Vayeira: Avraham’s Humility, Kavod HaBriyos, and the Chesed That Sedom Lacked

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalmaleichem, bruchim haboim. Tonight we'll discuss and learn the parsha of Vayeira, Avraham Avinu's hachnasas orchim, the mesirus nefesh after his bris milah. The pasuk tells us how Avraham Avinu invites the orchim. The pasuk says, Vayaratz likrasam mipesach ha'ohel, vayishtachu artzah. He bows down to them. Vayomar, Adonai. On the side, Rashi says it's legadol shebahem amar. He was talking to the elder amongst them, and he calls him with a title of adnus. Adnus is a title of royalty. He's a master. And he continues almost begging him, Na matzasi chein b'einecha, al na savor me'al avdecha, your servant. And he proceeds to be machnis orchim in the fashion, manner of humility, as if he's their eved. Vayomer aleihem. He stands on top of them to service them as an eved. It's extreme humility, extreme hachna'ah for an invitation to simple people in the streets. Now, Rashi says it's possible that they were malachim. He knew, he didn't know it's Lot, but there's definitely a tzad that he was talking to them as regular people. And yet, we find a humility which is beyond regular, beyond norm. And it's something that always was nis'orer by me. Every time I read the parsha, I mean, who invites regular strangers off the street with such an overflow of humility to bow to them and to call himself an eved, their eved, their slave, avdecha, I'm your slave, and to call them masters and royal, adonoi, my... You know, if someone would come over to me, a stranger, and talk to me that way, I would think maybe there's something he wants from me, or maybe I should call the police. It's excessive. What's the pshat in the language and the hachna'ah, something that needs to be understood. You want to do hachnasas orchim? Good, verstehen, hachnasas orchim. You want to be a humble person? Okay, so you do it humbly. But to make yourself as a doormat to the other person who you're inviting, who are they? Yishmaelim. As we're going to learn soon, he gives them water to wash their feet because they're ovdei avodah zarah. So where is the kavod to them? What is this? Overflow. And may I use the word overkill of humility that Avraham Avinu has. It's something that was always nesoira to me. I had a hard—I didn't understand. Gut hachnasas orchim, and to go the distance of what you feed them, gimel leshonos bechardal, and even if it's b'mesiras nefesh because you're not feeling well, it's shlosha l'milasai. Okay, that's all within range of a tremendous machnas orch. But to make them into lords, and to make yourself and call yourself their eved, what is that all about? What does that mean? You know, rabosai, there's something called ahavas habriyos and kavod habriyos. I think that we're very far, and we're very distant from fully knowing what is kavod habriyos, what it means to be mechabed, to respect others. You know, the Mishnah in Avos states, Havei mitalmidav shel Aharon, perek aleph, mishnah yud-beis.

Everyone is requested, is asked to be mitalmidav shel Aharon. And one of the criteria of that is, is to be ohev es habriyos, to love people. What does the word briyos mean? Briyos is Klal Yisroel, Yidden? Kipshutoi, the word briyos means all creations, all humans. Doesn't connotate bedavka that it means Yidden, ohev es habriyos. Does it mean dafka Yidden, or does it mean even Gentiles as well, all human beings? You look at the Bir Agro. The Bir Agro is metzayen on the Mishnah, ohev es habriyos. The pasuk of V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha. Choire, the pasuk V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha is about Yidden, l'choira. And so, it's mashma that the goyim, the goyim, zechus yagan aleinu, learns that ohev es habriyos means Yidden, briyos, Klal Yisroel, and it's not necessarily about all humans, but particularly Yidden. We'll soon see the din of kavod habriyos for goyim, for Gentiles, for all human beings. It's interesting, Avraham Avinu is the amud of chesed. He is the quintessential of ahavas habriyos and kavod habriyos, and we have in the parsha also Sedom. Zdoyim is the reverse, is the opposite, the exact opposite. Shtei hafechim, two opposites. Avraham, chesed, ahavas habriyos, kavod habriyos. S'doyim, the opposite: not chesed, and not kavod habriyos, and not ahavas habriyos. How does it become Avrom, and how do you become S'doyim? In societies, I'm sure in S'doyim they believed that they were intelligent in dimension. I'm sure they believed that they were an honorable society with laws, and yet look where they landed. Look how low they fell. What produces an Avraham Avinu, and what produces a society of S'doyim? As we mentioned, that Avraham Avinu is mekabel orchim b'hachna'ah, with humility, with respect, with dignity. You know, it's interesting. Avraham Avinu is mechadesh leviyah. It's in this week's parsha, we