Appreciating Vintage Avraham was old, well on in years and Hashem blessed Avraham with everything(24:1) The Talmud notes that the juxtaposition of the statements Avraham was old and Hashem blessed Avraham with everything are not coincidental. Until Avrahams time, there was no concept of aging. Since Yitzchak resembled Avraham, whoever wanted to speak to Avraham, spoke to Yitzchak and vice versa. Therefore, Avraham prayed to Hashem to incorporate aging into a persons life span in order to prevent this confusion. Hashem acquiesced to Avrahams request; this is included in Avrahams being blessed with everything.1 The Tosafos Rid comments that we find numerous verses in the Torah which show that aging did exist, even prior to Yitzchaks birth, such as and I am old and and Avraham and Sarah were old.2 The Maharsha adds and my master is old and both young and old to the list of verses.3 Some commentaries suggest that, although people became old, it was not physically recognizable, and Avraham requested that ones age should be physically discernible.4 This answer, however, is difficult to understand. Following the sin of Adam, mans physical existence became finite; the body was doomed to a state of decline. Why would this state of decline not be visible? Additionally, from the verses themselves, we find that age had a visible affect on ones body. Sarah, upon hearing that she would give birth, commented After I am all wrinkled, should I again have delicate skin?5 Clearly, even prior to Avrahams request, aging was visible upon a person. Perhaps Avrahams request was not related to a persons physical state. What Avraham noticed was that people would speak to him as they would speak to Yitzchak. This meant that no one had an appreciation for the sagacity of old age. Avraham wanted a person to be appreciated for his life experiences. The Talmud states that even non-scholars who are aged, must be respected for the experience that they have endured in their lifetime.6 It was this appreciation that Avraham requested of Hashem to instill in mankind, to which the verse attests that he was answered: Avraham was old and Hashem had blessed him with everything. Rabbi Zweig 1.87a 2.Ibid 3.Ibid 4.See Maharsha, Torah Temimah 5.18:12 The translation follows the Rashbam which is based on the Talmud ibid. .Kiddushin 33a
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 01:00:00 +0000