Lech Lecha: Avraham’s Rescue of Lot, Pidyon Shevuyim, and the Obligation of Chesed

Transcript

Vayikchu et kol rechush Sdom. Yeah, they captured Sdom. Yeah, they went to war. What pasuk is there? Pasuk yud, it says like this: Ve'ein mekasidim be'erot be'erot cheimar, vayenusu melch Sdom va'Amorah, vayiplu shamah. Sdom fell, and the king of Sdom had to run away, and he fell into a pit of tar, right? He got stuck over there. V'hanish'arim, and the rest of the people, harah nasu. They ran away to the mountains. Nope, Sdom is open now, right? They captured Sdom. So it says in the pasuk, Vayikchu et kol rechush Sdom va'Amorah, ve'et kol achlam vayelechu. Yeah, they took all the rechush, all the wealth of Sdom, and all the food, and they left. Vayikchu et Lot, et rechusho, ben achi Avram, vayelechu. V'hu yoshev biSdom, and he is sitting in Sdom. Meaning what? That they captured Lot. They captured Lot. There's a very interesting question in this pasuk. If you take a look, it says, Vayikchu et Lot, ve'et rechusho, ben achi Avram. Technically, in dikduk hapasuk, it should have said the opposite: Vayikchu et Lot ben achi Avram ve'et rechusho. Vayikchu et Lot, yeah, they took Lot, pasuk yud-bet, right? Perek yud-daled. Vayikchu et Lot, ve'et rechusho, ben achi Avram. Where should be the ben achi Avram? Where should it be written? After Lot, right? The rechusho was not Lot. Then, Achi Avram. What's the pshat, that yichu et Lot v'et rechusho ben achi Avram vayelechu? Should be separate. It should be all separate. No, I need to say it should have been rechusho and then ben achi Avram. It should be Lot ben achi Avram. And they took Lot, who was ben achi Avram, and all rechusho. Vayikchu et Lot ben achi Avram. I mean, Lot was ben achi Avram, not rechusho ben achi Avram. So this question I saw many people ask. I saw the Torah Temimah ask this question. He has a sefer, the Torah Temimah, a sefer called Tosafot Berachah. He asks this question, and then he has pages of rayot, שככה כתוב בתורה. He says he'll show me maybe hundreds of examples. He goes page after page of examples, כדרכו בקודש, he had a big בקיאות. The Torah Temimah had a tremendous בקיאות in Chumash, Tanach, and Gemarot, so he shows from all over that this is not a question. Not a question. This is the way the Torah writes, because they took Lot v'et rechusho ben achi Avram. So even though it should say Lot ben achi Avram, in the dikduk it's not a question. The truth is, Rav Gifter has a very nice sefer, Gifter, Hashem yarich yamav, should have a refuah shleimah. He says a very nice mussar vort. He says a very nice al pi mussar. He says what happened originally, it says, ויקח לוט, right? Originally, who was Lot? Lot was ben Achi Avram, right? After Lot went to Sdom, who was Lot? Lot was Lot ben Charan. He was a different Lot already. Originally, Lot was what? That's who Lot was. When you talk to Lot, you know what you would hear from Lot? My uncle Avram, my uncle Avram Avinu, my uncle Avram Avinu said like this, my uncle—he was a ben Torah. What happened? Chazal tell us that he went to Sdom. Why did he go to Sdom? Because he was penished from Avram Avinu, right? And then he started becoming the mayor of Sdom, and he started money and manyanim, manyanim invitee. What happened, right? Why did he pick Sdom? Chazal tell us also because he saw kol arei hakikar and it was gam mashkeh; it was full of money, right? So now who was Lot, says Rav Gifter, that's pshat. Lot was kol Chushah, and ben Achi Avram was like a second thing, you know? You want to know who Lot is? It was Lot the kol Chushah. That's Lot's second name. First he was called Lot, yeshiva guy; now he's called Lot the businessman, yes. Rav Gifter said it's a mussar. It's only a mussar. Tosafos asked a question, but it's an unbelievable question. Okay, the kashya.

He became wealthy, money, money, and that's what happens. When you start getting involved with money, you become a different type of person. Businessman. Become a businessman. That's pshat. First he was Lot. Eventually he was what? He took Lot, who was Lot, Lot was, ben achi Avram, right? Like it says in the pasuk in the beginning. The beginning of the Torah says, yeah, the Torah says like this: Vayikach Avram et Sarai ishto, v'et Lot ben achiv. Originally, who was Lot? Lot was called ben achiv, his relative. Later on, what was Lot called? Lot was called Lot ben Haran. That was his last name, so to speak. Also קודם he was ben achi Avram. Lot ben achiv. But here it says ben korcho, and then it says... Okay. This, rabosai, is a girsa, but it's only a drush. I'm asking this question because I hold, I hold that this is a very important question. There's a big yesod that we see in this pasuk, which we'll get to. Anyways, continue with the next—we'll get back to the sugya. We'll continue with the next pasuk. It says like this: Vayavo, vayikchu et Lot. They took Lot. Vayavo palit. Who is the palit? Og melech haBashan. Why was he called palit? Sheniflat midor haMabul. He was saved. Ha palit, the saved one. Vayavo hapalit. The palit comes. Why was he saved? He received this message. This message. He calls Avram that... No. Og was just a person who knew the news. He was a broadcaster. There was God. The old man, he looked around, he saw what was going on over there. Vayavo haPalit. The palit came, Vayaged lAvram haIvri. And he went and he told Avram the Ivri. Let's go back to come. This is not for now. Vayavo haPalit. Vayaged lAvram haIvri. V'hu shochein b'eilonei Mamrei haEmori, achi Eshkol v'achi Aner, v'hem ba'alei brit Avram. Now, the palit comes and he tells Avram, ki nishba achiv. Now my question to you is like this: Why was he called Ivri? Why over here does it say, Vayavo haPalit, Vayaged lAvram haIvri? Why does that say Avram haIvri? Vayavo haPalit, Vayaged lAvram. Why over here are we calling him Ivri? So Rashi explains, pshat number one, sheba me'ever hanahar. So why over here? You want to know Avram is called an Ivri. You know, we spoke about Avram so many times till now. Why over here does the Torah feel—yes. Ivri just means that he came from a different, a certain country. Sheba me'ever hanahar, which means he came from the south. He came from overseas. What? This is Avram. I don't know. This is—shalom aleichem. Vayavo, he came, he knocks on the door, kaispik, Avram haIvri. I mean, what happened over here? This is the first time we mention Avram. This is the first time we mention Avram that here the Torah has to teach me Avram haIvri. It's not a question of knowing him. He comes and he tells Avram, so the Torah tells me Avram is called Ivri. Why does the Torah have to teach me here that Avram is called Ivri? Teach it to me somewhere else. What? Slowly, slowly, that's right. What does that mean, ivri? What is ivri? Ivri means he comes from ever nahar. You know the word translate? Ivri, just to explain, ivri means he comes from overseas, me'ever hanahar, מעבר הנהר. Why over here? It's like... so what do you want from me? What do you want? I have to have a shiur, I can't. This is not a question and answer about all that ... of the Gemara. I can't answer all the questions about why Avram this and why... We're learning a halacha. We have to learn something to come.

