Shovevim 4 - Why Did Avraham Reach Ziknah [Old Age And Wisdom]?

ואברהם זקן בא בימים וה' ברך את אברהם בכל - And Avraham is old coming in days and Hashem blessed Avraham with everything.

This is an odd pasuk. It begins with the present tense that Avraham is old but concludes in the past tense - Hashem blessed Avraham with everything. It sounds like the Torah is saying that Avraham IS old BECAUSE he WAS blessed with everything.

Let us go into Hebrew. Hashem blessed Avraham בכל. The word כל in kabala alludes to the middah of yesod - sexual purity. רזא דברית קודש - The secret of the holy bris.

Dovid Hamelech said it לך ה' הגדולה והגבורה והתפארת וכו' כי כל בשמים ובארץ - Hashem has middos that are not dependent on us but we must emulate Him. So the pasuk is saying that if we know that all of the middos are from Hashem לך ה' הגדולה וכולי then we may emulate him. Gedula is chesed, gevura is self control etc. but everything is dependent on kol - כי כל בשמים ובארץ the middah of כל on which all of the heavens and earth stand. If we guard our bris then all of the other middos have a basis for existence. כי כל - because of כל.

Similarly the pasuk is saying about Avraham that he reached old age, ziknah [an acronym for זה קנה חכמה - wisdom of old age and we know that ראשית חכמה יראת השם - the root of all wisdom is fear of Hashem] BECAUSE Hashem blessed him with כל - the middah of guarding his bris kodesh.

May we guard ours by staying away from all of the filth that pervades our degenerate society.
     
[Rebbe Leibel Eiger ztz"l]