Hashem tells Yitzchak in this week’s parsha, “I will make your heirs as numerous as the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs—
עֵקֶב אֲשֶׁר־שָׁמַע אַבְרָהָם בְּקֹלִי וַיִּשְׁמֹר מִשְׁמַרְתִּי מִצְוֺתַי חֻקּוֹתַי וְתוֹרֹתָי׃
because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge: My commandments, My laws, and My teachings. (26:4-5)
Rashi in his commentary cites the Talmud and Midrash to explain the second half of the verse.
וישמר משמרתי AND KEPT MY CHARGE — This refers to precautionary measures which are intended to make us avoid the infringement of Biblical prohibitions. For example, Rabbinical regulations regarding performing certain acts on Shabbat.
מצותי MY COMMANDMENTS — those matters which, had they not been written in the Torah, we would nevertheless hold fitting to be a commandment, such as robbery and murder.
חקותי MY ORDINANCES — matters which our evil inclination and the gentile nations argue against the necessity of prohibiting, such as the eating of non- kosher foods and the wearing of garments made of a mixture of wool and linen — things for which there are no apparent reasons but which are the King’s decrees and enactments imposed on His subjects.
ותורתי AND MY LAWS — This refers to the Written Law along with the Oral Law which prescribes commands that are given by God to Moshe from Sinai.
All this means that Avraham kept the commandments of the Torah and even rabbinical laws before they were actually given to the Jewish people. The obvious question is how was that possible if these laws didn’t exist yet?
Ramban (Nachmanides) writes, “Avraham learned the entire Torah from רוח הקודש, divine inspiration, and was occupied with its [study] and in the reasons for its commandments and its secrets. He kept all of it as one who is not commanded and does.”
The commentary of Gur Aryeh asks that the list in the verse seems out of order. The words, “kept my charge” refer to rabbinical enactments meant to make us avoid transgressing a biblical commandment. These laws came after the laws of the Torah. Why are they mentioned before the Torah laws which are conveyed by the words, ”My commandments, My laws, and My teachings”?
Rabbeinu (our Rabbi) Yonah of Gerondi, a Spanish sage of the thirteenth century, comments that one who observes the words of the Sages which are the fences, the precautionary protections so as not to transgress any of the commandments of the Torah, shows more Yir’at Hashem- fear of G-d- than one who does the commandment itself. One who observes the fences shows serious concern not to transgress G-d’s will. That’s Yir’at Hashem. However, one who does not observe the fences, although he observes the commandments (which is in itself an expression of Yir’at Hashem, shows he’s not that concerned about transgressing. His Yir’at Hashem is clearly lacking. In this aspect, writes Rabbeinu Yonah, the words of the sages are the pillars of fear of Heaven which is a foundation of the world and a fundamental principle of Torah observance.
Rabbeinu Yonah concludes that this is the meaning of the words of the Midrash (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1), on the verse, ”For your love is more delightful than wine” (Song of Songs 1:2), that the words of the Sages are more beloved than the wine,i.e. the words of the Torah itself. That’s because observing the fences of the Sages truly expresses reverence for the Almighty and His mitzvot.
Now we can suggest why the verse in our parsha mentions Rabbinic enactments before the Mitzvot of the Torah. It’s because the fences erected by the Sages for the mitzvot are more beloved than the mitzvot themselves.
Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak