“Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You took an oath by Yourself and spoke to them: I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens, and this entire land that I said I will give to your descendants, they will inherit it forever” (Exodus 32:13). “Remember Abraham” – Rabbi Tanḥuma bar Abba began: “You transported a vine from Egypt” (Psalms 80:9). Why is Israel likened to a vine?
Just as a vine, when its owners want it to improve, what do they do? They uproot it from its place and plant it elsewhere, and it improves. So too, when the Holy One blessed be He sought to make Israel known to the world, He uprooted them from Egypt and brought them to the wilderness, and they began thriving there. They began receiving the Torah and saying: “Everything that the Lord spoke we will perform and we will heed” (Exodus 24:7).
Their renown went forth in the world, as it is stated: “Your renown went forth among the nations for your beauty” (Ezekiel 16:14). Another matter: “A vine from Egypt” – You provide support for all the opinions stated in its regard: “Behold, a vine was before me” (Genesis 40:9), “You transported a vine from Egypt”; ultimately You provide support.1God fulfills the various interpretations of these verses, which are understood as comparing Israel to a vine (see Bereshit Rabba 88:5; Vayikra Rabba 36:2).
Just as this vine is alive and rests on dead branches,2A grapevine is typically propped up or trellised across sticks or branches to allow it to flourish. so too, Israel is alive and endures, and rests on the deceased; these are the patriarchs. Likewise, you find that Elijah recited many prayers on Mount Carmel so the fire would descend, just as it says, “Answer me, Lord, answer me” (I Kings 18:37); but he was not answered.
However, once he mentioned the deceased and said: “Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel” (I Kings 18:36), he was immediately answered.3Although Elijah’s mention of the patriarchs appears in verse 36 and his general plea to “answer me Lord, answer me” appears in verse 37, the verses must be out of order, as it would not make sense to pray in the merit of the patriarchs and then, if that did not work, to pray in a general sense or to pray that he be answered in his own merit (Yefe To’ar).
What is written? “The fire of the Lord descended” (I Kings 18:38). Likewise, Moses: when Israel performed that act,4The sin of the golden calf. Moses stood and pleaded in their favor for forty days and forty nights, but he was not answered.
However, once he mentioned the deceased he was immediately answered, as it is stated: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.” What is written? “The Lord reconsidered the evil” (Exodus 32:14). That is, just as this vine is alive and rests on dead branches, so too, Israel is alive and endures, and rests on the patriarchs, who are deceased. That is, “remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.”