Lech Lecha

“And He (Malkizedek) blessed him (Avraham), and he said, “Blessed is Avram to the Exalted G-d, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.” (Breishis 14: 19)

R’ Zecharia said in the name of R’ Yehuda: The Holy One, Blessed Be He, wished to have the Priesthood come from the lineage of Shem, as the Torah says, “ . . . and he was the priest of the Exalted G-d”. But, since he had the blessing of Avram precede the blessing of Hashem, the Almighty had priesthood come from the lineage of Avraham . . . (Tractate Nedarim 32b)

The Ran, Rabbeinu Nissan, seems to be bothered by the obvious question on this gemora: what is the difference between priesthood coming from Shem or coming from Avraham? Wasn’t Avraham also from the lineage of Shem. Therefore, the Ran writes, “Even though Avraham was from the lineage of Shem, he did not merit that priesthood come from him through the merit of Shem, but through his own merit.”

The explanation of the Ran’s words are as follows: we are accustomed to understanding that when a person dies, he no longer exists. That is, after death, the attachment to this world is broken. Yet, this is not entirely true. A person who has passed on can still maintain a connection to this world through the spiritual influence he provides.

Since priesthood would come through the merit of Avraham, the priesthood which exists today is dependant upon Avraham, even though he has already left this world. That is, the holiness of the priesthood of Ahron the priest and his descendants derives directly from Avraham’s holiness. This connection is an eternal bond which binds forever the priests of today and tomorrow. This is the loss that R’ Zecharia is referring to in the gemora cited above—the spiritual connection which could have come from Shem, but which instead comes from Avraham himself. As the gemora concludes: “Avraham said, ‘Does one precede the blessing of a servant to the blessing of the master?’ Immediately, the priesthood was destined to come from Avraham . . . “ Thus, if the priesthood was taken from Shem, its spiritual connection to him is cut, and while he remained a priest, he could no longer bequeath this spiritual privilege to his children. Our spiritual merit can connect generations . . .

(This d'var Torah is based on the work Peninei Daas, the essays of the Telsher Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, zt"l, edited by Rabbi Noson Tzvi Baron, shlit"a, and Rabbi Avrahom Chaim Levin, shlit"a, vol. 2, p. 51-2)