see it. Avraham holech imam l'shalcham. Rashi says, kasavar he held that they were regular people, and therefore leviyah. The Rambam, Hilchos Avel, perek yud-beis, tells us that this was Avraham Avinu's chiddush, that he was mechadesh leviyah. This was a creation, a chiddush, that Avraham Avinu was mechadesh in hachnasas orchim. It's not only to bring the person into the house and feed him and give him to eat, sleep, and drink. But its swan is way out to escort him. Rambam says that leviah is even greater than any other part of the hachnasas orchim. Gedolah leviah. It's the greater part. The greatest chelek of the hachnasas orchim is the leviah. It's known from the goyim. There was a home that burnt to the ground, and the goyim commented it was a home of chesed. What happened? Why would a home that did chesed, fed people, gave people to sleep, and it burnt to the ground? How could such a thing happen? And the goyim said, because if you noticed, they did eshel. What is eshel? Vayita eshel, Avraham Avinu created this home where people were able to eat, achilah, shtiah, or shina, to sleep, depending on how you want to translate the shin, and then there's lamed, leviah. This house where they did this chesed, they did only two of the three. They didn't do leviah. So aleph and shin is esh. It's fire. So if you do achilah and shtiah or shina without leviah...

It's eish. The home gets burned to the ground. Why? Okay, you did two out of three. How could it be so bad what you did that it should make mamash... And if you didn't do achilah and shtiyah, so then the house wouldn't burn. It's because you did achilah and shtiyah, and you didn't do leviyah. Therefore, it's doomed to fall and to get burned in fire. I learned from this a big yesod. Achilah and shtiyah is feeding. How does the person feel? It's a whole question why we do leviyah. It's not the right time now to get into it. But the simple pashut pshat in leviyah is respect, to make the person feel that he's not a nitzrach, to make the person feel that he's not a chesed, a nebach case. You fed him, you gave him to eat, he's homeless. Leviyah is the derech eretz part of the hachnasas orchim, and that was Avraham Avinu's chiddush in hachnasas orchim. Avraham was mechadesh. A chelek of hachnasas orchim is the derech eretz that you have for the person. If you do achilah, you feed him, it's great. You do shtiyah or shinah, you let him sleep, the person still doesn't feel respected. He feels he's homeless. He's a chesed case. You do leviyah, you made him feel equal. You made him feel that you respect him. You have derech eretz for him. Avraham Avinu's derech eretz comes through so strongly in the hachnasas orchim in our parsha. Avram doesn't just feed them delicious foods. He bows for them. He calls himself their eved. He goes even further than what, l'choira, you should have to. It's more than what's expected. I mean, just be normal and feed them. And the Torah says they don't feel good and respected if they're fed. If you lift them up and show them extra respect, then it wouldn't hurt, and they wouldn't feel low by themselves that they're orchim, homeless, that need to be fed. Avram, yes, it seems is excessive, but Avram understood if you don't do the excessive and you just be normal with them, they're not going to feel that, that you're acting with them normal. They're going to feel that they're needy people, and you're feeding them because they're needy. Avram's ish chesed, goymel nafshi ish chesed. Avram, what is an ish chesed? He understands. He has havanah what's chesed and how to do the chesed. Derech eretz kodmah laTorah. Even if it's over and it's excess, but it's needed to restore the dignity of the person that you're being machnis orch, and that you're feeding, that he shouldn't feel homeless. This is chesed. Avram is the amud of chesed, and at the same time the amud of ahavas habriyos. And kavod habriyos. Yet the question needs to be asked: they're ovdei avodah zarah. Are you allowed to be mechabed an oved avodah zarah? Are you allowed to talk to an avodah zarah with respect, that you're his eved and he's adonoi, he is your master? Lo sichanem. You're not allowed to overly respect a baal oved avodah zarah. So maybe we could say, in the teshuvah sefarim, Chacham Ovadia, Rav Ovadia Yosef has this in one of his teshuvos from Fridike teshuvos Beis She'arim, that before Matan Torah, before the Torah was given, where there's an issur lo sichanem, there's no problem of over, showing over-gestures of matanah and respect to an oved avodah zarah. Ken zayin. This is in Yechaveh Daas, chelek vav, siman samach, that maybe before Matan Torah, the rules and halachos were different. In this week's parashah we find further: Avraham Avinu davens for Avimelech. Avimelech did a tremendous chet by taking Sarah. You can't say that he was a baal shem mitzvos; he did a chet. Yet he deserves an onesh, and Avraham davened.

