{"id":23608,"date":"2025-10-27T05:41:31","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T04:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sukkatshalom-bneinoach.com\/?p=23608"},"modified":"2025-10-27T05:41:32","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T04:41:32","slug":"parshat-lech-leach-lots-spiritual-downfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sukkatshalom-bneinoach.com\/es\/parshat-lech-leach-lots-spiritual-downfall\/","title":{"rendered":"PARASHAT LECH LEACH \u2013 LA CA\u00cdDA ESPIRITUAL DE LOT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lech Lecha\u00a0(Genesis 12-17<\/a>\u00a0)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n

Bereishis, 13:14<\/a>: \u201c<\/strong>And Hashem spoke to Avraham after Lot parted company from him.\u201d
Rashi, 13:14, Dh: Acharei: \u201c<\/strong>The whole time that that evil man [Lot] was with him, Prophecy was separated from him\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Torah tells us that after leaving Egypt, Avraham and his nephew, Lot, were both laden with great wealth and large flocks of animals. However, a dispute arose, whereby Lot\u2019s shepherds reasoned that it was permitted to graze their flocks on the land of other people in the Land of Israel. Their flawed reasoning was based on the rationalization that G-d had given the land to Avraham and Lot was his sole inheritor, so he could already benefit from the land. This was incorrect because Avraham had not yet inherited the land, thus their actions constituted stealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avraham\u2019s shepherds rebuked Lot\u2019s shepherds because of this and as a result, discord reared its head. In order to prevent the dispute from developing further, Avraham suggested that Lot separate from him. Lot acquiesced and moved to the evil, but prosperous land of Sodom. The Torah then says that G-d spoke to Avraham, \u201cafter Lot had parted company from him.\u201d The Midrash Tanchuma1<\/sup>, cited by Rashi, states that these seemingly superfluous words are coming to teach that Avraham did not receive Prophecy while Lot was with him, because Lot was considered to be an \u2018evil man\u2019 and G-d would not speak to Avraham while this nefarious person was present. However, the problem arises, that earlier G-d spoke to Avraham while Lot was with him2<\/sup>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commentaries answer that at that earlier time, Lot was considered righteous, so G-d did speak to Avraham even though Lot was with him. However, by the time Lot separated from Avraham, Lot had spiritually deteriorated and was now on the level of a wicked person. Accordingly, from then on, G-d would not speak to Avraham until he separated from Lot. The obvious question is what happened that caused Lot\u2019s spiritual descent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Shimon Shwab3<\/sup> answered this question based on an insightful inference in another verse in the Parsha. The Torah tells us that during the war between the four Kings and he five Kings, the victorious four Kings kidnapped Lot: \u201cAnd they took Lot and his possessions, the nephew of Avram, and they left4<\/sup>.\u201d The grammatical construction of this verse is difficult to understand \u2013 the words, \u201cthe nephew of Avram\u201d, seems to be misplaced. It would have seemed to make more sense to write: \u201cAnd they took Lot, the nephew of Avram, and his possessions.\u201d Why do the words, \u201cand his possessions\u201d separate between Lot and his description as Avraham\u2019s nephew?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Schwab suggested that the construct of the verse is hinting to us what was the underlying cause of the separation between Avraham and Lot \u2013 Lot\u2019s possessions. Lot\u2019s money is what separated the two relatives, not only in this verse but in their entire outlook on life as well. And when did this separation take place? When Avraham and Lot left Egypt laden with great wealth. The very next verse tells us about the unethical activities of Lot\u2019s shepherds, which were surely influenced by their master, Lot. This teaches that Lot\u2019s acquisition of wealth was the direct cause of his spiritual deterioration. His love of money caused his shepherds to find weak rationalizations to justify thievery. Moreover, it was the cause of his fateful decision to move to Sodom, because of its rich pastures: As Rabbi Yissachar Frand expresses it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIt seems that after accumulating a little money, Lot wanted to go live \u201cthe good life\u201d. Lot moved to Sodom. What kind of person would do that? Imagine if a person was living together with his righteous uncle in Monsey or in Baltimore and he suddenly decided to move to Atlantic City. What kind of person would do that? What happened? \u201cThe possessions\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s what happened. Lot\u2019s wealth went to his head. His desire to live \u201cthe good life\u201d drove him off the straight and narrow path of Avraham.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The example of Lot reminds us of the all-too-common phenomenon that acquisition of money causes a spiritual decline. When a person acquires material possessions, he may well become more concerned with acquiring more money, and he will forget that the source of his success was not his own efforts, rather Divine Providence. This was very apparent in the case of Lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the Torah tells us that Lot had gathered great wealth, the Sages explain that this was purely in the merit of Avraham, and that Lot\u2019s mere proximity to such a righteous man caused him to receive blessing. Yet Lot did not internalize this message, and use it to become closer to Avraham. Instead, it caused him to think he could gain wealth by acting in a dishonest manner, as demonstrated by his shepherd\u2019s stealing land. And, instead of trying to stay close to Avraham, he chose to live in the place that was the polar opposite of everything Avraham represented \u2013 Sodom \u2013 in order to gain even more possessions. And what was the final result of his choice? He lost all his possessions when Sodom was destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have seen that when a person acquires wealth, he is at great risk of spiritually deteriorating and of resorting to dishonest and spiritually damaging actions in order to maintain his wealth. May we merit to use our material possessions in a way that brings us closer to G-d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

By Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Midrash Tanchuma, Vayetsei, 10.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Bereishit, 12:7<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Cited by Rabbi Yissachar Frand.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Bereishit, 14:12<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    WEEKLY TORAH PORTION<\/strong>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Guiding Light<\/a>
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    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Lech Lecha\u00a0(Genesis 12-17\u00a0) Bereishis, 13:14: \u201cAnd Hashem spoke to Avraham after Lot parted company from him.\u201dRashi, 13:14, Dh: Acharei: \u201cThe whole time that that evil man [Lot] was with him, Prophecy was separated from him\u2026\u201d The Torah tells us that after leaving Egypt, Avraham and his nephew, Lot, were both laden with great wealth and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":23609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-parshot-of-the-rabbis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPARSHAT LECH LEACH - LOT'S SPIRITUAL DOWNFALL - Sukkat Shalom B'nei Noach<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"May we merit to use our material possessions in a way that brings us closer to G-d.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sukkatshalom-bneinoach.com\/es\/parshat-lech-leach-lots-spiritual-downfall\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PARSHAT LECH LEACH - 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