Thursday, October 14, 2021

Thursday's Parsha Tidbits - Parshas Lech Lecha

The following is a brief summary of some of thoughts said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce these vorts to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.

In Bereishis 12:8 the Torah states וַיַּעְתֵּ֨ק מִשָּׁ֜ם הָהָ֗רָה מִקֶּ֛דֶם לְבֵֽית־אֵ֖ל וַיֵּ֣ט אָֽהֳלֹ֑ה. Rashi explains the Kri-Kesiv (as אָֽהֳלֹ֑ה is actually pronounced as if it ended with a Vuv) by stating that Avraham first pitched his wife tent (which would end in a Heh) before pitching his own tent.

R' Frand quipped that when he travels in the car he has a similar minhag. He always puts his wife suit bag on top of his own, because if his suit gets wrinkled no one will notice, but if his wife's dress gets wrinkled she is going to need an iron.

R' Frand quoted R' Eliyahu Mizrachi who explains that this Rashi is unique in that in no other place does Rashi put the Kri before the Kesiv. He explains that Rashi derived this from the Gemara in Kesuvos which teaches that a man is obligated to put his wife's honor ahead of his own. 

R' Frand noted that there is an additional Gemara in Kesuvos which teaches that if a man wants to beome rich, he should honor his wife. R' Frand tied this into the story of Avraham leaving Egypt laden with livestock, silver and gold as discussed in Bereishis 13:1-3. Rashi comments on the words וַיֵּ֨לֶךְ֙ לְמַסָּעָ֔יו in Bereishis 13:3 that when Avraham went down to Egypt he was so poor that he had to borrow money to get there, but on the way back he stopped off at each inn to repay them. Why? Because since he honored his wife, he became wealthy and could now pay them back.

R' Frand said a second vort on the dialogue between Lot and Avraham. The Torah writes in Bereishis 13:7 that there was a  רִ֗יב between Avraham's shepherds and Lot's. But in the following pasuk, Avraham tells Lot אַל־נָ֨א תְהִ֤י מְרִיבָה֙ בֵּינִ֣י וּבֵינֶ֔ךָ וּבֵ֥ין רֹעַ֖י וּבֵ֣ין רֹעֶ֑יךָ. Why did he use a different form of the word?

R' Frand quoted the Shelah who explains that a fight can be just a small quarrel, but if left alone, it can fester and grow to become an all out war. Avraham did not want the quarrelling between his shepherds and Lot's to grow into a war between them, so he offered to go in whatever direction was the opposite that Lot went. In so doing, he even offered to go to the north if Lot wanted to go to South, although this would have meant that he would not have been able to go to Har Habayis.

R' Frand remarked that we see from this that sometimes its better to give up divrei kedusha vs getting into a fight. He invoked the classic scenario where people argue over getting the Amud (or Maftir) when multiple people have yahrtzeit. Better to give up the kibud and honor the niftar, than to cause pain and strife.

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