The Inspiring Story of Rabbi Avner, the Sinner

פרשת האזינו אמרו חז"ל "גדולה שירה זו, שיש בה עכשיו ויש בה לשעבר ויש בה לעתיד לבוא ויש בה בעולם הזה ויש בה לעולם הבא", ובלשון הרמב"ן "שהיא כוללת כל העתידות למו,  ולכן זו הירושה המיוחדת שמותיר לנו משה רבינו ביום מותו, ויש ציווי מיוחד לשנן אותה: "וְעַתָּה כִּתְבוּ לָכֶם אֶת הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת וְלַמְּדָהּ אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל שִׂימָהּ בְּפִיהֶם לְמַעַן תִּהְיֶה לִּי הַשִּׁירָה הַזֹּאת לְעֵד בִּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל". ובשם ר' דב בער, המגיד הגדול ממעזריטש (תלמידו-ממשיכו של הבעש"ט) נמסר שכל יהודי צריך לדעת את שירת האזינו ממש בעל-פה

The Inspiring Story of Rabbi Avner, the Sinner

The Ramban had a disciple, Avner, who strayed from the path of observant Judaism, left his community, and became an important official in the government. One Yom Kippur, Avner sent guards to the synagogue, ordering the Ramban to appear before him. In his palace, before the eyes of his former teacher and master, Avner slaughtered a pig, roasted it, and ate it on this holiest of fast days.

The Ramban couldn’t contain his anguish and cried, “What caused you to fall so low?! What compelled you to abandon the holy teachings of your ancestors?” “It was you, my master!” Avner roared derisively. “Your teachings completely disillusioned me and caused me to reject Judaism.
“You were once teaching the Torah portion of Haazinu,” he explained. “You taught us that in this brief Torah portion of fifty-two verses, the Torah encodes all the details of the long history of the Jewish people until the coming of Moshiach. You claimed, too, that encoded in its verses are the names of every Jew to have ever lived.



“This is obviously preposterous!” Thundered Avner. “How could 4000 years of history and millions of names be compressed in 614 words?”

“What I said is absolutely true,” declared the Ramban.

“If so, then I must be found there too. Where is my name and where is my fate?”

The Ramban’s expression grew serious. He prayed silently to G‑d to reveal this secret.

“Your name, Avner, can be found in verse twenty-six. Tell me what is the third letter in these words: AmaRti (Resh) AfEihem (Aleph) AshBita (Beit) Me’eNosh (Nun) ZichRom (Reish).”

In this verse, G‑d is rebuking the Jewish people for turning away from the path of the Torah and becoming so evil that He wanted to destroy them.

The verse reads: “I (G‑d) said in my heart, that I would scatter them, causing their memory to cease from mankind.”

Avner turned a deathly white and began to wail bitterly.

“Is there any hope for me?” he begged. “Is there anything that I can do to rectify my terrible sins?”

The Ramban looked compassionately at his former student. “The verse itself has provided the rectification. It says that G‑d will scatter them till their memory is erased. You must run away, never to be heard from again.”

Avner boarded a ship and was never seen again.

The third letter, in each of the words of this verse, spell out R’Avner, Rabbi Avner.

Notice that the name encoded is not Avner, but includes the prefix “R”, which stands for Rabbi Avner. Even though up until this point, Avner lead a life that was the complete antithesis of what a rabbi stands for, the Torah calls him Rabbi.

Avner had free choice to choose whether or not he would repent. But the Torah is confident that ultimately the holiness of his soul will shine through and that through repentance, he will have transformed himself not only into an Avner, but an illustrious Jew, a rabbi.

“G‑d devises means so that no one shall be forever banished from him.” (Samuel 14:14) Ultimately, the holiness and greatest potential of every Jew will emerge.

Through these encrypted verses, the Torah teaches us how we must view every Jew—with the confidence that even a great sinner like Avner can, and will, become a great rabbi.