Dvar Torah for Parshat Lekh Lekha

Based on Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #77

“There was a quarrel between Abram’s cowboys and Lot’s cowboys. The Kanaanites and Perizzites then dwelt in the land. Abram said to Lot, ‘Let’s not have any fights between you and me, or between my cowboys and yours. After all, we’re family.’”

Genesis 13:7-8

“The world is full of strife. This is true of nations and of municipalites. It is true of neighbors and families - husbands and wives, parents and children. No one remembers the purpose of life. No one remembers that a little bit of him dies with each passing day. And it’s all the same. There’s no difference between a domestic squabble and war...Even one who wishes to remain neutral may be forced to take part in a dispute.”

Rabbi Nachman’s Wisdom #77

In Lesson #65 of Likutey MoHaran I Rebbe Nachman compares Jewish souls to trees and plants—in order to grow to be strong and healthy there must be a proper distance between them. If not, one will weaken the other. This is what occurred here. Although Lot, Avraham Avinu’s nephew, had been a faithful and trustworthy disciple of his uncle, he never fully rid himself of his desire for wealth. Thus, Avraham Avinu was weakened and could not receive prophecy (Genesis 13:14). Another result of Lot’s greed was that his employees were also interested in wealth. Their desire to take possession of land that was not theirs brought them into conflict, not with the owners of the land, but with fellow cowboys, who, by virtue of being employed by their boss’s uncle, may have tended to side with them.

Why, in fact, didn’t Avraham Avinu’s cowboys side with Lot’s when the latter brought their animals to graze on other people’s property? Our Patriarch’s wranglers had absorbed their employer’s awareness that one must not let his life be infected by the disease of greed. The Talmud (Bava Batra 17a) tells us that each of our Patriarchs achieved an awareness of Hashem’s (God’s) presence that was Future Worldly. In the Future World (Olam HaBa) there will be peace and therefore there will be no greed.

How do we get to this peace? Rebbe Nachman writes (Likutey MoHaran I, 14) that when one realizes that “God is good for everything” (Psalms 145:9), that all one’s concerns can be addressed by praying, then “His mercy extends to all His creations” (ibid.), namely, one becomes imbued with a Godly measure of compassion for others. The more people that realize that all their physical, emotional and religious needs can be advanced by praying, and the greater that realization (and the more they actually pray!), the less will they be at cross purposes with one another. Even as an individual, a couple or a family waits for others to make this realization, they can continue to become more at peace with themselves.

In order to pray honestly one’s body and soul have to be in harmony. This inner harmony is built on shalom bayit, domestic tranquility, which in turn is proportional to the amount of honor that one directs his family to give to Hashem. Avraham Avinu had Future Worldy peace because he taught not only his own family to speak in God’s honor, but others as well (Genesis 12:5; 12:8; 13:4). Lot, on the other hand, was “conquered” by the “Kanaanites” (ibid. 12:6), the businessmen who believe that it is solely their efforts, rather than God’s blessing, which brings success. Therefore, Lot was overcome by the “Perizzites” (from the Hebrew word meaning exaggerated). His self-importance did not allow him to honor God by making a genuine peace with His messenger, Avraham Avinu. Instead, Lot deprived himself of the benefits of prayer and took up with the Sodomites, the antithesis of peace and prayer (ibid. 13:13; see Rashi).

Some “Peaceful” Selections

(with thanks to ShemaYisrael and The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation)

The Talmud states that no man, even a gentile, ever preceded Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai in extending a greeting (Berakhot 17a).

Our Sages taught, “Initiate a greeting of peace to every person” (Avot 4:20). Take the first step in making peace, even with “every person,” even with someone that you know bears you ill will.

King David said, “Seek peace and pursue it” (Psalms 34:15) meaning, “Seek peace for your friends and pursue it among your enemies; seek peace where you dwell and pursue it in other places; seek peace with your body and pursue it with your resources; seek peace for yourself and pursue it for others; seek peace today and pursue it tomorrow.”

To pursue peace is to put aside one’s personal affairs in order to make peace between husband and wife, between neighbors, and between teacher and student. Even to arrange a meal between feuding parties, as a way of reconciling them, is to pursue peace.