for him that he shouldn't get his oinesh and he should be healed. Why is Avram davening for Avimelech? Meforshim ask this from a kasha from a Sefer Chassidim, siman taf reish pei ches, where there the Sefer Chassidim says you're not allowed to daven for an oveir aveirah who's a choteh and a machti es harabim. L'choira Avimelech fits that description, more or less. Why is Avraham Avinu davening for him? I always thought that maybe you could say the Ribono Shel Olam told Avimelech that Avram will daven for you and you will get better. So it was to bring out Avram's greatness and to show Avimelech who he started with. It shows who Avraham Avinu is. It's trying to bring out the koach of Avraham Avinu, so it's a kiddush Hashem. You look at the teshuva of Chacham Ovadia over there. This is one of the criteria. The question over there that he addresses is, are you allowed to daven for a goy, a goy, a baal aveirah, a goy, an oveid avodah zarah? And one of the criteria and rules that he brings out from Acharonim is if it's a kiddush Hashem. And of course, if you tell a goy, I'm not going to daven for you, and it turns into a chilul Hashem, of course it's a problem. That's one of the reasons that it would be mutar to daven for a goy. So here it's a kiddush Hashem. Yet we continue in the parsha and we find that Avraham is davening for Sdom. How could Avraham daven for Sdom? I've always asked, could you imagine a Yid sitting and davening for Nazis? Would you find such a thing? I mean, Sdom, terrible things, haketzaka'sa bo'ei likehalah. I mean, it seems, unless you say it was only a few that did this terrible, these terrible murders. Seems like it was a pretty evil society. Hayitachen Avraham Avinu, the amud hachesed, is sitting and davening, actually standing — the lashon of pasuk, he's standing, standing and davening for Sedom. You look at the Ramban. The Ramban says, Hamachaseh ani meAvraham asher ani oseh? That, am I covering from Avraham what I'm going to do? Rashi says — the Ramban says, why is the Kadosh Baruch Hu telling Avraham? Because he wants him to daven, in order generations later shouldn't say, Avraham Avinu, you didn't daven for Sedom. You're an achsar. You're a cold, you're not a warm, caring person. So it could be that's chil Hashem, maybe. Maybe that's the kavanah. It shouldn't be a chil Hashem l'doros habaim. So mimeila Avraham Avinu was right for davening. It's interesting, there's a Tosafos in Yoma, daf chaf-ches, where Tosafos seems to say differently than this. Tosafos says that there was a problem of lo yeitzei yechidi balayla. Avraham Avinu, the next morning davens. He says, Ai, shluchei mitzvah einan nizokin. Says Tosafos, chaf-ches amud aleph, lo havi nami shliach mitzvah. Avraham was not called a shliach mitzvah when he davens for Sedom, ki lo hayah chafetz HaKadosh Baruch Hu sheyisa ba'adam rinah u'tefillah. The Ribono Shel Olam didn't want that Avraham should daven for Sedom. Lashon rinah needs to be addressed here in Tosafos al kol panim. Ramban is learning HaKadosh Baruch Hu told him he should daven. The Tosafos is learning that the Ribono Shel Olam didn't want he should daven. So maybe the pshat is that Rabbeinu didn't want it to work. Like, Rabbeinu didn't want l'maaseh sheyitdaven; he should try to daven, and then he should show the world that he tried. It has to be worked out in the Rishonim: did HaKadosh Baruch Hu want or not want? But either way, there was a reason to start davening, and that was because the Ribono Shel Olam obviously was requesting something from Avraham Avinu, and m'meila, therefore it was mutar for Avraham Avinu to daven. Oy, but stam to daven for a goy would be aser. So l'choira, we have to set down the basic rules: should a Yid daven for a goy? And the answer is, seems not. It seems that either it has to be eivah, which means it would turn into a fight, Kiddush Hashem or Chilul Hashem. And then the other rule is maybe if they'll do teshuvah. Rav Ovadia Yosef, Chacham Ovadia, brings in the teshuvah from Acharonim that say that possibly you could daven for a goy if you think that maybe they'll do teshuvah, yitamu chata'im v'lo chot'im, and maybe if they'll do teshuvah, so then the tefillah is okay. But stam to daven for a goy, for example, for his hatzlachah, would be aser. Why are you davening for a goy?

