Category: Beraishis Ch. 13

Because of famine, Avraham had to temporarily give up his isolation. Upon his return to the land of Canaan he wanted to return to the place where God had first appeared to him – the place where the significance of that land for the future, and the need for his isolation in the present, had been revealed to him. See 12A and 12G.

He now resumed his work of summoning people in the name of God.

 

Beraishis 13:1
page 312

Look closely at the cantillation of the verse and notice where there is a pause. The verse reads:

וְגַ֨ם־לְל֔וֹט הַהֹלֵ֖ךְ אֶת־אַבְרָ֑ם הָיָ֥ה צֹאן־וּבָקָ֖ר וְאֹהָלִֽים׃
And also Lot, who went with Avraham, (PAUSE), had sheep and cattle and tents.

The verse is asking us to pause and reflect. Lot went with Avraham. Avraham had dedicated his life to kindness and teaching about God to the world. Lot saw Avraham’s tent open and welcoming to all. Did he absorb these lessons? What did Lot get from his time with Avraham?

Lot, who went with Avraham, had sheep and cattle and tents. He acquired nothing of Avraham’s spirituality. He went with Avraham because it brought him material profit.

He had his own wealth. He had his own tents. He stopped being a member of Avraham’s household.

Avraham dedicated his life to spirituality and calling out in the name of God. The management of his home, he entrusted to Sarah. It was Sarah’s tent. (See commentary on 12:8, page 303, derived from the letter ה in the word אהלה. His tent was really her tent.) But Lot, who should have know better and learned from Avraham, was concerned about his materialism. He had his own possessions and tents.

 

Beraishis 13:5
pages 313-314

Avraham tells Lot (v.9) to choose any direction he wishes to settle. He explains that he has limited options, as he must seek isolation. But, he tells Lot, “since you have dissociated from my view of life (see 13B), you have no need to be so particular in your choice of where to live”.

And so we see (v.12) that while Lot chose a place of prosperity, where his herds and tents stretched all the way to Sodom, Avraham continued to dwell apart, avoiding all contact with the Canaanite cities. He only drew near to society to fulfill his mission of proclaiming the name of Hashem.

Avraham had just undergone a painful experience of failing to win over to his way of life his closest relative.

Only after God encouraged him to look beyond his isolation and to become involved, without fear, with the inhabitants of the land, for his own sake and for the sake of his principles, did Avraham enter the well-inhabited are and settle in Chevron (later in this chapter, verses 17-18).

Beraishis 13:8-12
pages 315-318

וְאַנְשֵׁ֣י סְדֹ֔ם רָעִ֖ים וְחַטָּאִ֑ים לַיהֹוָ֖ה מְאֹֽד׃
The people of Sedom were wicked and licentious; against God exceedingly.

RSRH comments that the verse makes a distinction between two categories of sin.

Regarding communal life (בין אדם לחברו) the evil is kept within limits. People are afraid of one another; hence, due to degenerate self interest, they kept the evil withing limits. Even among thieves, there is a certain amount of honesty to one another.

Not so matters of morality of the spirit (מצוות בין אדם למקום). People think these have no bearing on society. Everyone deludes himself into believing that harms only himself and his own welfare, for which he is responsible only to Heaven – were he to have any fear of Heaven. Thus, in מצוות בין אדם למקום, unbridled licentiousness exceeds all bounds.

 

Beraishis 13:13
pages 318-319

The meaning of the word חטא is an act where the moral will has retreated, and the deed is done without thought, without moral or spiritual guidance; it is an act performed under the control of the senses.

חטא is an act that is removed from the fire of holiness, and חטאת (the sin-offering) is the symbolic rectification. The קרבן חטאת restores the חלב וכליות to the fire of the sacred, and thus rectifies the חטא.

Beraishis 13:13
pages 319-320

After the bitter experience of Lot separating from Avraham, not just in location but spiritually and personally, God now speaks to Avraham.

God tells him, “To you, not to Lot, will I give this land. Your foremost concern is not material gain; hence, you will earn the right to the good land. I will give it to you and your descendants. .. The people that will be called by your name must descend from you; you must beget them and rear them in your own pure spirit.” Hirsch adds: A Jew should be born as a Jew, not just educated as a Jew. (GS- RSRH is saying that Lot merely took his experience and time with Avraham as an education. But to truly hope that the values live on much more than an education is required. It must be part of the formation of the next generation.)

God did not promise Avraham that  they will always possess the land. However, it will belong to them always; Israel and the land are destined for each other forever. The land was given here to Avraham, even though he never took possession of it.

 

Beraishis 13:14-17
Page 320

וְשַׂמְתִּ֥י אֶֽת־זַרְעֲךָ֖ כַּעֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֑רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֣ר ׀ אִם־יוּכַ֣ל אִ֗ישׁ לִמְנוֹת֙ אֶת־עֲפַ֣ר הָאָ֔רֶץ גַּֽם־זַרְעֲךָ֖ יִמָּנֶֽה׃

I will make your seed like the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can count the dust of the earth, then your seed will also be counted.

RSRH suggests that the analogy of Avraham’s descendants to the dust of the earth is not about Israel’s numbers. (see commentary for an explanation) Rather he suggests the following:

The word used here for “counting” is מונה. It’s true meaning is apportioning, restricting, limiting (see commentary for the word’s etymology). The Torah is saying: The dust is the basic material of the whole physical world. No human being can reckon how much of this material should be allotted to the earth in a general or particular manner. Only God, Creator and Master of the world knows this. Similarly, no worldly power will be able to master the descendants of Avraham or to limit their quantitative existence. Just as in all of dust’s transformations, not a single atom of its power and not a single grain of its material are lost, so too is true of the seed of Avraham!

 

Beraishis 13:16
pages 321-322

While Lot lived together with Avraham his camp’s mission was not pure. Therefore at that time, Avraham’s entry into the midst of the nations was dangerous. But the pure house of Avraham, like the future House of Israel, can and should live amidst other people and still remain “Jews” among them. Avraham’s isolation in not a goal, it is a stepping stone to reach his broader goal of living among the people.

(GS- This is a key point. The mission of the Jewish people is to be a light unto the nations. In order to do that, Israel must first develop clarity and strong conviction to live up to that mission. At times this requires isolation. That is reason for God commanding Avraham’s initial isolation. But this is not the goal. This is the preparation for what is to come. Eventually, and with the purity of the household once Lot has departed, Avraham is told to begin to go out.)

Beraishis 13:17
page 323