Lech Lecha – Page 7 – Peninim on the Torah

לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך

Go from your land and your birthplace and from your father’s home. (12:1)

Hashem’s command to Avraham Avinu, instructing him to leave his present surroundings is “stretched” out a bit. The Torah emphasizes the various phases of his departure: his land, his birthplace, his father’s home. The Mizrachi suggests that the purpose in this emphasis was that the Patriarch would digest all that he was abandoning. It was not just his land; it was also his birthplace, and his father’s home. Uhr Casdim meant a lot to Avraham. To leave was to forsake a major part of his past. He had a history in Uhr Casdim. The purpose of this detail was to…

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לך לך מארצך

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5773

Go you from your land. (12:1)

Two Avos, Patriarchs, left their homeland – Avraham Avinu and Yaakov Avinu. The Torah uses “different” vernacular in describing their respective departures. Avraham is to lech lecha, leave, go, while concerning Yaakov, the Torah writes, va’yeitzei, “And he (Yaakov) went out.” Rashi comments that when a tzaddik, righteous person, leaves a place, it makes an impression. He impacts the city’s beauty, glory and luster. Why does the Torah choose to make Yaakov’s departure impactive, while Avraham’s departure seems more like an escape, as if no one really cared? The Chasam Sofer, zl, distinguishes between the communities that hosted Avraham and…

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ויאמר אברם אל לוט אל נא תהי מריבה ביני וביניך... הפרד נא מעלי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5773

So Avram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between me and you… please separate from me.” (12:8,9)

Chazal teach us that maasei Avos siman labanim, “The actions of the Fathers are a sign for the sons.” The Torah is teaching us that the varied approaches to life’s challenges encountered by the Patriarchs serve as a portent and guide for their descendants to follow and emulate. They are teaching us the correct path to take upon confronting similar situations. Clearly, as in all “maps,” it takes the educated and discerning eye of a teacher to explain the meaning of various actions, the underlying reason for taking such action, and the lessons to be derived. This brings us to…

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אל תירא אברם אנכי מגן לך שכרך הרבה מאד

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5773

Fear not Avram, I am a shield for you; your reward is very great. (15:1)

Hashem promises those who fulfill His mitzvos that they will be rewarded commensurate with their good deeds. We understand, of course, the rule of schar b’hai alma leka, “reward does not apply to This World.” The ultimate reward that one will receive will materialize in the World of Truth, Olam Habba. The Ben Ish Chai questions this rule. We are all aware of the Torah’s injunction that a Jewish worker be paid on the day that he completes his work. B’yomo titein scharo, if one is hired for day work, he must be reimbursed for his work at the end…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5772

“And he pitched his tent, with Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east.” (12:8)

Horav Aharon Kotler, z.l., would often cite Horav Yehudah Leib Fine, z.l., the rav of Slonim, who commented on the way the Torah depicts Avraham Avinu’s travels. The Torah records that Avraham pitched his tent with Beth-el on one side and Ai on the other. These were both large cities. Indeed, Ai even had a sovereign during the period in which Yehoshua conquered it. Avraham’s tent, on the other hand, was of a temporary nature, pitched on the crossroads. One would expect the geographical locus of the tent to be secondary to the major cities, i.e., the tent is located…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5772

“And there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Avram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock…So Avram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between me and you.’” (13:7-8)

Rashi cites the Midrash that tells us the rationale behind the justification of Lot’s herdsmen for stealing. They were wicked and grazed their cattle in the fields of others. When Avraham’s shepherds rebuked them for their theft, they would respond, “The land has been given to Avraham. He has no heir, so Lot, his brother’s son, will inherit his estate. Consequently, it is not theft. Ultimately, it will all belong to Lot anyway.” Their mistake was, of course, that as long as the Canaanite and Perizzite nations dwelled in the land, Avraham did not yet possess it. Horav Shlomo…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5772

“Now the people of Sodom were wicked and sinful to Hashem, exceedingly.” (13:13)

Horav Yaakov Moshe Charlop, z.l., claims that the evil perpetrated by the inhabitants of Sodom was motivated by a philosophy of evil. This is the only way that this evil could have spread throughout the entire community to the point that there were not even ten righteous people to be found. When evil becomes a doctrine, when sin becomes a matter of principle, it is difficult to overcome. The more one speaks out against the evil, the more the evil- doer will adhere to his “convictions” and “beliefs.” There is no room for reason or logic. Horav Charlop attributes the…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5772

“And he trusted in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (15:6)

Avraham Avinu exemplified emunah, faith, in Hashem. Many people believe in Hashem, but, how many actually live with emunah? To say that one’s faith and conviction in the Almighty is integral to one’s life is truly a strong statement. There are people, however, to whom this idea applies. Hashem tests us all of the time. As believing Jews, these nisyonos, tests/trials, are an evaluation of our degree of emunah. Ostensibly, the greater one’s emunah, the more difficult is the test. A while ago, I read in one of the Jewish periodicals about the reaction of secular Jews in Eretz Yisrael…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5771

“Go forth from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (12:1)

Elearly, Hashem’s command to Avraham Avinu to uproot himself from his home and travel to a yet undesignated land serves as a metaphor for his descendants. Maaseh Avos siman l’banim, “The deeds of the fathers serve as a sign /portent for their sons/descendants.” We must learn to understand Avraham’s move and its purpose as a model for our own need to move on, move up, and move out – at the appropriate times. In his sefer, Nitzotzos, Horav Yitzchak Hershkowitz, Shlita, relates a shmuess, ethical discourse, given by Horav Chizkiyahu Mishkovsky, Shlita, to a gathering of Lev L’Achim volunteers. His words…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Lech Lecha, 5771

So Avram went…and Lot went with him; Avram was seventy-five years old when he left Charan. (12:4)

Lot was the orphaned nephew of Avraham Avinu’s brother, Haran, who had died in the flames of Ur Kasdim, in his support. Our Patriarch felt a filial responsibility for his nephew. Therefore, he took him along when he moved. This explains why the Torah mentions this, even though it was not part of Hashem’s command. Why, however, does the Torah inform us of Avraham’s age at the time of departure? Does it really matter? Horav Zalman Sorotzkin, zl, distinguishes between ito and imo – two words which are used to imply “with” someone. There is a difference regarding the term…

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לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך

Go from your land and your birthplace and from your father’s home. (12:1)

לך לך מארצך

Go you from your land. (12:1)

ויאמר אברם אל לוט אל נא תהי מריבה ביני וביניך... הפרד נא מעלי

So Avram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between me and you… please separate from me.” (12:8,9)

אל תירא אברם אנכי מגן לך שכרך הרבה מאד

Fear not Avram, I am a shield for you; your reward is very great. (15:1)

“And he pitched his tent, with Beth-el on the west and Ai on the east.” (12:8)

“And there was quarreling between the herdsmen of Avram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock…So Avram said to Lot, ‘Please let there be no strife between me and you.’” (13:7-8)

“Now the people of Sodom were wicked and sinful to Hashem, exceedingly.” (13:13)

“And he trusted in Hashem, and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (15:6)

“Go forth from your land, from your birthplace and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” (12:1)

So Avram went…and Lot went with him; Avram was seventy-five years old when he left Charan. (12:4)

YEARS

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