בס”ד
This D’var Torah should be a Zechus L’Ilui Nishmas my sister, Kayla Rus Bas Bunim Tuvia A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my maternal grandfather Dovid Tzvi Ben Yosef Yochanan A”H, my paternal grandfather Moshe Ben Yosef A”H, my paternal grandmother Channah Freidel Bas Avraham A”H, my uncle Reuven Nachum Ben Moshe & my great aunt Rivkah Sorah Bas Zev Yehuda HaKohein,
It should also be in Zechus L’Refuah Shileimah for:
-My father Bunim Tuvia Ben Channa Freidel
-My grandmother Shulamis Bas Etta
-MY BROTHER: MENACHEM MENDEL SHLOMO BEN CHAYA ROCHEL
-HaRav Shlomo Ben Shayna Zelda
-Mordechai Shlomo Ben Sarah Tili
-Noam Shmuel Ben Simcha
_R’ Simcha Yitzchak Ben Mirela Yudka
-Chaya Rochel Ettel Bas Shulamis
-And all of the Cholei Yisrael, especially those suffering from COVID-19 and the Meiron tragedy.
-It should also be a Z’chus for an Aliyah of the holy Neshamos of HaRav HaGa’on V’Sar HaTorah Shmaryahu Yosef Chaim Ben HaRav Yaakov Yisrael Kanievsky A”H, Dovid Avraham Ben Chiya Kehas—R’ Dovid Winiarz ZT”L, Miriam Liba Bas Aharon—Rebbetzin Weiss A”H, as well as the Neshamos of those whose lives were taken by terrorists (Hashem Yikom Damam), COVID-19, and the Meiron tragedy.
-It should also be a Z’chus for success for Tzaha”l as well as the rest of Am Yisrael, in Eretz Yisrael and in the Galus.
פרשת לך לך
The Way to “Win”
Although most of פַּרָשַׁת לֶךְ לְךָ is about אַבְרָהָם (when his name was still אַבְרָם), the פַּרְשָׁה also teaches us about his nephew לוֹט. The Torah teaches that לוֹט’s shepherds got into a fight with אַבְרָהָם’s shepherds when there wasn’t enough land for all of their animals (and לוֹט’s shepherds began stealing land).
אַבְרָהָם realized that he and לוֹט needed to separate. So, he let לוֹט pick where he wanted to live and take his animals there. But, before he did that, he told לוֹט the following, important words:
“Please don’t let there be a fight between us… because we are like brothers.”
Question: We already know that אַבְרָהָם and לוֹט related. Why did אַבְרָהָם need to remind לוֹט that they were “like brothers”?
Answer: Sometimes, when we get into arguments or fights with our family members or friends, we just focus on “winning” the fight. And when that happens, we can forget that they are still our family members and friends. We forget that we really don’t want to be in a fight with them. We forget that when there is fighting between people who should love each other, nobody wins. Everybody loses.
If we really want to “win” in life, we have to be brave enough to take a “loss” and say to the other person, “I really don’t want to fight.” Sometimes, we have to be smart enough to separate for a little while to avoid fighting with the people we care about.
We should be blessed with the courage and wisdom to stay away from fights, especially with the people we love. Have a wonderful שבת!
Rabbi Eisenberg, Grade 3