Yehuda ben Nechemya ben Abadan. Rashi brings down only one pshat why he was called Ivri. What? He comes from ever nahar. The truth is, there's other pshatim in the Medrash why he was called Ivri. רבי יהודה אומר, כל העולם כולו מעבר אחד, והוא מעבר אחד. The whole world was on one side, and he was on the other side. This is Rabbi Yehuda. I didn't answer the question. I'm just telling. The question, why over here, right? We're still answering. This is what it says. Why was he called Ivri? He was called Ivri because כולה מעבר אחד, והוא מעבר אחד. Reb Nechemya אומר, שהוא מבני בניו של עבר. Yeah? He was from the grandchildren, מבני בניו של עבר. Shem, Ever, right? So he was a grandson. So Ever is not what—where he came from, but Ever is what? It's like last name. He was in—Rebbanan omrim, Rebbanan say, שהוא מעבר הנהר. He was what? מעבר הנהר. ושהוא משיח בלשון עברי. ושהוא משיח בלשון עברי. What does that mean, שהוא משיח בלשון עברי? משיח—מדבר. He speaks. משיח, he speaks בלשון עברי. He speaks בלשון עברי. He came from ever nahar, you hear? Not only that he comes from ever nahar, that's what he spoke. No, he spoke Ivri. He spoke— Ibri, whatever Ivri is, no question. Why are you here? What's going on here? Something's wrong over here. Here the palit comes and he tells—what happened over here? You have to know what language. It's important to know over here what language Avraham Avinu speaks. It's important to know shehu me'ever echad v'hem me'ever sheini. What's the pshat in this medrash? Now, boys, I have another question. Who is the palit? The palit is Oyv. Why do you see so interested in telling Avraham Avinu that Lot was captured? Because he wants to marry his wife. He wanted to get killed and marry his wife. Why did he think that Avraham Avinu would run to save Lot? Why should he think בכלל that Avraham Avinu should run to save Lot? Because he looks like him. Oh, we have to speak about this. Listen carefully here. Let's speak about this. Why would he think that he's going to come and save him? Why should he think he'd come and save him? So there's a very interesting Siforno. Siforno explains, why would we think here? No, Vayaged l'Avram haIvri, lo sheyada palit sheAvram karov l'Lot. It's not because the palit thought that Avram and Lot were related. Unbelievable Siforno here. Pashut, you learn that it was his—Siforno, no, no, nothing to do with that. Lo sheyada palit sheAvram karov l'Lot. Rak yada shehayah machzik b'de'ot ever kamohu. Yeah? He knew that Lot behaved like Avram, like Ever, meaning there was a certain, yeah, a certain way how Ever behaved, right, and hanhagah that they had, and they knew that Lot was part of that, so to speak, part of that chaburah, and they understood that Lot, that he would go and save him. What? What does he mean like this? Pashut, we come and we say that they were related, right? The question is, says the supporter of this question, why are we here? Does it have to say every—meaning what? The supporter is bothered by the question that we're asking. Why is it important to say over here that the palit told Avram ha'Ivri? The answer is because Ivri means what? He came from ever, or he came from Ever Nahar, whatever it is, Lot behaved the same way. Lot behaved like Avram, yeah? Rak yada shehayah machzik b'de'ot ever kamohu. People knew that Lot was a strange guy, yeah? Lot was a strange guy. What was strange about Lot? He behaved—

But the Ivri, he heard, one second, lo, who behaves like Ivri got captured. I have an idea. You know what? I'm going to go tell this other Ivri guy, right? When one Spaniol misbehaves, what do you say? You know what? I'll tell another Spaniol. The Spaniol, he'll care that the Spaniol got a problem, right? Not that they're related. They don't have to be brother, sister, uncle, right? That's what it says, Ivri. See, what is the supporter doing? The supporter is trying to answer, A, why the palit thought that Avraham Avinu would be interested in saving Lot, and also why the Ivri. The answer is by Avraham palit, by Akel Avram haIvri. It says it bedavka here, because that's why he told him. He came and he told him, knowing that he was an Ivri, Lot was also an Ivri, and the ... you're going to want to save Lot. This is, l'choira, according to the supporter. Now, boys, this is very nice. The problem with this, that my grandfather's me'orer in the sefer, that in the Medrash itself we see not that way. Meaning, the supporter is a very nice pshat. The supporter is trying to explain a teretz to this question, right? Why over here does it say Ivri? And the answer is because that's why Avram went to save, or at least that's why the palit thought that he went to save. Let's take a look why he really went. So if you take a look, it says like this: What's the pshat, ki nishba achiv? What's the pshat, ki nishba achiv? It says like this: Shahaya zivi kulin shelo domeh, right? You want to give me the ... the blue sefer. Says the Medrash, Mem-Beis: Hu lo nitkaven l'shem Shamayim. Nah, that's not what happened. No, that's not what happened. Hu lo nitkaven l'shem Shamayim, ela amar, Avraham zeh kunyan hu. Avraham zeh kunyan hu, v'achshav ani omer lo, nishba ben achicha, v'yotzei l'milchamah v'neherag, v'ani notel es Sarah ishto. Avraham and Lot looked very much alike, meaning they were related. So if I come and I tell him that he's ben achiv, listen, your ben achiv was captured, for sure he'll go out and he'll fight, he'll get killed, and what's going to happen? I can have his wife Sarah. ... Because he went and walked to Avraham Avinu to tell him, that ... se'es machyonim ba'olam, you'll have a lot of years, you hear? Who killed—who killed Moshe Rabbeinu? So he lived all the way to Moshe Rabbeinu's time. What do we see? Even though it's not l'shem Shamayim, it's enough to want Hashem to pay back this rasha in this world. But what do you see from this Medrash clearly? What do you see from this Medrash? It's clearly from the Midrash that he came to tell him for what reason, because he knew that he was related to who? Related to... So how could the ... come and go against an open Midrash? That's my grandfather's question. Again, the Midrash, the Sippur ... comes to answer the question, Ivri. So he explains, you know, pshat Ivri. Ivri is because Lot behaved like an Ivri and Avram behaved like an Ivri, so מסתמא they have something to do with each other, and he would care about an Ivri, right? But not that they were related in any way. The Midrash says clearly not that way. The Midrash says clearly that Lot looked like Avram and that he was ben achiv, and therefore what happened? He decided that he's going to tell him like this, he'll run for his brother, for his nephew, and he'll save him. I have a very poshut question. Besides my grandfather's question that the Sippur is a stirah, I don't understand another nekudah. Why is it important to say that they looked alike? If I come and I tell you that my nephew was captured, and I care about my nephew, I don't care about him only because he looks like me. Well, Avram only cares—what, rabosai? Avram only cares because of what? Because ziv ikunin, they look alike. What if they don't? You know what? Avram looks just...

Like, look, the stuff he's been wanting to save him. Well, what's the pshat? He says like this: Hu lamed kavein l'shem Shamayim, ela amar, Avraham zeh kuni. Meaning what? Avraham is like his twin. They're very much alike. V'achshav ani omer lo, nispo ben achicha. That's when I come and I tell him that your nephew was captured, v'shural gol l'milchama. What's that have to do with looking alike? מה זה שייך למה שהם נראים יחד, right? You read in the Medrash, right? He looks just like... Yeah. Now you talk. Now you're saying good. Just wait. Again, it's not clear yet. We're not—we still don't have a clear picture what's going on. Again, I asked you a few questions. The first question I asked you was, why does it say Lot, rechusha, and then ben achi Avram? The second question I asked you is, why is the Ivri over here? Hey, I don't know. Who cares where he comes from, right? So the beis medrash is supposed to ask this question, and the supposed answer is, it's nogea to tell me why he thought that Avraham would run. But the Medrash says not like that. The Medrash says the reason is because he knew he's related. Not—mamash not like the... Mamash. Ask. It is a rishon in Gemara. Gemara says that you have to keep Shabbat, lamed tes melachos, ayin sippur lo tzarich. You can ask such a thing. I mean, you can have a sippur argument in Gemara. It's a problem, right? But either way, huh? Either way, either way, the Medrash is also pela. Let's he told him why, because it was related to him. So it has nothing to do with he looked like. That's Bavel Shukal. What does that have to do with what they look like? Yeah? Oh yeah, so say, say pashut, right? Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah, no. He took medas. He took medas. He took shabbah. He did shabbah. Break shabbah. Huh? Abaye is only asking another kasha. Who did he take? He took Eliezer. He took Eliezer. Why did he take Eliezer? Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv, vayyarak et chanichav. Vayyarak et chanichav. He ledei beito, shmoneh asar v'shalosh me'ot, vayirdof ad Dan. Who? Vayyarak means he fastened the belts. Vayyarak means he put on the armory. Vayechalek. Vayechalek. Who is yelidei beito? Yelidei beito, the people of his house. What's chanichav? So what are the chanichav? Chanuchok ksiv, ze Eliezer, shechancho l'mitzvos. Eliezer, because he wanted... Eliezer, that he was mechanech him l'mitzvos. V'hu lashon hatchalas knisat ha'adam, o l'kniv umnut she'atid la'amod bah, v'chein lechanoch l'naar. In other words, he wanted to mechanech with him. He was being mechanech Eliezer with mitzvos. My friends, what mitzvah are we referring to over there? What exactly? This guy reads Medrash says, and something you have from the Medrash says, right? I'll pay this Medrash problem with that. I don't know if it's there, but that's where you got it from. No, I'll tell you. So you're very good, so listen carefully. Again, l'chora over here, when it says that Eliezer was taken, why did he take Eliezer? He took Eliezer because what? L'chancho b'mitzvos. Now, does he mean Eliezer, who he normally was mechanech b'mitzvos? No, it means now. He wants to mechanech Eliezer now to do mitzvos. That's what it says. Chanuchok ksiv, ze Eliezer shechancho l'mitzvos. Oh, so it means all over, in general, in Pshat. If it's in pshat, so why is it bringing it over here? Again, if it means what in general Eliezer was the person who he was mechanech in mitzvos...

