Parshas Lech Lecha
Strings Attached
By: Daniel Listhaus
“Avram said to the king of Sodom: “I have raised my hand to Hashem, G-d, the Most High, Maker of heaven and earth; if so much as a thread or a shoe-strap, or if I shall take from anything that us yours! So you shall not say, 'It is I who made Avram rich'. Far from me! Only what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who accompanied me....”
-Lech Lecha 14:22-24
This week's parsha is devoted to Avraham avinu's life. Even reading through the passukim on the most basic level, one gains tremendous insight as to how a Jew should live life. Avraham was the true ba'al chesed and ba'al middos – in the truest meaning of the words. “Ba'al” means a master; and Avraham was truly a master of kindness and good traits1.
The parsha describes that it was not long after the dispute and separation of ways between Lot and Avraham, that Lot was in need of Avraham's help. In order to save his brother-in-law (and nephew) Lot from captivity, Avraham joined in on the World War which was occurring at the time. With Hashem on his side, Avraham, and his servant Eliezer, miraculously defeated the enemy.
After winning the war, there were many prisoners and assets. The king of Sodom told Avraham, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself”. However, Avraham turned down the offer and swore that he would not take even a thread or a shoelace2. Rashi3 comments that the reason that Avraham did not want anything to do with the spoils of the war was because he did not want to the king of Sodom to be able to say, “It was I who made Avraham rich”. Avraham was someone who believed that his whole existence was for nothing other than to sanctify Hashem's name throughout the world and spread monotheism. Therefore he wanted to make sure that there would be no openings for flawed thinking that Avraham needed anyone but Hashem.
The Gemara4 tells us that because of this speech that Avraham gave to the king of Sodom, refusing to take even a thread or a shoelace, he was zoche (merited) to two things: the mitzva of tefillin and the mitzva of techeilis – the blue-dyed tzitzis string that is put on each corner of tzitzis-garment.
However, this presents itself with a problem. In parshas Noach, after the flood was finally over and the waters settled, the Torah relates that when Noach and his family came out of the teivah (ark) the first thing he did was planted a vineyard5. This ultimately resulted in Noach getting drunk and uncovering himself. The passukim there describe that Noach's son, Shem, exerted himself and went to cover his father. Rashi6 writes that in this zechus, the descendents of Shem merited the mitzva of tzitzis.
The Sifsei Chachomim7 asks the obvious contradiction: Who merited to the mitzva of tzitzis – Shem or Avraham? Rashi in parshas Noach seems sure that Shem merited the mitzva as a reward for what he did for his father. Yet, the Gemara states that it was Avraham who merited the mitzva of tzitzis?
To answer this question, the Sifsei Chachomim explains as follows. There are two different elements to the mitzva of tzitzis, the four cornered garment itself and the tzitzis-strings (specifically that of techailis). Shem merited that we, his descendents, receive the mitzva of wearing a four cornered garment, whereas Avraham merited for us that we were to receive the mitzva of techeilis.
This Sifsei Chachomim is difficult to comprehend. The mitzva of wearing a talis (the four-cornered garment) and the mitzva of wearing tzitzis are not two separate items. There is nothing inherently special about a four-cornered garment other than the fact that it is only this type of clothing that we put tzitzis on. At the same time, there is nothing uniquely special about techeilis/tzitzis, except for when they are on a talis. If one were to hang strings around his ears, certainly one would not be fulfilling the mitzva of tzitzis. How could the Sifsei Chachomim be viewing these two aspects of tzitzis as independent entities? Clearly Shem's zechus means nothing without Avraham's, and Avraham's zechus especially means nothing without Shem's. Why is it that Avraham merited something which is dependent only special aspect of a four cornered? Why did Hashem divide up what appears to be only one mitzva?
Additionally, there is another problem we must consider. As aforementioned, Rashi in parshas Lech Lecha writes that the reason that Avraham turned down even a thread or a shoelace was because he did not want the king of Sodom to be able to say, “It was I who made Avraham wealthy”. However, Rashi's explanation in the Gemaras discussed earlier is different. Rashi in the Gemara writes that the reason that Avraham avinu turned down the treasures of the war was because he did not want to benefit from stolen goods. How could we understand this contradiction in Rashi?8
In order to better understand all of this, we must realize the deeper meaning behind what the talis and tzitzis symbolize. As we discussed last week, the main reason for the flood was because the world was filled with robbery. Robbery has two aspects to it. One aspect is the fact that one is dishonoring his friend by stealing from him. The other aspect is the fact that stealing from others shows lack of trust and faith in Hashem. The cause for the flood was because of robbery – and specifically the bein adom l'chaveiro (between man and his friend) aspect of robbery. The world was too full of the attitude of “What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine”9.
