 |
|
Nov. 20, 2009
Nov. 19, 2009
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf
with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith
with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality
with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Nov. 12, 2009
JWisdom.com Does God get tired?
with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven
with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole
in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to
have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How
to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Nov. 5, 2009
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking
Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker
With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater?
With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change
With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
|
| |
Jewish World Review
June 2, 2005
/ 24 Iyar, 5765
Standing tall after challenges
By
Rabbi Berel Wein
| 
Interested in purchasing the book from which this series is excerpted, please click here. |
|
|
|
“Our forefather Abraham was tested with ten trials and he withstood them all — to show the degree of our forefather Abraham's love of the Divine.”
— Pirkei Avos 5:4
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
The true measure of a person is how one reacts to pressure, disappointment, danger, and difficulty.
There are those who grow from such experiences, and there are those who falter because of them. For most people, it is better not to be tempted and not to be tested.
In the Jewish daily morning prayers we ask G-d not to subject our faith and moral deportment to tests and undue stress, but no one really escapes being tested. The marketplace and the office, the street and the culture of society, the media and the human failings of supposed heroes, all rise to challenge our Jewish convictions, faith, and life style.
Our tests in life are numerous and complex, sometimes blatant, mostly subtle. In fact, the Rabbis attest that the more righteous and pious a person attempts to become, the more likely it is that he will be constantly tested. Thus, we can appreciate that the tests of Abraham, too, were many and varied.
In fact, there is no unanimity among the commentators as to what his particular ten tests were. If we will add up all the varying tests offered by the different commentators we will arrive at a number far higher than ten. All agree, however, that the Akeidah — G-d's command that Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar at Mount Moriah was one of the tests, if not the primary one.
The Jewish people internalized the test of the Akeidah within their national life. It is no exaggeration to say that the Jewish people have always lived in the shadow of the Akeidah, and it is the greatness of Israel that it has survived and even prospered in a world of this constant test. Jewry has emerged greater from every Akeidah in its history.
AND HE WITHSTOOD [LIT. HE STOOD] THEM ALL. In my opinion, the important lesson of this mishnah lies in these words. Abraham stood tall after every test. He became greater. Thus he could be tested again in the surety that he would not be broken by the continued challenges thrust upon him. This was the essential difference between Abraham and Noah. Noah overcame one great challenge in his lifetime — the building of the Ark and the flood — but was unable to deal with the challenges of the post-flood world. He lived for well over three hundred years after the flood, but he retired from the fray after his one great challenge. Not so Abraham who influenced mankind primarily because of his ability to became even greater from every challenge and test.
Throughout history, simply being a Jew has been a major test. It is a test that no Jew escapes, not those who attempt to completely assimilate nor those who disdain the outside world and attempt to isolate themselves from it. Built into the Jewish DNA, so to speak, is this tenacious attribute of our father Abraham, the ability and willingness to face tests and challenges and overcome them. Abraham, who is the symbol of goodness, kindness, and tolerance, and who could therefore be mistaken as just a "good guy," is in reality the tenacious person of faith, strong in heart and stubborn in behavior, who cannot be shaken from his belief in G-d and the positive future of human destiny, even by ten tests.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes inspiring articles. Sign up for our daily update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Rabbi Berel Wein is one of Jewry's foremost historians and founder of the Destiny Foundation. He has authored over 650 tapes, books and videos, including "Pirkei Avos: Teachings For Our Times", from which this was excerpted (Sales of this book help fund JWR).
Comment by clicking here.
© 2005, Mesorah Publications, Ltd.
|
