“And G-d appeared to him [Abraham] in the plains of Mam-Re, as he was sitting at the opening of the tent in the heat of the day.”

Sefer HaLikutim, parashat Vayeira
The initials of the words “and G-d appeared to him in the plains of” spell “Job” (Iyov). The initials of the words “G-d…in the plains of Mam-Re” spell the word for “levirate” (yavam). This alludes to the statement of our sages that Job was the offspring of a leviratic marriage. “And G-d appeared to him in the plains of”: vayeira eilav y-k-v-k be-eilonei. The initials of these words are vav-alef-yud-beit. Iyov: alef-yud-vav-beit. “G-d…in the plains of Mam-Re”: y-k-v-k be-eilonei mamrei. The initials of these words are yud-beitmem. Yavam: yud-beit-mem.

Now, G-d had previously told Abraham: “But you will come to your fathers in peace.” What sort of tiding was this? Rather, as our sages state, G-d hereby informed him that Terah, his father, who was then an idolater, would repent.

The expression “come to your fathers in peace” means that when the individual dies, his soul will repose in paradise with those of his forebears. Since Terah was an idolater, what sort of reassurance was G-d offering Abraham here? We must therefore conclude that G-d was telling Abraham that Terah would repent and that his soul would rest in paradise.

The words “in the heat of the day” allude to the statement of our sages that on that day G-d removed the sun from its sheath, this being the equivalent of Purgatory. Abraham at all times sought guests to host. Since this incident occurred shortly after his circumcision, G-d wished to let Abraham rest, so He made it extra hot so that people would refrain from traveling and no one would be on the road for Abraham to invite into his tent. The sun is envisioned as being encompassed by a sheath that protects the world from its rays. One aspect of the purification process of Purgatory is unbearable heat.

Abraham “was sitting at the opening of the tent,” referring to our sages’ statement that he sits at the entrance of Purgatory and keeps whoever is circumcised and sealed with the holy covenant and has not blemished it from entering. Abraham was the first Jew to be circumcised, and the covenant of circumcision is known to this day as “the covenant of Abraham.” Thus, whoever fulfills the commandment of being circumcised and guards the purity of his sexuality merits Abraham’s protection. Allegorically, this means that guarding sexual purity is sufficient merit to be spared the ordeal of Purgatory even if one has sinned in other ways that would have required that he undergo the purging process.

Now, this caused Terah be reincarnated. When he returned, he descended as a woman and married according to leviratic law.
I.e., this woman married the brother of her deceased, childless husband. In such a case, the first child of this union is considered the child of the deceased man. Although Terah repented of his sin of idolatry before he died, he evidently had to be reincarnated
in order to right his sexual sins. He descended as a woman, presumably to experience female consciousness and realize the seriousness of having “used” women. As a woman, she suffered being childless and losing her husband. She then had to marry the deceased husband’s brother. The key to the rectification of Terah’s sexual sins was the sexual purity and idealism of his son,
Abraham. The fact that Abraham reintroduced the idea of sexual integrity into the world allowed Terah’s soul to be set straight.

Job thus lived in the generation of Isaac. He was not comforted by the words of any of his three friend who came to console him. He was only comforted when he met Isaac, who is called in the book of Job Elihu ben Berachel the Buzite. Isaac was called Elihu ben Berachel (literally, “Elihu the son of he whom G-d has blessed”) for G-d blessed him. Elihu ben Berachel was “from the family of Ram,” meaning Abraham. Job, like Isaac, was a grandson of Terah. He lived in “the land of Utz,” and Utz was the son of Nahor,
Abraham’s brother. After G-d inflicted suffering upon Job, his three friends came to console him. But Job was not consoled by their words, since they each tried to convince him that he had done something to deserve his suffering. Only the younger Elihu was able to console Job. Abraham’s original name was Abram (Avram), meaning “the father of Ram.”

This why Job said, “I therefore detest my words and am comforted over dust and ashes.” This alludes to Abraham, who said, “I am dust and ashes.” Job said, in effect: “Now, because of him, I am comforted.” Having passed his test, Job completes the rectification of the soul of Terah, initiated by the spiritual accomplishments of Abraham.

This is why his name was Job (Iyov), for he was the father of Abraham—who considered himself dust and ashes before his Maker—reincarnated. The letters that make up the word Iyov (alef-yud-vav-beit) may be rearranged to spell “his father” (aviv, alef-beit-yud-vav).

This is also alluded to in the fact that “Job” (Iyov) permutes to spell “and he came” (vayavo). Vayavo: vav-yud-beit-alef.

Job is also alluded to in the verse describing the reaction of the Jewish people to the splitting of the sea: “And the people revered G-d, and they believed in G-d and in His servant Moses.”10 The initials of the words for “…G-d and they believed in G-d…” spell “Job” (Iyov). “…G-d and they believed in G-d…”: et y-k-v-k vaya’aminu be-y-k-v-k; initials alef-yud-vav-beit.

We can now understand why Job’s name is alluded to in the description of the splitting of the sea. Since Job apparently did not figure at all in this incident.

