Rabbi Yitzhak Twersky, the Talner Rebbe of Boston zt”l, many years ago at Se’udah Shelishit shared the following comment on a pasuk in this week’s parsha. It applies directly to the war against Hamas that we in Medinat Yisrael are currently waging.
“Avraham heard that his relative [his nephew Lot] had been captured; va-yarek his disciples … 318 of them, and he pursued [the four kings] …” (Bereishit 14:14) The Gemara (Nedarim 32a) cites Rav’s interpretation of the challenging verb “va-yarek”: He emptied them with regard to Torah (see Bereishit 37:24 for the same Hebrew root in a noun form). Classical medieval commentators offer two explanations of Rav’s interpretation:
- He taught them Torah (The imagery is that of a teacher “emptying” his teachings from within himself into his student)
- He emptied them of the Torah (He stopped teaching them, and drafted them into an impromptu army to save Lot from captivity)
Rabbi Twersky’s comment was: “The second explanation is seemingly the opposite of the first. In truth, however, these two interpretations are not opposed to one another. They are complementary, necessary parts of life. The second interpretation represents the implementation of the first.”
Study of all disciplines, and particularly of Torah, must be translated into actions, must be implemented in one’s behavior within society. Thus, in the beit midrash we learn: “Do not stand by passively if you can intervene to help someone in crisis” (VaYikra 19:16); “Do whatever possible to save one’s own life or that of another person” (VaYikra 18:5); and the mitzvah to redeem captives (Rambam, Hilchot Matnat Aniyim 8:10; Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Dei’ah 252:1-3). And when the occasion calls for it, we close the sefarim and spring into action.
This principle that emerges from Avraham’s initiative in Parshat Lech Lecha this week was actualized three weeks ago on Shemini Atzeret. Jews throughout Medinat Yisrael closed their siddurim and chumashim, hastily ran home to take their weapons, bid farewell to their families, and reported for emergency military duty.
Avraham and his students succeeded in their campaign. May HaKadosh Baruch Hu, in response to the fervent tefillot of Jews in Boston and world-wide, grant wisdom to the decision-makers within the Israeli government and the IDF to guide us to success in ours.
Rabbi David Shapiro Maimonides School 1970–2011 | 
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