Although it is physically impossible for a person to transgress on only one aspect of robbery without the other, it is still clear that it was this aspect of bein adom l'chaveiro alone which brought about the flood, and not the combination of that with the bein adom l'makom (between man and Hashem) aspect of it – that a thief has basic lack of faith in Hashem. The proof to this comes from the end of parshas Noach. The passukim at the end of parshas Noach testify to the fact that the whole world was “of one language and of unified words”10. There was actually peace among all of the people in the world11. When they gathered together to declare war against Hashem, so to speak, by building the Migdal Bavel (Tower of Babylon), their punishment was not to be wiped out. Rather, Hashem decreed that their languages become confused so that they would not have the ability to continue with their evil plan. From this contrast in parshas Noach, we could learn that bein adom l'chaveiro is something that is needed, at least on a basic level, in order for the world to exist – otherwise, we deserve to be destroyed with a mabul (flood). Bein adom l'makom is the “step two”. It is necessary to have bein adom l'makom in order to live the right and proper life. These two aspects go hand-in-hand with each other, similar to that which is alluded to in the two-part passuk (verse), “Turn from evil, and do good”12. Just like it is necessary to first turn away from evil before building up to do good, so too it is necessary to have bein adom l'chaveiro in place before being ready to work on bein adom l'makom.
Shem was the first one in the new world who fully grasped the mistakes of the generation before the mabul, internalized the lessons, and perfected his bein adom l'chaveiro. He was the one who exerted himself to find a proper garment to clothe his father; for this, he merited the mitzva of talis. The talis represents the level of da'as (knowledge) we have over animals. Animals do not wear clothing, people do. This is because as people, created b'tzelem Elokim (in the image of Hashem), we understand that there is a degree of kavod ha'briyos (respect for mankind) which every person has the right receive and the responsibility to give and ensure for others.
Avraham avinu took this all to the next level. He too was known for his chesed (kindness) and care for others. However, he developed his middos to extend to the ultimate form of bein adom l'makom. He accepted upon himself the job of being the role model for the entire world, and used his influence to spread the will of Hashem. Avraham did this above and beyond. Surely, after the war that took place, everyone was aware of the miracles that the G-d of Avraham performed for him. Yet, Avraham passed up the offer of the treasures from the war and instead used the opportunity to make a speech, declaring his pure trust in Hashem. He did not even want to take the risk of taking a shoelace, for perhaps that would give the king of Sodom the slight opening to say that it was he who caused Avraham to become wealthy. Rashi in the Gemara tells us that Avraham did not want to benefit from stolen goods. Perhaps Rashi does not mean stolen in the sense that they were stolen from people and represented a lack in bein adom l'chaveiro, because that is not true. Avraham had the ownership rights over those goods. Rather, perhaps Rashi is referring to the other facet of robbery – the robbing of an opportunity to make a kiddush-Hashem by not showing what it means to have complete faith and trust in Hashem.
In this way, Avraham meticulously kept the utmost degree of kavud Hashem. For this, the Gemara tells us, Avraham merited that his children receive the mitzvos of tefillin and techeiles/tzitzis. The tefillin that we wear each day is a means of literally tying the most essential elements of Judaism to ourselves. The parshiyos contained within declare the unity of Hashem and our acceptance of His mitzvos – two sides of the same coin, as the way to achieve kavod Hashem. Techeiles also represents a the Oneness of Hashem. As the Gemara13 tells us, the blue-dyed techeiles reminds us of the sea, which resembles the sky, which cause us to think of the Kisei Ha'kavod (the Throne of Glory) of Hashem.
These two aspects – bein adom l'chaveiro and bein adom l'makom, go hand in hand. After all, respect of man is a degree of respect of Hashem, since man was created b'tzelem Elokim. Now perhaps we could understand why Shem and Avraham each merited what they did, and why Avraham's zechus of techeilis was dependent upon Shem's talis. We, the descendents of Shem and Avraham, need to realize the importance of bein adom l'chaveiro and bein adom l'makom and perfect ourselves in these areas
Bein adom l'chaveiro and bein adom l'makom are two essential elements in keeping this world in existence. This is the lesson that Shimon HaTzadik teaches us in Pirkei Avos13, “On three three things the world depends: On Torah study, the service of Hashem, and on bestowing kindness upon others – Torah represents the relationship we build with our inner-self (the neshama). Avodah (service of Hashem), is the means which we serve Hashem through bein adom l'makom. Finally, Chesed is our relationship with others and the necessary requirement to respect each others' feelings and property.
May we all be zoche to remember the combined actions and lessons of Avraham and Shem every time we wear tzitzis, and internalize these two essential aspects – bein adom l'chaveiro and bein adom l'makom.
1Rashi in Beraishis 17:1 writes that Hashem added an extra letter to Avram's name making it Avraham. The gematriya (numerical value) of his new name totals to 248, equal to the number of body parts. This is quite proper because Avraham was someone who worked on bringing himself closer to Hashem and used his entire body for tahara (pureness) and kedusha (holiness).
2Beraishis 14:21-23
3Rashi Beraishis 14:23
5Beraishis 9:20-24
6Rashi Beraishis 9:23
7Beraishis 9:23
8To make things even worse, it is very difficult to say that Avraham's reason was literally not to benefit from stolen goods because, as the Mahar'sha writes in Gemara Chulin 89a, the spoils of the war truly belonged to Avraham. Additionally, despite the fact that the treasures already belonged to Avraham, the king of Sodom was giving it all to him anyway.
10Beraishis 11:1
11Although it was short lived, it still took the record for being the first and last time (until mashiach) that the whole world was in peace.
12Psalms 34:15
13Pirkei Avos 1:2
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