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Parsha Perspectives

by RABBI LEIBY BURNHAM

ויהי בשחת אלוקים את ערי הככר ויזכר אלוקים את אברהם וישלח את לוט

“And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and He sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction when He overturned the cities in which Lot had dwelt.” (Genesis 19:29)

In this week’s parsha we read about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and how Lot, Abraham’s nephew, is saved from the devastation by an angel. Although Lot’s salvation can be most closely linked to his relationship with Rashi tells us that he too had a merit that made him worthy of being saved. When Abraham went down to Egypt, he told the customs officer that his wife Sara was his sister, out of fear that if the Egyptians knew he was the husband of this beautiful woman, they might kill him in order to take his wife as a concubine for the Pharaoh. Lot was there, and he could have told the customs officer the truth, and probably would have been rewarded handsomely. But, he didn’t. In this merit he was saved from the upheaval of Sodom and Gomorrah.

This seems strange because we see Lot doing deeds that seem to be far more difficult. When two angels came to Sodom, he invited them in and gave them a place to sleep and eat, even though he knew that this would enrage the people of Sodom to the point where they might try to kill him. When they actually came and demanded that he send out the two guests, he went out and defended the guests at the risk of his life. That being the case, why wasn’t Lot saved in merit of these action, which seem to indicate a much higher level of sacrifice, than the fact that he didn’t divulge information that could have caused his uncle to be killed?

The Sages tell us that the reward someone gets is not determined by how great the action seems to be objectively, but by the level of difficulty the action presents to a particular person. One person may find it very easy to keep kosher, but finds it very challenging to get out of bed and go to morning services. Another person may have an easy time attending services, but finds keeping kosher to be grueling. Each person will be rewarded based on the extent to which they overcame that which they personally found to be challenging, not based upon an objective measure of the difficulty of the actions they performed.

Lot grew up in the house of Abraham, and therefore, inviting guests was not something he found difficult. Au contraire, he found it quite rewarding. Kindness came easily to Lot, and, therefore, it would not earn him a “get out of Sodom free” card. His challenge was his attraction to money, which had been his primary reason for moving to Sodom, a place that had great farmland and pastures. For him, to refrain from “ratting” on Abraham, an act which could have made him wealthy, was enormously difficult, and therefore, in the merit of that action he deserved to be saved!

Often we take a specific mitzvah that is very difficult for us, and we negate its value by saying, “Oh, it’s only a small mitzvah!” Aside from the fact that we don’t truly know whether a mitzvah is big or small, the truth is that if that mitzvah is a challenge for us, it might be our biggest mitzvah! G-d isn’t looking for big displays or large actions, G-d is looking for big hearts, and large self-sacrifice.

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Parsha Talking Points

by RABBI ELAZAR MEISELS

1. GENETIC ENGINEERING

“And Abraham ran to the cattle, and took a tender, choice calf. He gave it to the lad and hurried to prepare it. (18:10)

And Abraham ran to the cattle – Abraham was quite elderly at this point, weak from his circumcision, and had 318 members of his household. Nevertheless, he refused to delegate this job to others and insisting on carrying it out himself, so great was his love for the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim [hosting guests].

He gave it to the lad – This was Ishmael and Abraham was training him in the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim. – Rashi

The Jewish people are experts in Hachnasat Orchim, always ready and willing to take in others and care for them. No doubt, this was encoded in our spiritual genes by our ancestor Abraham who excelled in this regard. Fascinatingly, the Arabs too, are famed for their fastidious adherence to the mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim, and this too, has its roots in this incident since Abraham made a point of training their ancestor Ishmael in this mitzvah as well.

