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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Lech Lecha
L'iluy nishmas Calev ben Amitai Yoel Ha'kohen
L'iluy nishmas Calev ben Amitai Yoel Ha'kohen
Test by Design
By: Daniel Listhaus
וַה' אָמַר אֶל אַבְרָם
אַחֲרֵי הִפָּרֶד לוֹט מֵעִמּוֹ שָׂא נָא עֵינֶיךָ וּרְאֵה מִן הַמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר
אַתָּה שָׁם צָפֹנָה וָנֶגְבָּה וָקֵדְמָה וָיָמָּה: כִּי אֶת כָּל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר
אַתָּה רֹאֶה לְךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה וּלְזַרְעֲךָ עַד עוֹלָם:
“Hashem said to Avram
after Lot had parted from him, ‘Raise now your eyes and look out from where you
are: northward, southward, eastward, and westward. For all the land that you
see, to you will I give it, and to your descendants forever. ”
-Lech Lecha 13:14-15
The
Torah[1]
relates that Lot’s shepherds of Lot started quarreling with the Avraham’s
shepherds. Rashi[2]
explains that the cause of the dispute was that Lot’s shepherds would graze
their cattle in the fields of others, and Avrahams’s shepherds would rebuke
them saying that they were stealing by allowing their animals to graze in
other’s fields. However, Lot’s shepherds would just rationalize and retort that
the land [Eretz Yisroel] was promised to Avraham, and being that he has
no heir, Lot’s family would inherit it so it is not really stealing. This of
course was nothing more than a rationalization because as the next passuk (verse)
says, “The Canaanite and Perizzite were then dwelling in the land”, so Avraham
did not yet have possession of it. As we know, this argument resulted in Lot separating
from Avraham and moving to Sodom.
The
passuk[3]
tells us that right after Lot parted from Avraham, Hashem came to Avraham and
told him to look around in all four directions, that all the land he could see
will be his and his descendents forever. Rashi[4]
is bothered by why the Torah feels it necessary to stress the fact that it
was specifically right after Lot left Avraham that Hashem came to speak to him.
Rashi answers that the entire time Lot was with Avraham, Hashem did not
speak to Avraham because Lot was wicked.
The
S’forno, however, has a different approach. The S’forno[5] writes
that the reason Hashem waited to tell this to Avraham until after Lot left was
because Hashem was concerned that had He come to Avraham while Lot was still
around, the reinforced message that Eretz Yisroel would be given to
Avraham would have caused Lot and his shepherds to become haughty and feel that
they already owned the place and make themselves comfortable, stealing whatever
they wanted. Therefore, Hashem waited for Lot to leave before he spoke to
Avraham and showed him all the land He promised to him and his descendents.
The
obvious problem with this S’forno is that Hashem’s plan did not seem to
work. The S’forno is saying that Hashem waited for lot to leave Avraham
in order to speak to him because He did not want Lot to come to steal. However,
that happened anyway! The whole reason why Lot and Avraham split up was because
of the fighting that Avraham’s shepherds had with Lot’s to try to get them to
stop stealing others’ property. So what did Hashem gain – so to speak – by
waiting for Lot to leave in order to speak to Avraham? It seems like either way
Lot ended up feeling that he had divine rights to Eretz Yisroel?
The
purpose of life and G-d’s role in this world are topics that have been debated by
philosophers for centuries. There are so many levels of belief each varying
when it comes to understanding these core questions. Some believe that the
world was created by accident and that humans are a product of chance.
Therefore, by definition, life has no purpose, ethics, morals, or expectations
other than those made up by man in order to live together under the same sky.
Others believe that G-d put us here for His entertainment, which does not
either even deserve a refutation. We as Jews however not only hold onto Judaism
– the Torah she’bichsacv (Written Torah), the Torah she’ba’al peh
(Oral Torah), and our mesorah (tradition) – as a religion, but rather
even more, that it contains in it the chochmah (wisdom) and insight into
the purpose of mankind and the world as a whole with an order and system to
everything – even including things as basic as thought, speech and the most
mundane of actions such as which shoe lace to tie first. Not only is the world
and everything in it purposeful, but Hashem’s involvement is intricate and
intimate.
As
a person lives through life, he or she is inevitably met with struggles and
challenges. Sometimes these challenges are in the form of a spiritual struggle bein
adom l’makom. Other times it is an interpersonal struggle bein adom
l’chaveiro. Sometimes we are challenged financially, sometimes
physically, and other times mentally or emotionally. And often times we could even prove to
be our own worst enemies and have internal struggles which eat us up alive.
Although to
point to a single idea and declare it as the purpose of life is way beyond the
scope of this d’var Torah, what we could do as at least understand that
there is a purpose which exists and that life’s challenges are not only a
necessary means to achieve that purpose, but that life’s challenges are
actually hand-picked for us individually by Hashem Himself. Hashem understands
our nature perfectly, for he created us. Therefore it is He alone who is able
to construct the perfect challenges for us to overcome and grow from. Hashem
knows the different measures of the various middos (character traits) He
injected in each person individually. Each person has his or her own breaking
point, level of patience, degree of frustration and anger, etc. All of these
aspects are taken into account and used to create the perfect test for us to
grow in the areas we struggle in. Hashem sends us these purposely and they are
only meant to help us. The key to it all, though, is the understanding that
Hashem never sends us something that is impossible for us to overcome. Yes,
things may be extremely difficult, and yes we will fail many times. However,
Hashem never sets us up for guaranteed failure. Every nisayon (test) is
with the trust and hope that we will make the right decisions and overcome it.
Perhaps
with this we could better understand the S’forno. Lot was clearly
someone who was wicked and although he would never be able to withstand the
types of tests that Avraham was challenged with, he was given his own little
challenge – not to succumb to his rationalizations and thievery. Hashem sent
Lot this test and alas he failed. However, the nisayon given to him was
one he could have won; and had he passed the test and not succumbed to his wickedness,
he would have grown and become a better person. However, had Hashem come to
reinforce the message to Avraham, that he was to receive Eretz Yisroel,
while Lot was still around, then Lot’s test would have become inaccurate and
unfair because it would have been too difficult for him to hold himself back
from stealing; and Hashem does not give us tests that we cannot pass.
We
must realize that Hashem is not out to get us and that all nisyonos sent
our way are ones we are capable of passing. We are tasked to keep davening for Hashem’s help in all that
we do and put in our hishtadlus in meeting
our challenges in whichever form they may take. They will be hard, they will
take effort, we won’t always know why, and they will be life changing; they
have to be. However, perhaps even harder than the challenges themselves is
mentally and emotionally accepting our nisyonos
and yisrurin with a love. A love
that Hashem feels that we and our tefillos
are worth specifically paying attention and tailor-designing the obstacle
course of life at precisely the right level.
May
we be zocheh to overcome all of our
own personal nisyonos and yisurin, achieve the level of channeling
the emotional efforts required to overcome them into acceptance instead of
doubt, fear, or anger, and to in fact be zocheh
for Hashem to answer “yes” to our tefillos
during our most critical times of need.
