The Third Day Is Always the Hardest | 10@9 | 2026.10.25

Good morning. Today is Sunday, October 25, 2026. What was the hardest part of the Aqeda for Avraham? At the end of this week's reportion, by Yairah, we have this famous, very, very difficult to understand passage narrative of Aqeda. See, it's called the Binding of Isaac. What was the hardest part of that for Avraham? I would think every one of us would immediately suggest the most obvious answer. The hardest part was Avraham deciding to agree to what God told him to do to offer his son Isaac as an offering. It seems obvious, but the Katska Rebbe says something different. Rabnachamendal of Katsk always says something that is unexpected and challenging and gets us to see things in a new way. And the Katska Rebbe says the hardest part of the Aqeda for Avraham was coming back down the mountain. In other words, living with our decisions can be harder than making them in the first place. We may very well make a decision, but then to live with it can be even more difficult. And so that Avraham was able to come down from the mountain and to live the rest of his life with the decisions that he made, says the Katska Rebbe, that was the hardest part. And we see this dramatically at the very beginning of the parasha. Vaye'erah elav ha'ashem be'elonim amrei. God appeared to Avraham in the place of elonim amrei. V'hu yoshe pesach ha'el kahom hayom. Avraham was sitting in the doorway to his tent in the heat of the day. And our sages ask, why did God appear to Avraham at this moment? And Rashi says the famous answer, in order to fulfill the mitzvah be'kraholim to visit the sick, what was wrong with Avraham that he needed to be visited? Rashi says it was the third day after Avraham had administered brismila to himself. Ritual circumcision at the end of the parasha before, God had commanded Avraham to in the mitzvah of brismila. And the Torah tells us that Avraham did brismila on himself and on all of the men of his household. And so when the parasha of Vaye'erah opens, it's the third day after that. And that's why God came to visit because Avraham was sick. It was a significant operation. It caused pain, especially to a person who's a man who's 99 years old. And so that's why God came to visit Avraham. Why specifically on the third day after the bris? Why does Rashi specify that it was the third day? So Rashi gives a medical reason. This medical reason is given, is mentioned in other contexts in the Talmud as well earlier. And I'm not a doctor. But I think that it has some recognized truth today under certain circumstances. Rashi says, because the third day after an operation, so we're talking about a surgical operation, the third day after an operation is the most painful. And if that's the most painful, so that was the day to visit. That was the day that God chose to come visit, to support Avraham, to lift his spirits, to visit him, maybe to distract him from his pain. Okay, that's what Rashi says. Shlomo Karabakh gives a deeper answer. It's not a medical answer. It's an emotional answer. And it's an emotional answer with a powerful lesson for each of us. On the first day, you do something that is holy, something that is radical. You're energized. You're radiant. You're excited at this leap you have taken. On the second day, you're more calm. You're more even. On the third day, you may start to regret what you did. As the Kotzger teaches us about Avraham coming down the mountain, because remember, that was three days later after God had originally commanded him. That was really hard for Avraham to have to live with what he had done and decided. Because now he'd had time to think about it. Now I'm going to come back to this point in a moment. And it's on the third day that we need support and strength. And that's what God gives to Avraham in this visit. There's a term for this. Buyers regret. You see this if, I'm sure you've noticed this, you go to the store and you buy something. And a salesperson may compliment you on your purchase after you have paid for it. So you may think to yourself, for the salesman to say, if the salesman says to me, oh, that suit looks really good on you. You really should buy it. Okay. He wants to make the sales. He'll say it looks good on me. Maybe it does. Maybe it doesn't. But once I buy the suit and I paid for it and then the salesman says to me, you know, I just have to tell you that suit, it makes you look like a million dollars. Why is he saying that to me? I'm not going to admit it because there is a known phenomenon that sometimes after a decision and a little time has passed and you already paid for it. Now you're standing waiting for it to be wrapped up and you may have second thoughts and the salesman does not want you to have second thoughts. So he has to emphasize. No, it really looks good. Buyers regret. This applies in every area of life when we extend ourselves just a little bit more than we expected to. If a person buys something that's just a little bit too expensive for their budget or if a person gives a generous donation to Stucca and it's just a little bit more than you can really afford. Or for example, you commit to an involved act of chesed to agreeing to help someone. And it turns out it's just a little bit more involved, a little bit more troublesome and difficult than you originally thought it was going to be. Or you decide on a change in your routine or changing your character. I'm going to try to be different or a new direction in life. And it turns out it's a little bit more difficult than you imagined when you first made this decision. And so that's the moment, the third day. And I'm using this now as a metaphor when you've had chance to think about it and you may regret the decision. And if it was a good decision, if it was something that was positive and that was of course a person can make a decision and they should rethink it. And they should regret it and they should change their mind. Okay, if it's bad. But when it's something positive, a person needs support on that third day. We see another example of this later at the end of the Torah portion, which I referred to at the beginning, Akedas Yitzchak, the binding of Isaac. At the very beginning of that narrative, what God asks of Abraham to offer his son Yitzchak as an offering is so immense, it's so overwhelming. And remember, Abraham agrees immediately, Hineni, here I am. I'm ready to do whatever you ask. But then God tells Abraham to go to the place that he will show them. And Vayiheb ayom hashleshi. And it was on the third day that they saw the place from afar and they approached it. In other words, the actual event of Akedas Yitzchak, the actual binding of Isaac, took place on the third day after God had commanded it. Why the delay? Why didn't God arrange it? That what he was asking of Abraham do it now for the same reason, because God understood that Abraham would be energized by God appearing to him with his dramatic mission and may have been overwhelmed when he argued, excuse me, not argued, agreed, excuse me, wrong word, just the opposite word, agreed to this impossible command. And we still wonder how Avraham could have agreed, but he agreed right away. But on the third day after Abraham is thinking clearly and calmly and walking with Yitzchak to their destination, that's the real test. Avraham has had a chance to reconsider. Avraham has had the opportunity to maybe think, oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into? That's the real test. Will Avraham still do the impossible that God commands three days earlier? But Avraham had already experienced a third day, our passage at the beginning of the parasha, the third day after his bris. And the reason God came to Avraham on the third day after the bris to visit him is to bestow on Avraham and through Avraham to his descendants, every one of us, the resolve, the strength to overcome the inevitable challenge of the third day. And though it was very hard, Avraham did come down the mountain, as the cutsker explains, but it was very hard. But it was a decision that was made with the resolve after having thought about it and carrying it with him. And that's from the brahha that he received when God came to visit him at the beginning of the parasha. This brahha applies to us, comes down to us. For every third day we experience in every area of life, anytime we may start to regret a spiritual advance we have put into motion. Every one of us has third day moments. In all areas of life, it's normal. And when it happens, when we start to feel regret, when I start to say to myself, why did I agree to that? Why did I start down this path? Remember what God gave to Avraham with his visit on the third day after the bris and through Avraham what God gives to every one of us, the reassurance and the strength of character and the conviction to continue to live up to our highest impulses and to never regret anything that makes us better, that makes us holier. My friends, I wish you a great day and I look forward to seeing you soon in person.