SURRENDERING THE SPOILS: PARSHAT LECH LECHA
Shira Smiles shiur 2016/577
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
A major event in Parshat Lech Lecha is the “world war” between the four kings
and the five kings. During this war, Lot, Avraham’s nephew who had moved to
Sodom, was captured. Avraham sets out with a group of 318 men to fight the five
victorious kings so that he can free his nephew. When Avraham is victorious,
the King of Sodom tells Avraham to give him back “all the people (the souls)
and take all the wealth for yourself.” Avraham responds hat he will take
nothing. To emphasize his point, he raises his hand to heaven taking an oath,
to take “not even a thread or a shoe strap or anything of yours, so you shall
not say, ‘It is I who made Avram rich.’ ’’
Rav Dovid Hofstedter raises a very interesting question. Avraham had previously
taken gifts from Pharaoh and would later take gifts from Avimelech. Why was he
resolved not to take gifts from the King of Sodom? How would these gifts be
different? Further, why is so adamant that he even swore to this resolution?
We begin our discussion with Rabbi Mordechai Druck, who notes that taking
anything from the King of Sodom would cause a chilul Hashem, a
desecration of God’s name. The King of Sodom was different from Pharaoh and
Avimelech. In Egypt, the society was so corrupt that nothing Avraham did or
didn’t do would have changed the situation, notes the Ner Uziel. In the
situation with Avimelech, Avimelech understood that Hashem was controlling the
events. In this situation with Sodom, however, if Avraham would take the spoils
of the war, people would say that Avraham entered the war to get rich, for his
own profit, rather than to save his nephew.
Rav Hofstedter takes this reasoning one step further. He posits that this war
was not so much a political war as it was a religious war against monotheism.
The capture of Lot was the bait that would lure Avraham into the battle.
Against these powerful adversaries, he would surely be killed, and with him
would die the idea of monotheism. By not taking any of the spoils for himself,
Avraham was testifying that it was not Avraham who had won the war, but Hashem.
He was thus creating a sanctification of God’s name and increasing his
influence over the beliefs of others.
Rashi notes that Hashem rewarded Avraham’s descendents for his selflessness
with two mitzvoth that are alluded to in Avraham’s response to the King of
Sodom. For refusing to take even a thread, Bnei Yisroel were rewarded with the
mitzvah of tzitzit, the “threads” on a four cornered garment, and for
refusing to take even a boot strap, Bnei Yisroel were rewarded with the mitzvah
of tefillin to be bound with leather straps on the head and arm. How are
these mitzvoth reminiscent of Avraham’s motivation in refusing the spoils of
the war? Rabbi Bick answers that these two mitzvoth are the seal of Hakodosh
Boruch Hu attesting to His presence, just as Avraham was attesting to Hashem’s
presence in the outcome of the battle.
The Ner Uziel also delves into the motivation of the king of Sodom. Avraham,
with his conquest had tremendous influence over the captives as he was
returning to Sodom, and his conversations with them formed a kind of kiruv
that had them considering the truth of monotheism. This group of former
captives could form a real challenge to the king’s authority. So the king was
trying to undermine Avraham in the eyes of his erstwhile disciples. If they
would see Avraham accept all this money, Avraham and his beliefs would be
diminished in their eyes, and they would no longer pose a threat to the king’s
rule. The king would claim that it was he who had made Avraham rich, and not
God, even though it was God Who had promised to enrich Avraham. The king would
not realize that he was but an instrument Hashem was using to make Avraham
rich, just as Hashem guides the surgeon’s hand in life saving surgery, or, on a
more mundane level, that it is the author writing the book and not the pen. In
our own lives, we must put in our own effort, our hishtadlus, to show
Hashem that we desire this gift, but we must never lose sight of Who is
bestowing these gifts upon us.
Taking this lesson into our own lives, when we help someone or give tzedakah,
writes Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz in Tiv Hatorah, we should realize that
it is not I who am helping, but that Hashem has given me the opportunity to be
His instrument to help the other individual.
We should all understand that our gifts and our opportunities come from Hashem.
In fact, Rabbi Mordechai Ezrachi suggests that we should all keep a notebook in
which we daily enter moments of Hashem’s benevolence to us and recognize His hashgacha
in the simple occurrences of daily life. Then, at least once a week, we should
review the entries. So why didn’t Avraham take some memento of this victory to
remind Him of Hashem’s chesed, asks Rabbi Ezrachi? Because Avraham knew that
anyone else looking at this memento would think of it as a souvenir that
Avraham took to remind himself of his own victory. (I am reminded of a hunter’s
moose’s head over his fireplace.)
Rabbi Wolbe notes that we ask Hashem that He not make us depend on gifts from
flesh and blood, but that even if we accept help from others, those who help us
should understand that it was Hashem Who gave them the opportunity to help us.
Rabbi Goldwicht provides a different perspective on Avraham’s refusal to accept
Sodom’s money. While the wealth of Avimelech and of Pharaoh was generally
honestly obtained, Sodom was filled with theft. It could be assumed that most
if not all the wealth of Sodom was somehow tainted with theft or other
chicanery. Since the mindset of Sodom was so materialistic and avaricious, even
to embracing theft and bribery, everything they touched would be tainted.
Although Avraham was entitled to the spoils of the war, he was afraid that
these Sodomite possessions would have absorbed some of the negative influence
or energy of the Sodomite people. If he took possession of these things, would
they exert an influence on him so that he too would take on Sodomite traits
that would affect not only himself but everyone he tried to influence? Are we
equally careful to obtain everything we have honestly? (I wonder if hospital
wings built with Mafia money donations are “kosher”.)
