Lech Lechah - Avraham Was (And We Are) Tested With 10 Tests...

 This parsha mentions most of the ten tests of Avraham, we learn from Pirkei Avot - he faced ten tests and withstood them all… The Torah doesn’t just contain stories - but its stories are main parts of Torah. We are all tested with our ten life challenges as Avraham was. Like him, we’re all tested with ten tests (or categories of tests) repeatedly, to show how much G-d loves us, to make us aware.  Ramban: The test was great for Avraham, this - his passing the tests - made him stand out, more than keeping the Torah.  The key for all of us is how loyal and faithful we stay in the time of being challenged.

Chazal: 3 things are present in a student of Avraham - positive/generous eye - seeing the good, humble spirit, nefesh shefeila, a lowered appetite for the physical- holding it down vs nastiness of the eye, haughtiness, strong physical appetite). One could also say that whoever passes his 10 tests is a student of Avraham Avinu, paralleling his major greatness.  And also, on could wonder why this mishnah doesn't mention chesed/ hachnasat orchim.

The idea is that what caused him to be who he was, to pass these tests, and do his chesed, was rooted in these 3 things.

There’s a tradition that at the time of a test a person’s accomplishments and levels and understanding/intellect are removed from him because otherwise it wouldn’t be a test, after the special powers are taken away a person just has his effort and sacrifice.  For Avraham, when his superpowers were taken away what was left were these three rooted midot which he worked for, which formed his foundation and stood for him.  And these were at the root of his doing hachnasat orchim/chesed.

Students of Avraham are mentioned because this is what he was always teaching others (Yoma 28b - the Avot were always learning, their whole lives), eg. Yaakov resting only after 14 years of learning.

What were they learning? Torah wasn’t’ given! They were learning these 3 midot to the depths of the depths. It uses a rare language here, “All who have in their hands (or as we’d say, at their fingertips)  these 3 things…” - meaning to have rulership and mastery over these three realms.  Having this mastery and only having the level of mastery makes you a student of A”A.

When something is introduced by a Tanna with a number, it means that each of the 3 parts are interconnected, with one foundation.  This is in contrast to lists that flow without the numbers being stated.  

The one thing at the bottom of these 3 things is bittul h’yeishut, meaning that no individual self remains.  

A good eye means always seeing the good of one’s friend, but when a person has ego-self-ness then the yetzer harah gets them to focus on the negative of others.  It’s when one nullifies oneself that one can see the positive in others and not what they lack.  The other two as well, flow from bitul hayeshut.  

Via Chasidut the base of the spiritual service of being a Jew is to be mevatel, downplay, of of his self-ness to Hashem, Blessed Be He. Then a person is amongst the students of Avraham Avinu, and can withstand all the tests of life.  The greatest enemy to the soul of a Jew is having, being, physicality.  B”Sh”T: “Anochi stands between Hashem and you.” What separates us from G-d is our self-ness, ego.  This was the essence of Bilam, the reverse of A”A. 

Avrham said, “I am dust and ash.”  This belittling of egotism led Avraha to his 3 key traits, and the passing of 10 tests that were all about egotism/yeshut:

The first test, leaving his home, and forward,  Though some seemed to be thrust on him, without choice, like a famine leading him to Mitzrayim, Sorah being taken twice, warring with kings, etc. The real test was accepting what was happening as the will of G-d, with love.   And he annulled his thinking and desire.  He accepted that all G-d does for him is only good.  This is the strength we all need to pass our 10 tests - bitul yeshut via these three traits.  This is the true aspiration, striving, of being a Jew.

One can do this bitul in regard to the physical realm, but not in the spiritual realm, needing yeshut in that realm. But this dictum includes the spiritual realm too, all of our parts of our Nefesh, Ruach, and Neshamah.

The Sabah Kadosh of Slonim: One who has the trait of being happy with what he has has a general trait that works wonders in the heart of a person, bringing him to this world and the next… One can only be happy with what he has vis bitul yeshut, as long as there’s self absorption there can’t be happiness with what one has in life - bechelko, otherwise always lacking and always unhappy.  This is our key avodah. Two things, loving G-d and limiting ourselves, and the two fit together, eilu ve’eilu:

Eizehu ashir?.. Brings good in this world and the next, as do these three traits of A”A. Helps us pass our tests and move forward…

(Bracha Lieberman: Sameach can be broken down into Sam Moach, put your mind to it, happiness is in your head.) This translation, notes, and adaptation was written while learning this piece during a live Zoom shiur, in which Rabbi Nossen Schaeffer taught it. I am grateful for how he taught this and led myself and others through the ma'amar from start to end.