And also we can now understand why G-d delivered him into the hands of Samael. Samael is an angel identified with Satan, the accuser in the heavenly court. The beginning of the book of Job describes how “G-d said to Satan: ‘Did you notice My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth; a wholesome and upright man, who fears G-d and shuns evil.’ Satan answered G-d, ‘Is it
for no reason that Job fears G-d? Have You not set a protective wall about him, about his household, and about everything he owns from all around? … Send forth Your hand and touch everything that is his, and see if he does not blaspheme You to Your face!’ So G-d said to Satan, ‘Everything that is his is hereby in your hand….’”

The parable our sages use to explain this is as follows: A shepherd once was tending his flock next to a river. A wolf attacked the flock, and the shepherd threw it a lamb to divert its attention from the rest of the flock. Now, in the parable, the wolf would certainly be satisfied with one sheep, for he has no desire to eat the whole flock! But in the analogous case, Samael was accusing the entire Jewish people, saying “these are idol-worshippers and those are idol-worshippers!” How, then, would he be satisfied just to receive permission to inflict suffering upon Job? When the Jews were crossing the split sea on their way out of Egypt, they had not reached the other side when the Egyptians entered the sea in pursuit. At that point, we are told, the heavenly accuser
protested to G-d, saying, “Both these and those are idol-worshippers. Why are You planning to save these and drown those?” G-d thereupon “threw Satan a bone,” i.e., suggested that he inflict suffering upon Job. This diverted his attention from the Jewish people, who proceeded to cross over to dry land unimpeded, leaving G-d to overturn the sea on the Egyptians.

To understand this, we must explore another matter first.

We have seen that at “the covenant between the parts,” G-d said to Abraham, “…your seed will be sojourners in a land not theirs. They will serve them, and they will oppress them for four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation that they will serve, and in the end they will leave with great wealth. You, however, will come to your forebears in peace; you shall be buried in good old age. The fourth generation will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite will not be full until then.” In this covenant, G-d promises Abraham the land of Israel in exchange for his children going into exile. It is called “the covenant between the parts” since it was “endorsed” by Abraham and G-d (represented by a pillar of fire) passing in between the severed halves of several animals. The idea was: “just as these halves are not complete without each other, so are the two of us not complete without the pact that binds us together.”

Why, in this passage, does G-d interrupt the description of what is to befall Abraham’s descendants with the statement that Abraham will come to his forebears in peace?

Furthermore, as we said above, what sort of tiding is this, seeing that Terah was still serving idols, selling them, and through them causing everyone to err?

Know, then, that chochmah is what clarifies everything, and the elevation of the sparks of holiness that fell from Tohu depends chiefly upon it. The key to differentiating good from evil—and knowing how to release the kernel of good within evil in order to liberate it—is chochmah, or insight. The purer one’s insight, the clearer one will be able to recognize what is good and what is evil, and purity of insight is dependent upon the purity and force of one’s intentions.

By way of analogy: when a blacksmith strikes his hammer on a piece of iron, sparks fly forth from it. If the blacksmith is an expert, he collects these sparks and returns them to their original state. Apparently this refers to the slivers of iron that break off the larger piece. The skilled blacksmith knows how to “recycle” these splinters and use them.

This is the essence of the sages’ dispute over whether or not a blessing is to be pronounced over unripe fruit. He who contends that we do not recite a blessing over them thinks that once they have fallen off the tree and the forces of evil have appropriated them they are not suitable for a blessing. As long as unripe fruit remains on the tree, it can ripen and become edible. Potentially, it can be eaten and thereby elevated into the service of G-d (assuming the person eating the fruit uses the energy and “lift” he gets from eating it for holy purposes). Once the unripe fruit falls or is picked, however, it has lost its chance to ever become fit for food; it has thus fallen into the realm of evil, and can only become useful again through the roundabout way of decomposing and turning into fertilizer for the next generation of crops.

He who contends that we do recite a blessing when we eat them thinks that since they issued from the realm of holiness, they still possess some holiness and may therefore be returned to their source. As it is written: “He plans out schemes, so that no one be banished from him.” They are therefore suitable for a blessing.

This is also why G-d told him, “the fourth generation will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite will not be full until then.” I.e., Job was amongst them, but was not yet rectified. Afterwards, when he passed his test and was rectified, he is called “a ‘finished’ man” (ish tam). Although this phrase refers to Job before he was tested, we are told that after his suffering G-d restored to Job all his previous wealth and happiness. Presumably this means that he did not suffer spiritually either, and remained as “finished” as he was to begin with, if not more so. Or, perhaps just by being born, Job signified the completion of the rectification of Terah, who, as we said above, had been reincarnated as Job’s mother.

Nonetheless, Job was a non-Jew, and the “shells” claimed him as their own and his merit protected them. For all his perfection, Job was not part of the line of Abraham (he descended from Abraham’s brother Nahor), and thus was not a primogenitor of the Jewish people. We are told that when the spies entered the land of Israel, they found the inhabitants mourning over Job’s passing, since his merit protected them.