Why are you davening for baalei aveirah? Instead, over b'sheim Rishiva, Rav Moshe Zatzal, when asked if one should daven for that shidduch of a guy, a neighbor or whatnot, someone, an acquaintance in business, Rishiva Zatzal said, Yeah, sure, of course. Why not? But they're not people? They're people. We see by Shlomo HaMelech, he requested, Ki beisi beis tefilah yikarei l'chol ha'amim, that all nations should be able to come and pray in the Beis HaMikdash. Their tefilos should be niskabel. So goyim deserve tefilah, obviously. There's nothing wrong with a goy having answered tefilah. So what's wrong with the Yid? Pray for him and daven for him. Hashem's listening to these tefilos. If the goy davens, Ribono Shel Olam listens, so what's the chiluk if the Yid or the goy davens for a goy? I'd like to introduce to the conversation a very mechudashdike thing, which at first people are going to listen and say, Wow, that's really? Is there any truth to that? There's a sefer called Sefer HaBris. It was written by someone in Vilna, chashuv a talmid chacham in Vilna. Sefer HaBris, maamar gimmel, siman hei, wants to be mechadesh, v'ahavta l'reiacha kamocha is even a goy. We began the shiur by saying, Oheves habriyos. Here the word briyos is even goyim. It's everybody, all, everybody, any briah, even a gentile. We mitzayin from the goyim because it says in the pasuk, V'ahavta l'reacha kamocha; that means a Yid. Sefer HaBris wants to be mechadesh that v'ahavta l'reecha kamocha can actually mean a goy as well. It doesn't say achicha; it says reecha. Notice that the Gemara always darshens achicha v'lo akum. Here the Gemara doesn't say reecha v'lo akum. There's no Chazal that tells us reecha means a Yid and not a goy. He says, I will say it's a mechudashdike thing I'm saying. What a delight, or even love a goy, love a gentile. He says it's not my words. Reb Chaim Vital in Shaar HaKedushah says, Eloives habriyos — you're supposed to love, afilu goy. Chaim Vital. Famous Gemara in Brachos. Gemara says, the Gemara says, מגלה בפומיה דבי — לעולם ידין אדם... מרגיל בפומיה דבי, לעולם יהא אדם... ביראה, מנהג משא ומתן, ומר בשלום. You have to be kind and soft and be in peace, עם אחיו, with his brothers, עם קרוביו, with his relatives, ועם כל אדם, אפילו נכרי בשוק. So you see clearly, yeah? It says clearly, מנהג משא ומתן, ומר בשלום. You have to be nice. Gemara speaks about Tanaim who are makdim shalom l'chol adam, even to goyim בשוק. But they weren't. Echa b'peh v'echa b'lev. They weren't just outwardly being friendly. We know there are nations like this. To your face they'll say good morning, and behind your back they'll stab you. That's not the mahalach of a Yid. A Yid is an ehrliche person. Echa b'peh, echa b'lev. So if you're magdim shalom and you show a friendly face, stam it must be that you mean it. So you see clearly there's a v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha even to a goy. I saw in Chassidishe sefarim, Reb Pinchas Karitzer, Imrei Pinchas, brought down over there that when Reb Pinchas Karitzer saw this sefer, HaBris, the heilige man מיד, he enjoyed it very much. He appreciated it very much. I believe the Kloizenberger shmuzen speaks about the sefer HaBris and this Reb Chaim Vital. Metzayen on the bottom of the Imrei Pinchas, where in the Kloizenberger Rebbe's Torahs you can see the sefer HaBris. So we see that there's a v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha possibly even to a goy. I saw in Mikdash Levi, Reb Yaakov Emden, chelek beis, middas ha'liyah, ahavah, perek yud-beis. He writes clearly, mitzvas v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha is only by Yid. It's only for a Yid.