What's Eliezer called? Give me another name for Eliezer. Eliezer, give me another name for Eliezer. Chanicha, right? That's what it says over here: Vayarak et chanichav. Who is chanichav? Ze Eliezer, Rashi says. Why? Because Avraham used to mechanech them for mitzvot. So why over here? I mean, that's the only time it mentions Eliezer. And more than that—yes. That's what you say. Rashi says differently. Rashi says that he took what? Eliezer, that he was mechanech him with mitzvot. Now, it doesn't mean that he was mechanech him all over. It means obviously over here, which means he took him to be mechanech him with a mitzvah. What mitzvah are we referring to when we say that he took him to be mechanech him with a mitzvah? What mitzvah? What mitzvah are we referring to? To save life, right? Chayav to save life. Now, let me tell you what the problem with to save life is. Lot, v'choirah, was a guy. Lot, v'choirah, was a guy. That's Avraham Avinu. Do goyim have a mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa? No. Do goyim have a mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa? Now let me explain to you what I'm referring to. Let me explain to you what I'm referring to. V'choirah, the reason why Avraham went, pashut, is because of pidyon shvuyim. Pashut, because of pidyon shvuyim. We all know in halacha, the Rama brings it down, that in pidyon shvuyim, who do you have to save more, your relatives or your non-relatives? Relatives. You have to save your relatives. That's halacha. It's in Yoreh Deah, siman רנב, right. So meileh, Avraham Avinu, al pi din Shvuim, had a halacha to go and save Lot. So there was a mitzvah involved, so he takes Eliezer l'chanchei b'mitzvos. He takes Eliezer l'chanchei b'mitzvos. The problem with this is that you have to understand that l'churah Lot was a goy. L'churah Lot was a goy. And Minchas Chinuch says clearly that goyim don't have the issur of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa. You, let's say, are in the street, and you see another Jew fall away, and you look away. What's your halacha? Over issur of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa. Don't stand and watch your brother's blood spill. Watch your brother's blood spill. This is only a Jew to a Jew. A goy has no problem. And you want to know something? They mekayem this very, very well, because if a goy would fall in the street, half the goyim would look away like nothing happened. You know that in Forest Hills, there's a very famous story. There was a woman that was being killed. Yeah, right here, Forest Hills, by the tennis courts. Yeah, some of the—maybe it's not the—whatever. She was killed, right? She was a famous story. She was knocking on the doors, banging on the doors that they should let her in because the guy's running after her. Nobody even bothered calling the police. No one bothered answering the doors. They didn't want to get involved. They were afraid. Okay, good. So why were they mekayem the mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa, that they're not mechuyav. They're being mazgir in not being mekayem the mitzvah of lo sa'amod al dam re'echa, and they're not mechuyav. According to the Minchas Chinuch, they're not mechuyav. So they ask the question: l'churah you have a problem. If Lot was a goy, so there was no lo sa'amod al dam re'echa anyway. So why is it that Avraham Avinu goes to a war? He fought a war. You know, the war he fought. He fought a war of nations and kings just to save Lot. Who cares about ... It's not a mix-up, huh? He went to get back Lot. You know, the war he had to fight, five kings or four kings. He turned everything upside down. What? For which halacha? Because ... Why couldn't he just take him out? That's how. He had to win the war. He had to win the war. Four kings been standing there, you know, ‘Who take Lot? Come, take me out.’ This is a ... that a guy doesn't have Lot. So what's the pshat? So they say over from a Brisker Rav's son, רבי ... they said over that the Rav had a very nice diyuk, a very nice diyuk, at the beginning of this week's parsha. If you take a look, originally it says in the pasuk, וַיֵּלֶךְ אַבְרָם כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֵלָיו ה', וַיֵּלֶךְ אִתּוֹ לוֹט. Lot went with him. The next pasuk it says, וַיִּקַּח אַבְרָם, וְצָרַי אִשְׁתּוֹ, וְלוֹט בֶּן אָחִיו.

First it says, Vayeilech, that Lot went, and then it says what? Vayikach, he took. One pasuk after another, right? The first pasuk, Vayeilech Avram, Vayeilech Lot. What does Vayeilech mean? That Avram didn't really want to take him. Who really wanted to go? So Chazal tell us, why did Lot want to go? Money, money. He was listening over. Yeah, he heard, Ooh, this guy Avram, there's a big future for this guy Avram. I sit over here, you know what I'm gonna be busy with? I'm gonna be busy going to the store for my father and my mother. I have to buy avocados every Shabbat for them, right, and make the shopping and make... I go with this guy Avram, I'm gonna become a rich guy, and that's what happened. V'gam l'Lot haholech im Avram... Ooh, he made him very rich, Lot. Why did he become rich? Only because of Avram, right? So this is Vayeilech, he took Lot. So why the next pasuk it says, Vayikach Avram et Lot? So the Baal uses to say a very nice pshat. Halachah is in geirut that you push away. When somebody comes for geirut, you have to push him away. So originally, when Lot wanted to go, Vayeilech, he took Lot. Avram pushed him away and told him, What? I'm not taking you, and Lot forced himself, he said, I'm going anyway. Once he went with Avram Avinu anyway, meaning he was mekabel even though he was pushed away, Avram took him. Avram was not—Avram was mekabel on himself. He was... he was mekabel himself to become a Jew. So he says that's the two pshatim: Vayeilech Avram, Vayeilech, he took Lot, because Avram didn't want to take him. Then after he already forced himself, he said, Af al pi kein, once a halachah when a ger pushes himself and he says he really wants to become a ger anyway, then you have to accept him. So that's the Vayikach. Then he took him with him. So Reb Elie used to say that's the teretz, be'emet, that he was mekabel geirut. So then he used to ask a kasha, but then what happened by Sdom? It says clearly that he went off, he went back, chazar l'isuro, right? Pasuk yud-gimmel. What does it say in pasuk yud-gimmel? Oh, so he spoke. This is what the Bel try to... Ah, so that's why he came and he... Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, pasuk yud-gimmel. Here we go. Yud-gimmel. If you haven't paid, yud-gimmel, pasuk yud-gimmel. Vayachalot et kol kikar haYarden, vayisa Lot mikedem, vayipardu ish me'al achiv. They separated, ish me'al achiv. So what does Rashi say? Rashi says that they went away. What happened? He went away. One second. He says, vayet... mikedem. He went mikedem. What is mikedem? Nasa me'eitzel Avram. He pushed, he took himself away from Hashem. Amar, i efshi lo b'Avram v'lo b'Elahav. I don't want not Avraham and not his God. Not interested. Not for me. Not for me, the whole business. He went on his own. So says the Bel, ah, you see, he was chozer. Here it says because it was a real gerut, and he makes a chiluk between ger that's mekabel gerut. The Brisker Rav says that there's two types of ger. There's a ger toshav and there's a ger emet. What's a ger toshav? When a person comes into Eretz Yisrael, a goy who wants to live in Israel and he wants to accept sheva mitzvot Bnei Noach, the halacha is he has a din of a ger. So the halacha is, says the Brisker Rav, that this gerut he can accept and unaccept. The Brisker Rav in the sefer, he writes, because since the whole thing is תלוי on kabbalah, meaning the Brisker was a very nice boy, it doesn't change the guf. Why does a ger toshav have to keep? Because he accepted, not because he is anything different. He himself is not a ger. He accepted. So once he unaccepts it, he becomes back to being a regular guy. Says, Mashenki by Lot, even though he was pasul, she was like a ger that's pasul, so once the halachah when a ger goes off, still a ger, it doesn't make a difference. He says that's pshat why Avraham Avinu ran after Lot, pidyon shvuyim. I have a very big problem with this halachah. You with me? Yeah. Again, rabosai, let's go back a second. We're trying to explain why Avraham Avinu went to save Lot. Why did he go save Lot? He made a whole war, a whole fight, a whole save Lot. Okay. So I'm showing you from Rashi that he took Eliezer. Why did he take Eliezer? L'chancho b'mitzvos. Obviously there was a mitzvah involved.

