The Secret of the Hidden Light: From the Wisdom of Avraham Avinu to the Good Eye of Rachel

Lesson No. 31 | Part A - Thursday Morning, Parashas Matos, 22 Tammuz 5755, at the Yeshiva

A profound discourse explaining the secret of the purchase of the Cave of Machpelah, the mistake of Og King of Bashan, and the true essence of Hisbodedus. Through Midrashic stories, it is revealed how true greatness is hidden specifically in humility, guarding one's eyes, and judging every Jew favorably.

Darkness and Gloom or the Entrance to the Garden of Eden?

When Avraham Avinu bought the Cave of Machpelah for four hundred silver shekels, the place was filled with kelipos (impure spiritual forces). The kelipos wanted to attach themselves to Avraham, but they were nullified, as it is written: > "And the field of Efron rose" – it experienced an elevation. As long as the cave was under Efron's control, the kelipos surrounded it immensely, and therefore, under Efron, darkness and gloom prevailed there.

When the people of Chevron came to Avraham, they were astonished: "You want to sell Sarah out, to bury her in a dark cave filled with darkness and gloom? What happened to you? Have you become a miser, or did you quarrel before her passing and you want to take revenge on her? It cannot be!" They did not understand the secret of the cave. After all, the greatest figures of the world came to Sarah's funeral: Avimelech, Og King of Bashan, and Shem the son of Noach. Shem lived for six hundred years, and he merited this longevity in the merit of coming to Sarah's home. Anyone who was in Sarah's home merited a long life, meriting to also be in Avraham's home and to live long after him.

The Mistake of Og King of Bashan

Og King of Bashan was one of Pharaoh's advisors. The Midrash relates that when Yaakov Avinu went down to Egypt and blessed Pharaoh, Og was sitting there. Pharaoh turned to him and said: "Look, see how Yaakov Avinu has arrived with seventy souls. This is not what you used to say! You used to say about Avraham, 'He is like a barren mule and cannot beget children.'" Og wanted to kill Avraham and looked for schemes to do so. Why didn't he actually kill him? He thought to himself: "He is old; let the drunkard fall on his own. He has no children, let him shout 'Hashem, Hashem', let him shout." Og was certain that Avraham would leave the world without continuity, and he hoped to marry Sarah out of "pity" for her being a barren woman married to a man he considered cruel.

When Yitzchak was born and weaned, Avraham made a great feast attended by all the leaders of the generation, including Og. Everyone said to him: "Look, where is your prophecy? You said, 'A barren mule who cannot beget children'!" Og scoffed and said: "What is his gift? Just a tiny little boy; whenever I want, I can put my finger on his nose and he will choke." Hashem said to him: "You despise My gift? By your life, you will see thousands upon thousands and myriads upon myriads descending from his children, and that man's end [your end] will be to fall by their hands" – by the hand of Moshe Rabbeinu.

The Power of Babies in the Past

The Midrash reveals to us that Avraham Avinu was the first to invent the baby cradle. Until then, no cradle had ever rocked in the world. In the past, when a baby was born, he would immediately start walking, jumping, and running. The mother would give birth alone, in a dark room at night, and the baby already wanted to dance. The mother would say to him: "Wait a minute, we need to cut the umbilical cord, go bring scissors from the kitchen." If it was daytime, the baby would manage and find them. But at night, in the darkness, the mother would send the newborn baby to bring matches and light a candle.

It is told of a woman who gave birth at night and sent her baby to light a candle so she could cut the umbilical cord. On his way, he encountered none other than Ashmedai, the king of the demons. The baby, born just five minutes prior, wrestled with Ashmedai all night until dawn and the rooster's crow. Ashmedai said to the baby: "Go tell your mother that if the rooster hadn't crowed, I would have killed you." The baby answered him: "Go tell your mother that it's a miracle my mother hasn't cut the cord I'm attached to her with, otherwise I would have slaughtered you!" This was the power of children in the past – a one-minute-old baby could kill a destructive demon. Therefore, when Og saw Yitzchak in the cradle, he scoffed, not understanding the immense power hidden within him.

