04 Nov VAYERA: BE AN AVRAHAM JEW!

Parashat Vayera tells us the
story of Lot, Avraham Avinu’s
nephew, who was living in
Sedom, a city of very wicked
people, and which Hashem
condemned to annihilation.
Hashem saved Lot by sending
two angels to bring him and his family out of
the city. Lot and his two unmarried daughters
were saved, but his sons-in-law laughed at him
when he told them the city was about to be
destroyed. They remained in the city and were
killed.
To understand more about Lot and who he was,
let us briefly look back at his history with his
uncle, Avraham Avinu.
The Torah says that when Avraham moved from
his home to Eretz Yisrael, as Hashem had
commanded, Vayeilech Ito Lot – Lot went with
him. Later, they were forced to temporarily
move to Egypt to escape a famine in the Land of
Israel, and while in Egypt, they became very
wealthy. The Torah says that Avraham moved
back to Eretz Yisrael V’Lot Imo – and Lot was
with him. Then, we read that there was not
enough pasture for Avraham and Lot’s cattle,
and the Torah says about Lot in this context,
L’Lot Haholech Et Avraham – he was with
Avraham.
The Torah uses different words for the word
“with” in these pesukim. Sometimes it uses the
word et or ito, and sometimes it uses the word

im, or imo. Why?
Imagine two friends or siblings who decide to
go into the city together. They meet at the
subway station, and ride the train together to the
city, talking to each other and being very excited
to be together. Now let’s imagine two people
who never met one each other and have
absolutely nothing to do with each other, sitting
next to each other on the subway train, hardly
away of each other’s existence.
In both cases, the two people are riding
“together” on the subway, but these are very
different kinds of “together.”
In the Torah, the word im describes the first
type of together, where people aren’t together
incidentally, but rather are really together as a
pair. The word et or ito describes the second
kind of together – where people happen to be
together, but aren’t really bonded. They are
physically together, but their “togetherness” is
incidental.
When Avraham first journeyed from his
homeland, not knowing where he was going,
trusting in Hashem’s promises, Vayeilech Ito
Lot – Lot joined him only because he had
nobody else, as his father had died. He wasn’t
enthusiastic about being with his uncle, leaving
to an uncertain future, but he joined anyway.
But then, after they became wealthy in Egypt,
V’Lot Imo – Lot was really with him, excited
and happy about the good fortune he enjoyed as
a result of being with Avraham. Afterward,

however, when they had problems finding
pasture, Haholech Et Avraham – Lot was again
less than enthusiastic about being with
Avraham.
Indeed, Lot left Avraham and went to reside in
Sedom. And the Torah says Hefreid Lot M’Imo
– Lot was no longer imo, he did not feel
connected to Avraham.
There are two kinds of religious Jews –
unconditional Jews, and conditional Jews.
Unconditional Jews are those who remain loyal
to Hashem and the mitzvot no matter what.
They are devoted to Torah in good times and in
not such good times. They observe the mitzvot
that they understand, and those that they don’t
understand. They follow halachah when it’s
convenient and when it’s not so convenient.
The unconditional religious Jew, by contrast,
makes his commitment conditional. He is loyal
to the mitzvot only when he understands, or
only when it’s convenient, or only when in fits
into his schedule, or only as long as observance
doesn’t get too much in the way of other things
he wants to do.
Lot was the second type of Jew. He wasn’t a bad
person, but his allegiance to Avraham and
Avraham’s values was conditional. As long as
things were going well, he was truly “with”
Avraham, bonded and connected to Avraham’s
faith and values. But once things became
difficult, he was no longer truly “with” his
uncle.

Returning to our parashah, Hashem tells us why
He chose Avraham for a special mission because
He knew that Avraham Avinu would succeed in
transmitting his teachings to his offspring,
ensuring that his descendants would embrace
his faith and his values. Lot, however, as
mentioned, was not this successful. Some of his
children scoffed at his warnings of what would
happen to Sedom, and he had two daughters
who later committed a grave sin with him.
When we are consistent, remaining devoted to
mitzvot even when this is not convenient, even
when we aren’t in the mood, and even when we
don’t fully understand – we will have a better
chance of inspiring our children to do the same.
If they see our passionate and uncompromising
commitment, that we are consistent, that we
don’t make conditions and don’t make
compromises, then they are more likely to
follow our example. But if we are like Lot,
committed to Hashem only on our terms, we
have less of a chance of raising committed
children.
Let us be “Avraham Jews,” committed to
Hashem unconditionally, through thick and
thin, in the good times and bad, and may we
thus succeed in raising children who proudly
and steadfastly devote themselves to Torah and
mitzvot.