Which mitzvah could be involved with saving lives? You have to say the mitzvah of kiddushin, not to save a guy who shabbos. So we ask a question: A, kiddushin by a guy. So we have alternatives from Brisker Rav's son, that he had a din of a Jew because he was a ger, lo ta'amod al dam re'echa. But now that he was ivri, that they're both mekabel the mitzvot, so now they have a din of pidyon shvuyim, back and forth. Fine. So that's l'chancho b'mitzvot. And let me ask you a question: Are you mechuyav to put yourself in a sakana for pidyon shvuyim? No. No. Are you mechuyav to put yourself in a sakana for pidyon shvuyim? You give a little money. You do the pressure, but sakana you don't. Oh. So let's see the halacha inside. The Pitchei Teshuva, siman reish nun bet, brings down like this: 'Ha'im b'teshuvat Yad Eliahu, siman mem gimel, im mechuyav adam lachnis atzmo b'safek sakanat nefashot k'dei l'hatzil chaveiro.' If a person is mechuyav to put himself in safek sakanat nefashot k'dei l'hatzil chaveiro, bevadai, or eino mechuyav. 'Aval kol panim, min ha-ra'ui la'asot ken, im rotzeh mi-middat chasidut, o me'ahavat chaveiro, o eino roshai l'saken atzmo.' Heishiv, and he answered that Beit Yosef, b'Choshen Mishpat, siman tav-kaf-vav, katav b'shem ha-Agudot: 'Tzarich l'saken atzmo bishvil chaveiro.' Wow. It is a halacha that you have to put yourself in sakana. This is safek, this is vadai. This is a safek, and this is a vadai. Meaning, I'm a safek sakanat nefashot, but I'm definitely saving him. So the bedius of paskens, when I'm a safek sakanah pikuach nefesh, and vadai saving him, right, then there's safek vadai, I have to go fight to save the guy. Now, it says like this: Ach yesh l'safek ladun osa. It says pirchei teshuvah that even though what Ramban Yosef says like this, it's not so pashut. Why? Deha la, shneihem shavim b'maalah. If you go, shneihem talmidei chachamim, or am haaretz, u'mi ka'shekein, im hamatzil talmid chacham v'nitztel am haaretz, eino רשאי להכניס עצמו, even b'safek, b'hatzalah vadai. Ach im hamatzil eino talmid chacham... Here, Rav Moshe is a talmid chacham, and Lot is am haaretz, not... There you go. Am I asking good? Am I asking good? Good. We're going to come to one second. Even the Beit Yosef that says that you're mechuyav to put yourself in a sakanah to make pidyon shvuyim, that's only when you're an am haaretz who's trying to save a talmid chacham. But if a talmid chacham was trying to save an am haaretz, he's not to put himself, what? In sakanah. In sakanah. So I come along and I ask you, my dear talmidim, what do you do with Avraham Avinu? The name wasn't even sakanah for Avraham Avinu if he's not going to save him. Ah? Ah, this is everything. Because Lot was... What was Lot to him? Lot was am haaretz, he was a... Ah, okay, so I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what we're doing. Let me show you. Let me ask you another point. What was so sure that you're going to say? You see, what does the Pitchei Teshuva talk about? For sure. Where you for sure could say, but it's a sakana for you, you might not make it. He'll make it, but you won't make it. How is Avraham so sure? Maybe in this case, Lot won't make it either. Maybe Lot will get killed too. That's another machlokes. The Mishnah Lamelech—I'm sorry, the Kessef Mishneh—in Hilchos Rotzeach, perek aleph, halacha yud-daled, writes clearly that even on a safek matzil, even if you're not sure you'll be able to save the guy, you might be able to save, not 100% sure, you might, still you have to bring yourself in a sakana to save. Comes the Bach, and he's medayek from the Rambam that that's not true. Bach in Choshen Mishpat says clearly, siman chaf-chavav, that if a person is not 100% sure he's going to save the guy, he's not to put himself in a sakana. So now we have a second problem. A, how could a safek sakana of a talmid chacham to save Lot, that's not la'halacha? Second of all, you don't even have a vadai saving Lot; you have only a safek saving Lot.

Then we have a question. Mitzad sheini, what right did Avraham Avinu have to save Lot? You with me? Let's hear again the kasha. Say it again. Bring me a Shulchan Aruch, perek chavav. Bring me Kesef Mishneh. I want to see it all inside. Come. Perek chavav in Choshen Mishpat and Hilchos Rotzeach. Now again, rabosai, just do me a favor. Listen, you know what? You have to understand, my mind works one thing to another thing to another thing. I just want to tell you, you know, do you understand what I want? What do I want? I want to understand why is it that Avraham Avinu drops everything that he's doing, you hear? ... was learning Torah, chesed, whatever he was doing, and what does he do? Lot! I gotta save Lot. What's saving Lot? Who's the... Why? Why? That's right. That's right. That's right. Because of Sodom, danger and everything. So who's Lot? What's Lot? Forget about Lot. What could he do? He was the one who captured Lot. So what should I do? What's Lot? ... You're not somebody dying from your own. You don't go to get yourself killed to save somebody else. Oh yeah, really. Ooh. Nice. I'm telling you, first answer is destruction. There's halacha, right? So A, A, I started off asking first of all... Yeah, you with me? Go ahead, explain the question. Yeah, explain the question. Go. Where's the Beit Yosef? Beit Yosef is... Choshen Mishpat siman tav chavav, l'shem... You have a Tur? You have a Tur? Tav chavav. It's only when you don't... Who he said. Tav chavav. Yeah, that's where the Beit Yosef is. ... perek aleph. ... perek aleph. Nu, let's go talk, Eliezer, you got him here. Nu, come to kasha, Eliezer, nu. Eliezer, Eliezer, what's the kasha? ... ... ... The mitzvah. ... There was a mitzvah here. From Eliezer taking Eliezer, we see that it was a mitzvah. What mitzvah? Pidyon shvuyim. I ask you, pidyon shvuyim, goyim, ... good, Brisker Torah, he was a Jew. Okay. Maaseh, I don't understand. It's not true lahalacha, the whole thing. Read the pitchei teshuva. Go ahead, start. Oh, are you not to put yourself in a sakana for pidyon shvuyim? That's the question. Go ahead. Rishai, you hear? Chasidut. Could a person, A, does he have to? And B, now that we maybe not have to, maybe he's not even allowed to. ... First of all, maybe you don't have to. Now that—

You don't have to. Now we can even ask, maybe not even allowed to. That's the question. Do you have to or don't? And even if you don't, are you allowed to or you're not even allowed? Go ahead. ... What do you answer? ... There's safek vadai, meaning when this is safek and this is vadai, you're mechuyav. Meaning you maybe, maybe might not make it, but he's definitely going to make it. Where he's definitely going to make it, what happens? Continue. Next case. Who? What, what, what, what? ... Yeah. Oh, that's only where they're shavim b'ma'alah. They're both butchers. They're both fruit men. They're both shoemakers. If one of them is gadol hador and the other one is a garbage man, what happens? No. ... I'm aretz. Not you. That's the translation. Yeah. Sayyashki would kasha, if this is true, and he brings from the Chavot Yair, big poskim teshuvot, sayyashki, if this is true, what right did Avraham Avinu have to what? Don't say לא. What? Maybe he will be. What? מי היה חוזר בתשובה? It says שחוזר בתשובה, but this is a talmid chacham, tzaddik, gaon. This is Lot. What's Lot? Lot's nobody. Lot is garbadzo man. What's Lot? Even if he's a Jew, even if he keeps mitzvot, so what's Lot? Avraham Avinu, Avraham Avinu, ... avot. הוא יהיה תלמיד חכם. It doesn't say אם יהיה תלמיד חכם, it says... We take a look and we say, you, you wearing green sanitation suit, you wearing black ... suit, right? You wearing green, right? So we save you. Halachah is halachah. Why? He didn't know what he was, Avraham Avinu, he doesn't know. Person would come and say, you know what, halachah is that a talmid chacham, you know, you have to stand up for him. Yeah, but this person doesn't even know he's a talmid chacham, so I won't stand up for him. Halachah is halachah. Halachah is halachah. Okay, now, second of all, yeah, second of all, that's question number one. Question number two is, let's take a look, what that ... meivi. Who's reading next? Eliezer ... meivi. Nu, let him read. Kesef Mishneh brings that ... meivi. Nu, ... go ahead. The Rambam's lashon is, כל היכול להציל. Whoever could be matzil, go ahead. בסוף פרק בן סורר ומורה, right? מנין לרואה את חברו שהוא טובע בנהר, או חיה גוררתו, או ליסטים באים עליו, שחייב להצילו? תלמוד לומר: לא תעמוד על דם רעך. Go ahead. מהכא נפקא, מהכא נפקא, על ידי... תלמוד לומר: לא תשבות עלו. There's nothing to do with lo ta'amod; it has to do with what? It has to do with Shabbos aveidah. Who says we learn from the pasuk lo ta'amod? We should learn it out from hashavat aveidah. Go ahead. ... אבל מטרח ומיגר אגורי, אימא לא, קא משמע לן. You have to do it, but who's got to spend money? Lo ta'amod al dam re'echa. Go ahead, continue. He has to pay him back. Now that I pay money for pidyon shvuyim, you have to pay me back. Fine, okay. ... Let's say this guy has money and he doesn't want...

