October 25, 1975<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is written in The Zohar<\/em>, VaYera<\/em>, Why at the oaks of Mamre and not elsewhere? It replies that it is because he advised him about his circumcision, since when the Creator told Abraham to circumcise himself, Abraham consulted his friends. Aner told him, \u201cYou are more than ninety; you will torment yourself.\u201d Mamre told him, \u201cRemember the day when the Chaldeans threw you in the furnace of fire, and that hunger that the world had undergone \u2026 and those kings whom your men chased and whom you struck, and how He saved you from them all \u2026 Arise, do as your Master commands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should understand the question people ask, How can the Creator tell Abraham to circumcise himself and he goes to ask for advice whether he should obey the Creator; can this be?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should also ask, Why is his advice more than the advice that Aner gave him? After all, both advised him. Also, according to what is explained (in Midrash Rabbah<\/em> 42), Aner and Eshkol advised him not to circumcise himself, and Mamre advised him to circumcise himself, so why did he accept Mamre\u2019s advice, since he was one against two?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can interpret that the Creator telling him to circumcise himself pertains to his body, so it will observe the commandment of the Creator. Since man has a good inclination and an evil inclination, he must see that the body agrees to do the Mitzva<\/em> [commandment].<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is considered that he went to ask his friends, meaning the good inclination and the evil inclination. Thus, when one says, \u201cIt is all mine,\u201d and the other says, \u201cIt is all mine,\u201d how can one decide, meaning that each one makes him think that he is right. Thus, he needed an advice as to how to defeat the evil inclination because both made him understand that from their perspective, that they were speaking to the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can understand this according to what is explained, \u201cOne should always see oneself as half guilty and half innocent; if he performs one Mitzva<\/em>, etc., if he performs one transgression,\u201d etc. (Kidushin<\/em> 40). Thus, if it is half and half, who can decide?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The answer is \u201cDo!\u201d That is, he cannot decide unless by acting, and not with the intellect. In other words, whatever he does, it later becomes revealed to the intellect whether or not it is a good deed. This is the meaning of Mamre giving him an advice about the circumcision, when he said, \u201cArise, do as your Master commands,\u201d meaning act, and then you will understand that the good inclination is right, and not the evil inclination. It follows that the advice pertains to the doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" October 25, 1975 It is written in The Zohar, VaYera, Why at the oaks of Mamre and not elsewhere? It replies that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"parent":6246,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"topic":[26],"class_list":["post-12868","book","type-book","status-publish","hentry","topic-rabash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n