BAIS HAVAAD PARSHA PERSPECTIVES PARSHAS LECH LECHA

The lessons that Avraham Avinu taught the world were fundamental, profound, and transformative. He taught us new concepts: monotheism, chesed (lovingkindness), and self-negation in front of Hashem. These great teachings shine like massive suns on a dark world. Sometimes, however, their brilliance can drown out the light of the less earth-shattering wisdom that shines from a study of Avraham’s life. That is a shame. Often those lessons are the ones we need in order to lead successful lives. Let us learn one of these “small” ideas that might just turn out to be very big. In this week’s Parsha, there is an odd contradiction between the way Avraham dealt with Paraoh, the king of Mitzrayim, and the way he dealt with Bera, the king of Sodom. When Avraham went down to Mitzrayim due to a famine, his number one worry was how to come out of Mitzrayim alive. He understood that if the Mitzri’im knew that Sarah was his wife, he would likely be killed by a Mitzri who had his eye on her. Therefore, he chose to play the role of Sarah’s brother rather than face almost certain death.