Testing...Testing...

In this week's Torah portion the Patriarch Abraham concludes the ten tests which God has placed before him. Many are troubled by God's putting him through these ordeals. Doesn't God know what is in the heart of Abraham? Doesn't he know that Abraham has love for God and truly understands the concept of fear of God? Why must God put him in the crucible as well?
I believe that in order to answer this question we need to understand why it is that God created the world. The father of modern Kabalah, the Arizal, writes that God had within Himself every possible good trait that exists. That was not sufficient, however. God needed to bring all of these traits to practice, he had to make them real. Otherwise, they were meaningless.
Each of us has a part of God within ourselves, we are chips off the old block, so to speak. To get the most out of our existence in this Universe, we need to be as Godlike as possible. Just as God had to make his good traits real, so too it is with us. It isn't enough to be kind, or loving in the heart, you must exercise that trait with respect to someone else to make it real.

The portion concludes with a short lesson on the offspring of the brother of Abraham. Many wonder why it is placed in this location. Some suggest that it is to tie in the birth of Rivka to the Binding of Isaac so as to teach us when she was born.

I would like to suggest an additional approach. Many find tests and the idea of tests difficult. Who was the prototype in the Bible for a person who is tested? Iyov-Job. Unlike Abraham of whom the Torah only describes his behavior in overcoming the tests and does not teach us of any struggles he underwent until he was able to pass them, in the case of Job the struggles are there for us to see. We can ponder and debate the philosophical issues that plagued him.

Job came from the land of Utz. Utz was a nephew of Avraham, the oldest one in fact as recorded here at the end of the Torah portion. At the conclusion of Abraham's tests the Torah wanted to allude to us about someone else who would be tested. It therefore mentions the birth of the grandfather of Job.

Relationship with G-d - Part II

I was asked: If you believe that it is the relationship that is so important, why then do we actually have to do Mitzvos? Just have a relationship without there being any Mitzvos to be done.
I gave a two-part answer. First of all, any relationship that does not put demands on a person is not a real relationship.
Secondly, the Arizal explains at the beginning of Etz Chayim that the reason why Hashem created the world was that even though He had all the finest attributes that could possibly be, they could not be made real until and unless they had a place to manifest themselves. Latent abilities that do not find a place in the real world are meaningless.
The same is true for us as well. It is all fine and good for us to have a “relationship” with God and all sorts of wonderful feelings and thoughts directed towards Him. But until and unless these feelings are brought into reality in this world they are meaningless.
Combine this with the fact that the entire point of creation was to bring latent abilities into reality, and it is clear that our doing so as well enables us to connect to the very forces of creation.