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This week we learn another life-episode from the first Jew Abraham.
We read that, “Abraham was old, coming in days” (24:1)

The sages explain these apparently redundant adjectives “Old” and ‘Coming in days’ mean different things.
Old means ‘one who has perfected himself‘ (Kidushin 32b) and “Coming in days” one who has improved the world around him (Zohar 1:224a).
So according to this wouldn’t it have been sufficient for the Torah just to tell us that Abraham was ‘coming in days’ and we would automatically know that he was ‘Old’ and perfected himself. Usually one who fixes or teaches others is himself fixed and informed. Same here, if Abraham could fix his surrounding then it goes without saying that he was fixed.
So why tell us also that he was “old”?

To understand here are two stories.

Ariel Sharon (before he went into politics) was one of the most successful generals the Israeli army has ever known. His impressive string of military accomplishments and frequent clashes with the Israeli government to achieve them was renowned, and the very mention of his name brought fear in the hearts of the of the enemies surrounding Israel.
In 1968, after stunning action in the Six-Day war, he was chosen by the Jewish Federation to represent Israel in the United States where he developed a close friendship with a well-known Chabad Chassid there by the name of Rabbi Yizchak Ganzberg.
Rabbi Ganzberg met with Sharon many times and on one of his visits suggested that he could arrange for him a private audience with the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
Sharon, although not a religious man, had to maintain relations with all branches of Judaism and agreed to the meeting. Because of his important position he was given priority to skip the long waiting list and instead of a three-month wait, the next night he entered the Rebbe’s office and was in for a very big surprise.
Sharon later admitted, “I thought that it would be a cordial meeting with an aged Rabbi who was removed from the world that wouldn’t last more than five or ten minutes. After all, what did we have in common? But I was in for a big surprise.
“The Rebbe began to speak with me about Israeli security. At first, I was skeptical, but when I listened, I realized that he was familiar with all of it, even secret material. It was like speaking to a colleague.
“For instance, the Rebbe was very angry that eight of our soldiers were killed when we took the city of Kalkilia (near Kfar Saba) in the six-day war.
“When I explained that we needed to cross a certain valley in order to attack and that the enemy surprised us with an ambush he replied, ‘That is what I mean. Why did you have to cross the valley? You could have taken the city from another direction!’ And he drew an exact outline of the city and where the attack should have been. as though army maps were open before him.
“And you know what…? He was right! Not just about Kalkilia but everything he said! I can’t express how astounded I was. The last thing I expected was a military genius!!”
Sharon said that at one point he glanced at his watch and saw that over a half-hour had passed – like two minutes.
“Why are you looking at your watch?” The Rebbe asked.
“I have a plane to catch back to Israel” the General answered “and I’m afraid I’ll miss it.”
“There will be another plane.” The Rebbe replied. “Stay here with me for a while longer and take another plane home.”
Sharon was a military man. It was not his nature to be late or to change plans. But now he was so amazed by the Rebbe and his seemingly infallible wisdom that he remained for over two more hours and missed his flight!
Just before dawn he left the Rebbe’s room, spoke to the Chassidim for a long time, then booked a new flight and flew to Israel the next day. Only several days later did he discover the miracle the Rebbe had done and he made it public a week later in Kfar Chabad.
He was invited to Kfar Chabad for a Chassidic Farbringen shortly after his return for one of the Chabad holidays (perhaps 19^th of Kislev). Many important people were invited to speak and because the Chassidim knew the Rebbe had spoken to him for several hours, he was one of them. There he told of the long audience he had with the Rebbe and concluded with the revelation that the flight the Rebbe made him miss, the one he was supposed to have taken, got highjacked!
A few hours after takeoff, four of the passengers, who really were Arab terrorists, pulled out guns and ordered the pilot to fly to Algeria where they conducted a thorough search for an ‘important personality’.
They wanted to kidnap Sharon. But when he was not to be found on the flight, they allowed the plane with all the passengers to fly to Israel.
[Incidentally, later the Rebbe warned Sharon in a letter not to enter politics: “My opinion is that your place is in the Israeli army. There G-d has given and will give you success. There is no reason whatsoever, G-d forbid, that you should leave for any other occupation, and CERTAINLY not in the area of politics; including the position of Minister of Defense or something similar. This is not your job and not in this will you utilize your talents and expertise. exactly the opposite!” Tragically he did not take the Rebbe’s advice and we are suffering from it to this day. He gave away Gaza ‘for peace’ and it became a hotbed of terrorism.]

The second story is

The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s mother, Chana Shneorson, spent most of her life in Russia, but shortly after the passing of her husband, the Rebbe’s father, Rav Levi Yitzchak, she spent the last 18 years of her life living near her son in Brooklyn till her passing in 1964. Once a good friend of the hers came from France to visit her for the month of Tishre but before returning to France she said that, although she had a wonderful time, she was afraid that people would ask her to say something about the Lubavitcher Rebbe and she really didn’t have a special story to tell.
“I will tell you a story.” The Rebbe’s mother said “That you can tell the people in France.
“It was in the Farbrengen (Chassidic gathering) of this Simchat Torah. The Shul
(Synagogue) was crowded with people that came to hear the Rebbe speak and he spoke for hours. The women’s section was also packed and everyone was trying to hear what the Rebbe was saying when I noticed that two modern Israeli girls entered. They weren’t religious and had probably just come from curiosity. The Rebbe spoke in Yiddish and I’m sure they didn’t understand and after perhaps a half-hour one turned to the other and said, in modern Hebrew, ‘Let’s leave. We’ve been here long enough. It’s hot, and packed and hard to breathe!’
But the other one turned to her and said. ‘I also want to leave but I can’t’, she pointed to the Rebbe and continued, “He won’t let me.'”

This is what the Torah means when it tells us. “Abraham was both old and coming in days.” Namely that because he perfected himself automatically others were perfected.
In other words, often the effect we have on others is by just being a good example. It is possible that just through working on and improving ourselves we can automatically affect the entire world around us.
Like the two above stories. The very fact that the Rebbe had reached such personal perfection was enough to make both General Sharon and the non-religious girl change their plans.
True, we must also be “Coming in days”: to go out in the streets if necessary, to actively awaken Jews to Judaism. But we must never underestimate the positive impression we make on people, unknowingly, just by just being a good example.
As the Rebbe once said, that sometimes if someone just SEES a Jew wearing tzitzis it can change their lives.

That is how Moshiach will influence the entire world – all eight BILLION people. The personal perfection he will have and will bring to the Jews will be contagious and will transform the entire world, automatically and instantaneously!!
It all depends on us to bring him even one moment sooner. And not much is lacking to make it happen. We are standing on the merits of thousands of years of Jewish suffering, hopes and prayers. Now it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought can tilt the scales and reveal …….
Moshiach NOW!!

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