To pay, so I'm not mechuyiv to pay for my money. Use the guy's money. Tell the guy, listen, you want me to pay, right? You want me to get pidyon shvuyim? Meaning, the question is not that you're vadai and he's a safek. The question is you're also a safek. What happens? So you have a nira? If he's a vadai and you're a safek, then the halacha is what? You do it. You look at the Bach. Now who's reading the Bach? Who? Yes, go ahead. Those even though the Goyt Maimon and the Beit Yosef is right, what? That from the Gemara's mashma, that a safek, meaning he's a safek. What's a safek? Safek he's going to die or live. Safek that he's going to live. It doesn't say the opposite. Only if you're a vadai. Go ahead. Only if you're a vadai. That's right. Avadai you're going to live. Go ahead. That's what the Bach is saying. What was the last three words? Okay. Okay, so we have machloikes over here, right? If a person is mechuyiv to put himself in a safek even if the other guy is vadai. The Bach says that even to put yourself in a sakana, you're not mechuyiv. It's yehareg v'al ya'avor, which means I know that I could get the job done. If I'm going to end up dying from this, I'm not mechuyiv. So my question is, how did Avraham Avinu put himself in a sakana? A, lo tusamaretz, and B, bichlal, you don't put yourself in a sakana for another person. You don't put yourself in a sakana. That's my question. No. Question: could the Talmud chacham put another in a sakana for another person? The answer is no. But a regular person should put himself in a sakana if he knows that he could save that guy. No, let's say you know for sure, let's say you have connections. Does everybody understand the question? Does everybody understand the question? No, you don't understand the question. Again, it's very, very simple. There's two issues over here. Issue number one is, are you saving somebody when that person is safek if you'll save him or not? That's issue number one. Do you put yourself in a sakana to save somebody safek? And the answer to that is no, only when it's vadai. Only when it's vadai you'll save that guy. So A, where was the vadai over here? B— Even according to the shitta that holds that you do put yourself in, ... or your Tam chacham doesn't do that. Third of all, what happens if you're not sure, right? You're not sure that you're going to make it. The bach holds that you're not mechuyiv anyway, not like the Beis Yosef. Anybody's not mechuyiv. The bach is cholek and he says, Yachol latziloi, yachol latziloi. But stam a safek, you don't put yourself in a safek. It sucks like a pashut. You know that you can do it. You're not going to end up dying from it. You're not going to end up getting killed from it. So the question is, how did Avraham Avinu put himself in a sakanah for Lot? Now, rabosai, let me show you an interesting medrash, Peldike medrash, peldike medrash. What happens? It says over here, it says like this: Vayarik es chanichav. He ledei beiso, shmoneh asar u'shlosh me'ot ish, vayirdof ad Dan. He went till Dan. Okay, so it says like this. If you look at the medrash, the Medrash Rabbah brings down...

That the people with Avraham Avinu didn't want to go with him. They didn't want to go with him. No, no, no, no, no. It says like this. Now you're talking. Listen to what it says in the Medrash. Certain people don't hear. What's the question? Why does it say, Vayishma Avram? I mean, lo... I'm talking to you. You heard me? Yeah, right? So, I mean, what's the question, right? So why does it have to say, lo... and Avram heard, Vayishma Avram? He says the answer is because a lot of people are told, they don't hear. You can talk to a guy and tell him that there's a guy dying in the street. What? What time is it? What'd you say? I said what? You're hungry? You don't hear what the guy is saying. Says the Medrash, that's what it means: oytim ozno mishmoa damim. A lot of people, when it comes to... There's a rather very nice story, a very, very nice story. I think it's a beautiful story. The Kapishnitzer Rebbe, he passed away young. There was a very big dynasty, Chassidus, called Kapishnitz. It was very close to Stolin, something like Stolin, that type of Chassidus, very Litvishe Chassidim-like. You know, not like Straimel, not that type, but Kapishnitz. It was a very nice Chassidus. The father died, then the son died very young after him. He had a brain, brain... big pop in his brain, an aneurysm. Nebuch. Anyways, they were very fine, very chashuv Chassidim, very honorable. Fellow part. It's a shul now in Borough Park, in Flatbush, in Borough Park, whatever. The kids, so what happened? This is the end of the maiseh. So they tell the story that the Kapishitzer Rebbe once went to a guy in Manhattan to his office to collect money for tzedakah. No? Guy sits down there. Rebbe, Kapishitzer Rebbe lets him in. Rebbe, what can I do for you? I'm coming to collect for a very big ani. Terrible situation. There's no money, and he's suffering, and he really tells the story a lot. Mods, he's marbeh basipur. He's marbeh basipur. The guy says, Rebbe, you know, I give a lot of tzedakah. No problem. It's not a big deal. Tell me. No. The Rebbe says, Wait a second. I just want to tell you more about the people. He starts going on again, and he starts telling him the rachmanut and this problem and the suffering. So the guy says, Rebbe, you don't have to do this. Just tell me the amount. It's not a big deal. It was a big baal tzedakah, this guy. He tells him, starts again, again the same story, more. Mamish, I don't have time, you know, listen. In America, time is money, you know. Just give me the amount. I'll give it to you. I have no problem giving tzedakah. So he tells him, Make it out the biggest check you ever made. He thinks the biggest check was a half a million, had $300,000, $400,000. It's fine, no problem. Puts it down. He says, Rebbe, who should I make the check out to? You know what the Rebbe said to him? Make it out to your brother. You heard the story? Make it out to your brother. This guy gave all the tzedakahs in the world, yeah? All the tzedakahs in the world. Except who came to his brother. He didn't even realize that his brother needed tzedakah. That's chat. Oyten oznai. A lot of people, he could talk to them. They'll hear everything in the world. Talk to them about, let's say, their cousin or a brother or somebody who needs tzedakah, they don't hear. Why is that one? It's oblivious. Let me tell you where you're talking. You're talking from a young, young and buchaim people probably care about their families. Regular people in the streets, right, care more about strangers than they care about their own relatives. You should know that. A regular person in the street, right, you tell him his friend needs a dollar, he'll run for him. Tell him that his brother is dying from—the chaver shows up to visit. Say that's the nature of people, the nature of people. So the Rebbe tried to wake him up and say, he's suffering. He wanted the guy should hear, so he didn't tell him the name. Like this, he listened, he listened, he listened. Okay, I'll give, I'll give. Make it after your brother. You're so blind. This is what it says, Vayishma Avram. A lot of people don't hear.

Item osno, mishmoa damim. Vayirak et chanichav. What's vayirak et chanichav? Reb Yehuda v'Reb Eliezer. Reb Yehuda omer, hein choriku panim keneged Avram. Yeah? They answered chutz b'tavram, the people of Avram's house. Avram said, Guys, let's go. Talmidim, we're going to fight. You know what they said? What, are you crazy? Are you kidding me? You're going to fight? We're staying home. We're not going anywhere. Fight who? Fight what? Melachim? We're not going nowhere. Amru, hein melachim v'lo yachlu la'amod bahem, va'anachnu yecholim la'amod bahem? Who's going to be able to win this war? You got to be crazy. Got to be crazy to fight this. Says the Gemara, Reb Nechemya omer, Reb Nechemya says, Avraham horik panim kenegdam. Avram spoke back to them. Not that they spoke to Avram that we ain't going, but Avram had what to answer them. Avram said to them what? Eitzei, I will go, ve'epol, and I will fall, al kiddush shmo shel Makom, for kiddush Hashem. Yeah? Oh, so my kasha to you. Ay, ay, ay, what is the Medrash telling us over here? Where is the kiddush Hashem? I thought it was Pidyon Shvuyim. I know what I'm talking about. You mean it's kiddush Hashem? Yeah, he's going to fall. How's he going to— The world is going to say, Why did you— No, because to die for kiddush Hashem. No, because they want to know that Avram came and started fighting and everything. I'm going to fight back. Now let me tell you what I know. What's pshat? Here's my kasha. It says kiddush Hashem. Ani eitzei al kiddush Hashem. What's the question? What is pikuach nefesh, save life? We were talking about, you're trying to save life. Where's the kiddush Hashem in saving life? Where is the kiddush Hashem in saving life? Pidyon shvuyim. Pidyon shvuyim. The answer is as follows. What are you saying? What are you saying? Halacha is you're not mechuyav to die for pidyon shvuyim. My boy, my boy, listen to me carefully. You know, you can't make up and say—and a chanami, you don't sell everything for pidyon shvuyim. You know the Rambam, ... jailed? Yeah. You know why? Why did the Rambam ... die in jail? They asked for too much money. They asked for too much money, and he said, You're not allowed to spend too much money. Yeah. Yeah. That was the greatness of the Rambam. The kehillah wanted to pay to get him out, and he didn't let. Halacha is halacha. Halacha is halacha. How could you leave now? You're in the middle of mamish, you're here, the heart. We're in the heart. You went for the operation, we're opening up, we're now in the heart, right? We're holding, and then all of a sudden the doctor is busy, he has to leave. Imagine the doctor is making an operation here, and he cuts and he cuts and he cuts and he finally gets to the heart. I'm sorry, I'll be back later because I'm busy now. Not you. You're making a heart operation for somebody else. You are making it for somebody else. You're going to kill somebody. Okay, so what do we have? We have, רבותי, kiddush Hashem. What's the kiddush Hashem? I think the machlokes is very simple. They ta'ined—what did the people at Rambam's house ta'inen? Pidyon shvuyim, I'm mechuyav to save, to catch yourself a sakanah for. What, are you kidding me? We're gonna go fight malachim and stories? It's vadai misa. It's not even a safek sakana nefashos. It's vadai. It's vadai sakana nefashos. Are you mechuyav to put yourself in vadai sakana nefashos for pidyon shvuyim? No. Because they understood that it was pidyon shvuyim. Shvuyim. Yes. That's the whole din of kiddush Hashem. What did Avraham hold? Rabbi, I think there's two ways we can learn over here. One way we learn like he read the Medrash says. Can't argue with the Medrash says. The Netziv says—he must have got it from the Netziv. The Netziv says a very nice diyuk over here. The Netziv says, what's the pshat? Remember the original kasha I asked you? How come it says ben achiv? It says rucho, and then it says ben achiv. But it could say it the opposite. The Netziv says, mairi dekuvart. Listen to the Netziv. You knew how great the Netziv was.

