Parshas
Lech Lecha
Strings
Attached
By:
Daniel Listhaus
וַיֹּאמֶר
אַבְרָם אֶל מֶלֶךְ סְדֹם הֲרִימֹתִי
יָדִי אֶל הֹ'
קל
עֶלְיוֹן קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ:
אִם
מִחוּט וְעַד שְׂרוֹךְ נַעַל וְאִם אֶקַּח
מִכָּל אֲשֶׁר לָךְ וְלֹא תֹאמַר אֲנִי
הֶעֱשַׁרְתִּי אֶת אַבְרָם:
בִּלְעָדַי
רַק אֲשֶׁר אָכְלוּ הַנְּעָרִים וְחֵלֶק
הָאֲנָשִׁים אֲשֶׁר הָלְכוּ אִתִּי עָנֵר
אֶשְׁכֹּל וּמַמְרֵא הֵם יִקְחוּ חֶלְקָם
“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
(verses)
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 taken captive and in desperate need of
Avraham's help.2
In order to save his brother-in-law3,
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 Eliezer4,
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”5.
However, Avraham turned down the offer and swore that he would not
take even a thread or a shoelace6.
The passuk
itself
explains that the reason that Avraham did not want anything to do
with the spoils of the war was because he did not want 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
Gemara7
tells us that because of this speech that Avraham said to the king of
Sodom, refusing to take even a thread or a shoelace, he was zocheh
(merited)
to two things: the mitzva
of
tefillin
and the mitzva
of
techeiles
– the
blue-dyed
tzitzis
string which is put on each corner of the 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 vineyard8.
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. Rashi9
writes
that in this zechus,
the descendents of Shem merited the mitzva
of
tzitzis.
The
Sifsei
Chachomim10
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 techeiles).
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
techeiles.
This
Sifsei
Chachomim is
very difficult to comprehend. The mitzva
of
wearing a tallis
(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
techeiles/tzitzis,
except for when they are on a tallis.
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 on wearing a four-cornered
garment? Why did Hashem divide up what appears to be only one mitzva?
Additionally,
there is another problem we must consider. As mentioned, the passuk
and
Rashi
in
this week's parsha
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 aforementioned Gemara
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?
In
order to better understand all of this, we must realize the deeper
meaning behind what the tallis
and
tzitzis
symbolize.
As we discussed last week,11
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”12.
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”13.
There was actually peace among all of the people in the world. 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. Rashi14
remarks that 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,
however, as tremendously important as it is second tier. It is
necessary to have bein
adom l'makom in
order to live the right and proper life, but not required to merely
exist on the lowest of levels. At the same time, bein
adom l'makom is
dependent on bein
adom l'chaveiro.
It is impossible for a person who does not practice the latter to
achieve the former. These two aspects go hand-in-hand with each
other, similar to that which is alluded to in the two-part passuk,
“Turn from evil, and do good”15.
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
tallis.
The tallis
represents
the level of da'as
(knowledge)
we have over animals. Animals do not wear clothing, people do.16
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 to receive and
the responsibility to give to 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 ratzon
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 declare his pure
trust in Hashem. He did not even want to take the risk of keeping 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.17
Avraham would have done nothing wrong by taking the spoils of way;
they were rightfully his. Rather, perhaps Rashi
is
referring to the other facet of robbery – the robbing of an
opportunity to make a kiddush-Hashem
by not using an opportunity to show what it means to have complete
faith and trust in Hashem.
In
this way, Avraham meticulously kept the utmost degree of kavod
(honor
of)
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 - the ways we achieve kavod
Hashem.
Techeiles
also represents the Oneness of Hashem. The Gemara18
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 tallis.
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 HaTzaddik
teaches us in Pirkei
Avos:19
“On 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
Hashem help us remember the combined actions and lessons of Avraham
and Shem every time we wear tzitzis,
and internalize these two essential elements of 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
14:14
3Lot
was the brother of Sarah. He was also Avraham's nephew, just as
Sarah was his niece, because he was the son of Avraham's brother,
Haran.
4The
passuk (Beraishis
14:14) describes that Avraham
went with 318 men. Rashi there
comments, though, that this refers only to Eliezer and 318 is the
gematriya (numerical
value) of his name.
5Beraishis
14:21
6Beraishis
14:22-23
7Chulin
89a as well as Sotah
17a
8Beraishis
9:20-24
9Rashi
Beraishis 9:23
10Beraishis
9:23
11See
my d'var Torah on Parshas Noach - “Better Bitter”
12Pirkei
Avos 5:13 – The mishna
calls such a person a “rasha”
(wicked person)
13Beraishis
11:1
14Beraishis
11:9
15Psalms
34:15
16As
a matter of fact, this is the first thing that Adam and Chava did
after eating from the Eitz Ha'da'aas (Tree
of Knowledge) – they clothed themselves (Beraishis 32:7)
17See
Mahar'sha in Gemara
Chulin 89a, who proves that 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.
18Chulin
89a
19Pirkei
Avos 1:2
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