The well where Hagar saw the angel of God became a monument for the Arab people, and their whole connection to humanity is connected to this well. Here their matriarch, Hagar, perceived that God is absolute in space. (She had learned that even if she fled, God was everywhere.) Avraham added a grammar change to one of the words she used to indicate that not only does God see, but He sees “me.” – There is Divine Providence over everything and everyone. An additional lesson in a word added by Avraham is that God is the Living God. He is All Powerful and gives life to all.
The gifts given to the Arabian people were these ideas, that God is the absolute Master of space and time, and that He watches over and guides all. All the Arabian thinkers and philosophers worked at developing these ideas for mankind. This work constitutes the essence of the Arabian people’s treasury of ideas.
[The Arabian character developed from Cham’s sensuality, Hagar’s thirst for freedom, and Avraham’s spirit. – as Hirsch developed in Chapter 16 – GS]
We, the Jewish people, have been assigned by God a dual mission.
A) Faith, intellectual truths, to be absorbed in our heart and which our minds are to develop
B) Mitzvos. Concrete actions which shape all of life according to the dictates of God’s Will, in harmony with those truths.
Jewish philosophical writings discussing the unity of God are largely based on the work of Arab thinkers. They attained Emunah but they did not attain Mitzvos.
It is not sufficient to have ideas about God’s unity. To the mitzvah of “שמע” should be added the Mitzvah of “ואהבת” , the practical subordination to Him of all faculties and aspirations – בכל לב נפש ומאד.
Our mission is “to guard the way of Hashem to do Tzeddaka and Mishpat” (Beraishis 18:19. See the Nineteen Letters). That requires the subordination of all our faculties, especially physical energies and drives. ie. sanctification of the body. Only one who sanctifies the body is entitled to be called a Jew. (See more on page 387)
Beraishis 16: 13-14
pages 376-378
Beraishis 16: 13-14
pages 376-378
One Reply to “Beraishis 16E – Yishmael’s Treasury of Ideas”
Comments are closed.