The Gevurah Of Yitzchak

לזכות ידיד נפשי הרה"ג ר' זאב רייניץ שליט"א וכל בני ביתו לברכה והצלחה וכל טוב סלה!!

The gemara in Shabbos says as follows: 

א"ר שמואל בר נחמני א"ר יונתן מ"ד (ישעיה סג, טז) כי אתה אבינו כי אברהם לא ידענו וישראל לא יכירנו אתה ה' אבינו גואלנו מעולם שמך.

לעתיד לבא יאמר לו הקב"ה לאברהם בניך חטאו לי, אמר לפניו רבש"ע ימחו על קדושת שמך. אמר אימר ליה ליעקב דהוה ליה צער גידול בנים אפשר דבעי רחמי עלייהו אמר ליה בניך חטאו אמר לפניו רבש"ע ימחו על קדושת שמך אמר לא בסבי טעמא ולא בדרדקי עצה.

אמר לו ליצחק בניך חטאו לי/ אמר לפניו רבש"ע בני ולא בניך בשעה שהקדימו לפניך נעשה לנשמע קראת להם (שמות ד, כב) בני בכורי עכשיו בני ולא בניך/ ועוד כמה חטאו כמה שנותיו של אדם שבעים שנה, דל עשרין דלא ענשת עלייהו פשו להו חמשין. דל כ"ה דלילותא, פשו להו כ"ה. דל תרתי סרי ופלגא דצלויי ומיכל ודבית הכסא, פשו להו תרתי סרי ופלגא אם אתה סובל את כולם מוטב ואם לאו פלגא עלי ופלגא עליך. ואת"ל כולם עלי הא קריבית נפשי קמך פתחו ואמרו (כי) אתה אבינו אמר להם יצחק עד שאתם מקלסין לי קלסו להקב"ה ומחוי להו יצחק הקב"ה בעינייהו מיד נשאו עיניהם למרום ואומרים (ישעיה סג, טז) אתה ה' אבינו גואלנו מעולם שמך. [שבת פט:]

R. Shmuel b. Nachmani also said in R. Yonasan's name: What is meant by, "For you are our father, though Avraham doesn't know us, and Yisrael does not acknowledge us: you, O Hashem, are our father; our redeemer from everlasting is your name"? 

In the future to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will say to Avraham. 'Your children have sinned against Me.' He shall answer Him, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Let them be wiped out for the sanctification of your Name.' Then shall He say, 'I will say this to Yaacov, who experienced the pain of bringing up children: maybe he will supplicate mercy for them. 'So He will say to him, 'Your children have sinned.' He [too] shall answer Him, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Let them be wiped out for the sanctification of your Name.' He shall retort, 'There is no reason in old men, and no counsel in children!' 

Then shall he say to Yitzchak, 'Your children have sinned against me.' But he shall answer Him, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Are they my children and not your children. When they gave precedence to "we will do" over "we will hearken" before you, you called them, Yisrael my son, my firstborn, now they are my sons, not your sons?! Moreover, how much have they sinned? How many are the years of man? Seventy. Subtract twenty, for which you don't punish [and] there remain fifty. Subtract twenty-five which comprise the nights [and] there remain twenty-five. Subtract twelve and a half of prayer, eating, and Nature's calls, [and] there remain twelve and a half. If you will bear all, it is well; if not, half be upon me and half upon you. And should you say, they must all be upon me, lo! I offered myself up before you [as a sacrifice]!' [Thereupon] they shall commence and say, 'For you [i.e., Yitzchak] are our father.' Then shall Yitzchak say to them, 'Instead of praising me, praise the Holy One, blessed be He,' and yitzchak shall show them the Holy One, blessed be He, with their own eyes. Immediately they shall lift up their eyes on high and exclaim, 'You, Hashem, are our father; our redeemer from everlasting is your name.' [Shabbos 89b]

We already discussed this gemara.

Why is it specifically YITZCHAK who comes to our defense?? Yitzchak represents the middah of דין and גבורה, strict, powerful judgment?!! And he is the one to DEFEND us?? 

The idea behind gevurah is that all of the pain and difficulty in this world is in order to reveal the greatness and kindness of Hashem. This is accomplished when we consistently overcome the evil of this world and transform everything into good because the reality is that within everything there are sparks of goodness. Even the evil of Esav and Amalek [and Nazism!!] will ultimately be proven to have led to a greater good and this is indicated by the fact that Esav's HEAD ended up in מערת המכפלה and was buried next to Yitzchak. The head is the place of thought. In the world of thought that preceded the creation of the world, according to the original plan, even the evil of Esav brings to a greater revelation of good and כבוד שמים. 

Wow! 

Now we understand why it is specifically YITZCHAK who defends us. In the world of גבורה we see that all of the sin and spiritual failings existed in order to bring us to a much better place, just as the sweet smelling קטורת needed to include the foul smelling חלבנה. The good smell needs something foul as well. 

When we say the bracha of אתה גבור - which is the second bracha and corresponds to Yitzchak, we have to focus on the גבורה = power we have to overcome [להתגבר] on the yetzer hara with our yetzer tov, thereby weakening the power of evil and bringing to a greater revelation of Hashem in this world.

[עפ"י ס' ואני תפילה עמ' כ"ט-ל]