2. MODEST RESULTS

“They said to him, ‘Where is Sara, your wife?’ He said ‘Behold, she is in the tent.” (18:17)

She is in the tent – The angels intended to elicit this response from Abraham and to emphasize that she was a modest person. – Rashi

Why would the angels choose to highlight and compliment Sara’s modesty precisely at this moment, and why would the Torah find it necessary to record this for posterity? How is it relevant to the story it seeks to convey? In truth, Abraham already had a son named Ishmael who would have loved to be selected as the bearer of his legacy. Yet, the Almighty told Abraham that this could not be case. Rather, from Sara would emerge the offspring that would bear his legacy. The reason: Sara was a modest woman and a holy and spiritually driven nation could only emerge from one steeped in modesty. Thus, as the angel was about to announce the news that they would finally merit the son they so long awaited, he also pointed out the reason that Sara was chosen to yield this child; her outstanding quality of modesty that was a necessary element in the development of the Jewish people.

3. SATISFYING HUNGER

“He [Abraham] planted an Eishel in Beer Sheva, and there he called in the name of G-d, Eeternal Lord.” (21:33)

Planted An Eishel – Rav and Shmuel offer varying opinions on the meaning of the word “Eishel.” One says that it was an orchard from which fruit was brought for the guests, and the other maintains that means a guest-house, which contained a wide variety of fruit for its guests. – Rashi

Planted An Eishel – The word Eishel is comprised of three letters: Aleph, Shin, Lamed. These three letters are the first letters of the words, Achilah [food], Shtiyah [drink], Leviah [escorting]. Abraham provided for his guests in all three ways. These three letters can also be rearranged to spell the word, “sha’al” which means to request. This indicates that Abraham invited his guests to request whatever their heart desired and then strove to fulfill their requests. – Midrash Tehillim 37

And there he proclaimed - By means of that Eishel, the Name of the Almighty was called “Lord” to the entire world. For after the guests had eaten their fill, Abraham would tell them, “Bless the One from Whose food you have eaten. Perhaps you believe that you have eaten my food, but, truly, from the One Who by His word brought the world into being, have you eaten.” – Rashi

Key to Abraham’s stunning success in promoting his views of monotheism in a hostile environment, was his unique ability to empathize with the needs of every single person who crossed his threshold from both a spiritual and material standpoint. Just as he nourished them physically, he nourished them spiritually by encouraging them to recognize the source of his bounty. Our own success in inculcating the message of Torah and Judaism in our children and brethren is directly proportionate to our dedication to attending not just to their spiritual needs, but to their physical needs as well.

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Partner Talk

GOOD, BETTER, BEST?

by RABBI REUVEN DRUCKER

Dear Rabbi,

In your opinion, who is a better person: an individual who is honest, pleasant, and nice to others, but not ritually observant, or an individual who is scrupulously observant, but is unpleasant in character and tries to take advantage of others? I’ve had this argument with my father many times, but I’m now rethinking my position. Could you offer any help?

Thanks,
Todd F

Dear Todd,

Many years ago, one of the greatest Rabbis in America, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein of blessed memory, was asked a very similar question. His response is most noteworthy. When G-d gave the 10 Commandments to the Jewish people, He divided them on two stone tablets, not because all of them were unable to fit on one stone, but because the Commandments are fundamentally divided into two groupings. The laws on the first tablet center on our relationship with G-d, not man. The laws on the second tablet, however, focus on our relationship with our fellow men, not G-d. (Even though the fifth commandment of honoring one’s parents seems to deal with our relationship with others, our Sages interpret it otherwise. I hope to explore this issue in a future correspondence.) Rabbi Feinstein explained that adherence to the laws governing both relationships are equally important. One who zealously keeps the Sabbath, but is unscrupulous in business is as equally irreligious as one who is honest and kind, but does not develop his relationship with G-d by observing His Sabbath and other mitzvot. The objective of Torah observance is to develop the complete Jew, and the complete Jew is one who works on both of these fundamental relationships.

