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Parshat Tzav & Shabbat HaGadol
By: Rabbi Moshe Goodman, Kollel Ohr Shlomo, Hebron

בס"ד

לשכנו תדרשו

Discovering the Holy Presence in Our Holy Land

והרים את הדשן

“Master of the world! May it be Your will, Lord our God and God of our fathers, to remember in our favor the covenant of our fathers. Even as Abraham our father held back his compassion from his only son and desired to slay him in order to do Your will, so may Your mercy hold back Your anger from us; let Your compassion prevail over Your acts of retaliation. Be lenient with us, Lord our God, and deal with us kindly and mercifully.”

Our Sages teach that even though Yitzhak was not slaughtered and burnt at the Akeida on the Temple Mount, still it is considered by HaShem as if his ashes are placed on an altar before Him, giving tremendous merit to us, his descendants. This teaching sheds light on the commandment to ‘raise the ashes of the altar’, hinting to the ashes of Yitzhak.

The Chamber of Yitzhak is found at one’s right when entering the Maara Building facing in the direction of Jerusalem as in prayer (see last week’s piece on the significance of this). Generally speaking, Yitzhak is associated with the ‘left side’ kabbalistically, referring to the attribute of justice. It may be that Yitzhak’s Chamber at one’s right evokes a type of ‘sweetening’ of Yitzhak’s basic attribute of justice with the ‘right’, which represents the attribute of kindness. Another matter to contemplate is the fact that today Yitzhak’s Chamber is open to Jews only ten days a year. This matter may express Yitzhak’s attribute of justice, which calls one to be more worthy to achieve accomplishments. It is at special auspicious times, or times when our People show their great devotion to our Holy Land and Hebron in specific, that this Chamber is open today.

This matter may rouse us to awaken Divine compassion upon us in prayer, and also to enhance our connection and the connection of those associated with us towards the Holy Land and Hebron. May it be God’s Will that by so doing that Yitzhak’s Chamber be open to Jews at all times. Let us also plead before God: ‘You remember the ashes of Yitzhak with Your great mercy. May it be Your Will, O God that You also remember the ashes of the millions of Jews throughout history, and especially the ashes of Your beloved in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek and more, who sacrificed their lives upon Your Namesake. Please God, open the gates to our entire Holy Land. Open the gates of Yitzhak. Open the gates to Your Holy Temple!’ 

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Real Stories from the Holy Land #214

‘When I reached my apartment I realized that my bag had disappeared. I looked outside on the bench where I thought the bag was, but it was not there. Then, I thanked God that my bag had disappeared, with faith that it is God’s Will. Just then, I got a call from someone who had found my bag, and who later returned it straight to my home..”

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