But he says something very important: Aval b'chol zois, shleimus hanefesh. When a person is complete, he's a healthy person. Healthy, shleimus. You know, today, rabboisai, because of the galus, we're all lacking something. We're lacking a certain healthiness in the way we look at things, in the way we view things, in the way we respond, in the way we behave. A healthy person, shleimus hanefesh, someone whose nefesh is shaleim. Listen to the words of the Mikdalois: Mechayev le'ehov kol adam. You need to love everyone. V'tzarich ha'masig b'midah chamudah zois lihyos ahavaso ne'emanah l'chol adam. It has to be honest love for everyone. Ne'emanah l'chol adam. Ne'emanah means honest, not stam, I love you, everybody loves everybody, they're hugging everybody. It has to be real. It has to be thorough. L'chol adam. Why? Because if you're not a person that loves, then you can't really love a Yid. Your emotions of love are not real and healthy, then you don't love even Yidden. When you love a Yid and you truly have the midah of ahavah, of ahavas habriyos, then meileh you have it for even a different nation, even a gentile, even not a Yid. Yaakov Avinu. And listen how far Reb Yaakov Emden goes: Va'afilu oived eilim ye'ehov. We began the shiur by asking Avraham Avinu. You're teaching us chesed in the beginning of this parsha, hachnasas orchim, tohu, to oveid alilim, those that were washing their feet from avodah zarah. We asked this for a question. We began the shiur this way, and the teretz is, yes, he is. That's what he's teaching us. Kavod, ahavah, afilu oveid alilim yehei b'bechinah sheheim yetzurei Hashem, v'lo yisnaes ma'aseihem levad. You should hate their actions, but don't hate them. Hate their actions and not them. Continues Rabbi Yaakov Emden, aval yispalel aleihem. You even daven for them, yachzirem Hashem b'teshuvah v'yizkeh latovah, that Hashem should show them the way and make them do teshuvah, and then they can be zocheh to good. A good person wants good for society. A good person wants that everyone should have good and everyone should be happy. If you don't have that midah, you're a hateful person, then you can't really have ahavas Yisrael either. You know, for lack of a better word, I know I'm saying controversial things, but I'm not saying it. It's not me. I'm talking what it says in this week's parsha and what the Acharonim, word for word, I quote them word for word. Like this, it's not me. I'm not part of this discussion. I'm just, as they say, a tape recorder repeating. I'm Xerox copying to you what they're saying, and I'm doing it word for word, so it should be authentic. You know, you begin the parsha, and as you read, you start to see the mindset of an Avraham Avinu who was chesed, who had ahavas habriyos, who had kavod habriyos, his hachnaah, his humility towards three strangers in the street, the respect, the hachnaah to call himself an eved. And as we explained, because he knew that that's what's needed in hachnasas orchim: respect. Feeding people still doesn't mean respecting them. Respecting them, and the way the Rambam is learning, it's gedolah mehakol; it's more important than everything else. Kavod habriyos, rabosai, kavod habriyos. And briyos, it seems that it's an issue that it might even be goyim, and not even might be goyim. Even if you don't want to learn v'ahavta l'reacha kamocha as goyim, you still have the inyan of kavod and ahavas habriyos, to the point that Avraham is davening for Avimelech, to the point that Avraham is davening for Sedom. Avraham is davening for Sedom.

