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. (Breishit 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 such as the Rabbinical regulations regarding not doing certain acts on Shabbat.
• מצותי MY COMMANDMENTS — those matters which, had they not been written in the Torah, we would nevertheless hold that they are 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 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 includes with the written Law also the Oral Law which prescribes commands that are given by God to Moshe from Sinai.

All this means that Avrohom 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 on Rashi’s commentary 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”?

Rabbi Isaac Bernstein, of blessed memory, offered the following answer. Pirkei Avot teaches וַעֲשׂוּ סְיָג לַתּוֹרָה- Make a fence for the Torah. This was a message to the sages of the period of the Mishna to enact laws meant to prevent us from transgressing a biblical commandment.

Rabbeinu (our Rabbi) Yonah of Gerondi, a Spanish sage of the thirteenth century, comments that it is praiseworthy to make a fence for the commandments so that the one who fears the word of God does not stumble in them. One who observes the words of the Sages which are the fences for the commandments of the Torah shows more Yirat Hashem– fear of G-d- than one who does the commandment itself. Performing the commandments does not prove fear like the one who observes the fences since that person is careful from the start not to come to error. However, one who does not observe the fence, even though he observes the commandment, shows us that he is not concerned with erring and transgressing G-d’s will. Thus the words of the sages are pillars in the fear of Heaven which is a foundation of the world and a fundamental principle of Torah observance (along with Ahavat Hashem, loving G-d).

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 Torah. 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. And that’s because the sage’s precautionary measures are the greatest expression of yirat shomayim (fear of Heaven), the foundation of the Torah and the world.

Shabbat Shalom!
Yitzchak