To understand the greatness of Abraham, two incidents from our parasha are sufficient. Each highlights the distinction between Abraham and Lot.
When the herdsmen of Lot and Abraham quarrel over land, Abraham says to his nephew: “Please let there be no quarrel between me and you and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen. Isn’t the whole land before you? Please part from me; if you go left I will go right; if you go right, I will go left” (Genesis 13:8,9).
The Maggid of Dubno asks why Abraham had to add, “Isn’t the whole land before you?” You can remove the phrase and the sentence still makes sense. But remember, says the Maggid, Abraham left Ur Casdim because he was called by God. Lot left because he was called by Abraham. For Abraham, his mission was larger than himself. Lot cared about the richest land; that is why he heads toward the land that seems fertile, in the plains.
Consider this for a moment. Abraham brought Lot “into the business.” Lot is prospering because of Abraham (at this point still named Abram). Yet when there is a quarrel, Abraham says, in essence – take whatever part of the business you want. The Maggid notes that the additional phrase is Abraham’s expression of the way he sees the world: if you have faith the entire world is before you. For Lot and his herdsmen, only money matters. It is a pinched and selfish view. Abraham’s is expansive and faithful.
There is a second and perhaps more consequential event that shows the difference between the two men. Abraham is married to Sarah (still Sarai at this point) and Lot is married to, well, Lot’s wife. The lack of a name in the Torah may already tell us something about her character, as does her eventual end. Before that, however, we can contrast her actions with those of Sarah. Sarah is a fierce defender of Isaac, as evidenced by the exile of Ishmael from the house after Isaac is born, which the rabbis attribute to Ishmael’s misconduct as well as Sarah’s fear that Isaac’s inheritance will be compromised. Lot’s wife however, does not protest when Lot offers his two daughters to the strangers who assault their home (Genesis 19:8). And her nostalgia for such a place is hard to fathom. When in the following parasha God instructs them not to look back on the destruction of Sodom, Lot’s wife does and becomes a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26).
There are more generous interpretations of Lot’s wife’s conduct of course (Ramban suggests she was turning back because of the family that remained in the city.) Nonetheless, remember that when God comes to Abraham, God says, “Lech Lecha” – you go, in the singular. Yet Abraham assumes that includes Sarah, because the two of them are one. And for all the vicissitudes and trials they face together, it is Sarah and not Abraham who determines the lineage of the Jewish people. For Abraham has other children after Sarah’s death, but only Sarah’s child is the continuation of Israel. In their choice of a life partner the distinction between Lot and Abraham is made abundantly clear.
One of the distinctive features of the heroes in the Torah is that God selects them not on the basis of what they have done, but what God knows they can do. We do not know Abraham before God calls to him. God’s call will reveal a man who towers above the other people in his family like Lot, as he will tower spiritually above the world in which he lives. In this week’s Torah portion God tells Abraham to go and each generation of our people is taken along on his journey.
The writer is Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles and the author of David the Divided Heart. On Twitter: @rabbiwolpe