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It's really amazing to see.
Avraham Avinu enters deep into the world
of tefillah for the sake of Sedom. He
didn't just daven once, rather again and
again, persistently begging Hashem to
have mercy on Sedom.
He even endangered himself in his
pleading. However, what's really
interesting is that upon completing his
tefillahs, the pasuk said, V'Avraham
shav [music] l'makomo. Avraham returned
to his place. What are these words
teaching us? What do they mean?
We find actually a similar wording by
Yaakov Avinu when he went to live with
Lavan for 20 years. [music] Imagine
spending a day with Yaakov Avinu, let
alone 20 years. But yet, the Torah says,
V'shav Lavan l'makomo. Lavan returned to
his place. The Meshech Chochmah over
there says it means Lavan returned to
the exact same place as he was before.
Not the slightest change. Perhaps, we
can use the words of the Meshech
Chochmah for our parsha.
When a person davens for something and
his tefillahs just don't seem to be
answered, he's likely to get down. He
keeps davening and it seems to be going
nowhere. It can actually damage his
relationship with the Ribono shel Olam.
Where is he? I'm begging. The Torah is
telling us no.
By Avraham Avinu, it wasn't that way.
And that's the message for every single
one of us.
Avraham Avinu poured out his heart in
tefillah. And in the end, Sedom was
destroyed. He could have been upset,
angry, or even have damaged that
relationship that he had, but no.
Avraham didn't lose any of his
greatness, his love, and his
appreciation for Hashem and for tefillah
was as strong as ever before.
Every day at 4:00, Dovi's phone rings at
the office. It's a 6-year-old Yanky.
"Tati, can we get an ice cream tonight?"
"Not tonight, Yanky." "Okay, love you,
Tati." Next day, 4:00. "Tati, can I get
a dog?" "No, sweetie." "Okay, love you."
Almost every day, a no. And every day,
4:00 on the dot, he calls again, happy
as ever. One day, a coworker says, "Why
don't you just buy him a freezer full of
ice cream so he stops calling?" "Are you
crazy? That phone call is the best part
of my day. If I give him everything, he
might stop calling." That night, Yanky
crawls onto his father's lap. "Tati, you
say no a lot. I know, but I'm still
going to call you tomorrow." "Why?"
"Cuz I like talking to you."
What a crucial message from this week's
parsha. We often daven, and perhaps the
answer is no, but keep calling and enjoy
the conversation. Have a great Shabbos.
>> Join Rabbi Avi Weisenfeld's new Kehilla.
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