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שבת שלום - פרשת לך לך

Video Shiur

Click play to watch the video shiur by Rabbi Scott Kahn about ברכת החמה

News and Notes

The entire yeshiva wishes a big mazal tov to Benji Silber on his engagement to Shaindy Jacobowitz this week! Shetizku livnot bayit neeman b'Yisrael! On Wednesday, the shana alef students enjoyed learning about the rich history of the area in which they are living this year on our annual Beit Shemesh tiyul. They visited Tel Azeka (where David and Goliath fought their famous battle), the Bell Caves at Luzit, the Bar Kochva Caves, and the Stalactite Cave. We thank Rav Adi Krohn for accompanying the students on the tiyul, as well as Rav Eli Duker, who served as our intrepid tour guide. On Shabbat, Shmuly Reece made a siym on Seder Moed in memory of his grandfather, Martin (Mordechai Avraham) Haas z"l. May the learning in his memory serve as an aliya for his neshama.

The Limits of Choice
By Rabbi Scott Kahn

One choice, one decision in one moment in time, can change everything.

"Avram said to Lot, 'Let there not be an argument between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we are family. Behold, the entire land is before you; please separate from me. If you go left, I will go right, and if you go right, I will go left. Lot raised his eyes, and saw the plain of the Yarden, for all of it was fertile... So Lot chose the entire plain of the Yarden, and Lot traveled from the east; and each separated from the other. Avram dwelled in the land of Canaan, while Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, pitching his tents up to Sodom. And the people of Sodom were extremely evil and sinners against Hashem." (Bereshit 13:8-13)

Lot's choices were, indeed, limited, but the decision to live in the area near Sodom was his sole responsibility. That fateful choice - the decision to prioritize a financially lucrative setting over an ethical environment in which to raise his children - led to his family's ultimate ruin, and the pitiful creation of Moav and Ammon after Sodom's destruction.

The fact that we are limited in the choices available to us is illustrated by a well-known comment of the Ramban's toward the beginning of Parashat Lech Lecha:

"I will tell you a rule to comprehend in all the coming episodes regarding Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov - it is a crucial point - and our sages mentioned it in brief form by saying, 'All that occurred to the Fathers is a sign for the Children.' Therefore, the Scriptures spend time on the stories of the travels, the digging of wells, and other events which one investigating them would consider superfluous, without any benefit. All of them come to teach about the future." (Ramban on Bereshit 12:6)

According to this view, our future is determined in advance, and we seemingly have no free will to deviate from the symbolic framework already delineated in Sefer Bereshit. Rav Soloveitchik zt"l, however, explains that while the framework is unalterable, we retain free choice within this framework:

"Certainly, the experiences of the patriarchs foreshadowed the tragic as well as the redeeming events of posterity. Whatever happened to our forefathers was bound to transpire in the life of the nation... However, the events narrated by the Bible serve as signs or symbols of future events. Any sign or symbol is subject to interpretation, for the semantics of signs and of symbolic language is multiple. Signs can be interpreted in many ways. There is, of course, a message in every biblical scene and event, and this message is related to future scenes and events. Yet the freedom of the people of the Bible has not been curtailed, because a message, like a sign, is subject to interpretation - and the latter is a many-faceted, heterogeneous affair... Each event was predetermined by the symbolic acts of the patriarchs. Yet in every generation, how to interpret the event is up to the individual or to the people as a whole. The Jew is free to choose from the many alternative interpretations of the event. The idea that G-d wills to be realized through the event is the same; yet nonetheless it may be like a beam of white light which, when refracted and dispersed, displays a multitude of colors. The selection of the color is never interfered with by predestination." (Abraham's Journey, pp. 9-10)

Rav Eliyahu Dessler zt"l famously describes the limited arena of our choice as the "nekudat habechira" - that is, the point of choice. He explains that just as warring nations fight over the area around the front, while the rest of each nation's land is not contested during any given battle, so, too, does the internal war between a person's good and evil inclinations take place only over a specific moral or religious point. The acts to which an individual is accustomed - be they good or evil - are not part of the battle; he only is choosing between a limited number of options. A person, for example, who has been raised keeping Shabbat and continues to do so today has no real choice of whether or not to break Shabbat; it would truly be unthinkable. That same person may speak lashon hara with regularity; because he is so accustomed to it, he isn't fighting on that front, either. His point of choice might well be whether he should attend minyan in the morning, or instead sleep later and daven privately. By successfully waging that battle, he advances towards the next battle. Eventually, the moral lapses about which he now lacks free choice become the battlefront, and he gains the opportunity to choose there, as well. Conversely, should he lose a given battle with his evil inclination, the front changes for the worse, and certain religious practices which are currently guaranteed turn into matters of choice instead. (see Michtav Me'Eliyahu volume I, pp.113-114)

Rashi tells us that Lot's shepherds allowed their animals to graze on private property, because of their assumption that Lot would eventually inherit the land; they maintained that it was essentially his property. Avram's shepherds asserted that the land had not yet been given to Avram, and that the shepherds' actions amounted to theft. This initial moral argument led to Lot's separation, and to his dwelling in the area of Sodom. Each choice led to another choice, and each small decision created another opportunity for Lot's free will to assert itself. His range of options was limited, thus further demonstrating the necessity of choosing well. His poor choices led to his downfall and disgrace. Avram's good choices led to his becoming Avraham Avinu, the progenitor of the People of Israel.

May the recognition that our options are limited spur us to be exceptionally careful in making the choices available to us - and may we always be successful in making the choices which will lead us on the road to greatness.