[Avodah] Middos of the Avos

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Sep 06, 2011 at 04:46:27PM -0400, Yitzchak Schaffer wrote:
>                           The two possibilities that occurred to me:
> - Their souls were pre-wired for perfection in these middos
> - The individuals cultivated their respective middos to a phenomenal degree

It looks to me like you're posing nature vs nurture WRT the avos, and
thus the same "a mix of the two" answer ought to apply.

> And if the latter, why was it that these middos were chosen?

> I seem to recall hearing this discussed before. I also think I recall  
> seeing the Nesivos Shalom discuss the relation of each Av to his  
> wife/wives in terms of the middos: Avraham contrasting with Sarah (throw  
> out Yishmael), etc.

I dunno, I wrote something about the avos and how they related to
HQBH, their respective wives and their sons at
http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2004/12/love-part-ii.shtml
I tried to show that each had a consistent definition of "ahavah"
in each context. Perhaps it will keep you busy until you get real
sources.

It might even suggest an answer about the progression of middos.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man is a drop of intellect drowning in a sea
micha at aishdas.org        of instincts.
http://www.aishdas.org                         - Rav Yisrael Salanter
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