No, no, it's not that. It's just nice. It's the same thing, but nice. Yeah. Shay, listen to what it says over here. Listen to what it says. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Here it goes like that. Here it is. It says like this, right? ויקח לוט את כל רכושו, וילך, והוא יושב בסדם. It says the emek davar that it seems the whole pasuk is extra. Who cares he was sitting in Sdom? We know that Lot was in Sdom. I mean, that's the story. Lot was in Sdom, and they captured him. Why does the pasuk have to say it? First of all, you have to know, says the Netziv, Lot wasn't part of this war. Lot had nothing to do with this war. When you go take captives, usually you take from the soldiers. You take captives. Lot was not part of that. And still, וישבו הוא. They still went. They went to Sdom, and they took him. לא היה יושב בסדם. ומכל מקום לקחו אותו, אף על גב שלחולי Sdom לחוס. If you take a look, it doesn't say that they went to take people from Sdom. It says they took the money from Sdom. They took the food. And then it says they took Lot. Why'd they take Lot? Huh? Prevention of what? Or revenge on who? Says the Netziv like this. Such, the Netziv was beautiful. You know, the Netziv used to—what is the Haggadah? You know what the Haggadah is? The Netziv used to give Chumash shiur before his regular shiur. Like we do Likkutei Sichos, he used to give Chumash shiur. This is his Chumash shiur. He says like this: ... bishvil zeh, biyichud ... velakchu oto. Umizeh mevu'ar dekavanasam hayta lhachazir es Avraham. They were out to get Avraham. They took Lot because they wanted Avraham. See? That's the pshat. They took Lot and all rechusho. When it says ben achi Avram, it's not to tell me who Lot is. It's to tell me what they took. First of all, they took Lot. They took all his money, and they took ben achi Avram, meaning that was a separate reason why they took him. They took him because he was ben achi Avram. They were trying to get back at Avraham. Now why were they trying to get back at Avraham? Avraham was fighting milchemet Hashem. Avraham Avinu is fighting milchemet Hashem. So Sedom, so the people who are fighting against Sedom said, you know what? Let's get back at this Avraham. Let's show Avraham a lesson. He's making baalei teshuvah. He's spreading Yiddishkeit all over the world. Oh, I'm going to get this Avraham Avinu guy. We'll take a who? We'll take Lot. So it's not pshat Lot who was ben achi Avram. We don't have to tell me who Lot was. We don't know who Lot was. Vayikchu et Lot. They took Lot. They took his money. Why? Because he was ben achi Avram. That's why they took him. You see, money to convert. That's what the Netziv says. Now, so it was... Very good. Vayavo ha-Palit comes the palit, and what does the palit say? The palit says, Vayomer lAvram haIvri. Yeah? Now we have a teretz: Vayagid lAvram haIvri. He was telling him because he was also an Ivri. The reason why they took Lot, because he was an Ivri, and that's why I'm coming to tell you, because I'm sure you're going to want to fight the war, not because he's your brother, like the Seforno said. Because he believes. Because he's like you, and that's what the Medrash means, hikiru them, they looked alike. Meaning they were both — they should both showed Hashem in this world. That's the pshat, hikiru them. That's what it means. It doesn't mean that they looked the face — whoa, nice nose he got there, looks just like Avraham Avinu. Ah! What? You understand? Half full, not half full. You understand? Yes. Mas... cold, a bit cold. Maybe cold, he's cold, he's cold. Yeah, what, what do you want? A little slower? Yes. No, let's just go back again.

The Tzitz tells me, when they took Lot, you know who they were really going after? They were going after Avraham Avinu. They're trying to hurt Avraham Avinu. Vayikchu et Lot et rechusho because he was ben achi Avram. Pshat, who Lot was. We know who Lot was. And that's Vayavo ha-palit. The palit comes—I mean, this is not pshat, this is we're saying it—Vayavo ha-palit, Vayaged l'Avram haIvri. He's telling him not because of Lot, like the Seforno says, because he went to save his cousin's nephew. That's what it is. That's the whole sugya. The whole parsha is that he went to save his nephew. Ah, says the Seforno, it means is he went to save because he was also an Ivri, because he behaved like one of the Bnei Ivri, because he behaved also like a Jew in this world. And that's the pshat in the Medrash. It's not a stirah anymore. It's not a contradiction anymore to the Medrash that says because he... he looked alike. What do they looked alike? Not because they were mishpachah. That's not what it means. It means they behaved the same way. He was a copy of Avraham Avinu. Like we find in Sdom, who behaved like Avraham Avinu? Lot. He brings in the orchin, right? He brings all... Lot walked around, the chassidishe guy in Sdom. Imagine Harlem, you have a guy with peyot, and that's what Lot looked like. Lot was the guy in Harlem, yeah. That's what he looked like. All the blacks, in the middle of all the blacks, they have a light over there, he was walking around doing mitzvahs, chesed, ... So they took him to get back at Avram. So Avram held the milchamah was what? Wasn't pidyon shvuyim. They held the milchamah was pidyon shvuyim. So what did they say? Sakanat nefashot. What happens? Who's going to go involved with sakanat nefashot? But Avraham Avinu held that what? Avraham Avinu, shem shamayim. I'm going. The students held that it was for Lot. Lot, I'm going to go save my—I'm going to go put myself in sakanah for Lot. I'm saying to the talmidim. All the people he went with, he went with a bunch of people, so Chazal said they didn't want to go. Avinu answered them, I'm ready to die for Kiddush Hashem. So he had nothing to do with sakana vadai. That's the halacha of Kiddush Hashem. Yeah, what is it? The people were forced to say. Avram said, You're going anyway. He paid them. He made them crazy. They ended up going because Avram made them go, but they didn't want to go. But Avram said, I'm going anyway, even though it's a sakana. Why? Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. Nothing to do with Lot, huh? Because since it was a war against Ivri, it was a war against Avram spreading Hashem in the world, so the milchama that he fought back was to fight back against Ivri. That's what he was fighting for. So he says, I'm ready to die al Kiddush Hashem. That's what I'm ready to die for. That's the teretz that Avram is answering him. What's one of them? Kiddush Hashem. That's it. Let me just help him out. The truth is, you want, I'll answer you even better. The Kesef Mishneh brings down in the zman shmad, in the time that the goyim are trying to change what the Jews look like, even on arki de-masani, on the string of what they wear. For example, Jews wear black shoelaces, and the goyim wear red ones, and the goyim want you to wear red shoelaces. Kesef Mishneh brings down, Rambam says, Kesef Mishneh brings down, you go al Kiddush Hashem. This is what happened over here. They were trying to change Ivri. See, they were trying to undo the Ivri. Avraham Avinu said, arki de-masani, I'm ready to die Kiddush Hashem even on Ivri. Don't start off with the ikunim, what Lot looked like. You see, Ivri. That's the pshat. What? That's the halacha, because they're trying to—it's not so much the thing, it's they're trying to change the Yiddishkeit. They're trying to change the Yiddish—they're trying to change over to Hashem, what it's supposed to look like. The minute you touch avodas Hashem and yahadus, there's a mitzvah of yarging v'al yaavor. It's a mitzvah to go to war. That's what you teach in Liyaz. That's what the Chancheh b'mitzvahs. He was mechanech him in this inyan called Kiddush Hashem Shamayim. This is what he was mechanech him. It's always that. Any Kiddush Hashem Shamayim, however, Hashem does... Why go to war? Hashem can take care of it by Himself, and that's the mitzvah. Mitzvahs, you should fight for it. That's the mitzvah. That's the mitzvah. Okay, with this we're going to answer Maharidik. You ready? Most of it. There's still more. There's still plenty more.

