The Weekly Shtikle - Lech Lecha

Unfortunately, Baltimore continues to reel from the loss of its great ones with the passing of R' Ezra Neuberger of Ner Yisroel this past Wednesday. I was the beneficiary of his wise counsel on a number of occasions. The shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Ezra Dovid ben Naftali HaLevi, z"l.

When Avraham and his entourage go down to Mitzrayim at the beginning of the parsha, we are told of the famous ruse of Sarah posing as his sister. This is done "l'ma'an yitav li ba'avureich, v'chaysa nafshi biglaleich" (12:13), so that they will do good to me and I will live because of you. Rashi comments on "l'ma'an yitav li," that they will give him presents. There is a discussion amongst the commentaries as to how to understand this exchange. Specifically, how do we reconcile this with Avraham's refusal to accept even a shoelace from the king of Sedom later on the parsha (14:22-23), as well as the maxim from Mishlei (15:27) "he who spurns gifts shall live." In the past, I have quoted the creative approach of the Ta"Z in Divrei David to explain this episode. I will link it here but this time, I would like to explore a number of other approaches.

One element missing from Divrei David's explanation is the fact that Avraham does appear to take more gifts from Paroah as he is sent away. Sha'arei Aharon lays out a number of different innovative explanations. He quotes Imrei Shefer and Kli Yekar who explain simply that we know from Rashi (13:3) that Avraham had incurred debts on his way down to Mitzrayim. It would not have been proper for him to reject gifts at that point at the expense of his debtors. His financial standing was far better when he encountered the king of Sedom.

He brings another perspective from Imrei Shefer asserting that "soneh matanos yichyeh" is not applicable with regards to accepting gifts from gentiles. Avraham's reluctance to accept anything from the king of Sedom was due to his extreme wickedness. Netziv, in Ha'amek Davar explains similarly as to why rejected his gifts while accepting them from Paroah and later, Avimelech.

Maskil L'David suggests that in rejecting the offer Avraham was expressing his steadfast belief in HaShem's promise in the beginning of the parsha that he would become great and exalted. However, this guarantee was applicable only in Eretz Yisrael. While in a foreign land, he could not rely on this.

I would like to offer my own suggestion as to what differentiated Paroah from the king of Sedom. Avraham expressed quite clearly that he did not want the king of Sedom to lay claim to being the source of Avraham's wealth. This was of much greater concern with Avraham's proximity to Sedom. He was troubled with the potential disgrace of the king parading around saying, "See that guy over there? I made him rich!" With the relative distance of Mitzrayim, this issue did not bother him.

Finally, Sha'arei Aharon quotes a novel interpretation he heard directly from the Bobover Rebbe in the name of his father. He contends that "soneh matanos yichyeh" is applicable only when the one who offers the presents is doing so willfully. He urged Sarah to pose as his sister so that they would want, of their own volition, to offer him presents. However, he would reject these gifts, thereby actually fulfilling being a soneh matanos and thus, he will live because of her. To support this alternative understanding of the story, he quotes Targum Yonasan (12:16) who explains that Avraham amassed all of his animals and slaves on his own.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

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