The truth of the matter is that for many people, being a kind-hearted and generous person of integrity comes easily. After all, special qualities have been bequeathed to us by our forefathers. Our Sages teach us that our Patriach Abraham excelled in chesed, kind and charitable acts. We find in this week’s sidrah [Torah Portion] (Parshat VaYeira) that Abraham was so motivated to help others that he waited at the door of his tent to see if he could provide hospitality to wayfarers, despite the fact that he was recuperating from the circumcision he had just undergone at his elderly age of 99. Many in his position may have justifiably found reasons why they should concentrate on their health at such a time. However, Abraham was more pained by the fact that he did not have an opportunity to help others than his own physical discomfort. A Jew’s extraordinary urge to help others—either through charitable contributions or through physical acts of kindness—has its roots in the nature of Abraham.

It is interesting to point out that the end of this week’s sidrah sheds an entirely different light on Abraham. G-d asks him to take his beloved son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice to G-d. Killing a human being is an act which is revolting for even an average individual. However, for Abraham, whose entire essence was to shower others with kindness, as we see him portrayed at the very beginning of this week’s sidrah, carrying out this act must have been excruciatingly difficult. Besides G-d’s command opposing Abraham’s deep-rooted nature of chesed, it also meant that Abraham’s future as a people would never be realized, since he was told that the descendants who will follow in his path are the ones who will come from Isaac. With one slice of the knife, G-d was asking Abraham to sacrifice his own essence as well as his future.

Nevertheless, we see that Abraham willingly went to comply with G-d’s word. Not until he was signaled from Heaven not to sacrifice his son did Abraham relent. And, specifically at that moment, G-d tells Abraham, “Now I know you are a person who truly is in awe of G-d.” Only when Abraham showed his readiness to act contrary to his own nature of kindness was it evident that all the acts of kindness that he had performed until this point emanated, not from his nature to be kind towards others, but from his religious awareness that his display of kindness towards others was the performance of one of G-d’s mitzvot and did not merely flow from his own personality. For Abraham, there was no dichotomy between G-d’s laws that regulate our relationship with Him and with our fellow man. The very same motivation that propelled him to observe the mitzvah of Circumcision was the very motivation that motivated him to help others. That is a perfect example of the complete Jew that we referred to above.

Therefore, Todd, let’s not accept the premise of the original question, which assumes that one type of “half-complete Jew” could be better than the other. In addition, let’s keep in mind that even the first person you describe as honest and pleasant needs to be guided, not by his natural instincts, but rather by the motivation to adhere to G-d’s mitzvah to be honest and kind, as Abraham himself exemplified.

All the best to you, Todd.
Sincerely,
RD

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Soul Talk

Rabbi Michel Barenbaum (in his Sichos Mussar, vol. 1, p. 42) says that one reason the Torah speaks at such great length about the actions of the Avot ( Patriarchs) is so that we should be aware of the high spiritual levels a person can — and should — reach. Abraham’s overriding positive attribute was chesed, kindness, which defined his path in his service of Hashem.

When we examine Abraham’s actions in the beginning of the parsha, we find an important lesson. Chazal, our Sages, tell us that this was the third day after his circumcision at the age of 99. There was certainly no shortage of excuses for Abraham not to be concerned with others — he was ill, and he was still recovering from his earlier mitzvah! As the Sages tell us, Hashem did not want Abraham to be troubled with visitors while he was still recovering, and therefore He made it unnaturally hot, so that no one should approach.

Yet, Abraham was bothered by the dearth of passersby. He did not lie in bed, relying on his servants to tell him whether anyone was approaching; he sat at the entrance of the tent himself, to ensure that no traveler could pass by without being offered assistance. When Hashem saw how troubled Abraham was at the lack of wayfarers, He sent three angels — appearing as men — to Abraham.

We may ask: Why was Abraham so troubled? He did not hear someone crying for help — there was no one traveling then. Why couldn’t he rest? He could easily have assumed that on such a hot day there would be no travelers, and no one needed his help.

