עֲשָׂרָה
נִסְיוֹנוֹת נִתְנַסָּה אַבְרָהָם אָבִֽינוּ, וְעָמַד בְּכֻלָּם, לְהוֹדִֽיעַ
כַּמָּה חִבָּתוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִֽינוּ
With ten tests our father Abraham
was tested and he withstood them all—in order to make known how great was our
father Abraham's love.
Rav Schachter on Avos comments thus:
“Avraham Avinu’s success in
passing the ten nisyonos indicated that his level of yiras Shamayim
became part of his DNA makeup, and this could then be transmitted genetically to
future generations. Thus, Avraham paved the way for his descendants, who have
since stirred themselves to make aliyah, for example, and to accept
difficulties in life with emunah and without question”.
I wonder if has ever occurred to the author that the vast
majority of Avraham’s descendants are from Yishmael and not from Yitzchak.
Moreover, a very large proportion of our ‘minority’ branch consists of people
who have not made aliyah and appear to have little wish or intention to
do so. The descendants of Yishmael, however, seem to be quite eager to occupy
the whole of the land of Israel.
It's apposite to note that DNA in the context of our mishnah cannot be taken literally. It is suggested that it was only once Avraham had passed the ten tests that his DNA was perfected. Both Yishmael and Yitzchak were of course already born before then.
I remain uncomfortable with the notion that our behavioural choices in life are somehow conditioned by our genetic composition, especially in the absence of any evidence to that effect and when there does seem to be at least circumstantial evidence to the contrary.
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