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In his commentary on Bereishis 22<br><br>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>19
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Avraham returned to his
young men; they rose up and went together to Be’er Sheva, and Avraham
remained in Be’er<br>
Sheva.<br><br>
</i></b>RSRH points out the following:<br><br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><b>19
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=4><i>Vayalchu
Yachdov</i></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>: Avraham,
Yitzchak, and the young men — all of them together.<br>
This is the third time that
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>yachdov</i>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>occurs in the account of the
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Akeda</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>,<br>
and it is the final stroke of the pen in this great narrative.<br><br>
<snip><br><br>
Now we are told what happened after Avraham and Yitzchak had<br>
met the highest challenge and accomplished the most exalted mission<br>
a person can complete: They returned to their attendants, and all of<br>
them — Avraham, Yitzchak, and
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>with them
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>the young men — went<br>
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>Yachdov</font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>,
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>together</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, to Be’er Sheva.<br><br>
This is most typical of the spirit that had its beginnings in
Avraham<br>
and Yitzchak. After such an ascent to God’s closeness, after such an<br>
elevation above all earthly concerns, an Avraham and a Yitzchak
belonging<br>
to any other nation would have been so full of themselves and<br>
of the Divine that they would no longer have taken any interest in<br>
ordinary earthly concerns and in ordinary human beings. In any other<br>
society, such closeness to God — even if only imagined — generally<br>
engenders such arrogance in those who experience it that they look<br>
down in disdain on all other men as “mere mortals” and avoid all<br>
contact with them.<br><br>
Not so the spirit that is to be perpetuated through the example of<br>
Avraham and Yitzchak. Just after performing the most exalted deed a<br>
person can perform, they return to the attendants they had left at
the<br>
foot of Mount Moriah, and go
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>Yachdov</i></font>
<font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>, together with them. They do
not<br>
consider themselves superior to the others in any respect. To the
true<br>
son of Avraham, no man is better than another by virtue of his
vocation,<br>
and he sees no distinction between himself and a humble woodcutter<br>
or servant. The higher his own moral and spiritual level, the less
likely<br>
is he to feel superior to others, and the less he is
</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3><i>conscious
</i></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica" size=3>of his own<br>
greatness.</font></body>
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