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Parshas Lech L'cha: 

Do You Know Who You Are Dealing With?
 
By: Rabbi Tzvi Price
 

 

This week's Perspective is dedicated in memory of:
Hachaver Reb Arye ben Binyomin Zev z"l
may the Torah studied through this publication be an eternal zechus for his Neshama 

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Do You Know Who You Are Dealing With?
           
            The lessons that Avraham Avinu taught the world were fundamental, profound, and transformative. He taught us new concepts: monotheism, chesed (lovingkindness), and self-negation in front of Hashem. These great teachings shine like massive suns on a dark world. Sometimes, however, their brilliance can drown out the light of the less earth-shattering wisdom that shines from a study of Avraham's life. That is a shame. Often those lessons are the ones we need in order to lead successful lives. Let us learn one of these "small" ideas that might just turn out to be very big.
 
            In this week's Parsha, there is an odd contradiction between the way Avraham dealt with Paraoh, the king of Mitzrayim, and the way he dealt with Bera, the king of Sodom. When Avraham went down to Mitzrayim due to a famine, his number one worry was how to come out of Mitzrayim alive. He understood that if the Mitzri'im knew that Sarah was his wife, he would likely be killed by a Mitzri who had his eye on her. Therefore, he chose to play the role of Sarah's brother rather than face almost certain death.
 
            Avraham's worst fears became a reality when Paraoh forcibly took Sarah to be his wife. When Paraoh was told that Avraham was Sarah's brother, he offered Avraham a great number of sheep, cattle, donkeys, male and female servants, and camels. Avraham accepted the gifts. Paraoh also gave Sarah the district of Goshen as a gift. Later, Paraoh realized that Hashem did not want him to marry Sarah (he was visited by unusually terrible plagues) and he found out that Avraham was really Sarah's husband and not her brother. He released Sarah from his custody and gave Avraham and Sarah even more gifts in order to appease them. Once again, they accepted Paraoh's offerings. Avraham and Sarah left Mitzrayim with a great deal of Paraoh's wealth in their hands. They seemed to have no qualms about it.
 
            In contrast to this story, we find that Avraham behaved quite differently when dealing with the king of Sodom. When Avraham heard that Lot, his nephew, was captured by an army that had attacked and conquered the city of Sodom, he gathered together a small band of men and successfully led a counterattack. He rescued the captives that had been taken and he retrieved the great wealth of the city of Sodom that had been plundered. When Avraham returned from the battlefield with all the people and property in his possession, the king of Sodom went out to meet him. The king asked Avraham to return to him the captives, but offered that Avraham keep the property. Avraham refused, saying, "Not a thread nor a shoelace! I will not take anything that is yours! You should not be able to say, 'It was I who made Avram rich.'"Avraham certainly had very serious qualms about taking anything from the king of Sodom.
 
            Why the difference? Why did Avraham feel it perfectly acceptable to become rich from Paraoh's gifts, but utterly unthinkable to acquire the king of Sodom's property? The question is further strengthened by the following observation.
 
            In truth, from the angle of Choshen Mishpat, the legitimacy of Avraham Avinu's ownership of the gifts given to him by Paraoh can be called into question. After all, Paraoh gave them to Avraham because he was under the impression that Avraham was Sarah's brother. If he had known the truth, Paraoh would certainly not have given them. The Rema in Choshen Mishpat 207:4 states that a gift can be retracted if it can be shown that the giver's intentions had been based on an unfounded assumption or misinformation. Presumably, Avraham only allowed himself to keep the gifts because Paraoh indicated in some way that he wanted Avraham to keep them. Be that as it may, there certainly was room for Paraoh to claim (and possibly complain) that he made Avraham rich.
 
            On the other hand, Avraham acquired the riches of Sodom fair-and-square. He legitimately won them back in battle against an army that had taken them from Sodom. The inhabitants of Sodom had lost all hope of ever getting back their belongings. In halacha, losing hope of defending or maintaining one's ownership over an object is tantamount to losing ownership of that object. Therefore, no one in the world would have questioned Avraham's rights of ownership over the property that had once been owned by the people of Sodom.
 
            So why did Avraham accept Paraoh's property and reject the king of Sodom's? The answer is that Avraham knew who he was dealing with. He understood that with Paraoh he could do business, and with the king of Sodom he could not.
           
Avraham saw that Paraoh "got it," that he had truly grasped Avraham's greatness and that giving a gift to Avraham was a privilege. How do we see this? The Medrash says that Paraoh gave his daughter, Hagar, to Avraham and Sarah to be their slave, saying, "Better to be a maidservant in the house of Avraham than to be a princess in the house of Paraoh." Now that's "getting it!"
Avraham was confident that Paraoh would not claim that he made Avraham rich even if that claim had some legitimacy to it.
           
Avraham also understood who the king of Sodom was. When Avraham returned from battle and had saved the king of Sodom from complete foreign domination, the king of Sodom did not even offer a 'thank you.' "Give me the people, and take the property for yourself" were the first words out of his mouth. Not only did he not prostrate himself before Avraham in total submission, he starts bargaining with him! Now that is someone you do not want to do business with. That is someone who will surely say that he made Avraham rich, even if he had not.
           
The moral of the story is know who you are dealing with. A signature on a contract is only as good as the person is who signed it. No amount of legal safeguards, statutes, or lawsuits will save you from the misery that you will endure by getting involved with someone who is no good. A simple lesson that we can learn from the life of Avraham Avinu, but one that might just be a lifesaver.

 


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