When nothing can be done, and when the best thing to say is nothing.
וַיְהִי רָעָב בָּאָרֶץ וַיֵּרֶד אַבְרָם מִצְרַיְמָה לָגוּר שָׁם כִּי־כָבֵד הָרָעָב בָּאָרֶץ׃
There was a famine in the land. Avram went down to Egypt to live there temporarily, for the famine was severe in the land. (Bereishis 12:10)
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Print it for your table or your shul.
The hardest test never announces itself.
Rabbi Dovid Kaplan — has taught at Yeshivas Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem since 1987
Avram leaves everything at Hashem’s word, reaches the land he was promised, and finds a famine there.
Something simply happens to you. You didn’t choose it, you can’t undo it, and there is no clever move available. The famine comes. The bus doesn’t show. You’re sitting in traffic and the traffic is not moving, and it is not going to move for a while. Where’s the test? There’s no willpower question here, willpower to do what? You can’t will the cars forward. You can’t will the food back into the ground. There’s nothing to resist and nothing to reach for. So it doesn’t feel like a test at all. It feels like a bad day.
Same traffic jam. Same wasted hour. One man walks away from it having failed, and one man walks away having passed, and the only difference between them is what went on inside for those sixty minutes when there was nothing to be done.
Rabbi Dovid Kaplan, Parsha Impact!, “The Test You Can’t See Coming”, pp. 25–30. Sources: Bereishis 12:10.
Mussar
“Avraham Avinu had a nephew named Lot. Lot is, in his way, a difficult character to understand. On the one hand, he was not considered the most righteous person of his generation. And yet, somehow, he survived the destruction of Sdom when no one else in the area did. Why was this the case? Rashi [Bereishis 19:29] explains that when Avraham had said Sarah was his sister, Lot knew the truth but remained silent. Because he once guarded his tongue, he merited yeshuah years later. One moment of restraint can ripple across decades, even for someone who might otherwise lack merits.”
Rabbi Yaakov Rahimi, The Quiet Victory, p. 314
11 Cheshvan
This past Thursday, 11 Cheshvan, was Rachel Imeinu’s yahrzeit. Rashi (Bereishis 48:7): she was buried by the road so that when her children were led past it into exile, she would weep and plead for them, as the navi says, “Rachel weeps for her children” (Yirmiyahu 31:15).
At the table
Around the table: when were you stuck this week, and what did you say to Hashem while you waited?
For the children: how many?
- How many camels?
- How many donkeys?
- How many goats on the rocks?
- How many clay jugs by the well?
Hashem told Avram to count the stars (Bereishis 15:5). After Shabbos, can you?
Answers
camels 4; donkeys 3; goats on the rocks 3; clay jugs by the well 4.
This week’s question
How old was Avram when he left Charan? Send your answer after Shabbos to info@yampolskys.com. One correct answer, drawn at random, wins a sefer.
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The Shabbos Minute for Parshas Lech Lecha — also written Parashat Lech Lecha, Parashat Lekh Lekha (פרשת לך לך). A one-page sheet for the Shabbos / Shabbat table.