Home
Up
About Us
Daily Minyan
Donate to ASBEE
Study Torah
ASBEE Family
Upcoming Events
Shul Events
Photos
Rabbi & Cantor
ASBEE Sisterhood
Youth
Where We Are
Jewish Memphis
Resources/Links
Inside ASBEE Bulletin

Lech Lecha: Abraham the Warrior

Generally, we associate Abraham with kindness, openness to all, and gentility. In our parsha, Abraham becomes the general par excellence, defeating 4 powerful Mesopotamian city states with his rag tag army of 300. How did he do it? Reb Asher Zelig, a Hungarian rabbi and  victim of the Holocaust wrote that Abraham may not have used conventional warfare. In the book of Kings, we find that  Elijah lived with a woman near Sidon in Northern Israel. She was very poor but he provided for her by virtue of his miracle making. The woman had but one son and after a while he fainted and nearly died. The woman said to him, "you have come here to bring attention to my sin." What she meant was that the proximity of a saint like Elijah with this simple woman brought attention to her lack of total piety and devotion. Elijah does not refute her claim, he merely brings the child back to life.

Now back to our parsha. It says that Abraham chased the enemy up to Dan. Dan is a Northern area of Israel but the word "dan" also means to judge. When Abraham neared these armies, he brought them into clear relief and in relative terms these were all wicked people. Abraham's mere presence killed the enemy armies. Then we are told that he chased them to

Chovah which is North of Damascus.  The word Chovah could be an allusion to the meaning of the word which is obligation or guilt. He brought all of the attacking armies into obligation or guilt and that is how he defeated them.

According to this novel reading, Abraham never stepped out of his role as a gentle human being, rather it was his mere presence which won the day for him. Abraham fought the way Jews would like to fight, as it says, "Rise up O' G-d and may Your enemies spread out and may they run from you." May we merit to have that kind of aura that no one would dare to fight with us and no one would cause us to leave our role as lovers of peace.