Beautiful, no? That's emes, you know. The whole thing is, once you hear the whole thing, you see where I'm coming. You see what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to learn up the parsha. Now, with this, I want to answer another kasha. Ready? Answer another kasha. You with me? Answer another kasha. I don't understand one nekudah. One thing I don't understand. If you take a look, it says, Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv. Vayishma Avraham ki nishba achiv. It wasn't achiv. It was ben achiv. Why is it pshat, Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv? It's יו. It's either you could come and say that it doesn't mean achiv; achiv doesn't lav davka, it means ben achiv, it means relative. ... He was taken to capt... Lav davka. Say it's lav davka. He said the same thing about his sister. Huh? ... Yeah, same thing. Achiv means brother. No, he wasn't achiv; he was ben achiv, right? So you have to say achiv doesn't mean achiv; it means relative. I think there's a meorerdik dehek here in the whole parsha. The whole pshat here is very deep. Yes. Good, so that's the simple answer. I'll tell you a different nekudah. This is what I'll tell you, play different. When a person does a mitzvah, why should a person do bein adam l'chaveiro? Because it's a mitzvah? Should a person do bein adam l'chaveiro because it's a mitzvah, or a person should do bein adam l'chaveiro because a person is supposed to be a good person? Both. So you say both. Now, you say both. You say, Baruch Atah Hashem... You say both. Do you know that we don't make a bracha before we get stuck? Baruch Atah Hashem... ...asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu al... tzedakah. Do you say such a bracha? Baruch Atah Hashem... ...asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu la'asot chesed. Do you say such a bracha? Baruch Atah Hashem... ...Elokeinu Melech ha'olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu l'chabed aviv. Baruch Atah Hashem... What did you say? What, what, what? It depends on the... That's what the Rashba answers. The Rashba in the teshuvot answers, you know why we don't make such a bracha? Who said the guy's going to take it? It's not in your hands. Baruch Atah Hashem... ...al netilas tzedakah. I don't want it. I don't want it. Yeah, so what's going to happen? He's going to force the guy to become poor. He'll rob him. So he should give him an ani, so he can fulfill the mitzvah, should be a bracha levatalah. You go give him on the face, take out all the money. No, with the briskers, it's over. Kiddush Hashem, how come there's no bracha on Kiddush Hashem? By the way, some hold there is. But ... al kiddush Shem Shamayim. They say because of being briskers, the goyim come over to them and say, Yeah, avodah zarah, bow down to Jesus over there, whatever. ... Baruch atah Hashem ... al Kiddush Hashem. The guys would look at him and go, Huh? He wasn't planning on killing him anyway. He wasn't planning on killing; he changed his mind. He's gonna go, ... Waiting, ... Hevsek, hevsek. Kill me, hevsek, hevsek. Wait, too much time, too much. What's the pshat? You know, everything that's a joke, usually if it's a good joke, there's a good pshat. What's the good pshat to it? The joke is trying to teach you is, it's not telling you.

You know, I mean, what if somebody else is just going to change his mind at the last minute? You're not going to have a—what's supposed to happen? He doesn't want it stuck. What are you, standing there without him? He asked him before, can I give it to him? Change his mind. Anything which is bedaas hachem, anything which is talui in somebody else, there is no limit. None of that. There's no limit. That's a different answer. That's a different answer. Ein lo shiur. Ein le'davar she'ein lo shiur, why let them get stuck? ... Yesh omrim, yesh omrim. Okay. But avein, there's no limit, no bracha. Beautiful, very nice. Anything which—if you make a bracha, I know you also point, or because you're supposed to— That's what we want. The answer, I think, also is very simple. You know what the answer is, Rabosai? Once you say, Asher kid'shanu b'mitzvosav v'tzivanu, what are you saying? What, you're an animal, and Hashem tells me to behave, I'll behave? Really, I don't want to give. I wouldn't give tzedakah b'Hashem. ... because You told me to do it, I give tzedakah? Be a mensch. Be a mensch. Be a person. You give it anyway. You give it anyway. You don't have the mitzvahs. That's right. The fact that you're giving it shouldn't be giving it because you were told to give it. The fact that you're giving it is because— Yes, because you're yourself. That's yourself. A person should want to be a good person. Now, you're going to ask me, where did I get this yesod? I believe it's more the second than the first. You're going to ask me, where did I get this yesod? A person who does chesed, he shouldn't do chesed because it says it in the Torah, but he should do chesed because a person should be a baal chesed, he should be a good person. Sounds very nice, nice to hear, but where did I get it from? A very famous story. The Alter of Kelm, I heard this from my grandfather a thousand times, and I said it over already a thousand times. Unbelievable story. There was an avreich that was running around Erev Shabbat, from store to store, to buy food, to buy food for Shabbat. So the Alter sees him running, the Alter sees him running, yeah? He says to him, Avreich, eifo ata ratz? Where are you running? Where are you running? The person says, I'm running to go and buy for Shabbat. Kemo she katuv b'Gemara Kiddushin. Like the Gemara Kiddushin says, Rav machich reisha. Rav himself, yeah, cleaned the head of the fish, and Rav, even though he had many servants, he did it himself, right? The second perek of Kiddushin. And even though he could send the shliach, mitzvah bo... The disciple, you know, the disciples do for Shabbat. He walked in Friday afternoon in the disciple's home. What do you think you would see the disciple doing? Cleaning chicken. Wish he was frying fish. What do you think he was doing? Cleaning? What? Cleaning the floors. He was on the floor doing spongy, you know, in Israel they do spongy. Clean the floors. He would clean the floors. He would sit there, mop the floor for Shabbat. Yeah, he's on the floor, on the floor, cleaning, rubbing the floors for Shabbat, yeah. Kevod Shabbat. That's what they say over. That's what I heard. The disciple, people went in, I heard this from people who said they went in Friday afternoon and they would find every Friday afternoon, he'd be on the floor cleaning the floors, yeah. Shekoyach. So listen to what happened. Listen here. So did the guy say a good answer or a bad answer? Was the guy, was the answer good answer or bad answer? Good answer. Good answer, right? No, but why? Slabodka Rosh Yeshiva, Alter from Slabodka, tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah, screamed at him, Frech. That's how you answer me? Frech. That's what you— bad person. Very angry at him. Why do you say that so long? He says, What are you telling me, that you have to help your wife or your mother, whatever it is? Why? Because it says in the Gemara Kiddushin? That's the reason to help? Kemo shekatuv b'Gemara Kiddushin? If it wouldn't say it in Gemara Kiddushin, you wouldn't know that you have to do it anyway. Don't do it because it says it in the Gemara Kiddushin. Do it because a person has to be a ben adam. A person has to be a person. Well, if you're walking through— for example, if you're walking through a place that smells like chazir, and you said, I want to eat it, and you're not eating because Hashem says not to. Chazir's not ben adam l'chaveiro. It's not ben adam l'chaveiro. No. Chazir is not ben adam l'chaveiro.

When you say that a shem shamayim, we have bigger... I'll tell you, the way a person is supposed to behave is, he's supposed to be a mensch. You have to be a mensch. A mensch. A mensch. Oh. Now let's go back. Let's go back to the... That's true. Now that you're a mensch, you shouldn't be doing it because כתוב בתורה, and not לשם ייחוד, and not ברכות, and not אשר קידשנו. This is what it is. Why is it saying the Gemara? The Gemara is just telling me that they used to do it. Who taught them? Nobody. They do it on their own. That's what the Gemara... Take the story and listen to it. You ruin it. The more questions you ask on the story, the worse you're making it, because the story is gold. It's a brilliant... it's a yesod. It's a yesod Nora v'Nifla. It's a yesod Nora v'Nifla. Okay. Now, yes. How do you expect... I'm answering you. We are very, very, very weak people. But, but once we understand that a person has to do chesed, don't go around saying, I'm a religious Jew and I'm doing chesed. Do chesed, you have to be a good person, that's all. To be an adam, to be a normal person. Normal people do nice things for other people. A person has to be a ben adam. Once—I'll give you an example. I'll give you a very simple example, a very simple example. A lot of people, they don't speak lashon hara. Why? כתוב בספר חפץ חיים. That's very nice. It's very good. But the ultimate, l'eila mikol bechata, that hanhagah is forget about the chametz. Why? You're a person, a ben adam speaks lashon hara, another person. There are many people who didn't see one word in shmiras halashon, and they're nizhar in shmiras halashon. You know why? Because they themselves are good people. They're anashim tovim, anashim tehorim. No, nobody's born perfect. They worked on being good. In other words, avadeh the Torah teaches what's called good. But now you have to do it not because katuv baTorah, unless you have a problem that's difficult. Some people have very bad middos, so at least let them do it because katuv baTorah. Should a person be anav because the Torah says so, or a person should be b'etzem anav? Should a person come and say, I have to be anav because the Torah says be anav, or a person should be anav that you're nothing? It should become your nature that you're nothing. A person should be an anav in nature. Anav should be in nature. A hundred percent, no. Now that the Torah tells us that this is what tov means, man who was created mikoach haTorah could reach that from within. Yeah, I'm not saying without the Torah, yeah. The goyim, when the goyim do chesed, yeah, it's outside, it's not real. I'm not telling you, that's not real because it's not Torah. But once the Torah, the Torah is not teaching me, do ketzivanu, that you should be commanded. Torah wants that you should become part of who you are, should be mahut. That's what you should do. You should be a good person. You should be ... now. Now listen carefully. Let's go back now. Let's go back now, back all the way to the beginning. What was the cheshbon over here with Avraham? What happened? I believe there's a big yesod. What was Avraham's midah? Chesed. What's the pshat chesed? What does it mean, chesed? Huh? Chesed means that the person himself was mischased im anashim, right? Meaning Avraham was ohev chesed. He ran to do, he loved chesed. His shleimus was chesed. That was his shleimus. That's why ... Again, let's start slow. We're not holding. His shleimus was chesed. When he had to go fight for Lot, if he wouldn't fight for Lot, what would it be? It would be a stirah to the entire shita, the entire Torah that he was teaching. Avraham Avinu, who was chesed, he was teaching chesed in Torah. That's what he was teaching. Yitzchok taught avodah of the Torah, and Yaakov taught the Torah of the Torah, right? What does that mean? Each one was teaching, not only representing, he was teaching in the—

