By Rabbi David Cohen
אעשך לגוי גדול ואברכך ואגדלה שמך והיה ברכה.
Rashi explains the three terms/blessings of this pasuk; “And I will make you a great nation”: we refer to this when we say in Shemoneh Esrai – Elokai Avraham, G-d of Avraham; “And I will bless you” – refers to Elokai Yitzchak, “And I will make your name great,” alludes to Elokai Yaakov. Rashiadds, “One might think that they conclude the blessing with all of them, i.e., Elokai Avraham, Yitzchak, v’Yaakov.” To teach otherwise, the pasuk says, V’he’yeih brachah, “And you will be a blessing.” B’cha chotmin v’lo ba’haem, “With you, Avraham, they conclude the blessing and not with them.”
Horav Shimon Shkop, zl, expounds on this statement and explains why it is that the brachah is concluded with Avraham Avinu. Our Patriarch was a spiritually self-made man. He had no mentor, having discovered the truth about the Creator on his own. Indeed, he descended from a family that was steeped in idol worship, his own father owning an idol shop, where people from all over came to purchase their idols. Yitzchak Avinu was much more fortunate. Raised and educated by Avraham and Sarah Imeinu, he built upon the lessons that he received from them. His son, Yaakov Avinu, had the advantage of receiving an education from his father, who received his basic foundation from his father. It would, thus, make sense to conclude the blessing with the names of all three. Apparently, Avraham Avinu’s hashpaah, influence, is one which, in the end of days, will have the greatest effect and one with which many will identify.
Avraham made a decision based on his recognition that things were not as they seemed. Idols cannot create. The world did not just happen. There is a Baal ha’birah, a Master/owner of the palace/world. His next step was to spread the word, so that a world of pagans would reject the emptiness and absurdity of their beliefs and accept the one G-d: Hashem.
This was Avraham’s way, and this is the journey that so many of our alienated brothers and sisters will take. The many who return cannot relate to Yitzchak and Yaakov because they, like Avraham, descend from an assimilated background, in which their ancestors fell prey to the pressures of the world around them. Thus, we conclude the blessing: Magen Avraham.