Now again, Stoyin and the Teretz is yachsru b'tshuva. Maybe, maybe that's what Avraham Avinu is davening for, that they should do teshuva, possibly. You know, in the sefarim of the Chofetz Chaim, nowhere does it say that there's an issur lashon hara on a goy. I don't see it anywhere. Pashut, all the issurim of lashon hara refer to only a Yid, a achicha. Yet there's a Medrash Rabbah, Devarim Vav Tes, that there's an issur to speak lashon hara on a goy. And the reason for this, says the Medrash, because if you speak on a goy, you'll end up speaking on a Yid. I've always clarified pshat in this Medrash: is it because of the hergel hama'aseh, which means if you get into the habit of talking lashon hara about goyim, the mouth will continue. Your actions, your way of life is lashon hara, you'll talk about Yidden also. Or maybe it's deeper. It's hergel hahergesh. It has to do with the emotion. If you're such a person that's negative, and that you speak lashon hara on others, even if they're goyim, you will eventually be callous and not have the kavod habriyos that's necessary to not talk lashon hara on a Yid. I read something very interesting, and again, something controversial, I could say, you know. When Kennedy was assassinated, many Yidden, on one hand, were Democrats, and it was their president, Kennedy. But we also know who Kennedy was in his private life. Not someone that you should respect, right? So how the Yidden were to respond to the murder? He was murdered, yet he wasn't a respectful person, you know, he was a baal aveira at best. So the Yidden had a hard time. They were perplexed on what emotion should they show and how should they approach it. Rabbi Yankiv said, Rabbi Yankiv told the olam, they should show feelings of pain. They should show that it hurt, that they are mourning. Why? Not to train yourself to be an achzer. When murder of a person has no effect on you, then it'll have an effect on you, to the reverse. It's true he was an oveid avodah zarah, and he wasn't the best of guys, as they say in Queens. All right, let's talk Queens language. He wasn't a good guy, all right? But, but he was a person, he was the president, and he was murdered. And Yidden are not supposed to feel hergeshim of achzarius. It has an effect on a person. This is so important. What type of person are you? Who are you? Are you a rachman? Are you a baal chesed? You're right, this person, that, yeah, but it's not for rachamon. That's not what a rachamon does, you know, that's not what a baal chesed... Rabbi Akiva relayed that the Alter, I believe it was the Pope, when the Pope passed away, the Alter said that you should feel a certain feelings of mourning, not to become a cold person. Not to. Again, you know, Yidden have dual emotions. You know, on one hand we could have our focus that it's a bal aveirah and yitamu chataim min haaretz. But again, we're human beings, and we have, and we're supposed to have human emotions, healthy ones. And a healthy emotion, the Alter was so keen, he understood that if you train yourself to be callous to someone else's death or tzaar, it changes the person. Avraham Avinu was the epitome of chesed, ahavas habriyos. Where did it come from that you have such ahavas habriyos for goyim? Where does it come from? How does somebody have a— Bishlema a Yid, we're trained to understand, and we're brought up to learn and to believe, Kol Yisrael achim. We're brothers. Okay, so then there's feelings for a brother. But how is it to the outside world, ahavas habriyos? I love, I love goyim. Why am I loving goyim? So pashut, like we spoke before from the Rabbi Yaakov Emden, heim yetzurei Hashem.

