Shir ha-Shirim XXI Part One: Sefirah 48

Rabbi Yochanan applied the verse to our father Abraham. When God said to him, “get out for yourself from your country and from your relatives (Genesis 12:1),” what did he resemble? A phial of scent put away in a corner, so that he gives off no smell, till someone comes and moves it from its place, when it’s fragrance begins to escape. So the Holy One, Blessed is He, said to Abraham: Abraham, many good deeds have you performed; many precepts have you kept. Become a wanderer on the earth and your name will become great in My world. “Get out,” and what is written afterwards? “And I will make of you a great nation.”

“Therefore do the maidens love you.” God said to Abraham: Here are many worlds for you, as it is written, “and Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son and all of their substance that they had gathered and the souls that they had made in Haran.” now if all mankind come together in an endeavor to create one insect they cannot do it: what does it mean when it says that they made souls? It refers to the people whom Abraham and Sarah converted. Abraham used to convert the men and Sarah the women.

Then why is it stated, “which they made in Haran (Why does the verse stress Haran)? It teaches us that Abraham our father used to bring them into his house and give them food and drink and be friendly to them and teach them and convert them and bring them under the wings of the Divine Presence.

You learn from this that if a man brings one creature under the wings of the Divine Presence, it is accounted to him as if he had created him and formed him and molded him. (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 1.3.3.1)