In the haftarah of Parshas Lech Lecha , Hashem offers words of comfort to the Jewish people. "But you, O Israel," he says, "...children of my beloved Avraham (Avraham ohavi) ...do not be afraid for I am with you" (Yeshaya 41:8,10.) Why does Avraham Avinu deserve to be called ohavi, the beloved of Hashem, more than any of the other avos?
The Chasam Sofer (introduction to Teshuvos Chasam Sofer, Yoreh Deah) is quoted as saying that the answer to this question is hinted to in Parshas Vayera. Before Hashem sends the angels to destroy Sodom, He wonders, "Is it proper for Me to conceal from Avraham what I am about to do? ...For I love him (ki yeda'ativ) because he commands his children and his household after him that they should keep the way of Hashem, acting with righteousness and justice..."(Vayeira 18:17,19). Rashi explains that the word yeda'ativ is an expression of love. Hashem declares that he feels a special closeness to Avraham Avinu because Avraham spent his entire life teaching his family how to live by the dictates of the Torah and he inspired all those he encountered to recognize Hashem's presence in the world.
But to do that, says the Chasam Sofer, Avraham Avinu had to sacrifice his own spiritual growth. There were others before him, like Chanoch and Noach, who reached high spiritual levels by separating themselves from society and connecting with Hashem in their own personal ways. But Avraham was the first to sacrifice his own development in order to draw others closer to Hashem. And it was that selfless sacrifice for Hashem that made Avraham Avinu so beloved in the eyes of the Ribbono Shel Olam.
Avraham demonstrated this middah of self-sacrifice (mesirus nefesh) in many of the ten tests he underwent. Avraham was willing to give up his life in the fiery furnace after declaring his allegiance to Hashem by breaking the idols of his father. He left the comforts of his family and birthplace in search of an unknown destination just to follow Hashem's command. He risked his life in battle with the four mighty kings to save his wayward nephew who had gotten himself into trouble by associating with the wrong crowd. And at the akeida, Avraham showed that he was prepared to sacrifice his own son and forfeit his entire life's mission, i.e. promoting the values of kindness and mercy, just to do the will of G-d.
Avraham's willingness to sacrifice for Torah values both bein adam l'makom and bein adam l'chaveiro, as well as his acceptance of all ten tests without complaint, are a testament to his love for Hashem, and that selflessness is the reason he was so beloved in the eyes of Hashem. This mutual affection is what Chazal refer to in the mishna (Avos 5:3) when they say that the ten tests showed "the love (chibaso) of Avraham Avinu." The ten tests were designed both to demonstrate how far a person must go to show his love for Hashem (Meiri) and to reveal why Hashem loves Avraham and his children so much (Tosafos Yom Tov).
To implant the middah of mesirus nefesh within the Jewish people, Hashem gave the mitzvah of bris milah to Avraham and his descendants. While the basic mitzvah is to remove a foreskin, Chazal explain that part of the mitzvah involves drawing blood from the area of the foreskin (hatafas dam bris). This aspect of the mitzvah was not given to all of Avraham's descendants, only to the Jewish people (see Rashi, Shabbos 134a, based on Zecharya 9:11). Blood symbolizes the soul, the essence of a person or an animal. As the posuk says, "For the soul (nefesh) is in the blood" (Re'eh 12:23). One who draws blood from a person or an animal on Shabbos violates the melacha of netilas neshama (taking a life). Even if there is no death, the drawing of blood itself is considered like taking a nefesh.
The drawing of blood that is inherent in the mitzvah of bris milah instilled within the Jewish people the middah of mesirus nefesh, the ability to sacrifice for the honor of Hashem. Sometimes this necessitates giving up one's life, to die al kiddush Hashem. But there is another, no less important, type of mesirus nefesh that bris milah symbolizes, and that is sacrificing one's desires, comforts and conveniences for avodas Hashem. The term nefesh sometimes means ratzon - one's will - as in "im yesh es naf'shechem - if it is your will" (Chayei Sara 23:8). Surrendering one's own will to fulfill the will of the Ribbono Shel Olam is the ultimate avodas Hashem.
This middah of mesirus nefesh, in all its forms, is something the Jewish people inherited from Avraham Avinu, who sacrificed throughout his life in order to fulfill the ratzon Hashem. And it is this middah that we invoke when we beg Hakadosh Boruch Hu to have mercy on the Jewish people. Every day, after reading the passage of the akeida, as well as on Rosh Hashana at the conclusion of the section of Zichronos in Mussaf, we ask Hashem to remember the akeida and how Avraham Avinu "suppressed his mercy (kavash rachamav) to do your will wholeheartedly," and we plead, "So may your mercy suppress your anger from upon us." We ask Hashem to control his anger, so to speak, in the merit of Avraham's sacrifice.
The current war that the Jewish people are waging is challenging on so many fronts, but one thing is clear: we need to awaken Hashem's mercy in order to be successful. And Chazal tell us how to do that. The mishna advises, "Treat His will as if it were your own will, so that He will treat your will as if it were His will. Nullify your will (bateil retzoncha) in the face of His will, so that He will nullify the will of others in the face of your will" (Avos 2:4). Moreover, Chazal say, "One who forgoes his account with others for injustices done to him, the heavenly court forgoes punishment for all his sins" (Rosh Hashana 17a).
When we emulate the middah of Avraham Avinu and we sacrifice our time and comforts for additional moments of Torah, tefilla and chessed, while at the same time we ignore past injustices we have suffered and commit to move on, we can hope to awaken Hashem's mercy and cause him to nullify the plans of our enemies and shower us with only brachos and yeshuos. May we see yeshuas Hashem b'karov.