GEN822 He who acts but does not go, attains reward for action.  Pirkei Avot V:17 …  [this] can denote the type who “acts” in specific areas of Judaism, but will not “go” the whole way, to accept it fully; he will not join the organized observant community. Such are Jewish intellectuals who have written in recent years on Jewish themes. Such are certain “big givers” whose interest in Judaism is limited to charity. Further, the text may mean: If someone does “act,” observing mitzvoth, raising money for a Torah school, and so on, yet does not “go” to the House of Study, he will most certainly be rewarded for “doing,” but the lack of Torah study in his life remains his loss.  … R. El’azar interpreted: “Why was Abraham our father punished to have his children forced into slavery by Egypt for 201 years? – because he forced Torah scholars into [military] service, as it is stated: he led forth חניכיו, his disciples [those whom he educated] born in his house …” [this verse. Talmud, Nedarim 32a] He needed them to give battle and save his captured nephew Lot. But however meritorious his action, he temporarily disrupted the sacred study of Torah. The loss remained.  SINAI3 172-3

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GEN823 See [[EXOD431]] Exodus 20:12 honor TZADIK 109

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GEN824 A clear distinction can be seen in Judaism between stages of drinking.  While Noah and Lot got drunk and committed horrible acts that the Torah condemns, Abraham drank wine with Mali Tzedek after defeating the four kings [this verse], and it seems from the Torah that there was nothing wrong.  Apparently, Abraham’s drinking was moderate and therefore not condemned.  The Talmud records Pesachim 113b that one of the three types of people that God loves is a person who does not get drunk.  [The other two are those who do not get angry, and those who are forgiving – AJL].  AMEMEI 59

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GEN825 Although we must express gratitude to someone who renders us a service, we must thank God before we thank man.  … The Talmud Nedarim 32b states that Malkitzedek erred by expressing gratitude first to Abraham and then to God. For this he was punished.  We must be grateful to anyone who does us a favor, but at the same time, we must realize that God is the ultimate source of all favors.  When someone is told that his wife has given birth to a son, he should make the blessing Hatov Vehamaitiv [Who is good and does good-AJL] before thanking the person who conveyed the good news to him.  Sefer Chasidim 844, cited in Kaf Hachayim – Orach Chayim 222.  PLYN 50

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GEN826 Many contemporary Jews who are skittish about belief in God but strongly committed to helping others may be disturbed by the centrality of the belief in God in motivating Judaism’s commitment to others. Jewish sources provide a series of rationales for caring for others, and some of them, as we shall see, invoke God much less than others do. As a result, atheistic or agnostic Jews can find ample grounds in the Jewish tradition for the duty to help others, and even those who firmly believe in God will at times be motivated more by Judaism’s nontheistic reasons than by its theistic ones. At the same time, it would be misleading to pretend that the Jewish concept of (and belief in) God plays only a minor role in Judaism’s demand that we care for others. On the contrary, God is very much at the center of that Jewish duty. The ultimate theological foundation for Judaism’s commitment to help others is the belief that God created the world and therefore owns it. The Torah (Genesis 14:19, 22) describes God as “koneh shamayim va’aretz,” which in biblical Hebrew means both Creator of heaven and earth and also Owner of heaven and earth. (“Heaven and earth” is a merism, a biblical device that names the ends of the spectrum and means everything in between as well.) The Bible also spells out this idea in verses such as these: (Mark, the heavens to their uttermost reaches belong to the Lord your God, the earth and all that is on it!” (Deuteronomy 10:14) and “The land and all that is on it belongs to God, the earth and those who dwell on it”. (Psalms 24:1). DORFFWITO 23

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GEN827 If some give their tithes and some do not, a famine comes through drought; some go hungry and some have enough. Pirkei Avot V:10-11.  … A man could always find a way to circumvent his [tithe] obligation.  Only hashgahah, the watchful eye and care of Divine Providence, could know; only hashgahah could act. And so, if the crime became general, a general punishment would ensue to fit the crime; rainfall would decrease or come sporadically; there would be some drought; and the sinners would go hungry while others had food enough.  Thus the Israelite had to learn one lesson, willy-nilly: let him withhold his tithes from the Levite or needy, and eventually a drought would deprive him of all his crops. You save nothing by shutting your first on the share that belongs to charity. One way or another, Heaven will take its due.  The practice of giving a tenth of the harvest did not begin in Jewish history with the Torah’s commandment. Of themselves, the Patriarchs sensed a sacred obligation. When Abraham returned victorious from his battle with the four kings to save his captured nephew Lot, he have “a tenth of all” [this verse] the war booty to Melchizedek of Salem, who was “cohen to God most high.”  Genesis 14:18 as interpreted in Pirke d’R. Eli’ezer xxvi. SINAI3 117-8

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GEN828 R. Yochanan said: “Why was Abraham punished, and his children enslaved in Egypt for 210 years? Because he allowed people to be separated from him, whom he could have brought under the wings of the Shechinah [the Divine Presence], as it is written: ‘And the king of Sodom said to Avram: “Give me the souls, and take the spoil for yourself”’” Nedarim 32a TEMIMAH-GEN 66

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GEN829 If one has as good eye, an humble temperament, and a lowly spirit, he is of the disciples of Abraham our Father. Pirkei Avot V:22  When a man has a “lowly spirit,” he will reject luxuries and excesses, preferring only life’s bare necessities; hence, what he has is generally ample for his needs.  Such a man was Abraham.  Having vanquished the four kings to save his captured nephew Lot, he set free a multitude of other captives from Sodom and their goods – war booty. As the victor, Abraham was entitled to it all as the spoils of war, and the King of Sodom offered it to him. “I have lifted my hand,” he replied, “ to the Lord God Most High, maker of heaven and earth, [in a vow] that nothing, from a thread to a shoelace, would I take of all that is yours …” [this verse]. He had no desire to “make a killing” or strike it rich, so that he could climb upward on the pyramid of status. The wide worlds of Solomon come to mind: “A beneficent spirit will feel enriched”; “The tzaddik (righteous one) eats [but] enough to satisfy his spirit.” Proverbs 11:25, 13:25.  SINAI3 201

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GEN830 R. Abba said: “How severe is the sin of stealing food and eating it; for even those who are absolutely righteous cannot return it, as it is written: ‘save only what the youths have eaten’” [which I cannot return] Chullin 89a TEMIMAH-GEN 67

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GEN831 A core commitment to the preservation of humanity—our own and that of our enemies—means that we do not shy away from protecting ourselves, our civilians, and our values, but that when we fight, we do so not with bombast and arrogance, but with fear and trembling.  We never delight in the opportunity to fight, and we work to ensure that our soldiers’ conduct in war lives up to the highest possible standards of moral decency.  The fact that a nation may have a legitimate need to fight does not justify recklessness. … In [this verse], Abraham emerges victorious after fighting the invading armies of four mighty kinds.  In his first moment of rest after the battles, he is addressed by God: “Al tirah Avram—Fear not, Abram” But why would Abraham be afraid?  He has just vanquished his enemies and is, for the first time in years, able to dwell in peace.  The Rabbis teach that his fear derived from a persistent post-war apprehension, as he thought, “Perhaps there was one righteous or God-fearing person among the people I killed.” Bereshit [Genesis] Rabbah 15:1.  What would that kind of moral sensitivity look like in our time? The hour calls for a heartfelt reaffirmation of our shared humanity—something that seems to have been lost in contemporary warfare.  Perhaps that will help us step out of the morass of these violent times and begin to build pathways toward peace.  DORWAR 104

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