Unleashing the Power to Create
The binding of Yitzchak and Avraham’s willingness to take his life without hesitation ranks as the supreme test that our Forefather overcame. His success brought upon him and all future generations of Yidden the zechus to be the Am Kadosh, HaShem’s chosen people. If we were in anyway unsure of the magnitude of the Akeida, all we would have to do is reflect upon the herculean effort of the soton to keep the event from occurring and we would understand how important an event it is.
In fact, even after the event concluded and the intended result occurred, the soton in his true character of being relentless searched for a way to reverse the conclusion, to somehow nullify the results and the earned zechus for all generations. The soton calculated that if Avraham would come to regret the Akeida, wishing that it never occurred, he would forfeit any benefit accrued by passing the test. He schemed that if news of the Akeida would cause Soroh Imeinu to die, Avraham might come to regret it. Chazal reported, so it was, upon hearing that her Yitzchak was bound on a mizbayach as a korbon, her neshama left her. Never the less, despite deep sadness on the loss of his life-mate, Avraham never regretted the Akeida.
We glean from this strategy of the soton that sincere regret has the power to change reality. In this situation Avraham’s success in the Akeida raised him and all his future generations to the loftiest levels of ruchnius. By regretting his actions his accomplishment and its associated eternal reward would have been negated. In much the same way, we are taught that sincere regret changes reality in the realm of teshuva, repentance of a wrongdoing. In fact, the Mesilas Yesharim explains that teshuva-regret is so powerful that if after killing someone a person does teshuva-deeply regretting the murder he committed, he becomes a new person that never committed the crime.
The idea that having regret changes reality is not isolated. Just like regret changes reality intent creates reality. We are taught that every Mitzvah we perform, every word of Torah that we learn and every word of Teffilah that we say creates new spiritual realities within individuals, between individuals and between people and HaShem. Since HaShem decides each day to let everything continue to exist as is or not, the realities that are created by people ultimately determine whether HaShem will choose to renew the universe for that day. That’s the meaning of what Chazal say; the world’s existence depends on three things, Torah, Avoda and Gemilius Chasadim. In a real sense, our ability to create new realities through our actions makes us an ongoing partner to Hashem.
Now that we sense the power of creating realities, that it places us in a partnership with HaShem, it’s essential to understand what creating entails. We speak of Mitzvah performance, Torah learning and recital of Tefillah as actions to create. However, it does not refer to mechanical mindless recitals and rote Mitzvah actions. The key ingredient as stated previously is intent-kavanah. The vast benefit of religious practice requires proper intent-kavanah in order to unleash the power to create.
As adults, we know the challenge of performing religious practice with kavanah. Having kavanah is so important and so challenging; it behooves us to begin the training during childhood. We find in the Al Pi Darko chinuch system an emphasis on the development of character and habits of the mind to include kavanah. This training together with skill development and content acquisition provides children with the comprehensive educational foundation necessary for children to succeed in school and be ready to meet the challenges of life.
A Gut Shabbos