While all the preceding explains why Avraham refused to take any of the spoils
of the war, they do not explain why Avraham felt it necessary to swear that he
would take nothing. Letitcha Elyon cites Rav Shach who heard from his
Rebbe the Saba of Slabodka that one should always be wary and suspect of his yetzer
horo. The psyche of man is that once one has benefited and enriched himself
even from something as negligible as a shoelace, he is aroused to want more.
Therefore Avraham strengthened his determination to take nothing by vowing and
creating a barrier to following the natural inclination to take something from
that which he had even legitimately earned here. He would not transgress a vow,
Rabbi Wolbe takes a lesson for all of us from Avraham’s behavior. Certainly, if
Avraham felt a need to erect a barrier to sin when he might be tempted, how
much more so must we take precautions either to avoid situations where we might
come to sin or, if already in a situation, to take extraordinary steps and
precautions not to stumble into the sins, especially “social” sins like loshon
horo.
As already noted, Hashem rewarded us, Avraham’s descendents, with the mitzvoth
of tzitzit and tefillin. How were these appropriate rewards for
Avraham’s resolve? Rabbi Fryman discusses this question in Shaarei Derech.
He notes that both of these mitzvoth represent fear of God and help us act
appropriately when we see them. Avraham Avinu created a verbal checkpoint of a
similar nature by his vow. Rabbi Fryman cites a Gemarrah that discusses who
inherits olam habo While living in Eretz Yisroel and raising children
who learn Torah seem self explanatory, a third condition that merits olam
habo is difficult to understand. Why would someone who makes havdalah
over wine at the conclusion of Shabbat merit olam habo? Rabbi Fryman
notes that this condition refers to a man who wants to drink this wine over the
course of Shabbat but refrains from doing so to save it for the mitzvah of
making havdalah over it.
Rabbi Fryman then moves on to a situation where a High priest and a nazarite
walking together and pass a meis mitzvoth, a corpse with no one to tend
to it and provide it with the dignity of a proper burial. Each of these men is
prohibited from ritual defilement through contact with the dead, except in the
case of a meis mitzvah. Which of the two should defile himself? It is a
similar idea that prompts Rabbi Fryman to explain Rabbi Eliezer’s dictum that
in this case of a meis mitzvah, the high priest should defile himself
rather than the nazir. The nazir has taken upon himself a vow
that for thirty days he will refrain from wine, grape products, and various
situations including contact with the dead. For thirty days he is tempted 24/7,
and for thirty days he exerts constant self control because of his vow, and for
this self control, he is rewarded the crown of God (nezer Elokhim/nazir),
and therefore Rabbii Eliezer rules that he is not to defile himself during the
time of his nezirut. That’s how strongly Hashem values self
restraint, and that provides the link between Avraham’s oath and the
reward of tzitzit and tefillin.
Hashem greatly values self discipline. When someone is faced with an inner
struggle, as Avraham Avinu was about taking of the spoils, one should run
interference before one succumbs. That was the purpose of Avraham’s oath, notes
Rabbi Zaichik in Ohr Codosh, to help him retain control over his desire
for the wealth.
Since self control is so difficult, Hashem even values temporary self control.
When Yaakov sent Esau gifts to forestall his brother’s possible attack, Esau
initially refused to accept the gifts, saying, “Yesh li rav/I have
much.” Even though Esau later took the gifts, Hashem rewarded him for the
temporary self control of his desire. When Bnei Yisroel were about to enter
Eretz Yisroel after forty years in the desert, Hashem did not permit them to go
through the land of Edom. When Edom refused them permission to go through, Hashem
commanded Bnei Yisroel to go around their land, for He had given that land of
Seir/Edom to Esau and his descendents. This, writes Rabbi Zaichik citing
Daas Zekainim, was Esau’s reward for his temporary self control and refusal
to take the gifts.
Rabbi Frand offers an unusual perspective on Avaham’s conversation. Rav Frand
suggests that when Avraham said he is raising his hand, he was bearing
testimony to several things. Using several complementary sources, Rabbi Frand
is first saying that the victory was not by my hand, but by God’s. Therefore I
am not entitled to the spoils, for would I take it, it would all be hekdesh,
sanctified to God. He raised his hand in emphasis to tell it that it was not
the hand’s victory but God’s.
Rabbi Dessler in Strive for Truth continues this conversation. Avraham
speaks of lifting his had to God, Maker of heaven and earth. What Rabbi Dessler
says is that Avraham understood that all that he has is to be used in service
to God, and he has no use for these spoils of war. In fact, they may be
stumbling blocks to my growth. Everything one has, whether external materials
or internal talents, are vessels to be used in God’s service, and when they are
no longer needed or are misused, Hashem will either break them or remove them.
How can one leave the confused world of broken vessels? When one is in the
darkness of despair, one must enter the darkness to seek Hashem, for He will be
found there in the abyss, writes Rav Dessler citing Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.
When he does teshuvah, he will recognize these obstacles and challenges also as
vessels to bring him closer to Hashem, for the darkness itself contains the
vessels. Looking at the final letters of each word, “vechoshech al
pnei tehom/and there was darkness on the face of the deep,
one will find the vessels, the k(ch)alim to lead one back
to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. When we find ourselves in darkness, we must pray to
Hashem to lead us to the light.
Even Avraham Avinu was human and was tempted to accept inappropriate gifts. He
created a means of supporting his resolve to stay true to Hashem. How much more
so must we be vigilant in our behavior and create guidelines for ourselves that
will help us remain true to ourselves as servants of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.