Ur Kasdim, Ur. When you read the pasuk, the implication is it's the name of a place, Ur Kasdim. That's what you say. Simply, when you read it, you would say that's the name of a place. The Rishonim say, and it's a big argument between the Ibn Ezra and the Ramban, maybe it's just the name of a place, or maybe Ur is a fire. Avraham Avinu was three years old, and he was taken because he was fighting. They were saying there's no Hashem, and he was fighting. We know the story with the idols, and he broke his father's idols. And they took him and they threw him into a kivshan. They threw him into a fire. Ur, that's the Ur, the fire of Kasdim. And that actually is what the first test. I read you: Keshenolad, bikesh Nimrod lehorgo, venechba bimachbeha ad amah shlosh esrei shanah. That's the first. He had to hide for 13 years. The second test of the ten, shishlichuhu l'Ur Kasdim, v'nitzol, and he was saved. And those are the two tests before Lech Lecha. The Rambam doesn't mention this as the tests. The Rambam mentions Lech Lecha. That's the beginning of the ten tests. Pirkei d'Rabbi Eliezer, that the ten tests begin with Ur Kasdim. The question is, if Ur Kasdim was such a tremendous miracle, you know, in the slichot we say, Mi shanah l'Avraham, b'kivshan ha'esh. Hashem answered his prayer. He saved him with a tremendous miracle. We all know the story. Fire came out, and he didn't get burnt up. Why is there no mention in the Torah of the nes of Ur Kasdim? Unbelievable question. No mention. It's funny how we pick, in English there's an expression, you pick and choose the history. Why does the Torah pick and choose? You know, we're not going to talk about Avraham Avinu learning Torah. No, we're not going to do that. We're not even going to talk about Ur Kasdim. The Rambam is right. You know why it's not one of the ten tests? Because you see that the Torah, they didn't find it important to mention it. The Ramban already asked this for a question. The Ramban says, Deven Ezra asks why it's not mentioned. I'll give you a reason, says the Ramban. Says the Ramban that of course it was a tremendous miracle. We say it every day in davening.

Avraham hot tzeiso oto. What's hotzeta? Does it say that he lakachta oto me'Ur Kasdim? Hotzeta. Hotzeta oto. Ani Hashem asher hotziacha me'eretz Mitzrayim. Just like over there it was with miracles, hotziah is with miracles, so too, Avraham asher hotzeta oto. Ur Kasdim, says the Ramban, it's with miracles. Here, it doesn't say that he took him. It doesn't say lakach. I read you the Ramban. Rabosai, you want to hear the Ramban? You want to hear it? Al yiftach otcha, Rabbi Avram, b'kushyotav. Rabbi Avram! The Ibn Ezra has questions, and he's going to make you think, Oh, Ur Kasdim wasn't the first of the ten nisyonot. It wasn't from the miracles. Ki od eten lecha ta'am v'raaya bazeh. I'll prove it to you. Why? Ha'lagoyim heim lo hizkiru zeh b'sfarim, u'fi shehem cholkim al daato. V'choshvim b'niso shel ma'aseh kshafim. The problem was that the goyim denied Ur Kasdim. Just like in Mitzrayim, they denied metzias Mitzrayim and the miracles, says the Ramban. But there, the Torah was able to show you, no, it was miracles. Here, the Torah—what's it going to write, the story and what they said, and it was not? You can't prove it, right? Therefore it's not mentioned. That's how the Ramban learns. Says the Ramban, U'mipnei zeh lo hizkir oid ha'kosuv ha'nes hazeh. That's why it's not mentioned. Here's the question. It's a tremendous question. Ur Kasdim, here's a nes. V'zeh, lefi perek d'Rab Eliezer, hanisayon harishon, she'amad bo. And why is it not mentioned in the Torah? And the Teretz is because the goyim say it was maaseh kshafim, witchcraft. U'mipnei zeh lo hizkiro ha'kasuv v'hanes hazeh, kayad tzarich l'hazkir divrei hacholkim alav, ka'asher hizkir divrei echer Tumei Mitzrayim. You have to be fair, right? Equal time. In English they call it equal time. You say this side, you gotta give the other side. V'lo nisba'aru divrei Avraham imahem, ka'asher nisba'aru divrei Moshe Rabbeinu basof. By Moshe Rabbeinu, we proved it at the end. You saw clearly that Hashem—Moshe was right. By Ur Kasdim, you can't prove it. They said it was maaseh kshafim, so you couldn't prove it, so the Torah doesn't mention it, like the Teretz of the Ramban. Rabbeinu Yonah says, What? The Torah mentions it. Who said the Torah doesn't mention it? Says Rabbeinu Yonah, it's not mefurash baTorah. It's true. Midivrei Kabbalah, Chazal tell us, v'yesh lanu remez l'davar hazeh min haTorah. There is a remez. Why? Shekodem parshas Lech Lecha, me'atzmo laniskal l'maalah shnei pa'amim Ur Kasdim. How many times is Ur Kasdim mentioned? Twice. Lodia, to teach us, shebishvilo so hanisayon shamad bo, yiftach Hashem yisbarach, vevi laretz. So actually, last week's parsha is the reason why, beschut zeh, lech lecha meartzecha, umimoladtecha, umibeit avicha, el haaretz asher areka. We're accustomed. So it's actually what mentioned. And then he brings, and, Hashem, he brings this other pshat from the Ramban: Hotzeiticha. Mashma bederech nes, like it says, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeiticha meeretz Mitzrayim. So what do we have, rabosai? It's a machlokes. It's an argument. When and what is the beginning of asarah nisyonos? According to one opinion, it starts with Lech Lecha. According to a different opinion, Rabbi Eliezer, when does it start? Ur Kasdim. Why is it not mentioned in the Torah? The Ramban says because they couldn't prove the miracle of Ur Kasdim. Rabbeinu Yonah says it's mentioned. It says twice, Ur Kasdim. It's mentioned, Ur Kasdim, and that's Lech Lecha. Lech Lecha el...

You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.