How Did Abraham Keep the Entire Torah Before It Was Given?

The Talmud (Yoma 28b) teaches that Abraham our forefather observed the entire Torah, even before it was given. How could he have known what to observe and the details of what is forbidden or permitted, if the Torah had not yet been revealed and G-d had not yet commanded him?

Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar explains in his book Birkat Eliyahu that in essence, all of the mitzvot (commandments) and prohibitions in the Torah are logical and inherently understandable. A pure and honest person can discern them with his own reasoning, even without being commanded. The problem is that the yetzer hara (evil inclination) clouds a person’s thinking to such a degree that the Torah’s values can appear irrational or illogical. Even after someone learns the Torah and knows what’s right, the yetzer hara can still confuse him. As the sages said (Sotah 3a): “A person does not sin unless a spirit of folly enters him.”

Rabbi Amar points to a compelling example. Before the yetzer hara for idolatry was nullified, it seemed logical and desirable to people. The entire world pursued idol worship without giving it a second thought, even to the point of offering their own children to stone and wood. Even great figures like Jeroboam and Menashe fell into it without shame. Today however, even a small child recognizes that such behavior is foolish, and even if the Torah had not forbidden it, no person would desire such practices. What changed? The yetzer hara for idolatry was removed, and so its appeal vanished.

This serves as a powerful example for understanding other sins. Whenever a person finds a particular sin tempting, it's because the yetzer hara for that specific act still operates. As long as the yetzer hara is present within us, our perception is distorted, and we may see severe sins as trivial, or even as acceptable behavior. In the future, when the yetzer hara is completely removed, people will be shocked at what they once considered normal. They’ll wonder: How could I have done such a thing? How could I have thought that was okay?- and they will be filled with regret and shame.

Abraham, by contrast, overcame his yetzer hara entirely. He "saddled his donkey" (Genesis 22:3), which the sages interpret to mean he subdued his physical desires (“donkey” being symbolic of the chomer, or physical matter). He became so detached from evil that all of his physical urges gave way to his singular desire to fulfill G-d's will and the illusions of the yetzer hara lost all hold on him. His soul was pure and unaffected by the confusion that the yetzer hara creates.

It is no wonder, then, that Abraham saw the mitzvot and prohibitions of the Torah as self-evident truths, and he fulfilled them with joy and wholehearted desire, even without a direct command. According to tradition, he recognized his Creator at the age of three, after realizing on his own the absurdity of idol worship.

While we may not reach the level of Abraham and completely uproot our yetzer hara, the more we gain control over it, the clearer our spiritual vision becomes. We'll look back in astonishment and wonder how we ever thought certain sins were trivial or not sins at all. Once the yetzer hara fades, the soul regains its clear perception and instinctively distinguishes between right and wrong.

As Rabbi Nachman of Breslov said: The yetzer hara is like a man walking with a clenched fist. People imagine he is holding something valuable, but the moment he opens his hand, they see it was empty all along.