Lech Lecha



This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.



A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.







Question:



"Terach took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai (Abram's wife). With them, he left Ur Casdim, heading toward the land of Canaan. They came as far as Charan and settled there" (Genesis 11:31).



"God said to Abram, 'Go away from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father's house, to the land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1)



"You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram, took him out of Ur of the Chaldees and made his name Abraham" (Nechemiah 9:7)



In Genesis 12:1, G-d commands Abraham to leave his birth place, Ur of the Chaldess. How do we understand this in light of the fact that already, Genesis 11:31 says Terach and his family already left Ur? Furthermore, how do we understand Nechemiah 9:7 which says G-d took Abraham out of Ur?









Leading by Example



"When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he called out all his 318 fighting men who had been born in his house. He hurried after [the invaders], catching up with them in Dan. He divided [his forces] against them [and attacked] that night - he and his servants. He attacked, and pursued [the invaders] as far as Chovah, which is to the left of Damascus. [Abram] brought back all the property. He also brought back his kinsman Lot and all his goods, along with the women and the [other] people" (Genesis 14:14-16).



We see that Abraham, the priest of G-d, led his men into battle to rescue his nephew. The Ramban describes Abraham as "very great and mighty, as he had in his house three hundred sword-wielding men and many allies. And he himself was a lion-hearted soldier and he pursued and vanquished four very powerful kings" (Ramban on Genesis 26:29).



Yet, this could seem strange. The Ramban, describing the moral perils of war, says "The most decent of men by nature may become invested with cruelty and wrath as the camp goes out to engage the enemy" (Ramban on Deuteronomy 23:10) and I would think, at least from personal experience, this danger is magnified when dealing with somebody of Abraham's spiritual stature. At least for me, I find that small things that didn't bother me in previous years can negatively influence me. Thus for a spiritual giant like Abraham, going to war must have negatively effected him. Yet he went.



It seems to me that from one perspective, he had no choice; while also remaining above and also perhaps beyond the group, at the same time, a leader must be intimately involved with the group. The Talmud says that while other kings don't leave the royal court, King David would get his hands dirty helping his subjects in their day to day lives (Brachos 4a). [[See also Sanhedrin 49a]] This often involves taking care of all sorts of unpleasant business but this is part of true leadership.

To maintain spiritual strength, I think all a leader can do is pray, trust in G-d, and work hard. This too can spur a leader to further growth and all because the leader leads by example.




Food for further thought and discussion:



What is something that needs to be done where we can take the initiative and lead others by example?



Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai