Parshas Chai Sora

When Eliezer went out to find a wife for Yitzchok, he planned a simple 'test' to see which girl would be right for Yitzchok. He would request a drink of water from a girl. If she would give him and then offer his camels to drink, she would surely be the right wife for Yitzchok.There are two middos that seemingly are the same, but are vastly different- the midda of chesed and that of rachamim. Both look the same, for both involve giving to someone anything that he lacks. Yet the difference is elementary. A baal rachamim dosn't just give out of the goodness in his heart. If a pauper comes his way he feels bad and hurt for the fellow and helps him accordingly. As much mercy as he has on the poor man, that's how much he will help him- he is there to fill the needs of others. A baal chesed on the other hand is much greater. He is someone that feels a need to give, a need to help others. This need stems from his own feeling that he must give and goes out to find people that he can do favors for. That was the middah of Avraham- chessed. On a scorching hot day he sat outside looking and running after guests- for he felt a need to give and couldn't rest unless he was helping someone else. Eliezer was looking for someone who was ready to join the house of Avraham and the most important quality she had to posses was that of chessed. He devised a plan to see if the girl was a baalas rachamim or was she on the higher level of a baalas chessed. He would ask her for a drink - if she was a baalas rachamim she would gladly offer him- a wary travler- some water to drink. But he was looking for much more. He wanted to see if she would go the extra mile and do extra for him. Would she out do her duty and find a way to give more- was she a baalas chessed? If she offered the camels a drink also, she did more then she was asked- then she was the right one to join the house of chessed.
In the zemiros of Friday night we say, דורשי יי זרע אברהם אוהבו. המאחרים לצאת מן השבת וממהרים לבא
Why do we refer to Klal Yisroel as the children of Avraham when we say that they anxiously wait for Shabbos to begin?All mitzvahs have an exact time and place when and how they can and should be done. We have no right to add or subtract fom any mitzvah. We don't have permission to do a mitzvah more then we are told to do just because we want to do more - it is baal tosef. The only mitzvah we could add to is Shabbos. We can accept Shabbos a little early and extend it a few hours into the night after nightfall- the mitzva of Tosfes Shabbos. That is the way we show Hashem that we serve him not because we are told, but rather because it's what we really want to do- our middah of chessed in doing mitzvahs. The middah of Avraham is what gave us the zechus of Tosfes Shabbos.

Parshas V'yaira

The T'az gives two reasons for the minhag to say Parshas H'akeidah every morning. Firstly, to invoke the memory of the akeidah and z'chus avos. Secondly, to help us in our fight against the yetzer horah. Just as Yitzchak was moser nefesh for Hashem's will, so too can we fight the yetzer horah in own selves.

The Tanya goes to great lengths to explain that every Jew - even the simplest Jew - is ready and willing to die for Hashem's sake. There is an emunah p'shuta inherint in every Jew that is above anything in this world. It doesn't have to be proven; it can't be proven. No logic can explain a Jew's inner belief that Hashem is one and the creator of all. It's factual and facts need no logic. (The seforim explain that while it is good to learn inyanim that deal with proving Hashem and his existence, your belief in Him should be only with pure emunah. For any proof or logic you have can be disproven by someone smarter or more logical than you. However, emunah cannot be discussed and is not in danger of being disproven. The Baal Shem Tov used to say of himself: "After all the levels I have reached, my emunah in Hashem is like that of a little kid - I just believe.")

If a Jew is faced with the choice to worship avodah zarah or die, even if all his senses tell him to bow down, if logic dictates that he bow down. It is his inner emunah that screams, "How can you? How can you deny Hashem's existence for even a second? How can you not give up your life for Hashem?" This voice is louder and will defy any common sense.

The Tanya goes on and brings this into the everyday life of a Jew. When faced with an inclination to do something against the will of Hashem, remind yourself of this. You would be willing to die for Hashem's will. How big is your taivah to do wrong? Can it be bigger than dying? If you're willing to die for not being separated from Hashem for even a second, you should be able to overcome any desire you have and not go against His will.

Yitzchak is the av that taught us mesiras nefesh. He went to the akeidah on the basis of pure emunah. (Hashem didn't speak to him, only Avraham heard directly from Hashem). He was ready to give up his life for Hashem. It didn't make sense for him to go, yet he listened to his father - for he knew that it was what he must do. It is from him that we learn to overcome our everyday yetzer horah.

Parshes Lech Lecha

After Avraham got to the land of Cannan, the land was struck by a famine and Avraham - putting his wife in moral danger, went down to Mitzraim. How was it that Avraham left the land to which he was directed and did not trust Hashem the one who knows how to provide in hunger and desert? How did he seemingly expose the moral well-being of his wife to such a danger just to save himself? The Ramban writes; "Avraham comitted a grave sin in his behaviour towards his wife and even deserting the land to which he had been directed was already a sin". All the meforshim are bothered and try to explain this Ramban; How can- and for what purpose- does the Ramban write that Avraham sinned? R' S. R. Hirsch Zatza"l offers us an insight into the way the Torah looks at- and teaches us about- our forefathers and great men. (The following is a direct quote taken from the R' Isaac Levy - Judaica Press traslation.)
"This statement should not worry or mislead us. The Torah never presents our great men as being perfect and says of none "here you have the ideal, in this man the divine becomes human". Altogether it puts the life of no man before us as the pattern out of which we are to learn what is right and good, what are we to do, what to refrain from doing. Where the word of Hashem would set a pattern for us to imitate - it places no man born of dust - there Hashem says "look at me, imitate me, wander in my ways". We are never to say: This must be right for did not so-and-so do it! The Torah isn't "collection of examples of saints". It relates what occurred, not because it was exemplary, but because it did occur.
The Torah never hides from us the faults, errors and weaknesses of our great men. Just by that it gives the stamp of veracity to what it relates. But in truth, by the knowledge which is given us of their faults and weaknesses, our great men are in no wise made lesser but actually greater and more instructive. If they stood before us as the purest models of perfection we should attribute them to having a different nature, which has been denied to us. Were they without passion, without internal struggles, their virtues would seem to us as an outcome of some higher nature, hardly a merit and certainly no model that we could hope to emulate. Take for instance Moshe's humility. Did we not see that he could also fly into a passion, his meekness and modesty would seem to us to be his natural disposition, and lost to us as an example. Just his שמעו נא המורים gives his humility its true greatness, shows it to us as a result of a great work of self-control and self ennoblement which we all should copy- for we all could copy."