Parashas Lech Lecha
Guest Author:
Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer
Young Israel of Forest Hills, NY
www.yifh.youngisrael.org
13 Cheshvan, 5770
October 31, 2009
Daf Yomi: Bava Basra 71
Avraham Avinu, our great Patriarch, appears on the stage of history at the end of 20
generations after Adam, and is given the great role of building a new Nation, one which will
be able to fill the charge of ‫המדאה תוחפשמ לכ ךב וכרבנו‬, a blessing to all families of the Earth.
Growing up in the Dor Haflagah, the age of the Great Dispersion, a time when society was
going through a wrenching upheaval, Avraham would live a varied and colorful life during
which he gains wealth, becomes acquainted with Kings and common folk, fights wars and
makes peace, all the while becoming a symbol of G-dly living and Heavenly ethics. His
great success at being proclaimed “A Prince of G-d among us,” while engaging the world
around him, was vital in his becoming the eternal, world-changing figure known as the father
of monotheism.
Clearly, Avraham learned to expertly walk a fine line between those times when it was
appropriate to draw close to the surrounding society, and the times he needed to withdraw
from that depravity. The Midrash beautifully captures Avraham's credo in the first verse of
the book of Tehillim:
Happy is the man that has not walked in the counsel of the wicked, nor stood in the way of
sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful.
On this description of the ideal person, the Midrash has several comments, including this:
“Happy is the Man” this is a reference to Avraham, as it says . . . “nor stood in the way of
sinners” is a reference to the Sodomites, as it says . . . “nor sat in the seat of the scornful” is
a reference to Avimelech, as it says . . .but he did not accept this.
The Midrash here has Avraham teaching us by example that one should avoid certain people
– “Wicked People,” represented by the Age of the Dispersion – and not even go near them.
With others – “Sinners” as represented by Sodom – one may go where they are, but one
should avoid standing, or resting, there. Among yet others – “Scoffers” as represented by
Avimelech and the Philistines – one may go and even stand, but one should not sit.
Rav Mordechai Elon ‫ א״טילש‬sees in this Midrash a central value in Avraham's life. Avraham,
throughout his life, held fear of G-d, to be the supreme value and ultimate arbiter of the
worthiness of Man and his actions. The ultimate compliment paid to Avraham after, he
successfully acquitted himself at the Akeida, was " – “Now I know that you are truly Fearful
of G-d .” In his relationship with Nimrod, Sodom, and finally Avimelech and the Philistines,
Avraham demonstrated that Fear of Heaven is of supreme value, and the degree to which we
should engage those that are not on our spiritual path should be determined by this measure.
In fact, Nimrod, Sodom, and Avimelech define a scale on which one might plot a graphical
function whereby societies with greater degrees of Yiras Elokim are to be met with closer
relations in our interactions with them.
At the low end, if we ask, “Who is the complete antithesis of Avraham? Who, of the people
around him, represent the complete opposite of his life's work?” One might immediately
assume that they are the cruel and wicked people of Sodom. Avraham, after all, is the pillar
of chessed or kindness, while Sodom was a society where acts of kindness were illegal, even
punishable by death. But that is not what we see in this Midrash, and in Avraham's dealings
in our Sidra. Avraham would not even go near Nimrod and those who followed him. He even
goes to war against Nimrod/Amrafel, saving none other than the people of Sodom from their
clutches.
Nimrod, after all, was the ultimate tyrant who wished to fight against G-d. Rav SR Hirsch
ZT"L in his lengthy commentary on the Dor Haflagah shows how this community was
consumed with its desire for ultimate power, wherein there would be an “everlasting
monument to the power of the community and its preeminence over the individual.” This
might be tolerable, even praiseworthy, if the community would subordinate its collective will
to G-d. But if the community comes to regard itself as the highest goal, as though the
individual only has value through the collective; “if the individual is called upon to be a
servant of the community but not to serve G-d – if the community presents itself as an end
rather than merely a means to an end” – than mankind's whole moral future is lost.
In our time, we have seen the tens of millions of shattered lives that were the victims of the
State formed on Nimrodic principles of the Community as the ultimate value – a State that
has no room for individual rights nor for G-d, a society that declared - “There is no G-d!”
This type of society is one with which we can have no common ground whatsoever.
Avraham is chosen as the one who would teach the world about G-d. The Nimrods in every
generation are his mortal enemies.
Somewhat higher on the graph, the sinners of Sodom, evil as they are, can, in some
circumstances, be prayed for or even fought for as long as they display, some vestige of
righteousness. As long as there is not an absolute war against HaShem, there is some hope
even for very great sinners.
At the high end, there is Avimelech who seems, on the surface, to be quite a moral and
ethical person, with whom Avraham enjoys a pleasant relationship, other than the episode
with Sarah. Why is his society referred to by the Midrash as a Moshav Leitzim, resting place
of scoffers? Was not Avimelech vindicated by HaShem as having acted innocently in the
Sarah episode?
What Avraham is telling us is that, although Avimelech and his subjects did, in fact, follow a
strong moral code, it was not based on Yiras Elokim, fear of HaShem, but rather on their own
human subjective moral sensibilities. And we have seen again, all too well in our days, how
even a very progressive, law abiding society can pass, if it so pleases them, laws that are
completely antithetical to eternal Torah values; laws that may even legalize various forms of
murder if the ruling class so desires. Without a moral code based on Yiras Elokim, any
depravity is ultimately possible.
As children of Avraham and Sarah, our mission is to stand for the Glory and Awe of HaShem
in the world, and to interact as graciously as possible with out neighbors, while protecting
ourselves and our children from those influences that would harm our Yiras Elokim , in
relation to the severity of those threats.
Shabbat Shalom