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Rabbi Abbahu said that Rabbi Elazar said: For what reason was Abraham our Patriarch punished and his children enslaved to Egypt for 210 years? Because he made a draft [angarya] of Torah scholars, as it is stated: “He led forth his trained men, born in his house” (Genesis 14:14). These trained men that he took to war were actually his disciples, who were Torah scholars. And Shmuel said: Because he greatly examined [hifriz] the characteristics of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8). And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: He was punished because he distanced people from entering under the wings of the Divine Presence, as it is stated that the king of Sodom said to him: “Give me the people and take the goods to yourself” (Genesis 14:21), but Abraham refused to take any goods either. If he had not listened to the king of Sodom and had allowed the people to remain with him, he would have brought the prisoners under the wings of the Divine Presence (Nedarim, 32a).
This week the Nobel Prize in Economics was given to Joshua Angrist, an Israeli-American who served as a paratrooper in the IDF. It calls to mind a tragic story about another Israeli winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Professor Robert (Yisrael) Aumann.
One of the great Talmudic scholars of the twentieth century, was Rav Yitzchak Ze’ev Gustman. Rav Gustman was himself a Holocaust survivor, whose only son, Meir, was murdered as a child by the Nazis. After Meir’s murder, Rav Gustman traded Meir’s clothing for food which he handed out to starving people in the ghetto.
During the 1982 Lebanon War, Professor Aumann’s son, Shlomo who was both a yeshiva student and also a soldier, died while serving in the IDF. Rav Gustman insisted on paying a shiva visit to the Aumann family. At the shiva visit, Rav Gustman said: “Now I will tell you what is taking place in the World of Truth. My Meir is saying to your son Shlomo, ‘Fortunate is your lot, Shlomo! I did not have such a great merit! I did not have the merit to die in battle for the Nation, fighting against the enemies of Israel, in defending the Jewish People. You achieved that incomparable honor!’”
Parshas Lech Lecha has one of the, well, most uncomfortable situations - the ole wife-sister swap. OH MY GOD DO NOT GOOGLE "WIFE SISTER SWAP". Wow, I can't undo that. Wait a second while I bleach my eyes... Ok back to Torah. Wikipedia calls it the Wife-Sister Narrative - you can Google that. In the story, Avraham goes to Egypt to escape the famine in Israel, and in anticipation of Pharoah having romantic interest in Sorah, Avrohom tells Sorah to claim she is his sister and not his wife. Pharoah pursues Sorah until Hashem comes in a dream and tells him the truth about her status. Lots of questions here, such as what was Avrohom's hoped-for outcome had Hashem not intervened? Anywho, for the kids, we're going to play "Name that Wife-Sister!". I'll describe a biblical character and the kids will compete to see who can name that character's wife and sister! Snack will be inspired by Avrohom's smashing of the idols...you'll see.
Yoni Friedman
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