The Wisdom of Avraham Avinu

The holy Zohar states that Avraham Avinu needed tremendous wisdom to purchase the Cave of Machpelah. The children of Ches said to him: > "In the choicest of our graves bury your dead." They wanted to give him the most beautiful grave, in a grove on the mountain, as long as he wouldn't bury Sarah in the darkness and gloom of the Cave of Machpelah. They controlled him and said: "You are a prince of God among us, but you will receive the grave where we decide."

What wisdom did Avraham employ? He didn't ask for the cave directly. He said to them: "I only want to have the privilege of burying her in the prince's plot, for the sake of Sarah's honor." On that very day, Hashem performed a miracle and they appointed Efron as a prince over them. Efron, as the prince, offered his worst and darkest plot – the Cave of Machpelah – at an exorbitant price of four hundred silver shekels. Avraham agreed immediately. This was the immense emunah (faith) of Avraham Avinu in a land not their own, in an exile where strangers dictate what to do.

The Ramak explains that if the Jewish people had not tasted the impurity of Egypt, the decree of four hundred years could have been fulfilled in the Land of Israel in a single day. Moshe Rabbeinu would have been born in the Land, the Torah would have been given in the Land of Israel, there would have been no sin of the Golden Calf, and there would have been no more exile in the world. But since they went down to Egypt, everything unfolded from there. The secret of Moshe Rabbeinu is hinted at in the letter vav of the word "Gachon" (belly), and therefore he was buried in a valley (gai) – "Gai-chon". Moshe is located in a heavenly chamber called Gichon, and there he received his holy body.

The True Essence of Hisbodedus

Moshe Rabbeinu had no grasp or attachment to this world; all of his 248 limbs were holy. A person might think: "If I also go to practice Hisbodedus for eighty years in the desert like Moshe, Ruach HaKodesh (Divine Inspiration) will be revealed to me too." But this is a mistake. Bilam also went to the mountains and secluded himself. The truth is that a person can practice Hisbodedus for millions of years in the deserts and not even come close to the ankles of Moshe Rabbeinu.

Moshe Rabbeinu said: "I have not yet done teshuvah (repentance)." True Hisbodedus is to do teshuvah, to overlook one's natural inclinations, to forgive everyone, and to believe that everyone is better than me. Rabbi Nasan of Breslov explains that one must know that all the tzaddikim are infinitely greater than me. Who am I, after all? I haven't even changed a single worldly desire.

A Good Eye: The Secret of Rachel Choosing Rabbi Akiva

People tend to judge the wicked favorably, yet they search for flaws in the tzaddikim. This is a severe sin. A person must not stumble in spreading slander, for one who spreads slander loses all his sanity. Chassidus teaches a person to love everyone and to know that he is lower than every Jew. Lashon hara (evil speech) is worse than forbidden relations, which is the greatest evil inclination. Why? Because lashon hara stems from arrogance – everyone thinks he is the "Chad B'Dara" (the unique one of the generation) in his stature, and he nullifies the rest of the world. This is the Kabbalistic secret of the Shattering of the Vessels.

The Tosafos ask regarding Rabbi Akiva, who, before he did teshuvah, used to say: > "Who will give me a Torah scholar so that I may bite him like a donkey?" How did Rachel, the daughter of Kalba Savua, choose him out of all the Torah scholars in Jerusalem? What was so special that she found in a man who hated Torah scholars?

The Tosafos explain: Rachel saw a shepherd, albeit illiterate, but "modest and excellent" – possessing absolute guarding of the eyes and good character traits. She understood that his hatred for Torah scholars did not stem from evil, but from a mistake. He thought that the Torah scholars were arrogant in their Torah learning and despised the unlearned masses, as was the custom then that "the garments of an am ha'aretz (ignoramus) are considered ritually impure (midras) to the Pharisees." Rachel saw his pure inner essence, the hidden light within the darkness, and in the merit of her good eye – the world merited the Torah of Rabbi Akiva.

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