Lech Lecha 5782 – Because We re Different, We re Ivrim

In
the mid-1950s, The Long Beach rosh yeshivah, Rav Yitzchak Feigelstock was asked
by Rav Aharon Kotler, the founding Rosh Yeshiva of the Lakewood Yeshiva, to
accompany him on a hot summer day from Lakewood to a meeting in Philadelphia,
pertaining to the founding of the Philadelphia Yeshivah.

As
they were being driven back after a very long and tiring day, Rav Aharon was
exhausted and hot; there was no air conditioning then in cars, and he was
reclining on the back seat of the car, as Rav Fiegelstock was sitting in front
with the driver.

As
they came over the bridge from Philadelphia into New Jersey, Rav Aharon
noticed, out of the corner of his eye, two 12-year-old boys, not Jewish, trying
to hitchhike on the side of the road.

Of
course, with the great Rosh Yeshiva in the back seat, the driver sped along on
his way.

But
Rav Aharon was unsettled.

“Did
you see there were two boys on the side of the road looking for a lift?” he
asked.

“I
don’t pick up hitchhikers,” the driver said. “They can hurt you.”

“But
they’re only kids — yungitchkes,” Rav Aharon insisted.

“Still,
yungitchkes can also hurt you.”

Rav
Aharon wasn’t pacified. [“Di mama vet zorgen oif zei]. Their mother will be
worried about them.” And Rav Aharon kept at it.

They
traveled another six miles past the bridge, and finally the driver asked Rav
Aharon, “What does the Rosh Yeshivah want, that I should go back and pick them
up?”

“Do
you have a better idea?” he responded.

So,
they turned back, and yes, the two non-Jewish boys were still there. And so, Rav
Fiegelstock joined the Rosh Yeshivah in the back seat, the two kids squeezed
into the front with the driver, and the gadol hador drove these two boys home;
az di mama zol nisht zorgen oif zei — so a mother somewhere in New Jersey
shouldn’t worry needlessly about her children.

Parshas Lech Lecha is full of some of the most foundational moments
in the birth of our People.

Avraham
& Sarah are commanded to leave their home and head for Eretz Canaan, and
they do so without hesitation.
Hashem
promises Avraham a child and that his ancestors will inherit the entirety of
Eretz Canaan at the Bris Bein HaBesarim.
Avraham
& Sarah have their names changed, as they are promised Yitzchak.

And then, in the middle of this entire story, we are introduced to
the story of the war between the 4 kings and the 5 kings. They engage in a war between each other, as
was want to happen in those days. 

And the question is: What
is this story doing here? We are
talking about the promises of the eternity of the Jewish People, the legacy of
our forefather and foremother, Avraham & Sarah, and in the middle of all of
it we are told about a war that involves nations which will last for a few more
generations and be gone forever?! Why
is this important? And why now?

One could argue that since one of the captives that was taken from
Sedom by the 4 kings is Lot, and that Avraham is going to save Lot, there is
relevance there.

But I saw a much more profound answer this week, offered by Professor
Shoshana Schechter. 

[Professor Schechter will be here in
our shul tomorrow morning for Kollel Yom Rishon taking place at 9:30am in our
new Beit Midrash.]

And Professor Schechter argues that the answer to our question can
be found in ONE PASUK in our story:

(יג)
וַיָּבֹא הַפָּלִיט וַיַּגֵּד לְאַבְרָם הָעִבְרִי וְהוּא שֹׁכֵן בְּאֵלֹנֵי
מַמְרֵא הָאֱמֹרִי אֲחִי אֶשְׁכֹּל וַאֲחִי עָנֵר וְהֵם בַּעֲלֵי בְרִית אַבְרָם:

There was a fugitive who had escaped the war, and he tells Avram
Ha’Ivri – And Avram was living in Elonei Mamrei Ha’Emori, the brother of Eshkol
and Aneir, and they had made a covenant with Avram.

This verse is strange for a number of reasons:

This
is the first and only time that Avraham is referred to as Avraham Ha’Ivri.

Rashi explains He came me’eiver hanahar, from the other side of the river.

But the medrash Rabba says something different:

“כל העולם כולו מעבר אחד והוא מעבר
אחד” (בראשית רבה פרשה מב, ח).

The whole world was on one side and he was on the other.

But the question remains: Why is THIS moment the FIRST and
ONLY time he is called Ha’Ivri? I would
have thought to call him that when we first meet him – Vayomer HaShem El Avram Ha’Ivri
Lech Lecha!?

This fugitive has run away, he has escaped, and he’s looking for
someone to help them. And who does he go
to? To Avraham. Why? Because he’s different from everyone else. 

And this brings us to the second anomaly in the pasuk:

Why does the Torah tell us HERE about the covenant, the peace
treaty Avraham had signed with Enor, Eshkol, and Mamer?

Because it is emphasizing that Avraham doesn’t need war right now. He is living
peacefully amongst his friends. He is
doing his kiruv work. Why does he need to get involved in the war? 

And if you’ll say, but Avraham had to save Lot!? Avraham was an extraordinarily wealthy person
at this point. We are told that just one
perek earlier when he returns from Egypt. He could have negotiated Lot’s return for the right sum of money.  And either way, he didn’t have to join the
entire war. Just save Lot and get out of
there.

But, that, of course, is not what happens. Because Avraham is different. If he sees a tzara, he sees someone in need,
he gets involved, he goes out to help, even if it has nothing to do with him.

And with this, we can answer our question: What does the story of the war of the 4 kings
with the 5 kings have to do with Parshas Lech Lecha, the parsha that’s all
about the legacy, the eternity of the Jewish People? 

The answer, of course, is that this story is in EXACTLY the right
place because this is what the legacy of the Jewish People will be for
eternity! 

To be a Jew means that if there is someone who is hurting, if there
is a tzara, if there is someone in need, we will be there. Not because it helps us, but because it is
simply who we are. Because we are
different. We are Ivrim.

Every sefer of the Torah is given a nickname:

Vayikra
is Toras Kohanim, as it details all of the laws of being a Kohein.