They're Hashem's creation. If you love Hashem, you love what He creates. So actually, it's ahavas Hashem in the ahavas habriyos. But I saw something very interesting from the Tomer Devorah. Tomer Devorah, seif perek beis, says, and I quote, Lechabeid hanivraim kulam. As we've spoken, kavod habriyos is all the briyos. Veyira b'atzmo sheharei heim nichbadim me'od, that they are extremely honorable. Remember, Avraham Avinu is not just treating them menschlech; he's treating them royally. Not treating them halochim—I mean, in his eyes they're Yishmaelim. He's not treating them menschlech; he's treating them royally. Shenitfal yotzer hakol briyosam, knowing that HaKadosh Baruch Hu was part of their creation. Imagine Hashem's handprint, His fingerprint is on this creation, so you need to respect it. Now listen to the words of Tomer Devorah: Veyargil atzmo l'hachnis ahavas bnei adam b'libo, va'afilu resha'im, ki'ilu hayu echav veyoser mizeh. And even more so, more than brother, ad sheyikva b'libo ahavas bnei adam kulam, until you love all people. You need to love all people. And the Tomer Devorah ends with something very, very eye-opening. It was tremendous, and I believe that this could be the yesod of understanding the beginning of the parsha and some other things that happen in this parsha by Avraham Avinu. And it's because of this line I said the shmuess. This is based on this line, the Shmoos. He says an interesting thing at the end. He will be healed from gaiva, and he will go into the gates of humility. Those that are mechaber all creations, all people. Where does lack of kavod habriyos come from? Gaiva. Where does a perfection in kavod habriyos come from? Anav, humility. Now let's see Avram, and why Avram is such a mechaber es habriyos. Let's look into Avram's middos. Avram Avinu, he's taking these Yishmaelim, and he calls himself Avdacha. His kavod habriyos is based on his humility. Notice even further when he davens for Sedom, he emphasizes, V'anochi afar va'efer. Pashut, he's saying is, and therefore I humbly ask in front of HaKadosh Baruch Hu to continue davening. But it's possible that's part of the tefillah. That's why he's davening for Sedom, V'anochi afar va'efer. He was so humble, his humility, and therefore he had love and kavod for briyos, even those that were anti him. They were his antithesis. They were his enemy for everything that he stood for, and he still was able to have feeling. To want them to have a yeshuah, to be saved, to be salvaged. Anochi afar v'efer. Anavah and the humility produces Avraham Avinu and his chesed and what he produced in this world, a world of tov, of kindness and goodness. Sdom. Sdom, it turned into lower. How does Sdom? Let's look at chatas Sdom. What was the sin of Sdom? What was their middos? Pasuk in Yechezkel, perek tezayin, pasuk mem tes: Hinei zeh hayah avon Sdom. This is the sin. What do you mean by this is the sin? This is the underlying, the root. What produces a society like Sdom? Ga'on, siv'as lechem. Ga'on, says the Metzudos, it means gaivah. They were haughty, siv'as lechem, that they had a lot of food. They had a lot of parnassah. They had a lot of bread. They were rich, and therefore they had gaivah. You have gaivah, you had oni lo yechazikah. You don't respect people. You don't care for people. Humility, kavod...

A society that stops feeding people, gaiva, then you don't feed, and you do even worse. It disintegrates till you start killing people. A society which has humility is Avraham Avinu and his hachnasas orchim. Is he the one set of— and a society that's gaon, that's haughty, it's very simple. Look around. Humble, you respect people. You're about gaiva, you start not respecting, and then it's kulei ra. It turns bad from day to day. Is he the one said of Meir Dikovart. The malach who destroys Sdom shows up at Avraham's door. Three malachim came. One of them was to destroy Sdom. Fragt the zeide, asked my grandfather, why the malach that destroys Sdom goes to Avraham's home? Let him go straight to Sdom. There's no such thing as a non-stop flight to Sdom. He has to take a stopover in Avraham Avinu's house? Send him straight to Sdom, and that's all. Zogt the zeide, a meydige chap. We're telling the malach, go destroy Sdom because their society is corrupt, it's ra labriyos. Maybe that's people, maybe that is society. So first they send him to Avraham Avinu's home. See what chesed is. See what it's supposed to look like. So see what it could look like. Now you see? Now go destroy Sdom. Avraham and Sdom are two flips of a coin, and what is between the two? Anavah and gaiva, humility. The more humility, the more you love people, and you need to love people. Ahavas habriyos is shleimus hanefesh. It's a person who's healthy, a person who's within has a nefesh, a full healthy nefesh, has to love everybody. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.