MNG: Avraham & G-d, A development of kindness that continues Today.

Listening to Hashem: Why the Mitzvah Is the Reward

If we roll the clock back about 4,000 years, humanity was not exactly in great shape. Idolatry everywhere, moral confusion, power worship, and a lot of very confident people doing very foolish things. And then Hashem looks around and finds one human being who is decent enough, kind enough, and honest enough to talk to.

Avraham: One Human Being Who Listened

That man was Avraham.

Not a king. Not a conqueror. Not a philosopher with tenure. Just a human being who cared about truth and kindness.

Hashem opens a line of communication with Avraham through prophecy and walks him through a relationship built on trust. Avraham is tested again and again. Ten tests. Not theoretical tests. Real-life ones. Leaving home. Famine. Persecution. Family pain. Loneliness. Risk.

And eventually Hashem asks the ultimate question: Do you really love Me?

Avraham answers yes.

The Covenant That Changed History

So Hashem says: circumcise yourself. Let’s make a covenant.

Now pause for a second.

At that moment in history, this may have been one of the craziest things a human being could do. A 99-year-old man performing a surgical act on himself with no anesthesia, no antibiotics, no medical textbooks, and no cultural precedent. In modern language, it almost sounds like self-harm.

Yet today, 4,000 years later, modern science quietly admits something interesting.

Most American hospitals recommend circumcision for health reasons. Lower infection rates. Better hygiene. Reduced disease transmission.

An adult male getting circumcised today needs stitches and months of careful recovery. Avraham did it at 99.

And only after that covenant was Yitzchak born, to carry the covenant forward into the Jewish people.

The Core Principle of Torah

This reveals something fundamental about Torah.

Avraham did not do the mitzvah because it was healthy. He did it because Hashem said so.

The health benefits were a side effect.

Like a child cleaning his room because his parents asked him to. The parents don’t benefit from a clean room. The child does.

Chazal say it very clearly: Sechar mitzvah – mitzvah. The reward of the mitzvah is the mitzvah itself.

Hashem does not need our obedience. We need it.

Circumcision turned out to be cleaner, healthier, and safer. But without Hashem commanding it, no society would have explored that territory long enough to figure it out.

And this pattern repeats again and again.

How many centuries did it take scientists to realize that eating pork carries serious health risks? How long did it take humanity to accept that washing hands after the bathroom and before eating saves lives?

Judaism knew these things long before microscopes.

Not because Jews were smarter. Because Jews were listening.

Science today is often just catching up to Torah behavior.

That should already tell us something.

Listening to Hashem works.

Mitzvot: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Validation

And it’s not limited to circumcision.

Take Shabbat. One day of rest a week. Psychology today screams the benefits. Burnout prevention. Family bonding. Identity stability. Reduced anxiety.

Hashem commanded it thousands of years ago.

Take Kashrut. Mindful eating. Discipline. Boundaries. Today it’s called “intentional nutrition” and “ethical consumption.”

Take Family Purity laws. Space. Anticipation. Respect. Modern marriage therapy charges thousands of dollars to rediscover this.

Take Lashon Hara. Torah says don’t speak badly about others. Psychology says gossip destroys trust, communities, and mental health.

Take Tzedakah. Torah mandates giving. Modern studies show generosity increases happiness and reduces depression.

Take forbidden relationships. Torah restricts them. Modern societies ignore that and then act surprised when families collapse.

Amalek, Trauma, and the Command to Remember

And then there’s Amalek.

The Torah commands us to remember what Amalek did. Not to forget.

Why?

Because forgetting trauma is human. Especially brutal trauma.

Slavery in Egypt. The destruction of the Temple. The Crusades. The Holocaust. October 7th.

Psychology teaches that the mind often suppresses unbearable memories just to survive.

Hashem knows this. So He commands remembrance.

Not for revenge. For clarity.

Because when evil is forgotten, it repeats itself.

Only the Creator understands the creation on that level.

Only Hashem knows how the human soul works across generations.

Our Moment in History

Which brings us to today.

At this point in history, it should be obvious.

Man-made systems come and go. Empires rise and fall. Legal systems get rewritten. Ideologies expire.

The Torah remains.

Hashem is King of the world. And Torah law is not a “religious suggestion.” It is the operating system of reality.

Everything else is temporary. Cheap knockoffs. Power grabs disguised as morality.

And yes, humanity needs structure. But structure without Hashem always collapses.

The world is primed for redemption. What’s missing is seriousness.

Whether born Jewish or not, every human being needs to recognize this: Hashem is King. The Torah is truth.

Supporting a Torah-observant Jewish Kingdom in the Holy Land is not extremism. It is alignment with reality.

Instead of chasing those who preserved the word of Hashem, we should be grateful.

Grateful to be alive. Grateful to have a body and a soul. Grateful to have free choice.

We are not animals. We are not trapped in instinct.

We can rise beyond. Beyond habit. Beyond ego. Beyond fear.

Beyond even angels, who have no choice at all.

Through Torah. Through unity. Through love of one another. Through kindness rooted in truth.

A Call to Rise Higher

Let’s do it.

Sources

Bereishit chapters 12–22 Rashi on Bereishit 17 Ramban on Brit Milah Talmud Bavli, Kiddushin 39b Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvot of Brit Milah and Shabbat Rambam, Moreh Nevuchim III Chafetz Chaim, Hilchot Lashon Hara Rambam, Hilchot Teshuva Zohar, Lech Lecha Psychological studies on rest, generosity, and social trust (general consensus literature)

Done.