"Girls," said Morah Feinstein, "today, I would like to discuss one of the animals mentioned in the story of the akeidah."

"The ayil?" suggested Leah.

Morah Feinstein shook her head, "That is the ram that was sacrificed instead of Yitzchak. But I was actually referring to another animal."

The girls looked through the pessukim. "I know," Miriam called out. "It's the chamor, the donkey, which Avraham took along. He harnessed it by himself to show HaShem how eager he was to fulfill His command."

"Good," said Morah Feinstein. "That's just what we are going to learn about today. Now, for what did Avraham use his donkey for?"

"To carry the bundles of wood and the knife," answered Chayah.

"In other words, the chamor didn't carry Avraham or Yitzchak. It carried only the items which Avraham was planning to use for the akeidah. Yet often, people use donkeys not only to carry their packages, but for riding. When you study Chumash Shmos, you will come across a passuk that describes how Moshe Rabbeinu used a chamor to carry his wife and children to their destination.

"And then we know about a chamor who carries not the wife and children, but the person himself."

"The chamor of Mashiach!" the girls all called out together.

Morah Feinstein nodded. "Chamor stands for chumriyus - material things, the gashmiyus that we have all around us. Our neshamos are not gashmiyus. Our neshamos are ruchniyus - spiritual. Our neshamos are sent down into this world for a purpose: to uplift the gashmiyus and show how it is all here to be used to serve HaShem.

"Using the chamor to carry things means that we are using the chumriyus, the gashmiyus, to serve ruchniyus. This teaches what a Jew should accomplish in this world.

"Avraham Avinu was the one who began this avodah. The way he used the chamor to carry his bundles shows us that he was using gashmiyus to help him fulfill HaShem's command. Avraham's journey was only the first time in history that this type of avodah was performed. That's why so very little was put on top of the chamor - only the items he needed for the akeidah.

"Moshe Rabbeinu placed his wife and children atop the chamor. People who are close to you are much more important than tools. This shows that in the many years that had passed since Avraham, at the time close to Matan Torah, a lot had been accomplished in the task of using gashmiyus to serve HaShem. By then, it was people who were on the chamor, not items.

"Still, we were talking about Moshe's family, not Moshe himself. This shows that the world still had to work harder and longer to 'be on top of the chamor' and make more ruchniyus out of gashmiyus by using it to serve HaShem.

"When describing the geulah, our sages tell us that Mashiach himself will ride atop the chamor. Then the gashmiyus of our world will be fully used for ruchniyus."

(Adapted from Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 20)