Yamim Norai'm: The Marathon

Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground,

Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.” So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him.

וישכם AND HE ROSE EARLY — He was alert to fulfil the command (Pesachim 4a) ויחבוש AND HE SADDLED [HIS ASS]—He himself: he did not order one of his servants to do so, for love disregards the rule imposed on one by his exalted position in life. (“Love” here means Love of God as displayed in obedience to His command.) (Genesis Rabbah 55:8)

לספוד לשרה ולבכותה TO BEWAIL SARAH AND TO WEEP FOR HER — The narrative of the death of Sarah follows immediately on that of the Binding of Isaac, because through the announcement of the Binding — that her son had been made ready for sacrifice and had almost been sacrificed — she received a great shock (literally, her soul flew from her) and she died (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32).

Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me. Jonah, however, started out to flee to Tarshish from the LORD’s service. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went aboard to sail with the others to Tarshish, away from the service of the LORD.

When my life was ebbing away, I called the LORD to mind; And my prayer came before You, Into Your holy Temple. They who cling to empty folly Forsake their own welfare, But I, with loud thanksgiving, Will sacrifice to You; What I have vowed I will perform. Deliverance is the LORD’s! The LORD commanded the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon dry land. The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it what I tell you.” Jonah went at once to Nineveh in accordance with the LORD’s command. Nineveh was an enormously large city a three days’ walk across. Jonah started out and made his way into the city the distance of one day’s walk, and proclaimed: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

God saw what they did, how they were turning back from their evil ways. And God renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon them, and did not carry it out. This displeased Jonah greatly, and he was grieved. He prayed to the LORD, saying, “O LORD! Isn’t this just what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment. Please, LORD, take my life, for I would rather die than live.”

So the matter is as follows: We find in the Talmud five different types of people. A righteous person [tzaddik] who has good, a righteous person [tzaddik] who has evil; a wicked person [rasha] who has good, a wicked person [rasha] who has evil; and a intermediate person [beinoni]. And the sages explained in the Talmud, that the 'righteous person who has good' is the perfectly righteous person [or the perfect tzaddik]; the 'righteous person who has evil' is a person who is righteous but not completely [or the imperfect tzaddik]. And in Raya Mehemna he explains, that [in the description of] 'a righteous person who has evil' [not that there is something evil about him, rather] - that any evil within him is completely mastered by his goodness, etc. And in the Talmud: "The righteous [tzaddik] are judged by their good inclination etc., the wicked [rasha] are judged by their evil inclination, while the intermediate person [beinoni] is judged by both inclinations etc. Said Raba, 'For example, I am an intermediate person [beinoni].' Said Abaye to him, 'Our master has left no life for any creature.'"