Rabbi Michel observes that many of us consider chesed, kindness, as an obligation requiring that we help a person who is troubled, poor, or otherwise in need. Should we do so, we consider ourselves to be baalei chesed, kind people. If we do not know of anyone who needs our assistance, and certainly if we are occupied with our own troubles, we consider ourselves exempt from the obligation of chesed.

Abraham’s actions teach us that this is not the case. A true baal chesed loves to do kindness. [See Michah 6:8: “What does Hashem require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness.”] Even if there is no one in need, he still yearns to do chesed for someone! A person must internalize this desire to perform chesed to the point that if one does not have anyone to whom to be kind, he considers it as if part of him is missing.

We think that we are required to help people because they are needy. The truth is that Hashem makes sure that there are needy people so that we should have people to help! (see Bava Basra 10a).

It may very well be, states Rabbi Michel further, that the effort Abraham put into bringing people close to Hashem stemmed from a similar motivation (see Rashi to Bereishit 12:5 and 21:33). If chesed obligates one to return another person’s lost object, shouldn’t it require one to return the person’s lost soul? Abraham sensed the pain of those souls that were so far removed from their Source — from their Creator — and therefore exerted himself to return them to their original closeness to Hashem.

Likewise, Abraham prayed for the evil people of Sodom, although they were polar opposites of everything for which he stood. Still, he wished only that their sins should cease — not their lives.

With permission from Artscroll’s Daily Dose

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Table Talk

FOR DISCUSSION AROUND THE SHABBAT TABLE

א) Rashi writes (21:17) that when Ishmael was about to die of thirst in the desert, Hashem wished to miraculously create for him a well of water. The Heavenly angels questioned how Hashem could do so for somebody whose descendants would one day make Jews die of thirst. Why should Ishmael be punished for the actions of his descendants? (Ayeles HaShachar)

ב) One of the reasons given for the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashana is to remember the merit of the binding of Isaac, and it is for this reason that we are accustomed to use the horn of a ram, just as Abraham offered (22:13) a ram on the altar he had built for Isaac. Instead of invoking the memory of the ram offered instead of Isaac, wouldn’t it be more meritorious to remember the knife which Abraham was willing to use to sacrifice his beloved son? (Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch of Vidislov quoted in Chaim Sheyeish Bahem Moadim)

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Hey I Never Knew That

Amazing Insights About the Weekly Parsha

by OZER ALPORT

1) Q: Abraham merited Hashem’s love as a result of his dedication to commanding his children and his household to follow in his ways of Divine service (18:19). Given Abraham’s reputation as an educator par excellence, it is curious that the Torah relates precious little of his actual conversations with his son and spiritual inheritor Isaac. In fact, the only recorded interactions between them are on the way to the Binding of Isaac, in which the Torah mentions (22:7-8) a total of two lines – a mere eight seemingly trivial words – which Abraham spoke to Isaac, and those were only in response to a discussion initiated by Isaac. If we are to learn from Abraham’s techniques of transmitting our values and priorities to the next generation, shouldn’t we be given more examples?

A: Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein answers that in intentionally limiting the recorded words of Abraham to his son, the Torah is teaching us a tremendous lesson regarding the education of our children. Many Americans mistakenly believe that raising children is as simple as constantly instructing and commanding them what they should and shouldn’t do. The fact that the parents themselves may not follow this advice is believed to be irrelevant, as “Do as I say, not as I do” seems to resolve the apparent contradiction.

In reality, of course, nothing could be farther from the truth. Our children are much smarter than we give them credit for, and they see right through our double standards, recognizing that our actions reflect our true beliefs, which they in turn absorb. The Torah tells us precious little of Abraham’s words to Isaac to teach us that this wasn’t Abraham’s primary form of conveying his beliefs. Rather, the most effective form of education came through serving as a personal example of all that he valued and wished to transmit to his son. This form of instruction was stronger than any words and couldn’t be explicitly expressed by the Torah.

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Parsha Summary

Parsha Summaries are coming soon!