וה' אמר המכסה אני מאברהם אשר אני עשה וגו' כי ידעתיו למען אשר יצוה את בניו ואת ביתו אחריו (יח:יז-יט)
And HaShem said, "Shall I conceal from Avrohom what I am doing? For I have known him because he commands his sons and his household after him etc. (18:17-19)
As the wickedness and corruption of Sedom reached an all-time high, HaShem decided that the city must be destroyed. The Torah tells us that HaShem said, “Shall I conceal from Avrohom what I am doing? He will be a great nation; the entire world will be blessed by him. I love him because he commands his sons to keep the ways of HaShem.” Therefore, HaShem decides to reveal His plan of destruction.
This is a phenomenon that has no parallel to it anywhere else in the entire Tanach. Nowhere do we encounter HaShem being “unsure” if He should reveal His plan to the navi. When there was information available to Yeshaya, Yirmiya, Yechezkel or any of the neviim, HaShem revealed it. Yet by Avrohom, it seems as if HaShem is wavering on whether to say or not, ultimately deciding to say it.
The Chasam Sofer discusses this question in his introduction to Y”D called Pituchei Chosam. Before getting to his answer, we should preface by mentioning that the Chasam Sofer was one of the busiest people in the world. He filled three vital roles. He was a Rav of a large kehilla; he was a Rosh Yeshiva and he wrote response to questions that came to him from all over the world. The answer that we will present is most definitely befitting for the one that said it.
The reason why HaShem was vacillating between revealing the information to Avrohom or not is because in reality, the great Avrohom Avinu was not on a high enough level to receive prophecy! (I needed to read this twice to believe what the Chasam Sofer had written.) Surely, had he been on the required level, HaShem would have told him as was the practice with all neviim. However, Avrohom was simply not holding there, and HaShem decided to reveal it to him in any event.
But what does this mean? Of course he was a navi. Rashi (20:8) writes about Avrohom Avinu, “that he was a navi and he knew that she hadn’t been touched”. The Chasam Sofer explains that in order to become a navi, one must be in the proper frame of mind; they must go into seclusion, meditating on the greatness of HaShem, contemplating the most spiritual matters. Avrohom was not able to do these things. Not because he was not great enough. AVROHOM WAS TOO BUSY TO BECOME A NAVI! He was busy influencing the world, bringing them close to HaShem, preaching the idea of monotheism and teaching all about HaShem echad.
In order to influence the masses and raise them up, he needed to do it from their lowly level. What good would raising himself up to a level of prophecy accomplish if he couldn’t use it for the people? Is there a purpose in climbing the spiritual summit if it won’t contribute anything to HaShem? As a result of Avrohom’s great love for HaShem, he decided to forgo becoming a navi, in order to be available to change the world. Ultimately, he succeeded in bringing tens of thousands under the “wings of the Shechina”.
HaShem responded, “I have prophecy to tell him, but he is not on that level, so I can’t tell him. But how can I not tell him? He isn’t on the level because of his love for Me. Should he lose out as a result?” One never loses out from doing the right thing! HaShem granted him the prophecy even though he was not on the level.
(The Netziv writes that this is the reason why we find that Sarah was on a greater level of prophecy than Avrohom.)
Now that the winter is here and the days are much shorter, the question of leaving the office in the middle of work to daven mincha comes up. “How can I leave the office in the middle of a busy day to daven? What will be with the business? Maybe I will just daven by the “kotel”- i.e. without a minyan.” The Ksav Sofer writes the same answer as we saw above from his father that one never loses out from doing the right thing. In Parshas Eikev on the possuk in Shema that each of us say three times a day: ולעבדו בכל לבבכם ובכל נפשכם ונתתי מטר ארצכם בעתו- he explains the connection between davening and working in the possuk as follows: There can be a set time for work, but at certain intervals, that time coincides with the set time of davening with a minyan. If a person puts davening on top of his list, HaShem will not allow any harm to come from this. Furthermore, HaShem Himself gives the blessing on the person’s business.
May we merit keeping in mind this lesson of Avrohom Avinu’s willingness to give up from himself for HaShem, and HaShem in turn viewing that with love, and completing that which would have been missing!
Good Shaabos, מרדכי אפפעל
Important Numbers