Real this midah, a yesod. Avraham was going around and saying, Rabosai, part of being in this world as a person under Hashem, under Torah, chesed, the midas hachesed. That's what he was teaching. Mimeila, when Lot was nishba, if Avraham wouldn't go, if Avraham wouldn't go to save Lot, that would be a stirah to the avodas Hashem of Avraham. That would be a complete stirah to the avodas Hashem of Avraham. Mimeila, he had to go al kiddush Hashem to do this. Avraham had to go because this was his shita. This is what he was teaching. Is that kiddush Hashem with chesed? That's what I'm going to explain to you. But he was teaching which part of chesed? Avraham was teaching the chesed, meaning in Torah and avodah, he was teaching the chesed shebo. So he was mechuyav, and I'll prove it to you. Why did Avraham Avinu not want to make a bris? It says he had to ask Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre to make a bris. Why? Because since I'm teaching chesed to the world, and here I turn around, I'm chovel. Why? Hashem said to do it. No, before Hashem said. No. Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre, even after Hashem said to do it. So the mefarshim say, b'rabim b'tzina. He should do it with no one should know about it. So Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre told him he should do it b'rabim, that people should know about it. At the end of this week's parsha, it says that Avraham was, V'hu yoshev petach ha'ohel. Where was he? Mamre. Where was he? He was in Elonei Mamre. Says Rashi, why Mamre? Because hu natal eitzah la'milah. He was the one who taught him and told him, in eitzah, go make the milah. So the mefarshim go, what? Hashem goes, tells you to make milah. What's your question? What's your question? The what? What advice for, you hear? Oh, there's a beautiful pshat from Shach. Ooh, I can tell it to you over. Very nice. Okay, wait. I have to try to remember if it's in the Aviezri. There's something unbelievable. It's could be in the Aviezri. You ready? Let's go for it, you hear? Savram Avinu, you hear? You listening? Avram Avinu, you hear, had to get advice. And the mefarshim ask, advice? Hashem tells you to go make brit milah, you need advice? And the mefarshim explain, the question was, should he do it where people will hear about it, or should nobody should know about it? Why? So the mefarshim explain, because Avram Avinu's whole shita was to teach people chesed, chesed, chesed, chesed. Here he goes and he cuts himself and he cuts up his children. It's against the whole concept of chesed. People are going to say, Oh, Avram, you're a liar. So what happened? ... Do it b'rabim, and that's where Hashem came to Avram in the Leilei Mamre. That's one thing. We also find by the nisayon of that keidah. What was the nisayon of that keidah? Against his nature. Against his nature. The mefarshim explain, you know what bothered Avram Avinu more than anything else? What are the goyim going to come say? All my life I'm teaching chesed, chesed, chesed, and here they see me take my son and kill him. He kicked down the Shema also. It was against his nature. This is the nekudah. Avram Avinu was chesed. For him to go and save light or not save light would be a shaylah of kiddush or chilul Hashem. Meila, I think pshat is very pashut over here. If you're running around doing chesed and here, light... Here, like, your own ביז is caught. Go fight for him. Go fight for him. Where's your chesed, right? This is the pshat: Vayishma Avram ki nishba achiv. Which halacha did he go? Which halacha did he go for? The answer was because he heard achiv. Kulo of achiv. That's right. Once he heard that achiv, that his brother was caught—sleeping, everybody's sleeping. Chesed? No, so I'm listening to—I'm listening. The nekudah was, was the achiv should... That's, that was the nekudah. When he heard ki nishba achiv, mimeila his chesed was mitzad himself to go and do it, and that's why he was even moser nefesh for it. He had to be moser nefesh on the nekudah of chesed, because that was the whole point of his Torah and avodah in this world. Huh? Same thing, the... what it was the stirah. The world would look and say, This is your chesed? This is your chesed? Where's your chesed? You take children, babies, and you cut them. Where's your chesed, right? It's immoral.

So more, the goyim, a lot of goyim say brit milah is immoral. You cut a baby, ... Now they scientificly prove there is ... What is immoral? Immoral means it's wrong, it's bad. Okay, so this is the pshat over here, very פשוט. Again, Avraham Avinu, Avraham Avinu what? Avraham Avinu understands, listen, my avodah is chesed. But why chesed? Avraham Avinu didn't do chesed because it says in the Torah chesed. Avraham Avinu did chesed because that was his tchunah. Why do you think chesed? Huh? That was his tchunah. You see, I'll tell you the truth, I speak about this many times. Stypler speaks about a lot, the Chazonish speaks a lot. A person's nature teaches him what is avodas Hashem. A person is born, let's say, a כעסן, right? כעס is a bad middah. What should he do with his כעס? A person who has a bad middah or a good middah, for the same thing, that is pshat, Hashem gives you that to show you what your avodas Hashem is supposed to be. How is it possible for a person to be very ...? It's very good. What is ...? To do chesed for people. ... What do you think it is? What do you think it was? ... Yeah, ... what do you think? No, to use it for the reshaim, no. You know, the thing is, you're a tzaddik. That's what it is. You don't see any reshaim. Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. You're a big tzaddik. Let me tell you something. Okay, so, you know what? Let me answer. Can I answer you? I'll answer. There's a very big machlokes. I know there's a very big machlokes between the Chazon Ish and also today the poskim. What do I mean? The Chazon Ish held that 99.9% of the Russian Jews are tinok shenishba. They're not reshaim. Famous psak, brings it, everybody brings that. The Chazon Ish's psak. But today everybody is tinok shenishba. People today are tinok shenishba, which means it was not their fault that they're not religious. Today the poskim are starting to backtrack on that. Why? Because a lot, a lot of the Russian Jews were brought to yeshivot, and they were brought to battei knessiyot, and people worked with them. How many hundreds of boys were in this yeshiva, and they did hear about Hashem, and they were learning Torah, and then they went off. So you can tell me, tinok shenishba. Why are they tinok shenishba? So they say the poskim and Bnei Brak today don't believe that it's so true that it's tinok shenishba. Today everybody is able and hears about the Torah. In Russia it was possible that a Jew never even heard of Yiddishkeit, especially white Russian, by the Ashkenazi Russians. The Jews never even heard that there's such a thing called a God. Today, it's not true. Everybody hears this: God, and everyone else who chooses. Not so sure. What's the other shita? The other shita is, even though they know, but after so many years that it was stuffed into their head, not—it's impossible to change, and maybe they're capable of change. But it's a very big machlokes. You know where it's nogea l'maaseh? Where it's nogea l'maaseh? Hatzalah. Hatzalah is a very big problem. Very, very big problem. What's the problem? You're allowed to be mechalel Shabbos for a Jew. You're allowed to be mechalel Shabbos for a goy. Why? Because if you don't mechalel Shabbos for the goy, they're not going to do it for us. Tell the guy in the street, go, Hatzalah will call, and that's all right, you'll leave him to go die. Try to go the next day to an emergency with no doctor; we'll take care of you. So mishum eivah, because it will come out that Jews will be in sakanah, you're allowed to be mechalel Shabbos for a goy too. That's not l'maaseh. The question is, what about for a Russian Jew who doesn't keep Torah and mitzvos? That's where the problem is. You don't come with Ashkenazi Russians, like, you know, the parents. Not so pashut. The old people never had it, but the younger generation were brought to shul.

Not all, not all. It's a big shaila. You'll be surprised. You'll be surprised. A big shaila. I'll tell you, Bnei Brak there, posek, Bnei Brak there, posek, they're not tinok shenishba, you're not going to say them on Shabbos. So what happened? Listen, I don't want to get involved in halachah l'maaseh because it's a very dangerous halachah. You should know that there was a posek that got up, very chashuv a posek, got up in the Stoliner yeshiva. They're not goyim either. They're not goyim, and they're not, I mean, they're Jews who don't keep mitzvos. It has halachah of a goy, but it doesn't...